Chinatown mainstay still delivers tasty fare

The menu touts David's Mai Lai Wah on Race Street in Chinatown as "best restaurant in town." That's a bit of hyperbole, but it probably is the best restaurant in town open at 2 in the morning.

Owner David Chan has developed his restaurant in the past 27 years to include many different styles of Chinese cuisine. You'll find Cantonese, Szechuan and Hong Kong. The latest update of the menu includes choosing your own live fish from a tank (market price).

For me, David's is more retro than current. The first time I entered the brightly lit red dining room gleaming with mirrors and chrome, I was back in the '60s with my parents. They sipped classic cocktails such as the mai tai, Singapore Sling and Zombie while my brother and I sucked down Shirley Temples adorned with paper umbrellas. We had our first taste of the exotic - Chinese food as interpreted in Midwest America.

David's decor definitely has the feel of "Mad Men," that AMC period drama about advertising, '60s fashion, drinking and smoking. So, I ordered a Singapore Sling ($6) and waxed nostalgic.

This is the place to go with a crowd and share a bunch of dishes. The menu is huge and so not everything is going to be great. And, some dishes are far more suited to post-revelry excess than afternoon lunch with the kids. Kitsch at 2 a.m. is too much fried food and red dye at 2 in the afternoon.

Fitting into the after after-hours selection is the Seven Stars Around the Moon ($15.95). This is an extravaganza of a fried boneless chicken breast stuffed with pork (a precursor to turducken, no doubt) on a bed of vegetables with shrimp, lobster and pork surrounded by fried scallops and garnished with pineapple squares bedecked with maraschino cherries.

Best bets are in the appetizer category. Both the salt and pepper chicken wings ($5.75 for 10) and the salt and pepper squid ($8.95) are divine. There's just enough to make a crust - and make you thirsty for a second Sling.

The steamed dumplings are just average and the dough is far too thick, but the accompanying freshly grated ginger sauce is a revelation of how good fresh ginger really is. One of my tasters grabbed the last bit, took it home and the next day reported that it is now the only condiment he will eat on his hot dogs.

You also can't go wrong with the spring roll with duck ($1.50). It's got all the good vegetable stuff plus wonderful shreds of duck meat throughout. Bet you can't eat just one.