Club Chifa
It seems ever more popular to have restaurants that are like eating at a club. Very dark, loud music, somewhat inappropriate seating. bda and I went to Chifa last night; they are definitely following that model. Don’t get me wrong; the food was stellar. But the music was loud when we walked in, and got louder still around 8:45. And there were a series of tables downstairs that required you to eat off knee-high tables, and some people seemed to be having a complete meal off them. Not exactly what I’m looking for in a fine dining experience.
Chifa has a pretty fish-heavy menu, so my next visit should include some people who enjoy creatures from the sea. (Also, it was not veg-friendly, though they had a mushroom dish that included tofu, and sounded great.) The meat dishes were absolutely delightful. How delightful? Hold on to your hats, people. The dish I liked the least was the POTATO dish.
We got one of their signature dishes, the chifa chicken. They say, “it’s a little bigger than our other dishes.” Lie. It is a giant dish of chicken. We had to take some of it home. I’d only suggest ordering this dish if you are there with 4 or more people. It was served with the most delicious hoisin sauce ever, and baby bok choy and almonds. Yum!
One of the problems with all of Jose Garces’ restaurants is you cannot choose the order dishes come out in. Normally, this isn’t a big deal, but the dishes at Chifa seem to have a substantially more natural order than Amada, Tinto or Distrito. We got: potatoes, beef noodles, chifa chicken, kebabs, and pork belly buns. The correct order of those 5 dishes is: pork belly buns, kebabs and potatoes, beef noodles, chicken.
Portions were also a bit larger than his other places. We were absolutely stuffed with those 5 dishes. I think we could have swapped the chifa chicken for another small plate, and been satisfied, added a sixth to be full.
Would I recommend you go? Yes, but probably not on a Friday or Saturday night, unless you like dining in clubs. Would I go again? Yes, and next time, I would specifically ask for the prok belly buns first.
