Sunday, Feb. 10, marks the Chinese New Year, a time when at least a billion people will gather with family and friends to celebrate with good food.
If delicious Chinese cuisine is what you’re craving, then head to the corner of Broadway and Main, and enter North China Restaurant, celebrating 31 years in the same location, and run by the same family.
North China has a multitude of loyal customers who don’t need a holiday to frequent the restaurant, like renowned local foodie Chef Rick Manson.
“I have not eaten at a better Chinese restaurant (or restaurant in general) anywhere with food so consistently good/great as North China Restaurant on North Broadway,” Manson wrote to me in an e-mail. “My family loves their spring rolls, barbecued pork, beef with fresh broccoli, Hot Spiced Eggplant with garlic (one of my all-time favorite dishes of any cuisine) and Chicken Lo-Mein.”
Taking that recommendation during a recent visit, I enjoyed the excellent eggplant dish.
Another time I decided to try the restaurant’s similar Hot Spiced Pork with garlic sauce ($9.95).
Served with a bowl of white rice, the dynamic overlapping flavors of the dishes were incredible; a beautiful balance of sweet and heat.
I reluctantly shared the pork dish with my lunch companions and still had plenty to take home for dinner. (Although, I was tempted to dive in and eat the rest for a mid-afternoon snack.)
North China owner and manager Michael Sun explained how they make this phenomenal entree: “Lots of ginger, lots of garlic, star anise, fresh peppercorn, two different types of soy sauce; a black mushroom soy—it’s a darker soy—and just a regular soy sauce,” he said.
The sweetness comes from a bit of honey and sugar. The zip comes from red chili peppers that North China brines in-house.
“It’s a 48-hour process. It pretty much sits in a pot of white wine and ferments. It softens up and then we grind it, but that’s what gives it that flavor of spice,” Sun said.
I can’t wait to go back to North China to order the same dish again! Something that many Santa Marians do weekly, or in some cases, daily.
Customers come three times a week, and they’ve done so for decades. These extreme North China enthusiasts don’t need menus; the professional servers already know what they want.
So, what do repeat customers come back for again and again?
Co-founder David Sun, Michael’s father, told me over a pot of hot tea and homemade pot stickers that his Kung Pao Chicken and Beef with fresh broccoli are extremely popular.
Weekends are busy at North China, when there could be an hour wait for a table or booth.
“Lunchtime, same thing,” Michael said. “But people are very patient and we have good customers and they’re willing to wait.”
So what is the key to their success? What sets this Chinese restaurant apart from the rest?
Everything is fresh and made from scratch.
“Even our fried rice and Chow Mein is made to order. Nothing sits in a steam pan,” Michael explained. “Even the soups, one by one, are cooked to order. Our hot and sour soup is just amazing! It’s a good seller.”
Added Michael, “All our appetizers are hand wrapped that day. There’s nothing that’s stored in a cooler or freezer or comes out of a bag from vendors … everything is homemade.”
Each Saturday, restaurant workers gather in the kitchen to create from scratch 5,000 Chinese dumplings—seasoned ground pork sirloin and chopped vegetables, wrapped in a thin layer of dough, and deep fried, otherwise known as pot stickers.
“It’s pretty neat to see because it takes about six guys to do it and they’re non-stop; kneading the dough, wrapping it. It’s a pretty labor- intensive process,” Michael said. “A lot of restaurants now use frozen pot stickers and just defrost them and fry them—the flavor just is not there. Our pot stickers are very popular!”
And vegetables served at North China are grown in Santa Maria fields and picked the same day. Local grower families are among the restaurant’s best customers.
The high standards for the best quality food and service started in 1982 when David and Jeanie Sun opened the restaurant in the same North Broadway location.
The couple’s parents were Northern China natives who relocated to Korea around 1940. David and Jeanie met at Taiwan University, married, immigrated to the United States, and settled in Santa Maria to raise their two sons.
The Suns retired seven years ago. They were an incredibly hard-working team; David invented all the recipes and cooked the food and Jeanie managed the dining room. Longtime customers adore them and are thrilled when they drop by to visit.
Michael, 34, who earned his MBA at Cal Poly in SLO, now runs the restaurant, keeping it in the family.
“It all started with them. My parents, they really, really laid the foundation. They would leave the house at 7:30, 8 in the morning and wouldn’t come home until midnight. That was a daily routine,” Michael said. “It really opened our eyes, my brother and I, to work hard and make sure that we make them proud of us.”
Proud papa David said, “You know, the restaurant is a hard job. I’m lucky because Michael took over.”
So as Mr. and Mrs. Sun ride off into the sunset, another Sun rises, and their restaurant still shines.
Sun food and wine writer Wendy Thies Sell gets giddy over good food. Contact her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 7-14, 2013.