Ignore huge Lan Garden menu, but embrace delicious dim sum

Super Har Gow Jumbo Shrimp Dumplings ($6.95) are among 50 items on the dim sum menu at Lan Garden 88 in Ridgefield. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Slow service and pricing fresh fish by the pound are two of my complaints about Lan Garden 88, but I am totally won over by the restaurant's delicious selection of Hong Kong-style dim sum.

I can recall my first taste of dim sum in Hong Kong in 1979, when I had lunch in a restaurant so popular a customer waiting to eat stood behind each occupied chair as carts circulated in the dining room.

There and at dim sum lunches I had in later years in San Francisco and Manhattan Chinatowns, servers sang out in Chinese the names of the freshly prepared items displayed on the carts they pushed.

At Lan Garden, the atmosphere isn't as colorful and no carts appear in the dining room.

But the Ridgefield restaurant makes up for that by serving dim sum all day long (until 1 in the morning). 

Dim sum is also referred to as "yum cha," which means "eat tea." 

Beef Dumplings at Lan Garden ($4.95).

Fried Canton Carp Ball ($5.95).

Hard to top these dim sum

Lan Garden's freshly prepared array of dim sum eclipses what's available at any other Chinese restaurant in North Jersey, including Silver Pond Seafood Restaurant in Fort Lee.

In contrast to the large bound menu, Lan Garden's dim sum menu is a piece of paper on which you can check off which of the 50 items you want and how many you want.

The menu also includes Egg Custard Tart and other desserts, as well as Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls and Congee.

The items are labeled "Small" ($3.50), "Medium" ($4.95), "Large" ($5.95), "X Large" ($6.95) and "Super" ($8.95), and usually include two to four dumplings and so forth. 

Filling meal for $15 a person

On Tuesday afternoon, four of us ordered two Super Har Gow Jumbo Shrimp Dumpling, one of my favorites for the stuffing of minced shrimp and the garnish of tiny fish eggs.

We also ordered a Seafood Dumpling with Spinach, a Beef Dumpling, two Mini-Sized Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf ($5.95 each), Chicken Feet with Gluten in Chu-Hou Sauce, two Fried Canton Carp Ball and Pan Fried Chive Cake ($4.95).

The sticky rice and chive cake put the meal over the top, and we washed it all down with cup after cup of hot Chinese tea.

I was stuffed, and when the check came, we spent about $15 a person before tax and tip.

Chicken Feet with Gluten in Chu-Hou Sauce ($4.95).

Inside a Seafood Dumpling with Spinach ($5.95).

Eleven years ago, I celebrated the purchase of a new Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid with a meal at China 46, the Chinese soup-dumpling restaurant that preceded Lan Garden 88. On Tuesday, it was time to celebrate the purchase of my latest green car, an all-electric Tesla Model S.

Lan Garden, 88 Route 46 west (near Grand Avenue), Ridgefield; 201-840-8688. Restaurant hasn't received its liquor license yet, meaning you can bring your own wine or beer.

Open seven days for lunch and dinner, but closed weekdays between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Lan Garden in Ridgefield is taking 30% off during soft opening

Manager Leo Lee deboning a pan-fried whole flounder tonight at Lan Garden, a new Chinese restaurant on Route 46 in Ridgefield that is having a soft opening.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After many months of renovation and a change of ownership, Lan Garden on Route 46 in Ridgefield is finally having a soft opening.

The widely anticipated Chinese restaurant, which specializes in seafood and dim sum, is taking 30% off the food bill until the official opening, now set for Aug. 26.

Even the big sign designed to catch the eye of drivers racing by on the highway has changed: 

Lan Garden

Fine Chinese Cuisine

Restaurant & Bar

Complete makeover

The restaurant doesn't have a liquor license yet, but there is a bar as well as a wine room.

The owners of Lan Garden completely made over the building, removing any vestige of the former truck-stop diner that once housed China 46 and Phoenix Garden Too before that.

They will be tough acts to follow.

I stopped in for dinner this evening, ordering a spicy pan-fried whole flounder with sauteed snow peas, broccoli and water chestnuts in XO chili sauce, designated W56 on the limited temporary menu.

But after a long wait, I got a large platter holding only the fish, which weighed about 1.5 pounds, over a sweetish soy-based sauce ($22.95 before the discount).

I asked Manager Leo Lee, who deboned my fish, for the vegetables mentioned on the menu, and he suggested an order of snow pea leaves instead.

They were wonderful sauteed with fresh garlic ($13.95 before the discount).

An order of snow pea leaves with fresh garlic was delicious.

I will return

The kitchen and staff are still getting their sea legs, but I liked the food I tried enough to return and again take advantage of the soft-opening discount.

Lee, the manager, said food was free during the first days of the soft opening, and customers were asked to pay what they wanted.

Tonight, the restaurant didn't have the soft-shell crabs listed under appetizers or brown rice. 

The bowls of free white rice are smaller than at other Chinese restaurants. The plastic chopsticks are pink.

Next time I order a whole fish, I'll ask for it steamed; no matter how good the kitchen is at pan frying, the skin, and crunchy fins and tail can taste oily, as they did tonight.

My waiter said dim sum will be served all day, but must be ordered off the menu; carts won't circulate in the dining room.

The booths are gone, but the dining room of Lan Garden has large, round tables for the multi-generational Chinese families I saw there tonight, below.

There is plenty of parking at Lan Garden, but the gritty truck-repair business next door is a reminder of when the building served as a truck-stop diner.

Lan Garden Restaurant & Bar, 88 Route 46 west, Ridgefield; 201-840-8688. Call for hours during the soft opening.

The Web site, Lan Garden Restaurant & Bar, is under construction.