dining review
companion says. I get it. These little
pouches filled with broth and minced
pork are extraordinarily delicious.
But beware: They must be eaten
carefully. Bite too aggressively, and
you may be going home with a broth-
splattered shirt. One more tip: after
your first gentle bite, pour a bit of
soy sauce into the pouch. It makes
the little bundle of pure culinary joy
even better.
Also delicious is a simple dish of
crisp and earthy green beans scat-
tered with fermented black beans
and minced pork ($12). This bright
colored dish is proof that often,
the more simple a dish is, the bet-
ter it tastes. And don’t fret if you’re
vegetarian: you can request the dish
without pork.
Pork is often the main protein in
Chinese dishes, though frequently the
proteins (chicken and beef are the
other principal meats) play a sup-
porting role to the vegetables and
starches on the plate.
Take the evocatively named dish
Ants Climbing a Tree ($13), a
scrumptious glass noodles dish with
teeny specks of ground pork (“ants”)
that are given a
nice boost by chili
AT A
oil and chili pep-
GLANCE
pers. If you don’t
• APPETIZERS:
$3-$13
want it too spicy,
• ENTRÉES: $15 - $18
just ask.
(PLUS MARKET
PRICE ITEMS)
Or take that
• NO BAR
popular dish,
dan dan noodles
($7), in which
the sautéed green vegetable (usually
spinach) upstages in quantity, if not
necessarily tastiness, the flavorful
minced pork.
Want more protein? Try the fabu-
lous, whole branzino smothered in
bean paste and chili sauce. Perfectly
cooked and wonderfully flaky, the
fish, served on a large platter, can
easily feed a family of four (it’s mar-
ket priced), or be taken home and
enjoyed the next day.
The only dish we had that missed
the mark was sautéed snow pea
leaves (market priced). Yes, the
leaves are edible (they can be found
XIAO LONG BAO
DAN DAN NOODLES
in Asian markets if you want to try
stir-frying them yourself). When
young, the leaves are wonderfully
sweet, with a slight snow pea flavor.
When not so young, they can take on
a bitter flavor. Ours, unfortunately,
were slightly bitter.
One miss in an otherwise splendid
Chinese feast?
“We count our miseries carefully,
and accept our blessings without
much thought,” one Chinese proverb
notes. When dining on such good
Chinese food, focus on the delicious
blessings. ■
SAUTEED SNOW PEA LEAVES
WAYNE MAGAZINE MAY 2019
47