SAY "GINZA" TO CHEUNG KING KITCHEN

A sushi menu at a Chinese Restaurant is not uncommon. It is even less common to find a Japanese owner, let alone chef at a Japanese restaurant. Authenticity and having a well-trained chef of any ethnicity is the key to the restaurant´s success.

Chinese "take out" venues have split the restaurant´s name and menu to accommodate both cuisines. At 97-17 Jamaica Avenue, a Woodhaven eatery bares two names: Cheung King Kitchen and Ginza. The Chinese "side" offers Cantonese and Sechuan fare while Ginza specializes in sushi and a few other Japanese goodies.

Ginza delivers and prompted me to sample their menu during lunchtime (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.). There were two specials, one of which was a Bento Box, consisting of an entrée choice of Teriyaki (beef, salmon, shrimp or beef), Beef Negimaki (scallion wrapped in thinly sliced beef with teriyaki sauce) or Unagi Don (eel bowl). Adding to it is rice, a California roll, spring roll and either miso soup or soda, for the price of $6.95 (tax included).

That sounded fine to me until I read what was listed underneath. You get to choose from a list of any 3 maki rolls, 3 pieces of sushi from their menu and either miso soup or a soda for $10.95. I opted for rolls of Shrimp Tempura, Eel Avocado and Spicy Salmon Crunchy (using masago). For those of you who are not up on terms, "sashimi" is slices of raw fish; "sushi" can be anything sitting atop a clump of seasoned sushi rice, "maki rolls" are made by placing rice and other ingredients (raw or cooked) on a sheet of "nori" (dried seaweed), rolled and sliced, whereas "hand roll" is basically the same but in a cone shape and eliminated the rice. Got it?

As for the sushi, it was mackerel, striped bass and white tuna as my selection.

Chef Huang learned to master the art of sushi making while working at a few Japanese restaurants. For those of you who chicken out by ordering a California roll, it consists of imitation crabmeat (kani), avocado and cucumber. How boring.

Search the menu for a list of "Special Roll" to indulge in Huang´s creativity. At this point I have only been able to sample three of them. Spider Roll consists of using deep fried soft shell crab, avocado, cucumber and a spicy mayo. Godzilla Roll got me shrimp tempura and avocado on the inside topped with spicy lobster. Magic Roll had a crunchy spicy tuna on the inside (the "crunchy" also tends indicate the use of fried tempura flakes) with shrimp, avocado, eel and masago (orange-colored roe) on the outside.

There were a few other menu items that struck my curiosity. Tomiyama Soup, a spicy soup with shrimp, mushrooms, and Chinese cabbage was a bit like having the Thai rendition of Tom Yom Soup. I would describe the Tomiyama soup as being "peppery" vs the use of chili. I´m not one for "spicy" and all that I sampled satisfied my craving and taste buds.

Kani Salad takes the shredded crabmeat stick and julienne cucumber, mixes it with mayo and tops it with the masago.

Then there came the most creative idea for an appetizer, Sushi Pizza. Start with a scallion pancake as the "crust", add seaweed salad and spicy mayo, top it with the "sashimi" tuna, salmon and masago for a "personal pizza" unless you´re not too selfish to share.

I stopped in days later to sample more beginning with a sushi platter of: shrimp (ebi), tuna (maguro), salmon (sake), white tuna, eel (unagi), and scallop (hotatege). I love the eel sauce and the scallop was "inventive" with two seasoned scallops and a mushroom slice atop the rice.

Since I was there, I thought I might as well check out some of the Chinese cuisine as well beginning with two different spring rolls. One had the common shrimp and vegetables in that thin crunchy skin, while the steak spring roll had that beefy flavor with the added vegetables.



Chef Huang prepared the prepared two entrees. Sesame Chicken can be found at most Chinese restaurants. Huang has discovered "umani", that extra taste. Aside from the chicken pieces being cooked with just the right crunch and juiciness, the sauce had a sweet, sour, salty, and slightly spicy kick to attack all of my taste buds.

The other entree was a Seafood Mei Fun. Mei Fun are thin rice noodles vs the Chow Fun which are wide and thick. Here is where I got to test his calamari cooking and was timed just right. I also noticed that the Chinese food was not "oily".

Gee, I'm getting hungry just writing this. I think I'll call for a delivery!

Merle Exit

As a native New Yorker, my childhood days were spent living in a housing project in Queens. Life´s educational traumas began during the first month of second grade when I was kicked out and forced to enter third grade. Teacher: (surrounded by principal, mother and teacher next door) "You can go to third grade or if you stay in second grade, you can´t raise your hand anymore." I believed it had something to do with my IQ and reading skills. I chose third grade and stopped reading.
A few months later my family moved to a housing projects in the Bronx, where my third grade teacher immediately presented me with a white plastic instrument called a "flutophone", but no instructions except the ones that come with the toy. I figured it out for myself…as well as the recorder, the next year, and the piano, during the summer. With an opportunity to join the orchestra, I requested to play the clarinet. The teacher turned me down on this just because I´ve never played the instrument. I offered to then play the piano. When I told her that I had been playing it for two months (having gone through at least the first three books), she still denied my participation. Personally, I thought that the teacher had a mental or emotional problem, simply backed away and joined the glee club.
Vowing to complete my education ASAP, I skipped yet another grade and announced my career as a comedienne. My Junior High School education was filled with extra credits (whatever would get me out of class) and participation in the school play.
I attended the High School of Music and Art, but dropped out after two weeks (I was under the impression that I´d be playing the piano and singing all day) and opted for Christopher Columbus High School and taking up the oboe.
My chosen career commenced when I teamed up with Joel Brooks and joined a repertory group headed by Franklin R. Levy. Our first paid gig was actually working at a bakery where, when customers asked if the bread was fresh would respond by saying, "Yes. As a matter of fact we have to slap its face every hour."
Most likely due to my now poor reading level I barely made the grades to enrolling into Queens College (and eventually moved to Queens), where I graduated "cum hella high water"….or was it, "summa or later".
Summer came around after my freshman year and having just turned 17, still needed working papers. CCHS was a block away from my house, so I opted to have my former principal do the paper work. It was that particular day that a movie scout was seeking students for roles in the movie "Up The Down Staircase". When Director Robert Mulligan and Producer Alan Pakula said that they want me to be in the movie I knew that I would be enjoying a rather interesting summer job.
Although I tried to explain to our non-paying repertory director that I was going to be busy, he talked me into the role of Musical Director for a full production of "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd". I "only" had to compose an overture, play 5 songs, transpose music and teach the musical numbers to about 15 teenagers. Two weeks into rehearsal, Franklin informed me that the girl playing third lead had to go away for the summer and would I take her part….
Picture my running cockney dialogue with Joel, exiting the stage and running down a flight of stairs, "silently" swinging the doors open to get to the piano in order to accompany his singing, "Who Can I Turn To".
I continued to complete my college degree, majoring in Communication Arts and Sciences with a minor in Psychology.
Despite my inability to get much more than a C+ on any term paper, I secured my first full time day job involving writing a monthly newsletter with information on where one can obtain grant money.
Needing a break from my job and show biz, I whet my travel appetite when, at the age of 21, I purchased a "See America" bus pass and, for a few months, traveled across the country.
When I returned home, I wrote and performed my solo nightclub act and changed my last name to "Exit", so that I could see my name "up in lights." The act included scenes from "The Wizard of Oz", Jerry Lewis imitations, show tunes and humorous songs.
In 1985 I submitted an article to a local newspaper, ceased my show biz career focusing on dining, entertainment and travel…and the rest is herstory.
Presently, I am the Arts and Entertainment Editor of the Queens Times and contributing writer for Empty Closet, La Voz Latina, Edge Publications, as well as several local and out of town publications.
In addition I was non-employed by the New York Sharks Women´s Tackle Football Team to do their publicity, the reason being that they have been voted as the top women´s football team in the country and not everyone knows who they are. I have succeeded in getting a signed football into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the first item ever from a women´s football team. I have also gotten a permanent exhibit of the NY Sharks into the Museum of World Treasures in Wichita.
I recently secured my own radio show, Whirl With Merle, on www.blogtalkradio.com with several focuses; travel being the heart of it as well as having a blog site www.merleswhirls.blogspot.com.
In 2008 I decided to write and publish a book called "Whirl With Merle: It's A Humorous Life". It does not contain my numerous adventures. I will at some point follow up with "Whirl With Merle: It's An Adventurous Life".
I have recently acquired Esther, from the Rubber Chicken Forest located at the Twisted Oak Winery in California. She travels with me and manages to get into many of the photos.

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