It's not super strong, but it's there. You could certainly tone it down (or amp it up). I would probably be wary of it too if it was in everything, lol.
Well, not in everything, but mala-style food has really exploded here in the past 3-4 years, and very often when walking near any eatery I'll get a whiff of that! Imagine if everywhere smelled like fried chicken.
Sure. The rub was an 8-3-1-1 rub (8 parts brown sugar, 3 parts chili powder, 1 and 1 spice) with Sichuan peppercorn, Sichuan chilis, and a bit of cumin for the spice portion. I cooked them on my Big Green Egg with hickory at around 250F for 2 hours, wrapped in foil for 2 hours, then unwrapped and brushed with sauce and cooked til the rack bent easily and it felt done. Sauce was brown sugar, ketchup, worcestershire, vinegar, onion, and some of the rub. So Sichuan inspired/fusion.