March 15, 2004
The Chow at Chau Chow
The Liloia clan had an, um... interesting experience at the famed Chau Chow City restaurant in Chinatown Boston on Sunday. After a failed attempt to meet up with some Boston bloggers for brunch, we got a table for three and braved the waters of authentic dim sum.
Now I'm no stranger to odd oriental edibles -- I've eaten salad filled with crunchy red beetles and been faced with a plate of what appeared to be whole deep-fried sparrows (both at the same dinner on mainland China) -- so I figured nothing here could turn my stomach. I should have known better, since Chau Chow's features seafood very prominently. I guess I was being overly optimistic. The philosophy of the cooking staff seems to be, "Shrimp goes with everything." Like Bubba's list: "Shrimp soup, shrimp jambalaya, shrimp soda, shrimp corn..." It's all full of shrimp. One server beamed proudly when we asked about the contents of the cart, "Yes, all shrimp!"
I did find one meatball that was made of either beef or (more likely) pork, but it was lukewarm and pink. Several inquiries to Dave about the cookedness of the ball of meat resulted in no definitive answers, so I passed it off to Trevor. Yes, that's right. I thought the hunk of pork was undercooked, so I sent it over to my kindergartner. I'm a nice mom like that. He speared it with a chopstick and ate it like a popsicle.
The next steamer held three shrimp dumplings. I skipped it entirely and opted for something beef-filled instead. I had a Fear Factor moment with a plate of white beef envelopes. You know those slippery latex water-filled worms you can get at Spencer Gifts? Imagine trying to pick it up with chopsticks and take a bite. It was all gooey and slimy. I tried to chew and suddenly I heard Joe Rogan's voice cheering me on, "Just eat the sheep's eyeball and you'll have fifty thousand dollars!" Only no money.
Another server came by and mumbled something about a chicken dumpling. I eagerly asked for that one and she frowned, "No chicken... spinach!" But a spinach dumpling doesn't mean there's spinach inside, silly. It just means that the gooey outer layer that covers the shrimp is green and salty. I ate the outside and passed the inside over to Dave, who, even though he loves shrimp, was starting to look a little green himself.
I sought refuge in the fried tofu -- but again "everything's better with shrimp." A mound of ground shrimp was magically adhered to the side of the tofu triangle. I was starving. I ate around it.
Finally someone stopped by with a dish of harmless sesame balls. Dave and I dove in, but Trevor declared the inside "yucky looking" and refused to eat anything else. (This, from a kid who just ate an undercooked pork meatball.)
I'm not sure how you get rice at Chau Chow. No one stopped by with it and we didn't seem to have a dedicated server to ask for such a thing. I haven't sworn off the place, but I'm sure it's better with A) a group, which will simply absorb your erroneous shrimpy choices and B) someone who understands Chinese better than I do.
Comments
I love the new banner for the site!
I've never seen steamed rice at dim sum. I don't think it's part of the gestalt, though you can get either a bowl of or a lotus leaf wrapped around sticky rice. You're right about shrimp-everything though.
As for beef tripe! Yum! My favorite.
I don't know if I've ever been to Chau Chow. When I lived in Boston I frequented China Pearl, which tended to be quite good.