Rich man, poor man You can't go wrong with Portland's two new Chinese restaurants BY BRIAN DUFF
	Oolong Oolong 100 Commercial St, Portland | 207.775.6569 Hunan 608 Congress St, Portland | 207.773.2932

If you like Chinese food (and who doesn’t?), it was a good summer in Portland — whether you were looking for a stylish night out or inexpensive delivery. Two new additions to the Portland food scene offer an opportunity to try Chinese cuisine prepared in a style that is novel to Portland, and to mix up your meal with other Asian fare as well.

The more radical departure, and your upscale option, is the distinctive new Oolong on Commercial Street. Starting from scratch in what used to be a print shop, the owners have created a really striking space. There are floor-to-ceiling windows along the front, brick walls through the main room, unfinished wood beams above, and a cozy raised section in back. The lighting is pleasantly low, but brightens a bit in the orange-tinted, and comparatively décor-free, second room behind the bar, which regulars are not likely to prefer.

While the designers clearly attended to what is chic in today’s restaurant culture, the chef, much to his credit, has chosen to ignore what is trendy in upscale Asian cuisine. Those who ask diners to drop up to $20 on an Asian entrée often feel the need to give them what is considered exotic (Cambodian, Burmese, Loation, even Thai here in Maine), or what they are already used to paying up for (Japanese). While the menu at Oolong is pan-Asian, chef Adam White, most recently of David’s, has given Chinese cuisine the central spot. This was a pleasant surprise to be teased out a few weeks ago while one studied the menu.

Recently the choices have been reorganized, with the Chinese dishes given their own section separate from the other southeast Asian entrees and the pan-Asian appetizers. The menu has gotten didactic in other ways. Diners are encouraged to embrace the "Eastern philosophy" of sharing plates, to use soy sauce in place of salt (often a mistake), to think of their server as "talent," and are told that their Western palates prefer "mild" food.

But what matters most is that the food is good, and it is. Among the small plates, the meat in the Peking duck wraps was perfectly done, tender and nicely seasoned. This dish resembled a moo shu, but with a thicker Vietnamese-style pancake. More duck, this time tea-smoked, was equally good over a salad of watercress and mushrooms. The Szechwan peppercorn dressing was not particularly distinctive, and the mushrooms were a little scarce, but the bitter watercress was sharp enough to carry the salad. The cold rice noodles with basil and mint were simple, flavorful and really nice.

Among the entrees, the Vietnamese shaking beef sirloin was tender, sweet, and delicious. The Mandarin noodles were done perfectly, coated with a nice sauce that tasted of cilantro and scallion, and was liberally spotted with tender pieces of pork. A Laotian seafood dish came with a delicious tangy broth of coconut milk, lemongrass, and lime leaf.

If there is a weak spot at Oolong (if) it is just where I hoped they would be strongest. The chef has decided to reinvent a few truly working class Chinese dishes, which I was excited to try. The kung pao had bigger pieces of chicken than is typical, and they were lightly breaded which is interesting. But the chicken was not all that tender, the vegetables were fresh but unexciting, and the chiles did not add enough spice to give the dish the necessary kick. Meanwhile, those looking for the guilty pleasure of watching the fried coating soak up the sweet sticky sauce with their sweet and sour chicken are out of luck — no breading.

Pleasures guilty and otherwise are not hard to find at Portland Hunan, a decidedly humbler Chinese spot that has opened on Congress across from the State Theatre. Charming owner/server Anh Quang has coaxed her cousin David Wong from a restaurant on Long Island (NY) to offer New-York style Chinese in Maine. Indeed, the menu seems much like something you might find at a favorite Manhattan spot, with the exception of a section labeled "special dishes," listing mostly Vietnamese.

The food is consistently good, with vegetables that seem fresh and meat that is high quality. If anything, there is too much to choose from, and if diners are not careful they could end up with a table full of lovely but not entirely distinctive platters of meat and vegetables in a brown sauce. Chef’s specials stood out, especially the Hunan Chicken with its thin tender strips of meat, red peppers, and pea pods in a tangy, slightly sour sauce that plays to just that part of tongue that Chinese food does best. Return visits, happily affordable in this case, will make it possible to uncover other gems, like the shrimp toast we tried on a whim, or the pillowy jade scallops served with mushrooms.

All told, two good choices doing Chinese in very different ways. Particularly if Oolong will let Portland Hunan take care of the working-class dishes, both should succeed on their own path.

Brian Duff can be reached at bduff@une.edu