Phantom Gourmet: The China In Quincy

A sports bar, a pizza parlor, and an authentic Chinese dim sum shop all under one roof.

Located on Hancock Street in Quincy, The China has all the things you'd find in a typical Chinese restaurant. There's a fish tank greeting you at the door; a big bar serving festive Polynesian drinks; and a steady stream of woks firing up all the dishes you love.

Owner Judy Chen has been in the restaurant business her whole life, working for her parents at the Golden China in Canton since she could barely see over the counter.

"I have a master's in social work and psychology, but the restaurant has always been my background and I love the restaurant business, so I've been in it with my family since my grandfather and my mother and father opened up our original restaurant in Canton."

So when she opened The China in Quincy, she took all of the dishes she loved from growing up and put them into a more modern, fun atmosphere armed with multiple flat screens to watch all the sports you can handle.

"The China Restaurant is a mixture of Chinese American cuisine with Chinese authentic cuisine, all wrapped up in a restaurant and sports bar," explained Judy.

So if you feel like seeing the Sox over some Szechuan Beef, you're covered. Watching the Super Bowl over a Scorpion bowl is no problem. They even have Italian pizza topped with Chinese flavors, like Kung Pao Chicken and General Gao's.

"It's like the best of both worlds. Why not put General Gao's on top of a pizza?" asked Judy. "We take a regular pub-sized pizza dough and we put the sauce underneath. So if you're ordering a General Gao's Chicken Pizza, they put the General Gao's Chicken sauce. Then cheese and then the General Gao's on top."

Of course, if you want something a little more traditional, they have that too, 7 days a week from 9am to 3pm.

"Dim sum is Chinese brunch that's served like tapas; small plates of food that you share with friends and family that come in with you," explained Judy. "It's like a moving buffet. It comes to you and there's carts that travel around the dining room. You choose items off the menu. You get to see the dish before you actually order it."

The mobile cart of munchies is loaded up with steamers of spare ribs in a black bean sauce, artful shrimp and water chestnut dumplings, and a tasty pork and shrimp shumai.

"Shumai is probably one of the most popular dumplings in dim sum," Judy said. "It's a shrimp and pork dumpling wrapped almost like a little cup and it's steamed and it's so good inside."

There are sweet versions of dim sum too, like the Pineapple Bun filled with an egg cream center and topped with a pineapple crust. But if the way to your heart is through your stomach, there's one you absolutely have to try.

"The little heart shaped dim sum is mango and coconut pudding made into almost like Jello Jigglers, but with real fruit inside. It tastes just like Jello but with fruit flavor," she explained.

Once the dim sum carts are put to bed, the real action starts with the stir-frying woks.

"The most important part [of] cooking with a wok is movement," said Judy. "So when you're over the open flame, you need to flip it. You need to turn it. You need to use your spatula. You just need to flip the wrist. It's definitely an art form."

That intense heat seals in the flavors of their most popular dishes, like the Szechuan Beef.

"Szechuan Beef is my favorite beef dish," Judy stated. "It's Szechuan flavor, which is a little bit savory with spicy and a little sweet to it. And it has lots of vegetables in it. It's in a dark sauce and it goes very well with plain old white rice because the flavor is so good on it."

Then there's the House Special Fried Rice, filled with everything you want.

"The House Special Fried Rice is special because it has everything in it. It's a white fried rice with chicken, shrimp, ham, pork, with some onions and scallions, peas and some egg. It's basically like the kitchen sink rice," she explained. "People love it once they've tried it."

For the ultimate Chinese indulgence, order the jaw-dropping, mouth-watering Ginger Scallion Lobster.

"People are excited because it has the whole lobster," Judy described. "It's served in the shell. The chefs cut it so it's one fork out of the shell and the flavor on it is very good, between the ginger and the scallion mixture and they stir fry it together. You can smell it. It looks really good."

Of course, nothing goes better with a big game than a Pupu platter loaded up with egg rolls, crab Rangoon, boneless spare ribs, chicken wings, beef teriyaki and chicken fingers.

"I always say the Pupu platter is a like a fun box. It's a little mixture of everything. So when there's big groups of people I tell them they should order a couple of Pupu platters. Usually there's something on there that satisfies everybody."

While a sports bar that serves Chinese food may seem a bit strange, for Judy it makes perfect sense.

"I like that it's old meets new. It's East meets West. It's different kinds of food for different kinds of people," she said. "Who's to say that you just have to make grill food or pub food? We mixed it up with some Chinese food. We mixed it up with some dim sum. You can get everything under one roof, which is what Quincy is kind of like."

You can find The China at 681 Hancock Street in Quincy, and online at chinasportsbar.com.

Watch Phantom Gourmet on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 11 a.m. on myTV38.