A popular Chinese restaurant in west Fort Worth gets a new owner after 45 years
Szechuan Restaurant, a west Fort Worth landmark once ranked the city’s best for Chinese food, has changed hands after 45 years, according to a city alcohol permit application.
Cynthia Quintana Pena has applied for a new permit in the same location, 5712 Locke Ave., continuing as Szechuan.
The restaurant remains open daily. Pena said during a busy dinner hour Sunday that she was not ready yet to talk about the change.
Szechuan has been run by employees under Shuoh “Paul” Cheng in recent months since the retirement five years ago of his late uncle, co-founder Herman Liu.
The restaurant is lined with photos of celebrity guests from the late 20th century, such as politicians, Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant contestants, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition pianists and actors appearing in Casa Mañana Musicals.
In recent years, more elegant Chinese and pan-Asian restaurants have opened in the suburbs, and the new Teddy Wong’s Dumplings & Wine is the current Fort Worth dumpling favorite.
But the original Szechuan location has remained a busy favorite for spicy Sichuan-style dishes such as garlic chicken, spicy green beans, shrimp with hot ginger sauce and shredded beef shredded with hot peppers.
The restaurant is also known for inexpensive lunches and popular Chinese-American dishes such as sesame chicken, the No. 1 order, and orange chicken.
Chinese restaurants date back to the early 20th century in Fort Worth, but they primarily served milder Cantonese- and Mandarin-style food until 1977.
That’s when Liu moved to Fort Worth from China and Taiwan via Washington, D.C., and opened Hunan Chinese Restaurant on South Hulen Street.
On May 21, 1979, Liu and Henry Chang opened Szechuan, replacing a Cajun restaurant in the Locke-Blocke shopping center off Camp Bowie Boulevard at Horne Street.
Chef Lee Tsao was Liu’s friend from one of the highest-rated Chinese restaurants in Washington D.C., the Empress.
Sichuan food is “characteristically hot and spicy,” the Star-Telegram explained.
“ . . . Many of our customers who enjoy Mexican foods” enjoy the dishes, Liu said.
A location in Cityview Centre, 4750 Bryant Irvin Road, opened in 1981 but was sold years ago to a different restaurateur. A Hurst location opened in 1983 in Mayfair Village and closed about 2005.
Szechuan is open for lunch and dinner daily; 817-738-7300, szechuanrestauranttexas.com.
