21st Annual Chinese Dinner: Year Of The Horse!

And.... WE'RE BACK!

This will be the 21st(!) year I've hosted dinners for Chinese New Year; this commences the year of the horse! And once again, we're having the dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Cate Zone! We've had a couple dinners there before, which confirmed that they could handle the group, and that the food was spectacular as always. The original Cate Zone opened in University City over 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 it's my go-to spot for my west county annual dinner!

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 fairly new place in west county, Cate Zone is very reasonable in price, although maybe a bit more than some Chinese restaurants. Many 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 a few doors down 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 also hosting a Chinese New Year dinner the following day (Wednesday the 18th) 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!

After close to a year break, I'll be looking forward to seeing lots of my west county foodies at Cate Zone on Tuesday February 17th some awesome Dongbei-style Chinese food and a happy Chinese New Year!

Cate Zone Chinese Restaurant - Chesterfield