Mama Fu's Asian House adapts the flavors of the East to the pace of the West, offering fresh, savory meals with chain restaurant efficiency.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published October 7, 2004
[Times photo: Scott Keeler]
Two of Mama Fu’s popular noodle dishes are Vietnamese Noodles, left -- with garlic-seared soy, carrots, mushrooms, snap peas, zucchini, red peppers and bean sprouts, served over pan-fried egg noodles -- and Pad Thai with Chicken, right, featuring Thai peanut sauce, carrots, scallions, tofu, bean sprouts and egg, tossed with rice noodles and garnished with cilantro, peanuts and lime.
Could pasta and pizza be passe? Is salsa losing its zing? Are wraps calling it a wrap?
If so, guess what's leaping into the breach as America's next fast food? Straight from the wok, the steamer and soup pot, it's rice, noodles and potstickers.
Yes. Chinese food is back. Oops, make that pan-Asian, and a new generation of mall takeout has modernized its look and style to fit the Panera era and beyond. America's new flavors come from Asia. After two decades of sampling food from all around the Pacific, breathing Thai fire and losing our fear of sushi, we now find Asian dishes are chain restaurant fare, and soon fast food, too.
Mama Fu's Asian House, founded by hotshot Raving Brands in Atlanta last year, is a perfect example of the new wave. It has just opened at Clearwater Mall in the midst of a new millennial menu - Jamba Juice, Fatburger, Smokey Bones, Moe's Southwest Grill (a Raving Brands kin) and other newbies - and promises to open at least 10 units around Tampa Bay.
The menu is indeed an Asian mix, from familiar lo mein and teriyaki to Thai green beans and Vietnamese pho. Of course, none are as authentic as they would be in, say, an all-Thai restaurant, yet the taste is not all nuts and sweets. The kitchen has ample mint, basil and garlic chili to add zing. What started out as a Noodle House changed its name and added more salads and veggie dishes, even steamed edamame beans for those who are carbo unloading. Wine and wine pairings, such as zinfandel with Mongolian beef, are offered.
Mama has hipness for sure: The staff wears black tees and Gen Z beards, and a stir-fry of high-energy tropical colors decorates walls, plates and shiny black takeout boxes. Fine Young Cannibals are on the sound system and Puck-ish homilies and groaners are everywhere. (Starters are listed under "Where Fu's jump in.")
Thai coconut soup with lemongrass could use more lime kick, but it's a cream of a dozen flavors and the best $1.99 you can spend. You could just eat your way through appetizers and be happy. Soup and lettuce wraps with chicken and water chestnuts, porky potstickers in snap-crackle crisp crust or minty rice paper basil rolls are more than enough to refresh and restore.
Entrees come in a pick-your-protein format (beef, chicken, tofu or shrimp). Among entrees, pho and pad Thai were disappointing because the noodles were limp and the sauces lacked the bite of the traditional models. And skip brown rice; no amount of good health could be worth it.
Still, those dishes and everything I tried had fresh crunchy vegetables, from cabbage to snow peas, something too many restaurants, East and West, blow. The best entrees I tried were green beans with chili garlic and Korean cashews, with a hint of my favorite Asian barbecue.
The kitchen never stints on portions. On shrimp dishes you get at least a dozen, more than you see for $7 or $8 in most places. You can sumo size the protein for a couple of bucks more. That will make this popular takeout fare.
Is Mama Fu's my dream noodle shop? No, there's no udon or soba, no stylish quiet or green tea. Is it as warm and comforting, as hot and spicy, as a Mom and Pop? Not close.
But it shows that Asian food can be updated at the least expensive levels. The cooking here is fine and fresh and mostly needs more spicing options. Hot mustard, pepper sauce and soy are available; ginger, lemon, vinegar and fresh cilantro should be too.
Mama Fu's presents corporate proof that Asian flavors are now fully part of the menu after they refused so long to be chained. We knew it was coming. Local restaurateurs have put Chinese and Japanese food in mall food courts and built the handsome Rice and Co. at Citrus Park. Outback brought Roy Yamaguchi's Hawaiian fusion to Tampa and other cities; P.F. Chang made mainline Asian fare almost too cool for the mall; sushi is in the supermarkets and seared tuna is everywhere. Outback has its own Mama coming: Paul Lee's Kitchen opens here next year. Fast Fu had to come.
Let's face it, we love Asian food; so does half the globe. When Mama Fu's puts a sign on your table for the waiters delivering food (a better idea than hollering), it may say "One Billion 31."
That's an underestimate.
- Chris Sherman dines anonymously and unannounced. The Times pays all expenses. A restaurant's advertising has nothing to do with selection for a review or assessment of its quality. He can be reached at 727 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com
