Nice Day Chinese had frequenters of Elm Street along Broadway Triangle waiting and wondering for many months. One day we saw the name, spelled in boxy modern letters over a line of marquee bulbs. Later, through uncovered windows, we spied a curved white counter taking shape. Then we spotted tables up the right wall, then, to the left, a large metal contraption waiting for its spot in the kitchen. Developments like these came weeks or months apart.
Finally, in late August, a piece of paper appeared on the door, and Nice Day shifted straight to fifth gear. The casual restaurant had “soft-opened,” and by the time I spotted the notice, which couldn’t have been more than a day or two after it was posted, I could see that that was an understatement. It was dinnertime, and the place was packed, surely in part by other long-suffering looky-loos. I went straight in and ordered takeout, and the food was already good—very good.
The running start makes sense when you realize who the owners are. Yong Zhao and Wanting Zhang have done this many times before, starting in 2015 at Junzi Kitchen roughly a block away. They took Junzi from here to New York, then reversed it for Nice Day, starting down there and, after opening three more locations, bringing it to New Haven.
When I returned to Nice Day yesterday, it was two days past the official ribbon cutting, and the food was still a treat. I started with the house-made Steamed Vegetable Dumplings (six pieces, $9.79), filled with bok choy, bamboo shoots, carrots, glass noodles and mushrooms and served with plastic ramekins of “house dumpling sauce” and chili oil. The dumplings themselves were subtle with a briny top note and supple with a bit of crunch inside. I could’ve eaten them plain and been happy—until I started dipping and realized what I was missing. The house dumpling sauce was a high-pitched explosion of sweet, salty, umami goodness, while the chili oil was slow and rumbling with a perfect medium sear.
I then moved to the Spring Rolls, also house-made, of which I had ordered four ($5.49). But even at an early dinnertime of 5:40 p.m., I was late. The restaurant only had two of the rolls left, a gap they filled by giving me two other cylinders: cans of YeShu, an imported coconut drink humorously billed as “China State Banquet Beverage.” The rolls had a crispy crust and a chewy mantle, with a core that didn’t look like much but was actually really pleasant: a little sweet, a little salty, a little vegetal—a refined blend that, like the dumplings, went great with the sauces. The YeShu, meanwhile, was milky and salty, a light blanket over the heat of the chili oil.
I also tried the Scallion Pancake ($5.99), a thinner and flakier take than I’m used to. The thinness was a problem, I think, letting the fattiness of the frying oil penetrate and dominate from end to end. But the dish came with more of that house dumpling sauce, which could make anything delicious, and the remaining chili oil was fair game too.
My entree was a classic—and a classic test of a Chinese restaurant: the Stir-fried Mixed Vegetables ($12.99), offering broccoli, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, carrots, celery, bell peppers and baby corn in a “savory” brown sauce. That sauce was silky, salty and yes, savory, but it didn’t overwhelm the veggies, which hadn’t been zapped of their own flavors and textures. Add in a paper pail of rice steamed just right, and it was a meal that made it easy to decide it had been a nice day.
Nice Day Chinese
316 Elm St, New Haven (map)
Daily 11am-10pm
(203) 535-0716
www.order.eatniceday.com/...
Written and photographed by Dan Mims.
