China House

My friends and I are always coming up with absurd questions to pass the time, like, “Where would you go if you woke up this morning and realized you could fly?” Another popular question: “If you could only keep one of your five senses, which would it be?”


I always assumed the choice would be the gift of sight. But that was called into question moments after I sat down to a steaming, colorful bowl of the China House chef-special, hot-and-spicy fish fillet soup. Suddenly taste felt like the choice.


When I walked into the Szechuan-styled establishment, which is tucked into the American Tin Cannery Mall near the Rec Trail in Pacific Grove, I was greeted by a man named Logan Wong with a thick Shanghai accent who sounded suspiciously happy to be getting a customer. 


I usually have two questions when I walk into a restaurant. The first query is designed to locate the best seat in the house. As soon as I walked into the front door, I realized that I didn’t need directions. I was immediately drawn toward an entire wall of glass panes that face the bay. The view is adorned with athletic (and, occasionally, very attractive) joggers moving past the oceanic backdrop. Still, the odd sensation of being the only customer is unnerving. 


I looked over the menu: crab meat and cheese puffs ($7.95), mu shu pork ($8.95), chicken with black bean sauce ($9.95), almond chicken ($9.95), kung pao calamari ($13.95) and cashew prawns ($11.95). Then my second question – “What is your most popular dish?” – sparked more than a typical waiter/customer relationship. 


“Depends… ” Logan said with a low laugh, “if you are American or Chinese.”


“Would it be too much trouble to pretend I am Chinese?” 


“I’ll tell chef to take it easy on you,” he said with another, more evil, laugh. 


Five seconds later, a 4-foot-something elderly woman appeared from the kitchen with a bowl of steamed white rice. There seemed to be a little confusion about the rice. I wasn’t sure that rice was included in my soup ($15.95), but grandmother assured me in her own way that I was getting the rice whether I wanted it or not. A few minutes later, Katie, chef-waitress and wife of Logan, brought a large, steaming bowl of primary colors that smelled nothing like fish. It had the telltale aroma of something painfully delicious. 


The bowl, about half the size of a bowling ball, was filled with shades of red, orange and green: whole pieces of cilantro, celery, sliced garlic and bite-sized pieces of boiled lettuce topped with large chunks of fried flounder decorated with red-pepper flakes. I took my first bite of a piece of the fish in the bowl as Logan came over to the table with a smile. When he asked if I liked it, I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer. My eyes started to tear and I was able to eke out a one-word rasp. “Spicy.”


“Start again,” he said. “Try to get a little of the lettuce on your fork with the fish and the rice.”


After a few cups of jasmine tea, I did as he suggested and the sensation of the spice went away, replaced with something I had never experienced before. My mouth seemed to be buzzing. With the mixture of the rice, lettuce and fish on my fork, many flavors started to distinguish themselves. Although the soup’s star ingredient was a white fish called long li in Chinese, it didn’t have a fishy taste. The burn was a low one. For the first time in quite a while, I was not just simply eating something new. I was falling in love with my food. The celery and lettuce acted as a barrier to the spice, while the rice gave my taste buds enough of a breather to savor the flounder pieces and individual spices.


During the meal, I was so intensely focused on the bowl I forgot about the fact that I was the only customer in a 70-seater. China House has been in the Cannery for a little over a year; the owner moved the original restaurant as a favor to the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce to make room for the new visitor center on Central Avenue. The delicious dish bodes well for other plates like the prawns with lobster sauce ($11.95), garlic scallops ($13.95) and shrimp with honey walnuts ($14.95).


My second visit affirmed the three things that I love about this restaurant: the view, the service and the prices. The prompt service makes it possible to have a fulfilling (and filling) lunch without stressing over how long it takes; nearly the second I walked in I was seated and a waiter was waiting for me to make an order off the lunch special menu. 


I ordered orange chicken thinking it would be quick and familiar, and I was right. Within two minutes, a bowl of hot-and-sour soup arrived, then a salad topped with a delicious soy-mustard dressing. As soon as I finished the soup and salad, the chicken was coming out of the kitchen with a pad of white rice. 


The chicken with the typical sticky-honeyed sauce was slightly better than average… but nothing special. What is special about this place, though: I can get there and back in an hour-long lunch break, and a lunch special fills me up for $6.95. And the fish soup is hot stuff. 


CHINA HOUSE 125 Oceanview Blvd., Pacific Grove •10:30am – 9:30pm daily. • 646-9400, www.chinahousepacificgrove.com