Century City Heat

Sep26

Location: Century City Mall Dining Deck. (310) 788-0120

Date: September 9 & 18, 2014 and October 27, 2017 and March 8, 2020 and August 15, 2022

Cuisine: Beijing/Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Good to have on the westside, and now as good as some in the SGV

My faithful readers know I frequently venture out to the SGV for great Chinese, but I’m always looking for a fix closer to him. So when I heard (back in 2014) there was an actual Szechuan place in the Century City mall I went right on over. I’ve been a couple of times and more recently for a 6 person dinner in March of 2020 (on the eve of the pandemic) and a big gang dinner in August of 2022.

Yeah, it’s a big premium American mall!

Meizhou Donpo (sure doesn’t roll off the Western tongue). I’ve been told this is a high end (like Houstons) chain in China that has opened a branch here. This must reflect the influx of Chinese tourists into LA. All good in my view.

The interior is sort of new Chinese mall-swank.

They also have a huge patio (where we ate in 2020 and 2022).

Smashed cucumber with garlic (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). This was an excellent multi-dimensional cucumber salad. A bit of tangy, lots of garlic, and a little spice.

Sausage plate (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). Four different types of pork sausage. Some spicy. All very tasty.

Chicken potstickers (3/8/20). Pretty much as you imagine.

Cold chicken with ratan pepper (3/8/20). Very delicious boiled chicken with that numbing and bright green flavor.

Cold mung bean noodles with chili (3/8/20). This was a spectacular version of this Chengdu street dish. Tons of flavor and a hot of heat.

Cold noodles with spicy chicken (8/15/22). You mix it up and douse in the sauce. Quite nice cold noodle dish with good texture and flavor.

Beef tendon soup (3/8/20). I didn’t try it.

The lunch special comes with hot and sour soup (2014). I’m always a fan and this was a straight up classic version, with more heat than most American ones normally have.

Then I had to try all the Schezuan classics: Dan dan noodles (2014). Not your totally typical take on it, as it’s fairly wet. Most authentic ones I’ve had you mix up and are a tad drier. Still, this had a nice chili + schezuan peppercorn taste. It was hot, but not really hot. Just a mild burn. Not so much of the nutty flavor.

Cold Szechuan Noodles (2014). These are closer to what I usually think of for Dan Dan noodles. They had a nice chili oil spice, but maybe no meat.

Sweet potato glass noodles in hot and sour sauce. (10/27/17). In general, I love this dish because of its spicy/tangy balance. For example at Beijing Tasty. This version, unfortunately, looks ok, but has no balance. It wasn’t that hot. Wasn’t that tangy. Mostly it was just salty. This seems to be a problem at MZDP.

Numb taste wontons (2014 and 10/27/17 and 3/8/20). They just called these Szechuan Wontons, but they’re supposed to be numb taste. Great flavor. Sauce was a little sweet but boy was it tasty.

Not too hot, and a really savory pork filling.

Ma Po Tofu (lunch special) (2014). Also on the plate: rice, string beans, squash, spring roll. The beans were great, but the tofu was a bit salty (MSG I think) and not too hot or numbing. Okay flavor, but the most disappointing of the dishes, particularly given how when done right this is one of my favorite dishes ever.

Peking Duck (2014). Because peking duck is so important, I’m going to SEPARATELY write up my thoughts in 2014 and 2020. This duck is expensive compared to the SGV, although they do sell a half duck (which is what we got).

The usual condiments.

And pancakes.

The meat in 2014. This duck looked great, but the hoisin was a little salty and lacking in that plummy punch and somehow the meat felt a little flat or flabby.

Duck soup (2014). Comes with the duck (optionally). Very straight up and dull.

Peking Duck (3/8/20). We ordered two whole ducks for 6 people! They carve it tableside.

This is half a duck (2020). We had four of these plates. This was some of the best peking duck I’ve had in a while. About the same quality as the excellent NC Peking Duck. It’s cut in the modern style with much of the meat combined with the skin. It was super succulent and juicy. The skin could have been just a touch more crispy. But the pancakes were great and the overall combo delicious.

Peking Duck (8/15/22). Skin was very good and the meat was a tiny bit dry but tasty. Pancakes are perfect. Biggest problem is that the hoisin isn’t quite sweet/strong enough. But still in the top five ducks. Tonight they cut it for us the “meat and skin” way (because Yarom requested it), but he can also cut it together which I think I prefer. The duck itself is from long island and isn’t as fatty as a Chinese duck (not available). A detailed discussion of Peking Duck can be found in my Ultimate Peking Duck Guide.

Condiments for the peking duck.

The duck here comes with ultra-thin pancakes — as always much better than the buns.

Bones (3/8/20) from the duck meat.

Duck bones fried with garlic and cumin (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). This was a stunning dish. There was a lot of bone, but the crispy fry was amazingly tasty.

Stir fried shrimp (3/8/20). This may look simple, but the shrimp was super succulent and well cooked. Delicious.

Sole Filet with green onions (3/8/20). Very lovely as well with nice thick filets. Lots of “flavor” (MSG).

Sole filet with pickled cabbage (8/15/22). Dish of the night. The spicy/numbing/tangy “soup” with pickled chilis was first rate. Lemony flavor.

Scallops with vermicelli (3/8/20 & 8/15/22). A nice dish, but not my absolute favorite of the night. Interesting. Scallops maybe a touch overcooked but the sauce was very good.

Live lobster with secret house sauce (8/15/22). It included garlic, ginger, butter and a touch of cheese. Very silky and light with extremely well cooked lobster you could actually taste.

Aromatic fried chicken with chilies (10/27/17). Another typical Szechuan dish. This version wasn’t that spicy (despite all the peppers) and was notably sweet. It was still pretty good though, but the balance was off.

Szechuan green beans (2014). Tasty rendition of this dish.

Bacon brocollini (8/15/22). Not very good at all, mostly because of the American brocoli.

Garlic Eggplant (10/27/17 & 8/15/22). A 7/10 version of the dish. Not as much super garlicky flavor as there should be, but good nonetheless. In 2022, nice but a little sweet. Texture was very good though.

Kung Pao Shrimp (2014 or 2017). Very nice. A bit of heat and lots of peanuts.

Boiled beef in chilis (2014 and 3/8/20 & 8/15/22). A classic Szechuan type dish. While this wasn’t inferno hot like the best ones in the SGV it did have a bit of Szechuan peppercorn and a nice flavor.

Sautéed Chinese Tomahawk (8/15/22). A bit weird and overcooked, but tasty enough with the sauce.

Braised pork hock with special sauce (8/15/22). Super delicious umami/msg/savory sauce. Rocked. “Special” obviously means MSG.

Fried rice with chicken (3/8/20).

Fried rice with shrimp (3/8/20). Slightly more moist than the chicken dish.

Mango Passionfruit Sorbetto – 56% mango, 44% passionfruit, plus a bit of Amaro to offset the mango — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #mango #passionfruit #amaro

Overall writing in 2014 and 2017, I’m psyched to have Meizhou Dongpo, despite it being a bit blander, saltier, (and more expensive) than the SGV Szechuan places. It’s tasty enough and close. Too bad it’s inside the mall, because parking and getting into that beast is a nightmare. I hate that parking lot. It’s the biggest most confusing mall parking I’ve ever been too. Every direction looks the same. Ditto with the mall. I’m always getting turned around in there. Too bad the balance is off on the dishes. Service was a little slow/sloppy too on 10/27/17. The very first time I was here it was very nice, so maybe it’s just hit or miss.

Coming back for a 6-7 person dinner on 3/8/20 I had a vastly improved experience. Almost every dish was very good, some great. The peking duck was first rate. Really really good. Many of the appetizers were awesome too like the green chili chicken and cold mung bean noodles. Flavors were far less salty and much more balanced. Service was fairly good too and we had a nice large table outside on the terrace. They were super nice to us too, particularly about the corkage. I’ll have to try again to see if this is consistent, but I am raising my overall opinion substantially. On this particular night at least, this was as good as many SGV places (but certainly not as good as the best). Really a great option. The menu is nice, but not super large either.

Continuing in 2022, standards were pretty close to that of 2020. Our duck wasn’t quite as good because Yarom “made them” cut it with the skin all separate, which usually makes the meat dry. And they keep altering the menu slightly and some favorite dishes have gone away. But overall quality was very high, certainly great for the Westside. Dish consistency is just a bit random as they are a big place and probably have several chefs.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

The mall is also home to a mini Grom, which is a solid chain gelato place. I reviewed one in New York here.

Hazelnut on the left, cafe expresso on the right. Texture was perfect. Flavors were about 8/10. Very good gelato for America. I wish they had more flavor variety in the store though.