Chinese Again

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Duong Son still has not opened so we headed back to the Seafood Palace in Garden Grove for dinner. This is a very large restaurant which has a lot of "private" functions on Saturday nights. Tonight the had a large Chinese wedding reception going in the main dining area and a Vietnamese church fund raiser going in the banquet area. That left a small "VIP" dining area left for the rest of anyone eating there that night. And that dining area was full and also had a birthday party going on at one of the tables.

This made for a "loud" evening. The banquet room had a band playing and naturally they were loud. I think I will check with Henry and see if we can move any more dinners we have at the Seafood Palace to a weeknight. Doung Son now is supposed to open May 5, but it also was supposed to be open last July. So we shall see.

Fried Tofu - good but it seemed the pieces were too large. Even Henry had problems picking it up with his chopsticks.

Fried Salt & Pepper Calamari - exceptional good, the quality of the calamari made the dish

Shrimp with Chinese Broccoli - again excellent quality

Sweet and Sour Soup - one of the best I have had

Beef with green - again good quality meat and good flavor

Kung Pao Chicken - we had this last time and it is still the best Kung Pao I have had

Chicken with Rice Noodles, vegetables and anchovy sauce - I could have made a meal of this alone

Chicken with Spinach - Henry told me they blanch the spinach in boiling water for just a few seconds and into an ice bath - dry the spinach out and then stir fry it. I did eat a lot of this spinach

Shredded Pork with bamboo shoots and fish sauce - again another very good dish

Dessert was "Herbs In Coconut Milk" a Vietnamese specialty - it did nothing for me. Maybe if I was in Viet Nam and it was hot and humid I would like this.

They also came around and offered us another dessert that was being served in the banquet room. An Almond pudding type mixture with fruit cocktail in it. This again is another Vietnamese dessert. This one was better that the other.

Jan was getting good at pouring with her let hand. Her broken arm is not quite healed yet. But her left hand chopstick skills were non existent. The room was so loud that Terry & Cora had problems with their hearing aids and the rest of us shouted a lot. But it was a good evening out and a lot of fun. We had a good time watching the church party through the glass doors. They sure liked to dance and sing karaoke. We were sat at a table that could accommodate 12 people and we were 8 so that added to the "shouting". Of course by the end of a wine dinner we are plenty noisy ourselves so we seemed to blend right in with the crowd.

I tasted most of the wines but I think I missed a few.

I brought a 2008 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir. I brought this to taste it and find where it is in aging. It took awhile to open up even with the aerator on but it did become one of the best wines that night. Glad I have 6 more bottles of this wine stashed away. I will not open another bottle for a couple of years unless I decide to do a vertical tasting.

2007 Clos Pepe Chardonnay - slightly sweet, small amount of residual sugar
2006 Privada, Norton (blend)
2009 Rancho Sisquoc Sylvaner
2006 Graziana Coro Mendocino (blend)
2006 Rusack Santa Barbara County Syrah
2007 Redemption Mission Ranch, Monterey, Pinot Noir
2009 Vieillies Vignes Pouilly Fume
2006 McKeon-Phillips Leonardo (blend)