Asian With An Attitude
The restaurant behind the car wash (and car lot) on 28 has housed many a Chinese joint (1055 Main St.). It has changed hands and names over the years but it has never changed our impression of what good Chinese is all about. Now East Bay is trying to change all that.
Good Chinese is hard to find, good Asian in general is even rare. East Bay not only serves good Chinese but they also litter the menu with other great Asian dishes like Thai and Korean. The discerning palate may even recognize a few Vietnamese techniques and spices as well.
It’s all a premeditated plan to enlighten Milford residents to the nature of “non-fast food” Asian cuisine. The term fast food is not often applied to Chinese places the way it is burger joints. It should be. After the East Bay’s owner used the term to describe the typical cheap Chinese places I realized the term was right on the money. We have been being fed complete bullsh*t on a regular basis. For instance, America’s all time favorite dish... Sweet & Sour Chicken. Usually this dish is thumb sized (at best) pieces of chicken, heavily breaded and fried, served with a neon orange super sweet corn syrup sauce (rumor has it super cheap fast food Chinese shops use 1 part ketchup to 6 parts pure corn syrup). Not at East Bay. I never, never order sweet & sour anything. At East Bay the owner brought out a sweet & sour dish (with the sauce on the side). I was very surprised after tasting it. The sauce is layered with flavors and it finishes off with the bright aftertaste of orange and lemon. It is unmistakably homemade. The chef (Chris Chan) explained how their sauce is a slow simmered reduction using fresh lemon, orange, Thai brown sugar and several secret ingredients. I would have chosen even egg rolls over sweet & sour dishes before. At East bay I would actually pay for one. It was truly that different. It defines sweet and sour. Not just sweet.
For me the star of the show was the Mongolian Chicken. Another dish I previously avoided. Typically it’s smothered in a pungent, sweet sticky sauce and is just a brown version of cheap sweet & sour crap. Not so at East Bay. The sauce was light and sparse but the flavors were bold enough to withstand the low dosage. Spicy and smoky (like it had been kissed by flames) this sauce was addicting, absolutely excellent. It had many qualities I look for in great Lo Mein (my fave) and that’s the ultimate compliment coming from a Lo Mein lover! Simple but sublime, it is a testament to traditionalism.
Speaking of Asian pasta, Pad Thai fans will be impressed with East Bay’s offering. The sauce is so fresh you can distinguish the flavors of fish oil, tamarind and that rustic Thai brown sugar. However unlike most Pad Thai the sauce is not sweet. Spicy, savory and smoky with just a hint of sweetness. I would even order it over Lo Mein and that’s a first.
Hardcore Pad Thai fans will immediately notice the unusual noodle East Bay uses in place of the traditional noodle. Chef Chan insists on using a Vietnamese noodle in his Pad Thai and now I see why. The noodle is wider and thinner than usual, it has the perfect chew yet remains light by being cooked perfectly.
Keeping with the “fast food” favorites I must mention the General Tso’s Chicken. Surprisingly this dish is actually a traditional Chinese dish. Most have not been offered the opportunity to taste what made it so special to carry a general’s name though. Chef Chan explains “the chicken has to be perfectly round balls cut out of a whole breast, not a breast cut up into pieces. It’s a painstaking process”. The shape must be consistent in order for all the pieces to cook perfectly. Next, the chicken is lightly breaded with a (pricey) Japanese flour mixture and flash fried to perfection, then the sauce is added and the dish simmers shortly. No sickeningly sweet sticky corn syrup hoisin mixture sauce like most use either. Instead, the chef slow simmers fruits and peppers into a reduction much like a glaze. Layering the flavors of the sauce and techniques that keep the chicken crispy is the key. Prepared this way, the dish actually deserves it’s royal name. This dish is definitely a must order dish.
East Bay incorporates other Asian styles on many dishes alongside truly traditional dishes from China, Thailand and Korea. In fact, the owner steered me clear of the “Zha Lhang Myun” (a hard to find Korean noodle dish with black bean sauce) because he feels it is a dish more for Korean customers. “I doubt you’d think it looks good... it’s black, I mean pure black... most Americans would probably not order it... it’s for our Korean customers who really want the real thing” Menu items Americans shouldn’t order... now that’s authentic.
Chef Chan has spent 3 decades cooking all over Asia before coming to New York and cooking at Wind Garden. His experience and uncompromising quality speaks for itself. All you have to do to appreciate the extra effort East Bay expends is to order something. Anything. Even famous “fast food” Chinese dishes are excellent choices at East Bay. There is one downside though, after feasting on East Bays’s delicious real deal dishes you may find you’ve lost interest in your previously preferred Chinese place. I suppose that’s not a downside for you but it is for the other restaurants.
Oh well maybe dwindling sales will encourage restaurateurs to step up their game and start offering us the same quality of cooking they would serve to visiting relatives from overseas. If they are not willing to put in the time and effort to use the correct cooking techniques, spend money on essential Asian ingredients (East Bay pays $20 a lb. just for the wild Chinese mushrooms in the Mongolian Chicken!) then they can’t cry when a place like East Bay sets up shop nearby and takes their customers.
East Bay should put a big dent in the sales of their Milford competitors, assuming customers care about quality. I see discerning diners making East Bay their 1st. choice from now on. However, the success of the local fast food Chinese kitchens proves many people either have never had good Chinese or don’t even know the difference. For instance, Ex Wendy’s turned China House had the nerve to serve me a container of half white rice with Lo Mein on top as my “Lo Mein lunch special”. That’s unforgivable and they are still open to this day, obviously some people think it’s good. I’m interested to see the response to East Bay. Question is; do the locals prefer cheap Chinese or good Chinese? Only time will tell.
