Lu Bo Lang - Review

Intro
Lu Bo Lang – Recommended (if you’re in the area)
Yu Yuan Lu 115
Shanghai, China
Phone: 021-6328-0602

Final meal on the tour was this joint in the mad touristy Shanghai area Yu Yuan. Basically, a fake Epcot center looking pavilion that was built around this garden that existed before things got ripped apart during the cultural revolution. Yu Yuan is insanely loud and crowded, so definitely not my cup of tea. Food was pretty good at Lu Bo Lang, but not worth the trip to this madhouse.

Our Menu
Egg Rolls *
Standard egg roll you get at your local Chinese joint. These were good, but really shocking that they serve this same generic egg roll in China. Again, not sure if this is catering to the tourists or not.

Jelly Fish *
Decent texture with ok flavor.

Pickled Vegetable *
I think this is some sort of radish, but this was pretty tasty with the rice. Standard stuff you’d see in a Chinese restaurant in NYC, but this had much better texture as it probably wasn’t sitting in a jar for a year. Salty and slightly spicy with some good herbal flavors.

Water Chestnuts, Carrots, and Broad Beans ***
So, this is what real water chestnuts taste like. I’m used to the crap they serve in a can which basically have no flavor, but just add textural crunch. This had huge chestnut flavor with the same crunchiness that I was used to. Love the broad beans as this added an earthiness to the dish that was immediately satisfying. Definitely need to start playing with broad beans more since real water chestnuts will be tough to get back home.

Sauteed Celery and Hearts of Palm? **
Similar dish I saw in Suzhou with the celery sautéed and glazed with chicken stock. The hearts of palm had amazing flavor and texture – soft yet some resistance.

Chicken soup with egg whites *
Flavorful soup, but nothing really to it.

Pepper Beef **
This is another one of those – do they really serve this stuff here or is this for tourists? The pepper beef is similar to pepper beef back in the states although done much much better. The beef is incredibly tender and the pepper sauce is out of control good. Very pronounced pepper flavor with some sweetness going on with the green, red peppers and onions.

Fried Rice *
Not the kind I’m used to back in the states which are loaded with a ton of stuff. This was perfect as the rice was slightly coated with oil for some flavor and with some diced leafy greens thrown in the mix.

Xiao Long Bao *
Skin was relatively soft, soup base was decent, and the meat was nice, but I know there’s better out there.

Rating System

--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Hangzhou for my favorite dish

On the way to check out the tea gardens, we stopped in this random hotel for lunch. Wish I got the address, but we were as usual moving at a pretty fast paced clip. This place had tons of tourists so if you’re taking a tour of Suzhou and Hangzhou, you’re probably going to this joint.

Our Menu
Fried Noodles *
Good texture and decent flavor – basically soy with ginger.

Dong Po Rou ***
This was the dish I was most looking forward to and native to this region. The pork belly was so soft and flavorful and the sauce was just ridiculous. So complex with some sweetness, subtle hint of ginger, probably some variation of Chinese 5 spice powder, and some soy glazing. Add this to white rice and you are in heaven. I had two portions and wanted a third it was so good. My wife asked me if this was better than the one in Landis Hotel, Taipei…not sure, since the Landis Hotel version was pretty special. Either way I was incredibly happy.

Sauteed Celery **
The celery was sautéed in chicken stock, which was bright, crunchy and had great celery flavor. The brightness of this dish helped cut the richness of the dong po rou.

Fish in Soy, Vinegar Sauce ---
This was way too vinegary for my taste and totally masked the flavor of the fish. Usually this is done when the fish is of poor quality so that’s my guess here since this place had loads of tourists.

Sauteed Cabbage *
One of the simple styles of cooking veggies in China - this was simply just salt and garlic as opposed to the chicken stock thing. Pretty fun and nice and cleansing.

Seaweed Soup *
Nice subtle seaweed flavor with this weird gelatinous thing going on.

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Hangzhou - Oriental at the Holiday Inn Hangzhou

Our next stop was Hangzhou where two of my favorite Chinese food items are from – Dragon Well Tea (Longjing) and Don Po Rou (Pork belly with sweet sauce). Hangzhou seems to be like many cities in China where it seems to be growing at an insanely rapid pace. A few minutes outside the center of the city you have people sitting on the highways selling fruits and veggies, but once you head into the city you see huge roads with loads of sky rise buildings everywhere. The skyline definitely rivals any American city not named NYC, LA, Chicago, and San Fran. Any who, the food is more of the same with some hella sweet stuff.

Our Menu – Oriental at the Holiday Inn Hangzhou

Rice Porridge using Rice Wine *
Unlike any dish I've had before - this was very thick and gelatinous since this was the same rice used to make Chinese Rice Wine. It had this slightly sweet (like sake) and a little bit of vinegar taste going on. Pretty fun stuff and a first for me.

Soup with a bunch of stuff ***
This was hella awesome and something I definitely want to make sometime. Basically the base was a chicken soup, but included the following – whole baby shrimp (like langoustine), egg, cabbage, tofu, wood ear mushroom, meatballs, and ham. I’ve never had this ham in Chinese cooking ever. It was so pungent that it reminded me of Serrano ham or prosciutto. Such intense complex flavors which added to this spectacular soup.

Kung Shing Chai *
Sauteed with loads of ginger and a bit of chicken stock. Pretty fun stuff.

Lotus Root ---
One of the rare misses at this restaurant , but we were told it’s a local specialty. Nice texture on the lotus root – kinda like a potato, but the sauce was cloylingly sweet. Pretty gross to me, but my wife liked it.

Bok Choy and Mushrooms *
Slightly sweet and slight vinegar thing going on.

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Stinky Tofu in Suzhou

Stinky tofu is basically tofu that is left to ferment which makes the tofu have these complex cheese like qualities and they do stink to high hell. The ones they serve at this small shop in the middle of Old Suzhou wasn’t that stinky and had a phenomenal texture unlike any I’ve ever had. The exterior was nice and light, but crisp and the interior was so soft and silky. Usually stinky tofu has this almost hard scrambled egg like texture – at least the ones I had in Taiwan and the States. Pretty awesome stuff.

Happy 4th Dude and Dudettes

Wishing everyone some happy eating celebrating the birth of our nation - hot dogs and burgers for all!

Lunch in Suzhou – Silk Factory

The one thing you notice when you go to tours in China is they always drop you off to places where they want you to buy stuff. This time we were watching how silk was made then they try to sell you a whole bunch of silk products. Based on this I didn’t expect much from the food, but the food here was actually killer. Again, apologies but I don’t have the exact address since we were just dropped off here.

Our Menu
Cold dishes of Seaweed and White Beans with Beef **
Never had white beans in a Chinese dish before, but this dish rocked with the floral chilis and the tender cold cuts of beef and fat. Kinda like the fuchee fay pyan beef where it’s more salty and a little light floral chili thing going on.


Shanghai Tips *
Love the veggies in this region as they seem to be cooked one of two ways. Either sautéed simply with salt and garlic or cooked with chicken stock as a sauce. This was just simply salt and garlic and incredibly delicious.

Scrambled Egg *
Perfectly cooked – nice and soft. Great with White Rice.

Gali Chai (Cabbage) **
This was cooked using the latter method – sautéed with chicken stock. The sweetness of the cabbage and the richness of the chicken stock made for a ridiculously delicious combo.

Diced Chicken and Peanuts (Jee Ding) **
This was sooo good, but again not sure if this was catering to the tourists as this reminded of Kung Pao chicken but the best I’ve ever had. Salty, a bit spicy, and nice floral flavors from the chili. Great with the roasted peanuts and insanely addicting with white rice.

Sliced Beef and Onions *
Beef was incredibly tender and the flavor was like black bean sauce. Similar to many a Cantonese dish I’ve had in NY’s Chinatown, but the sauce was much tastier. The peppers and onions made me think of Amercianized fajitas…

Noodles
These were a bit overcooked, but the broth was nice and flavorful.

Soup with Tofu Skin *
Basically chicken soup enhanced with the great flavor of tofu skin. Again, these had such a meaty and nice salt flavor which is much different from what we get back home

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Breakfast in the China Hotels

Normally I would never eat breakfast in hotels, but the hotels on these tours were generally far away from any place to explore and it was paid for as part of the tours. Some places were better than others and it was quite comforting having things like Congee for breakfast in the morning. They also served Dim Sum, Fried Rice, Fried Noodles, Sushi, Pumpkin, and Vegetables as well as the standard American/English Breakfast of eggs, bacon, and sausage. What we learned is don’t treat this like a buffet in Vegas otherwise you’ll end up being stuffed for the rest of the day. Here's a collection of some of the breakfast throughout the trip...

Suzhou

This city reminded me of Taipei with loads of stores and restaurants to checkout and some nice shopping areas. The town has tons of gardens and temples which are jam packed with tour groups. The nice thing is there are a lot of rivers that run through the town evoking a feel like Venice which Marco Polo commented on when he visited there. Any who, the food here reminded me of the American Chinese food they serve in the states. I assume this restaurant was catering to the tourists, but maybe they really do like overly sweet food with sauce colors you won’t find in nature.

Our Menu
Pork with Fried Wonton Skins **
No idea if this is what people would really eat, but it was hella fun. Flavorful fun sweet sauce with pork and crispy wonton skins. Great with the white rice - writing this now makes me want to eat some. This wasn’t the normal sweet stuff you get back in the states but the sauce was more meaty with some sweet running through it.

Fried Chicken Strips *
This had to have catered to the tourists here which was 90% Japanese. Crispy and flavorful coating, but the meat was a bit on the dry side.

Fried Fish with Ungodly Orange Sauce ---
WTF in a bad way. Fish had absolutely no flavor and drenching in the gross neon bright orange sauce didn’t help. Immediately I was thinking combine the fried chicken strips with the sauce and you have sweet and sour chicken. Now the question is did this sauce really originate from this area or were they catering to the tourists.

Tomato and Egg Soup *
Decent soup flavor but a wee bit on the salty side. I’ve had much better - usually more tomato flavor and some richness. This was pretty watery.

Sauteed Shanghai Tips (?)*
Sauteed vegetables that were cooked nicely and covered in a chicken broth style thing - quite similar to how they do most of the dishes over in China.

Rating System

--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

American Beer Mythology, Revised

Faithful members of the Church of Real Beer (also known by their self-effacing nickname "beer geeks") can recite a common beer mythology. It goes something like this: Back before Prohibition, America was one of the greatest beer countries in the world, producing wholesome ales in thousands of quaint breweries around the country. Back then, America commanded the respect it deserved as a great beer-producing nation. Then came Prohibition, which Americans brought upon themselves, and they were thus kicked out of the beer Garden of Eden. After the United States realized that Prohibition only led to organized crime and moonshine, it was too late. The beer hiatus during Prohibition gave "big beer" a window to elbow out the smaller craft breweries. Through bribery, trickery, and thuggery, large brewing enterprises like Anheuser-Busch, Pabst, Miller, and Schlitz forced Americans to drink thin, watery lager and by the 1970s, there was nothing left but this swill. America became a beer laughing stock. But a miracle happened. A visionary named Fritz Maytag had a epiphany and decided his calling was to restore America's beer tradition. Maytag resurrected an old brewery in San Francisco, sparking a beer restoration in the 1980s that led to the founding of venerable breweries such as Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams), Mendocino Brewing Company, and Brooklyn Brewery. Through hard work and devotion to the movement, beer geeks have supported a return to America's great beer tradition and won over many converts.

A version of this mythic history of American beer appears in the introduction of Maureen Ogle's fascinating social history of the United States through beer Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. In this impressively researched book, Ogle sets out to debunk the beer geek gospel. Her book creates what one might call American beer history revisionism.

Ogle is a historian. The business of being a historian is to create new histories or new interpretations. In Ogle's new beer history, the world of good and evil is turned upside down. The heroes of Ogle's book are the villains in the beer geek worldview: Adolphus Busch and Frederick Pabst, the German-born founders of Anheuser-Busch and Pabst Brewing Company respectively. Her core argument is that contrary to the belief that these two companies came to dominate the U.S. market through intimidation, cost-cutting, and swollen marketing budgets, in fact A-B and Pabst prevailed through hard work, quality, consistency, innovation, and ultimately adapting to tastes and giving the people what they wanted. The big breweries relied on these traits to overcome several obstacles, proving their worth.

To add to these two excellent reviews, I would like to describe some of the business drama that Ogle outlines in her book. A big challenge that the breweries faced and overcame was to keep beer fresh in markets outside of the breweries' local market. Determined to expand the market and grow their company, Busch and Anheuser by 1872 were shipping bottled beer to the Southwest of the United States, "making them the first Americans to exploit the commercial possibilites of Pasteur's ideas" on pasteurization. By 1879 A-B was shipping its products to every state in the United States--thanks to the innovative use of refrigerator cars--and even to India, Japan, and South America, and Europe in small quantities.

Another challenge early in U.S. beer history was the luxury tax. At the end of the Civil War, the Union Congress needed revenue and in 1862 began taxing items such as billiard tables, liquor, and beer--at one dollar per barrel. The German brewers in America wanted to show their patriotism but still hoped for a lower tax. Several Eastern U.S. brewers met in New York City to strategize and convinced Congress to lower the tax to 60 cents per barrel--thus inspiring the formation "of the nation's first trade and lobby of any kind, the United States Brewers' Association."

A third and reoccurring challenge to beer in America has been the varying forms of temperance movements. The 50 years following the American Revolution, according to Ogle, "proved as intoxicating as cheap whisky." Society saw the emergence of the confidence man (or con man) who spun "outrageous schemes" to trick people out of their money. Americans started to wonder about their nation's moral integrity. "Self-doubt and self-examination inspired action. In the 1820s and 1830s, hordes of well-meaning crusaders launched a multi-armed effort to reform and perfect the American character... the jewel in the reform's thorny crown was temperance."

This temperance movement in the 1800s eventually collapsed but it produced an "unintended, profound consequence that shaped brewing for the next fifty years." That is it drew attention to the virtues of Germans and their lager; the two lived together in harmony and moderation without the social evils Americans feared. German lager seemed to be the moderate answer between the problems temperance created and moral degradation liquor seemed to spur. Scientists, doctors, and others came to the German lager beer's camp, stating how in effect it was not intoxicating. Harper's Weekly even joined the bandwagon stating, "Good lager is pronounced by the [scientific] faculty to be a mild tonic, calculated, on the average, to be rather beneficial than injurious to the system." By the mid 1800s, lager beer saloons and gardens could be found in cities all over the country.

A later temperance movement succeeded in creating Prohibition. The success of the Anti-Saloon League had to do with the times in America, again a time of moral reflection after another revolution (industrial). "As one dry put it, 'You may exercise your personal liberty only in so far as you do not place additional burdens upon your neighbor, or upon the State.'" To many, alcohol seemed to do just that, Ogle writes. On January 16, 1919 the Eighteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution established Prohibition in the United States until it was repealed in 1933 by the Twenty-first Amendement.

Interestingly, one of the finest American microbreweries, the 21st Amendment Brewery, named after the Amendment that repealed Prohibition, explains their namesake on their website. The story harkens to the beer geek mythos:

In 1920, Prohibition wiped out this culture and put the “local” out of business. For 13 years, social interaction was largely driven underground, to the speakeasies, where regular citizens became a nation of outlaws.

But with the passage of the 21st Amendment, repealing Prohibition, we, as a society, were able to begin the slow climb back to reclaiming the essence of the neighborhood gathering place. At the 21st Amendment, they celebrate the culture of the great breweries of old, making unique, hand crafted beers, great food, and providing a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere that invites conversation, interaction and a sense of community.

A final cultural wave helped give birth to the beloved microbrew. In the 1970s, only one-third of Americans trusted the government, down from 80 percent in the 1950s. In the early 1970s, writes Ogle, Americans rejected all things corporate and establishment, "thanks to the Vietnam war, crushing recession, and Watergate." The expression "small is beautiful" captured the feeling. It was in this environment that Fritz Maytag, who in 1965 bought the Steam Beer Brewing Company on a whim, was to succeed. Maytag, the great grandson of Maytag corporation founder Frederick Maytag I, was living in San Francisco and studying Japanese at Stanford's graduate program but pined for something meaningful. "That 'something' landed in his lap" in August 1965 when he leaned about the brewery was about to close.

In the rest of the book, the apostles of the microbrewery movement make appearances, including Jim Koch of Boston Beer Company, who controversially used contracting brewing to expand production of his beers, Charlie Papazian, the founder of the Association of Brewers and author of perhaps the most famous homebrew cook book The Joy of Home Brewing, and Sam Calagione, the founder of Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewery, which has pushed the innovation envelope by brewing with exotic ingredients such as raisins, ginger, and cocoa powder. Koch and Calagione, by the way, have been competing to produce the world's strongest beer; last I checked Koch was winning with his Utopias at 25.6 percent alcohol. And after Anheuser-Busch was sold to InBev in 2008, Koch's Boston Beer Company became the largest American-owned brewery, a title that Adolphus Busch had fought hard to achieve 100 years before.

Photo by Herkie.

Boston Beer teams with NYC butcher Jake Dickson

SAMUEL ADAMS AND ARTISAN BUTCHER JAKE DICKSON UNVEIL
ORIGINAL SPECIALTY BEEF CUT DESIGNED FOR ULTIMATE BEEF AND BEER PAIRING

BOSTON, MA, June 29, 2010 — Today, the brewers at Samuel Adams and artisanal meat purveyor Jake Dickson unveil the innovative Samuel Adams Boston Lager Cut, the perfect beef counterpart for Samuel Adams Boston Lager. The partnership between the brewers and Dickson, owner of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in New York City, marks the first time a brewer and specialty meat purveyor have teamed up to design an original cut of beef. Samuel Adams Boston Lager is the perfect pairing for the Samuel Adams Boston Lager Cut; the brew’s upfront malt flavor matches the caramelized flavors of the meat, and its hoppy finish prepares the palate for the next bite.

Cut from the cap to the top sirloin, the Samuel Adams Boston Lager Cut has a tender texture and big beefy flavor. The Samuel Adams Boston Lager Cut runs at a 45 degree angle to the rest of the muscle, yielding a tightly grained steak perfect for grilling and slicing. This carving method optimizes the Cut’s cooking properties and flavor potential, enhancing the pairing capabilities. The beef and beer intersect with great caramel notes and sweetness, while the elegant hoppiness of Samuel Adams Boston Lager finishes the lingering meaty flavor of the Cut. To achieve the recommended medium-rare to medium temperature and make the most of the cut’s beefy flavor, Dickson suggests searing the steak on high heat for four to five minutes per side. For a more well done cut, follow the searing with four to five minutes of indirect heat in the oven.

“Twenty five years ago, people thought the ultimate food and beer pairing was a 6-pack and a pizza, but today people think of craft beer more like wine. At Samuel Adams, we’ve always been committed to elevating people’s perception of food and beer” said Founder and Brewer Jim Koch. “I think working with specialty food purveyors, like Jake, to isolate very specific types of food pairings, like beef and craft beer, is taking that passion to the next level.”

In many ways, the growing appreciation for American craft beer parallels the development of appreciation for American wine thirty years ago. Beer’s complexity, offset by its core ingredients, hops and malted barley, provides layers of flavor to dishes and with pairings that wine could never achieve. A full-flavored beer, like Samuel Adams Boston Lager, often pairs better with bold, flavorful meats, than wine does. The brew’s complexity, malty sweetness and intense hop notes, pair well with and are not overpowered by rich flavorful foods or caramelized grilled flavors.


“Since the Samuel Adams Boston Lager Cut is tender and flavorful on its own, all it needs is a little salt and pepper to bring out its natural beefiness,” said Dickson. “I recommend searing the cut to reach the sweet spot of tenderness, and of course pairing it with a Samuel Adams Boston Lager to balance the intensity of the meat.”

Available now, the Samuel Adams Boston Lager Cut is the perfect steak for any beer lover’s grill this summer. The Cut is currently being sold at Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in Chelsea Market and will be available at select David Burke restaurants. A similar type of cut can be ordered through specialty butcher shops by requesting a three-quarter inch cut from the cap to the top sirloin. The “fat cap” should be left on to aid in cooking the cut properly. When cut correctly, it will resemble a leaner New York Strip or Shell Steak. While this cut is specially designed to be the perfect pairing for Samuel Adams Boston Lager, the full-flavored craft brew pairs well with any type of beef dish from burgers to steak and everything in between.

Wuxi

First official stop on the tour was this town called Wuxi which was a vacation spot for loads of emperors, poets and the like. Apologies but on the tour we were getting whisked into restaurants and they weren’t explaining that much - dishes were just thrown on the table automatically. Don't worry though, if you do any tours that encompass Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai you're more than likely going to the same restaurants I'm writing about. Any who, I’ve been noticing the surrounding areas around Shanghai love sugar in their food which is OK at times, but gets old after a while.

Our Menu
Egg custard in sweet sauce with tiny fish
This was pretty intensely fishy which I’m not that big a fan of. The egg was nice and soft, but the sauce was pretty sweet which offset the fishiness of the egg dish. My wife loved this, but I could only eat one spoonful due to the fishiness.

Steamed whole fish *
Local fish which was also relatively fishy, but this time not that intense. Prepared the way I’ve seen thousands of time – steamed, soy, thin slices of ginger, scallions, and chili

Xiao Long Bao *
Local Wuxi version of xiao long bao where the internal meat filling was doused in a very sweet soy concoction. The skin was a little rough but it was still fun to eat. It's like dessert and entree wrapped into one.

Spare Ribs in sweet sauce *
Another dish where it was pretty damn sweet – almost like a sweet soy and peanut sauce? Meat was not very tender either, but it was fun to eat with white rice.

Cabbage with tofu skin **
This was an incredibly tasty dish and it seems like they love tofu skin in this region. Different from the ones I’ve had in the states as these are way more flavorful –a combo of rich flavor (maybe oil) and salt.

Water Spinach Soup
Flavorless soup broth with fresh spinach.

Snow Beer ---
This beer is uber cheap and famous in the region for being very light – less than 2.5% alcohol. Basically slightly more flavorful than water, an attribute that I’m not looking to in a beer. On the bright side, since it’s local this beer is less than the cost of a bottle of water. Almost every beer in this region tastes like slightly malty water.

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way