Hidden Chinese ‘Star’ Shines in San Marcos

You may find yourself in the realm of exceptional Chinese cooking when a traditionally mild dish has flavors that nonetheless come across boldly and clearly, while a preparation that ought to strut its stuff rather blatantly turns out to be a subtle stew of nuances.

The Star House in San Marcos is one of those out-of-the-way places tucked into the corner of a nondescript strip shopping center that surprises you with the quality and imagination of the cooking. It quite honestly describes itself as a purveyor of Mandarin and Szechwan cuisine, a claim with very specific meanings that many restaurants cynically take to themselves without any intention of delivering the goods. The cooking is elegant and refined, and the menu offers a number of dishes--from interesting to excellent--that cannot be found on the lists at other Chinese houses in the area.

Following a commendable trend among Chinese restaurants, Star House devotes a portion of the menu to a list of house specialties, and even more happily in this case, it is a list that only slightly corresponds with those that appear elsewhere. Quail, a rare item at Chinese restaurants, tops the list as a roast served with lettuce, rice noodles and a smooth, rather rich sauce. Also unusual is conch, a shellfish found in this country primarily around Florida, offered both as a saute with assorted vegetables and in black bean sauce, one of the simplest but nicest Chinese treatments for virtually any kind of seafood.

Very, very much in the Peking style, which contributes many dishes to the Mandarin school, is the listing of pan-fried shrimp. This is a classic that takes a certain amount of resolve to tackle, since the shrimp are unshelled, dripping with oil and coated with seasoned salt; those who know how extricate the meat from the shell with a deft motion of the tongue, and those who don’t know how wind up wearing a good bit of the preparation. The taste undeniably is excellent.

Among other specialties are the spicy crispy chicken, or boned chicken chunks, marinated in a spice mixture, deep-fried and finished with a pungent ginger-garlic sauce; the whole fish of the day in a Szechwan hot sauce; the chan pi beef, with a seasoning of dried orange peel, and the shrimp with aromatic garlic sauce. This last, which sounds quite bold, actually is remarkably subtle, to the point that the garlic is present almost as a note of sweetness against the mildly hot spicing and the faint tones of cinnamon in the tomato sauce. The shrimp, lightly battered and fried just long enough to crisp, are joined in the sauce by peas, which contrast both through tenderness and color.

The appetizer list, as at most Chinese restaurants around the county, is the menu’s weak point. There is absolutely nothing unusual here; one point in favor is the ginger flavoring in the pot stickers, served crisp and succulent and offered with vinegar, chili oil and soy sauce for a make-your-own dip.

The kitchen’s abilities and attitudes (polished and generous) show up in the sizzling rice soup, often weak-kneed elsewhere but bold and flavorful here. The kitchen starts with a fine, unusually rich chicken broth and adds wisps of carrot and bamboo shoot for color, shrimp and large slices of chicken breast and beef for substance, and (at the table) squares of hot rice cake to produce the characteristic sizzling sound.

Less typical choices among the regular entree listings include tai - chin chicken (with celery and onions in a mildly hot sauce); the fiery Hunan chicken with both jalapeno and red peppers, smoothed somewhat with black bean sauce; the simple roast duck in brown sauce, and the beef in Singapore hot sauce. This last, described as dressed with “satay” sauce and a slightly hot mixture of 10 spices, is a good stir-fry of sliced beef and scallion bulbs served over shredded cabbage, which tones down the mixture while making its own savory contribution. This may be a dish from the Chinese community in Singapore, because the peanut flavor generally associated with satays--peanuts are a principal ingredient of Thai, Malayan and Indonesian versions of satay--is absent.

STAR HOUSE

740 Nordahl Road,

San Marcos

Calls: 489-6223

Hours: Lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday

Cost: Entrees $5.95 to $15.95. Inexpensive to moderate