Delicious old-vines Pais (Mission) from Lodi grapes. Currently on the by-the-glass list. Paired well with everything. Got all dishes we had not tried before.
New dish: chrysanthemum leaves with fermented tofu sauce ( 腐乳茼蒿). Texture similar to ong choy but tastes more like broccoli. Nice alternative when ong choy is out of season.
Mongolian braised lamb ( 蒙古羊肉), recommended by the owner to go with the wine. Spiciest dish I’ve had there. Tasted gamier than the cumin lamb, though I don’t know if that’s thanks to the different preparation or if they just happened to get some gamier lamb. Will definitely order again when I’m with people who like spicy food.
I neglected to photograph the Mandarin chicken wings ( 乾烹雞), which were fried and caramelized. Similar to Bowl’d’s wings only not very spicy.
this dish is very often prepared with glass vermicelli underneath the clam meat. some of the best parts of the dish are about the noodles - the textural play between clam and bouncy vermicelli and how the noodles are steamed while the clams cook so they get infused the clam juice, garlic, and not just the soy sauce. this also works with razor clam preparation and in general when clams (like surf clams) are sliced fairly thin for the right chew in proportion. meatier clams or scallops with thicker meat less so, imo. seems like adding rice to the sauce after would end up making the rice quite wet. nonetheless, looks like a quality dish.
this dish 貴妃蚌 is a good choice for an early appetizer in a Cantonese meal, after soup and right around steamed sweet spot prawns before launching in to something refreshingly crispy like squab lettuce cups.
