2015-03-21

【Aiden in English】

        Hunger seems like an animal raging inside. A beast is waiting to eat itself if it must. At the time, my hand looked appetizing when I was hungry. Like a monster's hunger, a meal can fill me up at the Chinese restaurant Margaret Kuo's Dragon's Lair in Wayne, PA.

        We arrived at the restaurant just in time before I began biting off my fingers. Nothing was like tasting human flesh, blood, and bone before bed. It sounded good, but Margaret Kuo's cuisine certainly made my hand look unappetizing, not that it would have tasted too delicious in the first place.

        The place had Lai Lai Garden or Peony Pavilion's air of order and formality, and so the first impression had been set on "good" so far. The restaurant then fell to "OK" when I smelled the food because my stomach roared like a lion, shaking the room. I hated being tempted, but I just gritted my teeth and waited. I'm glad I didn't bite my hand off earlier, because I'd still need it to use chopsticks; otherwise, eating would be a mess. At first bite, I savored heaven partially because it was 9 PM and partially because of the taste. Well, I shouldn't say bite because it was soup. However, it may as well have been plastic for all I knew. Something was put in front of me, and I'd eat it, food and dish. So I slurped up the soup, and Mom named the ingredients Sea Cucumber & Yellowfin Tuna Chowder. I caught something like… "sea cucumbers… yellowfin tuna…" somewhere in that range, and I liked it. The soup tasted good, and yellowfin tuna… sounded good. So together, it had to be great. Before I knew it, my spoon scraped the last droplets, savoring every bit. All hell broke loose as soon as I was done.

        Dishes were served, two or three at a time, covering the table. They were Peking-style open-ended Pot Stickers, Crab Meat with Pork Steamed Juicy Bun, Peking Scallop Pancake, Beef Patty Fried Buns, Margaret's House Lamb Stew, Sautéed Shiitake with Abalone and Scallops, Beef Tender in Garlic Sauce, and Sautéed Mountain Yam with Shepherd's Purse.

        The stuffed buns were passed out. For once, I didn't bite into it all cave-man-like. Instead, I prodded the bun carefully, scouting for possible juice eruptions. You can never be too cautious. Another eruption could cause another short casualty or strain. I enjoyed the flavor after eliminating and terminating all possible eruption sites on the bun, and it was well deserved for all that work.

        As I ate, I noticed more of the restaurant's style. Most Chinese restaurants in the USA aren't purely Chinese. They came for business, so to run a good one, restaurants must adapt to their customers' tastes. All the kids in school say, "Wow, have you tried this Chinese food?" "This" Chinese food isn't purely Chinese-style because the restaurant has adapted to the tastes of the locals. Margaret Kuo's Dragon's Lair is cooked in Chinese, although it isn't the same as a dish from Beijing. It isn't afraid to lose customers from this, and it didn't. I could tell this, especially in the mountain yam. Americans like mountain yams but dislike how this restaurant cooks them. At least that's what I thought. Being a Chinese kid growing up in America, I've eaten more American-style Chinese food than most people. These mountain yams didn't taste too good, probably because they lacked a specific flavor. When I said I didn't enjoy it, Mom and Grandma heaped piles of mountain yams onto their plates, showing and expressing joy that there was one less person to share that dish with. They had extensive experience with authentic Northern Chinese cuisine, so even though I didn't particularly enjoy it, they thoroughly appreciated it.

        Restaurants want their customers to come often, so they change their original style to something else. That defeats some of the purposes, and Margaret Kuo's Dragon's Lair knows it, too. They are Chinese to the end and would like you to "experience our Chinese culture to your taste." Perhaps it's time for customers to change their taste buds a bit.

【紅霞譯】

        要是動物餓瘋的話，就變得煩躁不安飢不擇食，甚至會糟蹋自己。坦率地說，一旦飢腸轆轆，我也會啃手指頭。今天鄙人像餓狼似的，幸虧來賓州馬車商小鎮“郭夫人龍園”飽餐一頓，心中委屈才得以釋然。

        要不是及時趕到這家餐館，我的手指肯定遭殃，上床入睡前沒有比吃口血了呼啦的新鮮排叉更提情緒，話可以這麼說，但跟郭夫人家的廚藝相比，手有啥好吃，況且髒兮兮得叫人作嘔。

        “郭夫人龍園”就餐氛圍堪比賓州藍鈴鎮的“來來花園”和新州普林斯頓“王子鎮”的“牡丹亭”，第一印象相當不錯。當聞到香噴噴的飯菜以後，我立馬確認沒找錯地方。此時此刻，肚子立馬像九靈元聖咆哮怒吼，震得房間抖動起來，我討厭被誘惑控制不住自己，因此咬緊牙關靜座等待。值得欣慰的是，先前我並沒有跟指頭過意不去，否則因無法用手拿筷子夾東西吃而更覺狼狽不堪。剛咬下第一口，猶如置身於人間天堂，幸福的感覺油然而生，一部分因為時針已指向晚上九點鐘，一部分因為味道確實美妙。沒錯，在此稱咬的確用詞不當，入口的玩藝其實不過為湯食而已，即使說成塑料也無關緊要，只要好吃，管它是盤子還是碟子，況且這是媽媽欽點的“海參黃魚羹”。我嘗出了“海參”……“黃鰭金槍魚”……之類的食料，挺好喝的。湯的確不錯，黃鰭金槍魚……也說得過去，拼在一起味道非常特殊，不知不覺地，我用勺子把碗蒯得乾乾淨淨。

        該上菜了，服務生每次端來兩、三盤，等擺好了便占滿了全桌：開口鍋貼、蟹粉湯包、蔥油餅、牛肉餡餅、紅燜羊肉、冬菇鮑貝、蒜爆牛筋、薺菜炒山藥。

        湯包遞到跟前，這回我小心先不碰肉餡，待慢慢咬開包子皮時，看看肉湯會不會濺出來，可有時謹慎也沒用，肉湯不是射到身上就是染髒衣服。等打消每個顧慮排除各種隱患之後，我好生欣賞“放在盤裡像座鐘，夾在筷上像燈籠”，為了嘗鮮這麼一口，之前所做出的任何犧牲都在所不惜。

        我一邊吃，一邊觀察這家餐館的特色。在美國，多數中餐館做的飯菜並非正宗地道，從生意的角度出發，無論何種菜餚必須迎合顧客的口味。難怪在學校的時候，所有的美國同學都說：“咦，吃過這道中餐嗎？”“這”道中餐並不是真正的中餐，而是具有中國特色改良了傳統烹飪的當地菜餚。“郭夫人龍園”烹調不乏家鄉風味，但並不等於說同樣的東西在這吃跟在北京吃味道相同。好在它早已闖出名聲，不必一味顧慮生源問題，“薺菜炒山藥”就是其中典型例子，老美再喜歡山藥，恐怕未必喜歡本堂做法，起碼我自己這麼認為。作為在美國出生長大的中國孩子，我比一般人要吃過更多的美式中餐，山藥不怎麼受歡迎，大概因為本身沒什麼特殊味道，當然這僅代表本人見解。眼瞧着媽媽和外婆兩人趁機大塊朵頤，生怕過了這村沒這店，敢情巴不得少一位分我杯羹的人，她倆真心喜歡這道北方名饌，而我根本不上杆子。

        餐館的生意好壞取決於回頭客多少，因此所有的烹飪變化無非都是為了順應市場競爭滿足顧客需要，有時不得不犧牲一些傳統元素，“郭夫人龍園”深諳其重要性。當然店主畢竟是華裔，他們衷心希望每一位前來就餐的朋友不管背景如何，都能“兼收並蓄中國飲食文化”，從這個意義上來說，也許到了顧客改變口味的時候。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: Migration of Snow Geese in PA(賓州雪雁遷徙)

2015: Xulan Zheng Benediction Concert(鄭緒嵐音樂見證會)

2010: 練琴的時候(When Playing Piano)

Margaret Kuo & Husband (郭夫人及其老公)

Margaret Kuo's Dragon's Lair(郭夫人龍園 03-21-2015)

北京開口鍋貼、牛肉餡餅、京式蔥油餅、蟹黃湯包

郭夫人招牌羊肉煲、蒜汁牛筋、薺菜炒山藥、鮑魚和扇貝炒香菇

Crosslinks(相關博文):

Spring Festival @ Eastern Dragon(龍城春宴)

Chinese New Year's Eve @ Lai Lai Garden(來來花園春節年夜飯)

Fiery Dinner @ Bamboo Szechuan Cuisine(蜀苑麻辣晚宴)

6th Grade(初中一年級)