- Cumin lamb: it may not sound like a Chinese dish, but it originated in the northwest region of China bordering Mongolia, Xinjiang, an area known for its Chinese Islamic cuisine. These days, though, cumin lamb's popularity has spread throughout China. Hunan Cuisine's version carries the muskiness of cumin and distinctive numbing heat of Sichuan peppercorns (they impart more of a warm feeling than a searing, unbearable heat) but upgrades the meat with a rack of lamb.

 - Sichuan wonton: boiled and dressed in hot chili oil
 - Ma-la beef tendon: translucent and tossed in the same chili oil

At this point, though our table is covered in alarmingly red and chili-flecked dishes, nothing is too spicy (I wouldn't mind if it were a touch spicier).
 

 
The first page of the menu is overwhelming with 38 dishes, written in Chinese and incomprehensibly translated in English (um, beauty hoof?) and the owners here don't speak much English. With my mom's help, we translated some of them:
 - griddle spicy cow hells: tendon
 - pickle fillet: fish with the Chinese version of kimchee
 - farmhouse pork: a shredded pork stirfy
 - salt and pepper coupling clamp: stuffed lotus root (obviously)
 - red oil venetian: chili oil tripe

 ("This is a simple, less-refined version of Hunanese food," my mom sniffed when I sent her the menu. But then, we don't all grow up with world-class cooks as mothers.)