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I was debating whether or not this place deserved its own thread, but I recently learned that it is under new ownership and has a new Cantonese chef. The menu is still the same -- until the end of the month -- but the food is actually edible. Carry-out tonight was Hunan Vegetables, Kung Pao Tofu, Garlic Seafood Combo, Crispy Shredded Chicken, and Spicy Eight Treasures. No need to go dish-by-dish, but the quality upgrade over the previous version of this place is significant. Lady KN and I agreed that we would order every one of these dishes again. No, this is not a destination restaurant, but thankfully, this plaza has a legitimate Americanized Chinese option to go with Kanjana Thai as not-too-bad places to eat. -
Ate here once, and ordered once. It's really good for what it is - white carton Chinese. I'd passed by it a million times, and had never been interested, but I figured I'd give it a go. I think they have beer? I don't remember. I went with a friend and got the Hunan Chicken, that was pretty tasty and they are able to make it a little spicy. I wasn't that hungry, and was leaving for a trip, so couldn't evaluate how it held up on day 2. Yesterday, me and little sis decided to aggressively pursue leisure, so we camped out on the couch and watched "Episodes" and "House of Lies" for about 6 hours until her flight. The rigorous nature of our hard core chilling required nourishment, so we decided to order in. Got 1) Vegetable Lo Mein - as good a version as any. Not too heavy/oily. Some vegetables were seen in there. 2) Ma Po Tofu - nothing at all like the Sichuan variety found at HKP and Joe's and other places, but surprisingly really good. They used a lot of mushrooms and it was earthy and good. I don't think they used shitty white plain mushrooms, either. These were good ones. The tofu wasn't too mushy. The sauce was spicy. 3) Kung Pao Chicken - as good version as you can get in the area. Not overloaded with peanuts. No dried red chiles, though, I usually want a few of those in the mix. 4) Shredded Pork With Garlic Sauce - like I say when I pass the preserves section at the supermarket, "This is my jam!". Really good! Tasty, not too "mystery-meat"-ish. This and a second plate of it sustained us through a very dynamic TV watching session... And I didn't feel sick the next day. $42 with tax and delivery and tip (Eat 24). Got there in 45 min. Plenty of food leftover. Try it hungover or an a Netflix day. I don't think you'll be too disappointed. -S- 2 replies
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I live and work in Greenbelt, and lets just say that decent dining options in the immediate area are....limited. In the Greenway Center (the one with the Safeway on 193 next to the B-W Parkway) is a small Chinese restaurant that seems to have held tough while other nearby Chinese restaurants have come and gone. They mostly serve what you would expect - the standard Americanized Chinese menu options, not the best quality and not the worst. I pretty much have only eaten there for work-related outings and when we needed a quick takeout option. However, they have another menu that is not translated into English (see attached file for what may be a phone photo of a scan/fax that is mostly illegible). I had read some reviews which said they had some better dishes on this menu, but when I went in the restaurant, the staff were not keen to tell me what any of the dishes were, and kept trying to steer me back to the regular menu. Finally, one of the summer interns at work got a copy of the secret menu and had his parents translate it before we had a group work lunch there. Below is that translation of the top section of the menu (he said the bottom section were repeats of the Americanized menu) left column: capital spare rib salt-sweet spiced spare rib dry-dofu with shredded pork stir fried hot pepper chinese beef black pepper beef green onion stir fry beef mustard stir fry beef pickled cabbage stir fry beef salty dry veg stew pork 8-treasure stew dofu stew tulip beef tendor salty fish & chicken stew dofu salty fish ground pork stew chinese eggplant xisi (beauty queen) dofu right column; celery chicken slice stir fry salt-sweet spiced shrimp pepper squid salt sweet squid salt sweet three treasure guangdong fire duck (half) steamed chicken (half) green onion chicken garlic spinach some kind of green veg hundred flower eggplant hundred flower dofu hundred flower three treasure butter shrimp ball salt sweet shrimp ball We had six dishes at the lunch - snow pea shoots, 8 treasure stew (various seafoods in a hot pot), one of the shredded pork dishes, one of the chicken dishes, a beef dish, and a dish of deep fried flounder in a spicy batter. I'm not sure of which dish was which because said intern negotiated the entire order with the server, and the translated menu is a little hazy. The fish was nice - the batter was light and delicate, with a flavorful spiciness. My favorite was the shredded pork dish, which was salty and I think had pieces of hot pepper and black beans. The chicken had thin slices of meat in a very mild sauce with a variety of vegetables. I would have liked a little more garlic or other seasoning on the snow pea shoots, but they weren't bad. I can't remember details of the beef or 8-treasure dishes (this lunch was about a month ago, sorry). Was the food on the order of Grace Garden, Panda Gourmet, or others? No, but it was waaaaay better than the regular menu, and there really aren't many options for non-Americanized Chinese food in the area. I'm sure I will be back again, and plan to copy the translated menu onto my phone so I can actually order some of the dishes. I have posted it here in the hopes that if enough people try to order off of the secret menu, that they will translate it and make it more accessible.
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It's been tough waiting for HECOB to reopen. So bad, I half remembered Todd Kliman's snippet last summer about Dim Sum being served at Tai Shan in Montgomery Village. This location has always been pretty steady for mains even before the name/ownership change [back in the pre-butterstick, Peking Supreme days]. A couple of Sundays ago I went and found that a display case of tendon, seaweed peanuts and other cold dim sum had replaced the first couple of booths inside the dining room. The dim sum is ordered from a menu [attached], not carts, and is delivered from the kitchen when ready. I had pumpkin pancake [more like a bun], scallion pancake [no too oily] and pan-fried pork buns. The setting is almost serene compared with New Fortune and seemed to pick up after noon with Asian families. TaiShanDimSum_Dec2009.PDF -
House of Lion, Comfort Inn, Fairfax City, corner of Main St. and Jermantown. The Chinese menu is much more to my taste than Americanized Chinese food, but it's not Szechuan. -
Eric, or someone else, could you give us non-Chinese or non-Taiwanese a primer as to what "represents" cooking styles of various Chinese regions? By "representing" I mean a list of characteristics, followed by a sample list of dishes considered "classic" to each region. There's no need to go into more obscure provinces, although that would be nice too. Also, pointing out overlaps between neighboring reasons would be very useful as well. This can be a multi-person project (we have a good number of Chinese members here), you all should be able to team up and help each other out. If you could all disclose which province you or your parents were from, that would lend some depth as well. Thank you in advance - I think this would be fascinating. It could be in the form of a simple numbering system with each number having the province or region name, a brief description of where it is, its primary city or cities, and then some bullet points for both "culinary characteristics" and "sample dishes." Also, perhaps there are books out that do this very thing. Any recommendations may be useful to people as well. Cheers, Rocks -
Don encouraged me to start a "mini-blog" about the search for my favorite chicken dish 炸å雞. It generally translates to crispy fried chicken but literally means "fried young chicken." It looks like this. This is a popular dish in NY Chinatown but hard to find here. Years ago, my mother wrote down the Chinese characters so I could show it to the waiter because on menus it can be called many things in English. Also, different waiters speak different dialects so verbalizing it in my own dialect could get me nowhere. A couple of years ago, I flashed the characters asked at Full Kee. At that time, they said they could make it if I ordered it a day in advance. This is not surprising in a non-Chinatown restaurant because the prep is not trivial. Check out this video. Now I understand how the meat can be juicy and succulent yet sport a delicious crispy skin. My quest is to find and try out this dish in NoVa. Candidates to explore so far include China Wok, Lotus Garden, Mark's Duck House, XO Taste as well as what will be my starting point, Full Kee. I will keep you posted on my 炸å雞 experiences.- 10 replies
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East Pearl has been open only two weeks, but I've already been three times. The menu is huge, and since every dish I've had has been a hit, I am drawn to keep returning. No website, and too lazy to scan the takeout menu. In fact, as I look at it, I realize that a good chunk of the "chinese" part of the menu isn't even on the takeout menu. In the restaurant, there's not a separate Chinese menu, though there is an add-on page of specials that they have brought each time, so there's no non-Chinese bias. In fact, as soon as I start pointing to the "chinese" side of the menu, they smile and start recommending dishes. Some things I have had, in no particular order: Shrimp wonton noodle soup - nearly paper-thin wonton wrappers that hold large diced shrimp inside, nicely chewy noodles that are impossibly long, and a broth that some might call salty but I can't get enough of. Cured bacon with chinese broccoli - nicely bitter greens, a rich brown sauce, and not only pork belly but also chinese sausage. Deep fried spicy pork chop - not that spicy by my standards, but well fried and juicy Assorted meats & seafood w bean curd in casserole - nothing fancy, but tons of shrimp, scallops, squid, cuttlefish, pork, chicken in a rich sauce. Pig skin & turnips - I was thinking this might be crispy, but it was braised and oh so good. There are entire sections of the menu for noodle soups, "rice on xxx", casseroles, noodles (chow foon, rice noodles, e-fu, young chow, pan fried, etc.), BBQ, and that's not even counting 2 pages of "chef's specialties" which include all kind of organ meats, frog, lobster and clams, etc. All of the food on the other tables looks great, and I'm the only non-Chinese person I've seen in the restaurant after 3 visits. Portions are generous, and prices are low. Three of us were hungry tonight, polished off 3 dishes plus a noodle soup, and the total was still well under $20pp after tax and tip. Definitely a $20 Tuesday candidate. -
Does anyone know where to find a proper Cantonese Roast Chicken in the DC area?
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The former Good Fortune space on University Boulevard in Wheaton is now split into two restaurants - Cam Ranh Bay on the right, and Gourmet Inspirations on the left. The ownership has changed, but the space has been renovated and on their website (http://www.gichinese.com), the new owner of Gourmet Inspiration says: It has been a while since I went to Good Fortune - the interior has definitely been spruced up. We arrived shortly after they opened at 10:30 on Sunday, there were only a few tables of folks when we got there but it was filling up rapidly by 11:30. At first only a few carts were circulating, but more carts were added after a little while and new items were added to the carts. The good: "¢ everything we got was fresh and hot "¢ no line or wait to get in at opening "¢ service was attentive with tea, carts, and a special order of gai lan The acceptable: "¢ gai lan, siu mai, har gao, cream buns, shrimp rice noodle rolls, taro puffs The less than stellar: "¢ the tofu skin rolls were in a weird gelatinous sauce and the filling was odd in a way that I couldn't quite figure out We only had three in our party, one of whom was not very hungry, so did not sample a wide range. While this was not the greatest dim sum ever, I have had far worse. I'd eat dim sum here again, although in part that is because it is one of the closest to my house in PG county and I don't like Oriental East on weekends. Also, they have made arrangements to allow use of part of the Bank of America lot across the street for parking on Sundays and evenings, and at the Pearle Vision lot when Pearle is closed.
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Well you knew this place was going to be good when there was a line out the door and down the street with all sorts of people waiting on Thanksgiving Day. We took our number and it really wasn't too long before we were seated. We sat with another bunch of people originally from Oklahoma City who now live in NYC. This place was filled with Thanksgiving refugees fleeing their normal plans for one reason or another. We had the pork soup dumplings which were good, although they may have sat in the steamer basket just a little too long as the tops of some were getting a little dry, but the flavor was excellent and they had a good amount of soup in them. We also had the dried beef which came with a side of rice and broccoli. I don't like a lot of the sticky sweet americanized chinese sauces, but this was ok, I liked the crispiness and ate most of the broccoli. The menu was overwhelming and the waiter came so quick that I just made a guess at what I might like and this turned out to be acceptable. I couldn't seem to pull up my messages on here from my iphone to figure out what was recommended to me... but it ended up being just fine and quite tasty and Mom was very happy, she was just in love with soup dumplings. -
Greetings folks, I've mostly lurked on this website (and have admittedly been extremely inactive). --- 3 months ago Taipei Cafe took over the the space formerly occupied by Ambrosia Grille (Mediterranean grill). What is most interesting about this new restaurant is that it is headed by the former head chef of Bob's 66. Rumors suggest that Bob and the chef had a falling out of sorts, and the chef decided to (quietly) open a restaurant about a mile away from Bob. The menu is nothing new, in fact it more or less contains every item that Bob's 66 sold before the location moved. If you frequented Bob's in years past, you will find the exact same dishes at Taipei Cafe. It seems like the chef is adding a lot of more traditional Taiwanese desserts/appetizers as time goes on (things that Bob's did not offer before). I saw items like "not stinky tofu", "ba wan (Taiwanese gelatinous meatball)", and "tong zai mi gao (sweet rice with sauce) on the menu. Taipei Cafe also accepts credit cards. I ordered 2 plates of pork chop rice (pai gu fan), oyster pancake (oh ah jian), sweet rice with sauce (tong zai mi gao), 2 braised pork rice bowls, and a 4 gods soup. The dishes were all delicious, and tasted the way I expected them to taste. This is a description that I understand is hard to visualize, but the closest term I can think of is "it tastes legit". I will be back to test out the other dishes, I used to frequent Bob's 66, but since their move the dishes have started to taste a little off. My family heritage is Taiwanese, and my parents currently live in what is basically Little Taiwan in California. For a 1 person test drive: I suggest you order 1 order pork chop rice, 1 order oyster pancake, 1 order 4 gods soup, and take 1 order braised pork rice to go. The pork chop rice (depending on how much you can eat), may be enough for 2 people though. The portion sizes were ridiculous(ly huge). -
If you want excellent Peking Duck, you can hardly do better than Peking Duck House. It has been in business for over 25 years at 28 Mott St. in NYC (there's also a midtown location), and I recently reacquainted myself with the place, after a long hiatus, when a friend wanted to go out for"¦guess what? So off we went, 3 or 4 of us from the building. And all I can say is this place totally rocks - at least for the Peking Duck. I'm not responsible for the rest of your order. Remember, the whole of Chinatown is fairly mediocre; the whys of that are a subject for another post (lousy cooks, shitty ingredients "“ you be the judge). The way the menu at Peking Duck House is set up, they try to trick you into ordering a lot more food, for a lot more money, than you really need. The "special house dinner," or the "Peking Duck dinner" are just money grabbers, so do as I do. Order a whole Peking duck, a couple of apps "“ say pickled cabbage and mock dock made from tofu skin, a safe vegetable dish (forget about stuff like snow pea leaves "“ not gonna happen) and another stir fry and you'll easily have enough food for 4 people. And it'll end up a lot cheaper than the dinners they put together for you. Pix and a bit more are here...click. -
Next to 7-Eleven and across the street from the main shopping center in College Park is a little flourescent-lit Chinese restaurant called China Cafe. It's dirt cheap and you order from the counter, but the food is really pretty good. I got turned on to it by the City Paper food critic last semester, and they're able to do a damn fine job with their food for the prices they charge. -
Have to agree with you on Oriental Gourmet. I am very surpised with the quaility and their offerings. Food is always fresh with quality ingredients. Also a little past Arrowwine on Lee is a La Union Grocery. They have great salvadorian food at great prices. A decent lunch will sent you back 6 bucks. -
I wanted to go to Thai Nakorn today, but I was overruled by my daughter, so we got takeout from Chef Huang's. I have lots of leftover Hunan shrimp to make into soup tomorrow (there's always a plethora of broccoli). -
I order 'em from City Lights. They are the classic Westerner crab rangoon, with the cream cheese and flecks of pink. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when ordering crab rangoon in Chinatown and getting some that were actually filled with crab. No cheese at all! How dare you authenticize my guilty indulgence! -
Had Sichuan food on my mind last night, as so often happens, so I visited the poorly-programmed website for Hong Kong Palace. (hint: URL tags, like fading relationships, need some sort of closure) Ah. The owners just bought a place called China Jade up near Shady Grove Metro. So I just happened to find myself in the Shady Grove area at lunchtime today, and can report that the Cumin Beef recipe successfully made the trip north. Much of the HKP menu is duplicated here, plus they've added Cantonese seafood dishes to the mix. When I sat down, Maggie the manager handed me the traditional and Americanized menus, and suggested some of the traditional specialties. This was before she even noticed I looked Asian. We chatted a little about HKP, and she pointed out a family also making its first visit after discovering the change in ownership. So if you're craving some of that HKP cumin beef or fish in peppery broth, but can't cope with crossing the river and getting lost in Seven Corners (Dean, I'm looking at you), give China Jade a try. China Jade 16805 Crabbs Branch Way Rockville, MD 20855 301-963-1570 11am-10pm daily It's at the intersection of Shady Grove Rd and Crabbs Branch Way, in the shopping center with Giant and Red Hot & Blue.
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Can't find a topic for Great Wall in Merrifield, VA so starting one now, please merge if there is already one. I have long been a fan of their steam table food. I am a big fan of steam table food, in general, working class food at working class prices. The Chinese steam table is at the furthest corner from the entry to the grocery store. There you will find some of the finest authentic Chinese food in the area at an unbelievably low price, $5.99 for rice, three generous toppings, and soup. One of the best bargains for food in this area. On the weekends the selection is even better than during the week. I would estimate more than 20 kinds of toppings for the rice. As I understand it, in China, according to author Fuschia Dunlop, food is "fan" which is rice, and toppings, and meat = pork. When you eat at Great Wall, this appears to be right on the money. I am a big fan of the vegetables, e.g., bok choy, gai lan, Shanghai cabbage, spicy eggplant, Buddha delight. They are also generous with servings of ma po tofu, lion head meatballs, and many other things I cannot identify by sight, many containing combinations of chicken, black beans, and pork belly. My current favorite is tofu skins with pork belly. Savory and satisfying. The steam table food is served by lovely Chinese maidens who understand finger-pointing quite well, and appreciate and remember a generous (a dollar or two) tip sufficiently to be more generous the next go round. I am usually the only gwailo ordering when I do, and they do seem to remember me. Whether or not they do remember me, they are very nice Chinese maidens, and deserve to be treated well. They work hard. They also have in that corner various barbecued meats, including whole duck, chicken with head on, and whole pig, all chopped to order. The duck comes with the real duck sauce, with is a broth redolent with spices and heavy on the five spice seasoning. The men who cut up the meat are all Hispanic gentlemen, who also understand finger-pointing quite well. Very interesting to watch the interactions between the different nationalities seeking meat and the Hispanic men chopping it on the humongous chopping boards. This is separate from the steam table food, but the payments are at the same cash register. Also many kinds of dim sum, although I am not a fan of dim sum, personally, and thus, never order it. Also separate from the steam table food, not sure whether you pay at the same cash register or not. If you go for lunch during the week, it appears that many of the customers are local Hispanics who appear to be laborers. On the weekend mostly Asians. Point, receive, pay, and eat. Such is life in the great Melting Pot. Except, of course, that we don't melt.
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Folks, I was wondering if anyone out there had a recommendation to get some dongpo rou in the area? I'm guessing Rockville or Falls Church will be the where, but I was hoping to find a good rendition. Yeah...I've got a hankering for some fatty pork, I guess. -
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Which do you like better? We're going to get brunch today and need to pick a place. -
[posted on eGullet 2003-2004] This outstanding find is in the same shopping center as the Fair City Cinemas, one of the best houses for independent film in all of Virginia (Little River Turnpike and Pickett Road, sort of). China Star is right up there near the top of all Szechuan restaurants in the DC area, the key word being Szechuan, incorrectly dissed as China's Tar, hence the name. The Scallion Pancake is hors classe, served in a globular puff and just an unbelievable combination with the pickled cabbage and broccoli that are served as a small amuse-gueule (along with spicy peanuts which are equally irresistible). Fish with Sour Mustard is a must, the filets of white fish simmering in a quasi-hot-pot of burbling hoodoo spices and chiles. You might not think it necessary or even desirable to order Marinated Duck Feet with such a dish, but it's beautiful combination when the two dishes are worked together: the duck feet served with root vegetables (carrots, turnip-like things), in a cold vinaigrette sauce, and presented in a locked-lid apothecary jar. You need the sweetness and coolness of this dish to neutralize the fires of the first, and they work wonderfully in tandem. Crystal Shrimp is a fine, glossy plate of good shrimp, and Shredded Pork with Dried Tofu is another dish that manages to be soulful without excessive spicing. On another visit, this restaurant proved useful for people I know ranging in age from 7 to 80, and even their Americanized fare such as Beef with Broccoli and Lemon Chicken are a strong cut above what you would normally find in a local restaurant. I've found "authentic" Chinese restaurants that do a great Chinese menu, but completely drop the ball on the Americanized stuff; not here. By my experience, you can order the entire menu with confidence. Shredded Pork with Green Pepper is a completely different dish than the Shredded Pork with Dried Tofu, hotter, deeply sauced and homestyle. Man, there's so much left I haven't explored on this menu. Look at this stuff: Five Flavored Smoke Shredded Tofu, Ma La Diced Rabbit, Pork Scallion Pie, Triple Stuffed Bean Curd Skin, Spicy Peppercorn Pig Feet in Hot Pot, Beef Triple and Pig Blood with Bean Sprouts, Braised Fish, Spicy and Sour Squid Roll, the list goes on. Tsing Taos, $3.25, and you'll need them, too. I was there today with a Chinese woman who asked the waiter why they weren't that crowded for lunch. The reply? "Because people are in a hurry for lunch, and it's difficult to eat Szechuan food in ten minutes and then rush out. When people do come, it's often in large groups, and we're busy for dinner every night of the week." China Star is a huge addition to the Northern Virginia chinese scene - many Chinese people feel that for spicy food, it's the best Chinese restaurant around, and I've seen no reason not to defer to their wisdom and experience.
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Tim Carmen breaking the news. Jeffrey Yu, son of Hollywood East's Janet Yu, is opening up a dumpling shop in Montgomery Mall...claims July 1, but you know how that works. "Dumpling Dojo is all about homemade dumplings, Bao sandwiches, & rice bowls! I'm excited to open & share the recipes I've worked so hard on!" He also appears to have a donut shop in the works. -
I am going to see my SIL on NYD to eat Chinese food and go see Hunger Games. The problem is I have been reading all the Chinese threads for Rockville and all of the ones near the top of the dining guide have recent posts about going downhill. So where should we go? She is not the biggest fan of spicy or weird, but can find something on most menus.
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Since we are bashing on crappy Hill restaurants, has anyone been to Fusion Grill, I believe that is what it is called on 8th Street, SE Use to be a crappy Chinese restaurant, they remodeled, went all modern looking. The name alone should be warning enough...but I'm craving Chinese but can only eat on the Hill tonight. So no Virginia burbs or Rockville Pike snobbery please
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