Review: Yi Ge goes beyond standard Chinese cuisine. You’ll find something special.
The location, in a Walmart-anchored shopping center, is not encouraging. And the sign out front, with its vague promise of “Asian cuisine,“ evokes memories of restaurants that serve everything from Thai curry to General Tso’s chicken, none of it particularly good. But you’re hungry, and you’re curious. You decide to check it out.
At first blush, Yi Ge looks like your standard strip mall Chinese restaurant: aquarium just inside the entrance, red paper lanterns overhead, bamboo plants in little pots, porcelain dolls and jade carvings on an etagere behind the host stand.
Then you spot the first signs that you’ve stumbled across something special: three dry-erase boards scattered around the room, each listing a different selection of dishes under the heading of Chef Special. You count 15 specials in all, including salt and pepper frog legs, stir-fried water spinach, Hong Kong lobster and roast duck curry bowl. At the back of the room, behind a glass partition, a mahogany-skinned duck hangs next to what looks like a slab of roasted pork belly.
The menu gives further hope that your initial fears about the status quo may be unfounded. True, sections of the menu are devoted to pad thai, teriyaki and Japanese udon noodle dishes, but the bulk of the extensive offering consists of Chinese fare. The specialty appears to be Cantonese, though other regions are also represented, as well as all the familiar Chinese-American favorites.
You’re drawn to an impressive selection of 16 casseroles ranging from eggplant in X.O. sauce to curry lobster. You order the beef brisket casserole, which is marked on the menu as a signature dish. Your server politely tries to talk you out of it, explaining that most Americans don’t like it. You take that as a good sign. Just as politely, you insist.
Your stubbornness is rewarded with meltingly tender, deeply beefy brisket, mushrooms, vegetables, noodle-like tofu skin, and — here’s the part “most Americans don’t like it” — tendon and tripe. You briefly wonder if that’s still true, given the recent popularity of pho shops. Either way, you decide that Yi Ge is definitely worth the half-hour drive to Clayton.
On subsequent visits, you sample your way around the menu, never once encountering a dud. Even a couple of of outlier appetizers prove surprisingly rewarding. Crispy honey shrimp, for one, which you don’t recall seeing anywhere else except P.F. Chang’s. And chicken lettuce wraps, which have roots in Southeast Asia, but were also popularized by that same national chain.
In a more traditional vein, you discover something called “steamed Shanghai tiny bun” under the appetizer heading. What you get — pinch-topped purses of dumpling with a soupy minced pork and vegetable filling, served with a red vinegar dipping sauce — remind you very much of xiaolongbao, aka Chinese soup dumplings. Your friendly server, who you’re pretty sure remembers you from your first visit, insists that they’re not the same. You wonder if it’s a misunderstanding of terms due to the minor language barrier.
Scallops with black bean sauce are a textbook rendition of a Cantonese classic. Salt and pepper shrimp are also exemplary, as are stir-fried Chinese vegetables — yu choy one night, water spinach with garlic on the next visit.
House special Cantonese fried noodles are presented in two parts: a soupy medley of lean beef, chicken, shrimp and bright vegetables in a bowl, and the pan-fried noodles on a separate plate. Ladling the savory goodies over the noodles at the table instead of in the kitchen keeps the noodles from getting soggy, a thoughtful touch.
Under the headings of BBQ Selection and BBQ Meat on Rice, you find gratifying proof that those meats hanging behind glass at the back of the room are not just for show. The three-item sampler is a carnivore’s bonanza of roast duck, roast pork and crispy pork belly, served in ample portion for four to share.
The kitchen turns out a first-rate Peking duck, too. Succulent meat and shatter-crisp skin are served with the traditional fixings of cucumber, scallion, hoisin sauce and steamed buns.
You’ve barely scratched the surface of the extensive offering, and you’re already making a mental list of the things you want to try. Crispy pork, fish filet and tofu casserole, for sure. Kingdom pork chop, whatever that is. Also Hong Kong style stir-fried clams.
At the top of your list is a dish that appears to have earned permanent status on one of the Chef Special boards: salted fish with chicken fried rice. On your most recent visit, your server told you that it’s her favorite dish.
And by now, you’re pretty sure she won’t try to talk you out of also ordering the duck gizzards with X.O. sauce.
Yi Ge Asian Cuisine
12849 U.S. 70 Business West, Clayton
919-550-5115
Cuisine: Chinese, Asian
Rating: 4 stars
Prices: $
Atmosphere: casual, traditional Chinese
Noise level: low to moderate
Service: friendly and efficient
Recommended: everything, but especially BBQ Selection and Peking duck
Open: Lunch and dinner daily.
Reservations: accepted
Other: beer and wine; accommodates children; good vegetarian selection; parking in lot.
The N&O’s critic dines anonymously; the newspaper pays for all meals. We rank restaurants in five categories: 5 stars: Extraordinary. 4 stars: Excellent. 3 stars: Above average. 2 stars: Average. 1 star: Fair.
The dollar signs defined: $ Entrees average less than $10. $ Entrees $11 to $20. $$ Entrees $21 to $30. $$ Entrees more than $30.