Taiwan Café - Boston

 Taiwan Café is one of maybe two places in the country that can make a pork chop I don’t choke on. They’re the only people in whose hands a tough side of pork doesn’t go soggy or dry. They’re the only people who can infuse flavor into a slab of concrete, and they’re the only people who can conjure a crunchy phoenix of breading from the damp ashes of an often-charred, overrated cut. So when I found that I could exchange a Mr. Lincoln plus 50 cents ($5.50 for those whose adding skills rival mine) for a heaping slab of house special Fried Pork Chop on Rice Platter with some limp stewed cabbage and a decently-flavored soy sauce egg, I thought I’d pulled a failed Bill Clinton and accidentally inhaled.

The Mini Steamed Buns with pork and crabmeat alone are enough of a dinner for one. At $6.95, Taiwan Cafe saves me a much-needed quarter towards my laundry compared to Gourmet Dumpling House down the street. And believe me, those quarters add up after week 4, when I’m weighing the pros and cons of going to work in jeans vs no pants. Their dumpling skin is also thicker, which makes them less likely to break open and make you cry over spilt soup, a crucial quality in dumpling skin…and pants.

If you’re with a friend or just craving something green, the Sauteed Watercress with fermented tofu sauce sounds simple, but the fermented tofu flavor really adds a nice something extra. Read: fermented tofu, NOT stinky tofu. Though you should try the stinky tofu too…at your own risk…