I'm with you, Buddy, about trying authentic food out of curiosity. When we travel, we like to try what the locals like to eat just to get a better appreciation of the area.
There's still a lot of Chinese regional food that I have not tried. DH and I recently tried a small mom/pop restaurant that was highly recommended by a friend. The restaurant specializes in Chongqing (sometimes referred to as ChungKing) style Sichuan (szechuan) cuisine. I took Chongqing to mean the dishes are probably hotter than usual szechuan dishes. And I was right. Boy, they were hot, hot, hot! We had Dry Fried Beef Slivers (Gan Bian Niu Rou Si), although I prefer the version that my mom makes. We also had Twice Cooked Fish. Different. They also offered a lot of the dishes I'm familiar with but probably most Americans won't try. How about some stewed pig ear, smoked pork tongue, fish with soft jelly noodle? DH said no on all 3. But he'll eat chicken feet!
I have found traditionally, szechuan restaurants in the States (at least the ones in CA) serve the more refined Chengdu (capital of Sichuan) style szechuan dishes. But I think that's changing, so I've been told.
That reminds me. The first time I ate at PF Chang's, I was surprised by some of their dishes. Some dishes were very close in preparation and taste like what I grew up with. Guess it surprised me that I found some dishes that taste like home at a chain restaurant. Lettuce wraps, that's something my grandmother used to make for me as a kid using leftover meat dishes. Dan dan noodles' sauce is the closest I've had to my aunt's. The mu shu pork is the closests to my Mom's, which I love but have never been able to re-create or find at a restaurant. And the Sichuan from the Sea Shrimp taste just like Mom's. Don't really mean to be a Chinese food snob but I just would have never guessed with a place with the words Bistro and China together.
The one thing I don't like about PF Chang's is when the servers try to correct my pronunciation of some words.
Also, their dishes are very high in calories and fat.