China Chef

*** An updated post on China Chef has closed

I recently received an Email from BruceT who mentioned a new Sichuan style restaurant located on Mira Mesa Boulevard. In the Email Bruce mentions cold Sichuan dishes....which meant a visit post haste.

As you approach the restaurant you arrive at the proverbial "fork in the road". Go toward the left, and you'll arrive at a rather generic Chinese Fast Food style restaurant, to the right you'll arrive at "Heavenly Kitchen Sichuan Dishes...." Hard choice, huh?

As we entered we saw the cold appetizers...this indeed looked like our destination. All the usual suspects from the thinly sliced Pig Ear to Fu Qi Fei Pien were in view.

The restaurant itself is fairly small with just a few tables.

As we looked over then menu, we noticed a few strangely familiar dishes like Spicy Fish Slices with Golden Mushroom, and Cumin Flavored Lamb. So while I selected a few appetizers, the Missus had a conversation with our Server. It seems that one of the new Owners is one of the former Chefs from Dede's on Convoy, thus the familiar dishes. According to the waitress he is originally from Chonqing, and this version of China Chef has been open since the end of August.

Here's our 3 appetizer plate(3 appetizers - $5.45):

The pickled greens and soybeans had a strange overly bitter flavor, and left an oily film on in my mouth, the marinated bamboo shoots looked really good, but were bland except for the flavor of sesame oil. The Fu Qi Fei Pien was not bad, but was lacking in Sichuan peppercorns, and the pieces were not cut into uniform slices, still it wasn't too bad.

Since we've eaten at Dede's we decided to try some different dishes, and started with the Chinese Bacon(Howie - it's your La Rou Chao La dish) with Spicy Green Pepper($7.95):

Slices of cured Pork Belly is stir fried with Leeks and dried red chilies. As expected the dish was on the salty side, though not as greasy as I thought it would be. The dish was surprisingly spicy, a very much "in your face" spicy.

Rice Crust with Chicken($8.95):

Not a good rendition of this classic dish, the sauce was on the watery side, and the usual deep chicken flavor was lacking.

Shrimp with Dry Red Pepper($9.45):

First off, we were impressed with all the good sized shrimp, which were not shelled, just lightly battered and fried, than stir-fried with scorched dried red chilies - think salt and pepper prawns(without the pepper) stir-fried with dried chilies. I've had several versions of this classic Chongqing Chili dish, and found this one to be a very one dimensional spicy, lacking the "buzz" of Sichuan Pepper, and the back of throat slow burn. The usual slight sweetness of these type of dishes was also missing. It was very spicy, though. Not a bad dish.

We found the dishes at China Chef to be more on the rustic side, and a bit one-dimensional. Sort of like Dede's with more heat.  I may be back in the future to try out a few other dishes, the potential is there. At least you can now take care of your Sichuan craving without driving down to Convoy. You'll find the prices at China Chef to be quite reasonable (from  $5.95-$12.95) as well.

China Chef Restaurant
9225 Mira Mesa Blvd #110
San Diego, CA 92126

Open Tues-Thurs 11am - 930pm
     Fri-Sat 11am - 10pm
     Sun 11am - 930pm
     Closed Mondays

Thanks for the recommendation Bruce T!

Comments

[clayfu]

when i used to live in mira mesa this place used to be soooooooo ghetto. Aka hole in the wall.

looks like they added a whole new element. Too bad i'm closer to dede's now =x

[Ted]

Too bad Kirk. I love Salt and Pepper shrimp and the pic you have looks pretty tasty. Oh well...

[Kathy]

Hey Kirk!
The rice crust dish does look at bit lackluster - oh but man, remember how good it can taste when done right?! :) Uh oh...cravings coming on...I really should stop reading food blogs. So bad. So bad!

[wandering chopsticks]

Darn it! I shouldn't have looked at this b/c now you've got me craving ChungKing! I can just smell the perfumey aroma of the peppercorns. Kirk, you know they opened a new location in San Gabriel?

I had to chuckle about your comment about driving around looking for food places. I've got a foodie friend who plans out where she wants me to take her to eat when she visits. And our activities are then tailored around where we plan to eat. :)

[nhbilly]

Boy do I hate reading your blog every morning I come in for work. Always makes my stomache GROWL! Food looks great seems like something I can whip up ;-)

-bill

[Trent]

I also got a kick out of Kirk's "Yes, doesn't everybody?" response. When my sister comes to visit, we do the same thing "Wandering Chopsticks" described. Heck, every friday I check mmm-yoso as part of my weekend planning!

[Kirk]

Hi Clayfu - You just can't get a break, can you? LOL!

Hi Ted - At least if you live or work in the area, there are more choices. The cumin lamb at Dede's has always been good, so I figure it's probably good here as well.

Hi Kathy - Yes, well done rice crust....is delici-yoso!!!

Hi WC - Man you've made me crave ChungKing as well! And I'm over a 100 miles away! BTW, I didn't know you had your own blog! I'll make sure to create a link.

http://wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com/

Hi Nhbilly - You can whip stuff up? You must be a great cook.

Hi Trent - Well, doesn't everybody?? LOL! Hope you're having a great weekend.

[Ben]

Hey Kirk:
The shrimp looks great. I see that you ordered a lot of food. Is this food for just you and your missus?
Ben

[Kirk]

Hi Ben - We have a mantra..."leftovers are our friend".

[wandering chopsticks]

Hey Kirk,

I started my own blog bc of you! :) I live 100 miles away and yet I keep reading your reviews in case I ever go down to SD. Heh, I kept lurking on yours and Elmo's site until I decided I needed to catalogue my own eating.

BTW, I tried out the ChungKing here after your review of the other Sichuan restaurant down there that had the original ChungKing chef. What a roundabout circle eh?

[Kirk]

Hi WC - Well ,I'm quite flattered, but also very happy...I'm sure we'll find a few more new places to eat at during our visits to LA!

[howie]

Mmmm... Chinese bacon... Well, it's always nice to have more Sichuan options even though we have Ba Ren. We need more restaurants that serve pork belly...

[Kirk]

Hi Howie - Pork fats rules, huh? ;o)

[sam sheng]

China Chef Sichuan has changed a lot since then. Dishes are amazingly delicious and portions are unbelievably big for the prices. Service is very good too.

[Kirk]

Hi Sam - Welcome, and thanks for commenting. I don't think that you've read my updates on China Chef:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2009/03/turning-up-the-heat-part-1-revisits-to-china-chef-and-dedes.html

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2008/06/china-chef-a-re.html

In my opinion it is a decent to good (not exceedingly good) choice. To me they do a good job with the tea smoked duck.Service is very good...portions are decent, about the same as Dede's. To me they are in the same class as Dede's.