EatingOUT: 

At one time or another, most of us have eaten Chinese food. Among others, old standbys such as Moo Goo Gai Pan, Moo Shi Pork, and Lo Mein have been ho-hum standards for many of us for a long time. Quick carryout or eat-in can be a meal that is satisfying if not gratifying. Well, get ready to shift your paradigm. At Confucius Chinese cooking has become, truly, Chinese Cuisine in the capable hands of owners Danielle Liu and Shawn Xiong.

Newly opened at 57 Wilmington Avenue this Memorial Day, Confucius has a whole different philosophy about Chinese food. Shawn wants to elevate Chinese cooking and believes that too many takeouts have cheapened the cuisine. What’s more, he’s designed parts of the menu on the theories of Chinese medicine, such as different soups at different times of the year to cool down the system in summer and help heat it in the winter.

Danielle and Shawn operated a restaurant in Wilmington for eleven years and transfer that experience to this gem of a restaurant. Susan and I were greeted by the two of them with a great deal of warmth and enthusiasm. We were seated in a room of understated, easy on the eyes décor. Cream-colored walls are lined with pretty, soft-focus watercolors, and the tabletops are of rich, burled woods.

Susan and I settled in with a pot of jasmine tea, and decided to let Danielle and Shawn choose our menu. A brilliant idea. They will do the same for you. All you have to do is tell them the sorts of food you like, or if you become a regular they’ll happily put together your meal judged on your personal tastes. Couldn’t be easier, or tastier.

At Confucius they slow simmer their soups for several hours to bring out their full bodied flavors, and that was more than apparent in the two we sampled. Rockfish soup was hearty and tasty with chunks of flaky rockfish, and the ginger soup with chicken and wood-ear mushrooms was a combination both delicate and zestful. If you are a ginger fan, as I am, this is not to be missed.

Next came an array of appetizers that were beautiful to look at and even better to eat. There was lightly breaded and spicy fried shrimp, chopped scallions with hot peppers, green lipped mussels with black bean sauce, cold sliced spiced beef, vegetarian spring rolls, shrimp toast, and the plumpest steamed dumplings I’ve ever had. Each dish was an instant hit, and the wonderful contrast of tastes was perfection.

Susan and I looked at each other and wondered if we’d be able to eat a main course. Danielle wouldn’t hear of it, but we pleaded to not have full-sized portions. Even though both Danielle and Shawn are Chinese, there must be a touch of the Jewish Mother in them—our table was loaded with Peking duck, crispy shrimp and scallops with candied walnuts, orange beef, and a real fire-breather of spicy pork served up in an innocent looking lettuce leaf. You won’t find any of the dishes at Confucius that have the common fillers of broccoli or snow peas. The pure flavors and texture of the main ingredients are allowed to shine on their own. Instead, your vegetables are ordered as sides. We sampled two: delightful sautéed green beans and baby Shanghai cabbage.

It would be difficult to single out any one of the dishes we ate for special praise, because they all were special in their own individual way. With no reservations I can say this is among the best Chinese food I have ever eaten, and Susan, who lived in Taiwan for a year, endorses that.

Ooops. I almost forgot about dessert. We had a choice of green tea ice cream, chocolate or vanilla cake, mango sorbet, or an intriguing sounding Cosmopolitan sorbet. No way I could pass up a cosmopolitan sorbet, and it was not a disappointment—lime tangy and refreshing. Susan had a piece of the vanilla cake that was light and fluffy, topped with just the right amount of vanilla icing.

Shawn, once a PhD candidate in linguistics, is a risk taker. A lot of that probably stems from delivering Chinese food in New York City on a bicycle. He’s willing to take chances, and in October plans to offer a special tasting menu where you can sample a lot of their great dishes. And at that time, very exciting to me and should be for you, he also will have noodle days on Saturdays and Sundays.

Confucius stays open ‘til midnight, and, yes, they do have take out. Shawn and Danielle recommend that if you just want to fill up your stomach, go to McDonalds, but if you want eating to be an experience come to Confucius. I couldn’t agree more. Our experience there was truly memorable, and will be often repeated.