Lucky China’s Hidden Menu

Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table

There’s a reason why Lucky China, a modest little Chinese restaurant on the side of a busy road in West St. Paul, is destination dining for so many Korean-Americans in Minnesota. It’s not for the Korean soap operas playing on the wall-mount television. It’s not for the chop suey or sweet and sour dishes. The owners, who are Chinese-Korean-Americans ( a lot of hyphens), expertly turn out noodle dishes that are created specifically to cater to Korean tastes. As you enter the restaurant, your nationality will be quickly assessed, as at a border crossing. If you’re not Korean, politely decline the traditional Chinese menu and request the Korean menu, which you might otherwise not even learn of. This well-worn laminated sheet will offer two particularly interesting dishes: Cha Jang Mein and Cham Pong. These dishes are the ubiquitous and much-loved fast food of Korea, prepared exclusively by the Chinese ethnic minority. For all the bowls of cha jang mein I ate as a child I never once received an action figure. But those were, for me at least, happy meals nonetheless.

Cha Jang Mein is a generous bowl of chewy homemade noodles coated in a rich black bean sauce with small chunks of pork, diced potatoes, and onions, all sauteed in glorious pork fat and topped off with finely julienned slices of cucumber. My corn-fed Minnesotan husband describes it as Asian Carbonara. Lucky China’s version ($7.50) is, in fact, exemplary. Although the dark, glistening sauce may intimidate the uninitiated, this dish will hook you from the first slurp. I’ve been known to not come up for air once I tuck in and the chopsticks hit the noodles.

As good as the Cha Jang Mein is, every visit to Lucky China still presents a dilemma: Cha Jang Mein or Cham Pong? The Cham Pong ($8), which the menu describes only as “Homemade noodles with seafood,” is oh-so-much more. It’s an outsized bowl of crimson red soup: A mass of thick, chewy noodles swimming in a briny, spicy broth and teeming with mussels, squid, and sliced vegetables. Thankfully, Korean etiquette permits — if not encourages — one to lift the bowl off the table to drink the last of the broth, so don’t be shy! A word to the wise, though: Do not attempt to wear white when eating Cham Pong or Cha Jang Mein.

The noodle dishes are the stars at Lucky China, but it’s well worth starting your meal with an order of Gan Poung Chicken, Beef, or Prawns ($12 to $20). Gan Poung is the Chinese-Korean variant of Kung Pao, though spicier and less salty than its Chinese-American cousin. Crisply battered, hot pieces of meat are tossed in a spicy, sweet, and vinegary sauce and topped off with shreds of potent peppers. In Korea, these bold dishes are traditionally served as accompaniments to alcoholic beverages (such as soju, Korea’s vodka-like libation) before the main meal, so they are not typically served with rice. You may, however, find a bowl of rice a good balance to temper the heat from the hot peppers.

Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table

In Korea, Cha Jang Mein is a cheap and quick meal and occupies the place in Korean culture that pizza does in the West — the delivery food of choice. During busy lunch hours in Seoul, tens of thousands of bowls of Cha Jang Mein are delivered via fleets of mopeds. The drivers often navigate with one hand, using the other to balance large metal boxes in the other. The design and function of these boxes are unique: safely encasing several stacking bowls of steaming hot noodles. These covered plastic bowls are dropped off at the doorsteps of so many apartments in Seoul’s high-rise jungle. After their cargo is consumed the empty bowls are again left at the apartment doorstep, not unlike the aftermath of room service in a hotel, to be picked up during the deliveryman’s next round. The only disposable item: chopsticks. Two years ago, when I was visiting Korea with my mother, my aunt took a break from cooking for us and ordered in. I was so excited to have “authentic” Cha Jang Mein in Korea! Alas, the delivered Cha Jang Mein had watery sauce and the noodles were limp and soggy. And mom proudly told her sister-in-law, “I guess you’ll have to come to Minnesota to have a good bowl of Cha Jang Mein.”

So here, halfway around the world from Seoul, is a family of Chinese-Korean-Americans, serving up absolutely authentic Chinese-Korean dishes. It’s well worth the traffic on I-94 and much cheaper than a flight to Seoul.

BEST BETS: Cha Jang Mein and Champ Pong noodle dishes, Gan Poung dishes with spicy, sweet and sour sauce.

Lucky China
Chinese-Korean
1375 S Robert St
West St. Paul, MN 55118
651.552.3837
HOURS:
Mon-Sat 11am-7pm
Closed on Sundays
RESERVATIONS / RECOMMENDED: No / No
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN: Limited /Limited
ENTREE RANGE: $7-20

10 Comments

  1. Maja Ingeman

    Mmmm — I’ve had both cha jang mein and cham pong at Lucky China and both are delicious!

  2. Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl

    Really nice work! Beautifully done story, can’t wait to check this place out.

  3. Mister P

    Great article! I’ll definitely check it out. I love Korean food so usually drive out to Dong Yang for my fix and this is much closer to home. I haven’t lunched on Robert since the great French sandwich shop closed a few years back.

    I’d love to hear about other hidden ethnic gems. For example, regional Chinese cuisine. Other than Szechuan, I have yet to find true regional Chinese.

  4. Song Min

    Hey nuna,

    Nice work. I miss going there with mom. Her and I do, “Cha-Pong.” Where we trade off our bowl of Cha Jang Mein and Cham Pong, after we’ve finished our half. I hope to see more of you on this site.

  5. C. Rhee-Thompson

    Excellent descriptions of the food. Made my mouth water just reading about it. Can’t wait to try it the next time we swing around to visit our mid-west friends.

  6. dave

    Great story…Thanks for sharing. Are these dishes that need to be eaten at the restaurant or could they be taken home and reheated?

  7. Kyle Knutson

    It’s nice to see such a wonderful article about this place. Eventhough it is a bit out of the way for me, I still make the trip as often as I can. I recommend the Beef and Broccoli. The beef is so tender that you hardly have to chew and the vegetables are very fresh. I rarely can finish the lunch size portion of this meal because they give you so much food, all for under $7. You definitely get the best bang for you buck at Lucky China!

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