Driving on Fremont Boulevard in Seaside some months back, I couldn’t help but notice a sign announcing the grand opening of a new Chinese Restaurant, “China Chili.”

As a transplant from Phoenix, I got nostalgic: My favorite Chinese restaurant there has the same name, and I had been seriously jonesing for it since I left.

How could I not try its namesake?

A couple of months later– giving the new venture time to work out any kinks– I’m glad I did.

I love spicy food, and the Hunan and Szechuan provinces of China offer some of the best. My tests of any restaurant purporting to offer such incendiary fare are eggplant with garlic sauce and sautéed string beans.

First the eggplant ($6.25): It was hot, oily and cooked to almost a creamy texture that was luxurious on the palate. The first time I tried it was on the lunch buffet (more on that later) and it was not spicy enough. On another occasion, I ordered it to go and asked for the fire to be kicked up. It was perfect. The optional shredded pork is a fine complement.

The green beans ($6.25) also were delicious when I ordered them a notch hotter. Hint: It is best to get the beans when you plan to eat at the restaurant; they continue steaming in takeout containers and can get a little limp and lose some of their color on the trip home. Again, shredded pork is an option worth picking up.

Another item I can’t get enough of is the green onion pancake ($1.95 for eight wedges). The appetizer– a fried sort of flour-tortilla flat– is delicious and addictive, though pretty greasy (par for the course every place I have tried them). They disappeared quickly.

My favorite entrée so far from the large and reasonably priced menu has been the shredded pork with garlic sauce ($6.95). It was spicy and filled with al dente julienned vegetables. The Singapore-style rice noodle dish, another good choice, offers curried vermicelli-thin rice noodles with pork, chicken and shrimp, plus onions and green peppers ($6.95). This is a light curry, not at all like rich coconut Thai curries, and is delicious. It also is a huge amount of food from which you can get several meals.

The lunch buffet ($6.99, including a soft drink) is a good way to try a variety of offerings, which change daily. It’s also one of the best values on the menu.

On my visit, the standouts were the braised shrimp– heads, tails, shells and legs still attached– which were firm and fresh-tasting, if a bit messy; the sauce for the Szechuan chicken, which was fiery and had a lingering kick (the chicken was battered and a bit greasy); the hot, spicy bean curd; and the bright-green, crunchy, gingery broccoli in the beef strips with broccoli.

The chow mein was fine, though oily, as were the fried pork strips. The egg rolls were crisp and hot.

The rice suffered from being on the steam table too long and some of it was eggshell-crunchy. (Rice on a takeout order was hot, plentiful and cooked just right).

Other items on the buffet I did not try included tripe, creamed corn with chicken soup, fried won tons and two kinds of tapioca, laden with BB-sized tapioca balls.

The menu is wide-ranging, offering 12 chef’s specials (the honey pecan prawns beckon), 10 appetizers and nine vegetables, as well as soups, pork, poultry, beef, lamb, seafood (the whole fish Szechuan style sounds great), four kinds of egg foo young, and 20 rice and noodle dishes. The soup noodles are homemade.

Overall, while I enjoyed most everything I tasted, I wish the chef would use a lighter hand with the oilcan in all the food. One other quibble: The restaurant charges $1 for rice, per person.

The place is larger and prettier inside than it looks from the outside, with two bright, Asian-themed, spacious rooms with carved ceiling tiles and carved wooden archways. There are booths in the room with the buffet station, and tablecloths in the other dining room.

Service was gracious and efficient. On each visit, the number of Asian patrons was high– a sign of authentic food, if one believes the old cliché. One customer in line beside me at the buffet told me he thinks the food is the best Chinese fare in the county.

A grand statement– with more than a little ring of truth.

China Chili 1868 Fremont Blvd., Seaside • Lunch 11am-3pm, dinner 4:30-9:30pm daily • Lunch buffet Mon-Fri • 899-5888.