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P.F. Chang’s China Bistro

The Quarter at Tropicana
2801 Pacific Ave.
Atlantic City 08401
348-4600

 What sounds like something your tree-hugging neighbor might be nibbling while you’ve got a beer-can chicken on the grill is the most flavorful answer to every calorie-counting concern you’ve ever had about eating out.


Rob Seitzinger

Celebrate the Chinese New Year with Yunnan Province cuisine

ATLANTIC CITY – To help celebrate the Chinese New Year, P.F. Chang’s has added a special section to its already hefty menu. “The Flavors of Yunnan” adds four different menu items representative of the Yunnan Province. Chang’s executive chef Claudia Richards and other chefs from the national chain toured the region to learn more about the cuisine.
“The Yunnan Province isn’t well known to most people outside of China, so we’re excited to introduce these new flavors to our customers,” Richards said. “We spent a significant amount of time in the region trying the different foods and visiting with local chefs.”
Any time my wife and I go to Atlantic City, we try to find some excuse to go to P.F. Chang’s, so the New Year’s celebration was perfect.
Operating Partner Alex Matias, who has been in the Atlantic City restaurant (there are four in New Jersey and restaurants in all but 12 states) for only seven months, said he has been impressed by the success the restaurant has been enjoying and said the Yunnan Province additions have been a hit.
“People have really seemed to enjoy the new items, but they still come in for the traditional menu,” he said.
So we played along, ordering two items from “The Flavors of Yunnan” section and had two others from the regular menu.
From the special section (see all items in “On The Menu”) we tried the Yunnan Wontons for an appetizer and the Dali Chicken as an entrée.
The Yunnan Wontons were bland and mostly fried noodle. The stuffing -- the slight amount that filled less than a third of the wonton -- was Serrano ham and cream cheese, but it was billed in a press release as including ginger and green onions; neither could be detected and both would have been welcomed. The honey mustard dipping sauce added a little kick to an appetizer that could have been so much more. If I wanted uninspired Chinese food I would have ordered from China Inn in Cape May Court House and not driven the 40 miles up the Parkway.
But what the Yunnan Wontons were not, the Dali Chicken more than made up for. Boneless, skinless chicken breast bites and Yukon Gold potato chunks are tossed with a chili pepper pod sauce that’ll send your endorphins scrambling. The portion was enough for two meals, and came served with a choice of brown or white rice.
The other appetizer we ordered seems to be have a cult following. Everyone I’ve ever talked with who’s been to a P.F. Chang’s always starts off the conversation with, “You have to try the lettuce wraps.”
What sounds like something your tree-hugging neighbor might be nibbling while you’ve got a beer-can chicken on the grill is the most flavorful answer to every calorie-counting concern you’ve ever had about eating out.
There are two choices for lettuce wraps, one made with chicken and the other with tofu. And (I never imagined even considering such a thought) -- for god’s sake, man -- order the tofu!
While the chicken lettuce wraps are very good, the vegetarian lettuce wraps are over the top. The wok-seared tofu flavored with mint, fresh lime juice and cilantro, is served with red onions, water chestnuts and crunchy rice noodles that you wrap in cold iceberg lettuce leaf bowls. The spicy, crunchy filling mixed with the cool lettuce is a flavorful explosion that packs 28 grams of protein and only 4.5 grams of fat, none of which are saturated. Egg rolls be damned! This stuff rocks.
“They are easily our top-seller,” said J.P., our server, who quickly became one of our best-ever friends when he recommended we try the Mongolian Beef. “It’s my favorite item on the entire menu.”
Crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside strips of beef were flash-fried in a wok with scallion strips with garlic and two sauces that are now on our must-order list for our next visit.
Talking with Matias about the menu, we told him how disappointed we are with what plaza-strip Chinese restaurants have become.
“We stay away from the Americanization of Chinese food,” he said. “We want to stay dedicated to authentic Chinese food.”
To be fair, Chinese or other Asian-fusion restaurants like Island Shore in Upper Township, Dragon House in Wildwood and Cape-Orient in Cape May do a nice job of offering inspired cuisine.
But others are more like McEggrolls, and Chang’s dishes like Mongolian Beef, Dali Chicken and lettuce wraps make sampling global food more inviting.
“Our customers appreciate our menu,” Matias said. “That’s what sets us apart.”