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Valentine’s Day in Beijing: Dirty Dancing and Messy Burritos

“No flowers.  Nothing looks tackier than girls walking around on dates with wilted overpriced roses.  Chocolates MIGHT work…”

These were my marching orders.  Frankly, while she has a great sense of style, and quirky sense of humor, YJ has never been much of a “girly girl,” but Valentine’s Day comes once a year so…the husband has to suit up and think of SOMETHING.

It’s also a little known secret (though probably better known now) that February 14th is our “official”  — as opposed to the one we celebrate — anniversary.  It was on this date two years ago that we went down to to the courthouse and the Tianjin Office of Marriage Certification put it all to rest, there were a few wedding day smiles but no walks down the aisles, and no, she didn’t wear a wedding dress.*

We’re also on a ‘gotta find new restaurants’ kick.  Since 2007, Beijing’s restaurant scene has grown in size and sophistication.  Actual French people running French restaurants… know, crazy huh?  Long gone are the days when a restaurant could advertise “Western Food” as an actual cuisine and keep a straight face.   (“Sure, we serve Western Food…didn’t you see the three pieces of stale, moldy bread on the table?  Now, what would you like in your Nescafe?”)

So, yesterday for lunch we went to Sanlitunr.  YJ’s first trip to the area back in 2004 prompted her to remark “This is what all of China would look like if Chiang Kai-shek had won the war.”  Ah, where have you gone Old South Bar Street? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you…

Anyway, our lunchtime stop was the ‘new’ branch of Panino Teca.  YJ called it the best sandwich she had ever had.  I am still inclined to any number of deli sandwiches from New York in my gastric memory, but it was damn good and certainly tops in Beijingtown.  The place has a lot to offer as a  lunch spot: bright interior, decent service, nice location.  It was PACKED, but we found two seats pretty quick all the same.

For our evening festivities we bought tickets to the performance of Dirty Dancing: One Night in Beijing.  Community theater + famously cheesy 1980s icon…what’s not to love?  In fact, it was brilliant.  Yes, some of the leads were hired more for their ability to do the Mashed Potato than their acting ability, but the beauty of the performance was in not trying to stage the movie, but rather redo it as a mini-play within a show within a show.  Magic acts (by Nick Ma, a highlight), trick bicycle riding, improv comedy that was actually funny, and, yes, some good dancing, were all held together by the madcap antics of Anna Grace (producer) and Barrie Noland as the two lunatic siblings in charge of the resort with Kris Chung (writer/director) as their put-upon accompanist.  It worked.

Gordon Kutil in “The Swayze” role brooded effectively and didn’t embarrass himself when going shirtless for long stretches.  Stephanie Azuelos, as Baby, looked alternately naive, distressed, and in heat at all the appropriate moments.  Honorable mention has to also go to Camila Zanzanaini (and no, I can’t pronounce it) as the light-hearted, light-headed, and lightly talented elder sister Lisa.  The show was interactive, which meant in the fine tradition of cruise ships around the world both halves of the show began with conga lines, and there was a fair amount of patter between the stage and the front row.  I’m not sure how I feel about interactive theater.  On the one hand, when it’s not me being interacted with it can be funny and spontaneous.  On the other hand, when it is me I feel sort of the same way I do when Beijing cabbies ask me for directions…”I thought this is what I was paying you for?”

All that said…THIS is something Beijing needs more of: Community sponsored, community organized events and performances that bring together players, audiences, and participants from both the Chinese and foreign communities of Beijing.   I wrote about this in the Insider’s Guide, but it is things like this, not grotesque architecture or yet another golf course springing up on the drought ravaged North China Plain, that make me believe Beijing’s is becoming an international, cosmopolitan and, dare I say it, modern city.

After the show we were starving and decided to make the trek back to Sanlitunr for dinner, thus in one day doubling YJ’s total number of trips to the Tongli area since 2006.   For reasons that defy logic, we were all about burritos at that point and I made a mission of checking out Kris Ryan’s new joint Side Saddle.   It’s DIY burritos, they heat up a tortilla and you tell them what you want on it for 40 RMB.  In my days of (greater) poverty, I used to joke that I could fund my research in Beijing by setting up a Taco Bell stand right outside Poachers Inn, I’d only need to be open between 12 and 2 each night and I’d make a fortune.  Well, that’s basically what Kris did except that burritos at Side Saddle are much better than anything at Taco Bell.   Think: Poor Man’s Beijing version of Chipotle and you’re getting closer.  We loaded up our burritos with beef, cheese, jalepeno sauce, taco sauce, sour cream, cilantro, rice, beans, veggies, shrimp (YJ) and that’s just what I remember.**  That plus 2 cokes came to 100 RMB.

As we were munching on our burritos,*** YJ and I decided (cue Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes for an ending to this post far cheesier than anything on offer at Side Saddle) that roses and ridiculously overpriced “Special Valentine’s Dinners” have their place in the cosmos, but they’re not for us.  Community theater and dribbly Mexican food are more our style and we couldn’t be happier about the whole thing.

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*Fortunately, Tianjin DOES have quite a few waterways.  Bonus points to anyone (except those who answer to the nicknames “Froog” or “The Weeble”) who can guess the reference.  For those keeping score, on September 8 that year we had the big bash complete with dresses, aisles, and assembled friends and family.

**YJ reading the post over my shoulder wanted me to include the following quote: “I miss my burrito already.”

***Wrestling with them would actually be more accurate here.

From the archives

February 15th, 2009

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