Pagoda
"Smell that garlic," sighed my friend. He was flashing chopsticks across a pile of sizzlingly hot jumbo shrimp, lightly battered and packing a garlicky punch. But he could have been talking about the dish in front of me, another plate of plus-size shrimp, each bite emboldened by dry chili peppers and crunchy bits of fried garlic.
How we landed on those winning dishes I'm not sure; the 12-page menu at Pagoda has at least 249 items that take broad culinary swipes through Korea, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan. Lunch might be something as tame as moo goo gai pan; dinner could mean baked tilapia, pan-fried noodles with succulent duck and tart pickled vegetables, a zesty fried rice with mustard greens and dried shrimp or a clam congee.
Not only is there a long list of $5.25 lunch options, but several to-go cases boast crispy roast ducks, racks of honey-glazed pork ribs and a variety of sweet and savory buns. Other pluses include generous portions and affordable prices (most dishes are under $10).
Last year, a few national chains rolled into Dinkytown, casting a bland note on the commercial district. It's nice to see a spirited newcomer next door to McDonald's.
ChinDian Cafe
Nina Wong worked at her family's popular Rainbow Chinese Restaurant and Bar for nearly two decades before striking out on her own with East River Market grocery and deli. Since then, she married customer Thomas Gnanapragasam, and together they converted the enterprise into the ChinDian Cafe. The new name on the door reflects the couple's heritage -- Wong was born in Vietnam to Chinese parents, and Gnanapragasam is Malaysian with Indian roots -- as well as what goes on in the kitchen.
An amazing spring roll pops with the crunch of romaine, the cool bite of shrimp, bits of sweet barbecue pork and tons of refreshing peppermint, spearmint, coriander and basil. There are big, steaming bowls of soup -- a rich chicken stock brimming with shrimp, beef, pork or tofu -- that go great with a tall glass of house-brewed ginger tea.
I loved a plate of skinny chow mai fun noodles liberally tossed with bits of egg, bean sprouts, pork, shrimp and a fragrant, teasingly spicy blend of cayenne, turmeric and cinnamon. A big glass bowl layered with romaine, rice noodles, onions sautéed with lemon grass and crushed peanuts made for a fantastic salad, and Wong's "Asian hoagies" start out right, with first-rate baguettes from New French Bakery.
Obento-Ya Japanese Bistro
After running a wholesale sushi operation for a few years, Kjersten and Mie Winters decided to try their hand at the restaurant business. They have succeeded with their charming Obento-Ya.
The menu is roughly divided into three parts: bento boxes, sushi and robata. The bentos, a refined version of a school lunch tray, feature some kind of simply prepared protein (ginger-marinated pork, grilled salmon, sake-glazed cod), steamed rice, a tossed field-greens salad, a small bowl of piping hot miso soup and a scoop of mashed potato salad. Most full-meal combos fall in the $7 to $8 range.
There's sushi, too, and it's fine, but what's really appealing are the robata: a few ounces of meat, fish or vegetables, skewered and seared on a small gas-fired grill. There are several dozen choices, and, like tapas, you can just keep ordering (prices average $2.25) until you're stuffed. Soups are another highlight. One frigid night I warmed myself over a hearty beef broth filled with slurpy ramen noodles, tangy green onions and flecks of sesame. And then there's the fantastic pork-shiitake dumplings, each bite brimming with a sharp ginger accent.
