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Sizzling Black Pepper Beef is one of the showstopper entrees at Asia. Ameristar's exec chef Don Yamauchi calls the dish 'Asian fajitas.'

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Tea sets are for decoration, not use.

Photography by Kevin A. Roberts

If you’ve ever wanted to blow your blackjack winnings on some beef satay and sake, then it’s your lucky day: Asia is now open at Ameristar St. Charles, serving a menu featuring both Chinese and Vietnamese dishes.

When we spoke with executive chef Don Yamauchi (pictured) not long after he arrived at Ameristar in February, he hinted at “an authentic Asian restaurant on the casino floor, with flavorful plays on Asian standards.” He enlisted the services of Hai Ying Bushey, who worked with him for four years at Motor City Casino in Detroit and 'was perfect for this job.' The wisecracking chef said he didn’t have to plead...'but I did get down on my knees and send her flowers.”

A collection of sake brands decorates the wall above the open kitchen—a subtle reminder to consider a cup or bottle—with each sake paired with a specific dish. A see-through partition filled with similar-but-different-colored tea sets (pictured below) separates the main room from a smaller one that can be used for a private party.

Kevin A. Roberts

Kevin A. Roberts

Asia is located on the casino floor (close to the gaming tables), so all restaurant patrons must be 21 years of age (the same as casino guests). Keep in mind that the casino floor is a smoking area, albeit a well-ventilated one.

Asia is open for dinner seven nights a week, serving until 2 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

The menu is a distillation of extensive research, planning, and tasting. The menu mix is approximately 75 percent Chinese and 25 percent Vietnamese. “There were multiple dinners and taste tests,” Yamauchi says, “so it’s no exaggeration to say each dish on the menu has been tasted at least 50 times, with part of that feedback coming from our Asian clientele, some of whom own their own restaurants.”

“There are many, many different recipes for the same item,' adds Bushey, noting that much of the difference in dishes lies in the base sauce. Even in a dish as simple as broccoli beef, for instance, the chefs “experimented with some ginger, no ginger, a lot of garlic, a little garlic… We were asked to do difficult things like add more flavor but no more sauce.”

Kevin A. Roberts

The culinary duo is proud of the resulting 35-item menu, a mix of traditional items like crab rangoon, pad thai, and chow mein; plus a selection of lighter soups, pho, and grilled “bowls.”

Kevin A. Roberts

An example of the latter is the Wonton Soup Bowl (pictured above) with egg noodles, baby bok choy, sliced char siu pork, head-on shrimp, scallions, and shiitake mushrooms. The secret to negotiating slippery soup wontons with chopsticks? “I stab ‘em,” Yamauchi quips. And how best to handle the head-on shrimp? “Courage,” Yamauchi says. “Just grab it and twist, like a lobster tail.”

Kevin A. Roberts

Yamauchi predicts a popular starter will be the Lemongrass Wing (pictured above), fried chicken wing sections tossed in a sweet lemongrass sauce, then garnished with crispy shallots and Thai basil.

Kevin A. Roberts

A surefire entrée is the Sizzling Black Pepper Beef (pictured above). Flank steak is marinated overnight, then wok-seared with green peppers, long-cut scallions, yellow onion, sweet soy sauce, and black pepper before being transferred table-side to a super-hot cast iron platter. Like fajitas at a Mexican restaurant, the sizzle sells the steak.

Kevin A. Roberts

Yamauchi’s favorite entrée is the Hot Chili Catfish (pictured above), pieces of catfish with bean sprouts, Szechuan pepper, Napa cabbage, and garlic chives served in a domed stainless-steel bowl. The broth is moderately spicy on the front end, but quickly dissipates. Using catfish in such a dish is an unexpected move (a nod to Missouri, perhaps?), but highly successful. Served with rice, it’s a dish that Yamauchi describes as “holy cow good.” It’s the spiciest item on the menu, yet not too spicy.

Kevin A. Roberts

Our favorite item is the signature appetizer? The Szechuan Wontons (pictured above), five Hong Kong-style wonton skins with house-made pork sausage/shrimp filling and Szechuan peppercorn chili sauce, scallions, cilantro, and fried onions. Get a double order of the dish, which Bushey calls “wontons in a box.”

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The dish closest to Bushey’s heart, her father’s recipe for char siu pork, is at present only a special. Char siu is a cooking method most often associated with pork, easily recognized by the sticky, laquered exterior, the marinade containing some combination of garlic, Chinese five-spice powder, hoisin, oyster sauce, sugar, soy sauce, honey, ketchup, rice wine, and food coloring.

“I had been working in French restaurants and steakhouses,” Bushey says. “But two years ago, just before my father passed away, he gave me his prized recipe for char siu, just in case I ever needed it. We’re using it now, here at Asia.”

“Her father moved from China to Detroit when he was in his 70s, and he needed a job. I found him one at a Little Caesar’s of all places, the busiest one in the country,' says Yamauchi. 'This great cook was making pizzas, for crying out loud—so we’re happy to be using some of his traditional recipes, instead of honoring him by making pizzas.”

Follow dining editor George Mahe on Twitter @stlmag_dining or send him an email at gmahe@stlmag.com. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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