Potsticker Prince

Last night, after a meeting with Flaring Nostril's webdesign team, Pam and I drove down from San Francisco to Cupertino to indulge ourselves in a carb-heavy meal at the much-talked about Potsticker King. The reviews had been mixed, and well, Pam and I felt it was our duty as gluttons, to resolve the discrepancy in reports.

The strip mall in which the restaurant is located is *gasp* not Cupertino Village. It's actually located in a plaza nearby on Steven's Creek near a funny-sounding restaurant called "Merlion." Pam was digging the ginormous neon sign spelling out the restaurant's name. See photo above.

We weren't sure what to think when we saw a lot of non-Chinese in the dining establishment (Will the food be authentic?!), but was comforted when the food arrived (incredibly quickly). Pam and I ordered two combo sets ($8.50 each) and a tray of pork potstickers. Needless to say, we were incredibly hungry.

The flavorful vermicelli fried tofu noodle soup was accompanied by super oily green onion pancakes. The soup base for the noodles was a little too salty upon initial taste, but after three bites, the flavor grew on us. We downed the bowl. As for the super-oily green onion pancakes, they were so-so-so delicious. Rich. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I wouldn't be surprised if the restaurant's green onion recipe calls for lard, for each triangle of green onion pancake I consumed tasted like "buttah." A compliment in my book :)

Our bowl of "ru ro fan," braised pork over rice entree (I don't recall the exact name of this dish, but the words "house" and "rice" were the entree title), came accompanied by a bowl of hot & sour soup. This is a must-have. Pam and I could not stop shoveling the delicious rice into our fat faces even long-after we'd finished all the meat! Criticism? The entree could have been improved by the inclusion of more vegetables.

Finally, the potstickers. The King only offers two kinds--pork and veggie. A small variety, as limited options allow the establishment to focus on perfecting the options offered. Since "real girls eat meat," we ordered the pork ones. Oink. I really enjoyed them (odd because I usually don't enjoy dumplings), and I think I did because of the thinner dumpling skins used.

Large portions, strong flavors, reasonable prices. The only reason not to dine at Potsticker King is if you're trying to lose weight and are avoiding carbs. I left a happy camper with a Potsticker Prince forming in my belly.

Potsticker King
19634 Stevens Creek Blvd
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 255-1600




I gave birth to a Potsticker Prince!