Fresh flavors and familiar faces at Fu Shen

Jenny Liu's new restaurant has been open only three months in this highway 'hood north of Green Lake, but if you spend any time here, you'll learn this about Jenny: She knows her customers.

One night I watched as she greeted an incoming party with hugs and hellos, later sending out an edible birthday gift for a kid in his tweens. He apparently has a sweet tooth for chef Sang Trenh's sweet and sour chicken ($9.25), made with beautifully breaded breast meat and that ungodly-delicious neon-orange sauce beloved to followers of the Chinese-American-restaurant tradition. Another night, Jenny glanced at my companion, a familiar-faced regular: "You! Beef chow fun!" she said, remembering his longstanding order.

So, how come she's got her customers sussed-out so swiftly? Because Jenny has been happy hostess at Fu Shen for the past dozen years at its original location near Lake Forest Park (remodeled and reopened this summer as Yu Shan; see review, below).

Today you'll find her in cozier dual-level digs on this busy stretch of Aurora — a space revamped after decades as House of Pizza & Pasta. Here her old customers are slowly showing up, while nearby neighbors are (all too slowly) stopping in to see what chef Trenh — Jenny's husband — is cooking.

East Coast Ribs, for one thing. This East Coast gal loved 'em. The full rack of moist and meaty barbecued pork-on-the-bone ($14.95) was more than we could handle, but the leftovers were great the next day. Pan-fried potstickers infused with garlic- and ginger-stoked pork ($5.25) were a hit, as was the House Special Chow Mein ($6.95), extra-special when upgraded (for $2.50) with gloriously chewy homemade noodles, rolled and cut to order then stir-fried with tender morsels of seafood and meat.

Though billed as a "Seafood Chinese Restaurant," you'll find no live tanks here — if you discount the decorative pets by the door. But there's no denying the draw of Honey Walnut Prawns ($11.95), deep-fried and clean-tasting, with a wisp of sweet light mayo. Or the edible-head-and-tail-wearing Salt and Pepper Prawns ($11.25), which are less salty and milder than you'd expect, given their shower of fresh chilies and garlic.

Much of the menu will appeal to middle-American palates, including the exotic-sounding crabmeat and fish maw soup, its bland broth afloat with crab, egg-white and spongy fish maw ($9.95). Sizzling Black Pepper Beef Steak hisses and spits its way to the table, offering a bounty of peppery beef bites ($10.25). And tender swaths of beef with broccoli ($8.95) are offered with "American" greenery or the more bitter (and I think, better) Chinese broccoli, gailan.

Those to the culture born eat well here, too, feasting on Black Cod Hotpot in its namesake vessel ($15.95). The oily fish is filleted and fried with its skin on, then steeped in a briny sauce with chewy black mushrooms and nubbins of fresh ginger. A pal and I joyously choked back tears after twirling our chopsticks around slender strands of cold, crunchy jellyfish, the delicate tentacles topping slivers of cucumber to cool its chilies-fueled kick.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com.

More of her reviews are at www.seattletimes.com/restaurants.