Yes, there's food, but we'll come back to that because what you'll remember most about Chen Chow is its dramatic style and ambience.
Set on Old Woodward, where the short-lived Pampas Brazilian Grille was located, Chen Chow is equal parts bar and restaurant, each with its own look and personality.
From the street, you'll enter the atmospheric lounge, where the top of the massive, rectangular bar is made of onyx that's illuminated from within to create a pale, golden glow.
Tall, black leather banquettes line both sides of the room, and the walls behind them appear to be covered by a black metal filigreed screen. But look closer and you'll see that the metal is an optical illusion created by a chic, black-and-white patterned fabric and clever backlighting.
From the lounge, you'll walk through a tunnel-like circular passage into a soaring, two-level dining room done in rich shades of brown and caramel.
It's a big space carved into smaller, more intimate seating areas, including several large circular booths topped by tall, bell-shaped cages made of polished wooden strips.
Despite all the rich materials, the secret to the room's beauty is light and texture. Janviriya uses them like an artist uses paints.
He places lights inside towering, caramel-colored fabric cylinders, turning them into warmly glowing pillars, and he spills soft lights down rough stone walls and across basket-woven panels to create patterns of shadow.
You may have seen his designer's touch before at stylish Crave Lounge in Dearborn, the glitzy Mosaic in Greektown and the intimate, subterranean Melange Bistro in Ann Arbor.
When Chen Chow's tables are filled and the bar is jammed, the place feels charged with energy -- unless service bogs down because your food isn't ready and your waiter seems swamped by too many customers.
Chen Chow opened in late November and is still enjoying -- or maybe suffering -- the onslaught of customers eager to check out the new place in town.
Most nights I've been there, service has been slow at least part of the night because the kitchen or sushi bar, or both, is behind. As many as four sushi makers work the bar at the back of the dining room, but that may not be enough to meet peak demand in a place seating 150 in the lounge and 130 in the dining room.
Still, sushi is the way to go for value and variety.
The menu offers 28 kinds of nigiri -- bite-size, fish-topped mounds of seasoned sushi rice. Prices are on par with those elsewhere: mostly $5-$6 for two pieces. Regular and deluxe sashimi platters are $25 and $35.
The 31 sushi rolls, or maki, range from simple classics ($6-$8) to more creative combinations ($12-$14) such as the Kamakazi with eel, tuna and cucumber wrapped in rice and topped with avocado and eel sauce, and the tasty Chen Chow roll with steamed shrimp, tempura-battered shrimp, cucumber and avocado, topped with tempura crunch and honey-soy sauce.
The hot kitchen's 10 entrees are like the Asian-accented dishes served at many American restaurants. I think most diners here will expect more style and originality, and the prices aren't a bargain for what you get.
Of four seafood entrees I tried, I'd suggest the plum-wine glazed scallops and the jumbo sauteed Fisherman shrimp, each $29. Avoid the mushy, off-tasting red snapper. I didn't have the steaks. I'll save beef for somewhere else.
Chen Chow deserves four stars for its gorgeous interior and cool ambience, and I can see awarding three stars for the sushi. But the cooked entrees are inconsistent and unexpectedly ordinary, and service is too often slow.
Bottom line: For now, go for the scene and the sushi and you'll have a great evening.
Contact SYLVIA RECTOR at 313-222-5026 or rector@freepress.com.
