I'm usually not a huge fan of "nice" Chinese restaurants - I've always had a soft spot of the mom and pop places where they scream at you and there is like a bed in the bathroom. But I'll admit, that sometimes they are kind of dirty and can gross me out. So when I read about this luxurious Chinatown legend making a comeback earlier this year, I had to try it out.
When you step in, you can automatically tell that it's different from most of the Chinatown places. First, it's super clean, quiet and has fancy white tablecloths. It's got a very elegant Western feel to it with a few Asian influences injected in the decor. The crowd was mostly non-Asians and the GM is an older white guy, so you know it's fancy. All of that made me a bit nervous that the food wasn't going to be great or that it was going to be Americanized and with the exception of one dish, the food was outstanding. We started with a whole Peking Duck ($65), sautéed pea shoots ($18), jellyfish ($18), baked black cod ($38) and soup dumplings ($10). As you can tell from the prices, it's definitely much more expensive than your typical Chinatown joint but the quality and cleanliness is so much higher.
The duck was delicious and they carve it at your table. They bring the whole duck (head on) to show you, which is honestly a bit much, even for me. It looked a bit skinny when they first brought it out but it was lean with the right amount of fat to it and the skin was really good. The best part of the meal was actually when my dad asked if they could turn the bones and left overs into a soup. They just combined it with some broth, veggie and tofu but it was really fantastic. The sautéed pea shoots and soup dumplings were both tasty and delicious - standard Chinese fare but so damn good. But the star of the night for me was the jellyfish dish. It was so good - fresh with the right amount of crunch and tang of vinegar. I could have ordered 3 more of them and eaten it on my own. Sadly the one let down of the night was the black cod. Usually I get a whole fish when I'm at Chinese restaurants (and with people who would eat it with me) but we decided to go cod filet and it was such bad dish, especially for the price. It was like a total Westernized dish - a small piece of cod fillet marinated in soy and mirin. It was overcooked and under-marinated - terrible combination.
Overall, it was such a pleasant surprise and definitely reminded me that you don't have to settle for gross restaurants to get good authentic food - but you will have to pay up for it. The staff was super nice and I know I kind of gave crap about it being a bit stuffy but it was a nice change of pace. I wouldn't say I would come here everyday because of the prices but I can definitely seem myself taking my parents here when they are in town.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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