At Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Long Beach, Wash., a popular dish with local customers is the chef's special beef with vegetables and a special hot sauce. Photo by Alex Pajunas.

Chinese restaurants in our area share more similarities than differences. In previous reviews, I’ve knocked them for their reluctance to take chances and serve the daring fare they eat back in the kitchen. I’ve contrasted the Americanized dishes with true authentic Chinese food. I’ve noted their disturbing lack of seafood (other than shrimp and scallops) despite our regional proximity to it and the fact that traditional Chinese cuisine is far more seafood-heavy.

I was so young and naïve back then. Perhaps I thought things would change when the owners turned to my column and found how bored I was with their interchangeable Sino-American fare.

The sad truth is the vast majority of diners around here have no interest in fish heads, chicken feet, offal or a dim sum menu. They don’t want to pay for Peking Duck (or order it 24 hours in advance). They actually prefer each Chinese restaurant to be the same as the last one they visited; it makes it easier that way.

So I’m done with all the contrasts and comparisons. I’ll judge the food against its own genre, not its fourth cousin twice removed from the old country. But I’m not eating any sweet and sour dishes. No way. Can’t do it.

Chen’s in north Long Beach, Wash., is pretty good at the standardized Chinese-American food game. The place is usually busy, and many customers seem to be regulars on a first-name basis with the staff. Service is pleasant and attentive (my water glass never made it close to the halfway mark), and food is served so promptly that a drive-through window wouldn’t be out of the question. And while the menu offers the exact same dishes you’ll find elsewhere, there are small differences here and there.

While the pork fried rice that accompanies some dishes didn’t contain the bits of vegetables I usually see, the rice itself seemed fresher somehow, as if made to order. And that was every visit. Certainly one of the better renditions.

No surprises on the appetizer menu. Same egg rolls you get anywhere else ($5.95), same barbecued pork ($6.95), same thickly battered fried shrimp ($6.95 small, $10.50 large), same crab puffs ($5.95), all with the same dipping sauces.

The egg flower soup ($1.95, $5.50) was quite standard, if not a little bland. A small drizzle of soy sauce and it was acceptable. Hot and sour soup ($2.75, $5.95) was surprisingly different (and better) than most of our local Chinese places. It actually is a little spicy, which of course, it should be. Soft strips of pork were a nice addition to the black mushrooms, bamboo shoots and starch-thickened broth.

Pork chow mein ($7.95) had a good flavor and plenty of tender julienned pork, but left me wanting more crispy chow mein noodles. The salt was lacking just a bit with this dish as well as several others. My theory is that the cooks assume diners will dump soy sauce all over their food before even trying it (I see this every time I go) and therefore intentionally underseason most items.

I like all varieties of egg foo yung, and Chen’s gets them right. I tried the pork ($7.95) and the chicken ($8.95) and found both to be perfectly seasoned, where at other locales this dish has been consistently salty or over-gravied.

Mu shu pork ($9.50) was one of the better dishes. Shredded cabbage and carrots cooked with onion, bamboo shoots, scrambled egg and shredded pork is served with hoisin sauce and traditional ultra-thin Chinese “pancake” wrappers. You roll them up yourself and try to eat them before the wrapper soaks through.

Another decent dish was the Mongolian beef ($10.50). Designated hot on the menu by the chili pepper silhouette, this dish consists of thinly sliced beef cooked with green peppers, carrot, onion, scallion tops and bulbs in a sweet brown sauce studded with red pepper flakes for heat. Fried rice sticks top the mound and steamed rice comes on the side. Consistent with much of the beef I’ve had at Chinese restaurants, it’s almost too tender. And there’s a gluey and gelatinous mouthfeel as it almost dissolves in your mouth. I’m interested in how this texture is attained, even as I do not necessarily enjoy it. Halfway through eating this dish, the sweetness became overpowering and I found myself unable to finish. This is best suited for sharing with several people (as is all Chinese food, in my opinion).

The only dish I was really disappointed in was the curry chicken ($9.95). Its execution was the most literal translation from menu to plate that I’ve ever encountered (excepting the ‘spicy’ designation – it was not). The menu’s description is as follows: “Tender chicken cooked with pepper, carrots and onion in our special curry sauce.” I suppose I can’t complain that I wasn’t warned after receiving exactly that: chunks of chicken breast, green bell pepper, wide slices of onion and carrot strips floating in a bland, boring, sweet yellow curry sauce. Two bites and I was no longer interested. Much could have been done to spruce this dish up. Serving it over the rice, using any other curry – give me something I’m not expecting.

Seated near a wall-mounted painting of Peking duck, I lamented how unfair it was to be teased with the vision of an exotic dish I desired but was unavailable to me.

While Chen’s food is satisfactory, it’s really no different than the other local Chinese restaurants. If you don’t live on the Peninsula, there’s no reason to travel there when you can find comparable food at a location near you.

– The Mouth

mouth@coastweekend.com