Review: Chloe's

Chloe’s serves up the kind of food an American expat in Shanghai dreams about when they’re smiling politely at a plate of Sichuan chicken bones. Tucked down an alley behind Lujiazui, longtime Shanghai chef Eric Brown awaits with big arms and even bigger portions of bar grub classics. If this is what comfort food is to you, Chloe’s has the homesickness fix you need.

The menu comes from that familiar stable of idiomatic American cuisine where chicken wings are called buffalo, tuna is called ahi and everything is smothered in hot sauce. For starters, we had a dozen buffalo wings (RMB68), complete with blue cheese and a zingy coating–they’re as good as those you get at an NYC sports bar. A plate of fried pickles (RMB38) was a little bland in comparison. Far better was a large, well-dressed frisée salad (RMB58) served with fennel, pancetta and two poached eggs.

They don’t mess around with the mains. A slab of Big E’s signature barbecue ribs (RMB98) is a gargantuan affair of tender meat, chipotle sauce and submissive French fries ready to soak it all up. The sizzling combination fajitas (RMB118) are ostensibly build-it-yourself tortillas loaded with beef, chicken and prawns and sided by cheddar, sour cream and lettuce. The two dishes worked in combination to bully us into letting out a notch or two on the belt–a rare occurrence in Shanghai.

Chloe’s is already a popular hang-out for its target demographic. With weekly specials (think all-you-can-eat ribs), they’re set to be pulling more folks across the river to sit on their porch and gabble with the owners into the night sky. All they need now are a couple of rocking chairs for post-meal relaxation.