Grandview Restaurant, aka Di Yi Jiudian

[Poot]

Grandview Restaurant
1107 Howard Avenue at California
Burlingame, California
Open seven days
closed 2:30 p.m. to 5 or so
Special weekend dishes

650.348.3888

Grandview is a Chinese restaurant with specialties from both Hubei Province (in north China) and Sichuan Province (in central China). The lunch and dinner menus are similar, with lots of doughy things (cong1 you2 bing3 [scallion pancake], guo1 tie1 [pot stickers], shao1 mai4 [steamed dumplings], xiao3 long2 tang1 bao1 [steamed dumplings], chao3 nian2 gao1 [stirfried sticky rice cake]), noodle dishes (dan4 dan4 mian4, Sichuan jiao1 ma2 mian4 [literally, Sichuan pepper numbing noodles], Wuhan re4 gan1 mian4 [literally, Wuhan hot dry noodles], dao1 xiao1 mian4 [blade cut noodles], zha2 jiang4 mian4), claypot soups, seafood dishes and much more.

The Hubei section of the dinner menu includes mian4 yang2 su4 san1 zheng1, translated as Mianyang seasoned rice powder with vegetables, Hubei fen3 zheng1 yu2 kuai4, translated as Hubei seasoned rice powder with filet of cod, Hubei fen3 zheng1 pai2 gu3, translated as Hubei seasoned rice powder with spareribs, Hubei fen3 zheng1 rou4, translated as Hubei seasoned rice powder with pork side, Hubei no4 mi3 niu2 rou4, translated as Hubei seasoned rice powder with beef, zhen1 zhu1 yuan2 zi3, translated as Hubei pearl pork meatball and la4 wei4 san1 zheng1, translated as trio smoked and cured duck, pork and fish. These are numbers 151-157 of the takeout dinner menu. I've had fen zheng dishes in Taiwan and Beijing and am fond of these steamed, slightly starchy foods.

But I've only had a small number of dishes at Grandview. For lunch today:

A2 cong1 you2 bing3 (Scallion pancake) $3.50
The two crisp pancakes had excellent flavor but lacked the pully texture that I love in a well-rolled cong you bing.

C9 ma2 la4 can2 dou4 (Spicy Sichuan fava beans) $3.95
Dressed in a spicy, chile laced sauce, these steamed favas were delicious.

su4 chao3 dao1 xiao1 mian4 (Vegetable strifried blade-sliced noodles) not on menu and I did not notice the price.
Good, very thick noodles, with spinach and something else. Simple and hearty.

Special plate lunches nos. 3 & 5: gan1 bian4 si4 ji4 dou4 (dry-fried green beans) and ma2 po2 dou4 fu3 (Mapo tofu), $5.75 each. The beans were, like almost all American versions, far too crisp--the cook should really fry them long enough to brown them and render them limp; the tofu was mediocre, the sauce lacking in punch and viscosity.

I'm told that the Sichuan crispy prawns (special plate lunch #25, $6.95) and the Hubei sesame noodles (N2) are very good.

More research needs to be done.

The menus are loaded with dishes that sound great: Hubei mian4 wo1 (W6), niu2 rou4 xian4 bing3 (W11), Wuhan zhen1 zhu1 wan4 zi3 (W12), and, most intriguing, item C22: "The Drunken Tub."

[Han Lukito]

Looks like chowdown candidate, no ? Good enough ?

Lots of dishes, some are familiar like the potsticker, xlb, etc but some are new.

Nice post that will be filed for sure ! Thanks.

[Ruth Lafler]

Yimster and someone else (CharlieT?) were talking about having a chowdown there almost two years ago, but it never happened.

It would be nice if someone who knows something about the cuisine could take the lead in reviving the chowdown plans.

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

[yimster]

I am hoping someone who know something about this type of Chinese food can take the lead. Two years ago I hope that would be CharlieT. I do not know enough to take the lead. The food was very good but this is not a low end meal. So I hope someone who know how to order will step up.

[Melanie Wong]

Poot, thanks for the update on Grandview. Just the other day, someone had said to me that no one was using posting pinyin anymore. Glad to have some new terms - nearly all the Mandarin I've learned has been from this site, and coincidentally, it's all chow!

I'm not sure I understand what the fen zheng style dishes are. I've had some steamed spareribs at Little Sichuan in San Mateo that were coated with spicy rice powder, giving them a sorta sticky and pearly looking exterior. Is that an example? Grandview used to have some Shanghai dishes, that I'd heard were not very good, so maybe they've dropped them.