Mei Mei Restaurant Review
By GRACE LI ‘20
Establishing itself as a restaurant that serves “creative Chinese-American food,” Mei Mei—right off the green line—is part of the neighborhood. Hosting events with other organizations such as the Allandale Farm, Mei Mei branches out beyond the physical storefront. Those collaborations feature a unique menu, capitalizing on the in-season produce that is available while also featuring Mei Mei classics.
Mei Mei is a family owned restaurant; many of the dishes capture aspects of the owners’ lives. For example, Irene Li—one of the owners and also a graduate of Milton Academy—created a sandwich that was an homage to Beatnik. Containing roasted beet salad, creamy dill ricotta cheese, and greens, the sandwich comes prepared on a freshly fried scallion pancake. If you want a healthier version, you can get rid of the scallion pancake, deconstructing the sandwich into a salad. For me, the Beetnik satisfies all of my cravings. The hot and crunchy pancake creates contrast with the creamy ricotta. The saltiness of the pancake complements the subtle sweetness of the beets, which I’m not a huge fan of, and work nicely with the other flavors of the dish. The beets aren’t at the foreground of the dish, but without them, the sandwich would be underwhelming. The greens add an essential bitterness that cuts through the decadence of the pancake. This fried scallion pancake is a staple breakfast food for many Chinese people. I grew up eating scallion pancakes on the weekends. There’s something distinctive about the aroma of the scallions with the sounds of the sizzling oil that transports me back to my childhood. In a way, the Beetnik is an example of how many of the dishes are a fusion of culture, flavor, and texture.
Like the sandwich, the small portions of food play off of the different flavor and texture combinations. When I brought my mom to this restaurant, we split a Beetnik and multiple small plates: Black Bean and Broccoli, the Magical Kale Salad, Ma La Cucumbers, and the Lemongrass Pork Dumplings. The vinaigrette of the Magical Kale Salad acts as a palate cleanser after eating the Lemongrass Pork Dumplings. The fried exterior of the dumpling, like the scallion pancake, is a guilty pleasure that the kale salad makes up for (one would hope that the kale cancels out the unhealthiness of the entire meal). On the saltier side, the dumplings come with a soy aioli that cuts some of the saltiness with creaminess. The Black Bean and Broccoli pairs together a creamy black bean spread with roasted broccoli. Relatively light in flavor,The Black Bean and Broccoli can balance out the dishes with more kick, such as the Ma La Cucumbers. The Ma La Cucumbers are indicative of a side dish eaten with rice or congee, adding flavor and depth to the relatively bland foods. But here, the Ma La Cucumbers create another dimension to the food without having to compensate for the other foods. In this way, all the dishes are bold enough to stand alone as their own entity, but also flexible enough to work with other flavor profiles.
But beyond the flavors, the dishes are comfort food for me. They infuse signature aspects of Chinese cuisine with American produce. The successful combination of the two cuisines with the fresh produce creates a medley of experiences. For me, as a Chinese American, there is something affirming in Mei Mei’s coalescence of these different elements from life through food. Food can build a community. Through visiting their storefront or participating in one of their events, the food placed at the center of the table brings the people who eat it to the forefront. The focus on the community is what I love about Mei Mei.
