Thunder tea rice -- a dish of rice surrounded by a ring of fried tofu, nuts and seeds, lightly blanched greens, and what tasted like pickled mustard greens. served with a bowl of seasoned green tea to be mixed like chazuke. This dish is inspired by 擂茶 (lei2cha2), literally "ground tea," a homonym for "thunder tea." Traditionally, this tea is comprised of green tea ground in a mortar with a variety of nuts and seeds, for a rich, porridge-like tea. Here, the nuts are served whole which I think was the right choice for texture. I thought the savoriness of the tea broth went very well with the pickled vegetables. At $22, it might seem pricey for what's effectively a bowl of rice, salad toppings, and tea, but I think this is definitely more than the sum of its parts. One of the more memorable dishes I've had at a restaurant lately, and probably my favorite dish. If I could only recommend one thing for others to try, it'd be this.
Braised beef cheeks -- the other entree we got. Braised beef cheeks, boiled carrots, and daikon stacked in a neat little tower atop mashed taro -- basically, Chinese beef stew in a nouvelle cuisine presentation. I thought this was well-executed fusion. Everything was cooked very well, with the beef cheek being fall-apart tender. It was very good, but maybe a little less memorable than the thunder tea rice for me; it's (very well cooked) beef stew in a different shape.
Beef tartare -- the classic, but with taro chips instead of potato. The tartare was mixed with the same sort of pickled vegetable that was present in the thunder tea rice, which I thought gave the dish a meaningfully different profile compared to the classic capers or shallots. It was also topped with a quail egg yolk, which honestly I can't tell apart from regular yolk. At the bottom was what appeared to be an aioli made with shallot oil, which was a super interesting idea to me and one I'll definitely be stealing for myself. I love shallot and scallion oil, but had never thought of using it this way. Very well thought out dish, and would definitely get again.
Char siu -- the classic, but made with pork jowl instead of pork shoulder or butt. I personally thought this was maybe too indulgent of a choice as pork jowl is incredibly fatty. It was served with lettuce wraps, more pickled vegetables (a theme that I loved -- they worked so well every time they were present), and two sauces, a yuzu koshu (our preference, very good) and a spicy mustard. Overall I was a little lukewarm on this -- char siu is already sweet, and the fat took it a bit over the top for me. Some pieces were over 50% fat. Our kid loved it, though. I also thought this was a bit pricey at $18.
Yuba noodles -- thin slices of what look like pressed tofu sheets (not fresh yuba), wood ear mushroom (the standard, not cloud ear as the menu said), cilantro, with some sliced bell pepper. We sort of expected fresh tofu skin given the menu said yuba, though I guess in retrospect it wouldn't really make sense to make "noodles" out of it. This is more or less identical to the traditional Chinese version of the dish with some sliced bell peppers added. It tasted fine, but probably not something we'd order again.
Grilled peaches -- the dessert. Half a peach served on a thick, rich black sesame cream. I personally wasn't the biggest fan -- the cream was a bit awkward to eat with the peach, and paying $9 for half a peach felt weird. Personally would not order again.
Hong Kong Sour -- from the "low ABV cocktails" menu. I thought the drink was well executed, basically a standard whiskey sour with five spice, miso, black sesame, and a bit of plum powder. It wasn't particularly sour, which combined with the low amount of whiskey (they're not kidding when they say low ABV) led to the drink leaning on the sweet side compared to a standard whiskey sour. I thought it tasted more like a spiked oba drink than a cocktail. The flavors were good, though one minor issue is that the five spice powder settled to the bottom of the drink over time, leading to the last sip tasting like a smack of star anise to the face. It was creative enough that I'd be interested in trying their other cocktails, even if I didn't absolutely love this one.
Overall, we really enjoyed our dinner. Even if we didn't love every dish, the thoughtfulness and execution are 100% there. I'm always hesitant when a new restaurant brands itself as "modern ethnic-American fusion". Too often, fusion restaurants simply jam two concepts from two cuisines together in a gimmicky, unconsidered way, leading to abominations such as the sushirrito and the the ramen burger. Thankfully, JuXi is not such a case. Excited for such a creative and well-thought out restaurant to open in Alameda! read more