The first glimpse of Chef Liu left me an exceedingly unfavorable impression. As most of the people noted, the restaurant looked very shabby outside. Just by looking at this place, I could not find any resemblance between this tiny shack and a traditional Chinese restaurant, other than the sign with “Classic Chinese Food” written on it. All of these defects lowered my interests to dine at this place at once. However, my friends, being the enthusiastic fans of Chef Liu, nearly dragged me inside. Not surprisingly, the decoration style
inside was as crude as the outside one. The table was set very casually: the menu was inscribed between the table cloth and a sheet of glass, some basic ingredients for Chinese cuisines like vinegar and salt were placed randomly on the table and the cookies were exposed to the air with no cover on them. But there was one thing which definitely caught my attention as I entered the restaurant: a huge traditional kite which hung on the center of the roof. This reminded me of the spring of my hometown, the time when a variety of colorful and dazzling kites flying in the sky.As soon as we sat down, the waitress just grabbed a pad and rushed to us. Recognizing that we are Chinese, she switched from English to Chinese immediately, pointed to the specials board and began to introduce the specials in Chinese fluently. I took a close look at the specials board and found out that there was not even an English word written on it. All of the specials were written in Chinese. I could not help worrying about how the waitress would respond if the customer was an American who knew nothing about mandarin, especially when the menu rarely had any illustrations.
Understanding Chinese perfectly, we ordered some traditional Chinese cuisines which were highly recommended by the waitress which were also in China, for example, Lamb Kabob, Seaweed and Shanghai Juicy Steamed Pork Buns. Unexpectedly, the dishes were served quickly. The Lamb Kabob was served on the table about the same time when the order was released. The kabob was glowing with a light gold color and diffusing with the inviting smell of meat. Just by staring at it can make me mouthwatering and when I took a small bite, the amazing taste of roasted lamb devoured in my whole mouth instantly. No wonder lamb kabob was one of the must-have cuisines in this little restaurant, this unique and original taste deeply impressed not only the foreigners who had rarely tasted Chinese traditional food, but also me, a native Chinese who was extremely picky about Chinese dishes. This snack was followed by several cold dishes like seaweed and chicken cool skin. These two dishes were both relatively sweeter than the ones I used to have in China. However, it was hard to criticize such palatable dishes. So let me just say that the food here was modified to adapt to the taste of the Americans. Finally, the three main courses: Shanghai juicy steamed pork buns, Cha Chiang Mein and beef noodles soup were served. All of the three courses were completely oversize. They were about two or three times large as the normal ones. I could hardly imagine how a girl like me could finish a whole plate. Beef noodles soup was the one I ordered. It was without any doubt the most authentic Chinese dish I had ever eaten after arriving in Atlanta. Since the noodles were made by hand, they had very special elasticity which could never be achieved using machines. A small sip of the soup could enrich my mouth with a mellow sense of beef. Clearly, the soup that was used to boil the noodles was not as simple as flavorless water.
Out of curiosity, I consulted the waitress standing beside our table:”What ingredients do you put in the noodle soup?”
She explained to me patiently:”Usually, spreading the cooked beef on the noodles is the last step when making the noodles soup. But in our restaurant, the soup is boiled with beef until the beef is done. Then all together, they are boiled to cook the noodles. By this way, the rich flavor of the beef can mix with every bit of the noodles.”
I was stunned that this bowl of noodles required such great efforts to put into. Suddenly, I realized that I should not judge Chef Liu only by its appearance. The food here was so far beyond my imagination, so did the service here. In order to have a peaceful environment and dine in without any disturbance, I chose the time when there were not large flows of people on purpose. With only two waitresses taking charge of serving, ordering and taking care of the checks, everything was still going very smoothly. Every now and then, a waitress would refill the water for us and check if everything was going well. By the time we were leaving, the owner of the restaurant, known as chef Liu came front to us and asked if we had a good dinner. She was very outgoing and talked a lot about her hometown Tianjin and the delicious snacks there. We had a nice chat and she even introduced some friends of hers in the restaurant to us. It seemed that all the customers in this little restaurant were her old friends.
Chef Liu was the place where I felt comfortable dinning in.
It was the place where I could taste original Chinese food.
It was the place which made me feel like home.
As I walked out of Chef Liu, I had complicated feelings going on in my minds. This little cozy restaurant would surely be the perfect location for Chinese people who have missed their hometown’s food to hang out. But was this restaurant suitable for Americans to dine in? So I did a little investigation when I went back. Without any surprises, there were hardly any American friends of mine who had ever heard of Chef Liu, not mentioning eating in. The famous restaurant review blog in Atlanta “The Blissful Glutton”, commented that this restaurant only offered things more like breakfast and called this place “a shack in the parking lot of the Pine Tree Plaza shopping center at 5221 Buford Highway.”
To sum up, though Chef Liu’s appearance and decorations cannot be accepted by the public, as a whole, I am still satisfied with this tiny restaurant not only because the food and service were really outstanding but also in that I truly appreciated the friendly atmosphere here.
Applause to Chef Liu, it does utilize the limited room and make it stand out from the flow.
Questions for Chef Liu, will a restaurant last if its customers are mainly Chinese?
Chef Liu (Overall rating: ★★★☆☆)
Location：5221 Buford Highway (Pine Tree Plaza)
Price Range: $2-$5, mostly around $5
Recommended Dishes: Lamb Kabob, Mandarin Pork Cake, Cha Chiang Mein and Beef Noodles Soup
Reservations: Not accepted
Sound level: a little noisy
reference: The Blissful Glutton http://blissfulglutton.blogspot.com/2005/10/chef-lius-atlanta.html
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