Our neighbors, Bernie and Aloha Saxon, often are our dining buddies.
They called one afternoon about three months ago to ask if we’d tried the new Crystal Jade Asian Fine Dining. The restaurant, in Quail Hill Village Center, sits just outside the gates of Shady Canyon and is a mere one block off the San Diego (I-405) Freeway. We had watched the restaurant being built but had not eaten there.
Within two days, we were sharing a table with the Saxons. That experience has led to many meals there.
We did not expect to see such a fine looking restaurant, but there it was with its glass front and no fuss outside. The doors opened to an interior that delivered a fine sense of propriety and artful elements. I seem to always linger just inside the doors for an extra moment because the big fountain is peaceful and unique, and I like that sense of Zen that it imparts.
Atop a tall and wide cropping of rocks stands a gigantic tea pot, tipped so that water can flow from it, while along the remainder of the crest more water flows in a miniaturized water fall,reminiscent of something found in the famous mountains of Quelin, one of the gorgeous wonders of China.
There’s a bar assembled from attractive wood on one side. Then, just beyond, a vast dining room spreads out, all dressed up in linen cloths on tables large and small, round and rectangular.
Soft earth colors of sage green, chocolate, beige and yellow-tinged terra cotta meld with chic wood floors, curvy metal sculptures on the walls, a stand of bamboo along one side and more bamboo ensconced in huge pots. It is pretty and serene.
Anyone interested in wine with their meals will discover a sufficient wine list that complements what the kitchen is doing.
We began with appetizers. Pot stickers were crisped, filled with a succulent mix of chicken and vegetables. A soup rich with crabmeat and asparagus was a good beginning.
Coconut shrimp are popular everywhere and we compared these. They were a worthy version comprised of big prawns dredged in coconut flakes and quickly deep fried.
The chef makes his own barbecue sauce that is laced with hoisin for the tender ribs. It took us another meal to try the appetizer called Golden Crispy Bag: six little packets of delicate pastry encasing a medley of seafood and vegetables.
Same for the Crispy Tempura Green Beans that arrived as delicious spokes of crunchy fresh beans with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce that sat well on the palate. The Chinese love their minced chicken in lettuce wraps. This version blends the crunch of fresh iceberg leaves with perfectly sauced chicken in a swell appetizer.
While most of the familiar Chinese dishes are on the menu, there are a few that I’d like to suggest that deliver authenticity with a special snap of interest.
The stir-fried chicken with mango has a nice tropical flair. The Asian chicken salad is a dandy take on a group of likeable flavors. Minced lean pork stir-fried with green beans is terrific. The shrimp and scallop combo with soft-textured eggplant had some of our friends swooning at a recent dinner. Another winner is the fresh fish filets with a mild black bean sauce.
When you get the menu, go first to the chef’s signature dishes. It includes some variations on theme that make main courses even more interesting.
Choose the sizzling chunks of filet mignon perfumed with a hint of lemon grass. A must have is the lobster satay with a Thai-influenced peanut sauce. Malaysian chicken is a mild but seductive coconut curry dish. Peking duck requires 24 hours notice, but it is a stellar effort and when the duck is wrapped in the thin pancakes, slathered with a spoonful of hoisin duck sauce and a few shreds of green onion, the resulting Chinese burrito certainly makes the palate sing.
A good way to savor shrimp is in the chef’s double-flavored dish. Half of the shrimp are wokked in a mildly aromatic sauce and piled on one end of the platter, while the rest of the shrimp are given the zing of some Szechuan flavoring.
If you think you don’t like tofu, I’m guessing your mind will be changed when you taste the Salt and Pepper Golden Tofu.
There are several dishes that benefit from the Chinese version of stir-fried salt and pepper, a condiment in which salt, pepper and crushed Chinese ho jao peppercorns are heated together resulting in a delightful salt sensation to sprinkle on several dishes.
For this particular dish, the squares of tofu are of gentle flavor, crisped on the outside and tender as a cr & #269;me br & #369;l & #233;e inside. They are rather addictive with the addition of the stir-fried salt mix.
Well-known dishes like beef with broccoli, kung pao beef or chicken, moo shu with your choice of meats or shrimp, sweet and sour and orange-flavored meat, shellfish and poultry dishes abound as well. It’s a treat to eat these things alongside the house specials.
At lunch, along with the a la carte menu, dim sum also is served. These are the small plates of food featuring lots of dumpling and steamed items. Choose the shrimp in rice flower wrapper, sieu mai pork dumplings, har gow shrimp in a noodle wrap, steamed tiny spare ribs and whatever else of that genre that looks fanciful and delicious. You must order the tiny egg custard tartlets for dessert.
One impressive thing: The chef and all the cooks come from Los Angeles, where they still live, and where they all worked in acclaimed Chinese restaurants before owner Irene Mach wooed them to her kitchen.
AT A GLANCE – Crystal Jade Asian Fine Dining
Address: 6511 Quail Hill Parkway,
Irvine (in Quail Hill Village Center)
Phone: (949) 725-3368
Prices: Appetizers $2.75 to $7.50;
noodles and rice dishes $7.50 to $11.50; dim sum specialties $2.20 to $6.50; lunch entrees $7.75 to $8.75; dinner entrees $7.25 to $14.95; chef’s signature dishes $12.95 to $28.95; vegetable side dishes $8.50
