JENNIFER K MAHAL -- Dining Review

My first exposure to Mongolian barbecue came a few weeks ago, when a

friend took me to an all-you-can-eat buffet in a nearby town. It was so

much fun that I have been hungry to try it again.

So, I opened up my trusty Yellow Pages and found Pan Asia Mongolian

Bar-B-Q on East 17th Street in Costa Mesa. It’s the best find that the

phone book ever made for me.

The quartet of college-age patrons that trooped in ahead of me for

lunch should have been a clue to the pricing of the fare. That and the

surfers that came in right after. This is no swanky restaurant. Instead

it’s a clean, cluttered dive with prices that will leave you feeling

flush -- especially when you get out with lunch for two having cost under

$20, including tip.

Pan Asia’s decor will probably never win any awards, but it’s

cheerful. Red is the primary color, with Chinese lanterns and butterfly

kites hanging from the ceiling. It’s a small place and it gets crowded

easily, especially during lunch hour.

The menu is rather limited -- basically there’s Mongolian barbecue,

Mongolian barbecue and more Mongolian barbecue. wonton soup ($2.50 a

bowl), baby egg rolls ($1.60 for 4), fried shrimp ($2 for 2), fried

wontons ($1.20 for 6), pocket biscuits ($0.90 for 2) and special

dumplings ($4 for 10) fill out the side orders, but that’s pretty much

it.

For those who are not familiar with it, Mongolian barbecue consists of

sliced meats, vegetables and special sauces that are stir-fried to order.

The fun of going to such a place is that you get to pick out everything

and then watch them cook it.

One of the nice things about Pan Asia is that while you do get to

choose your meat, it is brought to you in a bowl rather than being set

out in the buffet. It seems much more sanitary this way -- and you still

get to mix between beef, pork, lamb and turkey. Did I mention this really

isn’t a place for vegetarians?

I chose lunch “D,” which consists of soup, four fried wontons, two

shrimp, one serving of barbecue, a baby egg roll, rice and hot tea for

$5.25. This is the most expensive thing on their lunch menu. What a

bargain!

The soup consisted of a thin broth with lots of cabbage and what I

think may have been bok choy. It was OK, mildly flavorful with not too

much salt.

Then came the real thing -- a bowl filled with lamb and turkey slices,

ready for me to add veggies and flavor. The serving was a nice size. They

are not stingy with the meat.

At the buffet table, I added carrots, cabbage, sprouts and cilantro to

my bowl before dashing in some sauce. You can choose from curry, hot

pepper, lobster, mild barbecue, medium barbecue or spicy barbecue sauce.

There are even recipes that tell you how many dippers full of different

sauces will make a good combination. (Note: The barbecue sauce is not

American style, rather it is a thin broth with spices.)

Personally, I prefer to experiment. I ended up taking two dippers of

curry, one of red pepper, two of medium barbecue and two of barbecue oil

(useful for when they stir fry) for my mix. It turned out yummy.

Mongolian barbecue is not good for people trying to keep kosher or who

have allergies to certain types of meats, vegetables or sauces. The bowl

of meat and veggies is dashed out upon a flat circular grill, where it is

fried up, usually next to someone else’s order. While the grill is

scraped between each order, it’s not cleaned. So your beef-only bowl may

end up with traces of pork juice. Just warning you.

The sides were fine. The baby egg roll was small and squishy, not

crunchy. But I like them that way. The most I can say about the wontons

is that they were fried. They didn’t really have much of a taste past

that.

The plump shrimp were battered and rolled in sesame seeds, which gave

them a nice taste and texture. They were firm and juicy. A nice match to

the standard mustard and sweet and sour sauce that accompanied them.

The dinner prices are only a few dollars higher than lunch --

all-you-can-eat barbecue for $8.95, one serving with biscuits and rice

costs $5.80.

What it lacks in menu, it makes up in price and taste. Pan Asia

Mongolian Bar-B-Q may be the best buy in Costa Mesa.

* JENNIFER K MAHAL is features editor of the Daily Pilot. STEPHEN

SANTACROCE is on vacation.

FYI

WHAT: Pan Asia Mongolian Bar-B-Q

WHERE: Westport Square, 369 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa

HOURS: 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to

10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday

COST: Inexpensive

CALL: (949) 646-4644