亞洲菜肴入侵芝加哥
CHICAGO'S ASIAN INVASION

When I was growing up in Chicago's Chinatown, there were no good Chinese restaurants outside of our community. Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai was non-existent. The windy city was then known as a meat-and-potato town with Germanic roots for its culinary heritage. Although there was an occasional classic French, or a semblance of Italian, by and large it was a gastronomic desert. However, in the past 40 years, a social, cultural and ethnic earthquake has changed the face of dining in Chicago, as in the rest of metropolitan America. Curious about the impact of these changes on Asian cooking itself, I decided to investigate.
我在芝加哥的唐人街長大，那時，我們社區外還沒有像樣的中國餐館，也沒有越南、日本或泰國風味餐館。那時，人們把這個風城（windy city）稱為“肉和土豆”小鎮，烹飪傳統源于德國。雖然偶爾也有不錯的法國菜餐館，或勉強算是意大利菜的餐館，但這里基本上還是一個美食荒漠。然而，在過去40年中，正如在美國的其他大城市發生了巨大變化那樣，一場社會、文化和種族大地震改變了芝加哥的飲食風貌。我十分好奇于這些變化對亞洲烹飪自身所產生的影響，于是決定去探查一番。

For a start, I was amazed at how many Japanese or Japanese-inspired restaurants there are. Even more startling was a fantastic meal I enjoyed at Charlie Trotter's. Of course, he is one of America's top chefs, and the best in Chicago, but this tasting menu (the only one available) was rather like a classic Japanese kaiseki meal, a traditional, multi-course dinner usually served in a ryokan, or country inn, in Japan. Here tiny tasting portions of cha soba were served with thin slices of sweet Asian pear, smoky grilled shiitake mushrooms were paired with a pungent Ponzu sauce and monkfish liver matched with yuzu granita was akin to a foie gras dish juxtaposed with a sharp tart flavour to cut the richness. The Easter egg radish with preserved carrots was like a dish from a Buddhist temple but tastier. The meal continued with textures and flavours dancing on my palate all evening.
一開始，我很驚訝地發現，那里有很多日本餐館，或從日本菜得到靈感的餐館。更令我驚奇的是在Charlie Trotter餐廳吃到的絕好的一餐。當然，他是美國頂尖的大廚，也是芝加哥最棒的。但那兒的品鑒菜單(也是唯一的菜單)卻有點像典型的日本懷石料理。那是一種通常在日本的溫泉或鄉間小館才有的傳統晚餐，分成好幾道菜。在這里，小份的品味五木茶面配上薄片亞洲甜梨，煙薰香菇佐以柑橘醋，鯛肝配上柚子格蘭尼它冰糕，就好似一盆鵝肝佐以酸澀的小烘餅來調和肥膩。復活節蛋蘿卜配上腌制的胡蘿卜，像極了佛寺里做出來的菜，但味道要好得多。那頓飯，一道道色香俱全的美味菜肴讓我大快朵頤了一整晚。

Everyone in town seemed to be talking about Calvin Soh, new chef at Shanghai Terrace in the Peninsula hotel. Still in his 20s, Soh has worked for some of the best hotels in Singapore. On a Monday evening, the restaurant was packed. His five-spice squab was outstanding, with flavours bursting through every bite. His herbal chicken soup looked like clear tea but was as tasty as anything my mother would have made. His aomori abalone was the most Chinese of all his dishes, very tender, almost melting with a light glaze of oyster sauce. And just when I thought the meal couldn't get any better, Soh served up a fantastic Sichuan rack of lamb cooked perfectly with a combination of spicy fermented black beans and dried chillies, which infused the tender lamb with haunting aromas.
鎮上的每個人似乎都在談論半島酒店里那個叫“上海露臺”(Shanghai Terrace)的餐廳里新來的廚師凱文?蘇(Calvin Soh)。蘇年紀三十不到，卻已在多家新加坡頂級酒店掌過勺。某個周一夜晚，餐廳顧客盈門。他做的五香乳鴿很棒，咬一口，滿嘴生香。他的藥膳雞湯，湯色如同清澈的茶水，滋味卻不遜于我媽媽做的任何一道菜。他做的青森鮑魚是所有菜中最有中國味的，嫩得幾乎能與那層薄薄的耗油融在一起。正當我對這道菜嘆為觀止的時候，他又上了一道四川烤羊排，豆豉和干辣椒的味道已經完全滲入鮮嫩的羊肉，香氣撲鼻。

The meal was so good that I returned the next day for lunch. Weather permitting, ask to be seated on the terrace outside. In the glorious sun, I had classic Shanghai dumplings that were tastier and juicier than the usual variety. Another well-chosen dish was ahi tuna yu sheng, a refreshing salad with slices of the freshest tuna tossed with pickled papaya, peanuts, tart tangerine and spicy candied ginger all tossed with a sour plum dressing and what seemed to be a squeeze of lime juice. But it was the Singapore fried noodles that betrayed Soh's culinary roots of great Singapore street food. This was comfort food at its best in the hands of a skilled passionate chef.
那頓飯實在太棒了，于是我第二天又去吃了中飯。那天天氣很好，所以我提出坐到外面的露臺上。在暖暖的陽光下，我吃到了比一般湯包都更有味道、汁水更多的上海湯包。另一道選得很滿意的菜是金槍魚魚生。那是一道開胃菜，新鮮的金槍魚綴以番木瓜醬菜、花生、澀桔子、辛辣生姜蜜餞，再用不知道是酸梅汁還是酸橙汁拌了一下。而新加坡炒面卻顯露了蘇的廚藝源于偉大的新加坡街頭小吃。在技藝精湛又富有激情的大廚手中，這道菜的美味展露無遺。

It was not until I travelled to south-east Asia that I discovered Vietnamese cuisine. But since the end of the Vietnam war, Vietnamese immigrants have opened restaurants throughout the US and Chicago is no exception. Le Colonial, in the trendy part of town, was a brilliant discovery. With louvered shutters and rotating ceiling fans that evoke Vietnam's colonial past, it is decorated with superb taste. The heaving bar on the second floor cannot detract from the fact that the restaurant's food is just plain good. Start with classic goi cuon, tiny rice paper-wrapped spring rolls with prawns, pork and rice noodles and devoured with springs of fresh coriander and mint leaves. It came greaseless to the table so I knew there was a good Vietnamese chef in the kitchen.
我直到去了東南亞旅游，才發現越南菜。但自從越南戰爭結束后，很多越南移民在美國各地開設了很多餐館，芝加哥也不例外。Le Colonial是我在小鎮時尚一隅的一個重大發現。百葉窗和轉動的吊扇折射了越南的殖民地歷史，這家店裝修得很有品味。二樓的吧臺沒有掩蓋餐廳美味食物的光環。第一道菜是傳統的夏卷(goi cuon)，一種小巧的米紙裹成的春卷，里面包著蝦肉、豬肉和米粉，就著香菜絲和薄荷葉一起吃。上到桌上時，這道菜沒一點油脂，我便知道廚房中的越南師傅身手不凡。

The tom cuon ram – parcels filled with prawns, chicken and vegetables and served with an orange ginger dipping sauce – I found a bit heavy. Ca nuong was a sweet soy-glazed piece of grilled salmon served over rice noodles with dill, young mesclun greens and subtle lime garlic sauce. Ask for the salmon medium rare to prevent overcooking. The best dish was bun thit nuong, marinated slices of moist barbecued pork on a bed of very thin rice noodles. I couldn't stop eating it.
tom cuon ram——一種包有蝦肉、雞肉和蔬菜的食物，用橙汁生姜醬蘸著吃——覺得味道有點重。Ca nuong是一種烤三文魚，上面涂了甜醬油，底下是米粉，就著嫩什生菜和淡橙汁蒜醬一起吃。三文魚要四分熟的，免得燒得過熟。最棒的是bun thit nuong，薄薄的一層米粉上有多汁的腌制叉燒。我吃得都不想停下來。

Nor could I resist trying Big Bowl, part of the Lettuce Entertain You group of restaurants with eight outlets. It features quick fast fresh Chinese and Thai food and is a buzzing restaurant with a wall of locally grown produce you can choose from and have stir-fried with any flavours you desire. The culinary éminence grise behind this successful concept is the chef and cookbook author, Bruce Cost. I tried Thai herb calamari – like Italian fried squid but served with a sweet spicy lemon sauce. Both the squid and sauce were perfectly executed. Chicken potstickers were excellent, pan-fried slowly with a crispy crust and the filling quite good. Kung pao chicken although not authentic in my opinion tasted delicious with an unusual touch of hoisin sauce that added a slight sweetness. Try Big Bowl's signature drink, fresh ginger ginger ale, a refreshing balance to the robust food. The service was friendly and efficient. On my way out, I had to see who was cooking in the open kitchen. What a surprise to find that every chef was of Mexican descent. Bruce Cost is a good teacher.
“大碗”的誘惑也讓人無法抗拒。它是Lettuce Entertain You集團旗下的餐廳，有八家門店，以中式和泰式快餐為特色，生意很紅火，墻上掛滿了當地的農作物，你可以從中選擇幾種混合起來炒，也能選擇自己喜歡的口味。這個成功理念背后的烹飪高手是大廚和菜譜制作者Bruce Cost。我也吃了泰國草藥烏賊——和意大利炸魷魚有點像，但卻以甜辣檸檬汁為蘸醬。魷魚和蘸醬都制作精良。雞肉鍋貼也很棒，是用慢火煎炸，皮脆餡鮮。宮爆雞丁雖然吃上去不夠正宗，但味道很不錯，因為奇特的海鮮醬使它帶上了一絲甜味。還有“大碗”的招牌飲料，姜汁生啤，是飽餐之后的提神佳品。這里的服務周到而高效。在我出來的路上，我忍不住去看敞開式廚房中是誰在掌勺。出乎我的意外，所有廚師都是墨西哥裔。Bruce Cost這個師傅當得不錯。

Returning to Chicago's Chinatown is always full of nostalgia for me. However, if I had any doubts that the food there had lost its way, my mother quickly disproved it. We had lunch at her insistence at Emperor's Choice in the heart of Chinatown. Of course, it caters to tourists who order the usual chow mein and sweet and sour pork. But if you want authentic Chinese food, their seafood dishes are remarkable. We ordered a pan-fried salt and pepper Chilean seabass that was exquisite and skilfully cooked. A dish of fresh pea shoots stir-fried with garlic was so good, it would make any good Chinese kitchen proud.
再回到芝加哥的唐人街于我而言已飽含懷舊的意味。然而，如果我懷疑那兒的菜失去了自己的特色，媽媽就會立即表示不同意。在她的堅持下，我們在位于唐人街中心地段的麗晶海鮮酒家(Emperor's Choice)餐廳吃了午飯。當然，那兒有常見的炒面和咕老肉。但如果你想吃正宗的中餐，他們的海鮮不同凡響。我們點了一份椒鹽智利鱸魚，做得很精細，手藝也不錯。豆苗炒大蒜做得非常棒，所有中式廚房都會為做出這樣一道菜而驕傲。

But the pièce de resistance was a live Dungeness crab from the US west coast, dispatched and stir-fried with ginger and spring onions in a hot wok. I watched with pleasure as my 84-year-old mother diligently picked at the sweet silken crab meat and ate it with pure bliss with spicy fresh ginger slices and sharp spring onions. She pronounced it rather good, indeed, giving it her blessings. It made me feel like I had come home.
令人無法抗拒其誘惑的要數來自美國西海岸的活鄧杰內斯蟹，這道菜是把蟹拆殼后與生姜和蔥在熱鍋中爆炒而成。我欣喜地看著84歲高齡的老母親仔細挑出甜美柔嫩的蟹肉，蘸上蔥片和姜末慢慢享用。她對其贊不絕口，甚至把它當成一種至高無上的享受。這讓我有回家的感覺。