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My ex-husband and I are lucky to be friends and have had an amicable divorce. We've now been divorced as long as we were married - 9.5 years. But we agree that we will always be in each other's lives and that any future spouses will just have to be able to accept that.
This Valentine's he asked me to dinner on Saturday for old time's sake. He took me to an old haunt, Roseville Gourmet. The last time I went there was when we were married, so it's been at least ten years. When I asked if the ownership was the same, the waitress said it was and that they've been there now for about 20 years.
You would never guess that it is a Chinese restaurant by the name. It is situated right off the freeway on Douglas Blvd. and there is plenty of parking for this good sized restaurant. It is bright, cheerful, and clean. The staff were also attentive.
On the menu are some preset choices. We always got the same one and this day was no different. After all, this was for memory sake. There was a change though.
Ten years ago we LOVED this dinner menu. I would even go to order the dumplings to go as a light dinner sometimes. I think it might be just a change in my tastebuds and dining scorecard since I am so much more the foodie now. My standards have really gone up. So I'm going to say that the meal was good, but just not great. Not great in the way my memory had it. Then again, sometimes you kinda romanticize memories, you know?
The first thing you receive is the Hot & Sour soup. The flavor is good and the soup is filled with ingredients - they don't cheap out. But this is the first time I've ever had such a thick version of the soup. Good, but a little strange since it wasn't what I was used to.
Next came a plate of sliced cured pork with mustard sauce. Nothing special there. Then the chicken dumplings in sweet chili sauce. These we always like. They are large and the sauce is plentiful. Not sure if they make it themselves but it certainly is different than any of the bottle sauces I see in the store. These big boys are pretty filling on their own. The photo shows two of the four because we had already devoured the first two.
The two entree courses came next with the nutty fried rice. One of them is Walnut Chicken. This, again, was good but not exceptional. It was like any other walnut chicken or prawns that you would get.
Our other favorite is the lamb chops. How often do you find lamb chops at a Chinese restaurant? These are done in a Hoisin sauce and are tender and yummy. I love lamb chops and always end up nibbling on the bones to get every last bit. They were good about giving you an even number of chops so that you didn't have to fight over the odd extra.
The meal was good and I don't mind recommending Roseville Gourmet. It's just that there are so many Chinese restaurants out there and if you want to find really traditional versus Americanized, then you best go elsewhere.
