Slay the Golden Dragon

Ma po tofu at Jung's Golden Dragon II.
Photo by renee b. photography.

Before banh mi started turning up on menus like mushrooms after an autumn rain, before the David Chang fueled ramen and steamed bun craze, and before food nerds were drooling over the Pok Pok phenomenon, an ambitious meal of Asian cuisine usually featured exotic dishes like egg rolls dipped in duck sauce, crab rangoon,  and Mongolian beef. But somewhere along the way, someone decided that Chinese food was too tired, too bastardized for the American palate, and so an entire nation's culinary cannon faded into obscurity like music videos on MTV.

But what most of us ignorant lambs failed to realize is that Chinese food is every bit as exciting as the new bowl of soup that you recently discovered at your favorite pho shop. In this month's issue of OffBeat Magazine, we review Jung's Golden Dragon II, a Chinese restaurant where one can either indulge in familiar fare like shrimp toast and mandarin chicken or explore the unknown in a bubbling hot pot of pig intestine. Both yield splendid results.

Jung’s Golden Dragon II - Birdie
3009 Magazine Street
(504) 891-8280
Open Daily 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.

Winesday

Rene: Bright, fresh wine which tastes like biting into a melon with a little bit of citrus as well. This wine could go with a lot of dishes, but ceviche from a place like Rio Mar, a Soft Shell Crab Po Boy from The Galley, or the Shredded Pork Szechuan Style from Jung's Golden Dragon would all be contenders. 

 

Peter: Not my favorite wine, but I'm sure it has its place. Pretty dry. Not much fizz or effervescence on the tongue. Thinking a dish with lots of spice to compliment. Panang Curry with duck from Sukho Thai or maybe deep fat fried hogshead cheese from Cochon.

Joe the Wine Guy: 2009 San Telmo Torrontes from the Mendoza appellation in Argentina. This wine begins with delightful floral and orange peel notes which gives way to crisp orange, grapefruit and tropical fruit flavors and just a touch of jasmine. Pair this wine with lighter fare like smoked trout appetizers, seafood salads, and grilled white fish or chicken breasts. You can find this wine at Byblos, Tomasitos, and Dorignac's, where it retails for $10.

Short Order Reviews

Peter - Pho Tau Bay.  It had been quite a long time since I had dined at what was my first exposure to Vietnamese cuisine, but on this return visit the food did not live up to my memories. Because it was a cold and rainy Friday after Thanksgiving, I ordered a bowl of bo kho, the hearty stew of beef and carrots.  The gravy was thin and not nearly as flavorful as Tan Dinh's, and the temperature was luke warm.  On the bright side though, the beef was very tender and the carrots cooked to perfection.  Banh mi was skimpy on the chargrilled pork, but the flavor was spot on. In fact, I would say that portion sizes in general have been reduced, but at these prices it's tough to complain.  Pho Tau Bay - Par, sometimes the food is never as good as you remembered.  113 Westbank Expressway.

Rene - Brooklyn Pizza. Crust was structurally perfect; thin, crispy but not waifish. However, there was too much uncooked flour on the bottom of crust, which created a choking sensation as I did the "whooo whoooo this pizza is hot, must breath in rapid gasps of air" dance. (That dance is a hallmark of any good pizza.) Next the sauce - good, zippy and played the role of a background singer. Toppings - Lindsay went with a small vegetarian thing and I chose pepperoni and olives. Both seemed bland, but the cheese had that toothy, yet stringy quality. Best part of the meal was the Italian salad with mozzarella, a nice light vinaigrette, salami and black olives. Brooklyn Pizza - Par, but want another crack at it. 4301 Veterans Blvd.

Peter - Babylon Cafe.  First, you have to give major props to Babylon for baking their own bread.  Thick with a buttery crust, it feels strange at first to be eating hummus with the house bread instead of pita, but you quickly grow accustom to it.  All of the dips - hummus, baba ganoush, and lebna - are pureed smooth, almost whipped. The $10.99 combination salad is mountanious with crisp slices of gyro meat and chicken shawarma that tends to be dry when it is cut too thin, but nice and juicy when it's thicker.  A sleeper on the menu is the shrimp sauteed in a spicy tomato-based sauce with squash, zucchini, and peppers.  Everything is cheap, cheap, cheap, even with the fancy new laminated menus. Babylon Cafe - Birdie.  7724 Maple Street.

Rene - Jung's Golden Dragon. Chinese food has admittedly taken a backseat to other Asian cuisines in our culinary adventures. What more is there to say about General Tso's and fried rice. You know what it tastes like. Granted, this is not "real" Chinese food, but there is also no such thing as Italian food either. Enter Jung's Golden Dragon, which recently opened on Magazine St. in the same block as La Divina and Sucre. (Insert Great Wall of China joke here.) The draw to Jung's - previously it was located in Metairie - was always the "Yellow Menu" which features more authentic Chinese dishes than you may be used to finding. We started with the waiter's recommendation of Glass Shrimp Dumplings. What came forth was a beautiful and intricate bundle of shrimp encased in a cellophane clear wrapper. A fiery chili oil and ginger flavored soy sauce were all the accompaniments these little bundles of joy needed. 

Next, came an order of pan fried pork dumplings, which are easily the best dumplings in the city. Crunchy but bursting forth with the unctuousness of pork. After I devoured three of them, Lindsay balanced one more on the end of her chopsticks before saying, "I can see you like those, you can have the rest."

That is love.

For Lindsay, eggplant Szechuan style, which came as a big pile of stir fried, crisp on the outside, molten on inside strips of eggplant. The eggplant was coated in a fiery brown sauce. Nothing gloppy or sweet here, just pure flavors and exquisite technique. I kept things in the same line of thinking but went with shredded pork in lieu of a vegetable. Both our dishes came extra spicy as required and that provided all the fortification against what was a cold day. We got take out a few days later, which was equally as good. Can you tell I really like this place? Jung's - Birdie, another few visits, could be Eagle for Chinese Restaurant in New Orleans.