[Rusty van Reddick]

I had lunch at South Silk Road on 14 St NW at 8 Ave; it was most recently a "Chinese and Western" place called Red House or something similar and for many years before that was an Italian place. This could not be more different from the place that preceded it as it's a no-punches-pulled Yunnan restaurant. This is part of China near the Burmese border and it's spicy, earthy food. There is a more western menu with ginger beef and the like but a much larger one- WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS FOR EVERYTHING!- featuring all manner of pig parts and chilies all over the place. I had rice cake with egg and this sort of dry-aged pork like a prosciutto, with baby bok choy and oddly enough tomatoes. Delicious, fucking hot to boot.

We've been seeing more and more Szechaun and related places opening lately- just last week we went to Great Taste, where MBA Noodle and BBQ was, and which has some overlap with Silk Road to be sure, but I'm pretty sure this is one of the first- if not the first- Yunnan places in town, maybe the whole country. And it's nowhere near Chinatown or the NW/NE Chinese ethnoburbs, so I hope it succeeds.