I'd been craving that spicy grilled fish from Earl Spicy for months. I'd talked about it so much…read morethat this time, instead of just dragging my husband, I brought the kids and my son's friend too. I was basically forming a fan club. But right before we left, my husband looked up the hours and said, "Wait... it's called Taste of Four Seasons now?" Uh, what? Did Earl Spicy close? Yelp still showed it alive and well, so we decided to go check it out anyway. My heart was already committed.
We got there around 7 PM on a Friday. A few tables were filled -- seemed like a good sign. Plenty of servers, but no sign of the old owner. I started feeling a little nervous. We looked through the menu... no spicy grilled fish. Cue quiet panic. I pulled out my phone and showed the server a picture from our last visit. She said they still have it -- it's just made differently now and it's really good. Also, they now use a fresh fish called 多寶魚 instead of the frozen fish Earl Spicy used.
Now, my husband and I thought we had decent Chinese, but we had no idea what 多寶魚 was. We stared at the tank she pointed to, still clueless. And honestly, if Earl Spicy really used frozen fish, they fooled us -- it never tasted frozen.
I asked how much it was, since it wasn't on the menu. She said $42 per pound, usually around 1.5 pounds. I figured maybe $65-70. More than Earl Spicy's $48 XL version, but hey -- I am here for it.
We ordered a few other dishes too. First came the "New Style Sweet and Sour Pork & Shrimp." The menu said pork and chicken, but the server said it was a typo -- it's actually pork cheek and shrimp. It ended up being the best dish of the night. The shrimp was excellent, 5/5. The pork cheek was good too, just a little fatty -- maybe 4/5 for me.
My husband wanted Szechuan pepper chicken. The server said the kitchen could make it, even though only a tea-flavored version was listed. What we got was stir-fried chicken with jalapeños. Not deep-fried, not spicy, just... dry. It didn't really land.
My son's friend loves fried rice, so we got the $19.95 special fried rice. It came out shaped like a fish -- super cute. First bite though? "Why is this so hard and dry?" the kids asked. I tried it -- yup, same. Crunchy in a weird way, like it had been sitting on the heat too long. I asked the server, and she apologized and had the kitchen remake it. The second version was slightly better, but still dry. Maybe that's just how they do it.
Next came the salted fish eggplant casserole. It was only $9.85, but no one really touched it. Just not great.
And finally, the main event: the fish I'd been dreaming about. It arrived in the same tray as before, but no tea light underneath. Not a big deal. They'd added a mountain of flat noodles (河粉) underneath, but the fish itself? Dry. Bland. Not the spicy grilled fish I remembered. The sauce was thin, almost like gravy, and the noodles were just soaked sadly in it.
A friendly lady (maybe the new owner?) came by and explained that the restaurant now serves southern Chinese-style food, which is different from Earl Spicy's. I smiled politely, but inside I was crying, Why didn't you say that before we ordered?
She brought out complimentary glass jelly for dessert -- nice touch. I liked it, but the kids thought it was too bitter.
Then came the bill. The fish? $111.77. I did a double take. How was that 2.6 pounds?! I thought about asking, but my husband gave me the look: "Let's just go." So we paid. With tax and tip, the total came out to nearly $240.
Final verdict: RIP Earl Spicy. You were loved. You are missed. As for Taste of Four Seasons? Once was enough.