Long Island Restaurants

Wei Fun

Wei Fun opened just before Labor Day, ready for postseason play.

The sharp, sleek showcase is chef Kevin Penner's subtle Chinese update. On Long Island, the great cuisine has been as cheapened as lousy pizza. Wei Fun arrives as if on a rescue mission.

Penner, who also runs the fine kitchen at The 1770 House Restaurant in East Hampton, is having a good time. And so's everyone patient enough to wait for a table.

The dining room hums along, attentively run by experienced staff, even as it's periodically besieged by demanding, often testy customers.

What you'll find is a spot contemporary and very stylish in Hamptonian fashion, from the oversize abacus wall sculpture to the eight antique gears that decorate the restaurant.

Bleached wood, white and cream hues, brushed steel and furniture suitable for an outdoor party define the new look. There are outbursts of changing color from the divider separating half-moon banquettes from the curving bar and the trio of bright TVs above it.

Penner sends out a mellow sweet corn soup with chicken and a refined version of hot-and-sour, with bean curd and shiitake mushrooms. The wonton soup improves on every other one you've had. Green papaya salad with long beans, spiked with chilies and lime, spurs your appetite more than the tame, vinegar-edged Sichuan cucumber number.

Dim sum, however, is less reliable. The rock shrimp "lollipops" look better than they taste. Vegetable and chicken-and-vegetable spring rolls have crunch, but they're dry. The steamed dumplings, whether chicken with ginger and garlic or pork and mushroom with garlic, are ultramild. The best choice: crisp, triangular scallop puffs.

Moist and tender barbecued spare ribs are deservedly popular. The spicy cold noodles with sesame dressing, however, keep the heat very low and the nutty flavor restrained.

Penner prepares excellent, lightly crisped diver scallops atop spinach with well-done XO sauce. And steamed barramundi, the firm white-fleshed fish, benefits from ginger and sesame sauce. Steamed dorado, flavorful and delicate, has tofu and hot sesame sauce for company.

Lobster Wei Fun translated into tender meat with black beans, ginger and garlic. The biggest kick comes from stir-fried beef jump-started with ginger and chilies. Chicken-and-shiitake lo mein prompts yawns in this company, as does the shrimp stir fry. Instead, try "ants climbing tree," with beef, scallions, ginger and chilies.

And enjoy the desserts: sweet coconut sticky rice with mango; caramel-and-coconut custard with litchis; tapioca pearls with banana, passion fruit, hazelnuts and mint; black sesame ice cream; tart sorbets.

There are no fortune cookies. But you know they'd be fresh and optimistic.

Reviewed by Peter M. Gianotti, 9/17/06.

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Major Credit Cards Accepted

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Wheelchair Access