Josh and I were back in NJ for the weekend and had dinner at one of our old favorites, Baumgart’s. It’s a kitschy retro-looking diner that serves Chinese food and ice cream. A weird combination but somehow it works. The Chinese food isn’t totally Americanized, which I like about the place, and service is always fast and efficient. Plus the ice cream is outstanding.

We ended up ordering a ton of food for some reason, and we still managed to finish most of it. For appetizers, we started off with steamed house dumplings that are filled with a shrimp paste and served with pickled vegetables. These are probably pre-made frozen dumplings but they’re delicious. The skins are super thin and the filling is ample but light. I could eat dozens of these, easily.

Steamed house special dumplings

I think Baumgart’s has the best bbq spare ribs I’ve ever had at a Chinese restaurant. They’re always hot, covered in sauce, super meaty, and tender. The meat comes right off the bone and they’re not covered in fat like at other places. They give you plenty of wet naps to get the sticky sauce off your fingers afterward.

BBQ spare ribs

Our absolute favorite appetizer is the chicken with pine nuts. Tiny pieces of coarsely ground chicken are cooked with pine nuts in a light brown sauce and you spoon the mixture onto lettuce leaves. Then you eat it like a wrap. It’s sweet and salty and crunchy – the flavors and textures of this dish are just outstanding.

Chicken and pine nuts in a lettuce wrap

For our main courses, we got an order of crispy shrimp with honey walnuts. The shrimp is kind of cooked like general tso’s chicken, with coated shrimp that’s fried until crispy and tender and served with a sweet reddish tomato based sauce with peppers, onions, and water chestnuts. The walnuts are coated with honey and roasted until they’re also crispy and taste like candy. This is always a solid dish for us.

Crispy shrimp with honey walnuts

The sesame chicken is pretty standard, with chunks of chicken that are coated and fried with a sweet and tangy sauce that clings to the chicken. This dish can get a little dry sometimes, as they use white meat that doesn’t have a lot of moisture to begin with.

Sesame chicken

The brandied black bean filet is thin slices of filet mignon served over steamed spinach with and topped with the black bean sauce. Fortunately the sauce isn’t too powerful, since I’m not a huge fan of black beans (the fermented Chinese kind). But if you’re looking for that black bean flavor, you won’t find it in this dish. The beef is also hit-or-miss. On this trip, it was tender and still pink in the middle. Other times it has been tough and chewy and flavorless. The pieces of beef are pretty thin so they’re easy to overcook. Overall I’m not a huge fan of this dish but Josh and his dad like it a lot.

Brandied black bean filet

We got two noodle dishes – chicken pad thai and house special flat wide noodles. The chicken pad thai has all the usual ingredients – rice noodles, chicken, egg, bean curd, bean sprouts, etc., but it’s slightly pink which makes me think they put ketchup in it. It’s a bit sweeter than normal pad thai, but not bad. I like that they sprinkle a lot of crushed peanuts on top for extra crunch and flavor.

Chicken pad thai

The house special flat wide noodles come with shrimp, chicken, and beef, as well as lots of veggies. It’s cooked with a “sha cha” sauce, which is like Chinese bbq sauce. This is also a hit-or-miss dish, as sometimes they overcook the noodles and they all stick together in one mushy pile. This time it was cooked well, and the sauce isn’t liquidy like American bbq sauce. Sha cha is more of a paste, so it keeps the noodles dry but you can just taste a hint of it in the background.

House special flat wide noodles

The only major disappointment this time was the whole sea bass that was deep fried. We ordered the crispy ginger version, but we should have gone with the steamed instead. The fish was large but it didn’t seem like it had any meat on it. I don’t know what it was coated in before it was fried, but the entire fish was like one giant crust. It was so hard to get to what little meat there was, and everything was super super dry. It seemed like such a shame to ruin such a big piece of fish that way. I don’t know if it was a bad fish to begin with or if it was just over fried, but I definitely won’t be ordering this dish again.

Deep fried sea bass with ginger

Even after all that food we just consumed, we all saved room for dessert. You can’t go to Baumgart’s without getting ice cream! The ice cream is homemade, though I’m not sure where “home” is. It’s rich and creamy and never icy. I got a black raspberry “mini sundae” which is a large scoop with hot fudge and whipped cream. The fudge was so hot that it started melting my ice cream immediately. They really do put on a thick layer, and I love getting a bit of fudge, a bite of ice cream, and a dab of whipped cream all on one spoon. The black raspberry is not too sweet and has a strong berry flavor. This is definitely one of my favorites.

Black raspberry ice cream with hot fudge and real whipped cream

Josh had the mint chocolate chip mini sundae, also with hot fudge. The mint ice cream is appropriately minty and refreshing. It just tastes “clean”, if you know what I mean. Nothing artificial and it’s not the neon green color. Watch out for the chocolate chips, as they are more chunks than chips. There are huge blocks of frozen chocolate dispersed throughout the ice cream, and finding one is like finding gold. These are not your ordinary chocolate chips. We pretty much inhaled all of our ice cream.

Mint chocolate chip ice cream mini sundae

Even though I don’t generally crave Chinese food, I’m always happy to go to Baumgart’s. Aside from the standard sesame chicken, nothing else is like typical Chinese take out. I think a lot of the dishes are more authentic, even though the atmosphere is more of a 50’s ice cream soda shop than a Chinese restaurant. Even my dad has enjoyed their crispy shrimp, and he’s super picky about Chinese food outside our home. If you go to Baumgart’s during lunch or brunch, they also have really good chicken salad sandwiches and other more diner-ish fare. The restaurant also serves sushi, with a lot of tasty special rolls. This really is a place where anyone can find something to eat. Even the pickiest kids would be satisfied with their grilled cheese or burger with fries, and the adults can enjoy an eclectic asian feast. I definitely recommend Baumgart’s for anyone. And as a bonus, the Englewood location is BYO so bring along your favorite beer or wine!

Baumgart’s (multiple locations)
45 East Palisade Ave.
Englewood, NJ