For the last 3 years I've explored Austin to find the best food.

Now I want to find out how the best food got to Austin.

>> [music] >> In an unassuming strip mall you'll find fried chicken that's fried four times with pepper and ginger and lava bowls of beef soup made on an 800° wok.

And today I want to find out how two brothers with no restaurant experience managed to open the best Sichuan restaurant in Texas.

>> [music] >> Hey.

Jim, how are you?

>> Hey David, good to see you.

>> This is Jim and Adam, the owners of House of Three [music] Gorges, a hyper-regional Sichuan restaurant where wok masters with 25 years of experience use precise cooking to turn recipes from [music] their hometown into the best Chinese food in Austin.

>> We're both owners, but he's running the restaurant.

>> I came here first in 2021.

I'm always amazed how much of your food I can eat.

When did you guys originally open?

>> April 2020.

[music] >> April 2020.

>> before COVID got us.

>> Perfect timing.

>> Yes.

>> Even though you had no experience, you had no one you knew who was in the industry.

>> I think it's me pushing him because I want to get food.

Since I moved to Austin I always complain we don't have a good Chinese food, but he definitely have a a good taste about food and Sichuan cuisines.

>> I thought, "Hey, why don't you take a risk and I'll be behind you to support you."

>> There you go.

Yeah.

>> As a first-time business owner opening a restaurant, we really don't know a lot of things we had to figure out on the fly.

>> I do love the name House of Three Gorges.

Where does that name come from?

>> That's where we grew up.

>> The name House of Three Gorges refers to the largest dam in the world that shares the moniker and holds back the fish-laden rivers of western China that run through [music] the owners' hometown of Yichang.

>> We don't want to open one of the Americanized Chinese food.

We want more authentic Sichuan cuisines.

>> You guys are making very specific choices in the kitchen.

I'm trying to get an understanding of what is the the layers that go into it.

>> Yep.

>> And I would love to go into the kitchen.

Sure, let's go.

Let's start with this dish here, the jumping fish.

>> So, the fish fillet and the marinating is [music] most important.

>> And what's in that marinade?

>> Salt, pepper, and then maybe a sugar and a little bit um cornstarch.

But, in China you can have the fresh fish, then you make a fillet and uh in the kitchen.

>> But, you would you would sometimes you would go or some someone else would go and catch the fish.

>> Not me, my brother and his friends normally in the morning.

I'm the one eating.

>> The jumping fish is boiled, but removed briefly to rest.

And when the second boil is timed just right by the wok master, the texture goes from soft to medium tender, unlike any boiled fish you've had.

>> It's like I'm seeing my childbirth of my favorite dish.

>> And these were the the chef's skills shows.

Yeah.

And you have to know the the timing, the the temperature.

>> It's just like muscle memory for him.

From my understanding of a lot of this really high heat Chinese cooking, you have to be muscle memory because there's no at the speed of it's going, right?

Yeah.

Wow.

So, this is the final product of the jumping fish.

I'll be struggling very hard not to eat this until we prep the other dishes.

>> The most distinct flavor of Sichuan cuisine is the mala spice, a tingly buzz that comes from the Sichuan peppercorn, unlike other forms of spice due to the way it gently numbs your tongue.

>> There's also a component that there has to be visually appealing, too, right?

>> Not only the flavor, but the color and also how you smelling the delicious.

So, that's very important.

>> The next dish we're going to be going through is the dry stir-fry chicken.

This is the dish I think that got me addicted to this place.

So, this dish starts with marinated chicken.

And he's going to put in some of the other seasonings here before any of the frying happening.

>> [music] >> Their fried chicken is fried an astounding four times.

Two initial deep fries to lock in crisp, a third when the dish is ordered to refresh the golden texture, and a fourth fry with aromatics and peppers to infuse flavor into [music] the oil and batter.

>> Wow, look at that amount of chilies.

And now he's activating these flavors.

>> Yes.

>> Wow.

A little symphony of symphony of flavors.

So, now that it's gone through with both [music] the re-crisping up and then the stir fry with the aromatics.

Feels like once you have that like coating on your tongue of the mala spice, it almost is like bringing out the the other flavors more.

I think we need to get this away from me before before I finish the whole thing before we actually film the rest of it.

>> The flavor layering here has five sources.

Marinated meat, different sauces for each dish made to order, the wok hei char from high heat, ingredients being cooked, and the aromatics activated with hot oil.

>> The last dish, spicy boiling beef.

Is that right for the full name?

>> Correct.

>> It starts with thin slicing the beef up.

This will then go in a marinade.

So, you got salt, sugar over there.

>> Yep.

He's putting in >> water.

>> water.

This is wine, Shaoxing wine?

>> Cooking Yeah, yeah.

>> Cooking wine, yeah.

>> And this part is very important because >> in the flavors and also getting flavor in every piece of it, too.

And almost like probably changes the texture the way he's working it over, too.

And this dish, I would say compared to the other two, is more about building up the broth.

>> Yes.

>> So, when they're making a bunch of these types of dishes, that's why everything is in it within a ladle's reach.

It's for the speed and they're able to do so much and get so much flavor in such a short time.

And there it is.

Wow.

The last step, taking uh aromatic ingredients, putting it on top, and then finishing it with hot oil.

That's where the magic happens.

This is the boiling beef that since the first time I came here to always to me looks like a cauldron, a lava of spiciness and beefy flavor.

Now's the fun part, at least for me.

I just want to watch them cook, the other four dishes that were that we're preparing today.

So, yeah, let's just watch them go at it.

>> [music] >> The pace is insane.

>> [music] >> Oh, yeah.

Woo.

And now you you're even smelling some of the wok the wok hei, which is basically like the the the the level of heat that almost gets like a grill component going to it.

There's two brother owners, and there's two brothers chefs, probably the most and they spend together in a way is like their work.

It's fun to see the unspoken things, you know?

>> [music] >> We have eight delectable dishes in front of us, this fried chicken.

And just the visuals on this, and every bite gets a little bit better.

This is the jumping fish.

The texture of this, it has like a bounce to it, but it's still incredibly soft.

It's very unlike any other fish dish I've had.

The final dish was the boiling beef.

Oh, unbelievable what's happening.

The amount of flavor that's being carried through the oil, outstanding.

You start to reach a flow state where you're going between different flavors, different broth, and rice, and then you just start going back.

So many other things on their menu are incredible.

Braised pork belly, giant fat cap on that.

It's just melty.

Oh my god.

It's so rendered out, so decadent.

Look at the fat.

Oh my god.

This is the cumin lamb.

[music] The fact that they throw the cilantro in there, really warm flavor to cilantro.

All of these chunks of meat are so tender.

Every part of this is beautiful and I need to eat it.

This is the dry pot, kind of a play on a hot pot.

It was a cooked dish that then is kept heating and boiling and bubbling on the table.

This one's sweeter than the other lamb dish, has more of that mala spice in it.

This is the the bacon.

If you go to the smell, you can tell that it's been smoked.

It's a very thin cut, translucent bacon, very smoky.

They almost always recommend [music] getting a little bit of something vegetable.

Everything at this restaurant is perfectly cooked.

All of these dishes you'll notice, not only on top, but within the elements of the dish, [music] everything looks as appetizing as it tastes.

It's something that you only get at a place that brings preparation and skill to all of their dishes, >> [music] >> and you find yourself bouncing back and forth and having basically a wonderland of food.

I should be eating this with chopsticks.

I'm just realized.

>> You have I still have a lot of work to do.

>> [laughter] >> Why you have not tried the greens?

You need to eat your greens.

>> the greens.

To me, if I look at this table, it represents your hometown.

What is the things you remember about your childhood there?

>> One year my mom was cooking for Chinese New Year.

He sneaked into the kitchen, [music] ate half of it, and my mom was so upset because nobody knows what happened.

>> [music] >> You know, part of it is we want the real Chinese food that our family eats and we [music] crave for.

>> After living here for 20 years, Austin felt like home to Jim and Adam.

They missed the food they ate growing up.

So a choice was made.

They'd bring their old home to their new one.

>> [music] >> They'd use childhood memories as kindling and care and expert cooking as fuel to create the best Sichuan restaurant [music] in Texas where every guest feels at home.

>> Yeah, I appreciate >> [laughter] [music]