When one chile falls, another rises. This sounds like a bad movie tagline, but it’s also the story of the San Gabriel Valley, where Sichuan cuisine has exploded in popularity in the past couple years. Chung King, one of the area’s Sichuan stalwarts, closed after a long run in Monterey Park, but it didn’t take long for Huolala to take its place. Hong Wei Tang decorated red and white walls with colorful photos of China and topped tables with red cloths and glass, since chile oil is bound to splatter. He also filled stainless steel bins by the register with cold appetizers like cucumbers, shaved pig ears, and wood ear mushrooms, most accented with peppers. Dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns are two of Sichuan cuisine’s building blocks, and they both appear in a variety of dishes at Huolala, including multiple pork preparations.

I really enjoyed vermicelli with ground pork, dried chilies and scallions, which a wok helped to permeate with spicy pork flavor, but that wasn’t even the top pork dish on the table. My server suggested Pork Chop with Hot Pepper ($13.99), chewy bone-in pork nubs infused with tongue tingling ma la. The dish touted so much chile oil and dried chilies that it arrived on a foil-lined tray. Really though, this dish is about far more than chilies. Caramelized garlic shavings, scallions, sesame seeds and crunchy puffed rice clusters, which were like plain Rice Krispies treats, also joined the party. The portion is huge, so be prepared to share.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.