Restaurant review: Bradenton’s Lucky Star offers the best Chinese food in Sarasota and Manatee counties
May 29th, 2009 by Brian Ries in Food and Drink, News, Sarasota-Manatee
Till just a few years ago, I didn’t really know what I was missing when it came to Chinese food. For most of my life, much of that lived right here on the Suncoast, I had assumed that cardboard containers of beef and broccoli or veggie lo mein were as good as it got, unless you happened to live in a big urban center with its own Chinatown.
Then, I found a place in Tampa that opened my eyes to the joys of real Chinese dishes. Then another. And once I tasted what I’d been missing, I became very angry. Sure, Sarasota is no hotbed for diverse ethnic cuisines, but we still manage to cram a tired takeout and delivery joint around every corner. Why can’t one of these places step up?
Enter Bradenton’s Lucky Star. Stop by for a quick bite, or glance at the folded menus tucked into the bin outside, and you might be fooled into thinking that this is just another tired old fried rice factory. But step inside and you’ll find the best Chinese food in the greater Sara-Mana area.
They don’t make it easy, though. A handwritten sign on the door mentions that dim sum — the traditional small-plate dining of China — is served on Saturday and Sunday, which is odd since Lucky Star is happy to serve those same dishes every night of the week. And the menu, which is tucked into sheet protectors bound with yarn, is the same dreck printed on the takeout pamphlet. Except, right at the end, where you’ll find a handwritten page short on description, but long on potential.
You order dim sum a lot like sushi, jotting quantities on a small sheet of paper printed with a grid of dishes. You’ll find traditional buns — the dough sweetened, steamed and stuffed with everything from scallions to barbecued pork — that are the foundation of dim sum. Here, they’re more dense than I like, but still manage that gooey combination of sweet and savory that makes them so unlike anything from the western world.
Pork sui mai are intensely dark and earthy, mushrooms dominating the flavor. With a little soy-ginger sauce drizzled on top, it’s almost too much, but in a good way. Dumplings of shrimp or pork wrapped in rice paste — thin, gelatinous sheets largely devoid of flavor — are more troublesome, if only to snag with chopsticks. The gooey and wet rice paste adds to the textural variety of the dish but adds little flavor.
Fried food is Lucky Star’s strong suit. Shrimp balls are coated in crinkly strip of crisp fry, the interior moist and powerfully seasoned but with definable shellfish flavor shining through.
Because the owners and chef at Lucky Star are from Hong Kong, the cuisine of that cosmopolitan city is the focus of those handwritten specialty entrées. Fried strips of beef have a thick crust and are coated in rich brown gravy, looking like a typical low-end dish. But the flavor is profoundly different, with ginger and subtly sweet soy shining through, and none of that typical cornstarch and corn syrup flavor found in the usual takeout varieties.
Salt and pepper preparations are one of the best options for traditional Chinese newbies. At Lucky Star they deep-fry big, sweet shrimp coated in a crackling breading, then toss the shellfish with sautéed green and red peppers, chile, garlic and onions. Salty, spicy and sweet, it’s one of the most accessible and tasty dishes you can try. Order them the Hong Kong way, with the shells and legs still attached, for extra crunch and extra cred.
The minute I saw the menu, however, I was waiting for seafood prepared with XO sauce, a Hong Kong dish I’ve come to crave over the past few years. XO is a relatively new invention (created in the 1980s), but it has swept through Chinese restaurants far and wide. The powerful sauce is formed on a base of dried seafood which is cooked in oil with garlic, chiles and onions. At Lucky Star, it’s also given a profound punch of black pepper and tossed with tender fish, scallops, shrimp and veggies. Fabulous.
Lucky Star might be outside your comfort zone, but you’ll have some help from the staff. Kinda. Every question we asked was answered with either a little shake of the head or an exuberant “It’s very good!” But our server never steered us wrong, and eventually took over the ordering once she figured out we were open to more than the usual fare.
Keep an open mind and an open mouth yourself, and you’ll receive the same incredible experience at Lucky Star.
Lucky Star
3.5 stars
4462 Cortez Road, Bradenton, 794-3198
June 7th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Thanks for this find, finally some good Dim Sum without having to drive up to Tampa! I had Dim Sum there today ( 5/7) and everything was very fine, particularly the salt and pepper shrimp, the chicken dumplings, and the mushroom buns.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Agree with crispy dim sum as preferred choices, i.e.golden Bag and Fried shrimp Ball with great $2.95 prices.
Would like to see more variety with dipping sauces tho. Hot/sour soup also better than most with richness, earthy shrooms. BUT the general menu for combo plates leaves me let down/actually surprised considering the superior preparation of the other itmes. Doesn’t mean won’t return again for the Dim sum!
June 21st, 2009 at 6:15 pm
I was very disappointed with Lucky Star restaurant. This was our first time but the last time there. It was horrible to eat raw dim sum, can you believe it? On Sat. 06/20/09 I went there for dim sum with my family. We ordered lots of dim sum specialties. When the xiu mai (pork dumplings) came out the first time they were cold and raw, we sent them back. Then the second time they came back out I told my son to cut opened the xiu mai first to make sure the inside was cooked and it was still red, raw, horrible. We then canceled the xiu mai. Twice was enough for eating horror raw pork food, not counting the E Coli, Swine Flu and Salmonella lurking around this raw pork food. How could this restaurant be still in business that they serve raw food twice to the customers? I wonder, I have to report them to FDA and BBB in Bradenton. When the bill came, the lady owner overcharged us twice for the “Shrimp Dumplings” that we didn’t order, she agreed to refund us the money before tax. I pointed that out, “Madam , we didn’t order the food, therefore we should’nt have to pay tax on it?” Finally, she threw out some coins in our face like go away. We were horrified with the attitude, the service, the raw food, the cheating and lying way of tricking customers and overcharge customers like that. “Lucky Star” is lucky that we didn’t decide to sue them over serving raw pork meat to us!!!
October 19th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
[...] that justifies a Best Chinese category, although you wouldn’t know it from a cursory glance at Lucky Star’s menu. Dig deep and you’ll find a special page devoted to exquisite traditional Hong Kong [...]