Armato: 3 restaurants attempt to shake up Valley's Chinese cuisine

• Tang Dynasty crosses the Salt River, bringing traditional Chinese to the edge of downtown Scottsdale
• In Mesa, the Miu's Cuisine team is back as Miu's Bistro and testing for a fast-casual, traditional Chinese, crossover concept
• Chandler's Shaanxi Garden will add a new, larger location with breakfast and late-night menus later this year

First Bite: Our critic shares some thoughts about a new (or new to him) restaurant after an informal visit or two. 

As the East Valley’s collection of traditional Chinese restaurants grows and expands, the news is coming in at a rapid clip. Among the goings-on, one newcomer to the scene, one old favorite and one current favorite have big things in store.

Tang Dynasty opens in south Scottsdale, shows promise

As the new wave of traditional Chinese restaurants picks up steam, it’s starting to break the boundaries of the East Valley.

Supported (and, in many cases, owned) by current and former Arizona State University students from China, these restaurants have primarily gathered around Tempe, Mesa and Chandler. But one newcomer, open since late 2016, is knocking on downtown Scottsdale’s back door.

Tang Dynasty, on Scottsdale Road just south of Thomas Road, is already a popular nighttime spot for Chinese students. Small and spartan but freshly bedecked with stone tile and gold trim, its central floor is surrounded by a handful of private rooms, some equipped with laser lighting and karaoke.

This may not be the best choice for a novice seeking to dip their toes into traditional Chinese foods for the first time. But the menu will be familiar to those with some experience, even if one should note the disclaimer that the menu’s photographs aren’t necessarily representative of the dishes served (a gross understatement in some cases).

Tang Dynasty features a bevvy of dishes with a soft — if not exclusive — focus on Sichuan, and while not everything hits, there are some respectable offerings in the early going.

The requisite cold starters are in attendance, like braised beef shanks in soy sauce ($8), sliced on the thicker end of the spectrum in sweet soy with a hefty dose of garlic. Sichuan cold noodles ($6) are more stark than simple, dressed in a sesame sauce flavored with a touch of chile and little else.

Packing more punch are the Sichuan noodles in chili sauce ($6), a thin and brothy take on dan dan noodles. Better, though, are the “new-school” Sichuan fish fillets ($24), like a stripped-down take on Sichuan water-boiled dishes, with tender fish gently poached in fragrant oil bearing chiles, Sichuan pepper and pickled bean sprouts.

Some might describe the Guangdong-style rice with stewed pork ($10) as plain, but it strikes me as a pleasantly homey dish, tender stewed pork belly in a light sauce with juicy chunks of mushroom. The twice-cooked pork ($12), however, eschews subtlety in favor of a chile-laced oil spiked with fermented black beans. Tang Dynasty’s version features almost paper-thin slices of pork belly taken to a level of crispness that ends up resembling bacon.

Other dishes in this vein join a pair of hotpots and a lengthy list of barbecued skewers to round out the menu.

At the moment, Tang Dynasty is more notable for its location than for food that stands out from an ever-increasing field of traditional Chinese options. But it shows some promise and one wonders if, having crossed the Salt River, it portends a geographical expansion of the vibrant Chinese dining scene the East Valley has enjoyed in recent years.

Details: Tang Dynasty, 2515 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. 541-286-8209. Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m.-midnight weekends.

Miu’s Cuisine returns as Miu’s Bistro in Mesa

Those who were obsessing about the Valley’s traditional Chinese foods in early 2013 will no doubt remember Miu’s Cuisine. Long on flavor if short on charm (a friend once described it as “the best Chinese food you’ll ever eat in a room that looks like the basement of a Lutheran church”), it served a dual menu of outstanding Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine before closing in 2014.

Now, Miu’s is back. Sort of.

The team that once ran Miu’s Cuisine — Bo Song, Vivian Guan and Sophie He — have taken over Dinghao Shanghai Bistro in Mesa and renamed it Miu’s Bistro, keeping the existing menu for the time being. But Miu’s Bistro will be the proving grounds where they test their plans for a chain of crossover fast-casual Chinese restaurants, featuring healthy dishes that aim to capture traditional Chinese flavors while being replicable on a larger scale.

“The flavor is 100 percent authentic,” Song says. “The part we are modifying is: no corn starch, no potato starch, no MSG and very low calorie.”

To that end, they’ve spent the years since Miu’s Cuisine closed developing a compact menu of nine dishes, with the addition of four starters during dinner hours, that’s now available in addition to the old Dinghao menu.

While Song laments that some early customers have been scared off by what they assume will be mass-market Americanized Chinese, the dishes I’ve tried off the new menu suggest that perhaps they shouldn’t be.

Served as bowls ($5.90) or parts of a two- ($6.90) or three-item ($8.40) plate, dishes such as black pepper beef and stir-fried green beans would fit right in on most fast-food Chinese menus, except that these versions are far more flavorful (and far less sugary) than the rest.

What’s more, I’m unaware of any fast-casual Chinese chains serving hot and spicy beef that’s chilled, sliced thin and served in traditional Sichuan style with slivers of tendon in a pile of dried chiles and Sichuan pepper. The spicy chicken, which Sichuan fans will recognize as Chongqing chicken, is crisp, fiery and numbing, whether it’s ordered bone-in or out (both are available). And chewy scallion pancakes ($5.99) with a crisp crust are flavorful and light.

The menu is still under development — Song, Guan and He are seeking diners’ feedback and will make adjustments before attempting to roll it out on a larger scale. But it’s an ambitious and fascinating project that hopes to break more traditional Chinese foods into the mainstream. If their testing goes well, Song says they will turn the Dinghao location into a commissary kitchen that will support multiple Miu's Bistros throughout the Valley.

Details: 2711 S. Alma School Road, Mesa. 480-897-9458, miusbistro.com. Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

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Chandler's Shaanxi Garden to launch larger Mesa restaurant, bring chefs from China

Pingping Xiao and Changhai Huang, owners of Shaanxi Garden (formerly House of Egg Roll), recently recommitted to their roots by retooling and refocusing the menu of their acclaimed Chandler restaurant on the specialties of China’s Shaanxi province.

But they have bigger plans in store.

The couple have closed on a space near Mekong Plaza in Mesa, and along with business partner Noel Cheng, will open a new, as yet unnamed Shaanxi restaurant in late spring or early summer.

The trio’s new restaurant, at 1960 W. Main St., will be triple the size of the original Shaanxi Garden, and they’ve signed contracts with a team of six chefs who will come from Shaanxi province to run the kitchen. In addition to an expanded menu and stage for live entertainment, the new restaurant will add breakfast and a late-night beer, barbecue and snack menu modeled on the late-night street markets in China.

Xiao emphasized that their goal is to concentrate on Shaanxi cuisine, and bring the foods and culture of their native province to the Valley.

Details: Shaanxi Garden, 961 W. Ray Road, Chandler. 480-899-9331, shaanxibiangbiang.com. Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Mondays. New restaurant opening at 1960 W. Main St., Mesa.

Reach Armato at dominic.armato@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8533; interact with him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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