In the House of Chow

Yesterday I had a bit of business in my favorite town, Brookline, so Da Queen and I decided to make a night of it. We’ve been wanting to try Chef Chow’s House on Harvard Street and since we were Coolidge Corner we dropped in. It’s been a while since we've had Chinese food and it’s been a long while since we’ve had good Chinese food, so we were looking forward to our visit.

We got a booth by the window that came equipped with an attentive but unobtrusive waiter. Knowing Da Queen’s love for beef teriyaki, I made sure that we got her favorite appetizer. I thought the meat on a stick was very good. Too often the teriyaki sauce overpowers the meat with a hard glaze, but not these. They were tender and beefy. Da Queen thought they lacked a little in the teriyaki flavor, but were still pretty good.

Da Queen, ever the carnivore, ordered “Beef Sautéed With Fresh Snow Peas and Mushrooms.” It was a big plate that included bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and the expected brown beef sauce. The veggies were crisp and fresh. The sauce was not your average one-note brown, but well-seasoned and flavorful. The star of the plate was, of course, the beef. The little strips were melt-in-your-mouth tender and delicious, balancing an excellent entrée.

After reading over the menu I knew that I just had to try the “Strange Flavored Chicken.” How could I miss something with such a colorful name? The dish was even more colorful than I had imagined. Tender little slices of chicken with sliced carrots, snow peas, and other good crunchy veggies, were presented in a shockingly bright red-orange sauce. The strange flavor turned out to be an excellent multi-dimensional hot sauce. With bright, almost fruity high notes at the start and a pleasingly hot sourness toward the finish, this was a lot of fun. Okay, so I guess I like things on the strange side.

The food was very good, the portions were generous, the prices reasonable, and the service first-rate. I’m pretty sure this won’t be our last visit to Chef Chow’s House.