asian food: Asian restaurants in Southeast Texas Americanize food to fit palate By JAMIE REID, The Enterprise 08/09/2006 BEAUMONT - While walking down the colorful Taste of China buffet line this week, chef Tony Tan pointed to the shrimp in lobster sauce, Hunan chicken and fried biscuits topped with granular sugar. "This is American food," he said of the biscuits. Well, actually, the shrimp and chicken dishes also have been Americanized, he said. By that he means they are slathered in a gelatinous sauce that Southeast Texans love but native Asians find unnatural. In fact, most Asian food here has been altered to please the American palate, said chef Al King, Asian cuisine instructor at the Art Institute of Houston, a subsidiary of The Art Institutes, which offers postsecondary career-oriented education in the creative arts. Would you eat the more native duck feet, chicken comb, sea cucumber and pig ears? If you were born and raised in the United States, probably not, King said. That's why three new Asian restaurants in Beaumont also likely will serve food the way you like it - saucy, sweet and fried. The Japanese grill Kyoto opened two weeks ago on Phelan Boulevard.; Thai restaurant Chaba is open on Lucas Drive; and a second Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar is set to open on Interstate 10 in the coming months. Many popular sushi rolls in these parts - filled with cream cheese, crawfish and chili paste - are about as Japanese as McDonald's is Irish, King suggested. And the ubiquitous California roll was created in avocado-friendly California, he explained. At Kyoto, dishes typically are sweeter than food served in Japan, 38-year-old owner Joe Xu said. They also are served with fried rice, which is common at restaurants here but not in Asian countries, said King, who recently ate his way across China in 14 days, researching food. What he found there: Whole fried fish (eyes included) and whole pig (snout, feet and genitals). "We can't cook the way we cook in China," said John Ma, 37-year-old manager of China Border in Beaumont. "It would be a little scary for you." So, instead, Ma stocks the China Border buffet with egg rolls, popcorn shrimp, French fries, rice crispy treats, pepperoni pizza and quesadillas. Linda Rhodes, a 62-year-old San Augustine housewife who eats at a Chinese buffet about once a month, said at Taste of China, she likes the spicy Hunan chicken, which is deep fried and covered in a thick, brown sauce. Also on her plate - hot and sour soup, egg rolls, fried rice, cheese puffs and teriyaki chicken. "We always make a pig out of ourselves," Rhodes said while sitting with her 61-year-old sister, Barbara LeJune of San Augustine. Although it's not authentic Chinese, it pleases the hundreds of people who eat here everyday, said Tan, who was born and raised in Malaysia. These American inventions, which include the fortune cookie, keep customers happy, he said. And, in the chancy world of restaurants, that's important, he said. "Restaurants are in the business of making money," King said. "If you make something good, but no one will eat it, all you have is something to throw in the garbage can." jreid@beaumontenterprise.com (409) 880-0787 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------