663717 Sat Oct 31 10:28:00 -0700 2009 27 14 Washington DC & Baltimore Area 0 5145152 I just tried Hunan Taste, a new (opened last week) restaurant in Catonsville in the same strip center as H Mart. Large traditional Hunan menu and, except for us, all Chinese clientele the night we were there. There is a two-page sheet of Americanized Chinese food — sweet and sour, General Tso's, etc. — but all of the rest is the real deal, including ox. I was with unadventurous eaters (my wife and two of our children) so I was the only one who ordered off of the traditional menu, but my dish was as authentic as Grace Gardens (albeit Hunan rather than Cantonese). More of a restaurant and less homey and friendly than Grace Garden, but it is in a much less sketchy neighborhood. I'll go back next week with friends who'll order off the traditional menu, and we'll see. Right now I'm pretty excited. Hope to hear some other opinions soon. Sat Oct 31 10:28:00 -0700 2009 202774 DSattler 1 5145488 What did you have? Sat Oct 31 13:50:08 -0700 2009 5145152 12234 hon 2 5149526 It was a stir fried vegetable dish (can't recall the name) with several vegetables and whole cloves of garlic. Surprisingly it had a few bits of chicken in it, which were not listed in the brief menu description. Mon Nov 02 11:34:08 -0800 2009 5145488 202774 DSattler 3 5149583 What have you had at Grace Garden? Mon Nov 02 11:48:56 -0800 2009 5149526 12234 hon 4 5179650 At Grace Garden I've had tofu stuffed with shrimp, which was superb, and a couple of others that were also great, but I can't recall what they were. Jellyfish, maybe? Fri Nov 13 13:33:01 -0800 2009 5149583 202774 DSattler 1 5150167 I was at H-Mart this afternoon, and went in to HT to glance at the menu. Unfortunately, they don't have a carry out menu, but they definitely had stuff that I can't recall seeing other places. I can't remember most of them, but what sticks in my mind is a dish with goose intestines. The menu beyond the goose dishes seemed well worth a try. It's definitely on my list. Mon Nov 02 14:13:39 -0800 2009 5145152 54408 baltoellen 1 5150403 Have you ever had anything from the "secret menu" at Hunan Legend? If so, how does Hunan Taste compare? I figure that a comparison of two nominally Hunan places might be easier to calibrate than Hunan Taste's presumably Hunan style against Grace Garden's "Szechaun by way of Hong Kong" strong suit. I've never felt unsafe at Grace Garden, so I'm not sure what the "sketchy neighborhood" comment is about. Both Grace Garden and Hunan Taste are in strip malls with their own parking, so I see that aspect as a wash if you are comparing GG to HT. I doubt anybody's going to get mugged in the fifty feet from car to door at either place. Mon Nov 02 15:46:42 -0800 2009 5145152 11647 Warthog 2 5151695 I tried posting this last night after my dinner at Hunan Taste, but the new interface appears to have eaten it. This version will be a bit briefer - I don't feel like retyping it all. DECOR: Upscale, contemporary "shades of gray and black" with contemporary repro Chinese style chairs and accent pieces, all in dark wood. They seem to be shooting for an atmosphere where one would not feel out of place in a suit. Definitely NOT the "Mom and Pop storefront" look. Compliments to the decorator, as the effect is sleek and stylish without being sterile. MENU: Unapologetically Chinese Chinese, with nary a nod to Chinese American or those who want a hamburger instead. Unusual items included the goose intestine dishes mentioned by a prior poster; preserved pork, chicken and duck; dried snails; sliced <something> lung, served cold; pork, duck and hen blood; pork tripe; etc. Plenty of stuff to weird out one's unadventurous or squeamish friends, but the rest of the menu seems very broad, interesting, and "authentic". There were lots of "for sharing size" soups. One odd quirk - while many of the seafood dishes were "market price", which one expects, so were almost all the vegetable dishes. Without a price to cue off of, it wasn't clear if the vegetable dishes were meant to be entree size, side dishes, or "for sharing". I saw a couple of "sharing" soups and whole fish go by to other tables, and it all looked and smelled wonderful. The menu is extensive, with the numbering scheme for the dishes going well over 100, but there seemed to be many dishes, if not whole pages, that appeared identical in everything (description, price, and even {I think} the Chinese character description) except for the item number. I'm not sure if there is some difference that's not apparent, or if this was a mix-up at the printer's shop. FOOD: I had hot and sour soup, and twice cooked spicy pork with garlic tips. The Hot and sour was quite nice, with the unusual aspect being that I've usually seen hot and sour as featuring vinegar and black pepper as the source of the title flavors. In this one, it was vinegar and two types of sliced chili. Different, but good. The pork was pork belly, rather than the re-stir-fried red cooked pork one often sees. They don't back off on the heat - I was doing my Niagara Falls with runny nose bit, to the extent that one of the two guys in charge inquired whether I was OK. Ample portions, too. GENERAL: They seem to be geared toward authentic Chinese, and toward the Chinese style of sharing many dishes, rather than each person getting their own, all of which is very promising. There was a sign on the door saying "test opening", and many items on the menu were temporarily covered, so things might get tweaked and fine tuned as they figure out what works and what doesn't. Price point - $15.46 total before tip for soup, entree, rice, tea - no appetizers or dessert, no fortune cookies. I didn't expect any fortune cookies, given the "We're going to be authentic and serious!" (in a good way) vibe. Definitely worth repeat visits. Tue Nov 03 07:23:40 -0800 2009 5150403 11647 Warthog 3 5153099 Explanatory note to the "Niagara Falls and runny nose" reference in my prior post above. Some spicy food sets off torrents of sweat on my forehead, and drain my sinuses. Toward the end of the meal, the sweat and my reddening face can get to the point that it's been mistaken as a sign of dire physical distress by those who don't know me. After my original review didn't take, I didn't want to retype it all, so I cut and pasted from an email to a friend (who would understand the reference), and I neglected to edit it for posting here. Sorry for the confusion. Tue Nov 03 14:16:30 -0800 2009 5151695 11647 Warthog 4 5153284 I used to hit a great wings place during college before DJ'ing a college radio show. I'd get the BYFO sauce on the wings and on the side (BYFO = Burn Your Face Off). I'd dip the fries in the sauce (something I still do) and by mid-meal I'd be sweating in a similar way. One time another patron came in while I was eating at the bar. He was there to pickup. He looked at me and said "Looks like you're running a marathon over there". I could only nod. Tue Nov 03 15:12:14 -0800 2009 5153099 11368 Dennis S 3 5156874 How did the food compare with the food on the "secret menu" at Hunan Legend? Wed Nov 04 18:37:57 -0800 2009 5151695 54408 baltoellen 4 5158617 I would say that the quality level, "Value for the buck" and skill of preparation is equivalent to Grace Garden and the Hunan Legend "secret" menu, considering each in the context of their respective stylistic strengths. Hunan Taste's menu is more extensive than either GG or HL, even with the duplications and taped over items on the current menu, and it includes ingredients and/or dishes that I've not seen elsewhere. Other than the "Chinese American" insert, though, Hunan Taste may be more problematic when dining with friends or relatives who do not wish to go beyond the familiar. I would not go so far as to say that one should stop going to either Grace Garden or Hunan Legend (other than perhaps to save drive time if one lives near Baltimore), but I think that Hunan Taste is in the same tier. From a geographic standpoint, this is a VERY nice addition to the Baltimore Chinese food wasteland. I think Asian Court on Route 40 and the one just outside the beltway on York Road (Szechuan House?) have much more reason to be nervous than either Grace Garden or Hunan Legend, from a proximity standpoint, because of their relative quality, and based on the degree of appeal to those looking for "real" Chinese food. I think that it's still to early to make firm proclamation, but Hunan Taste has the potential to become the "go to" place for Baltimore fans of Chinese food. Thu Nov 05 11:41:11 -0800 2009 5156874 11647 Warthog 1 5157621 I stopped by on my way home from work the other night (after hitting Hmart) to look at the menu, they have a limited carryout menu now thats mainly Chinese American. I told them I wanted to look at the regular menu, grabbed one from the counter and they said, "thats the real chinese menu." I said, "thats what I am looking for." It looks like they have 2 different menus. The real menu looked interesting, they did have alot of stuff, mostly in the seafood section taped over. I would go back to check out the food, the menu was alot more extensive then the Hunan Legend menu. For some reason, the one thing I remember off the menu was "sauteed sponge gourd". Thu Nov 05 06:26:57 -0800 2009 5145152 12234 hon 2 5158549 I went back for a second visit, and it now appears that rather than the main menu being the "Chinese American" and the "secret menu" insert being the "Chinese for Chinese", this place has the "real" Chinese food on the main menu, but they now have a one-page laminated insert of "familiar" Chinese restaurant stand-bys. I also did verify that the many "market price" vegetable dishes are nominal entree or "sharing" size, not smaller side-dish portions. As with the rest of the menu, the vegetable section has some very interesting-sounding items, either due to the ingredients being unusual, or the preparation going beyond the typical. For example, there was one reference to Tea Tree Fungus In Casserole With Pork" or something like that. Is that dried tree ear fungus reconstituted by soaking in tea? Or a fungus that grows on the tea bush (tree)? In any case, it sounds interesting. Thu Nov 05 11:24:27 -0800 2009 5157621 11647 Warthog 1 5158345 So this is completely different from the Hunan Taste in Reisterstown? Im having a hard time finding anything online. Probably because its so new. Anybody have an address for it? Thu Nov 05 10:24:42 -0800 2009 5145152 238787 Insidious Rex 2 5158442 Hunan Taste 718 N. Rolling Road Catonsville, MD 21228 410-788-8988 Thu Nov 05 10:52:37 -0800 2009 5158345 12234 hon 1 5165137 we tried it friday night and officially declare this place a destination restaurant. First the place is nice inside. The waiters were young and enthusiastic. They do not have a liquor license so bring your own. There is a large liquor store across the street. The menu is very large and you will find little resemblance to anything you typically would see at at chinese restaurant. The Hunan Taste version of hot and sour soup was excellent, much thinner than normal with a great but different flavor and no egg in it.. The Hunan ribs were ribs cut very thin against the bone so that there is a ring of meat around a small circle of bone. in a spicey sauce. very good. We had the twice cooked pork with garlic and it was very tastey. The peking duck is roasted duck rendered of its fat. no pancakes or green onions. delicous. The house sauteed noodle had some shrimp, beef and chicken in it and very little resemblence to lo mein or pan fried noodles. again very tastey. Entire dinner for 5 was $57. plus tip plus the cost of 6 pak of beer. can't wait to go back. biggest problem is the daunting menu and what to try. Similar in quality to Grace Garden as well as the unusual factor but nicer decor and setting. Sun Nov 08 10:36:09 -0800 2009 5145152 124764 dining with doc 1 5173378 For pictures, see my blog entry: http://tizinu.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/hunan-taste-catonsville-md/ Baltimore City still lacks decent Chinese food. (Sorry, Zhong Shan, you still need a lot of work.) But it seems like Catonsville has a solution to this dirth of real, authentic, I can take my mom to this place and she won’t hate it, Chinese. It’s called Hunan Taste and it’s next to our favorite Sunday hangout place– the HMart in Catonsville. The restaurant is in a strip mall, but it’s possibly the best located strip mall location for an authentic Chinese food experience. With hundreds of hungry Chinese families going to the HMart on a daily basis, it is working by word of mouth through the Chinese community as a place to get real Hunan cuisine– “dry” cooked with fresh chili peppers and garlic being the essence of the dish. It’s also got a wide range of dishes for large parties: there are the American dishes of General Tso’s to the REALLY authentic dishes that my grandma makes because it’s hard to find, like the goose intestines, hot pot, or fermented soybeans with chilis. (Think stinky tofu, but not tofu.) And it’s definitely trying to get those large parties in, with a fabulous wooden carving in the entry, a secluded back room with karaoke, and a polished but definitely Chinese decor that blends Last Emperor with the Red Maple– posh, clean, but hinting of the Old World. Jonathan Gold would hate this place, but my mom and I loved sitting there, calmly eating our dishes and trying to not get too excited. Our food was great, fantastic, and dare I say it… damn good authentic Hunan cuisine. We ordered the following: Chicken Bumkin appetizer, which was chopped chicken with bone in, dry sauteed with black beans, hot chili peppers, garlic, and green onions. There was no sauce to this dish, just tons of flavor from the fragrant ingredients. I highly recommend this. Chicken Bumkin Chicken Bumkin Twice Cooked Pork Belly - with large leaks, red chili peppers, and red cooked pork, this was exceptional, although I lamented the pork belly wasn’t cooked long enough to make the fat melt like butter in your mouth. Still, dry sauteed, with so much flavor I can’t really complain. It was perfect in its own way. 2X Pork Twice Cooked Pork Sauteed Frog Hunan style – sauteed with button mushrooms, red chili peppers, green onions and garlic, this was probably one of my favorites. The frog was perfectly cooked, but more importantly, the mushrooms were too– firm, without any sogginess, and extremely well paired with the frog as the textures were so similar and yet the flavors so different that it make a silky party in your mouth. Frog... Ribbit Frog... Ribbit Braised Cabbage Soup – who knew there was a vegetable called “wahwah?” My mom and I didn’t… but apparently, it’s baby Chinese cabbage, and it’s was served in a white broth that had scallions, country ham (think Virginia salt ham), little medicinal tree seeds (I can’t remember the English word for it) and (wait for it…) A WHOLE THOUSAND YEAR OLD EGG!!!!!! Not cut up in tiny pieces, but served quartered, to give a slightly bitter, umami flavor to the delicate soup. I nearly shit a kitten eating this– it was so delicious, so perfect, and so unexpected. Braised Cabbage Soup Braised Cabbage Soup The service was polite and the management friendly, in particular the owners, a couple who franchised out the Jasmine bubble tea chains that are found in the malls in the area. They, like myself, were tired of running to Rockville, Flushing, LA to find food for themselves and decided to open this restaurant so that they could have a place to eat near their home. A restaurant catered to feed its own, to show off real Chinese food, and to provide it in a relaxing setting. I can’t help but want to scream “Run, Don’t Walk to This Restaurant!!!” because it’s going to be impossible to get a table there in a few weeks. You know, when Thanksgiving rolls around and it’s packed with the people not working at the mediocre Chinese restaurants in the area. Hunan Taste 718 N. Rolling Road Catonsville, MD 21228 410-788-8988 Dishes – $12-20, average Service: Polite and expedient. PS– they also have sinks outside the bathroom to wash your hands in before eating. Very asian. :) Wed Nov 11 12:34:48 -0800 2009 5145152 185971 tizinu 1 5174586 I am writing this in a food coma. Four of us went to Hunan Taste tonight, and were very impressed. The reviews here are totally on the mark regarding everything from decor to food. The menu is overwhelming, and it took us forever to decide on what to order. Anyway, before I forget, here's a brief rundown: I need to say up front that we had a goose intestines with radish dish. It was delicious, in a sort of not too hot spicy way, with a slight bitter kick from the dried radish. The texture was chewy (as you might expect) but also crunchy. Also had the hot & sour soup, and I don't think I can add anything else to the description here. It was fantastic, and unlike any of version I've ever had. We also had some "Chinese leek" and dried tofu dish. It, too, was on the spicy side. Very good. A surprise to all of us was something called Indian lettuce. We had one person in the group who understood written Chinese, and he thought it was was chrysanthemum stems, but it turned out to be some sort of stir fried lettuce. I thought it particularly interesting for lettuce, with a slight smoky flavor. Also, it was cooked perfectly, with just a bit of crunch. The one not great dish with lamb in a hot pot. It tasted overly gamey and just wasn't all that interesting. For the quality of the food (not the mention the decor and service) we were amazed that our check came to a little over $60 including tip. While this place is far, far, far from replacing Grace Garden for me, I look forward to many return visits to explore the menu in depth. Wed Nov 11 19:59:43 -0800 2009 5145152 54408 baltoellen 2 5174670 Thank you for placing yourself at risk for the team. Wed Nov 11 20:49:14 -0800 2009 5174586 72002 chowsearch 2 5175140 sounds great, will definately check it out! Thu Nov 12 06:16:06 -0800 2009 5174586 12234 hon 1 5181171 This round - Marinated Cucumber Appetizer, Indian Lettuce, and Tea Tree Mushroom with Pork in casserole Marinated cucumber - peeled and seeded chunks of cucumber it a very light and subtle marinade, served cold. Refreshing, very nicely done. In retrospect, though, I would have loved to have a dish of the little pickles flecked with dried red pepper and chili oil that Hunan Legend sometimes provides when one first sits down. This dish was good, but the spice and crunch of the H.L. pickles would have been a more perfect balance with the other dishes I had. Still, one can't penalize this dish for not being the other dish. Indian lettuce - some sort of green that didn't look like any lettuce I'm familiar with, light sauce (maybe chicken stock, garlic, and perhaps some sesame oil to give it that smoky hint?) Again, very nice dish, executed well. As somebody else has noted, it was cooked perfectly, hitting just right balance between wilting and residual crunchiness. Tea Tree Mushroom with Pork - If you love mushrooms, get this dish. I'm hesitant to rave about it as much as I'm about to after only one try - maybe it just really hit me out of all proportion. Maybe I was just jonesing for mushrooms, but didn't know it. Maybe I just got really, really lucky. That said, WOW! In this dish, one finds some unfamiliar form of mushrooms, a little bit of diced green onion, a little bit of sliced chili, small dice of pork belly (you don't really notice the pork flavor - it merely enhances the mushroom) all percolating away in a mini-wok casserole on a sterno stand. I'm not sure if there's actually a sauce, or if the liquid that is present is merely the intermingled juices of the various ingredients released by the heat. Whatever it is, you'll want every last drop. The net effect of the dish is like a distilled essence of mushroom. If you were to be able to look up "mushroom" in the flavor dictionary, this is the taste you'd find. And along with the flavor, there is some very interesting textural and "mouth feel" things going on - soft, crunchy, "melt-in-your-mouth" all intermingling in every bite. As I said, I want to try it again, just to see if it really was that good - we're talking mega-mushroom orgasmatron, folks. It doesn't seem possible that any dish, no matter how well prepared or how much I may have been "in the mood" for it, would taste that good. Halfway through the meal, I was plotting ways to kidnap the chef. Just amazing. Score for the evening - I'd probably not order the marinated cucumber again. Not a bad dish, just not as interesting as I would like. Indian lettuce would be a definite re-order any time I was looking for an interesting dish in the sauteed greens category. Very nicely executed. Tea Tree Mushroom with Pork - every time I go back to Hunan Taste, it's going to be a temptation to re-order this dish and explore no further. Or perhaps the debate will be what to order in addition to the Tea Tree Mushrooms, akin to the way some folks can't bear to visit Grace Garden and not get the Fish Noodles, or the cold Triple Treasure dish, or whatever one's "OMG!" favorite is there. Sat Nov 14 09:15:15 -0800 2009 5145152 11647 Warthog 2 5183048 wow, grade garden and perhaps this both in the baltimore msa and not dc's who woulda thought??????????????? lol to the 100th power Sun Nov 15 09:00:50 -0800 2009 5181171 111873 vivinator 1 5197568 Not sure why the CH Police deleted my long post. I'll try and repost it from memory. In the meantime, I scanned the menu. As two jpegs: http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/8748/page1yu.jpg http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/75/page2kj.jpg As PDF (probably not printable): http://www.sendspace.com/file/0j7feo Fri Nov 20 19:59:48 -0800 2009 5145152 107374 bmorecupcake 2 5198005 Amazing looking menu. Taakes the adventurousness of Sichuan Pavillion and goes much farther. I wonder if "Bullwhack" is what Super H mart lables as "beef pizzle"? I hope they are open Thanksgiving as we have no plans other than to eat some Chinese food! Sat Nov 21 06:13:11 -0800 2009 5197568 59959 deangold 2 5199773 You should upload those to Urbanspoon. They have brand-new, expensive, multi-page menus now. I like this smaller paper version better. Sun Nov 22 06:53:51 -0800 2009 5197568 99966 theminx 1 5198820 I went there for lunch today after stopping across the street for a can of Kirin. The restaurant is Grace Garden grown up, as far as decor goes...very pretty, with a man in a tie directing folks to tables. Just about everyone in there was Asian but me! I sat down and was told I was looking at the Americanized menu, so I quickly switched to the bigger, thicker one...191 items on it! Since double cooked pork is my go-to to see if a restaurant is up to par, I ordered it. The waitress brought me out a complimentary dish of edamame and unsalted, shelled peanuts. ( is there a special significance to the peanuts? I've never seen that before).The pork came out 5 minutes later and I must say, I have NEVER had better. Thin and thick slices of belly, with scallion, red chili, jalapeno, ginger....and maybe a hint of lemongrass...and many large, sweet cloves of garlic. It was fabulous! Very little sauce which also made it different. i didn't even open the rice pot...and almost could finish the whole thing...have a few spoons left over from dinner! During the meal, at least 3 different waitstaff came over to see if I needed anything....excellent service. The waitress who brought me the dish made sure the plate was placed just so, so that the Chinese character at the top of the plate was facing me. I can't wait to go back....want to try the tea tree with mushroom mentioned above...that's if I can ever get away from that pork! Also, here's a tip. If you're planning on hitting HMart...do so AFTER Hunan Taste. You won't spend near as much since you will be stuffed!!! Sat Nov 21 14:15:32 -0800 2009 5145152 109812 crosby_p 2 5199075 "is there a special significance to the peanuts? I've never seen that before" I don't know if there's any special significance, but that's a very common -- bordering on ubiquitous -- pre-meal table snack in China... in the region I always visit, anyway. Sat Nov 21 17:08:40 -0800 2009 5198820 21787 Dmnkly