"Red Geisha is a Foodie": October 3, '09 - Happy Moon Festival! We eat at Oak Tree, Pasadena, CA.

Oak Tree is one of those Chinese restaurants that caters to all kinds. It's not the super chinese-y restaurant - they speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghai-nese and Caucasians can order safely. With that said, you can order sweet and sour -- whatever -- and you can also order one of their specialty dishes -- Taro Duck. Sounds weird but it's pretty delicious and pretty exclusive to Oak Tree. The buttery taro is smothered on top of ready cut duck fillets and fried into a deep crisp. Served like a layered taro duck cake with a crispy outer layer & a sweet savory sauce on the side...this dish TASTES EXCELLENT! I cannot think of any other Chinese restaurant that serves this dish. So it makes this Taro Duck THAT more special.

Other dishes that are specialties of Oak Tree are: Baked Rice with Chinese Sausage (2nd BEST!), Pepper Steak (um, where's the pepper and how comes the sour is so strong?), Deep Fried Salty Pork Chops, Pipa Tofu (one of their specialties but kinda of bland for my taste), Fresh Saltwater Shrimp (OH so Yummy & Fresh!), Sauteed Veggies (very easy to recreate) and Egg Whites/Broccoli & Scallops -- which in my opinion are kinda blah. As some of you know, I am a gourmet wanna-be chef that cooks & recreates foodie dishes on my own. For this Egg White/Broccoli/Scallop dish, I would add some chili pepper flakes, grated ginger, garlic and a hint of vinegar to bring out the seafood aroma. It would be a HIT with high heat and just the right amount of tarte added to it. In summary, Oak Tree is safe for the dishes they specialize in. But any dish out of the ordinary (like Sauteed Crab w/ glass noodles) would be a ho-hum dish to order.
Oak Tree (****) 4 Stars out of 5