I was really curious about how these guys would do with the transition from their White Star incubator kiosk to a real brick and mortar store. They were able to take a nice space, and, with some nice, low key touches, make it even nicer. I’m not sure people consciously pay much attention to choices in tableware and flatware, but if the layout is consistent, it can very much help shape the overall atmosphere, or, in this case, fen shui .
I’ve enjoyed several of their ramens already at White Star, so when I went for lunch I was focused on apps and “sharables” those slightly larger apps that can be a lunch for one or shared appetizers for two or more. I also had an eye out for meatless dishes. I tried a couple of baos and the steamed pork dumplings. The baos took a while for some reason, long enough for the manager to not charge me, and I’m not sure what I got was what I originally ordered, but they were both very tasty, and worth the wait. The dumplings were pretty spicy, something CYP isn’t afraid of. Just about everything comes with that special pop, and I had to be careful to push aside a lot of jalapenos since they don’t particularly agree with me anymore.
I was very pleased that they had a variety of loose leaf teas to choose from, served in a small sachet with a pot of steaming water so you could steep several cups separately without letting the whole pot grow bitter. Nice technique, takes a little more prep time, but definitely sets them apart from the places that only have machine generated green tea or commercial tea packets or no hot tea at all. I enjoyed lunch so much and was curious enough about the rest of the menu that I returned for dinner and had the smoked enoki mushrooms with ponzu and the incredible salt and pepper cauliflower. “Salt and pepper” is Asian menu shorthand for “battered and fried”. I’m thinking they steamed the cauliflower just a little before they fried it because I can’t see how they could have produced such a perfectly tender inside and light and crispy outside without some kind of advanced prep on such a dense vegetable. The sauce that came with was an excellent compliment and a complete mystery to me. Luckily I know a couple of folks that work there, so maybe I can get an inside scoop on how to make it at my house. I’ll definitely be returning often to this spot for both lunch and dinner.
