A happy family goes out to dinner

Image by yewenyi via Flickr

Chinese New Year Parade in Sydney, Australia.

We returned to Lotus Cafe in Hackensack on Saturday night to try two more of the dishes from the Year of the Rabbit menu we sampled a week before. The six Chinese New Year's specials will be served through today, Feb. 13.

We had another good meal, but it was preceded by an argument with my 13-year-old son, who wanted to order the same lobster dish we had last time, Dragon & Phoenix, which has boneless fried chicken on the side.

I wanted to order two of the four dishes we hadn't sampled -- either Tangerine Braised Duck, with steamed buns, or Happy Family Meat Ball Casserole for my wife and son to share, and Walnut Scallops for me.

Happy family, indeed. I am not eating meat, but my son and wife are. I felt two entrees with the soup and two stir-fried greens we planned to order would have been enough.  

But my son didn't want duck and buns. He also didn't want the pork meatballs, cellophane noodles, fish tempura and quail eggs in the casserole, either. He wanted lobster. My wife stayed out of the argument, and wouldn't express a preference.

Finally, I ordered: sea scallops and walnuts in a sweet-and-sour sauce for me ($18) and X.O. Shrimp & Steak Kew ($25) for them -- cubes of filet mignon and jumbo shrimp in a sauce made with dried scallops, shrimp roe and anchovies.

I tried a couple of the shrimp, and they tasted really fresh, as good as any I've had before. The scallops in my dish were cooked perfectly and were a nice foil to the sweet, crunchy walnuts.

From the regular menu, we ordered stir-fried water spinach ($8.95) and snow pea leaves ($10.95), both with fresh garlic slices; and a seafood soup for two, but the waiter forgot to bring us the soup. 

Still, we had plenty to eat, and took home leftovers.

I was flooded with memories of meals in Manhattan's Chinatown when I noticed one of the waiters cleaning a bare tabletop with leftover tea and a cloth. Lotus Cafe uses white tablecloths after 5 p.m.

And the waiters know that when you open the top of your teapot, you want hot tea. They'll whisk it away and refill it, and when it's set down, you can thank them by tapping two fingers on the table two or three times.

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack,
in the Home Depot Shopping Center; 201-488-7070. 

BYO. Open seven days. Reservations recommended on weekends.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Dragon & Pheonix come to dinner

Image by infomatique via Flickr

Year of the Rabbit celebration in Dublin.

Lotus Cafe in Hackensack is serving a special menu for the Year of the Rabbit (4709), with seafood and meat options sure to please any Chinese New Year celebrant.

We enjoyed a bountiful meal Saturday night -- with lobster, shrimp, scallops and other seafood; chicken, greens, tofu and noodles (for longevity). 

We started with a soup from the regular menu -- spinach and creamy tofu for two ($4.95) -- and it was enough for three of us. Then, the waiter brought our two entrees from the New Year's menu and a noodle dish from the regular menu:

• Dragon & Pheonix -- Maine lobster in a ginger-and-scallion sauce with five-spice fried chicken on the side ($29).
• Fish & Leaves -- flounder fillet and velvet egg white mounded over sauteed snow-pea shoots ($18).
• X.O. Seafood E-Mein -- braised noodles with shrimp, scallop, squid, and fish cake in an X.O. sauce of anchovies, shrimp roe and dried scallops ($14.95).

Service was excellent, as usual, and I sipped my own Korean soju during the meal at our favorite Chinese restaurant.

We ordered two of the six dishes on the special menu, which is being served through Feb. 13, so we'll have the chance to go back and try the others.

My wife and son are eating meat, but I'm not, so I'm looking forward to sweet-and-spicy Walnut Scallops. They can choose from Tangerine-Braised Duck with steamed buns, X.O. Shrimp and Steak Kew, or Happy Family Meat-Ball Casserole with fish tempura, quail eggs and crab stick.

If you go on the weekend, reservations are recommended. You'll have to ask for the special New Year menu when you sit down.

You'll find a wonderful discussion of the Chinese New Year at Diva Indoors: Food, with love. Click on the following link:

Enter the Year of the Rabbit!

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., in the Home Depot Shopping Center, 
Hackensack; 201-488-7070. BYO.