The location may seem obscure, but it's not far from Florida International University. He opened this humble 38-seater about two years ago. 'He taught me how to make real Chinese food,' Zhang says. His formidable training came alongside a lifelong friend from Beijing, Shin Du, who moved to Miami to work at Mr. He moved to South Florida about 15 years ago, toiling in Asian restaurants in Broward and Miami-Dade. He dutifully shadowed Tianjin's Sichuan chefs and favored the western region's intensely spicy fare over the Beijing-style cuisine that permeates Tianjin.

At age 25, he began taking odd jobs in restaurants to make good on a lifelong passion.

The 48-year-old Tianjin native was a cargo ship engineer who shuttled between his hometown's massive port and other hubs in Southeast Asia before giving up life at sea. Working the wok here is chef and owner Alan Zhang. The latter is an acquired taste but easy to enjoy if you've ever pined for a plate of anchovies or sardines. Inside is a sprawling list of Sichuan dishes ranging from approachable plates of cold noodles tossed in chilies and sesame oil to intensely oily loins of ribbonfish braised in soy sauce. You wonder how these dishes can set your face on fire without losing their flavor. At Dragon 1 Chinese Restaurant out west on Flagler Street, a tattooed waitress with streaks of purple hair responds by delivering a tattered middle-school book-report binder with the word 'yummy' scrawled in colored pencil on the cover.

A request for the 'other' menu at a Chinese restaurant is always the right move even when it's met with a suspicious stare.

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