Bennett: Anaheim’s Cross Roast customizes cross-cultural Cantonese barbecue
It’s not often that you go into one of those build-your-own-whatever places and the staff working the assembly line of trays for your bowl/burrito/pizza/whatever calls a part of your order back to the chef, apologizing that it will be a moment while they prepare a fresh portion of something just for you.
And yet, every time I’ve been to Cross Roast — a new concept in Anaheim that aims to be the Chipotle of Cantonese barbecue — that is exactly what happens. Whether it’s for a side of brown rice, a bowl of tonkotsu ramen broth or a still-crackling batch of bone-in roasted duck, the extra minute or two of waiting at Cross Roast is always worth it.
Pre-cooked Chipotle nastiness this is not.
Though rooted in the same customization model as Chipotle, Cross Roast is a different kind of eatery, one that has kept me coming back at least once a week since I discovered it by chance right after its late July opening.
Maybe I return because the barbecued meats are Hong-Kong-street-food level good, with two kinds of skin-on roasted duck, two variations on roasted pork belly and a sweet char siu pork that could’ve come straight out of a shop with marinated whole animals hanging in the window instead of a modern-looking fast-casual restaurant in a sleepy stretch of Magnolia Boulevard.
Or maybe I frequent Cross Roast because the half-dozen bases on which you can place its Cantonese-style meat are all kinds of multicultural. There’s something exciting about having shredded duck atop ginger-infused rice on one visit, then getting it on a French roll (essentially making it into a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich) the next. The fact that you can also get your roasted pork belly on corn or flour tortillas (three tacos per order, feel free to mix and match meats), on top of chips for nachos, in a bowl of porky Japanese ramen or on a bed of mixed greens means you’ll rarely have the same meal twice.
My draw to Cross Roast could also be owed to the effortlessly friendly staff, which every time I’ve stopped by has handled my curiosity and indecisiveness with the utmost professionalism. They seem accustomed by now to guiding customers through the tangle of unfamiliar options, helping people choose which of their rich meats go best with which bases, which of the offerings from the toppings bar one should get and which of their six different sauces will do the job of tying it all together.
On a recent visit, I took the worker’s recommendation and topped a bowl of ramen with salt-and-pepper pork belly, as well as some usual suspects like green onions, seaweed, sesame seeds and traditional Japanese pickled bamboo. Another day, on the suggestion of the woman helping me, I got three hearty tacos, each loaded up with a different meat and topped with jalepenos, pickled slivers of carrots and daikon radish, a sweet corn relish and a chipotle cole slaw. I also seized the opportunity to test out three different sauces: the hoisin barbecue, the chili-de-arbol-like chili oil and the house “Whatchamacall Sauce,” made from fermented soybeans and mayo; each serves its own flavor purpose, from sweet to spicy to tangy.
The build-your-own rice bowls even tend to come out looking like ovular Chipotle masterpieces, except instead of piling everything on top of each other like a seven-layer dip, Cross Roast gently places your cabbage and slaw and pickled things in a circle around your meat (try the duck with the smoky plum sauce!), reminding you of what is really at the centerpiece of this young brand.
According to a recent interview with OC Weekly, Cross Roast’s owner and chef James Leung grew up in Alhambra at a time when Chinese immigrants were first starting to arrive to the area. His family owned a popular dim sum restaurant called Casa de Oriente, and also served Cantonese-style dishes, including barbecued meats.
When it comes to Cantonese barbecue, the animals are usually cured whole or, for char siu, lacquered up with a mixture of honey, fermented bean paste, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and spice powder before being either grilled, or for duck, chicken and other kinds of pork, slow roasted for hours in an industrial oven. The result is a crisp, golden brown skin that covers a bundle of moist, tender protein within.
Because of this labor-intensive process, it’s really hard to make good Cantonese-style barbecue at home, which explains why it’s become a staple at many fast-food and sit down Chinese restaurants, where it is most commonly served sliced atop a simple serving of rice (possibly with a side of steamed vegetable). It also explains why Leung’s Cross Roast just might become the next big build-your-own-whatever chain, taking Cantonese barbecue mainstream.
By expanding on the simple, traditional serving style, but keeping his expertly prepared meats at the focus of each dish that goes out, Cross Roast lets you fill the rest of the plate up with flavors from Vietnam, Mexico, Japan and the U.S. to make something that is both new and familiar to anyone who walks in.
Though born in Orange County, Leung has said he wants to expand the concept soon. Staff have said on multiple visits that plans for a second location are already in the works, but no one’s quite sure where it will be yet. Even for that, I’m willing to wait.
SARAH BENNETT is a freelance journalist covering food, drink, music, culture and more. She is the former food editor at L.A. Weekly and a founding editor of Beer Paper L.A. Follow her on Twitter @thesarahbennett.