Back in the day, before I fled the insanity of Vancouver, I worked drugs down at the docks and at the international mail sorting facility up on Hamilton St. Down on Hastings in the area across from what was then Woodwards were many fabulous blue collar small restaurants. Some like The Only were more remembered. My favorite was a little hole in the wall named The Golden Crown. My partner at the time, Tony, was from Hong Kong where he was with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force before being enticed to immigrate to Canada to help with the emerging problem with Asian gangs.

Anyways, Tony introduced me to Chinese restaurants I didn’t even know existed in Vancouver. Where a Gwai Lo couldn’t even read the menu – and probably would think Gwai Lo was a Cantonese dish.

ANYWAYS… more often than not lunch was The Golden Crown because it was about a seven minute walk from the office. We could be there, eat, and be back at work inside an hour. I LIVED for their Beef Chow Mein With Black Bean Sauce. The noodles were just crispy around the bottom and the edges and still supple everywhere else. Hidden under a mountain of sliced beef and chunks of slightly carmelized onion and bell pepper. Big jars of hot chili oil to go with it. And alternately, served with wonderful chow fun noodles.

I’ve spent the last 30 years regularly attempting to recreate that dish… forget finding a Chinese restaurant anywhere in driving distance of this small town that you could even hope would have anything like it.

I wonder where the people who cooked and ran that restaurant are today? The last time I was in Vancouver about seven or eight years ago, The Golden Crown was long gone and I barely recognized the city.

I just stumbled over this blog/website in my latest attempt to try and recreate the Golden Crown’s beef and black bean sauce chow mein/chow fun. Thank you for the recipe; I’ll give it a go as soon as I collect the things I’m short.

BTW.. you didn’t give the name of the restaurant you wrote about prior to the recipe.

ooh over rice is perfect! if you can’t find fresh chow mein, you could always go crazy and do it over spaghetti. it won’t be crispy but it’ll still be noodles. and you can definitely do it over rice noodles, same deal, won’t be crispy but will be good and there’s actually a rice noodle dish with black bean beef ;)

To address your concerns over Instagram stats, I have to wonder if more people would respond to your posts if they felt they knew you better. What I mean is that you post enticing recipes and gorgeous photography, but reading your blog doesn’t give me the sense that I’m reading a letter from a friend the way, say, Jessica’s blog does. Granted, there are other blogs that don’t have the same “friend” vibe, like 101 Cookbooks (I’m pretty sure Heidi is just a goddess sent down to earth to show us how to live.) However, I’d still love to hear more about your life, and I’m guessing I’m not the only reader who would enjoy that. You travel a lot – what informs your adventures? I know you’re a digital illustrator – what kinds of work do you do? What does a bad day look like? What are your cooking fails? I know your husband built your blog, but I don’t know if he’s a designer or a developer (or both?) or what his process looked like. In short, I think your desire to share content beyond food is a great idea, but I hope it’s really personal and gives your audience a greater sense of who you are.

I don’t think I’ve ever in my life ordered Chinese takeout!!!! How weird am I. My fave Chinese is a hot steamy bowl of white rice with steamed pork and laup cheng on top – what is that called again? MOMMMM!

Your blog is amazing and you are sharing food that is hard to find elsewhere on the interweb. I often am craving things and think “Steph will have it!” Thank you for always inspiring me to make new, interesting, and always delicious meals.