20th Annual Chinese Dinner: Year Of The Snake!
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This will be the twentieth(!) year I've hosted dinners for Chinese New Year; this commences the year of the snake! And for first time, we're having the dinner at my (new) favorite Chinese restaurant, Cate Zone! We had a meal there early last year, right after they opened, which confirmed that they could handle the group, and that the food was spectacular as always. The original Cate Zone opened in University City almost a decade ago, bringing Dongbei-style (far northern) Chinese food to the region for the first time. Unfortunately, the location is very small and always crowded so an event there has always been out of the question. But when they opened their location in Chesterfield, far larger than the original, I jumped at the chance to have a dinner there, and now many months later, I'm glad to see it's big enough to still easily handle our group. So our new venue for my west county annual dinner it shall be!
Cuisine - You can be forgiven if you've never heard of Dongbei-style Chinese food since it's considerably less-known than common ones like Hunan, Szechuan, and others. The Dongbei region is the very northeastern corner of China, and as such, somewhat influenced by Russian, Mongolian, and Korean cuisine. In any case, it is still quite distinctively Chinese! Some of the dishes here might be a bit "authentic" for American tastes, but anyone who enjoys Chinese food is going to really enjoy the food here. My personal favorite dish is the rather simple "Hot Crisp Fish", which is utterly delicious but, fair warning, do NOT order this unless you like very very hot spicy food! They also have a spicy shrimp with the same super-hot coating that is also incredible. On the other hand, their sweet and sour pork is tangy and nothing like the sticky sweet stuff you get at most places - and is easily the best I've ever tasted. They have some other dishes you'll recognize, like Kung Pao Chicken, as well as plenty that will be totally new to you. The good news is that the menu has pictures of virtually every dish, which is very helpful on ones that are new to you! But whether you're in the mood for pork, chicken, beef, seafood, lamb, vegetarian, rice, or noodles, you're going to find something to like. And the main thing, of course, is that everything is ridiculously delicious, and generally more authentic than you'll find most places!
Price - For a brand new place in west county, Cate Zone is very reasonable in price, although maybe a bit more than many Chinese restaurants. Maby dishes range from the mid to upper teens, with a big chunk of the menu sitting at $19.99; only a few dishes break the $20 mark. And their portion sizes are pretty big, so virtually all of the dishes are a great deal, even the somewhat more expensive ones.
Other Info - Cate Zone is located in the Four Seasons shopping center on the southwest corner of Woods Mill Rd and Olive Blvd. It's in the same building as Dierbergs, just about halfway down the building to the right. Tons of free parking right out front, of course.
Chinese food is very suitable for sharing, but just remember that while you're welcome to share if you wish, if you order it, it will be on your bill!
I am hosting a Chinese New Year dinner two days later (Thursday the 30th) for my Dine Out St Louis group (at a different restaurant, of course); feel free to come to one or both if you would like!
I'll be looking forward to seeing lots of my west county foodies at Cate Zone on Tuesday January 28th some awesome Dongbei-style Chinese food and a happy Chinese New Year!
20th Annual Chinese Dinner: Year Of The Snake!