Tasty China

[Lorenzo]

Thanks for the pics, Steve.  We are part of a party of nine there tonight (8pm).  We've been planning this for a month, so the Chang reappearance is just serendipity.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

It's all true: Mr. and Mrs Chang are at Tasty China, and their cooking is as remembered.


Rather than coddle the cliche as is commonly said in the BlogSpace--run, don't walk.

Carpe diem.

Is it possible that he has improved?  Though we have eaten there several times there at least 2 or 3 dishes that I have never seen before.

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[Girly]

Awesome - I'm now putting together a small GNO at TC for the weekend. Great drool inducing pictures, Steve, thanks for sharing!

[Jmolinari]

Met 2 friends there for lunch today. WOW.
It was FAR better than any other time we've been in a long long time. The major theme was the complete lack of over-greasing, and the major major numbing. We
all left there having stuffed our faces, but none of us feeling ill in any way like we would have 2 weeks ago. We got a lot of the dishes Steve got because they sounded good! They're clearly advertising the fact that Peter Chang is there, as the board at the entrace with the specials says "Chef Zhang's Specials"....

dan dan - this was much drier and less greasy. No soupy-ness. Flavors also were explosive.



Pork belly in garlic sauce - awesome. tender pork belly in a very garlicky chili oil



Twice fried flounder with chilis. - crazy delicious, ultra crispy bone in flounder. Eat everything including the bones. Tastes great, wonder if someone is
Punking us waiting for us to choke on a bone. Probably would get again



Xian style beef - this one was ok. Nothing too exciting. Pretty mild but tasty beef in tasty little pita pockets. Wouldn't order again.



Ma la eggplant - the eggplant king is back. Totally ungreasy, crispy yet fluffy like a souffle' eggplant. Very hot and crazy amounts of numbing peppers.

[Mike GadgetGeek Stock]

I know you will have to sit through the commercial, but here is a short comment from Clark Howard about Tasty China and other restaurants.


http://www.ajc.com/video?bcpid=97471435001&bclid=1716449804&bctid=589288769001

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[KoPP]

Anybody have the dumpling soup yet?

[rwcohen]

I know you will have to sit through the commercial, but here is a short comment from Clark Howard about Tasty China and other restaurants.


http://www.ajc.com/video?bcpid=97471435001&bclid=1716449804&bctid=589288769001

.I wonder if he took his crew there for lunch......

[Dr. Vino]

Had the wontons in red oil.  2nd nite Chang was back.  Was better than recently, but not as good as his original. He did say he needs time to shop for his best ingredients, so I'll wait a week or 2 and go back.  Some of Drucker's pictures looked great.  Didn't know they were options. Those whole shrimp are beautiful.

Do get the sharp pepper fish again, maybe in a week or 2 when he is fully prepared.  Strangely, I had to describe the dish as the name they used in the original menu was not familiar to them.

[KoPP]

Had the wontons in red oil.  2nd nite Chang was back.  Was better than recently, but not as good as his original. He did say he needs time to shop for his best ingredients, so I'll wait a week or 2 and go back.  Some of Drucker's pictures looked great.  Didn't know they were options. Those whole shrimp are beautiful.

Do get the sharp pepper fish again, maybe in a week or 2 when he is fully prepared.  Strangely, I had to describe the dish as the name they used in the original menu was not familiar to them.

I've been jonesing for the wonton soup - that stuff is dynamite. Strangely enough, one time I got the seafood soup by mistake - it was really good.

[Lorenzo]

We were a party of eight last night, and though we expected the place to be crowded there was essentially only one other party in the place between 7:45 and 10 pm.  Was that your group, Dr. Vino?  A couple walked in around 9:30, but that was it.

Sorry that I'm not a photographer.  Drucker's pictures capture it, though.

We started by asking for any kind of "bread" they might have--or maybe scallion pancakes--but the server said the only bread they had was "sesame bread."  No scallion pancakes.  We got the sesame bread, and it was a huge round wheel-like thing--it was okay, but not great.  Someone wanted the ma la beef rolls, so we got those to start with as well, though I think they are too much like burritos and don't care for them much.  We started on this while we waited for the last of our party to show up.

We then ordered loosely, trying to let the waitress guide us to whatever Chef Chang might have on special that night.  So we asked for a fish dish, and she recommended the (flounder?) dish listed on the chalkboard, which she said was "like Shan City chicken but with fish."  We enjoyed it and, yes, most of the small bones were edible.  We also asked for a pork belly dish, specifically pork belly in red oil if she didn't have a better recommendation.  What ended up arriving was deep-fried pork belly strips in a bamboo lattice cone.  Plenty of ma la, but I felt that the fried pork was too similar to the fried fish in texture.  I was hoping for a more texturally interesting rendition of pork belly.  I mean, fried pork belly is a bit like plain ol' bacon.  Oh well.  We asked for a tofu dish, and the waitress recommended Princess Tofu (is that Princess Leia's sister?), which I think was listed on the chalkboard along with that fish.  The tofu dish was great and satisfied the need for some textural variety.  Also got dry-fried eggplant (how could we not?), which did not disappoint.  The tripe in red oil in Drucker's pic above looked great, so I tried to order tripe.  The waitress did not know what "tripe" was, so she consulted her dictionary and informed us that the kitchen was out of tripe.  I think she translated it as bai ye.  Although one of our party was a fairly advanced student of Mandarin, having studied in China, she was unable to help our waitress out with this.  I had a Loundry-esque moment at that point, wondering if there was some sort of anti-round-eye conspiracy keeping us from "the good stuff."  We did also order what the waitress referred to as "shrimp in garlic sauce," though she looked baffled when we referred to it by the title in Drucker's pic, "Garlic Cradled Whole Shrimp."  To verify that we were talking about the same dish, she got out her iPhone and showed us a picture of said shrimp dish--I was relieved that it was what we thought.  We also wanted a palate-cleansing vegetable dish, but I'm usually lost in this department.  The waitress suggested snow pea shoots, with which I am very familiar from having wokked them at home many times, so we agreed that would be a good choice.  I wish I knew what vegetables are more in line with Sichuan cuisine.

In summary, it was all very good, and the people at my table who had never been to TC before thought it was out of this world, but I knew a better dinner could be put together.  I don't know whether it was our ineptitude in ordering, a well-meaning waitress steering us away from more diverse fare, Chef Chang being off his game last night, or something else.

As we were finishing dinner, we saw Chef Chang serving dinner to his staff.  Our student of Chinese walked over, and in Chinese excused herself for bothering them and inquired as to what they were eating.  Of course, their answer in Chinese was more complex than our friend could understand, but it seemed to be some fairly plain and hearty food--a "meatball" dish, for example.

[Jmolinari]

I used my phone to show the waitress pictures from Steve..and said we want this, this, this... she didn't understand the pork belly in red chili oil, until she looked at it and said "oh in garlic sauce".
I've had the fried pork belly dish and found it way too heavy...the strips of pork belly becoming like greasy fried salty crackers. Not to my taste.

[Lorenzo]

Good tip on using one's phone to show pics of dishes others have enjoyed!  I guess I could have done that, but it didn't occur to me.  "Garlic sauce," eh?

[Barnum]

Ran into 3 folks at TC for lunch... Unfortunately, a picky group of eaters so had a difficult time deciding...  


Chinese Salad, very tasty and refreshing option:




Dan Dan Noodles (I know, I know, but wanted to try the PC version).  Good, but a little soupy'er than expected:




Wonton in Hot Chili Oil.  Love this once, very very tasty, not too too hot:




The required Dry-Fried Eggplant.  Hard to say anything new about this... but will reiterate the WORLD of difference between some of the versions I've had in the past and this light, fluffy and creamy eggplant wrapped in a crispy shell.  The table did agree that the only danger is having the strong heat and salt flavors of this one overwhelm other dishes.




Fragrant Duck Special (I think that was it?):  One of my favorite, not necessarily the favorite of everyone.  Bone-in juicy junks of duck with a crispy and fragrant crust:




Tofu (someone help me with a name for this one...).  Another well received dish.  Nice mild spice level, good texture, pretty good for a tofu dish!




Finally, Shan City Chicken (boneless).  Pretty much the only plate not licked clean.  Unanimous decision that it was dry and boring and that the bone-in version is the one to get... if it's not available, order something else.




As someone not into "hot and numbing", I was perfectly happy with the solid medium (and sometime high) heat level.  Yes, I was sweating, but could feel my tongue and lips the whole time!

[Jmolinari]

That tofu looks like Steve Drucker's tripe!

[Barnum]

That tofu looks like Steve Drucker's tripe!

Down to, what looks like, the exact same plate and spoon...  please don't tell me I had tripe... I simply don't have the stomach for it