Gourmet de l'Ouest: Andy's
The Richmond and Sunset is more than just the place you drive through on your way to the beach--it's home to some great, if overlooked, restaurants. We hope you're inspired to try new some new places, and we'd love to hear recommendations of Westside joints you'd like to see reviewed in this feature, so please send your thoughts our way, or leave them in the comments.
Even though we said we were trying to get out more, there are some nights (usually nights involving Wednesday night TV) we need to food to come to us.
We're disturbingly anal (and watch our site stats shoot through the roof with the use of that word within the context of SFist) enough to keep a file folder of all the menus left on our door, but there's only one we really use: Andy's Restaurant, which is subheadded as "Excellent Chinese Cuisine".
Over our many years living in the Sunset we've tried many of Andy's entrees, with varying levels of success. But we've come up with a hit list (and a miss list) we'd love to share with you, the next time you're anywhere in the Irving/Judah corridor and want some good, and occasionally great Chinese delivery/carry-out, especially when it comes to their seafood dishes. Check it out after the jump!
Photo of where we eat our Andy's from our private collection.
On the appetizer front, their Pot Stickers ($3.95) and Egg Rolls ($3.95) are pretty standard stuff, their Fried Prawns ($6.50) will fulfill and Long John Silver's cravings you might be having (this is a compliment in our book), and their Fried Crab-Cheese Puffs ($5.50) are pure ass. Don't do it.
Their soups are roundly great, we especially love the forceful Hot and Sour Soup ($3.95 for a huge tub), which we like to pair with the aforementioned Fried Prawns when we're "eating light". Shut up.
Pork is not Andy's strong suit, so SFist recommends you avoid. We haven't had any of their lamb dishes (but would love to hear of you have), but really like their mild yet flavorful Broccoli Beef ($7.25, and it cures hangovers). Our beau enjoys the Mongolian Beef ($7.25), and we've both liked their Kung Pao Beef ($7.25, but sometimes it's way too peanutty, so watch out).
Our standout picks on the Chicken tip are the Cashew Nuts chicken ($6.95, and not as bland as you might expect given that it's just chicken, water chestnuts, zuchinni, and nuts) and the spicy and tasty Kung Pao Chicken ($6.95). Do not get the Deep Fried Lemon Chicken ($6.95), it's just dry fried chicken and this yucky lemon pudding dip.
Seafood is the true source of Andy's power. The all-star (and our absolute fave) is their Butterfly Prawns in Andy's Special Sauce ($8.25), which is batter fried prawns in a hot garlic sauce that contains crack or something like it. Watch out, though -- the take-out container really is only half prawns, and the bottom half is this really gross cabbage stuff that we feed to the dog (she gives it two paws up). But all of the shrimp, prawn, and squid dishes at Andy's rock, so you're safe with whatever you order.
Generally, we're not big fans of Chinese vegetarian dishes. They end up being sort of bland and oversauced, but we also can't say enough good things about Andy's Dry Pan Fried String Beans ($5.95), which are in a scant but very spicy sauce. The beans are perfectly prepared, crisp without being overcooked, and the sauce is painfully addictive.
We don't remember who told us that one should never eat on-site at a place from which one orders carry-out, as it destroys the mystery. Though we pass Andy's on the N every day, we have no plans to ever set food inside, as we'd rather keep the magic alive. 'Tis a far better thing that they're the friendly and prompt delivery folks (last week the delivery guy even chased and carried back our escaping cat as we opened the door to him, possibly the best customer service we've had all year) who bring us delicious prawns, soup, and beans.
Andy's Excellent Chinese Cuisine
1358 9th Avenue
415-661-1803
11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mon-Sat. 3 p.m.-10 p.m. Sunday
Free Delivery between Irving and Judah with $10 minimum