Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 5.16 77 By Mary Chellis Austin / Photos by Chris Witzke Everybody is Kung Fu Dining Ordering stuffed egglant, Szechuan chicken and dim sum. When I tell people that I tried Oriental House for the frst time and that it restored my faith in Chinese food, they look at me like I have beef and broccoli in my teeth. "Is that that place on Shelbyville Road by that gas station?" they say. "Tat pagoda-like building with a red sign that looks like it's been around since the Tang Dynasty? Always seemed a little questionable." I understand the dismissal. It's disap- pointing nowadays when you're craving some Moo-Shu pork and gamble on a joint that may or may not be the cause of the gastric issues or MSG-induced headache you sufer from later. Ori- ental House is diferent. Te Chinese restaurant opened in 1964, when Shel- byville Road was hardly the strip-mall landscape it is today. (I recently tried to call the restaurant and misdialed, reaching a guy at an advertising agency who said he'd never been to Oriental House but that his 77-year-old parents talk about how it was the spot for 20-somethings back in the day.) To my knowledge, Oriental House is one of two places in town that serves dim sum. (Te other is Jade Palace in Westport Village.) Tis communal, small-plate tradition is often associated with brunch but is available anytime at Oriental House. Stufed eggplant with shrimp, pork dumplings, fried turnip cake and beef congee are several of the sharable tastes, most of which cost about $3. Te rest of the fve-page, small-print menu isn't kind to those with decision fatigue, but with every- thing cooked to chef Bai He Chiu's standards, you can't go wrong with a standby like Szechuan chicken ($9.50). Chiu and his wife Fanny bought the place in 2003 (she's usually the one who greets you when you walk in, along with the turtles in a tank), becoming the third set of owners in the restaurant's 52-year history. He had been a chef in San Francisco, working among what his son Jonathan calls "dim sum masters." Te competition was understandably hot and the Chius had family in Louisville, so Bai He, now 55, brought his skills here. Bai He doesn't speak English and all of his recipes are written in Chinese, illegible to Jonathan, who's been learning under his father and plans to take over when he retires in 10 or so years. Even after working for more than 20 years to perfect his dim sum recipes, Bai He Chiu will say he's only 90 percent there. Take the barbecue pork buns: Chiu lets them rise for 12 hours before wrapping them around pork and steaming them. Tere's a precise time frame to steam the dough or it defates, and the buns have to be white, not yellow, and they have to bloom a cer- tain way. And that's just one item. "In California there are like fve dim sum Oriental House 4302 Shelbyville Road Opposite page: Hong Kong roasted duck. This page (from top): fried turnip cake, Chinese broccoli, chicken curry.