For Peking Cuisine, This Is the Real Thing

It is best to put down your chopsticks when the pianist at Vista’s Peking Wok slides into a boogie-woogie version of “St. Louis Blues,” since the unconscious urge to play band leader can prove irresistible, not to mention messy for guests at nearby tables if you happen to have morsels of food loosely clamped between the sticks.

The pianist certainly is the brightest of the extras provided by this well-run eatery, but the others are appreciated, including the complimentary appetizer of pungent and teasingly hot pickled cabbage and the closing snack of fried custard, heavily flavored with almond extract and a pleasant complement to the inevitable fortune cookies.

Chinese cooking continues to be a strength of the inland North County restaurant scene, and the long-established Peking Wok remains one of the leaders. The menu could stand not so much a revision as an expansion, because, although the kitchen seems to handle the dishes very well, there could be more from which to choose.

Peking Wok is more than a catchy name for a Chinese establishment; this is among the few restaurants that actually serve dishes from the Chinese capital (now known as Beijing) and the surrounding region. Lamb, disliked in much of China, is viewed favorably in Beijing and appears at Peking Wok in three versions, most notably in a simple stir-fry with scallions that nicely brings out the savory qualities of the meat.

Among other typical choices from north China are the chili dumplings, or soft pillows of dough spooned into soup bowls along with reasonably hot chili sauce, and the salt-and-pepper cuttlefish, or squid highly seasoned with the two most familiar condiments of the Western dinner table. Dishes of this sort can be surprisingly flavorful--the kitchen cooks pork cutlets in the same fashion--but enjoying them requires a strong taste and tolerance for salt.

This restaurant places a special emphasis on presentation, sometimes in the form of the vegetables carved into chrysanthemum shapes that garnish platters, but more importantly in eye-catching tricks that stimulate the appetite. Some of these appear as unusual (for Chinese restaurants, in any case) combination plates, such as the “Three’s Company,” which teams spicy kung pao chicken with mild moo goo gai pan and tart lemon chicken. The “Rancher Fisherman,” evidently Peking Wok’s answer to surf ‘n’ turf, pairs a basic beef stir-fry with fish filets cooked in a light wine sauce.

The tastiest presentation, however, may well be the “chicken in gold cup,” a house variant on the popular dish usually called minced squab. This version replaces the lettuce leaves, in which the mixture typically is wrapped, with crisp pastry cups, so that the fine dice of fowl, scallion and carrot, strongly spiced and breathy with ginger and garlic, seems like a particularly savory type of Sloppy Joe mixture. This appetizer is delicious, but, if you don’t like ginger, this is not your dish.

As it happens, a dislike for ginger puts much of Chinese cuisine out of reach. The merest hint of this useful root, which has aromatic qualities unrivaled by any other seasoning, serves to emphasize the delicacy of Peking Wok’s Imperial soup, confected from light stock, egg whites and shreds of crab and chicken.

At the other range of the taste scale, the hot and sour soup, treated rather perfunctorily by many establishments ever since it became enormously popular (is this not usually the case?), provokes tears of pleasure with the decidedly hot and pungent flavoring. The texture, almost gravy-like, also is just right; the broth supports shreds of meat and a good assortment of vegetables.

Specialties include a combination of fish and shellfish cooked in a “fire pot,” another favored style of Beijing cooking; beyond this, the specials list is not particularly exciting. The main menu offers a solid selection, however, that includes crisp, sesame-coated strips of beef coated in a thick, hot-sweet sauce of some finesse; a Hunan-style beef that takes the form of a stir-fry rather than a deep-fry, and is consequently more complex in its effects (less fierce than some Hunan dishes) and a beautifully aromatic dish of scallops in garlic sauce.

Since many dishes lack vegetables, a vegetarian entree can be a good idea, and among the less-common choices here are broccoli stir-fried with straw mushrooms and oyster sauce, and eggplant in a savory brown sauce.

Peking Wok

1241 E. Vista Way, Vista

Calls: 724-8078

Hours: Lunch and dinner daily

Cost: Most entrees in the $5.95 to $14.95 range; dinner for two, including a glass of wine each, tax and tip, will cost about $30 to $55.