Back in January, right before we left for our winter vacation, we met up with friends of ours from the FOM for an outing to a place that’s long been on my radar, Dragon 88 in Boylston, MA. As you can read in my older review of House of Wu in Road Island, I’ve got a soft spot for old-school, New England-style Chinese food, which has had a good century of divergence from the food eaten in China, and even had a fair bit of divergence from West Coast Chinese places as well. Dragon 88 in Boylston is one of the better-regarded “old school” Chinese places, known for good, classic “New England Chinese” food, a reasonably good modern “authentic” menu, and, perhaps most importantly, particularly good (and strong) house Mai Tais. So we decided to meet up and give the place a try.
For much of the second half of the 20th Century, New England was choc-a-bloc with Chinese “Restaurant and Lounges” like Dragon 88, with a large dining room decorated with an assortment of Chinese dragons and similar motifs, and a smaller lounge with a bar, serving a collection of mid-century Tiki-inspired drinks like Mai Tais and Scorpion bowls that that, over the years, all have converged to a similar menu description that boils down to “rum, with fruit juices.” Dragon 88 (I believe the 88 is from their founding) is no exception, indeed, the interior reminds me a lot of other New England old school Chinese places like Attleboro, MA’s Mon Kou or the recently destroyed-by-fire Wind Tiki in Webster, MA.
Like I mentioned above, most any New England-area Chinese place will have a Mai Tai on the menu. And most only vaguely resemble a real Mai Tai, usually one or two house rums with a bit of amaretto instead of proper orgeat, and often orange juice or pineapple juice as an unwanted guest. The Dragon 88 version is notable because it is both reasonably good, reasonably accurate (although I’m almost certain it is using amaretto instead of orgeat), and particularly high-test. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to Dragon 88 for cocktails, but if you’re looking for an enjoyable cocktail to go with a Chinese meal, they are well-above-average and reasonably priced.
Getting into my actual meal, I started with their wonton soup. I always enjoy a nice, big, steamy bowl of wonton soup on a cold winter day (as the seasons warm, I tend to shift more towards hot-and-sour soup). The version at Dragon 88 is good rendition of this classic: a good broth, decently large and firm wontons with a nicely spiced pork filling, and some large bits of Chinese ham. And like a lot of my more-favorite New England Chinese places, this has a nice addition to it: snow peas, which add a nice green note and a bit of crunch. Definitely one of the better wonton soups of recent history.
With my group of Tiki friends, it’s also pretty much guaranteed that someone will give in to the temptation, and get a pu pu platter. The basic constituents of the platter at Dragon 88 are all there (beef teriyaki, crab rangoons, chicken fingers, fried shrimp, chicken wings, and a few spare ribs), but honestly, the breaded items were all a bit heavy on the breading, the chicken wings surprisingly small (I’ve call these “pigeon wings” since the local bar near us was infamous for having undersized wings for “wing night”) and the ribs and teriyaki a undercrisped. Not terrible, but this strictly a middle-of-the-road pu pu platter.
However, myself, I went just for some straight up egg rolls, and was reasonably pleased with these. Good crisp, and if you like particularly cabbage-heavy egg rolls (which I do, if fully cooked), these were good, one of the better examples of an old-school egg roll. If I were going to criticize, these were a bit heavy on the celery, and a bit light on the pork, but again, above average, and definitely nicely cooked.
Another classic “New England Chinese” item that I love to get is fried rice. Importantly, this was ordered as a full side dish of pork-fried rice, and was a particularly good example of the slightly quirky “New England-style Fried Rice” (notable for the darker color, usually from a bit of molasses), and had all the notes I like: A good, rich flavor, a nice sear on the rice so bits of it are getting crunchy, good char siu pork bits, a bit of egg, and some nicely seared veggies. I’d like some sprouts, too, but otherwise, this was on point. Notable, however, was that several other people at the table also got “pork fried rice”, but as a part of a combo plate, and this was substantially better than what they got, and made fresh. It’s really worth considering that as an upgrade if you are dining in a group at Dragon 88.
When it came to main course, however, while we were sorely tempted by a handful of our usual “Chinese American” favorites like Kung Pao Chicken or Beef and Broccoli, we were both tempted by their “Authentic Szechuan” menu that had a nice selection of spicier dishes that sounded good. Carol went for the Bang Bang Beef (I actually know enough Simplified Chinese to recognize the menu characters here, this is really “Mala Beef”), which was tenderized beef with both dried peppers and a hot pepper sauce, cooked to a good crisp. This was quite tasty, and very spicy. Definitely worth ordering.
Myself, I went for the firecracker chicken. Other places in the area would call this Chengdu dry-fried chicken (and the menu translated as simply “Stir-fried chicken), and it was extremely good. Extremely well-crisped chicken without being too oily. Bold notes of dried pepper, pepper sauce, and a lot of Sichuan peppercorn. Not quite up to my personal regional favorite (Sichuan Garden in Brookline), but a solid performer.
Overall, Dragon 88 was a strong performer. It’s not particularly near any of my regular destinations, but for a group gathering it is quite centralized, the food good, the drinks above-average, and the reasonably good spicy options for those that enjoy them, I’m sure we’re going to have a repeat visit at some point.
