RESTAURANT REVIEW : Ciao Chow: A Collision of Cultures

Who would have guessed that, after the food revolution of the ‘80s, one of the most popularized--and apparently popular--restaurant practices would be extreme ethnic eclecticism? Tex-Mex dim sum and pizza topped with carnitas, seared tuna, and/or hoisin sauce are now commonplace in the upscale coffee shops of business districts, redeveloped “old towns” and in the vicinity of any multiple-screen movie theater.

One of the great things about Los Angeles is the variety of authentic ethnic food within easy driving distance, but these restaurants suggest that food adventuring can be confined to a single restaurant, if not a single plate. The spaces are bright, gleaming, well-designed; the food seems somehow sanitized, presented to its takers without any cultural garnish this TV generation may find distasteful. There’s dim sum without the carts, the language barrier, the sight of deep-fried chicken feet; there’s Peking duck without a glimpse of whole ducks impaled on metal hooks. Who cares if authenticity is sacrificed? Chains such as California Pizza Kitchen and Chin Chin have had such success with multicultural plate-heaping, independent restaurateurs are following suit.

The Ciao Chow Express in Long Beach’s Pine Square is one of the newest purveyors of this one-plate multiculturalism. The name, in addition to sounding like a cat food commercial, expresses the restaurant’s vision: Italian-Chinese (or Asian) food that’s quickly prepared and also a few short blocks from the Metrorail stop. (The logo is a streamlined train emitting a fat noodle of smoke.)

The pocket of Pine Square where Ciao Chow is located, with its AMC Theaters and a branch of Benita’s Frites, seems a miniature, perhaps seminal version of Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. The resemblance is not purely accidental: Ciao Chow’s owner, Jivan Tabibian, is a co-owner of Remi, a handsome, well-regarded Italian restaurant on the Promenade. The association with Remi, however, may lead one to expect rather more than warranted from the much lower-priced Ciao Chow.

Located upstairs, in the spot where we’ve come to expect CPK’s and Daily Grills, Ciao Chow Express has the clean, spare, efficient good looks of many a theater mall cafe: open kitchen, patio with umbrellas, that halogen gleam. There’s a counter for extra-fast service and a dining room for those who have time to linger. Paper lanterns bobble overhead; in trick photographs, railway cars hold a single giant trout, an ear of corn, a head of cabbage. Attractive wicker armchairs desperately need cushions--they’re like sitting on a bony lap.

The collision of Italian and Chinese chow is, I’m afraid, a bit of a train wreck.

Whole shrimp are blandly battered, fried and served in a puddle of uninteresting, sweet mustard sauce. Tastier are the chicken wings; the subtly sweet soy marinade contrasts nicely with the crunchy deep-fried crust.

The Caesar salad has a strong, opaque white dressing, tomatoes and an excess of cheese as finely ground and tasteless as sawdust. The Chop Ciao Salad is a far better mishmash: greens with chopped roasted peppers, chunks of salami and cheese, slivered grilled chicken, corn, tomatoes, pine nuts.

Farfalle with Italian sausage, fennel, tomato sauce and way too much rosemary, is an ill-conceived muddle.

Heaps of soggy, shredded mixed vegetables don’t add a thing to the entrees. Paper-wrapped Chilean sea bass is sliced so thin that its dreamy, airy flakiness is obviated. Peking duck has a soggy skin, a tinge of oldness. And I’ve never met shorter short ribs: These are tasty, wafer-thin slices of meat and bone marinated in soy and grilled --more like a thin teriyaki steak with bones than short ribs.

The best dish I tried is a sandwich: Grilled fresh tuna is delicious with avocado on a hefty bun sprinkled with fennel seed.

Does the muddledness of Ciao Chow’s food come from trying to merge Italian and Asian cuisines? Or is it inexpert preparation? A bit of both, I fear. The worst combination of food we encounter at Ciao Chow can’t be credited to any inter-ethnic experimentation: a cobbler of fresh plums served a la mode . . . with brownie-chunk ice cream.

* Ciao Chow Express Restaurant and Cafe, 245 Pine Ave., Long Beach, (310) 495-9022. Lunch and dinner 7 days. Beer and wine. Validated parking. Major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$35.