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| Title: Reviewed by Richard Foss |
News
posted: 9/27/2003 |
| Category: Easy Reader |
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Description:
W�s China Bistro reviewed by Richard Foss in the Easy Reader magazine July 24th, 2003.
Traditional restaurants are designed to be comforting and soothing, with every detail of food and service reminding diners of the glory of a grand cuisine. Modern innovative places are the opposite, eager to avoid any hint of dusty cookbooks and old ideas. Many restaurateurs seek a balance between the two, but very few succeed. People have particularly strong expectations about restaurant that serve Chinese food. The d�cor should have lots of red lacquer and dragons, the menu should have at least two hundred items, and everything should taste very much the way it did the first time you ever tried it. Oh, and there will be nothing to drink but tea and water.
W�s China Bistro in Redondo Beach plays havoc with all those ideas. The d�cor is hip, elegant, but definitely Chinese, with some of the brass and glass of a mode4rn steakhouse combined with murals of sampans and vertical mountains. The menu has fewer than fifty items, described more fluently and accurately than is standard, and they are prepared with an original flair. And yes, there is much more to drink than water.
The starters at W�s are inspired by dim sum, but veer rather far from traditional preparations. The crab stuffed shrimp cigars are a fine example. Putting crab and chopped chives in an egg roll wrapper and frying isn�t all that unusual, but adding macadamia nut to the mix and providing a mango-lime dipping sauce is definitely out of the ordinary. The effect is sublime. The steamed chicken raviolis are rather closer to traditional, though the fried shallots add a papery crunch that gives things that distinctive flair. I alternated dipping them in hoisin and spicy black bean sauces that were provided for the purpose, but they were fine even without them.
W�s isn�t shy about borrowing ideas from other cultures, as is demonstrated by the traditionally Vietnamese rice rolls. These are like egg rolls in being dough skin filled with grilled chicken and vegetables, but it�s a rice flour skin that isn�t fried, and it served cool. Think Asian chicken salad turned into finger food, and a delicious hot weather snack. In several visits to the restaurant I�ve tried just about every appetizer and I like them all, but I keep on coming back for the crab cigars and the rice rolls.
One can in fact make a great lunch for two out of apiar of appetizers ad a salad, and this restaurant a world class salad for those who like bright, fresh flavors. The citrus salad mixes Asian pears, mandarin oranges, water chestnuts, and honeyed walnuts over mixed greens with a raspberry vinaigrette that has just a dash of cabernet. It sounded like a bit too much of sharp and tart when I considered it from the menu, but the flavors go together wonderfully.
When I dined at W�s most recently I noticed that some diners treat the place as an Asian restaurant, in which items are ordered communally and shared and others order their favorite and eat it as their own meal. I emphatically recommend the former option because there is so much to taste that is interesting and the variety itself is an attraction. You can also compare the way that each entr�e works with the wines you order, and Chong�s has a fairly good list both by the bottle and glass. Most people order sweet wines with Asian food, but we found drier whites and a few reds that worked remarkably well. The Patz and Hall �Dutton Ranch� Chardonnay turned out to be very flexible, and there were a pair of pinot Noirs that were admirable complements to the meat and noodle-based dishes.
Some of the main courses at W�s may look familiar, old favorites like orange chicken. Ma-Po tofu, and Mongolian Beef. The preparations here are all subtly different, and as heretic as it may be to suggest that there are improvements on the world�s oldest cuisine, many of them are improved. I don�t normally like pepper beef, but the fact that the beef is saut�ed with black pepper before the green and red bell peppers are added gives the whole dish another dimension. Adding balsamic vinegar to the sesame chicken was similarly brilliant�it takes a dish that can be oily and cloying and lightens it up just the right touch.
The modernized traditional dishes sit comfortably beside the original creations, which all have a Chinese style even when there is no obvious reference to a traditional recipe. The steamed with soy-lemon sauce, black mushrooms, and asparagus looks more Japanese than Chinese, but it tastes like a traditional item from some village that nobody has discovered yet. Interestingly it doesn�t taste of soy or lemon, but of the seamless blend of the two. It was served on a bed of Chinese pea pods which had been saut�ed with a dash of wine, which was an excellent choice. The wok�d sea scallops were similarly novel---they were saut�ed with julienned squash in a mild chili and black bean sauce. The effect was a little Italian, a little Asian, and all wonderful. Both dishes went well with the Chinese risotto, which mixes jasmine rice with Chinese sausage, black mushrooms, minced chicken, pine nuts, and chives with a dash of garlic oil. The mix of Mediterranean and Pacific Rim is elegant, and it works.
Desserts at W�s are quite a novelty as well�the restaurant has their own pastry chef and they make ice cream in various flavors, including green tea, lychee, and lime-orange. Almond cookies are not offered, but you won�t miss them.
W�s China Bistro is a project of the Chong brothers, who also own the China Grill in Manhattan Beach. All three brothers had middle names that begin with the letter W, and taken together those middle names spell �New China�. W�s China Bistro is aptly named, because in culinary terms this is a new China indeed, and a very exciting one.
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