Tifco's China Bistro

[philadining]

Paper is off the windows of the Exton restaurant, there are fancy wooden louvered shutters on inside of those windows now. Some handwritten signs say "now hiring." Still no opening date posted that I could see. But it does look like it could be imminent.

[percyn]

Philadining, can you drive by and pencil in "attentive staff" under the "Now hiring" sign?

[philadining]

Sign in the window now says they'll open on June 3. I could see in through the windows, and they've changed the layout of the dining room, but it doesn't look all that different...

No menu posted yet, we'll see....

[percyn]

Went there for lunch today. The decor has been updated and it seems like a few more tables might have been added. They do seem to be short on knowledgable wait staff - the waitress I got was friendly, but had trouble making recommendations on spicy dishes and actually pointed me to the pan fried dumplings when I inquired about the spicy noodles.

Unfortunately, the complimentary tea and some of the usual suspects from the menu (e.g Cumin Lamb) seem to be missing.

I ordered the wok stir-fried fish, which came out sans the dried chilies Tifco was so famous for. However, this was not the end of the world and a little bit of chili garlic sauce fixed this.

On the way out, I asked the (new?) owner whether they plan to carry more spicy dishes and she said that since she has a new team, she wants to introduce the new dishes slowly.

Cheers

Percy

P.S: Pics will follow later.

[percyn]

New decor of Tifcos

The wok stir-fried fish

[Chuckles52]

Had just put a pot of water on to make some raviolli when I logged on to pass a minute or 2. Saw your photo of the fish and turned off the stove.

Through the driving rain, a tropical deluge, but I knew what was on the other end. The peppers aren't fiery but had a great 'pickled' heat that lingers yet. Hot enough for me tho'. The hairs just behinds my ears are still wet. A little oily for my taste but well worth the sacrifice. The small fillets are neutral in flavor but with a great flakey texture to contrast with the wood ear and fresh whole shiratake mushrooms. Did I mention the large chunks of garlic; cloves merely halved.

And the service remains true to its predecessor. Asked for more rice immediately and finally flagged down another waitress for that. Ice water came quickly but the refill required my waving the empty glass for her attention. And the chopsticks? forget about it, they never showed up. Makes me feel like the good old days.

Thnaks Percy for the photo; it got me up for a pretty good meal.

[philadining]

I wonder if this needs to spin off into a new thread? It's now just "China Bistro" no Tifco anywhere anymore, and it does seem to be a completely new operation.

Anyway, missed lunch today, so feasted a bit at dinner.

Peking Dumplings were fresh, and clearly homemade. Sadly they were also kind of heavy and gummy. They tasted OK, but the texture was just kind of sticky. Didn't love them.

Double Cooked Pork was almost exactly as it was under the old regime, which is to say, pretty freaking delicious. It's slices of fatty pork belly, with leeks, ginger, fresh chile peppers and hot pepper flakes. It wasn't super spicy, but it sure tasted good.

Sichuan Style String Beans were cooked a little more than I usually like, but they were still pretty good, dry-fried with sweet caramelized onion and a bit of ground pork.

They don't have nearly as many of the Sichuan dishes as before, and the 20-some that remain did not include some of my old favorites. But there's still some interesting stuff to be had, it hasn't reverted to suburban Americanized Chinese. A few other dishes that went by looked and smelled great. (I swear I smelled the Lamb with Cumin, although I don't see it on the menu...)

Service was very friendly and helpful, but still amazingly ragged. Someone came to take my order right after I had given it to someone else. However a couple that was seated shortly after I was got up and left without ordering because no one had acknowledged them for quite some time after being seated.

My string beans were AWOL until I asked a manager about them, I got some moments later, but I suspect from observing an exchange with a waitress that I got somebody else's, and they got the next batch. But the good news is that I was able to voice that concern because a manager came around a few times asking if everything was OK. My waiter was pleasant, just looked frazzled, even though it wasn't busy. It took a LONG time to get my check picked up, even though there wasn't all that much going on.

Just to make things appropriately weird, for some unknown reason, a few Johnny Cash songs were playing over and over, the whole time I was there. At first it was kind of funny, as I heard "I Walk the Line" the 7th or 8th time, it started feeling surreal. "Ring of Fire" rolled around an equal number of times, and that one seems more appropriate for a place with Sichuan food...

Anyway, I think the food is not quite as good as it used to be, but it's still WAY better than most Chinese outside of Chinatown, and a good percentage of the places IN Chinatown. I'll be trying a few more things on the Sichuan part of the menu...

[percyn]

Went in again to put some more of the dishes to the test. Unfortunately, no Za Jiang Mein on the menu yet (I even asked the wait staff for it). Also seems like the lousy service is here to stay. My lone server decided it was more important to chat on his cell phone in the dining room for 15 minutes before taking my order (I was the only person in the restaurant at this time...around 5pm).

I ordered an old favorite.. Cold chicken in spicy sauce, which was as good as I remembered it.

Since I missed the spice of the old régime, I asked my server what he would recommend. He steered me toward the Chicken with dried chilies (I think that is the name of the dish on the Chinese side of the menu). Turned out to be a good recommendation as it had tons of Sichuan peppercorns, which gave that familiar tingle to the tip of your tongue. This had way more of a kick than the cold chicken....might become a new favorite.

[percyn]

Oops..wrong thread.

Edited July 8, 2006 by percyn (log)

[philadining]

Got some take-out the other day, which was solid...

Looked pretty bleak by the time it got on a plate, so I'll spare you the images.

Pork in Black Bean sauce was almost indistinguishable from the double-cooked pork, maybe it had a touch more sauce, and that sauce might have had some black beans in it... but no matter, it was really good, featuring thick slices of pork belly, leeks, fresh chiles, garlic, and a dark, salty sauce.

The sichuan style string beans were, again, a bit over-cooked, but still pretty good, with ground pork and pickled vegetables giving them some kick.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I was in the mood for noodles, and ordered a small container of "chicken rice noodle" which ended up being an incredibly blah dish of thin rice noodles, chicken, and no discernible flavor. Live and learn.

The Szechuan menu is still not as broad as it used to be, but they did add a few things back on, like the lamb (or beef) with cumin, which I'd missed... and there's now a spicy frog, and a szechuan spicy pork stomach, so they haven't totally abandoned the traditional stuff.

[philadining]

Got some more take out last night, and it was very good.

As a starter, (cold) Sliced Beef in Five-Spice

Fairly subtle, but nice flavors and interesting texture, with a mix of fat and lean.

As a main, Pork with Cilantro

This was really tasty, and very spicy, so at least the stuff from the Sichuan side of the menu is still pretty serious!

I did take-out, so I can't comment on the service.

[percyn]

Went there this weekend for lunch. Service, while friendly still needs improvement. It took 10-15 minutes before my order was taken (but dishes were sent from the kitchen in 5 minutes)

Ordered some "Spagetthi", which was not the same as the za jiang mein (炸酱面) served in other restaurants, but not as weak as the previous owner's version either. It had the fried pork and shredded beef on top, the noodles seemed the same, but it had a robut broth, which was actually quite pleasent.

Also ordered some Mongolian beef, which had a touch of spice with sweet undertones from the scallion.

Just to be sure I get some spice in my diet, I ordered the Sichuan Cold Chicken, which did not disappoint in the spice category.

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me but I did end up with left overs for 2 days.

[percyn]

Tempted by Philadining's picture of the Pork with Cilantro above, I ordered the same a few days ago.

Pork with Cilantro - Spicy, garlicy goodness

And the leftovers are great on Eggs

[percyn]

Got some

Mongolian Beef - This is a decent rendition of sweet and spicy beef with lots of scallions.

Lamb w/Cumin - The has tons of cumin in it...enough to make my whole kitchen smell of it when I reheated the dish. It also dried out a bit on the ride home

Spicy Frog - Unfortunately no picture of this extremely spicy dish. Don't expect big frog leg pieces, the frog was chopped in 1/2 inch pieces which gauranteed at least one bone (if not 2-3) in every bite of frog. This is probably the hottest dish I have had at this restaurant.