Deliciously Unfamiliar

Wei’s has a pleasantly boxy dining room with Key lime walls, Chinese calligraphy on long, rectangular posters and an abundance of round, family-style tables with pastel-pink tablecloths. The Fountain Valley eatery also is, at present, Orange County’s best Chinese restaurant.

Wei’s bills itself as Sichuan, referring to the fiery foods of that north-central Chinese province. But the kitchen turns out Cantonese and Mandarin fare as well. Like many other Chinese--especially Sichuan-style ones--the menu’s hot spicy dishes are marked with a star.

There also is a short list of house specialties that probably won’t look familiar. This is where to focus. These are the restaurant’s best dishes.

But don’t take my word for it. Instead, look on all the Lazy Susans the bigger tables are equipped with, then watch families digging in to whole fish, enormous platters of Dungeness crab, plates piled high with assorted pork parts and a few things you probably will not recognize.

It is remarkable how few dishes from the regular menu seemed to be shuttled to various tables. What’s more, there is a Chinese-language section for items that require an advance order. Just one example of a dish from that list would be the golden crisp, meaty shrimp balls that come 12 to a platter, each as big as a baseball and gloriously crunchy.

Five of us got a table with a view of the huge kitchen, which looks almost half again larger than the dining room. We had arrived at 6:30 p.m., which was a stroke of luck. By 7, there was a long line for tables that hadn’t abated by the time we left.

The mere act of watching families enjoy their meals made each of us really hungry. But one member of my group appeared distressed as she spotted chefs throwing large quantities of oil into the woks. Later, she was surprised when only one or two dishes came across as overly rich. Yes, Sichuan dishes are mostly stir-fried. But these chefs are skillful, and less oil is absorbed here than in most other Sichuan restaurants.

There are no pot stickers or conventional appetizers on Wei’s menu. But there is a variety of soups. I like the simple, clear flavors of tomato and bean curd soup, but almost everyone who comes here orders the three-flavored sizzling rice soup. After tasting a bowlful, I understand why.

This version is a far cry from the insipid broth many restaurants serve. Instead, it is full-flavored and stocked with chicken, shrimp and black mushroom. The waiters drop giant cubes of golden puffed rice into the broth. There, they break apart with a hiss, en route to your bowl.

I also chose a dish called boiled salted duck, the closest thing to an appetizer on Wei’s menu. The duck arrived with the soup and was delicious. The flesh was a pale rose pink, with a thick but soft layer of soft, white skin. The meat, which pulled away from the bone with a gentle tear, wasn’t at all salty.

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Then the heavyweights began to arrive. First was an irresistible kung pao shrimp and scallop dish, made with huge plump shrimps, tiny bay scallops and lots of mouth numbing fagara peppers, which appeared lightly blackened around their bright red edges. Next came crab, an enormous pile sauteed in the shell simply with ginger, green onion and chili.

Nothing prepared us for Special No. 4, stewed assorted pork. Picture a huge platter of meat, preserved eggs and braised chicken feet, redolent of star anise, garlic and freshly grated ginger. At the middle was the famous Shanghai specialty, lion’s head meatball. This is a fine, fatty pork meatball around 9 inches in diameter, nicely braised on the surface but light as a great matzo ball in the center.

Surrounding the meat ball were big slabs of stewed Chinese back bacon, which imparted a smoky flavor to the other components. A pair of lu dan, sweetly perfumed preserved eggs, flanked the bacon. Braised chicken feet and a ring of perfectly cooked fresh spinach completed the dish, which by itself was a feast.

Had we known how substantial the dish was, we wouldn’t have bothered ordering a whole fish with noodles. Tilapia--a bony, delicate, white-fleshed fish that is becoming more and more popular to farm--isn’t strong in flavor. But at Wei’s, the garlic and spicy bean sauce more than compensated.

I didn’t like the mound of mushy noodles on top of the fish, though. Next time, I plan to order fish steamed with hot bean sauce, one more way to eat tilapia at Wei’s.

There are a host of other interesting dishes to try from the specialties menu, although a few are likely to be an acquired taste. Tripe and bean curd hot pot, for instance, is richly flavored and deeply satisfying. And steamed pork leg is fork-tender in a vinegar-flavored brown stock.

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You can, of course, opt for more conventional Chinese restaurant dishes. The pork chop with salt and pepper is fabulous, as are all of the kung pao dishes. The best vegetable dish is sauteed string beans, magically crisp, partially blackened beans with a dry, delicious topping of minced pork and salty preserved turnip.

Also good is dou mieu, wispy pea shoots lightly stir-fried in garlic and oil.

Wei’s is pretty much a no-frills Chinese restaurant, not necessarily the best place for a beginner. But after one or two meals here, you’ll graduate, and you may never settle for sweet-and-sour pork again.

Wei’s is moderately priced. Soups are $5.25. House specialties are $6.95 to $13.95. Advance orders are $7.95 to $78.

BE THERE

Wei’s, 17046 Magnolia St., Fountain Valley. (714) 842-9778. Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; dinner 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 4:30-9 p.m. Sunday. MasterCard and Visa.