At Pan Asia, Barbecue Is a World Away From American

You may have a little trouble finding Pan Asia, a Mongolian barbecue restaurant tucked into a Costa Mesa shopping center, but it’s worth the hunt. Few restaurants give you as much good food and pleasure for so little money.

Don’t expect barbecue in the American sense.

When you order Mongolian barbecue, you start with a bowl of frozen uncooked meat--beef, pork, lamb, turkey or any combination. (Which meat you choose really doesn’t affect the finished taste, so make your doctor happy and choose turkey.)

You’re then invited to the cold counter to add chopped cabbage, carrots, onions, celery, bean sprouts and cilantro. Don’t be skimpy; pile it on!

Next to the vegetable trays are pots of spiced oils and sauces that you ladle on according to taste. A sign above the counter gives hints on what and how much to use, but those amounts are conservative. If you like your food spicy, add more than recommended; if you like it hot, substitute chili oil for barbecue oil. You can cut back on the oil if you’re calorie-conscious. If in doubt, ask advice from the servers.

Shake on some powdered garlic, add sesame seeds now or later, then give the bowl to the cook. He’ll dump it on a gigantic blazing-hot griddle, cook it quickly, then return it to you.

Experiment. The genius of this dish is that it can be almost anything to anyone.

The rest of your meal appears at the table while your barbecue is being cooked. Barbecue is the restaurant’s basic style, and there’s plenty of it in even the smallest order. But you can supplement the meal with substantial but unspectacular soup, rice, egg roll, pocket biscuits, deep-fried shrimp and fried won-ton.

Lunch, served until 3 p.m., is as inexpensive as $3.25, and it goes up to just $4.65 even with everything. An all-you-can-eat dinner is $6.95; the with-everything dinner, $7.50. Children’s plates cost as little as $2.85. There are the usual beverages as well as wine and various American and Asian beers.

The restaurant, opened 11 years ago, has become a local favorite, but you almost have to be a local to find it. It’s at the rear of a shopping center on the south side of East 17th Street just west of Tustin Avenue. Few people make the trip without making it again sometime.

Pan Asia, 369 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa. Open Monday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Sunday 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (714) 646-4644.