China House

Most Interesting Dishes

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 so consistently good that I haven't been back in a long time. Often enough, radio listeners have called to say they really like the China House. I tend not to go often to restaurants with a track record like that. Every now and then, I find that this is not a good policy. I began with hot and sour soup, thickened with a bit 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 could use a refurbishing. I could not connect this restaurant with the mental image of it I've carried around from its early golden years.