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Zoe’s Gourmet Chinese Cuisine

August 28, 2009 by Jennifer Che 3 Comments

Zoe Collage

Oh Zoe’s. I really wanted to love you. I remember when you were a hole-in-the-wall not too long ago. I remember being pleasantly surprised at how good the food was – how you seemed like a “hidden find” with surprisingly great Sichuan food in the middle of a dumpy part of Somerville.

Now you look all spruced up. You really have a beautiful interior now, and I love the new space (uhh . . even despite the fact that it’s adjoining a condemned building). Nevermind that. But the food. Did I just not order correctly? Or is something different? Was the head chef on vacation? Maybe because it was lunchtime? I know I didn’t order all Sichuan dishes. Maybe that was my problem.

The food was alright. I can’t complain. But it wasn’t surprising. It was just . . fine.

At least the mapo bean curd, my favorite dish from the past, still had its characteristic sichuan peppercorn zing. I still love it – it’s still one of my favorite dishes here.

But, the dumplings were tired. The beef chowfoon, which I think you recommended, was average at best. The duck was so-so, though the water chestnuts with snow peas was solid.

Maybe I just didn’t know what to order. I do want to give you another chance. Maybe during dinner sometime, or on the night that the head chef is cooking?

Zoe’s – you are so close to my house, and there isn’t really any good Chinese food in immediate vicinity. I think I’ll give you another chance. Oh . .I really hope you don’t disappoint me. I do still want to love you so much.

289 Beacon St
Somerville, MA 02143
Zoe's Gourmet Chinese Cuisine on Urbanspoon

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Restaurant, Review, Somerville Tagged With: Chinese, Sichuan

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Comments

  1. little miss possible says

    August 28, 2009 at 10:54 am

    there were scallops? I thought it was only water chestnuts, ’cause that’s practically all Bryan took from the dish!

    Log in to Reply
  2. jglee says

    August 28, 2009 at 11:09 am

    Shoot! You’re right! I gotta amend my post . . . heh heh

    Log in to Reply
  3. Sean says

    August 28, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    Mapo tofu…one of my all time favorite, authentic Chinese dishes.

    You should see the sad excuse for Chinese restaurants we have around campus – it’s shocking.

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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