Ba Ren’s Latest Seasonal Menu

**** Ba Ren has closed

Over the last few weeks we've been checking out the latest seasonal menu at Ba Ren. So I thought I'd do a few posts on the items we've tried. There are 8 items on the menu; one of them, the first item listed is a carry over from the previous menu. It's the Corn with Pine Nuts dish.

So here we go:

#3 on the placard, Chopped Chicken with Ya Cai($10.99):

Ya Cai is a famous Sichuan pickle that uses just the leaves of a specific type of mustard green. It is unusual in that it uses a "dry preserve" technique. I love the salty-sour, and slightly sweet flavor of Ya Cai. Combined with uniformly chopped chicken, green bell peppers, and jalapenos, this was by far our favorite dish on the menu(looks a bit like La Chao La, doesn't it?). It is spicy and salty and goes well with a good amount of rice. In fact, as I was writing this I had to run to the fridge to grab a few spoonfuls of it, just to jog my memory…you know…right?

#5 on the placard, Hand Torn Chicken($10.99):

Sesame oil was front and center in this cold dish. The chicken had a flavor similar to that of Kwai Fei chicken. I guess you could think of it as Kwai Fei Chicken Salad. The chicken was chopped leg meat, thankfully boneless, and mixed with bean sprouts and strips of scallion. The Missus is not a big fan of cold chicken dishes, so I got much more enjoyment out of this than She. I did think this was a bit on the pricey side.

#6 on the placard, Steamed Fish Slices with Don Cai($12.99):

As with all the fish dishes we've encountered at Ba Ren, the filets were soft, moist, and tender. We were told that Don Cai is a  Zhejiang preserved vegetable, it was less salty, more moist, and milder than the Ya Cai. What I really enjoyed about this dish was the bean thread on the bottom, which managed to soak up the wonderful soy, oil, and black pepper flavor…along with the Don Cai, of course. This was a good dish.

#7 on the placard, Tan Zi Huang Men Ya($15.99):

This Clay Pot(Tan Zi) Stewed(Men) Duck(Ya) dish looked positively volcanic. "Men" is one of the 56 classic Sichuan cooking techniques, in which ingredients are first fried or stir-fried, and medium amount of liquid is added before the pot is closed and everything is cooked. The duck in this case was duck leg and neck, which added a nice "ducky" fragrance to the whole shebang. This broth, or gravy if you will needed a good stir to mix the super-spicy oil with the rest of the broth below. Otherwise you'd be in for a sip of chili oil. The taro in the dish was not very good; mealy and mushy, it reminded me of Chuño. It was obviously prefrozen. Sliced leeks and large slices of ginger were also along for the ride. When I first viewed this dish, I had flashbacks of my previous encounter with "Beer Duck" at Ba Ren. But this was much better. Still, the Missus enjoyed this much more than I.

I realize that I have a ton of posts on Ba Ren, but I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the dishes from the Chinese placard. Of course, the old favorites are still available.

Ba Ren
4957 Diane Ave
San Diego, CA 92117