Wednesday, February 1, 2012.
A Dining Memory Vanishes In The Face Of Reality.
How did we get through January without any really cold weather? Not much rain, either, although we seem to be making up for that this morning. A cloudburst overnight resulted in the cat Twinnery's showing up dripping at the door this morning. Every cat I've had since I was a little kid hated getting wet. This one literally shakes it off, as if nothing had happened.
Dinner was in a West Bank restaurant that's been on my mind for a few weeks. I went to the China House on Manhattan near Lapalco a few times in the 1980s and 1990s, and found it consistently good. Often enough, radio listeners called with praise of the place. I tend not to go often to restaurants with a track record like that, and it's been many years.
Every now and then, I find that this is not a good policy.
I began with hot and sour soup, thickened with too much cornstarch, and lacking the egg flowers and exotic mushrooms that make the soup complex. I wanted to have the pork with tofu for an entree, but the waiter said he was out of tofu. Uh-oh. Instead, shredded pork with hot garlic sauce. The restaurant gets a star for not deep-frying the pork. (Seems to me that a lot of Chinese places are deep-frying almost everything.) The vegetables were fresh and crunchy. But the sauce had the color and texture of roast beef poor boy gravy. I love that taste, but not in a Chinese dish.
The dining room wasn't busy, but the take-out orders were flying out the door. The appeal is clear. The food is okay,the portions generous, and the prices are a good deal lower than average. (My pork dish was under $10.) The dining room was pleasant enough--they have real tablecloths, which a lot of restaurants at three times the price don't these days. The facade of the restaurant and its strip mall, however, badly needs refurbishing.
I could not mentally connect this restaurant with the image I've carried around from its early golden years.
China House. Harvey: 2431 Manhattan Blvd. 504-366-3838.
It's over three years since a day was missed in the Dining Diary. To browse through all of the entries since 2008, go here.
