As ubiquitous as Chinese food is in American cuisine, developing a menu for a Chinese restaurant can be a thin-ice exercise.
Getting attention means serving food that’s authentic (a frequent foodie euphemism for weird), but filling the seats requires stuff that’s familiar (dumplings, hot and sour soup, mu shu).
The same dilemma exists for, say, Mexican restaurants. Even if the chef has no tradition of or interest in making guacamole, every Mexican restaurant better serve it, and every customer will judge it, and they will remember it. No matter how good the escamoles are.
So even if a Chinese restaurant specializes in bamboo pith and sea cucumber, it better have dumplings at the top of the menu if it wants business.
And they’d better nail them.
Chopsticks China Bistro, a charming family-style restaurant at the corner of South Federal Boulevard and West Mississippi Avenue, balances its menu carefully. It offers plenty of authentic dishes like Salt and Pepper Frog and Crispy Pig’s Intestine.
But it also nails the dumplings.
The best dumplings at Chopsticks (there are several varieties) are the enticingly wrapped Juicy Pork Dumplings, bursting with a rich, savory broth and served with slivered ginger and vinegar. (Ask for red chili sauce on the side.)
Pile everything onto a spoon and pierce the dumpling, saving the broth in the bowl of your spoon. Sip it down, then chopstick your way through the pork ball and dough.
Or, do as I do and pop the whole pile in your mouth, and let the warm broth coat your tongue and throat while you lazily chew the dumpling, every other bite accented by a sliver of ginger. Perfect.
As good as the dumplings are, however, they’re just an entry point. Sesame pockets await. These little sesame-seed pastry sachets come hot and empty; it’s up to you to spoon the savory, crackly meat filling (choose beef on your first visit, lamb next time) into the pocket and munch away.
Take your time with these, as it may be a few minutes before your main dishes appear. But this isn’t for lack of attentive service. It’s because your meal is being cooked fresh for you, not scooped out of some tub.
Settle back in your chair (if you’re lucky you’ll get one with armrests) and sip your cup of sultry, soft, green-white Jade Bamboo Soup while you share stories with your big round tableful of friends.
Before you’ve finished recounting all the exaggerated stories from last weekend, your entrees will arrive.
They will include:
Kung pao squid, fresh and tender and gently kissed (not drowned) with the rich, sour- sweet kung pao sauce. (Not a fan of squid? Have your kung pao any way you like it: tofu, chicken or prawn.)
Walnut prawns, perfectly steamed and tossed with mayonnaise and walnuts, an elegant texture. Salt and Pepper Prawns, lightly battered and fried, with a barely-there Pacific salinity.
Steamed chicken with hot chili oil, a tender, heat-pricked study in the spare side of Chinese cooking. Minced chicken with pine nuts, crispy and decadent. Eggplant with hot garlic sauce with no trace of bitter.
And good old Yankee favorite sesame chicken, light on the tongue with a swift, staccato heat that didn’t linger.
Your dinner should not include the uninteresting tea- smoked duck. A perfect tea- smoked duck tastes somewhere in between freshly cooked (supple and tender) and long-cured (elastic and smoky), but the version at Chopsticks was just plain dry.
Neither, sadly, should it include Peking-style spare ribs, tough and totally oversaturated with sauce. Also disappointing: pan-fried noodles that were soggy, not crispy.
For the initiated, there are several iterations of tripe on the menu, from kung pao to flaming. There is jellyfish salad, shredded lamb stomach, and combo No. A4, which marries beef tongue, stomach and tendon.
For the rest of us, there’s lamb tossed with mint leaf, beef in garlic sauce and sea bass with soy sauce, all worthy menu items.
Balance.
Service at Chopsticks is never at lightning speed, but it’s always friendly. Servers will help instruct you on how to eat each dish, and which dipping sauce goes with which dish, and exactly how to stuff those sesame pockets.
Have patience with the language barrier.
The room, rough around the edges and in need of a few new appointments, is nonetheless clean and cheerful. You won’t be awed by the décor or architecture, but you’ll feel, appropriately, like you’re in a neighborhood Chinese-American restaurant.
Chopsticks is perhaps best enjoyed with a big group, each person picking out something to order and everyone sharing all. Kids will find plenty on the menu to chow down on.
Slip in for lunch one day and have a seafood egg roll and bowl of Szechuan-style Dan Dan Noodles, a simple, spicy-but-not searing bowl of soft noodles topped with a peanut-chili-spice crumble and a few slivers of scallion. A pot of hot tea (or a beer if it’s Friday) and you’re out of there for well under $10.
Or have the Simmered Spicy Shredded Pork Stomach. Your choice.
Dining critic Tucker Shaw can be reached at 303-954-1958 or dining@denverpost.com.
Chopsticks China Bistro
Chinese
2990 W. Mississippi Ave. (at South Federal Boulevard), 303-936-1506 | **|Very Good
Atmosphere: Small, very casual Chinese restaurant populated mostly by regulars. Lighting is harsh, but the space is relaxing.
Service: Sometimes overworked and rarely speedy, but always friendly. If you can’t figure out which sauce goes with which dumpling, someone’s there to explain it to you.
Wine: Tea, hot. Beer, cold.
Plates: Starters, $2.99-$7.95; entrees $7.95-$23.95.
Hours: 11 a.m.-midnight, seven days.
Details: No reservations. Takeout available. Parking. Great for groups and families with kids.
Three visits.
Our star system:
****: Exceptional
***: Great
**: Very good
*: Good
No stars: Needs work
