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Silk Road's buffet offers authentic, American-style, and even pizza Friday, February 12, 1999 By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
Pizza on a Chinese buffet table? Layer cake, too?
We're surprised. But the Chinese families in the Silk Road restaurant aren't complaining; they're eating both. One little girl is going back for seconds on cake.
Silk Road owner Jennifer Dodsworth was born in Taiwan, but has been in this country for 19 years, spending 17 of them in the restaurant business. Many Pittsburghers first met her at Mark Pi's in the Galleria in Mt. Lebanon, where she worked before opening Silk Road in January, 1997. She knows authentic Chinese dishes, but she also knows what customers want.
So the pizza, made from scratch by a cook from west China, where wheat is used, has popular General Tso's sauce on top. The chocolate and vanilla layer cake comes from a bakery, however. Dodsworth says she tried several before she found one with a light icing that she liked. "Kids love the layer cake," she says.
His Honor and I are sticking with the Chinese dishes, though, and they are plentiful. First, soup is served at the table - egg drop, light and tasty; won ton, nice spinach-stuffed won ton, but a greasy broth; or sweet and sour, which we didn't try. Both our soups would have been better if they had been served hotter.
On the hors d'oeuvres table, along with the pizza, are egg rolls, cold platters of chicken and beef, and hot sweet and sour chicken side by side with a vast vat of plum sauce. The hot chicken and the sweet plum sauce are offered separately so the chicken doesn't get soggy. Good move.
It's not wise to eat too many hors d'oeuvres, though, because many other dishes are waiting. The nine entrees on the buffet table vary, but General Tso's chicken, sauteed narrow string beans and lo mein noodles are always there, because they are so popular.
I can understand the popularity of the lo mein and the crunchy green beans; they're both fine. But General Tso's chicken is too sweet for our taste. (Customers like it sweet, Dodsworth told me later, adding: "I don't like it myself.")
Every Sunday chicken, shrimp and other seafood are on the buffet, in some form. The sauces are varied each week. And of course, there's white rice and fried rice.
Servers keep bringing small platters of freshly prepared dishes to replenish the entrees, so it all tastes freshly made - as indeed it is.
The dessert table has pieces of kiwifruit, honeydew, watermelon, pineapple and coconut milk puffs along with the layer cake. Let the children have the cake; I'll take the puffs any time. The milk-custard center is flavored with almond. They've been dipped in batter, deep-fried, and the crunchy coating tastes of honey, sugar and ground peanuts.
H.H. must have noticed I was about to go back for seconds; he insists it is time to leave.
Buffets aren't a Chinese tradition, although Chinese buffets are popular around Pittsburgh now. Some of the other dishes are very Americanized, too. But the price is $7.95 for adults; $3.95 for children under 12; and free for those under 3, so who's complaining?
Americanization isn't all bad anyway, H.H. decided one night when he looked over Silk Road's wine list - something not often seen in Chinese restaurants.
Pittsburgh wine connoisseur Bruce May suggested the wines and paired them with Silk Road's entrees, according to Dodsworth. Prices are reasonable; a 1996 Markham chardonnay is $22.
At dinner, too, you can try more unusual dishes on the menu, like the clay pot chicken with eggplant stuffed with pork. In the clay pot brought to your table are small pieces of tender chicken breast and the stuffed eggplant in brown sauce. The dish is not only spicy, but a little sweet, too.
Another good choice is Gourmet Pork Tenderloin. The pieces of pork are lightly fried with leeks, green and red peppers, bamboo shoots and zucchini. It's not a heavy dish, but spicy and delicious.
Chef Geng Wu, who worked at Mark Pi's with Dodsworth, is from the south of China, near Canton, where there is a lot of seafood. So it's not surprising that many of Silk Road's signature dishes feature seafood. That includes scallops with black bean sauce, red orchid prawns (the big shrimp are sauteed with scallions in the chef's special tomato sauce), and the Silk Road hot and sour seafood soup.
It's an extensive menu, with more signature items like Silk Road cold noodles and Silk Road chicken, a stir-fry dish. Or, for those who like familiar Chinese-American dishes they know, there's always Kung Pao chicken or beef, orange beef and moo shu pork. Entrees are all $11.95 or less. Lunch specials are $4.95 to $6.25.
When we go back to Silk Road, though, I want to try the fresh noodles and the stuffed eggplant with shrimp. Both come with high recommendations from Dodsworth.
The noodles take about 40 minutes to prepare, she says, so they must be ordered in advance.
Silk Road does not have much ambiance. It's a little dull, really. Tables and chairs are stacked near the front door. Other equipment is stuffed into a closet where coats are hung. The dining room is very plain, with booths on the side and tables in the center. Our tablecloth has a little patch. If you want chopsticks, you have to ask.
But that's OK. The emphasis is on well-prepared, fresh food. Many dishes are light, the way Dodsworth says she likes them. There's even a "light as silk" list of selections.
Silk Road
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Hours:Lunch, Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 3 p.m.; Dinner, Monday-Thursday, 3 - 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 3-10:30 p.m.; Sunday, noon -9 p.m.; Sunday brunch, noon-3 p.m.