Well that was quick. PokiStation, the Irvine restaurant that tried to cash in on the poke craze even though it was really a Chinese restaurant serving xiao long baos, closed after less than six months of its opening.
Now a new poke-less joint has moved in, and Irvine's probably better for it. The new place is called Rainbow Bridge and is a specialist in Ningxia cuisine of Northwest China.
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Some of its specialties include rou jia mo, which a sign on the door says is akin to a “Chinese hamburger…a well-known folk's dish from North-western China.”
It goes on to describe it this way: “It can be broken down to 2 components: the bread and the meat. The bread has a golden, crispy outer skin with a soft, chew center. The meat is braised in soy sauce and slow-cooked until most of the fat has been reduced into a savory sauce.”
Another dish features a Ningxia specialty of wheat noodles called liangpi.
For the rest of the menu, which only consists of three dishes and a list of drinks, click here.
14130 Culver Dr. Ste A., Irvine, CA 92604, (949) 733-0158; rainbowbridgeirvine.com
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.