Fit for a King

by Mary Lee Shalvoy

Photography by Bob Kuzmeski


Ching Hua on Park has one of the friendliest atmospheres in town. The restaurant's alluring interior and enormous, inviting windows draw diners in crowds-you can't help but bump into a neighbor or old friend. Add delicious Chinese food to the mix, and you have an Alameda success story.  _
But the story doesn't start here. Proprietor Edward Chu opened his first restaurant, Shen Hua, on College Avenue in Berkeley in 1998 and has enjoyed a flourishing business ever since.
Success seems to come naturally to the hard-working Chu family. Chu's mother, Jane Ching Hua Chu, provides the inspiration for both the restaurant's menu and name. She spends most of her time overseeing and cooking in the recently opened Alameda restaurant, paying attention to the smallest of details. Chu's brother, Phillip, who owns and operates Kirin Chinese Restaurant on Solano Avenue in Berkeley offers essential training and advice.
With Shen Hua keeping him extremely busy, why did Chu open a second restaurant? "I enjoy it; it's fun," he explains. "Really, it's the people, watching them come in and eat and dine and enjoy themselves. That's why I do it."
And why Alameda? "There's such a small-town feel in Alameda. It's like Leave It to Beaver, the kind of place where everyone knows the butcher and the dry cleaner. It's a great atmosphere." Ching Hua already has a following in town, as some of the restaurant's biggest supporters were regulars in Chu's Berkeley restaurant.
The San Francisco-born and -bred Chu describes the cuisine at Ching Hua as "northern-style Chinese food," based on his mother's style of cooking with some fine tuning to accommodate the Alameda clientele.
More specifically, the Ching Hua Web site, www.chinghuaonpark.com, describes the cuisine as "authentic Beijing and Sichuan dishes prepared in the Beijing and Sichuan style." These were the favorites of the royal families and the upper class in Imperial China. Chu explains that these approaches to the selection, preparation and presentation of food "represent the pinnacle of Chinese culinary tradition."
Truth be told, Ching Hua really offers home cooking.
"My mom told me what to do initially, and then we made adjustments from her food based on the feedback from the customers. Her food is heavier, with more oil [than what Ching Hua offers]. We just play around with it," Chu says. "Our customers are my critics."
The Ching Hua menu includes traditional Chinese fare-soup, appetizers, salads, entrees, house-made noodle dishes, rice, chow mein and chow fun-but is replete with specialties and surprises. Chu uses fresh vegetables, fruits, seafood and meats. Any dish with "Ching Hua" in its name, including the offerings on the bar menu, is a house specialty. The restaurant has a full liquor license, and the lovely bar offers a myriad of martinis and other colorful libations, as well as a nice selection of beer and wines.
Newcomers, Chu insists, should try the pot stickers-truly an Alameda treat. Not only is the pastry made fresh daily in the restaurant, but the meat filling also comes from Baron's Meat and Poultry, a neighboring vendor in the Alameda Marketplace.
In addition to the homemade pot stickers, Ching Hua's mu shu pancakes are also pressed daily. "Many other restaurants don't make them daily; they buy them frozen," Chu says.
Along with four pancakes, Ching Hua's mu shu dishes consist of a combination of shredded cabbage, willow tree fungus and fluffed eggs sautéed in a house soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Mu shu options include a choice of shredded pork, shredded beef, diced chicken or shrimp.
Ching Hua lettuce cups are a great way to start a meal and combine sautéed mixtures of meats and vegetables. In this version, diners pick the meat, chicken, seafood or vegetable, and the mixture is quickly dry sautéed with sliced black mushrooms and chopped water chestnuts then served with cold crisp lettuce leaves and plum sauce.
Ching Hua, Chu stresses, is more than just a Chinese restaurant: "We're building an experience. No fluorescent lights, no red carpet, no panel lights. ... And I'm not a McDonald's."
Chu strives to personalize each experience, to make it different, unique and enjoyable. He is willing to make changes to dishes on the spot for regular patrons and will adjust the recipe on a dish if the feedback from several diners is not up to par.
"We're a good Chinese joint," he says.
Now you can stop by and see for yourself.  _

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CHING HUA ON PARK. Chinese. Serves lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, dinner
5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
1650 Park St., (510) 522-8777.