Long Island Restaurants

Zong's Shanghai

Two other sources of authentic regional Chinese cuisine: The Orient 623 Hicksville Rd. Bethpage 516-822-1010 Restaurateur Tommy Tan enjoys guiding first-timers through the intricacies of authentic Cantonese cuisine. Weekend mornings, there's dim sum service, from roving carts. Other times, you can enjoy such dishes as salt and pepper shrimp and garlic fried chicken. Shang Hai Pavilion 46 Main St. Port Washington 516-883-3368 The fare of Shanghai rules at this North Shore spot where you can find juicy dumplings, braised lion's head and Wu Xi spareribs.

Juicy dumplings (also known as soup dumplings) are a phenomenon of Shanghai. This specialty is much sought after but only available on menus in a couple of restaurants on Long Island.

Picture a filling of ground pork or pork and crab that's surrounded by a heady liquid, everything bundled in dough and steamed. Place one in a ceramic spoon, bite off a tip, sip out the soup and then devour the rest.

At the new Zong's Shanghai in Bethpage, the juicy dumplings are especially delicate and savory. The chef responsible, Zong Xing Tu, comes from the kitchens of Joe's Shanghai in Manhattan and Flushing, dear to the heart of New York City dumpling lovers.

Zong excels at more than just one Shanghai specialty. His braised lion's head casserole -- huge, impossibly soft meat balls nestled against bright green baby bok choy -- is a genuine indulgence. Fine, too, are his verdant steamed vegetarian sugar pea shoot dumplings and Shanghai pork shu mai, fat little packages of ground pork.

One afternoon, when I needed something bracing, Shanghai seafood hot and sour soup -- thick, white and filled with shellfish -- offered a sinus-clearing jolt. Chicken corn chowder, afloat with egg white clouds, was hearty and flavorsome, while "country flavored" soup turned out to be a tomato-cabbage brew evocative of Eastern Europe.

A dish that made my eyes widen was steamed beef, Shanghai style, every bite a fiery revelation. And I still get cravings for the ultra-tender Wu Xi spareribs with spinach.

But I encountered some difficulties, here, too. On two visits, there were major discrepancies between what we ordered and what we got. One evening, our party of seven had to contend with alternately surly and unresponsive waiters; food took forever to arrive. When a dish we didn't ask for -- chicken with string beans -- was unceremoniously plopped on our table, we fell upon it happily. The experience was different on my third visit. Then, seated near the bar in view of the manager, we were taken care of in a timely, hospitable fashion.

In addition to service deficits, there were a few culinary flubs. A dish called "Emerald Glazed Chicken (green tea-scented chicken)" turned out to be pallid and somewhat gloppy. And Buddha's delight -- a melange of vegetables -- was more like Buddha's ennui.

I was curious about a regional specialty, beggar's chicken, which must be ordered a day in advance. I did just that. What I got was a whole chicken stuffed with mushrooms, wrapped in lotus leaves and sealed with a flour paste (a stand-in for the traditional mud) before being baked. The hard cover was then ceremoniously cracked open with a mallet. I found the end result surprisingly lackluster.

Still, I found more successes than shortfalls. A winning casserole dish, twin prawns with Tsing Tsao beer, featured enormous fresh, fragrant prawns in their shells. Other highlights included Shanghai fried flat noodles, crisp-crusted tender fried pork chop with salt and pepper, and a well-rendered Sichuan classic, orange-flavored beef. Jumbo shrimp with hot bean sauce was its incendiary equal.

A fitting finale was the Shanghai fried soup, gelatinous little cubes coated in powdered sesame. You must place one in your mouth carefully, for as it dissolves, it spurts a liquid both slightly sweet and very hot -- pleasure with a bit of pain.

Reviewed by Joan Reminick, 11/14/07.

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