Chang's Garden Awards

Chang's Garden Restaurant Review:

Taiwan native Henry Chang is turning out exciting Chinese food from a strip mall just south of Santa Anita Park. The industrial décor features metal plates with circular cutouts and strings of Christmas lights, even during summer. The large menu of Shanghai-style classics has plenty of options. A quartet of hot lotus leaves unfurl to reveal chile-flecked glutinous rice and aromatic spare ribs tender from steaming. Chef Chang rolls flaky Chinese pancakes around spiced sliced beef, but it’s better to order the version that cradles a cluster of tender green beans seasoned with tiny dried shrimp. Shanghai-style rice cakes are pan-fried with soy sauce until nice and crusty, then tossed with onions, pork and spinach. Fish filet with hot bean sauce contains no hot beans; instead, flounder comes in a garlicky, flamed-red chili sauce, fiery and satisfying. There are several clay pot dishes, the best of them containing nubs of on-the-bone chicken, whole chestnuts and a magma-like brown sauce flecked with ginger. If you’re thinking of ordering a vegetable, go with garden-fresh snow pea shoots sautéed with garlic cloves. Adventurous diners can also explore sea cucumber, ice fish, and green onion jelly fish. Chang’s Garden offers no desserts, but includes orange slices and fortune cookies with the check. If nearby Din Tai Fung is too crowded on weekends, Chang’s offers excellent dim sum, too.