Photos: Little Dragon breathes new life into Mayfair

By Jenn Wohletz Wed., Aug. 15 2012 at 2:04 PM

J. Wohletz

Little Dragon -- now open for business.

"Why cook tonight?" That's the slogan of Little Dragon, a new Chinese food spot offering take-out and delivery that Mimi Chan opened in early July. And Chan managed to pack a lot of festive decor into her 1,300 square-foot spot at 1305 Krameria Street, Suite G, in the heart of the Mayfair neighborhood.

J. Wohletz

Little Dragon's owner Mimi Chan -- on the right, peeking over the register.

The inside of the spot is painted in bright oranges and yellows; there's the requisite Buddha fountain, as well as a lovely bamboo backdrop behind the front counter. Sunny orange paper lanterns hang from the ceiling, billowy tapestries with serene koi fish separate the industrial kitchen from the waiting area, and there are a handful of small tables and chairs where customers can roost while they wait for their orders to be ready.

Little Dragon's signature house dishes include the "Naughty Buddha" salad, Peace Not War won ton soup, and drunken noodles made with wide rice noodles, Thai basil, lemongrass, ginger, red chili, scallions and a sweet soy sauce. The menu is MSG-free and also features healthy options of Americanized Chinese favorites, including vegetarian "eel" made from braised shiitake mushrooms, white meat chicken, and oven-baked crab cheese wontons -- instead of the usual deep-fried.

Those wontons alone are reason to drop by Little Dragon. They're light and crisp, and filled with green onion and Dijon mustard-seasoned cream cheese flecked with pink crab meat; they make a perfect dinner when paired with an order of hot & sour soup -- packed with plenty of white pepper and wood ear mushroom strips -- and brown rice (you can also get fried or steamed white).

Little Dragon is open every day from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (although it doesn't take orders after 9 p.m.), and offers free delivery with a $15 minimum purchase between East 26th and East Alameda avenues, from York to Ulster streets (there's a delivery charge outside that area).

Here are a few snapshots of Little Dragon to whet your appetite:

J. Wohletz

Walk on in.

J. Wohletz

Serene, koi fish curtains.

J. Wohletz

Love the Chinese lanterns!

J. Wohletz

Crab cream cheese wontons and hot & sour soup...mmmmm.

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Location Info

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Little Dragon

1305 Krameria St., Denver, CO

Category: Restaurant

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Tags:

Chinese food, crab cheese wontons, drunken noodles, eel, Little Dragon, shiitake mushroom

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DenverDoughboy

1 Like

And I'll also add that, after looking at the picture of those godawful crab and cream cheese wontons, you're crazy if you believe that they got into that state of puffiness without having been in a deep fryer at some point in their lives. Most likely they were flash fried in the factory and served up warm from the oven for your enjoyment.

DenverDoughboy

Ugh, I beg beg beg people to stop ordering and Chinese restaurants to stop serving crab and cream cheese wontons! Real Chinese people vomit at the thought of crab and cream cheese combined in any form. And they would slash their wrists over delicate wontons being put in deep fryers (or ovens). Food writers who recommend them sound like tasteless, unrefined hicks. Would you compliment the French restaurant that serves a Burgundy on ice? Would you order a pastrami sandwich slathered with mayo from a kosher deli? Do you put ketchup on your hot dog? Seafood and cheese don't go together, not in Italian food, not in Asian food, but especially not in fried wontons. Thank you.

Mantonat topcommenter

@DenverDoughboy What, as opposed to those fake Chinese people who are serving up crab rangoon all over the country? Since I guessing you are probably not both Chinese and Italian, I will assume that you are the cultural representative of no more than one of those peoples. On what basis do you speak for the food traditions of the other?