Mr. Chow restaurant in Beverly Hills, Calif., offers diners the opportunity to dine on delectable cuisine while the eyes feast on the comings and goings of Hollywood’s A-list celebrities. And trust, you will dig deep into your pockets in exchange for the experience.
Nestled comfortably and inconspicuously on Camden between two famous streets — Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard — Mr. Chow has a surprising understated elegance, given the proclivity for everything grandiose, shiny and plastic in Hollywood.
We didn’t see any top-shelf celebrities, though we got an eyeful of a very sun-dried Mickey Rourke. The paparazzi were parked outside and, in fact, some dude with a missile launcher for a camera lens was leaning up against the tree with the lens pointed like a rifle in the direction of the door and was undoubtedly loaded and ready to discharge at a moment’s notice. “I’m just working the block,” he said when asked how he was doing, and it conjured up unsavory thoughts.
I was famished when I walked in, so I was ready to inhale the first thing that landed on the table. The food is served family-style, enabling diners to taste many different dishes.Expect to be nickel-and-dimed. Mr. Chow Famous noodles: they were good, but the 10 oz. portion for $17.00 was a bit ridiculous.They will eagerly offer refills, but charge $4 per round of sodas. After all, Mr. Chow has to pay that high rent and the world-class chefs who are as much a part of the dining experience as the food itself.
The squab with lettuce and lettuce wraps were nice and the water dumplings were certainly mouth-watering. The crispy beef was off the chain. The Peking duck looked as dry as tree bark when it was parked in front of me, but when I bit into it, my palate practically had a romantic affair with the delicious meat portion. The highlight of the evening was the delicious drunken fish, which was tender but not flaky. Heaven.
And then there was the dessert. Mr Chow shouldn’t be allowed to do this to people and get away with it. Two of my favorite desserts are cheesecake and chocolate mousse. I’ve been on the run from them for years, but tonight they had me cornered (and it is easy to get cornered in such cramped quarters for such a high-class, world-renowned restaurant). With nowhere to go, I surrendered to the dessert and will seek counseling later.
All in all, expect to pay approximately $150 per person, excluding drinks and dessert.
So when you go to Mr. Chow, you are paying for the reputation, the pristine location and its ability to attract celebs on the regular as much as you are paying for the food.
–terry shropshire
