Fun Dim Summing at Emperor's Palace, the New Kid on Cleveland's Asiatown Block

There are few delicacies I enjoy so much as Dim Sum - literally, "the heart's little treasures." Here in Cleveland, we are fortunate to have multiple options for Dim Sum, but the options are not numerous. Thus, the opening of a new purveyor of dumplingy treats (and authentic Chinese food) always attracts my immediate interest. It is no surprise then, that within about 24 hours of learning about Cleveland's newest entry in this department, I'd found a few friends willing to trundle down to Cleveland's old Chinatown - Rockwell Avenue between 21st and 24th Streets - to sample the wares at Emperor's Palace, 2136 Rockwell Ave., Cleveland OH 44114.

The formerly run down building has been magnificently restored to full splendor. 

An ample, free parking lot sits just across Rockwell Avenue, girded by impressive looking statutes representing all of the symbols of the Chinese Zodiac.

Inside the restaurant, we found two large dining rooms, plus a private banquet room that seats about 14.  The decor reminded me of Dim Sum parlors in New York or San Francisco  Speaking with our hostess, I learned that two additional restaurants are planned for the site - a vegetarian eatery and a place featuring Szechuan cuisine. 

Our initial experience was a little strange. Three of us had arrived and were seated in the second dining room. We were the only non-Asian customers in the place. While we awaited our final two companions, the server asked if we wanted tea before we'd looked at the menu, and we said yes. Though the menu lists several varieties of brewed tea (which we didn't realize until too late), our server brought out a pot with Jasmine tea bags hanging out of it (and Jasmine tea isn't one of the varieties listed on the menu), then dropped silverware at all the places and snatched up the chopsticks from the places for our two absent friends. But after we waved away any discussion of the "lunch specials" part of the menu and started digging into the Dim Sum, our hosts understood what we were there for, and were most gracious. Once the tea-from-bags pot was emptied, I asked for Oolong tea, which was promptly delivered for the rest of the meal. 

Though they have carts, such as the one shown below, the carts did not circulate through the restaurant as in a traditional Dim Sum. Instead, the "dumpling cart" and the cart below were parked in the main dining room. Servers took our orders from the menu and brought each plate of Dim Sum, piping hot, mostly from the kitchen. I was told that the kitchen also contains live fish and seafood tanks. They were out of some menu items, including the "Juicy Buns" or Xiao Long Bao (Soup Dumplings), which is hopefully a good sign that everything is made in house.

Pumpkin Cake

This toothsome dumpling was a perfect starter, conjuring up very traditional Chinese gold coin imagery. It was unique - a little sweet and creamy, but with enough starchy body to hold up to those chopsticks, and a delicious winter squash flavor. I'd love to know what the characters stand for, if anyone cares to chime in at the comments!

Roast Pork Pastry

We all enjoyed the BBQ pork and light pastry of this familiar specimen.

Lotus Leaf Wrapped Sticky Rice with Chicken

We selected this more familiar incarnation instead of the intriguingly named "Sticky Rice and Preserved Meat Buns" for our sticky rice fix, and were rewarded with creamy rice that had soaked in lovely flavors from the chicken-based stuffing (there was one slice of Chinese Sausage, or Lap Cheong in the stuffing, which was  so good it made me wish there was more of it!). I'll have to get the buns on my next visit to Emperor's Palace.

Sui Mai

Sui Mai are perhaps the most ubiquitous of Dim Sum items. These tasted fresh and succulent, however, as I would expect, the shrimp was standard food service variety and less to my liking than the savory pork. 

Short Ribs with Black Pepper Sauce

I loved the taste and texture of the short ribs, which melted in the mouth, but missed assertive black pepper flavor from this dish. I would still order it again because of how well the meat was prepared.

Hom Sui Gok 

These fried footballs are filling, so be warned - sharing is a good idea here. Ours were served right out of the fryer, so they were intensely hot, savory and delicious. A glutinous rice flour-based skin puffs up around a savory pork filling - it is one of my favorites, but is often cold by the time it comes around on the cart, so Emperor's Palace gets major style points here.

Pineapple Buns

Several of my tablemates pronounced this a favorite. I liked the donut-like dumpling, but not quite as much as the others did. Different strokes for different folks. 

Turnip Cake "Country Style"

Turnip Cake is a favorite. Bob and I have sampled them from Cleveland, to New York, to San Francisco, to Hong Kong itself - and our favorite remains the version served at Wonton Gourmet, a few blocks from Emperor's Palace. However, while Wonton Gourmet's product has the most appealing creamy texture, the fresh flavors bursting out of Emperor's Palace's version make it a most worthy and close runner up. The dried shrimp and pork slivers offered distinctive flavors that stayed separate in the cake, so each bite had a slightly different flavor. Highly recommended.

We also ordered two "regular" menu items to share. First, Crispy Duck (half the duck, an amazing value at $9.95).

The first bite offered a huge hit of umami - so much that I wondered if there was MSG in the crispy coating. Our hostess assured us that Emperor's Garden doesn't use MSG (but it wouldn't bother me if they did); could regular salt offer that much flavor kick all by itself - or was there some other agent at work here? The seasoning inside the duck complimented the amazingly crisp skin, and the flesh was moist and tender. This was a perfectly cooked half duck.

Both the duck and our second entree were served with a small bowl of the house rice, which they call "Healthy Mix Rice" - white rice with "Red and Brown Wild Rice." While not at all traditional, it was most delicious.

Hot & Spicy Fish Fillet Pan Fried Noodle

Our last dish, the authentic version of "chow mein" (or fried noodles) was called both "hot" and "spicy" for a good reason, which we discovered shortly after tucking in: in addition to the red chili you can see in the photo, the dish contained a generous helping of Szechuan Peppercorn, which led to a delightful "ma la" buzz on our tongues. While the dish would win a "best of" prize from our table for that aspect alone, I was blown away by the freshness and skilled preparation of the fish filet; I can't remember enjoying the lowly tilapia so much. The crisp vegetables provided the perfect counterpoint to the moist and tender fish and the chewy noodles. A truly worthy dish.

Emperor's Palace is off to an auspicious start, and I hope that they continue with their winning ways. I anticipate additional visits in the next few weeks, so be sure to check in with this blog's Facebook page to see all of the photos and keep up to date on everything we've sampled. Or, drive, bike or bus yourself down to Cleveland's original Chinatown and have sum fun playing with the authentic Chinese cuisine offered at Emperor's Palace.

Fun Playing With Shanghai-ese Food

Now that trips and cooking events are over for a while, I hope to catch up on a backlog of photos and food adventures. For this segment, travel with me if you will to the wild and far reaches of Cliffside Park, New Jersey. Having recently read about Petite Soo Show on blogger Jason Perlow's Off the Broiler, I inquired as to whether any of the usual suspects would be willing to change the venue for an authentic Chinese meal on our first 2010 trip to NY from Sichuan cuisine to the foods of Shanghai. I was delighted that my companions were willing!

And so, after a seven-ish hour trek through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and rural New Jersey, we were the first to arrive at the restaurant.

Petite Soochow
607 Gorge Rd, Cliffside Park, NJ
(201) 313-1666 

(No website.) 

Ah - a wonderful sign. After seating us a communal table and staking out 7 places for us, our hostess brought us this dish of peanuts. All too often, even in very "Authentic Chinese" restaurants, the first item placed on the table in front of me is a dish of fried wonton wrappers. The dish of peanuts says to me: "we are prepared to give you authentic Chinese food if that is what you desire."  And boy oh boy did PSC deliver!

The first order of business was getting the kitchen started on two large steamers of Xiao Long Bao, with pork and crab (8 pieces per steamer). Since  Cleveland's C&Y Restaurant closed in 2008, we have been starved of these soupy, chewy delicacies. However, since they take a while to make (from scratch, as you will see), and since the Chinese don't distinguish courses outside of a banquet (each dish of food is served as it is ready) - the first item to our table was actually this:

Snow Pea Leaf with Garlic 

 

We all greatly appreciated that this dish came out first. Often, when ordering a Chinese meal including a vegetable dish like this, the vegetable comes out last, and we are too full to enjoy it. Here, since it came out first, we all dug in heartily!  The greens were cooked to perfection, and the garlic made the perfect contrast. 

 

Xiao Long Bao Under Construction 

I loved the plexiglass-enclosed, dumpling-making station right at the restaurant's entrance. I wish I could roll them so well! Made-to-order dumplings of any kind are rare in the restaurant world - having the Xiao Long Bao so freshly prepared meant we were in a special place.

 

Ok - I became positively giddy at the sight and smell of these, and couldn't hold the camera still enough for a good photo. Oh well.

 

There is no dumpling so delectable as a Xiao Long Bao. The liquid (which is so much more than just a soup) is so rich and thick that it chills into a jelly-like consistency. This makes it easy to apply a  spoonful of it to the inside of the dumpling, together with a savory ball of crab and pork meat. Sealed and steamed to almost bursting - these jewels were like a little taste of heaven.

 

Shanghai Style Chow Mein 

 

Gloppy noodle lovers of the world, unite! True Shanghai Noodles - which are thicker and chewier than even Japanese Udon - are hard to find. The other ingredients in the dish almost didn't matter to me - so long as I could chew those wonderful noodles. Fortunately, the pork and vegetables in the dish were also quite lovely. 

 

Special: Crab with Ginger and Scallions

This was one of several dishes listed on the door as a special of the day. And special it was! Crab that had to have been alive and kicking before it met the pot was expertly battered and stir-fried, then paired with a light, traditional sauce.

Finger licking good!

 
Pork Belly with Cabbage

As I sit here looking at the paper menu from PSC, I cannot determine for sure which dish this was. What I can tell you is that it had incredibly tender pork belly, cooked twice (first by braising the pork, then the final stir fry), firm bean curd, very toothy cabbage, mushrooms, and a light-texured but pleasantly spicy sauce. While I'm not a huge cabbage fan, this treatment won me over.

And how can you not love pork belly?

By this point, we were getting full - but we still had one more dish to go. I'd seen it on a table right near ours, and knew I had to have it:

 
Fish Head in Earthen Casserole

This photo does not do justice to the huge pottery that perched on the edge of the table offering a bounty of goodness - cheek meat is often the most tasty from any animal (if prepared well), yet it is the one that Westerners are most likely to eschew. I learned to love a version of fish head casserole, featuring salmon, at Cleveland's Wonton Gourmet, but it hasn't been on the menu there for a while.

Swimming (you should pardon the expression) in the tasty broth were whole fish heads and even a little collar. They were so tender that very little chopstick action was needed to break them up and make the treasures inside accessible. Also floating in the casserole were hunks of very firm, exquisitely fresh (an  adjective I usually reserve for fish or seafood) tofu, which provided a surprisingly tasty contrast to the fish parts as it absorbed flavors from the broth and everything else in it. As the last dish, unfortunately, we weren't really able to do this casserole full justice - but if you are a little daring, and Northern New Jersey is on your "to visit" list, I can't recommend this delicacy highly enough.

By this point, we were to stuffed to even consider the interesting looking desserts we saw (not really desserts in the Western sense, but a lovely selection of sweet buns). And though we were enjoying lingering at the table to talk and digest, the hostess asked us to please make room for more customers - yes, both dining rooms were full, and there was no place for those next up for a table (and there were several crowding the entrance) to wait. We gladly gave up our seats so others could enjoy. A restaurant this crowded on a Thursday night is a good thing!

For fun playing with authentic, yet approachable, Chinese food, you can't go wrong at Petite Soo Chow. And since it is just a few blocks from the Goerge Washington Bridge - I know that we'll be back!

Fun Playing with Sichuan Food and Fish Heads at Wonton Gourmet

The Saturday after Thanksgiving found us once again visiting Wonton Gourmet, in Cleveland Asiatown. 3211 Payne Ave, Cleveland, OH 44114-4505, (216) 875-7000. After sampling the Hot & Spicy Szechuan Fish on our last visit, I was determined to try more of the new Szechuan/Sichuan items Chef/Owner Tom has put on his wall menu.

We succeeded in trying two "new" dishes, one old favorite, and one milder, more Cantonese style dish recommended by our wonderful server. Wonton Gourmet scores again - and Tom says that due to demand from his Chinese customers, there will be more Szechuan delights showing up on his menu soon!

Szechuan Eggplant

We've had this before, but one of our companions was hankering for it. Spicy, yet rich in flavors and textures - I dream of getting my eggplant like this in my home wok, but it isn't going to happen. Wok Heh demands many more BTUs than my current stove will ever know.

Hot & Spicy Beef

This dish more than lived up to its name. Though you see the red chilies - it is the numbing Szechuan peppercorn that makes the dish special.

The layer of cabbage underneath the beef also enhanced the dish with a crunchy texture, and a bland foil for the heat.

I expected this dish to be the same preparation as the fish dish I'd sampled earlier; the last 4 characters of each dish's name are the same. Looking at my photos of the menu signs, though,

 

I realize that the beef dish has 2 additional characters, and the fish dish 1 additional character. This might explain why the dishes looked so similar, and were "spelled" so similar - but yet tasted very different. Any character readers out there who care to shed some light on this??

Anyway - returning to our lunch:

Hot & Spicy Szechuan Pork with Noodles

The flavor profile here was also Szechuan, but distinctly different from the chili-centric beef dish. It was more of a hot-sour, with a distinct marine flavor that Tom identified as shrimp paste. Very tasty - but very Chinese. I found it a little strongly flavored for my palate, though I did enjoy it.

Our last selection was recommended by our server, who knows we love the "real" stuff, and who has never steered us wrong!

Braised Salmon Heads with Ginger and Scallions 

Ok, so the name of this dish may not make you hungry. Forget "heads" and think "cheeks" - halibut cheeks, beef cheeks, pork cheeks - some of the most succulent meat in the animal kingdom is found in the cheeks. And so, we practically leapt to try this dish, and we were well rewarded for navigating around and through the bones.

 

A hot wok had crisped the skin, and the light sauce melded with the ginger and onion flavors while allowing the salmon to remain the star. You really have to eat this dish with chopsticks to negotiate the many bones - but it is so worth the trouble!

There are two other Szechuan items - a pork chop dish and a cold beef with two flavors - that we did not get to sample (and also spicy pork maw, which is not one of my favorite things, though I will probably try it at some point) - guess it means I need to go back to Wonton Gourmet again soon, to continue playing with Szechuan flavors not heretofore seen in Cleveland!