High Way 95 Cafe - Yuma

Yeh, it's ed from Yuma again. Today I decided to write about one of Yuma's Asian restaurants. Yes, you read that right - Yuma has Asian restaurants.

March 2011 update: Since this post was published, Hwy 95 opened a fancier location called Palagor, which closed after a few months. More recently, they have taken over the old Fortune Cookie locationat B and 16th, so they now have two restaurants.

This small restaurant perched at the edge of town on Hwy 95 is overall the best Asian restaurant in Yuma.

You don't know how hard it is for me to write that last sentence. First off, I am automatically suspicious of any restaurant that claims to serve "Mandarin, Thai, and Asian Cuisine." In addition, some of my first visits to the restaurant were unpleasant: The "pan-fried" dumplings were deep fried. An "Indian" noodle dish was a nasty disaster. On one of my first visits to the place with friends, they forgot one person's order - and that person was (at that time) my girlfriend (now my latest ex-girlfriend). I also have developed a long relationship with another Chinese restaurant in town that is still a personal favorite. So it has been hard for me to concede primacy to Highway 95 Cafe, but as a whole, this is the best in town in terms of quality and especially variety.

One thing I love about the place are the varieties of soup noodles. This is the Roast Pork with Wonton Noodles Soup (5.95)

A very nice-looking and generous bowl of soup. Though hard to tell from the photo, the roast pork is in chunks, not thin slices, and has a good porky flavor. It includes plenty of perfectly done noodles with some pull to them, a few leaves of napa cabbage, and several broccoli florets. On the other hand, the two wontons are pretty flavorless and filled with just a little ground mystery meat. Similarly, the broth lacks a deep savory richness, its main flavor note being a background hint of soy sauce. Nonetheless, I would gladly order this hearty soup again.

Surprisingly (considering that the owners and chefs at the restaurant are Mandarin speaking Chinese), some of the best noodle soups on the menu are versions of Thai soups. The Tom Yum soup (without noodles $4.95, with noodles $5.95) caught my attention the very first time I slurped up a spoonful of its sour and spicy broth. While the underlying stock may be as lightly flavored as in the pork noodle soup, here the Thai spices, lemon grass, and sour tang provide a depth of taste that the other soup lacked:

Yes, that soup is as spicy hot as it looks. Another Thai style noodle soup is the Coconut Curry Noodles Soup (5.95).

Here the spicy hot broth is matched by Thai red curry flavors and the creamy mouthfeel of coconut milk. I also love the array of veggies here. In addition to the red onions, cilantro, eggplant strips, and shrimp visible in the large photo, there are chunks of chicken, sizable pieces of green bean, slices of tofu, and two or three baby okras. While this may not seem amazing to those of you who live in large cities, such a range of unusual veggies is hard to find in most restaurants in Yuma, much less all put together in one soupbowl. For some reason, I had never tried this soup before I started visiting the Highway 95 Cafe to take pictures for this post. What a discovery!

Another of my favorite dishes here is the Pad Thai:

   

I know some of you are probably thinking, how ordinary. And yes, this classic dish, which has introduced many newbies to the wonders of Thai cuisine, is often perfunctorily bland and clumsily prepared even at good Thai restaurants. Highway 95's version, however, is as good as I've ever had - anywhere (of course, I have never been to Bangkok). The rice noodles are perfectly cooked and then stirfried with a whole scrambled egg, 5 or 6 small fresh-tasting shrimp, several chunks of chicken, a few strips of tofu, green onions, and bean sprouts. The combination provides various textures and multiple flavor notes. The Pad Thai is also supremely well-balanced. I order it extra spicy, so I get two small dried red chilies, and this background heat matches up nicely with the tang of the lime wedge, the hints of tamarind, and a touch of sweetness. I'm sitting here at my computer salivating at the thought of it.

I don't mean to imply that everything is outstanding at the cafe. In my mind, it is too difficult to do such a wide range of cuisines with uniform success. Recently, I tried the Chow Kueh Teow, a Malaysian seafood and noodle stirfry($6.95). Although I generally liked most of the mixture of seafood (shrimp, mussels, and tender squid slices), krab was the predominent element. Also, unlike the Pad Thai, this dish lacked much interplay between its various elements as soy sauce provided the primary flavor, making the end result monochromatic in taste and in looks.

Another dish that left something to be desired was the Seafood Chow Fun with Lobster Sauce ($8.95). I don't mean to imply that this item was a total failure. The three large shrimp were pristine and quite tasty. On the other hand, the rest of the seafood consisted of one small clam and a few pieces of krab. Moreover, when I look at my photo, I'm not sure if it's a bit blurry or if that's how this noodle dish actually looked in real life. Yes friends, just as it appears, this was a bowl of either gloppy goop or goopy glop - I'm not sure which. To make it worse, both the chow fun and the little bit of cabbage and carrot were overcooked, so the mouthfeel was as uninteresting texturely as this picture is boring visually.  Like the photo, the flavors were monotone and understated as well.

Nonetheless, it really wouldn't be fair to end a look at Yuma's best Asian restaurant on such a down note, so I'd like to finish with two of their best items. The Kong Pao Chicken (Sm $4.25, Lg $7.25) is a good version of that classic dish:

Served with plenty of steamed rice, this is the small size portion of the Kong Pao Chicken, and it is full of flavor. The first tastes hit the mouth with both the hot spiciness of the chilies and a distinct peanut flavor. The textures contribute excellent contrasts as all the crunchy ingredients - peanuts, celery and finely diced water chestnuts (and something else I couldn't identify) - balance against the extremely tender chicken pieces. In fact, I have only two minor complaints about this fine lunch: 1) the chicken is almost too tender and lacks chickeny flavor (maybe too much parboiling?), and 2) there is a background sweet flavor that is unfortunately common in much Chinese food prepared for Americans.

Another excellent item is Homestyle Bean Curd ($6.25):

What's not to like? The tofu is perfectly cooked with a chewy skin and moist and tender interior. The tofu plays off against the crunch of the cabbage and broccoli. The chile flavor is also excellent. It is hard to see from this photo, but that chile in the foreground is not your standard Chinese restaurant chile. If you look carefully, this chile still has a dark green cap on it. According to my good friend and eating buddy, Chip, the proprietors actually grow some of their own chilies for use in special dishes at the restaurant. And this is a special dish.

Because of the good flavors, wide range of dishes, and excellent prices, Highway 95 Cafe has been voted the best Asian restaurant in Yuma by readers of the local paper. I know that these sorts of polls often select eateries about as well as American voters choose politicians, but in this case, I must admit, they got it right. Let's just hope the voters do as well in 2008.

High Way 95 Asian Cuisine, 2585 E. 16th St. , Yuma AZ, (928) 329-8882.

Comments

[Kirk]

Hi Ed - I remember you pointing out this place...and I couldn't help but be puzzled. I'm glad you posted on it!

[Cathy]

We are so there!

[ed (from Yuma)]

yeh, Kirk, this place has grown on me since it opened. Notice that it no longer promises American and Mexican food as well.

Cathy, this is another option for someone going through Yuma on 8. Just take the 16th St exit and head east - away from the center of town, and it's only a few blocks east of the new mall. Also, I forgot to mention, that the service is fast and competent, and since that one early snafu, I've had no problems with service at all.

[Captain Jack]

This place looks really great. Glad there is someone out there who won't call the foodie police if I order by beloved Pad Thai there.

[Andy 美國土子]

interesting Ed.. that soupy lobster noodle.. it's looks almost like what is called a 羹面 (P:geng mian), noodle in thick soup... it looks yuck.

[ed (from Yuma)]

CJ - no foodie police in Yuma. A lot of my students think of Appleby's as something exotic, and almost everybody is just sooo delighted that we finally got a real Italian restaurant: Olive Garden. The foodie jail could never hold all the violators.

Yuck is not a bad description, Andy.

[Hana]

Pad Thai is one of my favourites in this restaurant too.. Anyway, i like this restaurant a lot :) I mean it!!

[sue]

We had dinner there last week during the lull in the rain. I had the Kung pao chicken, and thought it tasty but a bit heavy on the salt. I asked if they served Brown Rice, and the server said yes, but we have to charge $1 extra. OK. Rice came and was white jasmine rice tossed with soy sauce. Questioned the server and she said, wellll, some call Brown Rice, others call Fried Rice. I chalked it up to a language barrier. My companions thoroughly enjoyed their dishes. It was obvious that most of the diners were regulars, from the first-name greetings.

Also tried Viejo Loco but was dissapointed by the soft tacos. The tortillas (one each taco) fell apart with the first bite. Not grilled long enough. Decent shredded beef but curiously dry. Very dry. Relleno lightly breaded with a tiny bit of cheese. So tiny I had to excavate to find it. Good flavor on the Anaheim type chile. I'm used to the pasillas used locally in CA.

All in all a so-so experience but having seen Yuma in more detail this trip, it must be hard to keep a good restaurant going with the seasonal population. Would like to try the 4th street location, and 95 again with some of these recs of yours. Passed on your Marriot rec to my brother who lives there.

Thanks for posting!

[ed (from Yuma)]

Yes, Sue, Highway 95 Cafe now has two other locations - Palagor - a large and beautiful restaurant on 4th just north of 8th St. And The Fortune Cookie, in the stripmall at B and 16th. Fortune Cookie has an identical menu, and Palagor's menu is similar. I just hope all 3 survive.

Brown rice. Sorry about that. The pan fried dumplings on the menu are deep fried, which bothers me, but I didn't realize that they'd call fried rice brown rice - but you might be the first person ever to order brown rice there.