Another (good) blip in the Chinatown Radar - Mountain View

Like Don K, perhaps the recent Christmas Eve dinner did not quite get the Chinese food holiday obligation satisfied. My wife, especially, needed another bout of Chinatown. With Justjoan chauffeuring us, we hit the mall last night. We thought of KS, sounding good and interesting, but we also wanted another crack at good ol' traditional Cantonese, what got so screwed up the other day.

A restaurant has been in the spot in the Chinatown Mall called Mountain View for many years. It has retained the same, basic, seen in Chinatowns around the world decor, but has gone through different incarnations and focuses, and also, I believe, different owners. The new place distinguishes itself by calling itself Mountain View Chef. The menu claims:

Authentic Chinese Cuisine Cook by Authentic Hong Kong Chef & The Best and Most Original Chinese Food of Chicago Chinatown

More important, that menu distinguishes itself with decent color pictures of over 50 of the menu items. That menu is filled with dishes that called out for ordering. Duck in House Sauce, Black Bean Ox Tail Casserole, Fillet of Pike in X.O. Sauce, Boiled Whelk were all amongst the dishes that could have easily fit in our order. Alas, we were only 3 adults and two pre-teens.

We ended up with Hong Kong Style Salt and Pepper Shrimp, Fried Japanese Tofu, Beef Chow Fun (Hong Kong Style [sic]), Farm Raised Chicken [sic], and Sizzling Black-Pepper Eggplants. The menu came to just under $40. It was certainly one of those meals where all the dishes complimented and balanced each other. After dinner, in the swoon of a great meal, I said to my wife, "you cannot go wrong with traditional Cantonese." She wisely noted, "oh yes you can", explaining how this kinda food is so dependent on good ingredients and very exact cooking techniques. There's not much in the way of heavy, spicy sauces to cover any deficiencies in the kitchen. I recanted and said, "you cannot go wrong with good Cantonese."

It was hard to single out a best; I really like the chicken, a cold poached chicken, perhaps organic, with an incredibly tasty pureed ginger dip. Hong Kong style places have been using the moniker "Japanese" to signify soft or silky tofu, compared against the more typical tofu found in say, Ma Po To Fu. It borders on the avante garde, the frying of this near liquid tofu. They coated the gel intensely with salt and spices, a dish pretty far out there on the palate, but one that did not go over the edge to inedible, a dish I will surely order again. The eggplants went over so well because they managed to cook them with nary a wisp of extra oil (oh in contrast to what we had the other night!). Oh, and I liked the noodles too, chewy rice noodles, not a hint of crispness, with classic soft Chinese texture beef.

The only dish that troubled me, the shrimps. They use a slightly different treatment than other salt n' pepper dishes in Chinatown, with lots of garlic chips and a red chili jam (an almost Thai profile), but the shrimps were on the small side and some of middling quality. I'm hoping this was an abberation of the night.

We entered an empty restaurant at about 5:30. We left it mostly filled. The casseroles seemed popular on a lot of tables as did dishes in bubbling mini-woks. As I indicated, I feel I've barely touched the menu. I know one bad meal at Lee Wing Wah should not cause me to that quickly switch my loyalities. I'd still like to get friendlier with Mountain View Chef.

Mountain View Chef
2168 S. Archer Ave
Chicago, IL
312.842.2168
(a door or so down from Lao Sze Chuan)

I agree entirely. mountain View Chef has improved considerably as of late and has been in my regular Chinatown mall rotation for the last several months. Like other nearby places, food can be inconsistent, and a great dish on one visit can be lackluster only a few days later. As noted above, the S&P shrimp seem particularly prone to this effect. The MVC take on this dish is very different and can be really good if executed properly, but the quality of the shrimp is critical to its success. I suspect they may have some supply issues as I too have noted that the crustacean quality varies to an alarming degree between visits. Overall , despite this problem, it's been one of the better choices in the mall for HK style Cantonese ,along with Lee Wing Wah (also inconsistent) and Ken Kee (which has actually been the most reliable recently, and which really deserves it's own thread as it offers several dishes ((like stir fried Ramen noodles ) which I haven't seen elsewhere PLUS it offers the significant advantage of providing English translations for the Chinese wall banners. Recently tho Ken Kee has been so crowded with a young Chinese crowd, that there's often a wait.

VI's description of our meal was excellent. i'd have to add that the almost liquid, spice coated tofu was completely new to me and, i think, my favorite of all the good dishes, with the eggplant lightly coated in black pepper coming in a close second. the only problem i had with the meal was when the waiter flatly refused to provide soy sauce on request. he did offer hot chili paste and chili oil, though the eggplant cried out for a little saltiness. if i went to a non-chinese restaurant that refused to provide salt, i'd never return. should it be any different in a chinese restaurant? there's plenty of evidence now that not everyone has the same ability to 'taste' food, and , of course, there's simply a freedom of choice issue here. it didnt remotely ruin the meal for me, but i think the restaurant was wrong. justjoan

The best value in Chicago eating I have come across lately is shrimp dumplings with corn on the dim sum menu at Mountain Chef. A golden wrapper, perfectly browned, with a filling of minced shrimp and sweet corn. Four of these beauties for three bucks. When I left the restaurant at 10 on a Saturday morning, it was packed with neighborhood folks. Always a good sign. I may never go back to Phoenix after seeing prices like this.