Friday, October 31, 2008

Hunan Chinese Restaurant

Fresno Chinese food is not the kind of Chinese food you can get in more metropolitan areas, which is a shame because there's a lot more to Chinese food than westernized chow mein and chicken salad. Hunan's was another international student recommendation. Actually it was more like a Chinese following. Students and tourists from China would make Hunan's a destination to visit (usually before or after Yosemite). Why? Because of the famous chef & owner of Hunan, Zhongyi Liu. I didn't, couldn't believe such a famous chef resided in Fresno. It must be a myth or Chinese wives' tale. NOPE, its true. We have this hidden gem of yummy right here in the Central Valley. We're so lucky! 

So we ordered to go from this place when we were living on the NW side of town and then when we moved NE Fresno, just a hop, skip and a jump away from Hunan's; we forgot about it. Maybe the stress of a move or having a baby had something to do with it or maybe it's Hunan's unfortunate location. It's literally tucked away behind several stores at the Cedar Tree Village shopping center. I only remembered it because I was on a Chinese food kick and hating almost everywhere I ate and a fellow mommy asked me where I liked Chinese food in town and a light bulb turned back on - HUNAN's.

Chef Liu has catered his menu to this town slightly with his own original twist. For example the chicken salad is not the horrific lettuce with old fried chicken and won tons drenched in an oily sweet sesame dressing, it's shredded chicken in a sweet, pungent bean sauce on a light bed of lettuce. It's so simple but the intricacies of the sauce will blow you away. There was a recent article in the Bee about Hunan's so it's been pretty packed lately. We went the Saturday after the article and it was an hour wait. Fortunately a large reunion was leaving so our wait was cut considerably.

Potstickers $6.45
Look at the way the oil from the pan-fried, hand made won ton skin glistens from my flash. I'm a sucker for hand made won ton skins so upon my first bite, I was a goner. There are no soy sauce bottles on the table, no these dumplings are accompanied with fermented soy bean in a light chili oil. I had enjoyed the potstickers earlier that week for lunch so I had my heart set on Bao Tse (steamed bun filled with honey pork, I think) but they were sold out again. Darn it! I will try you Bao Tse before I die.

Sizzling Rice Soup $6.95
This is the way sizzling rice soup is done. Fresh cut vegetables (maybe not the bamboo, peas and water chestnuts), nice sized pieces of chicken and shrimp, and most importantly not laden with oil, just oil from the deep fried rice.

Butter Cream Prawns $13.95
This was a recommendation from a lady who was also waiting to be seated. The name says it all. It's buttery, creamy and extremely sweet. I was expecting walnut shrimp but this was initially way too sweet and kind of a disappointment until I had a prawn with a bite of strawberry. This took it to a whole 'nother level. The strawberries subdued the saccharine punch and enhanced the rich creamy flavor. If you're with a kid, definitely order extra strawberries so you can truly enjoy this dish.  

The chef also has a secret menu for his staff and special banquets where his culinary prowess truly shines. I have to get myself to one of these banquets. 

Hunan Chinese Restaurant
6716 N. Cedar #104 (behind the Dollar Tree)
Fresno, CA 93710
(559) 297-0336
thehunanrestaurant.com

YUM Meter: ***

Friday, October 24, 2008

Masala Indian Cuisine & Cafe

My husband works with a lot of international students. This is advantageous for a foodie with an international palate. It serves me well to find the famous Chinese chef in town that all the Chinese students and tourists know about and make it a point to visit. Who better to critique Indonesian food than someone who has grown up with it their entire life. Thankfully the students find the good or decent ethnic eats in town and my hubby passes along the information. Recently there has been a wave of students from India. Lucky for me it's one of my favorite, if not favorite, cuisines. My love affair with Indian food was not love at first taste. No, not at all. I knew nothing about it but was up for any epicurean adventure in high school. I went to place called Clay Oven I think in SW Fresno. I don't think it's there anymore...I don't know, I haven't been to that part of town in a while. I ordered Palak Paneer because I like spinach. The server delivered a dish of dark green goop (that looked like poop-sorry, I couldn't resist). In high school I was not fond of cooked vegetables especially unrecognizable vegetables. I asked the server for a fork and took 3 good spoonfuls and couldn't take in anymore. I was raised to finish my plate clean so that's why I forced 3 spoonfuls and not just one. Oh the lack of texture, the unusual spices, oh and some weird spongy thing (which later I found out to be cheese). The horror! I didn't touch or even consider Indian food for several years. In college I had a couple of Indian girlfriends that kindly showed me the light. They took me to an Indian buffet. I highly recommend Indian buffets, especially if you have no idea what to order or even what it is you're ordering. A good buffet will have a nice assortment of dishes for a very reasonable price (little to no commitment necessary for each dish).

Masala's was a recommendation from a student when it first opened a couple of years ago. Nice, clean ambience with friendly service and good food. I loved that you could order dishes and determine the spice level because I like it HOT and their hot lived up to my taste buds. But it was pricey for Indian food. Maybe because it's in the new shopping center in the new part of town. We still went back despite the price tag. What I longed to try was their buffet. Buffets are not only good if you're new to Indian food but they're also great if you're already familiar with what you like because you get multiple dishes for what you would normally pay for just one. It's a food bargain. Mmm...Masala's buffet lived up to what I imagined it would. They offered pakora, basmati rice, chicken tikka masala, aloo gobi, tandoori chicken, dal tadka, lamb ball curry, raita, gulab jamun, and some salad items. I enjoyed most of the items. The pakora had little to no vegetables, it was mainly tasteless, greasy batter. I've never been fond of tandoori chicken (too dry in my opinion) so I never waste valuable stomach space on that dish. I'm not a fan of lamb but the curry it was in was good. I'm glad I never paid for dessert on my previous excursions here because the gulab jamun was mediocre. All the other items I've enjoyed here in the past and enjoyed them at the buffet. I could live w/o the chicken in the tikka masala; just imagine a spiced tomato curry laden with butter - drool. If you like cauliflower cooked a little over al dente with turmeric, you'll like aloo gobi. Too bad Masala is getting rid of their lunch buffet starting 10/27/08. They're going for a California fusion lunch. Maybe to compete with North India Bar & Grill.

Lunch Buffet $9.99

Masala Indian Cuisine & Cafe
7735 N. Blackstone Ave., Suite 105
Fresno, CA 93720
(559) 431-0060
masalafresno.com

YUM Meter: **

Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Corner Cafe

Continuing my search for a good sandwich lead me to The Corner Cafe. Another location I heard good things about but this time I kept my expectations low. I ordered the specialty sandwich: Corner Club-three toasted slices of potato bread with generous portions of roast beef, turkey and bacon with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. Served with fries. I thought what a good price advertised on their website $6.95. Alas when I went to pick up my food, I was slapped with the real price of $7.95. Eight bucks for a sandwich at a local little hole in the wall!! Outrageous! The sandwich was good (needed more mayo, I'm a heavy mayo gal) despite the price but I could get a club just as good (if not a little better) from Claim Jumpers. Mmm...I'm craving a club now.

Corner Club $7.95

The Corner Cafe
361 Pollasky Ave.
Clovis, CA 93612
(559) 298-7173
www.cloviscornercafe.com 

Yum Meter: **

New York Family Deli

I heard the sandwiches here were great and it had a sweet story. The story as I know it is the deli was opened by a firefighter who survived 9/11. I was on a sandwich kick and wanted to check it out and support a hero. I was overwhelmed by all the choices so in a rush I ordered the first two specialty sandwiches (one for my husband; I'm not that piggy!). #1 Brooklyn-capicolla, prosciutto, pepperoni, provolone cheese and wax peppers. #2 Bronx-genoa salami, capicolla, prosciutto and provolone cheese. Typing it out, the sandwiches are really similar. Both were awful. The worst proscuitto I've ever had; neither sweet nor salty. Just felt like chewing on pink, flavorless fat. I actually took the prosciutto out of my sandwich. The rest of the sandwich was dry and salty. Maybe that's how they like it in NY but that's not how I like my sandwiches.

Bronx $7.59
The looks of this picture are so deceiving.

New York Family Deli
1305 N. Willow Ave. #190
Clovis, CA 93611
(559) 324-9400
*Free Delivery with $25 minimum 

Yum Meter: