All The News That's Fit To Eat

Try Chopstix—A reader wrote in a few weeks ago to suggest a new Chinese restaurant tucked away in the Northwest corner of the shopping center at Lomas and San Pedro. (You might remember the space from Taeja Korean Restaurant.) It's called Chopstix. “[They have] really wonderful flavors that remind me of the good Chinese restaurants in San Francisco’s Chinatown,” he said, “and my friend and fellow diner, who travels frequently to China, was equally impressed.” I finally was able to take him up on his suggestion, and now I'm passing it on to you. Go! Chopstix is a real culinary adventure with authentic Beijing-style cuisine. You'll find dishes like steamed pork buns, dan dan noodles, mustard and dried bean curd and stewed chicken feet (perhaps a little too adventurous, given the whole avian bird flu scare). We amused our server to no end by ordering the salted pork noodles, a traditional dish that “only Chinese people like!” $5.95 gets you a huge bowl filled with a rich, porky broth, rice noodles, bok choy, tripe and irregular chunks of pork belly, striated with fat and muscle. It was not for the meek of pork, to be sure. Still, it was good in an odd way, and something I've never even seen on a menu in Albuquerque before. Chopstix is closed Mondays, and open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. You can reach the restaurant at 268-877.