28 replies to this topic

[DanielK]

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.

[schulju]

Definitely a $20 Tuesday candidate.

A $20 Tuesday candidate in MoCo?? I'm in!

[DanielK]

Sounds awesome. Where is it in Rockville?

Heather, it's on the east side of 355 between Edmonston and Wootton Parkway - across the street from Wintergreen.

[synaesthesia]

Heather, it's on the east side of 355 between Edmonston and Wootton Parkway - across the street from Wintergreen.

In the same disjointed strip that has the MoCo liquor store, Pho Nom Nom (formerly Ba Le).

[DanielK]

In the same disjointed strip that has the MoCo liquor store, Pho Nom Nom (formerly Ba Le).

And adjacent to the worst mashup of stupid trends ever - Yocake. That's right, a crappy cupcake, wrapper taken off, placed in a cup, and bad tart frozen yogurt on top.

[darkstar965]

Yocake. That's freakin' priceless! Does it have a PR agent? Is a TopChef alum behind it? Is there an associated yocake truck--maybe called "yocake gocake"?! Go now before the lines are around the block and prices rise!!!

East Pearl sounds pretty fab. As a long-time Full Kee fan, I'll be trying that. Do they have the big Hong-Kong style noodle soups like Full Kee does?

[DanielK]

East Pearl sounds pretty fab. As a long-time Full Kee fan, I'll be trying that. Do they have the big Hong-Kong style noodle soups like Full Kee does?

yes

[Marty L.]

And when I was there most of the tables were ordering very large bowls of congee -- which received uniform kudos from those I asked. I'm definitely ordering it next time.

P.S. The sausage and Chinese broccoli I ordered was very good -- impeccably fresh.

[deangold]

Went last night. The shrimp dumpling soup and the soy sauce chicken rocketed this place to the top of my Cantonese list. Why did I then order a Sichuan dish at a purely Cantonese place? Ma Po Tofu dull from overly wet tofu. The other tables seemes much happier with Walnut Shrimp, Steak Cantonese and various casseroles. Will be back.

[deangold]

Beancurd casserole with seafood was very good if in need of a tiny bit of salt {provided by generous helping of hot chile oil}

Shrimp Dumplings with Sichuan hot sauce was the same outstanding dumplings as the soup with a sticky sweet black soy. I doused themin chile oil, but inthe future will stick with the soup version.

Not as good as the first visit, but still quite good. My go to non Sichuan for right now.

[DanielK]

Banquet for 8 today revealed more treasures on the menu:

• Congee with sliced beef (not a congee expert, but liked this a lot)
• BBQ duck, pork, chicken (all 3 very good)
• Marinated cuttlefish (tender, not chewy)
• Cold jellyfish (also tender, though I like mine spicier, which was easily fixed with the chile sauce on the table)
• Fried pig intestines (not as strong an offal taste as you would think - very crispy)
• Beef brisket with turnips in casserole (had this before, rich and lovely)
• Seafood bean curd casserole (didn't have the salt problem that Dean encountered, but loads of very well cooked seafood)
• Beef with chinese broccoli chow foon (very good rendition of this dish)
• Deep fried frog (huge plate, but so many bones, you don't feel like you get to eat a lot. The batter was good, so other salt&pepper dishes here should be good)
• Fried sea bass with bean sauce (excellent - the favorite of many at the table)

$20/person plus tax and tip, and we had to be rolled out the door.

Parking is very limited here, and they are packed during peak hours now. They will take reservations. Also, the waitress recommended the Walnut Shrimp, Pan Fried Noodle, Steak Cantonese, and Sauteed Conch. Next time!

[Koozebanian Fazoob]

If you follow the parking lot north, past the liquor store and patio furniture place, there's another whole lot there. We stopped in on Friday at around 8pm and there was nobody parked there at all, so it seems like a fairly safe bet if you hate fighting for a parking space like I do.

[hm212]

Another vote for the BBQ duck pork and chicken.. Probably would order a second if more adults, but one platter served 2 preteen girls and me well.

[SVT]

Walnut Shrimp here was fantastic--sinfully rich, almost a dessert dish. The salted fish with green chives was an awesome contrast. We ate so well with these two dishes, plus some wonton soup.

[deangold]

Wish I could say anything good about our meal there last night. Even the service wasn't good. If we had not been 3 times before, we wold never go back. Totally shocked at the evening. We would have sent food back except no one came to our table till we finished the food {it was late, we were starving, and like I say, no one came by}.

[hmmboy]

I had a stellar lunch there this week. Shrimp dumpling soup 1/2 Soy chicken and 1/2 lb of roast pork (I threw i/2 of it in the soup). Nothing too adventurous but all outstanding.

[DonRocks]

[For suburban strip-mall ethnic restaurants, local publications are often very useful to get basic facts, even though the reviews themselves may not be the most reliable. Thanks to Bernice August at Gazette.net for her March 15th write-up - I wouldn't have known anything at all about the owner, Sue Li (who she is, where she came from, etc).

This question will possibly spur a separate thread in News and Media, but I get basic factual information such as this all the time by spending 5-10 minutes milling around on Google. It would be impossible (or, at least cumbersome to the point of being counter-productive) to point out and thank every single news source out that provides me with basic factual information - are there any guidelines out there? I'm all for giving credit where credit is due, but don't want to bog things down just because I found a little info-nugget to help me with titling a thread.

Take, for example, this post. It's very nice that I have a chance to thank Ms. August and the Gazette, but I wouldn't want to do this every single time for obvious reasons.

And I should add that it looks like Daniel might have been the first person to "discover" this place on the internet. Good work, man! I haven't been yet, but it sounds like you stumbled across a winner.]

[deangold]

We have had 3 good meals before last night. Right now we don't have any Chinese that is firing on all cylinders right now except Joe's Noodle. Wong Gee and now East Pearl both show flashes of brilliance and some merely good. So we will be back to EP, let them know about our poor exprience and hope that it rises to the standard of the first three and not the WTF of last night.

[Marty L.]

"we don't have any Chinese that is firing on all cylinders right now except Joe's Noodle"

What about SIchuan Jin River?!

[DonRocks]

We have had 3 good meals before last night. Right now we don't have any Chinese that is firing on all cylinders right now except Joe's Noodle. Wong Gee and now East Pearl both show flashes of brilliance and some merely good. So we will be back to EP, let them know about our poor exprience and hope that it rises to the standard of the first three and not the WTF of last night.

Classic symptoms of "One Great Cook Syndrome."

[deangold]

When we got there, the waiter told us that the cook was on lunch and we might have a touch of a wait... didn't know he was "out to lunch!"

[goodeats]

Had a mini outing here today after Chinese school. The Chinese characters for this place is: 六鼎記. There is no poetic meaning and it definitely does not translate to East Pearl. But the Chinese characters are definitely related to Hong Kong in the sense that it might be a tribute to an old novella/teledrama, hence cuisine-oriented (and the English is a given, of course).

Between two adults and three children, with one being little man, the following were consumed and enjoyed:

• Roast Duck and Pork Platter ($12.95)
• E-Fu Noodles ($12.95)
• Salted Fish and Tofu Casserole
• Crisp Bacon and Broccoli
• Salted Roast Chicken

Sorry that I can't recall the prices for the other dishes.

I think this is a solid go-to place and definitely has the feel that Sichuan JinRiver had when it first opened: authentic, good cooking. I actually don't have a detailed report other than, yes, this feel like Hong Kong/Cantonese cuisine; yes, it is very comforting to have some of the foods I can't find elsewhere; and yes, it's nice to have a solid Chinese restaurant that does not feature Hunan/Sichuan cuisine.

There were mostly Chinese families when I went, with one table of six diners from the same Chinese school little man attends.

I did not experience the same service issues Dean reports.

I left thinking: 1. "Gosh, no one makes salted fish like the Cantonese;" 2. "Oooh, they have lapchong AND Cantonese-cured bacon;" and 3. "Wow, this is the best Chicken I've had in a long time," with the latter being, okay, please try this instead of the soy sauce chicken.

[DanielK]

From the takeout menu:

3. Salted Fish and Chicken with Bean Curd in Casserole $12.95
4. Cured Bacon with Chinese Broccoli $11.95
5. Baked Salted Chicken (Half) $11.95

We probably could have gotten away with one less dish had we not somewhat stuffed ourselves, and had one of the 5 not been my 14-year-old son with bottomless appetite. And we did have enough leftovers for my lunch tomorrow!

[jrichstar]

I'm looking for a menu online to order some take out later this week. Does anyone know of a link....can't seem to locate? Or if not, maybe scan in a takeout menu? Many thanks!

[jandres374]

Here you go:
http://www.eastpearl....com/index.html

[porcupine]

On the one hand, East Pearl is a good place to go with a group, because the portions are huge. On the other hand, it's so noisy that it would be an awful place to go with a group, because you wouldn't be able to hear anybody talking. As for the food, my experiences have been mixed. Ma po bean curd was utterly unlike any rendition I've had, and not in the least bit spicy, but delicious. Triple Delight (tofu, eggplant, green pepper) is made with fermented black bean sauce, and everything was perfectly fried. Cured bacon with Chinese broccoli is a winner. Deep fried spicy tofu was just that: deep fried tofu, with a few slices of jalapeño pepper, and therefore boring. Likewise the steamed chicken, although my friend enjoyed it (she likes plain food); in its defense I'll say that the meat was tender and moist.

On one trip we took some friends who are fans of Hong Kong cuisine. They ordered some of their benchmark dishes (wonton noodle soup, roast pork, fried seafood, beef chow foon) and then slammed them (from "boring" to "absolutley awful"), with a promise to take us to Full Kee soon, but they enjoyed the other dishes. I thought they were being harsh. The chow foon were not particularly better or worse than any chow foon I've had anywhere else; same with the roast pork; and though mild in flavor the soup tasted nice, and the noodles were perfectly cooked. Does everything have to be absolutely packed with flavor? Is mild not acceptable anymore?

On another trip I got Kung Pao chicken, because damnit I like Kung Pao chicken, and I don't give a fig if it's an authentic Chinese dish, it can be really good. East Pearl's wasn't, though.

Staff have been friendly and effiecient evvery time. They won my respect and gratitude by finding my expensive sungalsses and saving them for me even though I couldn't get there for two days and figured there was no chance they'd still be around.

[Ericandblueboy]

Is mild not acceptable anymore?

From About.com (and I whole-heartedly agree with it)

An emphasis on preserving the natural flavor of the food is the hallmark of Cantonese cuisine. A Cantonese chef would consider it a culinary sin of the highest order to produce a dish that was overcooked or too heavily seasoned.

[porcupine]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting that.

[turbogrrl]

I don't think that mild is not acceptable; I think we all thought the ma po tofu was oustanding. (of course, that's a Sichuan dish, not a Hong Kong one.) I do think my partner has imprinted more heavily on some dishes than others; and reacts poorly to deviations. And I'm sympathetic. The overwhelming note in the beef chow foon was ginger, which was jarring, and a lot of the beef was tough. The spicy seafood was very heavily battered and overcooked, the scallops were inedible, and the spicy was missing. The char siu was ... very lean. or perhaps just dry. I can't comment on wonton soup; I apparently am not programmed to appreciate it no matter where it is made. But that ma po! Oh, man. I'd go back just for that.

His parents went for lunch earlier in the week, for some of the same dishes and loved it. I think the answer is the kitchen is mysteriously inconsistant. I'd be happy to go back without the complainer. Of course, I'd probably stick to the ma po.