Chef Chang's House to close and become Sichuan Gourmet

According to Universal Hub via the Boston Restaurant Talk blog, Chef Chang's House, the unassuming Chinese restaurant about 25 feet from the Brookline/Boston line (and right next to the mid-60s/early 70s white Beacon Street sign) will close and become Sichuan Gourmet.  Two branches of Sichuan House are already in Billerica and Framingham.

I discovered the restaurant in 1992, while coming home for weekends at UMass Dartmouth.  Somehow I was hungry and I wanted something quick, and right at the portal of the "C" line trolley was this restaurant.  It's very low-key, comfortable, and out-of-the-way.  Sweet and sour chicken for lunch back then was $4.25...not a bad deal for a poor college student!

The lunch specials came with soup (never got the soup) and an appetizer (either wontons or an egg roll).  The duck sauce served with the egg rolls had a very slight hint of strawberries, although I can't confirm this.  And each diner got a free pot of hot tea plus refills of ice water.

The sweet and sour chicken at Chef Chang's House is the yardstick to compare restaurant sweet and sour chicken made at Chinese restaurants.  Usually, the other versions are a day-glo mess of chicken fingers, a heavily-sugary (and often piping hot because of the sugar) sauce, and maybe a cherry or a pineapple here or there (Liane's in Hyde Park used to have cherries and pineapple, but don't anymore).  Chef Chang's sauce is exactly the right balance of sweet and sour, and they toss in pickles, carrots, green peppers and onions.  And, at the very end of the meal, I save the cherry for last, as that represents the end of a good meal.

In 2010, the lunch special has increased to $6.95, still very reasonable for the college student, and for an extra dollar I get the healthier and stickier brown rice.  However, It's sad that a good Chinese restaurant like this must close.  King's House in Hyde Park did the same and they were open for over 32 years until he closed in 2007.  Kenny King did a great business competing against Liane's...his food was much more expensive but well worth it.  He closed because people liked Liane's better and they usually deal in high volume (the luncheon/dinner specials are enough to feed two or have over two meals!)  Talk and Wok (where the Mug and Muffin used to be eons ago) isn't as good and imparts that thin, cheesy Chinese restaurant patina.  Maybe Sichuan Gourmet will prove to be as good, but I will certainly miss Chef Chang's House.

(Aside: the best homemade sweet and sour chicken I had was at an old high school friend's house.  Maybe the new owners of Sichuan Gourmet could get lessons from her?)