New in the Hood: Changes in the Crofton Asian Food Landscape

So, Kwong's Hunan in Crofton Center unfortunately changed ownership and is now "Fusia." As you can probably guess from its name, Fusia is a pan-Asian restaurant. Generally, I'm not into pan-Asian restaurants because they lack authenticity. It's all about breadth instead of depth, and the food is usually ok, but nothing special. Sadly, Fusia is no different. Wasn't impressed and was depressed that my favorite Chinese restaurant has been taken over by the misguided fusion craze. Of note, there is a new Vietnamese restaurant in the Gambrills/Crofton area -- VN Noodle House, located at 2299 Johns Hopkins Road in Gambrills. Much better than Saigon Noodle House. We ordered spring rolls, fresh rolls, pho, and beef clay pot rice. The pho can actually compete with the pho from Viet-Thai Paradise in Annapolis, which has amazing broth; I still say that the spring rolls are better at Viet-Thai, though. My only beef with VN Noodle was the beef in the clay pot beef. It just tasted a little bit off -- like the beef wasn't high quality or something. It might have just been a little off that night, though. I'd definitely go back, and would love not having to go to Annapolis to get decent Vietnamese food. I'll keep you posted!

Fried Rice

I have been fighting a battle with fried rice for at least 10 years. I have tried numerous recipes and messed with numerous ingredients but have never been able to achieve the flavor of fried rice that is served up in Chinese restaurants. I think that I am finally coming close! I know that the big secret is having a super-hot wok, but I have a crappy electric range. This time, I preheated the wok and then added oil to the hot wok and let it heat up for awhile. The rice didn't stick and the flavor was almost right. The only thing missing was that the rice was a little too fresh and clumped.

Hunan L'Rose

Before eating at Hunan L'Rose (http://www.goldenfork.com/hunanl), located at 1131 Annapolis Road, I had already discussed what I thought were the best Chinese restaurants in the area. For the sake of my rankings, I dragged Eugene out there this past Monday night. We went around 8 pm, and found the restaurant to be rather full for a rainy Monday night, which I thought boded well for the food. Nonetheless, the rankings don't change after going to Hunan L'Rose. There wasn't anything really wrong with the food; it was just underwhelming. It could be that we didn't order the best dishes. Who knows? We started out with the steamed dumplings -- meat-filled with a nice ginger accent. They were tasty enough. Just a warning, though. Apparently, they take a really really long time to cook, as our server told us when she brought them to the table after quite awhile. This may be true, so if you're starved and looking for a fast appetizer, the dumplings are not the answer. Eugene ordered the beef chow fun, and I ordered the sesame chicken. The beef chow fun was good with nice pieces of quality, charred beef. The sesame chicken was not as good. While the sauce was tangy and flavorful, the quality of the meat was only so-so; it was mainly dark meat, and I found that the taste of the dark meat detracted from the sauce. The meal ended with a nice hot towel and a mini cup of orange sherbet. Overall, the food was okay, but with Kwong's right down the street from where we live, I see no reason to make a special trip out there. And the weird thing? No chopsticks! It's hard to call yourself a serious Asian restaurant if you don't at least put chopsticks on the table.

Best Chinese in Gambrills/Crofton Area

So, that might not be saying much, as Anne Arundel County isn't exactly a mecca of ethnic cuisine. Nonetheless, you've gotta work with what you have. Here are my recommendations for the best Chinese in the Gambrills/Crofton area. If you want the "hole-in-the-wall" standard Chinese experience, I highly recommend Kwong's Hunan. It's located at 1659 Crofton Center in the shopping center with Shopper's Food Warehouse and the Kmart. The food is great. Unlike almost all of the other Chinese restaurants where I have eaten in the area, it uses white meat for its chicken dishes. One disclaimer. I ordered the yaki soba (a Japanese dish) and it was not good. It may be that Kwong's just isn't as good at Japanese. One other recommendation; try the spicy wontons. They are excellent meat dumplings flavored with ginger and soaked in a delicious sauce that, while not meeting my standard for spicey, are truly tasty. If you want a fine dining experience, go to Grace's Fortune (http://www.graces-fortune.com). The atmosphere is nice. There's a koi pond and piano. It's on the pricey side, but the food is fresh and prepared without additives. If you go, you can tell that the restaurant is run by people who clearly love and appreciate food. Grace's has a Sunday buffet that I am dying to try. Also, a neighbor highly recommended Hunan L'Rose in Odenton. Apparently, its owners formerly ran a Chinese restaurant in the small shopping center on Defense Highway where Lemongrass is now located. They sold that restaurant to other owners, who didn't keep the restaurant up to snuff, so it went out of business. My husband and I are planning to go to Hunan L'Rose on our next Chinese run, so stay tuned!