A Chance on Chinese

Five of us crowded into a booth at Soy Bean, directly under a snazzy photo of the shimmering lights of Hong Kong at night. The prospect of an interesting Chinese dinner had us all abuzz.

The meal didn’t start out impressively, though. From the menu of Cantonese, Sichuan and Mandarin dishes, we began with cold noodles with sesame sauce, which turned out to be a bland, starchy pile of long wheat noodles drenched in a sauce we swore had more peanut butter than anything else. Next came crispy chicken wings in pepper and light salt. The wings were meaty enough and fried to a deep bronze color, but not very interesting.

Somewhat optimistically, I’d ordered Westlake beef soup, a minced beef soup traditionally laced with egg whites, cilantro and Chinese vegetables. What we got was closer to a watery egg flower soup with lots of chopped beef. Most of it went uneaten.

Things brightened considerably when our two tofu dishes arrived. One was deep-fried bean curd--cubes of delicately fried tofu with a light, golden crust. It was quite good, especially when sprinkled with soy and eaten with a bit of chopped green onion. The dry shredded bean curd with celery also turned out to be an interesting choice. For this dish the tofu was cut into dense little strips and assertively seasoned with five-spice.

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We also liked the Cantonese style chow fun with beef; the flat rice noodles had taken on a mild ferric tang from the surface of the wok. The pork chop with spicy salt, on the other hand, was inedible. It was just pieces of pork fried in clearly tired oil, and no one even brought us the spicy salt that might have awakened its flavor.

If you don’t like oil in your dishes, the menu has a steamed food section (in which the dishes are prepared without salt, sugar or corn starch--a thoughtful option). The steamed shrimp with broccoli was quite good, really.

I wish I had considered the steamed menu before I ordered the distressingly oily Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce. In fact, a lot of dishes are quite oily here. It’s odd, since the takeout menu (possibly the handsomest I’ve ever seen in a Chinese restaurant) includes a text trumpeting the virtues of tofu and its cholesterol-lowering properties.

I’ve learned my lesson. Next time I dine at Soy Bean, for reasons of oil and flavor both, it’s going to be strictly tofu and steamed veggies for me.

BE THERE

Soy Bean, 19100 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana. Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. Parking in lot. Beer and wine only. American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Dinner for two, $23-$39. Suggested dishes: deep-fried bean curd, $6.50; beef chow fun, $6.25; steamed shrimp with broccoli, $9.95. Call (818) 881-7200.