Culver City: Ms. Chi Cafe is Now Open

 

Ms. Chi Cafe in Culver City is now open. Opened by chef Shirley Chung who was on Top Chef, season 11, this casual spot took over the old Hanjip space.

I was invited to a special friends and family night. We tried a number of dishes including the crispy chicken.

This dish reminded me of the classic Chinese bbq chicken with an addicting scallion ginger sauce. It also reminded me of Chinese wedding banquets where this dish was often served with salt and pepper. I loved that the chicken was juicy and also the bean sprouts which gave it some additional crunch.

 

 

Did Chef Shirley find the most talented tea master? I really loved my milk tea but neglected to ask for the cheese foam version. In any case, a cold milk tea habit is not a bad habit to take up.

 

Chef Shirley won a challenge with her cheeseburger potstickers. I really liked them and wanted to eat more than one but more food was starting to hit our table.

 

 

The cucumber and radish salad was a bit of a miss for me. I wanted more garlic (which I got later on!).

 

 

I was really into the broth of the wontons. The savory dish just begged for noodles or rice. But at the same time, you got to enjoy the wonton without being distracted by carbs.

 

 

Our server’s favorite dish is the garlic shrimp so we had to try it. I loved that it came with cloves of garlic as big as the shrimp themselves. We ate it all. Fortunately I didn’t run across any vampires to test the theory of garlic would scare of them away. Because I ate A LOT of garlic.

 

 

I wanted to get pea sprouts but they were out so we got the Brussels sprouts which comes with a lovely egg. Of course there was egg yolk porn…

Don’t look! Look! And the sprouts were all gone. I started dipping them into the egg which reminded me a bit of the classic asparagus and egg dish. Which made me think about Hollandaise sauce. These were would be great at brunch as well!

 

 

I had gone to a media preview of Banc of California’s food hall, The Fields. There’s a Ms. Chi Cafe location there and I fell in love with the veggie chow mein. I ordered it at the Culver City location and it’s exactly the same with even more veggies. The noodles are perfect.

If I was on the Westside, I’d also check out the breakfast options. Downtown Culver City needed a great Chinese spot. I can’t wait to go back!

Ms. Chi Cafe

3829 Main St., Culver City, CA 90232  —  (424) 361-5225

 

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