Dim Sum At Li Wah

A recent episode of Top Chef Season 8 had the chefs attempting (I use that word very lightly) to cook and serve dim sum in a Chinese restaurant in New York City. Dim Sum, for those who may have never heard of it, is a Chinese meal consisting of sharing many small appetizer-sized dishes of various dumplings, roasted meats, steamed and fried items, cakes, stuffed buns, and of course dessert. In traditional dim sum restaurants, servers push carts throughout the restaurant loaded with dishes of different foods and when the cart gets to your table, you simply indicate which dishes you would like and how many of each.

While one could certainly do dim sum by him or herself, the experience is greatly enhanced when you share it with others. Thus, being inspired by the Top Chef episode, I contacted a number of foodie friends, and on a recent Sunday around noon, five others joined me to partake of a meal at a Cleveland dim sum stalwart, Li Wah Restaurant. Located inside the Asia Plaza building, it was located at 2999 Payne Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44114 and can be reached at 216-696-6556. Parking was available in a lot outside the building.

Here was a shot of the corner of the Asia Plaza, announcing Li Wah's presence:


Once inside the building's main doors, the entrance to Li Wah just off to the left. When we arrived, the restaurant was about two-thirds full, a sign that the kitchen was cranking out fresh dim sum dishes almost constantly. After being seated at a table right next to the roasted meats carving station (what a sight THAT was to behold), we started the meal by participating in the associated dim sum tradition of yum cha, or "drinking tea":


Fellow food blogger Nancy from Fun Playing With Food had joined us for our meal today and since she has an excellent memory for the actual names of the dishes we had, I consulted her well-written blog entry about our meal to verify the names. However, you don't have to know the actual name for each dish as the menu provided to us gave it to us by description as well (e.g., Steamed BBQ Bun). That being said, let the food fest begin!

The first dish on the table was the Eggplant Sandwiches:


Slices of eggplant had been stuffed with pork and shrimp, breaded and then fried in a wok. Delicious without being oily, I can see why these were a favorite of Nancy's (who had identified them on the dim sum cart).

Next up were the Baked Coconut Buns topped with sesame seeds:


The filling was smooth and custard-esque without being too loose. The coconut flavor was present and while it was a little sweet, it stayed safely away from being dessert territory.

Next up were steamed rice-paper wrapped shrimp dumplings:


The actual name for each type of dim sum can be dependent on the wrapper, the filling, and the method of cooking (steaming versus frying). Alter one of these three, and it can end up having a brand new name. These dumplings were tender and had great shrimp flavor.

Prepare yourself, gentle reader. As the chef who went home in Top Chef did so because of his/her failed attempt at a Chinese staple, chicken feet, we decided to add a plate of the Avian tootsies to our table as well:


Some at the table absolutely embraced this dish, others categorically refused it. Having never had them, I decided to give them a whirl. The part you actually eat is the flesh around the bones, not the bones themselves. The flesh was soft and came off easily, but the best part was the slightly spicy barbecue sauce that coated the meat itself. Would I order these again? Probably not if I was by myself, but I would eat them again if presented.

Next up at the table were a quartet of steamed pork and shrimp dumplings (shu mai):


This particular dish is very common at Chinese-American buffets for some reason. These were executed at a much higher level than that and had a nice balance between sweet and salt.

Besides starch-based wrappers (such as rice or wheat), another common wrapper for fillings is yuba bean curd. It's the thin skin that forms on tofu when it is made and it makes for a slightly chewy, yet not unpleasant texture, when deep fried:


Stuffed with pork and mushrooms, these were fried to a nice golden brown and served in a brown sauce. They were a little hard to cut, but they were tasty nonetheless.

Since the Chinese don't have the same squeamishness that Americans do when it comes to serving food with the heads on, our plate of Salt and Pepper Shrimp stared back at us as we prepared to dig in:


A simple twist of the head from the body and a quickly peeling of the shell left us with the sweet taste of the shrimp along with a saltiness from the MSG used to prepare the dish. Would I want a whole plate of these? Probably not, but one was perfect.

Next up was a dim sum staple that I've seen at many other restaurants, the Fried Taro Ball:


Taro is a starchy vegetable similar to a potato that is used in many other cultures. In this case, the taro has been stuffed with mushrooms, pork, and shrimp, rolled in a breading and then deep fried until crunchy. These were pretty darn good and we even got a bit of amusement as one of the guests at our table commented that they looked like fried Tribbles.

The next dish was the first of two chive and shrimp dumpling dishes, this one heavy on the chives and wok-fried:


These had both the sharp onion bite from the chives and the slight sweetness from the ground shrimp. While not quite as good as the chive potstickers from Wonton Gourmet, these were still pretty darn good and had I not had nineteen other selections from which to choose, I could've eaten all three.

Our only all-meat course for today was half of a roasted duck, chopped into smaller pieces for easier consumption:


The meat was rich and moist and for those willing to eat the skin, a nice bit of fattiness to combat some of the starchiness from the previous dishes. One thing I've learned over the years of eating dim sum is that sometimes (such as when eating the chicken feet), you have to put the chopsticks down and get your fingers a little dirty.

Another dim sum staple, a plate of Turnip Cakes made their way onto our table:


While I enjoyed Li Wah's version, Wonton Gourmet has hands down probably the best turnip cake I've ever tasted. Made with pork sausage, the cakes are first steamed, sliced, and then fried so that the exterior has a nice crunchy exterior. While these were served with a sauce for dipping, I have always preferred mine with a bit of the chile-infused oil that sits on every table.

Next up were shells of green peppers filled with a ground shrimp mixture:


After steaming, the shrimp mousse had set and the final step was to drizzle a savory brown sauce on top. The green pepper is popular in Chinese cuisine as it brings a certain bitterness to the table which the Chinese love.

Next up were rice noodles filled with dried shrimp and then fried:


When I use the word "noodle", think more like enchilada than spaghetti. These were soft and crunchy at the same time. The dried shrimp added a unique fishiness to the dish without being offensive.

Our next finger-licking-good item were bits of beef shortribs:


While there was a significant amount of bone on these that you had to work around, the meat that easily pulled away was tender and spiced with a rich flavor due to the Chinese five spice powder.

Our second chive and shrimp dumpling of the meal came in the form of a steamed rice-paper wrapped version:


These had more shrimp in them than the first version and thus, were more sweet than sharp. Of course, the steam treatment meant that the wrappers were much more tender than their fried counterpart.

Full yet, gentle reader? I know we were all starting to slow down by this point, but only three dishes remain, so go into power eating (or reading) mode and plow on through to the end!

The next dish was another of Nancy's favorites and was a fried wheat starch dumpling with a pork and shrimp filling:


The interesting thing about this item was that besides being perfectly fried on the outside, the wheat starch just under the fried surface was rather sticky. While this was an unusual texture for an American palate, I didn't find it unappealing at all.

While all of the items we had wanted eventually made their way to us via the carts, there was one particular item that both myself and a fellow tablemate wanted badly enough that we eventually had to ask for several plates of the Steamed BBQ Buns to be brought to the table:


There was a baked version of this available as well, but we wanted this soft and delicate steamed rendition instead. As you can see in the above photo, each bun is sitting atop a square of paper, so do make sure you remove it before eating the bun. As with other dishes today at Li Wah, I've had better versions of the barbecue pork filling elsewhere, but Li Wah's buns were fresh and flavorful. This was definitely the dim sum fix I had been craving.

By this point, I was STUFFED! However, my tablemates decided to add one more item to the table, steamed Chinese broccoli with a Soy/Oyster sauce drizzle:


Much as I needed a wafer-thin mint at this point, I did manage to get a taste in and was delighted to find a vegetable that was cooked through, yet still a bit crunchy. The flavor was only slightly bitter and the savoriness from the sauce went well with the flavor from the broccoli.

Everyone was now in agreement that we were all too full to do any more damage and asked for our check to be tallied. The two-hour epicurean odyssey finally at an end, the bill came to a measly $17.50 per person, tip and tax included. For the level and variety of foods I had eaten today (I pictured eighteen different dishes), this was an unbelievable value. While the restaurant was open and offered dim sum for both lunch and dinner, it is definitely advisable to go for lunch since the dim sum cooks finish up for the day in mid-afternoon and the dishes at night might not be as fresh as they would be during the day.

If the thought of doing dim sum intimidates you, at the end of the day, knowing which dishes to pick is all about what sounds good to you. While I've highlighted eighteen different choices here, there were at least twice as many being offered. I would highly recommend you get yourself to Li Wah and check out the dim sum for yourself. With the ability to customize your meal so completely and for so little money, even if you try a dish you end up not enjoying, there will be plenty more that you will find delicious and satisfying.

A Redo At House of Hunan

It happens from time to time. With the best of intentions, I have a meal at a restaurant I plan to review on the blog. I take pictures and mental notes during the meal and when I return home in the evening, I even go so far as to process all of the photos, storyboard them in Picasa and create the "shell" of the blog entry by uploading the photographs in the correct order and finally adding my "Alt" and "Title" tags to each photo. This is usually the first step in a two step process. Normally I will sleep on the meal and at some point during the next day, I will pull up my textless entry and fill in the prose. Occasionally I will do both steps on the same day, but it is pretty rare.

Even if I don't get around to writing the text for a week, aided with my already processed and tagged photographs, I've actually become quite good at recalling my sense memories of the meal. More than a week out, however, details begin to get cloudy in my brain. Sadly, such happened with a visit about six weeks ago to House of Hunan in Fairlawn. I had gone for a nice lunchtime meal and completed the first step in my blogging process when I returned home that night. For whatever reason, I put off writing the review until it was too late. I remembered that the meal was good, but lost quite a bit of the detail that I like my reviews to have.

To remedy this situation, I decided to return to House of Hunan for a second lunch. As an added bonus, I had my new Canon G12 with me (as well as my continually evolving food photography skills) to help me get better pictures than I took last time. House of Hunan was located at 2717 West Market Street, Fairlawn, OH 44333 and can be reached at 330-864-8215. They also have a website in case you want to check on menu or directions before you go. As this location of House of Hunan (there are three total) lived inside a strip mall, ample parking was available in the lot.

Here was a shot of the main entrance:


Once inside the main door, a sushi bar was positioned to the left of the entrance. This was an addition made to the main restaurant roughly ten years ago. In addition to sushi, House of Hunan has also added additional Japanese, Thai, and even traditional Chinese cuisine to their menu. This is great news for someone like myself because now the rest of my family can have the Americanized General Tso's Chicken and I have a plethora of more authentic options from which to pick.

Speaking of options, here were today's two lunch menus:



In addition to the lunch menus, the regular menu was also offered:


I decided only to include the above photograph of the regular menu since a) I was there for lunch, b) there would've been an additional dozen photographs since it is now so large, and c) I ordered an appetizer from the above menu page.

Before ordering any food, I decided to go for a pitcher of green tea:


Unlike my recent experience at China Gourmet, when the tea arrived at the table, it was fully brewed and ready to be drank. As I took a small draught from my tea cup, I was rewarded with a wonderful green tea aroma and delicate flavor.

While I often have a few pieces of nigiri sushi as an appetizer at a place which offers it, today I was feeling like something fried. When I saw that the appetizer menu offered two pork and shrimp spring rolls for $3, I decided to go in that direction.

Here was a photograph of the duo of spring rolls:


And where there were spring rolls, there must also be that duet of condiments, plum sauce and Chinese hot mustard:


While the tops of the spring rolls were crispy and not too greasy, sadly the same thing couldn't be said for the side sitting on the plate. As I picked each up and placed them on my paper napkin in an effort to minimize the grease, I noticed several small pools of grease still sitting on the plate. My server, being keenly astute of what I was doing with my only napkin, dropped off a fresh napkin. Even with the extra draining, it couldn't help alleviate the greasy bottom. Regardless, I took a bite and was rewarded with a shatteringly crisp exterior and a nicely seasoned interior. The shrimp and pork filling was hot and moist and was accented by the use of the sweet plum sauce and spicy mustard. I didn't verify this fact with my server, but the plum sauce tasted very fresh and the thought occurred to me that it might just be homemade.

Roughly five minutes after clearing away my appetizer plates, my lunch entree arrived. Here was a shot of the Shredded Pork and Pickled Vegetable Noodle soup:


At roughly $9, this crock of soup was large enough to split between two people. After my server set this down in front of me, I inhaled deeply and could smell the richness that soy brought to the party. Based on the darkish brown color of the broth, I'm guessing a healthy dose of soy sauce had been added. What I loved about this dish the last time I had it was that it felt very authentic to its Chinese roots. There was pork, yes, but it wasn't a pork dish, per se. The soy, mushrooms, and pork added a wonderful savory flavor, the pickled vegetables added a necessary sourness, and the finely sliced pea pods contributed a wonderful bit of sweetness and crunchy texture. The sliced green onions added a bit of sharpness.

As I dug into the dish with my chopsticks, I plucked the still steaming egg noodles from the bottom of the bowl. While I know it is common practice in China to slurp the noodles as a sign of gratitude toward the chef, I didn't want to bother the diners in the adjoining booths with strange sounds coming from mine nor did I want to end up with my shirt dotted with dark brown drips. The soup was so well balanced and while I wanted to finish it all, I simply couldn't. When my server returned to check on me, I admitted that I was finished and asked for the check.

All said and done, with tax and tip, my lunch today came to $18. This might be a tad expensive for some, but other than the greasy spring roll wrapper, everything else had really been spot on and delicious. The Fairlawn location can be quite busy during lunch, so I would recommend that you go prior to noon or after 1:00 PM. I showed up at 12:30 PM today and had about a five minute wait. I've been going to this particular House of Hunan for quite a long time (more than two decades) and the food has always been above average. Now that they've diversified their cuisine, I have even more reason to return for a great meal. I suggest that you do the same.

Szechaun Spicy At Beijing Garden

I have written extensively about my visits to Wonton Gourmet near downtown Cleveland, Ohio. To date, they have some of the tastiest and most authentic Chinese food I've ever had in the entire northeast Ohio area. Their specialty, however, is Hong Kong style cuisine and as such, lacks some of the authentic flavors from other regional Chinese cuisines, specifically Szechuan cuisine. While they have added a few spicy and delicious items to their menu over time, for a true spicehead like myself, the last time I had true Szechuan food was during a trip to Chicago in 2007 at a restaurant called Lao Sze Chuan.

In a fortuitous twist, however, a restaurant named Beijing Garden located in Twinsburg, Ohio, had some spicy Szechuan dishes on their menu and it didn't take long before fellow blogger Nancy from Fun Playing With Food had set up a time and date for our decently-sized party to meet up and experience this food for ourselves. Beijing Garden was located at the end of a small number of stores at 7995 Darrow Road, Twinsburg, OH 44087 and can be reached at 330-425-9795. Parking was in the lot directly in front of the stores.

Here was a shot of the front of the restaurant:


Once inside, I was warmly greeted by Chef Shawn Chen and since I was the first to arrive, he invited me to sit in a chair in the lobby until the other five guests showed up. Several minutes later, all but one of the other guests arrived and we were shown to a circular table in the main dining room. Waiting for the final guest gave me time to photograph the menu:





While almost any Chinese restaurant has to cater to the American palate with dishes like General Tso's chicken and Wonton soup, by examining the menu closely, it was pretty easy to spot the more authentic Szechuan dishes, too. We started our meal out by ordering tea. Our server brought us two pots, one filled with jasmine and the other filled with green tea:


I opted to poor myself some of the green tea:


To begin our meal, we decided to order three of the appetizers: Dan Dan Noodles, Salt and Pepper Calamari, and the House Special Fried Dumpling. Since most authentic Chinese meals are eaten as the dishes come out of the kitchen, that was how we chose to eat our meal today, too. Of course, the large Lazy Susan at the center of the table helped making sharing very easy.

First out of the kitchen were the Dan Dan Noodles:


This was our first and certainly not our last taste of the fiery Szechuan peppercorns used to make this dish sing with flavor. Szechuan peppercorns are known for two qualities, ma and la. The dish not only has to have a spicy quality to it, but the peppercorn actually numbs your lips as well. Comprised of cooked noodles, chicken, scallions, sprouts, and peanuts, this was a very tasty way to start off our meal. The spicy and numbing quality of the peppercorns was present, but not overpowering. Had I not been sharing this with five others, I could've happily made an entire meal out of this dish.

The second appetizer to arrive was the Salt and Pepper Calamari:


The squid rings were lightly battered and fried and were toothsome without being chewy. The coating was a mixture of salt, black pepper, and as was first noted by my friend Diane, MSG. MSG is often used in Asian cuisine to develop a depth of savoriness but some, like Diane, are particularly sensitive to its presence in food and actually have physical reactions to consuming it. There are many who claim that MSG sensitivities are largely overblown, but I'm not about to start debating that point. I noticed the flavor as well, but it didn't bother me nearly as much since I don't have a sensitivity to it. While I'd prefer the dish without it, at the same time, I realized that Chef Chen was indeed giving us authentic dishes.

Our final appetizer was the House Special Fried Dumplings with a Soy-based Dipping Sauce:


These were expertly fried without a touch of greasiness to them. They were filled with ground pork and shrimp and the sweetness from the shrimp matched the saltiness from the dipping sauce well. I could have also ordered a plate of these for myself, too.

Collectively we also decided to do a soup course before the entrees. When the chef told us about another house specialty soup that mostly appealed to his Chinese customers, we immediately perked up and expressed our desire to try it. After a few more minutes, this arrived at our table:

This was a steamed shrimp and tofu soup with bok choi and cooked noodles in a light soup broth. Our server also brought out six soup spoons as well as individual bowls for each guest. As soup was ladled into each bowl, it was passed around so that everyone except one of the guests had one (she ordered an individual serving of their Hot and Sour soup instead). To my taste, everything harmonized well in the bowl. The noodles were soft without being mushy, the bok choi still had a bit of crunch to it, the shrimp were cooked without being rubbery and the tofu was still silken without disintegrating. This was a nice transition from appetizer to entree.

For our last course of the evening, we decided to order four different entrees and share them among us. First to arrive at the table was Ma La Chicken:


Studded with green peppers, onions, and zucchini, the dish had been loaded with more of the Szechuan peppercorns and then "dry" fried in the wok. This meant that there wasn't a sauce, per se. While the Dan Dan Noodles did have a touch of spicy and numbing quality to it, the Ma La Chicken really delivered in that department. Three or four bites in and I was happily "feeling the burn."

The second entree to arrive at our table was a long-time favorite of mine, Ma Po Tofu (or Dofu):


We had asked Chef Chen to serve it in the more authentic way with a bit of ground pork (most Chinese restaurants list it on their vegetarian menu) and he definitely delivered. Adorned with even more of the Szechuan Peppercorns, this dish picked up where the Ma La Chicken left off. The tofu was creamy, the pork a bit chewy (not in a bad way), and the tasty sauce was a wonderful topper to the bowl of steamed rice I had portioned for myself. Was this the best tasting Ma Po Tofu I've ever had? No, but it was darned close.

Our third entree was the Ziran Lamb:


Containing a combination of sliced lamb, onions, scallions, and the principle ingredient that defines this dish as Ziran Lamb instead of just a straight-up stir-fried lamb dish, cumin. LOTS of cumin. Normally the use of this much cumin would be off-putting, but Chef Chen managed to combine sweet, spicy, savory, and earthy in such a way that this dish was absolutely delicious. For those gentle readers out there who might by put off by the gaminess of lamb, I can assure you that the flavor was mild and tasted more like beef than lamb.

The final entree in our amazing culinary journey today was straight off the vegetarian menu and was a combination of Potato, Eggplant, and Green Pepper:


This was a simple, yet effective dish. After all of the complex flavors of the other entrees we had tonight, this one offered straight-forward flavors that helped to mitigate some of the spiciness that had consumed most of our mouths. What surprised me the most about this dish were the potatoes. To an American palate, the potatoes would've tasted a bit undercooked due to the ever-so-slight crispness of it. However, after trying a bite or two myself, while I could understand this perception, the potato also didn't taste "raw." The chef had walked a very fine line between under and overcooked and done a marvelous job.

As a special treat, Chef Chen surprised the entire table with a plate of Fried Bananas to end our rather large meal:


The bananas had been dredged in granulated sugar after being fried and had been served up with a sweet red swirl on the plate. This was the perfect way to get a little something sweet at the end without feeling like you had to go overboard. While the obligatory fortune cookies were still brought with the check, I opted to have a second piece of banana rather than my cookie.

With tax and tip for all of the food we had eaten tonight, the total came to an amazing $16.20 per person. Clearly it helped to share a meal with five others, but given how utterly full each of us was and the amount of leftovers we got to divvy up between us, this was one heck of a bargain and definitely on par with the value at Wonton Gourmet. Today's meal at Beijing Garden had been a true standout and I was elated by the knowledge that I now have a place to go when I want to experience the true burn of Szechuan Peppercorns. I highly recommend you give Chef Chen's restaurant a try whether you want some of the more typical Americanized Chinese food or need to take the plunge and go for something a little more authentic.

All The Chinese Classics At China Gourmet

When I first stumbled back upon Vacarro's Trattoria after a ten year gap, I was amazed at the transformation from what I remembered in the past. On the other hand, when I revisited childhood staple Angelina's Pizza some twenty years later, the pizza didn't quite live up to the memory. Falling somewhere in the middle, China Gourmet in Akron, Ohio has managed to not only survive since I first started going there decades ago with my grandfather, but has since expanded to add a sushi bar and an underground banquet room.

China Garden was located at 1971 West Market Street, Akron, OH 44313 and can be reached at 330-867-8838. Parking was in the lot surrounding the building. If you are traveling eastbound down Market Street, your best bet for navigating the traffic is to make a left at Pershing and then a right into the lot.

Having lived in Akron for so many years, I pass by the restaurant frequently as it is located directly across the street from Ken Stewart's Grille. So what was the reason I hadn't stopped until now? Honestly, my memory of the food being served at the restaurant wasn't particularly memorable. It wasn't a bad memory, per se, just not a stand-out one. The shape of the building indicated that it had been converted from a Wendy's many decades ago. The interior was pleasantly decorated with linen tablecloths and napkins, a slender white vase on each table with a single flower sticking out of the top, and nary a chopstick visible in the entire dining room. Some things don't change.

Here was a shot of the roadside sign outside the restaurant:

As soon as I walked inside, I was greeted with EXACTLY the same interior that I remembered from fifteen years ago. While I can't attest to colors on the wall being a match to my memory, the feeling it invoked was exactly the same. This time, however, I looked around at the other clientèle and was unsurprised to discover that the only people of Asian origin in the entire restaurant were the owner and the staff. This did not bode well for getting authentic Chinese dishes. When I finally started to peruse the menu, my suspicions were confirmed:

Having a wonderfully authentic Chinese restaurant in northeast Ohio like Wonton Gourmet has truly spoiled me. So much so that when I am firmly yanked back into Americanized Chinese food (which I, like so many other Americans, grew up on), I had to regroup to get my bearings. At six pages, the menu had a lot of the classics like General Tso's Chicken and Szechuan Beef, but since I at least wanted to attempt to find something a little more authentic, I had to scour the pages a little harder.

While I was looking at the menu, my server brought me the pot of green tea I had requested:

Sadly, only one tea bag had been used for the entire pot. This meant that the tea was quite weak until the very end of the meal when the tea bag had finally steeped long enough. Until that point, the liquid coming out of the pitcher's spout was nothing more than barely flavored hot water.

To get several tastes from tonight's menu, I decided to go with an appetizer, a bowl of soup, and one of the stir-fried dishes. For my soup, I skipped over the Wonton and Hot and Sour soups and decided to try the Vegetable and Bean Curd Soup:

The menu claimed that "all Chinese people eat this soup." The broth by itself was almost perfectly seasoned and had a slight vegetal taste to it. When I dug into the bottom of the bowl to retrieve the tofu and vegetables, I discovered that the "vegetable" portion of the title referred to fresh spinach and sliced green onions. It occurred to me that the vegetal taste of the broth was coming from the spinach itself. Sadly, when I got a spoon filled with not only broth, but also tofu, the barely underseasoned broth was now not salty enough to compensate for the unsalted tofu. Overall, this was a filling soup, but a little flat and two-dimensional. A drop or two of toasted sesame seed oil would've done wonders to the aroma and flavor.

While potstickers appear on almost every Americanized Chinese restaurant menu, only a few places do them well. Wonton Gourmet has set the bar high for me and I wanted to see how China Gourmet's version compared. Here were the potstickers with a soy and rice wine vinegar dipping sauce:

As you can see, gentle reader, the kitchen clearly spent some time making sure the bottoms were crispy:

These particular potstickers were filled with ground pork and ginger:

I only had two real criticisms on the potstickers. First, the casing was a bit doughy. Second, while I didn't expect the casing to be salted, I did expect the filling to be. It wasn't completely bland, but it was light on seasoning. I did enjoy how the ginger helped to cut through some of the fattiness of the pork, however. The dipping sauce served its purpose by adding some of the missing salt and acidity. These were definitely above average potstickers, but still a few levels below what you can get elsewhere.

After wading through page after page of non-authentic dishes, when I got to the "Pork" section of the menu, I was happy to discover an old friend, Ma Pa Tofu. Classically a spicy dish, when I asked my server about the spice level, she indicated it was already pretty spicy. I asked about my options for extra spicy. She indicated that she would not only turn the ticket in with "extra spicy" written on it, she would also bring out a dish of chili oil so that I could adjust it to my preference. Perfect!

After only a short time, she arrived with my entree:

Additionally, she brought me a medium-sized bowl of rice and the aforementioned dish of chili oil:

After loading up my plate,

I took my first bite. I held off on using the extra chili oil at first because I wanted to see how spicy the dish came out of the kitchen. "Extra spicy" at China Gourmet came out to about "medium" on my palate. This, as it turned out, was a nice level of heat as I could still taste the other components to the dish. While someone unfamiliar with a more traditional Ma Po Tofu might look at the picture of the entree above and say, "Where's the pork?", China Gourmet actually nailed the proportions correctly in that most of the protein on the plate was from the tofu, not the pork. China Gourmet's version also had water chestnuts in the mix, which I haven't had before. Overall, it was a decent rendition of Ma Po Tofu and even though I had eaten a bowl of soup and a plate of potstickers, I managed to get my way through about three-quarters of this plate.

While dessert was offered, I politely declined and asked for the check which, with tax, came to exactly $20. While tonight's meal was decent and would fit the expectations of 90% of Americans looking for "Chinese" food, to me the flavors just didn't pop like they did at more authentic restaurants. When I go out for any kind of cuisine, I want to be excited about the possibility of trying flavors that are foreign to me. The food tonight felt more comforting than exciting. In that sense, tonight's experience completely lined up with my last time dining here, some fifteen plus years ago. If this is the type of Chinese cuisine that you like, gentle reader, I think China Gourmet would make an excellent place for dinner.

For myself, however, I'd rather drive the forty-five minutes to Cleveland's Asiatown and experience some truly delicious and more exciting Chinese flavors.