Dining Out with Rob Balon

Chinatown – Bee Caves

 
Bee Caves Road at Walsh Tarlton in Westlake is home to a shopping mall that contains a Kinkos, a Blockbuster Video, Randell’s Groceries, and other emporia. but tucked away in a corner, next to Amy’s Ice Cream, is my favorite establishment, a wonderful, and lucky little restaurant called Chinatown. Why wonderful? I’ll tell you shortly? Why lucky? Because prior to Chinatown, there were five restaurants in that same location. All failed.

Not Chinatown though. Under the stewardship of Linda Cheng, whose ex Ronald runs Chinatown Mopac, the Bee Caves location has prospered.

Now let’s get to the wonderful part. Can yo say pan fried vegetable dumplings, for example?

Man, these are tender, aromatic, and just melt in your mouth. The dough for the wrapper is never to thick., Just right. Come to think of it, the pork dumplings are pretty darn good as well. And even though my doctor may not approve, I love the chicken wings. They have a very comforting flavor.

I love the crab meat and asparagus soup. This is a mellow soup, with a delightful aftertaste that just grows on you.

There are five basic styles of Szechuan cooking and Linda’s restaurant excels in all of them. First, the Kung Pao style. which uses peanuts in a hotpepper sauce. I love the Kung Pao chicken. So what if it has more calories than a Big Mac. It’s delicious.

The next style is the Yu-Hsiang which uses a flavorful garlic sauce. Try the shredded pork with ginger and garlic. Lovely

The third style is Kan-Shao. Try the Lobster Kan-Shao, gently simmered in a spicy hot and sour sauce. Wonderful flavor.

Next is the Sizzling style. Try the Sizzling shrimp with Kan-Shao sauce. Served on a red hot platter, this dish comes to the table literally hissing as it flares in front of you.

And finally, the Hunan style, down with broccoli and a black bean sauce. I love the Hunan scallops. I mean…te amoro!!!!

There’s so much more, but then you need to head out to see Linda Cheng at Chinatown on Bee Caves Road. You know they always used to call the New York Yankees lucky. But baseball purists know you’ve got to be good before you can be lucky. Same holds true for Chinese restaurants.

For Fox 7 news, I’m Rob Balon dining out at Chinatown Bee Caves.