Jun Bo

Address:
7717 Nicollet Ave., Richfield, 612-866-6888

The Scene
Jun Bo has Belgian wall-to-wall carpets, a huge fish tank anchoring the entrance, giant wedding dragons adorning one wall, floor-to-ceiling bamboo paneling everywhere else, and Chinese satellite television is projected on the walls. The 600-seat (1,000 with banquet room) Chinese restaurant was built to satisfy the ever-expanding Chinese and Asian communities’ demand for wedding and holiday banquet services—and the crowd reflects it. Jun Bo reminds me of the place where we had cousin Heshie’s bar mitzvah in Great Neck: Twelve tables of Chinese celebrants seem unfazed when an Armani-scented gray fox stands to one side of his table peering into a dim sum cart and shouts, “Hey, Morty, should we get some more shumai?”

Our Take
Jun Bo is a delightful work in progress, and like so many of my favorite Chinese restaurants in town, it gets dozens of dishes right, but with hundreds to choose from, the menu is a minefield. Dim sum of all types was stellar, especially the watercress-and-chicken dumplings, shark-fin dumplings, and shrimp-and-pork dumplings (zhiu zhou). About ninety items are featured on the weekend, weekdays about half that. Avoid the American–Chinese menu and focus on the traditional menu, which is offered to everyone. Start with the dim sum and move on to fried quail, then family-style soups, especially the watercress-pork and seafood– bean curd. Order anything served Hong Kong–style—crisp-fried, then wok-tossed with garlic and hot chilies. The beef short ribs were amazingly tender and perfectly paired with fermented black beans; Singapore rice noodles set a new standard in town for that curried rice-stick dish; Peking pork chops were superbly crunchy sweet; and the whole fish—from the gray sole to the walleye—was perfectly turned out. Pea tips with ham and mushrooms in a light broth was ethereal, a perfect side dish.

Jun Bo is not cheap. You won’t find entrées at the bargain-basement prices other Chinese restaurants seem hell bent on maintaining, so its not unreasonable to increase your expectations for service and ingredient quality incrementally.

Bam! Crack! Dot!
Already one of the oddest restaurants in town, Jun Bo is trying to achieve the restaurant business perfecta by expanding its ability to ring the cash register beyond traditional meal times with late-night special events to bring in the crowds. Mondays, there’s karaoke, and on Wednesdays, a poker tournament. Seems nutty to most, but considering that only a handful of restaurants in town actually make money, anything an eatery can do to feather its nest should be admired, especially if it works.