Second Look : Return to Shanghai

Rumors of a new chef at an old favorite made me race down to Mandarin Shanghai, 970 N. Broadway in Chinatown, (213) 625-1195. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten those rich Shanghai dishes--which are quite distinct from the food served in the rest of China--and they tasted better than ever.

Shanghai is a fertile region, and the city is known for its gastronomes. Its cuisine is an elaborate one: Foods are minced, chopped, combined with other ingredients. Simplicity is not its hallmark; a rich, slightly sweet brown stock is. Lion’s head is a case in point. At many restaurants these are simply meatballs. The ones here don’t look much different--except that they are as big as baseballs. But when you venture a chopstick out toward the platter, you get a shock. These minced pork balls are so lightly bound that they have the texture of quenelles, and they threaten to fall apart at any moment. They come dramatically draped in cabbage (the lion’s mane), and with a little rice they make quite a meal. The salt and pepper squid were another treat--bits of squid fried to a fine crunchiness and then sprinkled with enough spice to give them a buzz.

This is filling food, and I never got around to ordering the pork with salted vegetable, an old favorite. But I’ll be back.