No more turkey

Asian eateries offer leftover respite

by Jim Johnson

Chinese restaurants are tough to write full reviews on, since there's a generic quality about so many of them. But, since no Asian restaurant I know of serves turkey, I thought this would be the perfect time to provide some options to Thanksgiving leftovers. Here's a brief overview of four Asian restaurants I've recently visited.

Shanghai Jack's (Routes 12 and 100, West Boylston; 853-3663) has taken over the space vacated by Nancy Chang's (the Chandler Street location in Worcester is still open). While Nancy Chang's served up Thai and Japanese food, Shanghai Jack's restricts its menu to Mandarin and Szechuan. "Restrict" may not be the right word. The menu is extensive with a heavy seafood concentration, including some relatively exotic choices like mussels with black-bean sauce, crab with ginger, lobster with Szechuan sauce, and sizzling calamari.

Unlike many Asian restaurants that restrict combination plates to lunch, Shanghai Jack's offers more than 20 dinner choices under $10. Dieters and vegetarians have ample options as well. My dining companion's home-style bean curd ($6.25) was quite tasty, with silky tofu stir-fried until the outside was crispy. The sauce was a pleasant mix of hot and sweet.

A varied buffet is available Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and on Sunday from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. I sampled a number of fresh and flavorful choices like pork with scallions, fluffy egg foo yong, crisp crab rangoons, meaty chicken wings, spring rolls, Peking ravioli, pork lo mein, spicy beef with garlic, General Gau's chicken, and my favorite: salt and pepper shrimp that were lightly breaded and stir-fried in a light, spicy sauce.

Chinese & Vietnamese Food (75 Maywood Street, Worcester; 770-1115) may not be the most original restaurant name, but at least you know what's on the menu. Indeed, half of the menu consists of mostly familiar Chinese specialties like General Tso's chicken (General Gau's arch nemesis, perhaps), beef with broccoli, pork with ginger sauce, and shrimp with lobster sauce plus nearly a dozen vegetarian dishes. Not one dish tops $10, and most average $6 or so.

The Vietnamese selections are more exciting and, to my taste, more successful. On a recent visit, a friend and I ordered goi cuon (those delightful steamed rolls known in some restaurants as nim chow) and goi tom thit, a salad consisting of shredded pork, cabbage, and shrimp. The rolls were fresh and tasty, with four pieces of rice paper stuffed with soft vermicelli, mint, basil, pork, bean sprouts, and shrimp. The salad was the surprise winner of the evening, with sliced cabbage piled high and deeply fragrant with garlic, cilantro, and onions, spicy vinegar, a splash of oil, and peanuts and carrots for added texture, color, and flavor.

I had my heart set on boiled fish hot pot but was still quite pleased with chicken in ginger sauce. Slivers of ginger seemed as plentiful as the tender chicken, with plenty of hot pepper, celery, carrots, green pepper, and cabbage mixed in. The roast pork with garlic sauce also contained a mega-portion of garlic, with the veggies cooked just past crispness and lathered in a light and spicy hot and sour sauce.

This storefront restaurant doubles as a karaoke lounge for the area's substantial Asian population. TV screens and speakers outnumber tables, and microphone stands and a mirror ball await the later crowd. Although my friend and I were the only ones there, the wait crew immediately turned up the volume on far more hip-hop hits than I generally listen to while dining.

The scene is similar but quieter at Golden Forest (755 Main Street, Worcester; 797-0300), another storefront-restaurant-cum-karaoke-lounge. On my first visit, my server was so excited about a visit by a non-Asian, that he sat down and watched me eat, an act that was simultaneously endearing and disconcerting. Even more endearing, the middle-aged woman who waited on me during my second visit asked me where I lived and told me to please come back so she could cook me something special. I have no doubt she will.

Golden Forest has two separate menus, one Chinese and one Vietnamese, and thus a broader selection than at Chinese & Vietnamese Food, with a splendid list of Szechuan specialties and combination plates. In addition to my beloved goi cuon, I ordered the "special soup," which came out in a massive bowl steaming with fragrant, clear broth. A fist-sized tangle of rice vermicelli poked through the surface like an iceberg, its ocean adrift with roast and barbecued pork, cilantro, sliced beef, and scallion stalks. A separate platter with bean sprouts, mint, and lime came on the side to toss in for added flavor and texture. The usual killer hot peppers did not come with it, so I spooned in some red pepper paste. The flavor was perfect, with the heat growing in intensity as I approached the bottom of the bowl and the collected pepper seeds.

If you're in the mood for a buffet, consider Panda King (68 Stafford Street, Worcester; 754-4999). It costs a few dollars less ($5.95 for dinner, $4.95 for lunch) than the nearby Tin Tin Buffet, and for good reason. Compared with 45 or 50 different selections at Tin Tin, Panda King has perhaps 20 -- with little of the helpful signage that makes choosing easy at Tin Tin. Also, several items seemed to have lingered too long; salads were browning, chicken fingers sat soaking up grease, and a film had formed over the soups.

Still, there were plenty of successful options that made $5.95 a bargain: mussels with black-bean sauce, General Tso's chicken, salt and pepper shrimp (frustratingly in their tiny shells), skewered boneless spare ribs, string beans in garlic sauce, and tangy and tender kung pao beef.