Yen Ching Restaurant
574 S. Glassell St.
Orange, CA 92866
Yen Ching was the very first place where I ever experienced Chinese food. The year was 1982. My family was conservative regarding the food we ate when we sporadically went out to eat. We had burgers, pizza, and hot dogs, and if my parents were feeling a little crazy, we might even go to Don Jose for some Mexican food. My mom had just started a new job in Orange, and she went to Yen Ching for lunch with coworkers, and that's how I eventually got introduced to Americanized Chinese food.
This was before there was a Chinese restaurant in almost every other shopping center. Kind of crazy to think that there are now 1,800 locations of Panda Express doting the US and several other countries. Orange chicken, beef with broccoli, and honey walnut shrimp are now commonplace with American consumers. I had wanted to return to where my Chinese food journey had begun to see if it was still as good as I remembered when I was eleven.
For as long as I can remember, the rumors are always flying around that Yen Ching will be closing in the not-so-distant future, so just in case this happened, I wanted to make it back to Yen Ching. Supposedly, the land this restaurant is on belongs to the Catholic church, and there are whispers that they want to expand the nearby Holy Family Cathedral complex. But, for now, this A-frame restaurant that has been here since 1978 shows no signs of moving anywhere, and they are just as busy as they have been for the last 40 years.
That's why we decided to meet my parents at 4pm on a recent Saturday for a quick dinner to avoid the sometimes-hour wait to get a table and what my dad calls one of the loudest restaurants in OC. I'm not sure about that, but the dining room was only a quarter full at this early bird dinner hour, so it was quiet enough for my dad's sensitive ears. The dining room has gotten a modern update since the last time we were here a good many years ago. It was lightened up with a paint job and white linens on the tables.
I'm not sure about your plan of attack when eating in a Chinese restaurant, but I like to do it family-style by ordering a bunch of dishes and sharing everything. The menu at Yen Ching is pretty good sized, with plenty of seafood, beef, chicken, pork, and noodle dishes. There's also a prix-fixe menu priced at $23 per person, which includes soup and appetizer, but there are only five entree options to choose from, and we wanted to pick our own, so we went the a la carte route. Let's see if Yen Ching is just as good as when I came here as a kid.
Katie is always up for an appetizer, and even though I knew we would be having a lot of food coming our way, we tried these Potstickers ($9.75). These pan-fried dumplings were filled with pork and vegetables and were just okay. However, the outer dumpling was rubbery, and the pork and veggies inside failed to make any impression on my taste buds. These were boosted a bit by a plum sauce, but not enough for us to order these again.
Entrees came out in waves all of a sudden, and the first to hit the table was the Mongolian Beef ($16.95). This Chinese classic is a favorite at Yen Ching. The sliced beef is served with green onions and a thin brown sauce. I'm always a little partial to this dish. The meat was tender, and I liked the way the green onions added a tinge of flavor to this. The sauce adds sweetness but does not overpower the overall aura of this entree.
Our noodle choice this early evening was this Chow Mein Combo ($12.95). This big mound of noodles included shrimp, chicken, beef, and veggies. I liked this chow mein as it was not too greasy and had plenty of shrimp and meat. A nicely done version.
Not the most popular of chicken dishes here would probably be the flaming pineapple chicken, but we got the Yen Ching Chicken ($16.95). Tiny cuts of chicken are coated in their signature sauce, which is equal parts savory and sweet, and then sauteed with chopped green onions. I liked this as well. It came out nice and hot, the chicken was tender, and the sauce kept me interested. They also offer this sauce with their Yen Ching Beef.
My dad has always inspired to be a hand model, apparently, and here's another one he can add to his portfolio. I used to love the Sweet and Sour Pork ($15.25) here, but it kind of fell flat on this visit. The fried pork was not very tender, and the sweet and sour sauce was lackluster. However, I liked the pineapple pieces in this, as I tried to sneak a few extra bits for myself while no one was looking.
Shrimp with Walnuts ($18.95) has always been my favorite, so we tried it at Yen Ching. Like the pork dish, this one kind of disappointed us. On the plus side, the shrimp here were pretty good-sized and cooked well, but the sauce was not very sweet and could best be described as drab. Minimal flavor to this entree. When this dish is executed well, it's magical with the briny shrimp, sweet sauce, and nutty walnuts. Unfortunately, this plate was let down by the sauce.
Dessert is almost always complimentary when dining at Yen Ching, even though the Golden Caramelized Apple is listed on the menu for a dollar each. They always bring these and the plastic-wrapped fortune cookies with the check for as long as we have been coming here. The apple is baked inside a very thick caramelized crust with a nice sweet sauce. A sweet ending to our meal and even sweeter because it was free.
This visit brought back many memories of our numerous family dinners at Yen Ching. The food seemed the same as I remember eating as a kid. Most items we had this early evening were solid but did not blow me away. I'd call this above-average Chinese food, but I know there is better. My parents thought the prices here were a little on the high side, but with the food only, we paid $23 a person and had plenty of leftovers for the next day. A pretty good bargain, I would say. The service was polite and professional but not overly friendly. I'm glad Yen Ching is still around, as it's part of my food history that has led me to my love of reviewing restaurants.
Out of five hungry hippos (because the tabletop game Hungry Hungry Hippos was first made available in 1978, the same years as this restaurant), five being best to zero being worst, Yen Ching Restaurant gets 3 hungry hippos.
For more information about Yen Ching, head to their website here: http://yenchingoc.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment