Eating Cantonese (Chinese) Cuisine with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Eating Cantonese (Chinese) Cuisine with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

When I originally wrote this restaurant review of Chong’s in downtown Monterey several years ago, Chong’s was a Cantonese restaurant (notably featuring dishes with black bean sauce).

Now Chong’s has transformed itself into an all-around Chinese restaurant (notably featuring dishes with hot, red peppers) thanks to books like Fuschia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking and Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes for Hunan Province (Hunan is the province next to Sichuan which uses the same ingredients with less fiery results.)

This review remains relevant for comparing the Chinese community of the Monterey Peninsula to that of San Francisco and many other Chinatowns around the country.

When I described this Chinatown situation to the editor of the Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000), she was interested in learning more about China and thought Weekly readers might be as well.  The article I wrote follows:

After 40 Years, Chong’s Features the Familiar Dishes and Some Special Cuisine from South China

During a recent dinner party, I asked our friend C., who is Chinese, what his favorite restaurant is in Monterey.

“Chong’s,” he replied without hesitation.

He told me that Chong’s features many dishes from China’s southernmost area of Canton, which distinguishes it from other area restaurants serving dishes from northern China.

Northern Chinese who followed immigrants to the Monterey Peninsula account for the many Northern Chinese restaurants featuring Mandarin Chinese cuisine here.

In most Chinese restaurants around the country, including San Francisco’s Chinatown, you will find Cantonese cuisine.  The overwhelming number of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. came from Canton (referred to as Guangdong by the Peoples’ Republic of China), which includes Hong Kong.

Chong’s take-out menu says its cuisine is Szechuan from Western China, but a look at the menu shows a preponderance of Cantonese classics like shrimp with black bean sauce as well as Chinese-American classics such as chop suey, which were created by Cantonese chefs in America.

After our meals, our server confirmed that all the chefs at Chong’s have Cantonese origins.

The mild climate of Canton and its access to the sea make for a cuisine that prizes fresh vegetables, fish, and seafood served with light sauces.

Cantonese foods are consequently held in high esteem throughout China – similar to the way that French food is esteemed in parts of Europe.

Hong Kong reigns as the capital of Cantonese cuisine and many innovations using new agricultural products with traditional cooking methods come from this gastronomic capital.

When I saw that Chong’s offered steamed fish on its menu, I immediately ordered it while my husband Laurent ordered the shrimp with cashews.

A cup of egg-flower soup comes with the meal along with rice.

Chong’s dresses up its version of the egg-flower soup with tofu rods, chicken, tomato, celery, snow peas, and straw mushrooms.  I liked the soup, but the celery made me think I was eating American soup.

The steamed rock cod I ordered was large – probably twelve inches large from head to tail.  Mounded-up, shredded Chinese chives and cilantro covered the fish, which was surrounded by broccoli with long stems.

Chinese cookbooks poetically call broccoli prepared in this manner “jade tree.”  The fish looked dramatic on the platter with the sauce setting off the greens.

With this glorious dish in front of me, I imagined I was eating in a Hong Kong restaurant looking out at the twinkling lights of the harbor as I inhaled the savory scent that wafted towards us.

The succulent sauce, made from sesame oil, soy sauce, and a bit of freshly grated ginger, enhanced the flavor of the pungent chives and cilantro.  Chinese chives have a more pronounced onion taste than American chives.  These Chinese chives tasted great with the broccoli.

The flesh of the fish slid off the bones, which are big in rock cod, making them easy to remove.  Something this good does come at a higher price than most of Chong’s other menu items.  Even the fussiest foodie would like this dish.

The shrimp Laurent ordered came with cashews.  The shrimp had been stir-fried along with snow peas, straw mushrooms, carrots, and zucchini.  The nutty flavor of the sesame came through in the slightly thickened sauce.  The generous portion makes it perfect for family-style dining.

Laurent and I visited the following day to sample more food.  This time we tried the lemon-chicken and spareribs with black bean sauce.

A light, crunchy crust coats moist, white-meat chicken in Chong’s version of lemon-chicken.  The addition of slightly, sweet lemon sauce makes it feel like eating crunchy lemonade.  This is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes.

The spareribs arrived in one-inch pieces and did require some rather indelicate removal of the bones.  These specialties of the Cantonese countryside are coated with mashed, fermented black beans and garlic before they are steamed.

The flavor of the spareribs is earthy and salty at the same time.  Fermented black beans may require some getting used to, but they are favored ingredients all over South China.

During our two visits to Chong’s, we noticed that Chinese families and workers from downtown Monterey filled the tables.  Chong’s location by the Monterey Transit Plaza helps them fill tables.

End of Article

Once Laurent and I had checked out Chong's, I would take Florence there after school for early dinner while Laurent worked at went to graduate school at night.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Teen in China, and Marrying France

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Sampling Thai Cuisine with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Sampling Thai Cuisine with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget while Reviewing for the Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) - Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I loved the Thai food that I sampled at Baan Thai Restaurant in Seaside (California) that reminded me of my life at the University of Chicago when I was in college there.

I queried my editor at the Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 100,000) about doing an article on Baan Thai.  She asked me to hold off and do an article on a Thai restaurant in Marina called My Thai that had just opened up.

I eventually took Florence out to this restaurant and Baan Thai several times to sample Thai food as a cultural outing.  You can learn about world history through studying the trade practices and history of spices and food ingredients.  As we ate I would tell her about the information I looked up.

I wrote the following article on My Thai restaurant:

“Thai food is totally individual, befitting a country which has never been conquered, yet it has similarities to both Indian and Chinese food,” notes Charmaine Soloman in The Thai Cookbook: A Complete Guide to the World’s Most Exciting Cuisine.

I decided to see how My Thai in Marina (CA) honors its Indian heritage.  On a recent lunch visit, I ordered Panang curry with shrimp.

There is a major difference between Indian and Thai curries.  For example, the chile paste used to prepare Panang curry is made with many fresh ingredients like cilantro roots, lemon grass, galangal, and kaffir lime zest whereas Indian curries rely on more dry spices for flavors.

I have perused many cookbooks at home to make Panang curry, my favorite Thai dish.  The waiter told me that they thickened the curry by letting it simmer a long time and not adding anything to it like crushed peanuts at My Thai.

My Thai takes no shortcuts in the kitchen, but does not keep customers waiting long for their food.  The curry I ordered arrived piping hot within minutes, tickled my nose with a sweet aroma of shrimp paste and coconut cream.

The orange-pink color of the curry matched that of the plump shrimp.  The orange-pink color contrasted nicely with the green beans and green peppers, sweet red peppers, and carrots.

The sweet-and-savory curry no doubt got its salty flavor from Thailand’s namm pla fish sauce.  I ate each curry-coated vegetable, leaves of Asian basil, and shrimp with bites of flavorful rice.

The carrots and green beans were crisper than what I had expected, but that did not keep me from eating them; I did not want to waste any curry.

The Panang curry came as part of a lunch with a cup of hot-and-sour soup, which had tofu, mushrooms, and slices of galangal in it.

The Thais use galangal like the Chinese use ginger, which it resembles in appearance.

Galangal’s flavor makes me think of biting into perfume that lingers on the tongue.  The woody slices in the soup may not be to everyone’s liking, but I ate mine.

I drank a Thai iced tea made with black tea, sugar, and a healthy does of cream.  This drink is a particularly good antidote for putting out chile fires, if you order spicy food.

The default spiciness of the food at My Thai is mild, so be sure to ask for spicy food, if you like that.

The food was so good that I came back for a weekend lunch with my husband Laurent.  We started our meal with orders of chicken satay and fried shrimp rolls.

The satay was made of flattened, marinated chicken breasts.  Their bright yellow color hinted at turmeric in the marinade and their sweet flavor signaled the use of coconut cream as well.

The grilled chicken came with a peanut dipping sauce, cucumber relish, and strands of carrot and cabbage.  The peanut sauce was rich.  I liked refreshing my palate with the sweet relish.  The tender chicken meat made me want to make a meal out of my appetizer.

The fried shrimp rolls that Laurent ordered looked like skinny baseball bats with shrimp.  They came with a sweet sauce that accentuated the flavor of the shrimp.  We both liked this dish.  We felt we had made a gastronomic discovery.

I drank a Thai Singha beer with the appetizers I ordered.   This crisp lager reminds me of Corona and goes well with spicy food.  Laurent ordered the most well-known Thai dish as his main course, Pad Thai, while I chose Dusit’s Delicious Duck.

The stir-fried noodles and tofu in Pad Thai hearken back to Thai food’s Chinese heritage, yet the salty, sweet, and sour flavor of the dish make it uniquely Thai.

Laurent ordered his version of beef Pad Thai.  It came with a generous helping of crushed peanuts on top as a garnish.  Laurent liked the Pad Thai, but could only eat half of it due to its size.

My Thai calls its version of roast duck Dusit.  Many slices of duck with the skin intact flavored by a medley of vegetables made up of baby bok choy, carrots, sweet red pepper, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and onion made up the dish.

The baby bok choy tasted especially good with the duck, offsetting the duck’s richness.

There were ample servings of meat.  We were able to take home boxes of midnight snacks.

The Bangkok-born owner said that he serves Thai food as it is prepared in Thailand.  In the few months that My Thai has been open, the owner has cultivated a regular clientele, who love the authentic Thai cooking.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Eating Japanese Inn Food with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Eating Japanese Inn Food with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

My editor at the Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) loved it that I was a little exchange student in Japan in the 1980s.  She agreed that it would be fun to learn about the cuisine of a Japanese grill and sushi bar.

So, my husband Laurent and I bundled up Florence for a blustry, rainy ride out to Robata Grill in Carmel (California).

The following is the article I wrote for the Monterey County Weekly:

“Honored guests are here,” says Robata’s owner in Japanese that is loud enough for her staff to hear as she seats patrons at their tables.  The affect is to make the Japanese surroundings even more inviting in a restaurant whose name means “fireside.”

Fireside dining is always available on Robata’s patio, but when we visited the restaurant, my husband, Florence, and I chose to eat in the cozy indoors with dark, woodwork, ricepaper covering false windows and hanging red lanterns.

Laurent picked up on the Japanese genius for design by noticing how one table would be covered with a blue tablecloth, while the table next to it was covered with two blue cloth napkins laid out to look like diamonds.  Japanese music played softly.

Robata’s menu reflects the steakhouse and sushi bar tradition that became popular in the U.S. as chefs applied Japanese cooking methods to items such as beef that rarely show up in Japanese cuisine.

The appetizer Laurent ordered, called kushiyaki, was a filet mignon kebab with teriyaki sauce that qualifies as a Japanese steakhouse tradition.  Green peppers separated the tender, grilled chunks of meat that the chef glazed with a sauce made of say sauce, sugar, and sweet, rice wine.

Sesame seeds decorated the kebabs along with wisps of fresh ginger, adding a lively flavor to this delicious combination.  The kushiyaki came on a dark, green ceramic dish with Burgundy beef, which accented the color of the peppers.

A fresh, green leaf along with slender, lemon slices recalling summer decorated the dish of octopus sashimi I ordered.  I shared the raw octopus with Florence, and we both agreed that it was chewy without being tough.

I could taste the ocean in the octopus slices.  I am wary of raw octopus, though, since my first try left a sucker attached to my lip; I like fresh food, but not that fresh.

Sashimi serves as the typical prelude to sushi.  I followed suit with an order of hachi machi, yellowtail, tamago – egg omlet, and nigiri sushi – a specialty of Tokyo represents what most of us associate with sushi: small rectangles of vinegar rice topped off with raw fish or other toppings.

Robata’s deft sushi chefs were busily developing carpal tunnel syndrome during our visit.  The yellowtail sushi was silky and had a faint fish flavor.

The one thing missing from the hachi machi I ordered was the thin layer of wasabi, ground green horseradish, that usually goes into its making.

The wasabi helps hold the sushi together.  The only reason that I could think of for not including it is that most people load up on so much wasabi dipping sauce that they kill the delicate flavor of the sushi.

There is a trick to keeping sushi from falling apart – dip the topping side in soy sauce and not the side with the rice.

I learned to eat tomago – Japanese omlets – when I lived in Japan.  The taste of the omlet disconcerts you a bit at the beginning, because sugar goes into the omlet’s preparation.  The flavor of the rectangular slice of tamago, held onto the rice by a strip of nori seaweed, reminds me of French toast.

The Japanese love for sweet flavors came out in the dipping sauce that Florence ordered as well.  This seafood-flavored sauce had sweet red wine, sugar, and soy sauce added to its seaweed and dried bonito stock.

I suspect that the batter for the tempura that Florence ordered contained egg as well as flour and water, since the golden coating tasted so rich.  A plain flour and water batter makes a crispier version of this dish.

My daughter had a plateful of shrimp and vegetables and asked me to help her out.  I particularly liked the sweet potato tempura.  The shrimp tasted sweet, even without dunking them in the sauce.

The trick to keeping the shrimp nice and long when frying them is to cut along the underbelly, so they do not curl.

Laurent loved the grilled sanddabs that he ordered.  They had a salt-and-pepper breading that made them irrestible – like eating a bagful of potato chips.

Laurent drank a Sapporo beer with his dinner while I sampled a Kirin beer.  I think the Kirin tastes sweeter than the Sapporo beer and goes better with the sweet sauces and glazes on the food.  We also drank the warm house sake that had a sweet finish to it.

A rich, green tea ice cream put the finish on our meal.  It was easy to say, “We have eaten well as we left our table.”

End of Article

You can buy green tea ice cream balls at Safeway now.  “We started a trend!!!” I tell Florence now.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Sampling a Hawaiian Luau with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Sampling a Hawaiian Luau with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Rut Paget

My editor at The Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) called me and said she would like my husband and me to go out on a date at Hula’s Hawaiian Restaurant, so I could do an article on that. 

“Florence can go out some other time,” she joked with me.

Blue lights outlined the bar and colored lights framed the windows.  It is fun to be seen in this noisy, party-time restaurant that fascinates children and adults alike with its Hawaiian – inspired décor.

My husband Laurent and I began our meal by ordering some festive pupus or “appetizers’: surfrider sticks and tiki torches.

The surfrider sticks, which looked like surfboards sticking up in the sand, are chicken breast pieces threaded on skewers and planted in a thick slice of roasted pineapple.

Both dipping sauces tasted great.  One was a slightly, sweet Thai peanut sauce and the other was a mildly, salty soy-teriyaki sauce.

Six meaty miniature drumsticks that came bathed in a spicy, sesame-hoisin sauce made up our tiki torch dish.  The hoisin sauce, molasses, and Chinese hot sauce gave the chicken a luscious kick.  The sour cream dipping sauce made the already rich chicken very filling.

We drank one of Hula’s eclectic beer choices with our appetizers: Longboard Lager produced by the Kona Brewing Company in Hawaii.  Co-owner D. likes to offer out-of-the-ordinary items to make eating an exotic experience.

Co-owner D. proudly says that Hula’s offers five choices of fresh fish nightly and that the restaurant never uses farm-raised fish.  He notes also that Hula’s only offers fish selections that the Monterey Bay Aquarium lists as existing in safe numbers for harvesting.

The four fish that show up on the menu most of the time are ahi (a slightly, strong-flavored tuna with light, pink flesh), ono (a sweet tuna with white flesh), mahi mahi (sweet-flavored dolphin fish with white flesh), and hapu (delicately flavored sea bass, also known as grouper with lean, white flesh).

Diners have a choice of how they would like to have these fish prepared, including styles as diverse as coconut-encrusted, Cajun, lemongrass-encrusted, pan-fried with onions, macadamia-nut encrusted, or blackened.

For his dinner, Laurent chose the wasabi fish with mahi mahi, which is one of the most popular items on the menu.  The mahi mahi arrived blackened on a bed of pale, green wasabi mashed potatoes (made with Japanese horseradish).

The mashed potatoes were delicious and the sweet flesh of the mahi mahi hardly needed the wasabi-cream sauce, but it did taste good with it.

I ordered the luau pork plate that came with coleslaw and rice.  Co-owner D. told me that in Hawaii, a pig for a luau would be roasted in a pit for several hours.  Hula’s does not go to quite these lengths, but they do roast the pork for several hours with teriyaki and molasses and add pineapple at the end for flavor.

The pork tasted almost like a dessert except for the saltiness of the meat.  I wished I had not ordered appetizers, so I could have devoted my full attention to the pork.

We drank a good wine with our meal as a lark: the Maui Blanc.  This wine is made from pineapples and has a mild flavor and wonderful pineapple bouquet.  The pineapple wine went extremely well with the sweet-fleshed mahi mahi and luau pork that we ate.

Co-owner D. says that it goes well with most of the items on Hula’s menu.  The wine has been made for twenty years on Maui by Tedeschi Vineyards.

Co-owner D., who opened Hula’s with his brother, lived on Maui for twenty years where he operated restaurants after graduating from college.

When the two came to Monterey seven years ago, they saw that there were no Hawaiian restaurants and decided to fill the void.

His brother had the food expertise as well as the eye for knick-knacks – he is the one who has gone to garage sales to find things like the hula girl lamp stand which graces the bar.  The brother is the design man.

Together the brothers D. have created a rollicking, good-time restaurant that evokes the aloha spirit on the Monterey Peninsula.

End of Article

We did take Florence to Hula’s after our date, and she loved it.  We had fun posing by all the fun decorations and doing hula dances.  We all laughed about a dish called a “pupu” platter.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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