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Restaurant ReviewNew Ruan's Restaurant (Brooklyn NY)
| (718) 266-8888
| 1955 86th Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11214
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Reviewed by: Jacqueline M. Newman
Summer Volume: 2011 Issue: 18(2) page: 25
 This is a nifty upbeat Chinese neighborhood eatery that does many nice things. One such is a letter they send to neighborhood principals and teachers advising they can order an affordable Chinese New Year meal delivered to their school. It tells when and explains about these special New Year packages. Another nifty thing is that Donald, one of the owners, carves gorgeous baskets, birds, and other beautiful things for special dishes and special parties. Check one of them on this page and know that the Brooklyn Borough President gets them, too.
 Chinese New Year meals sent to schools that order them, come with literature about the lunar holiday, a horoscope and other information about the Chinese zodiac, why and how to use chopsticks, the significance of the red envelope, a choice from three Chinese meals delivered to cafeteria or classroom, and more. Last year each of these meals cost from five dollars to seven-fifty including tax, tip, delivery, chopsticks, napkins, duck sauce, fortune cookies, red envelopes, Chinese zodiac place mats, and more. An order blank and red envelope are shown on this page should you want to plan ahead with your school.
 This effort is no small feat as last year they delivered more than fifteen hundred meals. These educated faculty, staff, and students about Chinese New Year and Chinese food. Each year since this holiday delivery began, the numbers they send out keep growing
Originally known as Ruan Restaurant, this eatery used to be on 23rd Avenue. In 1997, they moved to these nifty new digs, and business increased. The most popular dishes are Chicken with Broccoli, Steak Kew, Hunan Flower Basket, and the many special diet foods served with brown rice. Adventurous folk adore their Chicken with Peanuts, Sa Cha Beef, Pork Chop with Black Bean Sauce, Squid with Garlic Sauce, and the Fried Rice Cake Shanghai Style. Seafood & Bean Curd in Sizzling Hot Pot, Peking Pork Chop, and Happy Family which comes with shrimp, chicken, scallops, pork and Chinese vegetables are also thought tops here. One group there when we were, said this Happy Family dish makes them very happy, indeed!  Wanting to check things out, we ask Donald and Jimmy Ruan to serve us these adored dishes. While waiting, we looked at and love Donald's artistic carvings. We hear they sometimes turn up at this Brooklyn's borough presidential events. You can have one or more at one of your events, just order and pay for them in advance. They are gorgeous on anyone's table!
Like the carvings, food comes to every table showing lots of talent. The wonderful appetizers we had included steamed har gao, spring rolls, pot stickers, and spare ribs so yummy we could eat several portions but did not because more good dishes were on the way.  One such was Seafood Delight in a noodle nest. It sat on an oceanic gelatin look-alike. The Stir-fried Beef, actually filet mignon, came with a bird flying over its lake-like gelatin. Some dishes look simple and they tasted simply wonderful. We savored them and were thrilled with their decor. Others were more complex and we loved them, too.
As we eat, we watch many take-out orders going out the door. We ask if this is typical and learn it is and that they do lots of catering, too. No wonder the five chefs in this kitchen are forever busy testing their talents. They and management pay attention to every detail. That makes it easy to understand why th |
