Chinese Menu Blends Tradition With Innovation

Remember Madame Wu? The elegant Madame Wu, who stood like a Chinese icon in her jade silk Mandarin dress greeting customers in the atrium of her Madame Wu’s Garden, where a magnificent stone waterfall gushed resounding cries of welcome.

After 29 years you’d think that something would slip, but not so. The waterfall still has a lively gush, the free-standing handsome Chinese pagoda-style architecture designed by Guy Moore in the ‘60s can still be appreciated for its period beauty, and Madame Wu, youthful in appearance though in her 70s, still makes you feel as if you’ve arrived at a state banquet attended by royalty.

‘Still Working’

“I’ve been working since 1960 and I’m still working,” said Madame Wu, wife of a former Chinese diplomat and aerospace engineer who arrived in Los Angeles via Hong Kong in the ‘40s.

Madame Wu’s Garden’s success, prior to the last 10 years when the restaurant was the only kid on the block, is legendary.

Politicians, businessmen and luminaries such as Cary Grant, Mia Farrow, Frank Sinatra and Robert Redford clustered in the atrium while waiting patiently for a seat in cozy booths surrounded by artifacts of a caliber not normally seen in Los Angeles Chinese restaurants. I love the muted lighting effects, the architecturally rounded stucco walls, the understated artwork niched in walls. Chinese waiters in bow ties served the illustrious clients with impeccable decorum, addressing them by surname, as they still do.

Innovative Touches

The food, too, was notches above run-of-the-mill, with Madame Wu’s polished, innovative touch adding charm and creativity to the presentation. I remember dining on an electrified whole fish, which had been decorated with tiny, battery-operated lights illuminating it as the meal was brought to the table.

According to Madame Wu, she and her chef developed the recipe for her famous Chinese chicken salad, a takeoff on a complex cold Chinese dish.

However, restaurants flourishing in the Santa Monica area where Wu’s Garden once was king have gouged huge chunks of the restaurant market, causing Madame Wu’s Garden to wilt slightly in recent years.

Deep, vacant spaces throughout the restaurant scream for the vital life it once knew, and a revival of the days when the place was packed. Nevertheless, faithful customers, who have aged along with Madame Wu’s Garden and Madame Wu herself, still come.

“We are all getting old together,” Madame Wu says without regret.

But the Garden has not gone to seed and the food could not have been a better surprise if I had stumbled upon the restaurant in its heyday. Actually, nothing has changed from its original grandiose form. The portions are huge according to American, not Chinese standards, following Madame Wu’s sensitivity to American tastes and needs.

Cantonese, Mandarin Offerings

Any restaurant starting today strives for years to achieve the perfection that Madame Wu’s menu has achieved. The Cantonese-Mandarin offerings, though hardly as varied as the multiregional cuisines brought to Los Angeles by Chinese chefs in the last 10 years, are, nevertheless, simple and to the point, pared down to include the best of the tried and true.

If, for instance, you hanker for Cashew chicken, sweet and sour shrimp, chicken chow mein, beef lo mein or the foil-wrapped chicken appetizers you used to find at almost every Chinese restaurant in the old days, Madame Wu serves them to perfection.

The house specialties--such as tomato beef, beef with vermicelli, moo shu pork or chicken plus a group of diet vegetarian dishes (bean curd with vegetables and minced chicken)--deserve a try.

My favorite, by far, are the ribs. And what ribs they are! Honey-barbecued. Finger-lickin’ good. The best I’ve had, to be sure.

If you go for lunch, don’t miss the tossed shredded chicken salad. It’s one of the best in town.

Value for the Dollar

The prices? What a bargain. You can order Peking Duck for four to six persons for only $29.50. You can get a whole steamed fish of the type that’s served last on an elaborate Chinese banquet menu or a lobster Cantonese for only $13.95.

A common factor found while rediscovering classic restaurants in town has been the decent price structure. There is no arrogant high-pricing among them. You get value for the dollar, considering the high quality of the food, ambiance and service. You sense an old-fashioned regard for other people’s money that may elude operators of over-priced restaurants.

At the Garden, chow mein for lunch is $6.95. Soups are $3.95 to $5.95; shrimp, pork, beef and chicken dishes range from $6.95 to $8.95. Entrees on the dinner menu start at $9.95.

And for dessert, the ginger and coconut ice creams will be wonderful palate-pleasers.

Like everything else at Madame Wu’s Garden.

Madame Wu’s Garden, 2201 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica. (213) 828-5656. Open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Saturday from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Sunday 3 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Major credit cards accepted. Reservations suggested. Valet parking on premises ($1.50). Full bar. Banquet facilities available.