KJ Kitchen Chinese Cuisine

Despite all the gambling, bright lights, and clubbing going on, Las Vegas is a great food destination.  There are great places on the Strip as well as off the Strip.  Last year, I made my first trip to Chinatown, a series of strip malls located around Spring Mountain Road.

The main attraction here are the unbelievable amount of restaurants around here.  Most of the restaurants serve Chinese food, but there is also Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Thai available.  Unlike where I live, where each strip mall has maybe 1 Chinese restaurant,  there are multiple eateries in each mall in Vegas.  The strip mall where KJ is located has 4 other restaurants.

On this particular night, my family and I decided to drive out to find a new restaurant.  The best way to gauge it was by whether there was a decent crowd inside.  We noticed that this place was packed, so we decided to give it a try.

After having been to a few restaurants in this area, it's safe to assume that it's customary that pork and dried vegetable soup is always served to start.  But there is an unusual addition in this.  Yes, those are chicken feet in the soup.  It adds a little bit of viscosity to the soup due to the collagen and cartilage.

Deer with Ginger and Scallion

What? A Chinese restaurant serving venison?  That's exactly what's going on here.  Cooked in the same way as beef, this is one amazing dish.  Even though the vegetables mask the smell of the meat, the taste is still uniquely venison.  The meat has a deeper and gamier flavor compared to beef.   was so happy to see this on the menu coming back from Utah, a place with so much game available, only very few are available during the winter time.

Frog in Clay Pot

These aren't just frog legs; it's the whole body.  The amphibian is decapitated, gutted, and hacked up before being placed in the clay pot with onions, shiitake mushrooms, Chinese sausage, oyster sauce, and soy sauce.  The Chinese name of this dish comes from the sound it makes while cooking.  There are legs in here but there is also the body on the bone.  This part of the frog contains different portions of the vertebrae, which requires much care when eating.

With this and last year's trip to Vegas, I have still only scratched the surface of this fine Chinatown.  And this is certainly a hidden that I won't forget.  I mean, where would anyone find venison served at a Chinese restaurant?

5960 Spring Mountain Road
Las Vegas, NV 89146

Hong Kong Pearl Seafood Restaurant

I have always known that there were good Chinese restaurants in Northern Virginia.  I personally never went to any of them.  Why?  There are many reasons I guess.  The driving distance is a significant factor.  I don't like to think that I'm too lazy to get down there.  But I think that the biggest reason is that there are similar restaurants near where I live, so there's no need to drive an hour to eat the same thing.

Living near some great restaurants makes it really easy for me to shelter myself within Montgomery County.  There really is no need to venture out as you probably can't get a much better variety that is here.

I ended up here on chance, while driving from Pentagon City to Tyson's Corner.  When I first laid eyes on the area, I was surprised that it is situated near a strip mall complex dedicated to Asian restaurants.  Not only Chinese, but Vietnamese and Korean were there among others.  I was impressed with the variety.  It could certainly give anything in my neck of the woods a run for the money.

This is a very large restaurant, which usually means that it would hold major events on any given day.    It so happened that there was a wedding reception that night, closing the main dining.  Good thing there is an auxiliary room even though it was only half the size.

Dinner here is like any major restaurant serving Cantonese food.  There are several dishes along with pre fixe options.  However, this place includes a late night dim sum menu.  Really unheard as that is strictly a lunch/brunch thing.  I guess there is a really high demand for that stuff.  Being with the family, I get a pre fixe for 4 people along with another dish.

Barbecue Plate

A great and decadent way to start the meal.  An appetizer of the chef's choice of meats.  For this day, there was soy sauce chicken and roast duck.  There were remnants of feathers on the chicken skin, which may sound disgusting, but is actually a good thing.  This means that the restaurant uses freshly slaughtered chickens rather the shrink wrapped stuff that you get at the supermarket.  Quality and freshness means everything.

Crab and Fish Stomach Soup

Soup du jour is very traditional for any Chinese meal.  The fish stomach starts out dried and is rehydrated in the cooking process.  There isn't much flavor in it as it is rubbery.  Overall, there is an modest umami flavor.  It is why people sometimes put red vinegar in it to add some extra flavor.

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops

Chinese style pork chops are like munchies for me.  One, they're fried.  Second, they are very flavorful.  The tough part is choosing which style of preparation do I want: covered in a sweet and savory sauce or sprinkled with salt and pepper.  For this meal, I was craving salt and pepper.  These are also cooked with some hot peppers.

Chinese Broccoli

You can't have a complete meal without vegetables.  Not only are these good for you, they also taste good.  Some water and garlic is all that is needed.  It's that simple.

Fish in XO Sauce

                                     

XO sauce is one of the most important ingredients in Cantonese cooking.  It is made from dried seafood, chilies, and vegetable oil.  It primarily enhances the flavor of the fish by giving it a slight spicy kick and a salt cured taste.  There is also celery and snow peas.

Conch Stir Fry

This was not part of the set dinner, but was still awesome regardless.  There are some exquisite ingredients in this dish, such as dried squid and conch in addition to the celery, bean sprouts, lotus root, leeks, and carrots.  Chinese dried squid, or at least the ones that are in this dish, is an artisanal product.  The salt curing provides the backbone of the flavor in the dish.

It's a shame that not many people come here for dinner as it is quite an amazing experience that is just as good as having dim sum in the afternoon.  Sure, there isn't as much variety, but this is also a great side of Chinese cooking.  It's also a shame that I didn't try this place earlier.

This is one of the reasons why I started this blog in the first place: to start my own personal journey to  discover some great and unique restaurants and other eating experiences where I live and travel.  Northern Virginia can match with anything that I have had before.  Now it's time to dig even further.

Seven Corners Center

6286 Arlington Boulevard

Falls Church, VA 22044