JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The wait is almost over.
Jacksonville's award-winning Chef Dennis Chan is days away from launching the "dream restaurant" that he's envisioned since childhood.
"I've been dreaming about this restaurant probably since I was 5 years old. When I was standing on a stool watching my grandfather cook," said Chan, 48, smiling at the memory of his beloved grandfather Bill Eng.
Located in Mandarin at 10110 San Jose Blvd, Blue Bamboo Canton Bistro is amid its final preparations to welcome guests.
"Mid-January is our grand opening. But honestly, as soon as we pass inspections, and can get our licenses done and we can get prepped then we will be open," Chan said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bistro initially will only offer takeout. Chan then plans to ease into dine-in table service at the restaurant, which can seat up to 208 people. Chan, though, will limit seating to 152 initially to comply with social distancing guidelines.
"I feel like a little kid standing here. We have been planning it, planning it all along and now we're able to stand here and move in," said Chan, one of the most respected restaurateurs in Jacksonville, as he paused Tuesday in the bistro's comfortably spacious main dining room, where staff placed silverware, plates and cloth napkins on the tables.
Family meals and memories
Three enlarged, black-and-white family photographs hang on one wall. The photos are a visual touchstone for Chan.
In the first photo, Chan's grandmother is smiling as she sits with his father and his siblings, uncles and aunts at a white cloth-covered dinner table.
The second shows his dad, Ming Chan, dressed in a formal white waiter's jacket and black tie when he worked as a waiter while attending the University of South Bank in London.
The third photograph is of his father and his two best friends from high school right before they left to attend universities in separate countries. Chan said the men re-connected in the past five years after more than 60 years.
"The three photos together mean family and food, service and friendships. That is kind of how Blue Bamboo has grown into what we could be now, Chan said. "It's our unofficial mantra but it's described by the pictures."
Chan's family has been in the restaurant business for more than 70 years in Jacksonville. Their legacy spans 13 restaurants, including Litte Dragon on North Main Street and Eng's Golden Dragon on Beach Boulevard — two of the family's best-known restaurants until Blue Bamboo, the restaurant Chan opened on the Southside 15 years ago.
His dad still offers advice about the business side and customer service.
"He always asks me. Probably once a week he asks me 'what is it about your restaurant that is going to make people come back?' " said Chan, who's taken those words and the sentiment to heart.
"We want everybody to feel welcome," he said.
Bistro menu
A graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, Chan has earned national recognition since opening the original Blue Bamboo restaurant.
Chan brings to the table Chinese classics, longtime favorites from his family's 70-plus years in the restaurant business and new interpretations of dishes that he and his culinary team have created.
It is American-style Cantonese cuisine — the meals Chan loved as a kid and still loves as an adult. The bistro's menus evoke memories of meals shared with family and friends, and prepared with passion.
"That is comfort food for me and that is the style of food I want to present. I want all of our food to be nostalgic and to make you feel good when you eat it," Chan said.
All of the dishes on the menu are true Cantonese, even the Sichuan stir fry. The Sichuan refers to the style of the dish. Cantonese food, Chan noted, is generally mild with ginger, garlic and mild sauces. Sichuan tends to be spicer. It was introduced by Cantonese restaurant owners when their customers asked for something different, he said.
"It was so much fun coming up with the menu. But a lot of it is things that our guests have asked for over the years," Chan said. "That is how the menu has evolved, and we've put new things on the menu, too."
The appetizers ($7.95 to $12.95) will be familiar to Blue Bamboo fans. Among them are dried Dragon Whiskers, the eatery's popular fried zucchini straws. BBQ duck wonton crisps, ginger-garlic edamame pods, classic crab rangoon, hoisin chicken lettuce wraps, Canton pork egg rolls and vegetable spring rolls. New to the menu is classic hot and sour soup ($5.95) along with wonton soup.
Salads ($8 to $17) include Peanut-Jiang salad featuring mixed greens and carrots with a peanut lime vinaigrette. There also is a basil grilled salmon composed of organic field greens and a Chop Chop Crispy Chicken salad with a garlic-chive ranch dressing.
Featured wok dishes ($17.95 to $18.95) include Gan Chow Niu Fen, which is wide rice noodles with beef, onions, carrots and scallions, Singapore Dry Curry Noodles, Tofu Xiamen Noodles and traditional fried rice.
Sweet and sour chicken — Chan's favorite childhood meal — is at the top of the entree menu. Chan's mom, Phyllis Eng Chan ran a restaurant with his dad, Ming, whose day job was chief of the Bureau of Laboratories with the Florida Department of Health.
Whenever his mom didn't feel like cooking, she would bring sweet and sour chicken home from the restaurant for the family's dinner. Chan's version is slightly different and just as good, he said.
"What we do differently is we still have that comforting sweet and sour sauce that everyone knows. But we take a whole breast of chicken. We Panko bread it, fry it and then serve it with the sauce," said Chan, the author of Hip Asian Comfort Food — a 2009 collection of Blue Bamboo recipes and photographs punctuated with his personal stories.
Another entree showcases the culinary skill of Jimmy Leung, who's served as Blue Bamboo kitchen manager for 16 years.
Jimmy's Pan-Fried Noodles is made the gu-lou way. Noodles are fashioned into pancakes seared on both sides then topped with stir-fried carrots, bok choy and scallions then a savory sauce. It's Chan's favorite dish as an adult.
"It's comforting because every banquet we used to have it no matter what the occasion. Whether it was a birthday, New Year's, we always had pan-fried noodles and now I can always have it and that makes it special," he said.
Leung's style of cooking pan-fried noodles, Chan said, is almost a lost art because it takes so many steps to make it.
"The way that Jimmy does it. He pan-sears it on one side, flips it over and pan-sears it on the other side. So it's crispy on the two sides but the middle is still soft and pillowy. So when you put that stir-fry gravy on top, it's comfort food for me and there are so many textures in there that make it a neat thing," said Chan, explaining that he's found it a challenging dish to properly make.
Other entrees ($17.95 to $28.95) on the menu include half a Canton roast duck, basil miso-salmon, Javin-rubbed pork ribeye, red curry chicken chop suey, veggie tofu jai choy, red curry shrimp and grits, the Sichuan stir fry, honey garlic shrimp, crispy Tra fish, and the long-standing favorites of chicken broccoli and chicken chow mein.
Specialties available with 24-hour advance notice are a traditional lobster Cantonese made with a whole Maine lobster, ginger-scallion steamed whole fish and Hong Kong steak. Those dishes will reflect the market price.
Chan also plans to resume Dim Sum Sundays at least once a month after the bistro gets up and running.
The dessert menu features Chan's national award-winning Mandarin orange cake. The layered orange sponge cake with pineapple cream cheese frosting won top prize in the 2018 General Mills Neighborhood to Nation Recipe Contest. Chan received $30,000 and $5,000 for the charity of his choosing by winning the nationwide competition.
Chocolate shop
Artisan chocolate treats created by Pastry Chef Suzy McGrath also will highlight the bistro's dessert menu. Inside the bistro, McGrath is opening Windy Hill Chocolates, specializing in chocolate popcorn, truffles, chocolate-dipped pretzels, bon bons and other confections.
Chan said McGrath also will create dessert specials for the restaurant, including chocolate fortune cookies, chocolate tortes and other pastries. A large window will allow guests to watch the desserts and confections being created in the shop.
One door closes, another opens
The upcoming opening of Blue Bamboo Canton Bistro signals the permanent closure of the original Blue Bamboo at 3820 Southside Blvd, which Chan opened in 2005.
The pagoda-style building is considered an unofficial Southside landmark. Chan's 90-year-old uncle owns the property, which is listed for sale at $1.5 million by Colliers International.
At one point, Chan had hoped to keep the original restaurant open while also expanding to Mandarin. Ultimately, it just wasn't feasible because of the pandemic.
"The hardest part in the pandemic was that we didn't have that continuous business that we thought we would have going into opening this restaurant," he said.
The bistro cost $2.2 million to build. Chan spent several years looking for just the right site for his dream restaurant before finding the Mandarin property late last year. He bought land for $899,000 in November 2019, Duval County records show.
"We're just happy to be in this neighborhood and excited," said Chan, adding that many of his regular customers live in Mandarin. That was a consideration along with the area's growth that led Chan to select the San Jose Boulevard site.
The pandemic slowed the permit process and delayed construction. Another unforeseen obstacle came with the demolition of the existing building — a former law office — where they discovered the side walls needed reinforcing to comply with building codes, he said.
"I'm either crazy or very lucky to open at this time because we have a [COVID-19] vaccine on the way and hopefully people will start going out again and it will be safe for people," Chan said.
Except for the state-mandated shutdown earlier this year, Blue Bamboo has remained open throughout the pandemic by following facemask, capacity limits and social distancing protocols and other precautions.
Blue Bamboo pivoted to takeout when the dining rooms were shut down and did virtual cooking classes. And they had the support of loyal customers. It all helped make a difference, Chan said.
Chan didn't lay off any restaurant staff. They're all moving to the bistro, which will have 35 employees — triple the staff of the original restaurant — including some newcomers.
Detailed Chinese dragon pillars stand sentinel at the door leading to one of three private dining rooms on the perimeter of the main dining room. Nearby, a full bar will offer craft cocktails, beer and an ample wine selection.
"The bar is three times the size of the bar we have now. It's just meant to be a comfortable place for people to eat, have a drink and relax with friends," Chan said.
When Chan's popular cooking classes resume in-person on Saturday mornings, the classes will be held in an atrium-like space with floor to ceiling windows providing natural light. He plans to do one class that is both virtual and in-person, while another will just be in-person.
"We feel so lucky to be able to do this. I think about it sometimes and wonder how did we ever make it to this? We're lucky that people believe in us," Chan said.
