mapo

But the main event of the meal was of course … mapo tofu.

Mapo Tofu Passes the Test at Mapo Tofu | Midtown Lunch - Finding Lunch in the Food Wasteland of NYC's Midtown Manhattan 2010

So what exactly do we look for in a good mapo tofu?

Mapo Tofu Passes the Test at Mapo Tofu | Midtown Lunch - Finding Lunch in the Food Wasteland of NYC's Midtown Manhattan 2010

SG serves their take-out mapo-tofu in the same type of container though so it looks like soup.

Mapo Tofu Passes the Test at Mapo Tofu | Midtown Lunch - Finding Lunch in the Food Wasteland of NYC's Midtown Manhattan 2010

Nope, the mapo tofu (MPT) here uses the soft, silken variety.

Mapo Tofu Passes the Test at Mapo Tofu | Midtown Lunch - Finding Lunch in the Food Wasteland of NYC's Midtown Manhattan 2010

David Hagerman for The Wall Street Journal No local specialty is more treasured than mapo dofu, a sumptuous mélange of silky firm bean curd, chopped meat and suanmiao (a local leek) cooked in liberal amounts of oil with black beans, chili-beanpaste, soy sauce and dried chilies.

Chengdu's Bold and Tingling Tofu Robyn Eckhardt 2010

Foreigners are often put off by mapo dofu's characteristic slick of oil, but Ms. Dunlop says, "It was an oil carrier's dish, so it should be oily."

Chengdu's Bold and Tingling Tofu Robyn Eckhardt 2010

According to Chinese-American Zuo Ziying, who was born in Chengdu and who conducts tours in southwest China for Lotus Culinary Travel, jiachang or home-style versions of mapo dofu are usually less oily and more simple than those cooked in restaurant kitchens.

Chengdu's Bold and Tingling Tofu Robyn Eckhardt 2010

Chilies both warm the body and induce a cooling sweat, so mapo dofu is a dish made-to-order for Chengdu's perennially humid climate, with its bone-chilling winters and oppressively muggy summers.

Chengdu's Bold and Tingling Tofu Robyn Eckhardt 2010

For British food writer Fuchsia Dunlop, author of "Sichuan Cookery" (published in the U.S. under the title "Land of Plenty"), mapo dofu's "bold, striking flavors and comforting, sort of lazy texture" are a culinary embodiment of Chengdu's split personality: "A vibrant city whose inhabitants are known for taking a laid-back approach to life," says Ms. Dunlop.

Chengdu's Bold and Tingling Tofu Robyn Eckhardt 2010

Overseas Chinese restaurant versions of mapo dofu rarely pack the ma-la punch of the real thing, probably because most restaurant owners hail from chili-phobic southern China, but also because the processing that huajiao must undergo for export robs it of fragrance and flavor.

Chengdu's Bold and Tingling Tofu Robyn Eckhardt 2010