Prescott, Ontario — A few months ago, a reader asked if I knew of any traditional Chinese sit-down restaurants in the area.
I have to admit, I was at a loss. I was brought up on Long Island where Chinese “fine dining” restaurants were the norm. There’s something to be said for hot, fresh, cooked-to-order Chinese cuisine.
Numerous Asian buffets and takeout restaurants have infiltrated the north country in recent years. They’re fine for those who want to see how much food they can cram into their bodies for $8.95.
Sorry, not me.
We made a discovery on a recent trip to Canada. Just across the Ogdensburg-Prescott Bridge in the little river town of Prescott, there’s an unassuming little Chinese restaurant on the main drag.
Wok House is much larger inside than it appears from the outside. Two dining rooms. Clean and bright. Good smells. Minimal clutter.
Luckily, our friends called ahead for reservations. It was a Friday night and there was hardly an empty table in the place. But our table was waiting: crisp white linen tablecloth, paper napkins folded to stand up at each place setting, clean plasticized menus in the center of the table.
Our friends had been here before and usually get the “family full course dinner for four.” It appeared to be a good value at $46.95: wonton soup, egg rolls, spare ribs, chow mein, sweet and sour chicken balls, beef with broccoli, fried rice and fortune cookies.
But I spied some interesting “Special Entrée Selections” on the menu and suggested to our friends that we go à la carte.
It took forever for a waitress to take our order, and we quickly realized why — she was the only waitress working the entire dining room. We assumed someone called in sick at the last minute, and our frazzled waitress got to deal with the busy Friday night crowd by herself.
We started with the “Original Ho How Platter” for four ($14.95), a sampling of appetizers that included miniature pork-filled egg rolls, tempura-battered shrimp, fried wontons, sliced barbecued pork and shrimp chips (think pork rinds, only with shrimp).
The ho how platter was pretty ho-hum, we decided. It reminded us of the stuff you get in those dratted Asian buffets. The little egg rolls were good. The other stuff was just fluff. The only dipping sauce supplied with the platter was sweet and sour, but there was a large container of duck sauce (a sweet sauce made from plums or apricots) on the table that provided another option.
It was a disappointing start to what would become an exciting evening of “fine dining” Chinese cuisine.
A bowl of wonton soup ($3.25) got us moving in the right direction. A rich chicken stock with hints of ginger and soy sauce was loaded with soft pork-filled wontons, scallions, Chinese vegetables, water chestnuts, sliced pork and sliced mushrooms.
Hot and sour soup ($3.25) is a different adventure wherever you go. Theirs was definitely temperature hot and spicy hot, a thickened beef broth with chunks of tofu and pieces of wood ear mushrooms. There was something sweet in there, too. A splash of sake, perhaps?
A nice gentleman appeared from the kitchen with a large pitcher of ice water and filled our glasses. Just in time, as beads of sweat began to break out on my forehead.
There was a long pause until our main courses arrived, but we certainly understood that the restaurant was understaffed that evening. And they were definitely worth the wait.
We expected honey garlic spare ribs ($9.50) to show up with the ho how platter, but it didn’t really matter. These were easily passed around the table, the meat falling off the bones, covered with a sweet and sticky sauce.
Mushroom chicken soo guy ($9.25), lightly battered and gently deep-fried pieces of chicken breast — good-sized, thinly-sliced pieces — was served with a dark sauce and topped with perfectly sautéed fresh mushrooms.
We didn’t know what to expect when we ordered orange beef ($12.95). The menu description sold it: “A delicate and unexcelled dish, pieces of beef expertly cooked and blended with our chefs’ special herbal tangerine sauce.”
We expected strips of beef and lots of vegetables to fill out the plate. It was the other way around — lots of beef in a dark citrus sauce decorated with some bright green perfectly-steamed broccoli. Big hunks of beef — pieces of steak, actually — seemingly marinated first, and, yes, expertly cooked. A little hard to cut, but juicy and flavorful.
I’m not a fan of sweet and sour sauce. It’s made with sugar, vinegar and often ketchup, and reminds me of overly sweet jelly. But most people love it, so we got sweet and sour chicken balls ($8.50).
These were very big and made from scratch, 99 percent white meat with a light breading. Even the sauce was enjoyable. Seems like on those Asian buffets it’s 99 percent breading surrounding a speck of chicken.
The biggest surprise and most enjoyable dish was “seafood supreme in a birds’ nest” ($16.50) — tasty, perfectly cooked shrimp and scallops over wonderfully crisp Chinese vegetables: celerylike bok choy, straw mushrooms and baby corn. Carrots and broccoli, too. The tender seafood was tossed in a very light brown oyster sauce.
The seafood and vegetables were presented in a “bowl” fashioned from fried wonton noodles (those fried noodles that resemble fettuccini, sometimes placed on the table at the beginning of a meal). All the good flavors soaked into the “bowl,” so we ripped that apart at the end and made it disappear.
We assumed the meal would have come with plain old steamed rice, but instead we ordered chicken fried rice ($6.50), cooked rice that’s stir-fried with scallions and soy sauce and laced with bits of chicken.
The table was barely cleared and the bill was presented with a pile of fortune cookies on top. If there were desserts or coffee available, we weren’t offered any. We did start the evening with a nice pot of Chinese tea.
The service was unusually slow and unfriendly the night we were there, but in defense of the restaurant, our friends tell is it is usually not like that.
The food (except for the appetizer platter) certainly made up for it. Dinner for four came to $101. We figured the exchange rate on our currency is just about even right now.
Takeout is available, and they were doing a brisk business the night we were there. Our friends live in Ogdensburg, and they have gone across the bridge to bring Wok House food back on occasion.
And don’t forget your picture I.D. They’re checking on both sides of the border now. Passports sure make things a lot easier.
You can contact Walter E. Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.
Wok House Restaurant
238 King St. West
Prescott, Ontario
1 (613) 925-2532
A traditional Chinese sit-down restaurant. Not a buffet table in sight.
HOURS: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday
10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Skip the ho-hum “Ho How” appetizer platter and zoom right to the “Special Entrée Selections” and enjoy mushroom chicken soo guy, orange beef and the spectacular seafood supreme in a birds’ nest.
RATING: 3 forks
