Grace Garden

»Who could ask for anything more?

I came onboard the National Endowment for the Arts in 1982, when we were at Columbia Plaza, just down the block from the Magic Gourd Restaurant at Virginia Avenue and 23rd Northwest DC. That was 28 years ago, and if you believe some of the current online reviews, it’s not changed much since then. I ate there often; there weren’t a lot of other nearby choices; still aren’t.

The dish that stuck in...+READ I came onboard the National Endowment for the Arts in 1982, when we were at Columbia Plaza, just down the block from the Magic Gourd Restaurant at Virginia Avenue and 23rd Northwest DC. That was 28 years ago, and if you believe some of the current online reviews, it’s not changed much since then. I ate there often; there weren’t a lot of other nearby choices; still aren’t.

The dish that stuck in my mind through all these years is their Dan-Dan Noodles, an appetizer. I may even have dreamed about it! Warm noodles drenched in a sauce that’s mostly smooth peanut butter, with hot oil and some more sesame or peanut oil added for consistency. Mmmmm!!! I LOVE it! Makes me feel all warm inside, kinda like being wrapped in an electric blanket.

I wangled a recent lunch there with a State Department employee, partly ‘cause she knew where it was, but mostly because of the Dan-Dan Noodles!

I ordered one serving, and she ordered another, on my recommendation. Each was about two cups worth; I managed to finish mine. It was just as I remembered: one of the best uses for the lowly peanut, a bit hot and spicy, and comfort food of the first order.

As for the second order, I asked for a serving to “take out,” because I was going to take it to Grace Garden. This is a tiny out-of-the-way Chinese restaurant on Maryland’s route 175, AKA Odenton’s Annapolis Road, and opposite Fort Meade (just down from a tattoo parlor, and in the Colonel’s shadow). My wife and I were taken there by the head of the Asian Division in the Library of Congress; his wife, like mine, is an Anne Arundel County Master Gardener.

Grace Garden’s chef and owner, Chun Keung Li, and his wife Mei, serve all the regular stuff, but also authentic Chinese dishes I’ve never seen elsewhere. I get there about once every other week, and I’ve been trying to find something I don’t like. I’ve been unsuccessful. So far. I’ll keep trying.

Chef Li will make any recipe you bring in, and will also happily use ingredients that you bring him. And after 34 years in the business, my guess is that if you can name it or describe it, he’ll make it and you’ll love it!

So I wanted him to try the Dan-Dan Noodles, and maybe even put them on their menu. I arrived at about 2:30PM, long past the lunch hour, to find the entire staff -- Chef Li, Mei, and a helper -- eating lunch at a table in the empty restaurant. What luck! I opened my takeout bag, and started talking about Dan-Dan Noodles, and how much I loved them. Mei poured them out on a plate, and Chef Li looked at the pile and said “Too much sugar!” He tasted them, and said again, “Too much sugar!”

We started talking about “proper” Dan-Dan Noodles, and after a minute Chef Li got to his feet, went into the kitchen, and started chopping and mixing. Mei told me that Dan-Dan Noodles, to be done “right,” required their own special noodles. These came in large packages, and they don’t have room in their small restaurant for all possible noodles, much less all the other ingredients they could be using. Sigh.

She said that if they used the wrong noodles, their Chinese customers would blog about it, and they’d be in trouble. I of course said that their American customers wouldn’t care, and would buy the dish by the bucketful, given the affection that we all feel for peanut butter. I even suggested putting up a sign advertising “Special: Crazy Dan-Dan Noodles” to give themselves an “out” with their Chinese customers. No go! [See why I love the place?]

At about this time, Chef Li returned with a plate of warm noodles (the wrong kind, but delicious) and a PINT of freshly made sauce! He insisted that I try it – not a difficult sell. Using chopsticks to move the noodles from the dish to my plate, but a fork to eat them, I dug in.

The sauce was aMAZing! Instead of two flavors, there were so many I lost count! I was then told that the sauce included not only peanut butter, peanut oil, and hot oil, but garlic, scallions, Chinese vinegar, and various peppers. (I think there are some ‘secret ingredients” too, and given their proximity to Fort Meade and the National Security Agency, this is unsurprising.)

The total effect was like a fireworks display! Mei told me that the proper dish includes thinly sliced fresh cucumbers, celery, or zucchini, under the noodles. That’s not food, that’s a symphony!

Chef Li said that Dan-Dan Noodles is really a family plan dish, with noodles in the middle of the table, and a variety of toppings around it. Diners get to choose what toppings they want – not everyone wants the hot sauce! Who knew?

He also said that making the sauce was “simple!” I asked Mei if he’d measured ANYTHING as he made it, and she said “No.” I then said that I MIGHT be able to learn to make it, but it would take at least thirty years, and I might not have the time! We all laughed.

After some more conversation, and Mei’s agreement that they’d make the dish for ME without the right noodles, if I’d call a day in advance, I left – with almost a pint of the new sauce, some noodles, and a bottle of Chinese vinegar. I promised to call, identify myself as “the crazy man,” and ask for the non-standard Dan-Dan Noodles. You do what you can.

I know I’ll go back to the Magic Gourd for their noodles when I have the opportunity, but…

Warm blanket or fireworks display? Hmmmm….-COLLAPSE (by KNiZ, created January 25, 2010)

»A wonderful and authentic Chinese experience

We chose this restaurant because the Chinese cuisine in Baltimore is quite disappointing and we read glowing reviews online. It is a bit outside the Baltimore area (25 miles from my apartment), but close enough that we're willing to make the journey when the mood for Chinese strikes.

They have two menus: typical Americanized Chinese food, and traditional Chinese food and we selected from both....+READ We chose this restaurant because the Chinese cuisine in Baltimore is quite disappointing and we read glowing reviews online. It is a bit outside the Baltimore area (25 miles from my apartment), but close enough that we're willing to make the journey when the mood for Chinese strikes.

They have two menus: typical Americanized Chinese food, and traditional Chinese food and we selected from both. We ordered tea, the Grace Garden Shrimp, Crispy Beef, and Crispy Eggplant. We chose the meat dishes first and assumed there would be little to no vegetables cooked with the dish, ordered the Crispy Eggplant for a vegetable dish. You know what they say about 'assume' and we definitely made the wrong assumption. The shrimp came with a nice portion of steamed broccoli and the beef had a nice mix of shredded celery and carrots.

And now for my self-important, opinionated itemization:

The tea - I'm not a huge tea fan, but I liked this. Very fragrant with a nice flowery aroma and flavor; a good drink on a cold night.

Crispy Beef - This dish is a definite classic of American Chinese food and my fiancée’s favorite by far. This is a must-have whenever we have a chance to dine Chinese. I know it's a common favorite among Chinese food fanatics, but please indulge one who loves to hear his own opinion (or at least the gratifying clicking noises of the keyboard as I share my opinion). I love the crispy texture of the beef and the sweet flavor of the Szechuan sauce. The shredded celery and carrots give nice, flavorful filler, along with the rice to help sop up the remaining sauce on your plate. I know it's not an adventurous selection, but if it's good, it's good, regardless of how pedestrian it may be.

Grace Garden Shrimp - We were both happy with this selection as well. The shrimp were good sized (as shrimp go) and well-battered. I've had enough over-done breaded shrimp that I usually avoid it entirely, but these were cooked to perfection. The sauce was a sweet and sour ginger sauce, which was a nice alternative to the crispy beef's Szechuan and another good sauce to mop up with the rice.

Crispy Eggplant - This was technically our vegetable selection. However, it counts as a vegetable as much as those deep-fried vegetables that are peddled at county fairs and other events. However, the difference is in the quality of the preparation. Also, I noticed the website offers a picture of this dish and what was served to us did not look like what is on the photo. Those look like pan-fried slices of eggplant. What we received was battered and deep fried. Oh well, it was good, although too much for two people. If you have a family-sized dinner party, the portion is perfect. I chose this dish because o the spicy/sweet sauce and knowing that eggplant absorbs flavors, so I was gambling that a good sauce would make this dish. It did. My only reservation was that it was battered and deep-fried. I'm not saying it wasn't good, I'm saying it really made us hold back (which was for the better) since it turned out all of our selections were also breaded. These also made the best next-day left overs because the sauce completely saturated the breading overnight and, in my opinion, made it even better.

Will we go again? Definitely. Will we order the same dishes? The Crispy Beef, since that is my fiancée’s utmost favorite Chinese dish in existence. There is another vegetable dish we almost ordered instead of the eggplant, a bean dish, and I don't see it on the online menu. Next time, we plan on ordering Crispy Beef, Salt and Pepper Shrimp, and that mysterious, enigmatic bean dish.-COLLAPSE (by cainin2000, created January 24, 2010)

(by JonParker, created May 27, 2010)