Over the Memorial Day holiday, Mr. Scholar and I tried a few new restaurants and visited a few old favorites. Yantze Gourmet restaurant in Lansdale is a little gem located in a strip mall, as most things are these days. But that's no reason to turn your nose up. Good food can be found anywhere if you are willing to look and be adventurous.
One of the nice touches at Yantze is that the owner comes to every table, welcomes you and tells you what the specials are. On this day, the special was soft shell crabs in a spicy brown sauce served with fried rice and steamed vegetables. “Soft shell crabs are not for everyone and they are only in season for a short time,” she said. “But if you like soft shell crabs, you will like ours.”
Usually I order off the menu just because everything they serve is wonderful. But today, I wanted something novel. Soft shell crabs, I thought to myself. They remind me of spring weekends in Connecticut with my parents on one of my father's boat hunting expeditions. I am accustomed to crabs that are sauteed and served on toast points or deep fried and slapped on some kind of roll. I had not eaten crab in years, mostly because of a squeamishness developed over the last few years. (Who can say why?) But if I could actually get over the notion of eating moulting crab, I was willing to trust my palate to the chef at Yantze.
The crabs were lovely. I was rewarded with slightly crunchy, sweet, tangy, spicy taste. Every few bites or so, I would remind myself that I was eating crabs in their most vulnerable state and I would wonder if I was going to be able to finish the dinner. But prevail I did. The vegetables that accompanied the crabs were not exotic, but they were perfectly steamed and provided a nice foil to they spicy main dish. Alas, I was too full for the fried rice. It was yet another lovely meal.
