Sun Luck Garden
Address: 1901 South Taylor Rd Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
Phone: 216-397-7676
Cuisine: Chinese
Website: www.sunluckgarden.com
If you enjoy Chinese fare and have yet to visit chef/owner Annie Chiu’s diminutive eatery in Cleveland Heights, shame on you. Born in Hong Kong, Chiu cultivated a fascination with cooking in the United States, honing her skills with Parker Bosley and Sergio Abramof, among others, before heading to mainland China to study under a master chef. Luckily, she came back to the North Coast. Beyond the unremarkable strip mall exterior, a cutely decorated dining room awaits diners who are greeted by arguably the friendliest wait staff in the area. When not in the kitchen, the bubbly Chiu can be found chatting with diners. While the menu features many of the Chinese dishes you’d expect and hope to find, they’re prepared with a precision and delicate handling of ingredients not found in most other Chinese dining houses. However, you’ll likely never make it to the regular menu, with an unbeatable, seasonal selection of specials. Do not leave without ordering the butternut squash soup. The squash is baked with a judicious pinch of yellow curry that complements the nuttiness and sweetness of the gourd. It’s then wrapped in thin wonton noodles and neatly arranged in an intoxicating Vidalia onion broth. If Chiu and Manh Nguyen of Superior Pho united forces, they may be able to broker world peace, one soup at a time. No exaggeration. Notable starts include the scallion pancake, a fabulous crisp offering, overflowing with fragrant green onion. Also to be found on the regular menu is Green Jewels, an aromatically intoxicating dish with homemade minced pork and toothsome, sliced green beans in a deeply flavored yet light pepper sauce, and the vegetarian brown tofu with vegetables, which offers a uniquely earthy taste and meaty textured marinated tofu that may pleasantly dupe a few devout carnivores.
Photo by Stuart Spivack
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