For all the great food it has, Nassau County's South Shore isn't a hotbed of regional Chinese restaurants . When a sign with Mandarin characters popped up on the main drag in Island Park, residents were buzzing about it on Facebook, even before a menu dropped online. China Pavilion is owned by Jimmy Lin, who also operates a casual sushi spot, Himawari, in Long Beach.
Lin stepped in to take over the former Hungry Crab when the business began to fail. He thinks Chinese food is a safer bet in this neighborhood, which is awash with Chinese takeout spots but doesn't have many sit-down restaurants. He found two chefs, one Cantonese and one from the Sichuan region to develop the menu at his new venture.
The chefs are making the reverse commute every day from Manhattan's Chinatown to Long Island. When you step into the large but darkly lit space, the first thing you'll notice is a multitiered fish tank, often a sign of a great Cantonese restaurant. The room has a retro '70s vibe to it with high-backed booths that recall the cavernous Chinese restaurants of yesteryear.
But the opening menu is decidedly more contemporary with a smart mix of Sichuan dishes (Chengdu steamed clams), Asian fusion stalwarts such as lettuce wraps and miso salmon, as well as a few old-school Cantonese dishes. At $40, the “lobster any style” sticks out. The kitchen chops a whole lobster and stir-fries the pieces with the shell still on, displaying the head on a platter alongside its saucy bits.
Lin recomme.
