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Chef Yang 46, located on Route 46 eastbound, specializes in elegant and versatile Sichuan cuisine in a modern setting with traditional Chinese highlights.
The restaurant seats 160 people and will be replacing Chengdu 46, a 20-year local icon for Sichuan food in the area.
After it went out of business, Dinggen Wang and Jiaging Yang bought the address but changed everything else -- from the interior to the menu -- hoping to reinvigorate the place.
Wang and Yang -- who has 30 years of culinary experience -- have other restaurants in Manhattan and Long Island and are fully-renovating the new Clifton location.
Contrary to the popular opinion that Sichuan dishes should be numbingly spicy, the co-owners want to showcase the lesser-known side of the famous Chinese regional cuisine -- its freshness, delicacy and moderation.
"With a strong desire to see the cuisine’s fan base grow in the community, Chef Yang 46 seeks to communicate the culture and its subtle meaning to the customers through quality food and tasteful décor," Wang and Yang said.
Signature dishes include:
Chongqing Chicken Nuggets with Chili Peppercorn: A visually-dramatic dish with chicken bites hidden among a pile of chili peppers.
Chengdu Fish with Pickled Cabbage: A popular Sichuan dish that features a hot and sour broth with tender fish slices and pickled vegetables.
Chef’s Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin: Pork is stir-fried before a moderate amount of soy sauce is added, along with sugar and vinegar. The Sichuan version adds ketchup to the mix.
Tea-smoked Duck: Referred to as “the quintessential dish of Sichuan cuisine,” it is laboriously prepared by hot smoking a marinated duck over tea leaves and twigs of the camphor plant. Due to its complicated 4-step cooking process -- marinating, roasting, smoking and frying -- it is eaten more often at banquets than as an everyday dish.
Chef Yang 46: 1105 Rte 46 E., Clifton, Hours: Mon-Thu 11:30am-9:30pm | Fri-Sat 11:30am-10:30pm | Sun 12pm-9:30pm
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