Good Luck Gourmet

If I was a certain someone or someplace that is currently making shitty overpriced dumps in a certain hipster food stall, I would be regretting that very not-thought-out decision right about now... Fads fade away with the trending food scenes and hipster dumplings is a no brainer gimmick that can only last so long. But what is not a fad is an awesome authentic spicy Chino grub that is found on Buford Hwy...
So, now comes Good Luck Gourmet in the old Gu's Bistro space. Nothing has changed (and I mean everything on the inside is the same) except the owners and the cuisine... Which is mostly northern China in the Shanxi (Xi'an) region, unheard of in metro Atlanta! The most northern part of Chinese cuisine to be had in this town have been Chengdu, Chongqing (basically Sichuan) and maybe a little dabble in Lanzhou. This is a whole new region to this town. Like the others, Shaanxi cuisine is also famous for being spicy but they specialize in lamb and wide noodles. Since they are somewhere in between the Sichuan and Shanxi regions, this new resto includes a ton of dishes to cover most of the entire region, even some Cantonese dishes from the south... This menu is extensive and you know what that means. Dude, this is either gonna be kickass or swampass grub.

Enough talky talky.. Let's walky walky and do this bitch hard with fists of fury! ...Ok, chopsticks would prolly work better with all that red chili oil.

Chengdu Style Dumplings with Red Oil. Gu's who??? I rather eat dumps that gives you good luck instead of the shits... And these fucking dumps delivered. The skin is perfect thickness, not too thin not too thick, the pork filling is flavorful and tender, the red chili oil is a perfect balance of spiciness to oil ratio. You don't want to drown these tasty dumps in a shitload of oil, it's overkill but instead just a really nice coating of gorgeous red chili oil is the way to go. These are really good. There's two other options if you can't handle the red chili oil- in Chicken Soup or Hot & Sour. Eat your fucking hipster heart out, Gu's...

Red Oil Pig Ears and Belly Slices. There were too many dericious offal options... First, I wanted just cold spicy beef tendon, then beef and beef offal, so, I ended up with this lovely mix of pig ears and belly in red chili oil. Damn, this was good as well. We are off to a very good track record here and we're only on the second dish. Ears were tender but yet have that expected snap from the cartilage. Then they offset that crunch with tender belly slices with just a little bit of fat. This is a really nice classic dish with just the right amount of heat. When you still think about it the next day, you know it was good.

I totally forgot about the bullshit nibbles on the table before... Just a quick note- the peanuts were pretty standard issue but the pickled cabbage tasted like dirty laundry which seemed to improve in taste after a few bites. How fucked up is that? So, I went home and chewed on a dirty sock in the hamper and it didn't tasted as good.

Shaanxi's Style Cold Noodles. This is what they're famous for, the noodles and the bright orange chili oil from the Shaanxi region. Looks kinda like a Jackson Pollock painting with chili oil splattered all over. Fuck me, I'm liking this already... So, the little server girl comes over with a pair of chops and starts to mix all the shit together. I'm like don't fucking touch my food, ese... I have a special way of noodling the noods. It's like a folding-spinning-twirling technique that I learned from Baton Bob. That fucker is talented and his chocolatey thighs are so muscly and firm... Nevermind me, I musta been day dreaming on 10th and Peachtree. Let's get back to the grub..

Shaan noods are mixed up. Damn, motherfuckers... This shit is G U U D... Yeah, I'm busting on GU's, so what. Even though the Shaanxi style noodles should be wider, the thinner noodles still works just as well on getting evenly coated all over. The heat level is medium and it is just plain fucking awesome. Git you some.

Preserved Vegetable Steaming Pork. This may look like a yak that just took a dump on a plate but it is really a well composed dish. Ultra tender steamed/braised slices of pork belly layered gently on top of a mound of preserved pickled veggies with a nice soy glazed sauce spooned all over it. Pound me in the ass and call me Porky... This was not spicy, it was savory and amazing. Put a nice portion on top of rice and spoon some sauce over it, you will want to inhale this beast into your facehole and swallow that entire load in one gulp... I did.

Chongqing Style Spicy Chicken. This pic doesn't do this dish justice... It is glorious. The amount dried chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns and cheekan nuggets are spot on. I hate it when places overload the entire plate with whole dried chili peppers and you have to pick through that pile just to taste a little nugget. Notice that the peppers are also chopped into smaller pieces. These fuckers pay attention to the details- everything is similar size (French training perhaps?)... And this ching chong pouch adores this dish. The cheekan nuggets have a thin crispy coating and really tender/juicy inside coated with a hint of the peppercorn oil. Damn good dish. I couldn't stop eating between all the ingredients- nugget, pepper, peppercorn all in the same bite is heaven, heaven.

Mapo Tofu. I was on the fence between this, their famous steamed mutton stew or the fish in hot oil... Yeah, real first fucking world problems here for this fat fuck. I wasn't really in the mood to have a ton of soup after all the food I ate already, so, I went with the classic. If they can master this simple dish, they can do almost anything as evident by the incredible grub had already. First bite... D A M N you motherfuckers again! This taste just like the version I make at home. WTF, bro... I mean this was so goddamn good. They obviously use their special chili oil which is the real key to this dish. Most places just put a ton of sambal oelek and other thickeners. This version was lighter, the tofu medium firm, spice/heat level medium to mild, the pork were visible and not minced to dust size particles. I just want to hate fuck these motherfuckers with love for making a great version of this classic.

Had to do a group shot of these hotties... This isn't spicy at all for whities, trust me (wink wink). If I could bang these dishes I would but I don't want to get any greasy chili oil on my new skinny stretchy jeans... You know, because I'm hot like David Beckham and we dress alike. You won't believe how many people mistake me for him with my muffin pouch flapping over my pajama jeans in the wind... Yeah, I don't believe it either. Ok, I just made that shit up... But I can pretend that we are fwendz, tho.

This place has given me a boner with a massive blood flow once again in this town for authentic ethnic grub... I am stoked about this "new old dump" that is giving this town a taste of a different region of Chinese cuisine. Finding spicy Chino cuisine might not be that difficult but the quality and execution has been lackluster at best lately and everyone is looking for the quick buck and fame. This joint is doing things that Gu's never has and never will again. In a way, I'm glad Gu's sold out to what's popular at the moment, their ride ain't gonna last long. They will be kicking themselves for the biggest mistake of their lives for years to come. Good Luck Gourmet saw a vacancy as an opportunity... This town should be glad they made the move because this is one of the best Chino resto in ATL, period. Some may say Masterpiece is just as good, I say they're a Masterpiece of shit. Keep the incredible shit up and y'all be packed every night... If you do the same shit as my once beloved Gu's Bistro did, I will be shitting all over you in rapid machine gun fashion that you won't know what hit ya except the "mud" in your eyes... Mud with corn inside. 

I will be back soon... Don't die on me, yet. Until I get my fill at least...

Pump.
Pump..
Squirt...

5750 Buford Hwy NE
Doraville, GA 30340
770-451-8118
http://goodluckgourmet.com/