Golden Era Review

Due to foreseen and unforeseen obstacles last week, we would have had a small crowd. So instead of going to paul k, we switched destinations to Golden Era, a Chinese/Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant in the tenderloin that fakes meats (with soy, tofu, seitan, etc.), and invited some more people.

Golden Era ( http://www.goldeneravegetarian.com/ ) was decent but not good. I had high hopes for it since some people have raved about it; those that attended agreed this was definitely worse than the other times they'd been there.

Our three appetizers were all okay, maybe even fine. The sweet & sour soup was aptly named and contained a wide variety of vegetables ranging from celery to very sad looking tomato slices. But the soup was a bit "weird" -- "flavorful, but I'm just not into the flavor." The vegetable fu young was interesting, but that's all. Eh. And the pot stickers were soft and floppy and tasted surprisingly eggy, which is really astonishing when you realized they were made without eggs. The insides, a shredded mixture of tofu of vegetables, was pretty decent.

Entrees were a bit better. The spicy gourmet "chicken" (soy) was the best of the bunch, with spicy, soft, moist "chicken." The spicing on the chicken was very good, though this spicing made a "skin" that was occasionally rubbery in places. This was the first item to disappear.

The "beef" (also soy) with broccoli was fine. The broccoli and carrots that came with it were well executed: cooked but still tasty and crisp. (The chicken also came with identical broccoli.) In addition, the "beef" came with black mushrooms which didn't really go texture or flavor-wise.

The house rice clay pot was decent: a mild dish of rice topped with shredded tofu, mushrooms, and bean threads cooked with hints of ginger. No assertive or complex flavors here, but we still liked the dish.

Although the place was mostly empty when we arrived at 7:30pm, by the time we left around 8:40pm it was full and so noisy it was difficult to converse. Perhaps everyone plans for the fact it closes at 9:00pm?

Total $13/person counting tax and tip but without drinks. The six items we ordered were the right amount to leave the five of us satiated but not really full.

Original Announcement

Since Golden Era was the result of a last minute change of venue, there was no original announcement.

Comments from Other Attendees

There are a number of other dishes we didn't get to try but seemed popular from my research. With the exception of one entree we ordered (spicy gourmet chicken) and two appetizers (pot stickets and the fu yung), everything below is more popular than the items we ordered.

• Appetizers:: Vietnamese crepes, spring rolls, tay-ho rolls, and steamed veggie buns (previously called buddha buns).
• Entrees: caramelized chicken, garlic beef, tamarind beef, pineapple salmon, ginger fish.
• Clay Pot: Eggplant.
• Pho. (Apparently they serve it.)

(Note: noodle and rice dishes were effectively never recommended.)

-mark

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