亚洲菜肴入侵芝加哥
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长大，那时，我们社区外还没有像样的中国餐馆，也没有越南、日本或泰国风味餐馆。那时，人们把这个风城（windy city）称为“肉和土豆”小镇，烹饪传统源于德国。虽然偶尔也有不错的法国菜餐馆，或勉强算是意大利菜的餐馆，但这里基本上还是一个美食荒漠。然而，在过去40年中，正如在美国的其他大城市发生了巨大变化那样，一场社会、文化和种族大地震改变了芝加哥的饮食风貌。我十分好奇于这些变化对亚洲烹饪自身所产生的影响，于是决定去探查一番。

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.
一开始，我很惊讶地发现，那里有很多日本餐馆，或从日本菜得到灵感的餐馆。更令我惊奇的是在Charlie Trotter餐厅吃到的绝好的一餐。当然，他是美国顶尖的大厨，也是芝加哥最棒的。但那儿的品鉴菜单(也是唯一的菜单)却有点像典型的日本怀石料理。那是一种通常在日本的温泉或乡间小馆才有的传统晚餐，分成好几道菜。在这里，小份的品味五木茶面配上薄片亚洲甜梨，烟薰香菇佐以柑橘醋，鲷肝配上柚子格兰尼它冰糕，就好似一盆鹅肝佐以酸涩的小烘饼来调和肥腻。复活节蛋萝卜配上腌制的胡萝卜，像极了佛寺里做出来的菜，但味道要好得多。那顿饭，一道道色香俱全的美味菜肴让我大快朵颐了一整晚。

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.
镇上的每个人似乎都在谈论半岛酒店里那个叫“上海露台”(Shanghai Terrace)的餐厅里新来的厨师凯文?苏(Calvin Soh)。苏年纪三十不到，却已在多家新加坡顶级酒店掌过勺。某个周一夜晚，餐厅顾客盈门。他做的五香乳鸽很棒，咬一口，满嘴生香。他的药膳鸡汤，汤色如同清澈的茶水，滋味却不逊于我妈妈做的任何一道菜。他做的青森鲍鱼是所有菜中最有中国味的，嫩得几乎能与那层薄薄的耗油融在一起。正当我对这道菜叹为观止的时候，他又上了一道四川烤羊排，豆豉和干辣椒的味道已经完全渗入鲜嫩的羊肉，香气扑鼻。

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.
那顿饭实在太棒了，于是我第二天又去吃了中饭。那天天气很好，所以我提出坐到外面的露台上。在暖暖的阳光下，我吃到了比一般汤包都更有味道、汁水更多的上海汤包。另一道选得很满意的菜是金枪鱼鱼生。那是一道开胃菜，新鲜的金枪鱼缀以番木瓜酱菜、花生、涩桔子、辛辣生姜蜜饯，再用不知道是酸梅汁还是酸橙汁拌了一下。而新加坡炒面却显露了苏的厨艺源于伟大的新加坡街头小吃。在技艺精湛又富有激情的大厨手中，这道菜的美味展露无遗。

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.
我直到去了东南亚旅游，才发现越南菜。但自从越南战争结束后，很多越南移民在美国各地开设了很多餐馆，芝加哥也不例外。Le Colonial是我在小镇时尚一隅的一个重大发现。百叶窗和转动的吊扇折射了越南的殖民地历史，这家店装修得很有品味。二楼的吧台没有掩盖餐厅美味食物的光环。第一道菜是传统的夏卷(goi cuon)，一种小巧的米纸裹成的春卷，里面包着虾肉、猪肉和米粉，就着香菜丝和薄荷叶一起吃。上到桌上时，这道菜没一点油脂，我便知道厨房中的越南师傅身手不凡。

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——一种包有虾肉、鸡肉和蔬菜的食物，用橙汁生姜酱蘸着吃——觉得味道有点重。Ca nuong是一种烤三文鱼，上面涂了甜酱油，底下是米粉，就着嫩什生菜和淡橙汁蒜酱一起吃。三文鱼要四分熟的，免得烧得过熟。最棒的是bun thit nuong，薄薄的一层米粉上有多汁的腌制叉烧。我吃得都不想停下来。

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”的诱惑也让人无法抗拒。它是Lettuce Entertain You集团旗下的餐厅，有八家门店，以中式和泰式快餐为特色，生意很红火，墙上挂满了当地的农作物，你可以从中选择几种混合起来炒，也能选择自己喜欢的口味。这个成功理念背后的烹饪高手是大厨和菜谱制作者Bruce Cost。我也吃了泰国草药乌贼——和意大利炸鱿鱼有点像，但却以甜辣柠檬汁为蘸酱。鱿鱼和蘸酱都制作精良。鸡肉锅贴也很棒，是用慢火煎炸，皮脆馅鲜。宫爆鸡丁虽然吃上去不够正宗，但味道很不错，因为奇特的海鲜酱使它带上了一丝甜味。还有“大碗”的招牌饮料，姜汁生啤，是饱餐之后的提神佳品。这里的服务周到而高效。在我出来的路上，我忍不住去看敞开式厨房中是谁在掌勺。出乎我的意外，所有厨师都是墨西哥裔。Bruce Cost这个师傅当得不错。

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饱含怀旧的意味。然而，如果我怀疑那儿的菜失去了自己的特色，妈妈就会立即表示不同意。在她的坚持下，我们在位于唐人街中心地段的丽晶海鲜酒家(Emperor's Choice)餐厅吃了午饭。当然，那儿有常见的炒面和咕老肉。但如果你想吃正宗的中餐，他们的海鲜不同凡响。我们点了一份椒盐智利鲈鱼，做得很精细，手艺也不错。豆苗炒大蒜做得非常棒，所有中式厨房都会为做出这样一道菜而骄傲。

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.
令人无法抗拒其诱惑的要数来自美国西海岸的活邓杰内斯蟹，这道菜是把蟹拆壳后与生姜和葱在热锅中爆炒而成。我欣喜地看着84岁高龄的老母亲仔细挑出甜美柔嫩的蟹肉，蘸上葱片和姜末慢慢享用。她对其赞不绝口，甚至把它当成一种至高无上的享受。这让我有回家的感觉。