After a satisfying visit to Izakaya Sakura, the Missus decided on China Max for Her second day of feasting. And a China Max post is somewhat appropriate, since my very first post on May 26th of last year was on a visit to China Max with Ed from Yuma.
We arrived at China Max at about 530 pm, and the restaurant was fairly empty. Funny thing, I don’t know if anyone else who has visited China Max has noticed this, but we’ve noticed on several visits that Asians are seated on the North side of the restaurant. Non-Asians are seated on the South side, and if your party has children in them, they will seat you in the back corner.
Could just be me, but we’ve noticed this seating "pattern" a few times, and always get a chuckle out of it.
The main reason we came to China Max was to order the Peking Duck (2 courses $32). The duck is served "cart style". So Mr Duck is wheeled out on a cart, by two servers.
One of the Servers gets busy carving the duck.
Making sure to slice off some of the crisp, rich skin, along with just a touch of meat.
The other server is charged with placing a dab of Hoisin Sauce, a slice of cucumber, and two slices of skin between two "buns".
There are a total of eight of these wonderful little "sandwiches" all told.
The duck skin were crisp and rich, the hoisin added sweetness, and the cucumber slice helped cleanse the palate. Not the best Peking Duck I’ve ever had, but good by San Diego standards. Also, the Missus had an interesting moment with one of the Servers, which I’ll go into later.
We also ordered the Pan Fried Noodle with Assorted Seafood($14.95):
As with any type of mildly flavored Guangdong/Hong Kong Seafood style dish, the key is the quality and freshness of the ingredients, combined with cooking technique. So how did this fare? Well the noodles were perfectly crisp, not oily, and the texture changed with every bite. The scallops and shrimp were cooked to tender sweet perfection. The calamari was on the tough side, and the fish tasted too "muddy". I did manage to finish all of the noodles if that means anything!
The Missus ordered one Her favorites Stewed Lamb with Dry Bean Curd Stick($15):
There was quite a bit more lamb then I’m used to seeing in similar dishes. The flavoring was much to heavy-handed for me, and on the "medicinal" side. However, the Missus thought this clay-pot dish was very good, and loved it, even though the "Yang" food kept Her up and hyper all night.
Here’s part 2 of the duck, minced duck in lettuce cups:
Minced duck is stir fried and placed in lettuce cups, with a bit of Hoisin sauce. We noticed that the usual water chestnut, seemed to be replaced with sweeter Jicama. The Missus usually enjoys the lettuce cups more then the buns and this was no exception.
I know I’ve done too many posts on China Max, with everything from the late night menu to the Dim Sum. This one will be the last for a while, but I thought it’ll be nice to do a "one year after" post.
China Max
4698 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111
I mentioned an "interesting moment" a bit earlier, so let me expand. As the Server was carving our duck, the Missus whispered to me, "Ask Her for the duck bone". My response, straight from the "conservative Asian Guy manual" was, "What, no way, that sounds cheap and embarrassing!" So the Missus requested the bone Herself. At which point the demeanor of our previously serious and stoic Server brightened. Her response? "Oooh, you know the best part, huh?" And suddenly there was a moment of bonding….exchanging of recipes and such. And before we left, Mr Duck, or what was left of him as brought to our table, in a plastic bag, placed in a plain paper bag. After all, we wouldn’t want to share the duck bone secrets of the "Chinese Sisterhood", right?
So Mr. Duck was placed in a pot, covered by water, seasoned with star anise, ginger, the white portions of green onions, white pepper, and soy sauce. We simmered for about 2 hours, added tofu and bean thread…and this is what we got.
So easy, it’s "duck soup", right?