Suggest Szechuan restaurant when meeting friends in New York City

For years I've been meeting my Long Island loved ones in the city.

Often we choose wisely and in advance. Planning maximizes the time you spend with friends and family on a city outing.

Still, there have been poor dining choices and long walks on crowded avenues to select a place to eat.

Lately, my city meet-ups are about quality time and leisurely paces.

So Monday, a friend and I met around rush hour at Szechuan Gourmet and I urge my suburban counterparts to consider it next time you go into Manhattan.

It's minutes from Times Square and a mere 10-minute walk from Penn Station and Grand Central, our respective NYC access points like many of you.

It is blocks from touristy places without the consequences, including overpriced meals at poorly run restaurants. Our dinner was $39 plus tips.

The Subway and Bryant Park are around the block, Port Authority close by.

I arrived early and skimmed through the New York Times article displayed inside on a wall and the menu citing around 50 dishes under “gourmet” and “delicacies” headings. Additionally, I counted 28 appetizers.

 These include such promising gems as pork belly with chili-garlic soy, duck tongues with Sichuan pepper corn-scallion dressing, jelly fish with spicy chili vinaigrette, and expected Szechuan pork dumplings with roasted chili-soy and wonton in hot sesame oil, which I love. Incidentally it's free if you order takeout, a minimum $20 spent.

And while our selections were laid back in contrast, the food we ate was terrific. Even my ordinary wonton soup contained the moist, tender, bite-sized cushions overstuffed with seasoned pork.

Among entrees are braised eel with garlic and pickled chili, fish filets with Napa, bamboo and cellophane in spiced chili broth, and braised frogs with Napa, bamboo and tofu in spiced chili broth.

Also offered are wok tossed crispy beef filets with roasted chili cumin or sautéed spinach with garlic, sea scallops with spicy garlic sauce and braised fish filets with sweet vinegar sauce, entrees ranging from $9.95 to $18.95 (prices may be different from time of publication).

When my friend arrived our host led us to a banquette, and our server hovered briefly, offering twice to take our orders, but once selections were made we were served soup and soon after two steaming platters, then left to enjoy our meal in no hurried fashion.

Meanwhile, dishes I classify as expected on Szechuan menus include at least 50 under seafood, vegetable, meat and poultry choices.

We shared shredded chicken in garlic sauce and a second chicken dish with asparagus. Both portions are more than enough for one person.

The first was a savory combination of tenderly cooked slivers of poultry, tree tears, a type of mushroom, ginger and diced chilis.

The heat was sufficient and supported by chili oil and soy sauce.

The second dish, a little bland but expectedly, was an evenly mixed blend of small palettes of chicken breast and the crisp asparagus stalks evenly diced.

There is a lunch menu of course (prices from $7.60 to $10.95), takeout and delivery service.

For information about Gourmet Szechuan at 21 West 39th St., New York, N.Y., call 212-921-0233.