Bar at Ding’s Asian Fusion in Bethany
Interior of Ding’s Asian Fusion in Bethany
In the appropriately titled “City of Devils” author Paul French tells the story of the two men who presided over the criminal underworld in the Chinese city of Shanghai before the Second World War, Jack “Lucky” Riley and Joe Farren. Like many individuals who have prospered in innovative ways in large and dynamic cities, neither individual was a native of Shanghai; Riley was a former boxer and U.S. Navy Veteran who had escaped from Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and Farren was a Viennese Jew who had fled the anti Semitism that characterized the Austrian capital after the First World War.
Farren oversaw his criminal empire from the restaurant and club that bore his name in Shanghai that featured entertainers from various part of the world and a clientele that included Russians who had fled their homeland and found refuge in Shanghai, European diplomats who were assigned there, and gangsters of various ethnicities. The author describes in considerable detail the opulence of Farren’s establishment, which featured imposing metal doors and lacquered wood paneling that was embossed with historical Chinese images and contrasts it with the grim living conditions of most of the residents of Shanghai at that time. The opening scenes of “Indiana Jones And the Temple Of Doom” are set in an opulent nightclub in Shanghai filled with shady people and may have been inspired by Farren’s establishment. And Farren’s was a popular place to be and be seen, and often gangsters and corrupt officials congregated there and did sordid deals that French details. While both Farren and his place are long gone, the ornate interior of Ding’s Asian Fusion on 39th Expressway in Bethany may serve in a sense as homage to it and places like it geared towards the affluent that were shuttered by the Chinese Communist Party when it took power there in 1948.
But the owners of Ding’s, Sophia and Leo Chang, assert that their place was not modelled on any other place and that they did not receive guidance from anyone who is steeped in the history of Shanghai when they planned it. And while the Bethany area is not home to gangsters or corrupt public officials, on Sunday Ding’s hosts a variety of local residents for lunch who can be observed interacting with one another in a friendly fashion amidst lacquered walls and a cut stone setting.
In the course of his televised travels the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was often in Asia where he enjoyed eating street food that combined foods from other nations that he celebrated as exemplifying culinary “fusion”. In his several expeditions to the city state of Singapore he devoured fare sold by what were termed “hawkers” that were influenced by the Chinese, Indian, and Malaysian communities that are located there.
And as Ding’s Dings Asian Fusion’s name indicates, the menu there combines Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian fare in a flavorful and thorough manner. The extensive liquor offerings there are equally diverse and include both cold and warm sake, a Japanese wine made from rice.
And while it has only been in operation for slightly over a year, Ding’s is in the process of developing a customer base due to its quality food and drink as well as it intriguing décor.
Against the Grain 