As Seen In The South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

By John Tanasychuk
Sun-Sentinel
Friday, February 8, 2002

I have not been happy with Chinese food in South Florida, so I asked longtime Floridians for suggestions. The lamb chops were superb at one restaurant. The honey chicken and Hong Kong steak were perfect at another. Problem is, almost everything else on the menus was disappointing.

I'd pretty much given up on Chinese and, like many South Floridians, savored the occasions when I visited cities with better choices.

Gary Galimidi felt exactly the same. Only he did something about it. Born in Egypt, his Sephardic Jewish family was forced to leave their home in Alexandria 40 years ago because of religious persecution. They ended up New York City.

When he couldn't find what he calls "New York-style Chinese" in South Florida, he decided to open his own restaurant. First came China Dumpling in Boynton Beach. He left the partnership last year after three years. Last October, he and partner Sam Schmidt opened in Boca. So passionate is Galimidi that he brought chefs from New York's Chinatown to run his kitchen.

So just who is Gary Woo?

Galimidi explains: "When I told my fiancee's son that I was going to open a Chinese restaurant, he said: Who do you think you are? Gary Woo?"

The name is fictitious, and I would argue that bistro part is as well. Because what's being served here is old-fashioned Chinese comfort food. Comfort for anyone who grew up, as I did, eating one meal a week in a Chinese restaurant. The menu is mostly Cantonese and Chinese American, but includes just enough other Asian preparations so that it doesn't feel quite like 1965.

While we aren't served on Chinese-horoscope paper placemats, the plates are retro, white with a red Oriental border. There's even a drink menu with color photographs of old-fashioned concoctions such as a Singapore Sling. The walls are painted deep red and textured to look like an old chest. This isn't expensive decorating, but it always seemed to me that Asian restaurants could forgo decor for the artistry on every plate.

We start with steaming bowls of soup. Wonton ($1.75) starts with good-quality chicken broth and ends with tender dumplings. Egg drop ($1.75) is cooked just enough that the egg remains silky. Hot and sour soup ($1.75 and $2.25) measures up on both fronts.

We shared an order of steamed pork dumplings ($5.95) which contain nicely seasoned meat. Cold sesame noodles ($5.25) are made with spinach linguini instead of the more traditional soba noodles, but they are delicious. It seems to me that Chinese restaurants never overcook a noodle.

That makes for a great take on classic Chinese-American lo mein ($10.95). We ask for shrimp, beef and pork instead of just one protein and we're charged $17.95.

While we expected the shredded beef with garlic sauce ($11.95) to contain the always-chewy Mongolian-style beef, this is as tender as a fillet. There's no skimping on ingredients in chicken and cashews ($11.95). If any one dish disappoints, it's eggplant and mushrooms in garlic sauce ($8.95). Undercooked eggplant. Not enough garlic. Still, we clean every plate on the table.

And that, I think, is the mark of a good Chinese restaurant. Maybe one dish won't be prepared quite the way you remember, but I've yet to find a South Florida Chinese restaurant that does so many dishes so very well.

Please phone in advance to confirm information on hours, prices, menu items and facilities.

John Tanasychuk can be reached at jtanasychuk@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4632 or by
writing to him at the Sun-Sentinel.