This was our meal the evening before we were going to fly out of Ontario (California, not Canada) so we wanted someplace close to the hotel (which was close to the airport). I know my parents are always game for Chinese food. Plus this was recommended by our good friend and fellow foodie Trisha A. We had also tried to do a walk-in the Saturday evening we arrived, but it was packed and we didn’t have a reservation. This time though, we had a reservation and it was packed again. Lobby was full of people waiting, but we walked right up to the front desk and they seated us immediately.
Last year, we had also eaten here with Trisha’s parents who live down in So. Cal. It was nice of them to come up and meet us for dinner. We had to schedule that dinner as a very early dinner (i.e. 4pm) because of our flight out that evening and it seemed like we were the only ones in the restaurant. That probably explained a bit of why the dishes weren’t up to part then. But the dining room was in full swing today.
There were a few dishes Trisha had recommended that we ordered – the tofu and eggplant and the Panda beef with the sauce on the side. We also ordered some sizzling rice soup to start and the wok-fired salt and pepper scallops. There was quite a wait before our first dish came out, esp. for just a soup. The place seemed pretty full though. I could also see that others who were finishing up their meal were also waiting a bit for their bill, etc. It did, of course, finally arrive and was a good, “standard” sizzling rice soup (I’m so used to eaten out at places that re-invent dishes, etc.).
We again had a fairly long wait for our next dish to arrive which was the salt and pepper scallops. This was served on a bed of sauteed (with garlic) spinach which we all really liked. It was also a very nice balance to the salty, fried scallops which we did also enjoy.
We were a bit concerned because the other main dishes didn’t arrive for a bit, but eventually they both did. The eggplant and tofu had just a bit of heat to the sauce, a bit too much for my dad, but my loved the dish. I liked it too (but didn’t love it). Texture was very mush on mush; not surprising since it is an eggplant dish of course. The tofu was the best part of it for me since it a bit of the almost crisp edge to it and it soaked up so much of the flavors.
The Panda beef was an interesting dish and I could see the big advantage of having the sauce on the side as Trisha recommended. The beef itself is cut into small strips and is deep fried with a light crust. The sauce, which was provided in large quantity, was a sweet and spicy orange peel sauce. So if the sauce were mixed in, it would basically be a sweet and spicy beef with a lot of the sauce. Ordering on the side, you could sauce it up as much or as little as you wanted. My mom went light on the sauce and my dad pretty much none. Also, a secondary advantage of having the sauce on the side was that it was easier and more secure to transport the beef (and leave the sauce) which I had intended to take back back home with me on the flight, but I ultimately forgot it in the refrigerator in the hotel. D’oh!
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