My least-favorite dish at Hop Alley is the la zi ji, likely because it’s so widespread (and delicious) in China. The suan ni pork chop is a killer upgrade: Lee eschews the usual mediocre cuts of shoulder and nails the chop - it’s absolutely voluptuous - while balancing the garlic hit that’s traditional in this dish with plenty of sharp vinegar. The crispy pig ears, braced with a tart cucumber-and-carrot slaw, are stellar, and they don’t have the cartilage chew that some people find off-putting. Blending bone marrow into fried rice, for instance, is a stroke of genius it gives the grains a nice, silky mouthfeel and umami addictiveness, upgrading fried rice from what’s basically a throwaway dish to a star. But the cooking is all modern, and interprets some dishes liberally. The restaurant’s name pays homage to Denver’s own Chinese history: Hop Alley was the once-thriving Chinatown that was burned down during riots in the 1880s. He's also leaning on a cook in the kitchen who spent a significant amount of time in Singapore to bring in Hakka (a Chinese group that migrated to Malaysia) and other southeast Asian influences. In Denver, where freestyling on various cuisines is a little more common, Tommy Lee is attempting a similar match-up at Hop Alley, digging into his Cantonese roots and love of Sichuan food to offer a menu that celebrates both regions. Cantonese and Sichuan feature incredibly disparate flavor palates - the former is often delicate and sweet, the latter heavy and hot - but by combining them, this chef was able to bring unusual clarity to the flavors in her food. I found one especially compelling take at an upscale Beijing restaurant, where a Cantonese chef was reworking classic Sichuan food. As in the States, some chefs in China are looking around the globe for influence, while others are attempting to revitalize and celebrate traditional foods that threaten to become extinct as rural populations move to the cities. As I thought a lot about regional cuisine in China - and ate a lot of it, too - I began wondering how the food there would evolve.
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