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CJ Chan

CJ Chan Celebrates 5th Anniversary with IWatch Giveaway

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CJ Chan owners

Hi Chan and  Juan, the husband and wife team that run the Moraine location of CJ Chan are celebrating the locations 5th anniversary this week by hosting a give away for their loyal customers.  Starting Monday they will give away an Apple watch a day for five days.   Customers that like and share a graphic on Facebook will be entered in the drawing and each day there will be a winner posted, who can come to the restaurant to claim their watch.

After the success of the original location on Wilmington Ave, they wanted to build the Moraine location with a bigger kitchen and make it a bit more upscale. Hi shared with us there is a large Chinese population near the Alex Bell restaurant and they feel very thankful for the support they have received at both locations.  His brother runs the Wilmington spot and he admits he’s the better cook, while he claims to be the better businessman.

Like and share this image on DaytonDining Facebook page.

Chan says he learned to cook at his father’s side in Hong Kong, where he ran a five star restaurant.  He came to the US in 2002 to have more freedom. He started working at Dragon City in Dayton, eventually bought it and eventually sold it.  They opened CJ Chan to serve sushi and a wide variety of Chinese and Japanese dishes for dine-in and carryout.

Both husband and wife are quick to share the key to their success with their staff, who each received an apple watch as a thank you for their hard work during the first five years!

As we wrapped up our discussion, they even hinted their may be a 3rd restaurant in their future, that may be more Japanese in style.

CJ Chan

2747 W Alex Bell Rd
Moraine, OH 45459

(937) 259-8882

Dining Room Currently Closed
Carry Out Only

Monday- Saturday

10:30am – 10:00pm
Sunday:

11:30am – 10:00pm

CJ Chan Quietly Enters Year 8

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Inside CJ CHan’s Bar on Alex Bell Rd.

An unsung restaurant has developed a solid following over the past 7 years.  The restaurant is the locally owned CJ Chan on Wilmington Ave, with a second thriving location on Alex Rd for the past 2 years.

Recently, we have heard more and more fellow foodies ask us to meet at CJ Chan for dinner or lunch.  We have obliged, and after eating there about a dozen times in the past 10 months, our Food Adventure crew understands the attraction.  If they don’t get you with a sauce, they will get you with the sushi boss.

 

HERE’S THE SKINNY on CJ CHAN:

— This mom and pop restaurant opened up in 2010 at 536 Wilmington Ave in Dayton, and 2 years ago on 2747 W. Alex Bell Rd in Moraine/Centerville.

Full Sushi Bar

— The menu features CHINESE and JAPANESE cuisine, so you can try the best of both worlds, made by local chefs.  From Sushi and Hibachi to Szechuan dishes and Crab Rangoon, the menu has something for everyone covering the food spectrum of 2  countries.

— Both CJ Chan locations are small, seating about 40, but the dining room size is perfect for an intimate lunch and the crowds seem to flow quickly in and out.  Both locations have sushi bar seating as well.

— This eatery has some of the friendliest, most attentive service staff in town.  Sometimes there may be a slight language barrier, but overall, the service is very impressive.

Egg Roll and Spicy Shrimp dish

— The hours are great for early lunches or later dinners:
Mon – Thu: 10:30AM–10PM
Fri – Sat: 10:30AM–10:30PM
Sun: 11:30AM–10PM

— We just found out that they have a second menu at the Wilmington Ave location called the “Hot Pot” Menu.  It features, chicken, beef or seafood hot pots for $18-$20.  Are they soups? Are they just hot bowls of food? Guess what we will be having next visit …. ?

But what dishes are the best of the best on this extensive Asian Menu?  Food Adventures is here to sort it out for you on our patented MUST EATS list.  Grab your chopsticks and a napkin, because these aren’t fusion menus, they are 2 separate Chinese and Japanese full menus.. Here we go …

 

MUST EATS at CJ CHAN:

— THE EGG ROLLS:
We don’t know why, but the distinct flavor of these egg rolls are delicious. Mostly cabbage and wrap, the hand rolled appetizers have some spice in them that we find delicious and addicting.  Definitely take time to splash the egg roll inside with soy sauce and dip it in sweet and sour sauce.  You have to ask for that sauce, or they will bring you duck sauce.  Trust us, the sweet n sour sauce is night and day better than  the duck sauce.

Kani Salad

 

—THE KANI SALAD:
Incredibly refreshing mound of shredded cucumber, crab and touched off with hot mayo and vinegar mix with crunchy sprinkles on top.    Fun to eat with chopsticks, this appetizer will bring a smile to your face.  If you love crab, this appetizer is for you.  A perfect way to start your meal, it is an essential part of a successful visit to CJ Chans.

 

— SALMON TERIYAKI BENTO BOX LUNCH:
This bento box has it all for a great lunch.  The salmon is grilled to perfection.  Other bento box items include a California Roll, White Rice, and Salad.  It is priced right and filling option for a nice lunch.  They serve you a nice piece of salmon as the highlight to the meal.  Don’t forget to dip thjat California roll in wasabi and soy sauce.

 

—GENERAL TSO’s SHRIMP:
A great twist on a dish normally used with chicken.  It is a breaded shrimp dish with a hot and sweet browninsh sauce.  Typically served along with broccoli, they serve it with cucumber slices.  This was one of our all time favorite dishes at CJ Chans.  Great flavors in this Chinese dish.

—SASHIMI LUNCH:
This is for the serious sushi lover.  You get a bento box with 8 pieces of raw fish chosen by the sushi chef.  Also served with a California Roll.  This is a great deal and a steal at 9.55 for lunch.  You also get white rice and a salad in the bento box too.  In the past they have given us fish like salmon, tuna, white tuna, tilapia, octopus, and yellowtail.  Get a side of soy sauce, pout it in the small sushi soy dish, add the wasabi, stir it in and dip the fish into that.  This is PURE heaven …  Amazing, because the fish is so fresh it melts in your mouth.

 

—THE TRIPLE ROLL
Absolutely fantastic combination of Tuna, Salmon and avocado.  It is the best sushi roll at CJ Chan and one of our all time favorites anywhere.  Do you love raw fish?  This roll is for you and not for the squeamish.  It is a great deal because they pack a lot of salmon and tuna into this roll.  If you are not doing our wasabi and soy sauce dip to finish this off, then  you are missing half of the taste.

Teriyaki Salmon Bento Box

The key to CJ CHAN is to find your sauce and experiment with various dishes until you find your favorites.  Since the menu is so extensive, the sauces will lead you to the promise land.  Lunch is the best deal of course, due to better prices.  The sushi is a fantastic option and cannot be missed on any visit.  Both locations are great, but the busier lunch crowd is on Wilmington Ave, the bustle in and out and there is usually not a wait, but it comes close.

So stop in at Alex Rd or Wilmington Ave and experiment for yourself.  Make that sushi chef work his magic, and keep the bento boxes coming.  You will love it !

Food Adventures is a local Dayton area food blog that focuses on Miami Valley food places.  We have no rules, and eat it all,  We have a weekly article feature right here on DaytonMostMetro.com  Follow Food Adventures on Facebook for lots of food photos and fun by clicking here.

Please feel free to browse the gallery below, for more on CJ CHAN !

 

The Triple Roll

Sashimi Lunch at CJ Chan

Wilmington Ave Location

Dipping Spicy Salmon

Coconut Jello

Crab Rangoon

Great Sushi

Unreal Sushi Rolls

General Tso Chicken

Gyoza

Honey Chicken

Lunch deals are the best bang for your buck

CJ Chan – Wilmington Ave

Sushi

up close

Bento box

Bar Area

Spicy Tuna

Avocado Much

Spicy sushi roll

Mongolian Chicken

Fried Shrimp

Triple Roll

HIbachi Chicken

Sesamie Chicken

Fried Wonton

Rice

Miso soup

Norturo Roll

Teriyaki Salmon

Spicy Salmon

sashimi bento

The Real Deal Chinese Food at CJ Chan

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Introducing Jon Hung

I get a lot of people asking me what the best Chinese food in Dayton is. Until today, I would recommend Flying Tiger in Fairborn.

Flying Tiger has fantastic Chinese food. It’s food is always good, always quality, and always served promptly. In the dozens of times I’ve been there, I’ve never had a bad time. Ever. It’s the place we’ve always gone on Christmas Eve, and it’s the place you want to go when you have 12 people on a Saturday at 5:30 PM. Good luck getting into TGIF.

I have nothing but good things to say about Flying Tiger. But CJ Chan’s is, simply, a step above.

Some background: I was born and raised on the outskirts of Toronto. My family and extended family have toured Toronto for the best Chinese food joints, specifically Cantonese. I’ve had my fair share of crappy places, as well as superlative experiences. So, if you’re looking for a place that is or is not genuinely Cantonese? I’m your guy.

In the Dayton area, you basically have Cantonese-influenced American Chinese food. General Tso’s isn’t named for a famous general; kung pao isn’t named after a martial artist; beef and broccoli is beef and broccoli; but none of these dishes are traditional Cantonese or Chinese food. Not even close. In fact, you’re hard-pressed even finding the simplest of Cantonese food staples — barbecue pork — around here. (It’s actually not difficult to make, but the spice combo is tricky and the coloring is hard to mimic.)

But CJ Chan is different.

It serves the traditional American Chinese food, but it is clearly influenced by Cantonese cooking. My parents found out why: the chef is from Hong Kong. So the food is hot, quickly-fried at an extremely high temperature, and served crisp and delicious, unlike what you usually get from other places: a sauce-soaked mess. For example, the beef-and-broccoli dish has the expected beef and broccoli, with carrots and water chestnuts; however, it does not have a “brown” sauce, but, instead, soy sauce mixed with corn starch — which is what “brown” sauce is supposed to be, //but isn’t//.

I had the Singapore Mai Fun, a soft, rice noodle dish with shrimp, the aforementioned BBQ pork, and enough spicy heat to make you eat it nice and slow. My father had the House Special Lo Mein, which came with soft noodles that were perfectly fried //in soy sauce//, and not soaked in //brown sauce//.

The kicker is that the place also serves sushi. Honest, good, old-fashioned sushi. My wife loved it, and so will you. But the real clincher is this: the gyoza aen’t gyoza, and the shumai isn’t shumai.

Why is this important? Any good Cantonese boy will tell you that the two most important things to get at dim sum are har-gow (shrimp dumplings) and siu-mai (pork dumplings). Period. We used to wait an extra 15 minutes just to get these when I was younger. Well, at CJ Chan’s, the gyoza are har-gow, and the shumai are siu-mai. That means that there is honest-to the-Lord dim sum dishes on the menu, if you know where to find them.

Fresh. Genuine. Not bloody soaked in sauce. You can find the real deal Chinese food at CJ Chan’s, as well as real deal Japanese sushi as well. And it’s bloody reasonable, price-wise. Located between Irving and Shroyer on Wilmington Pike, the restaurant holds about 30-35 people. My hope is, with this preview, you — the reader — will check it out and spread the word.

 

CJ Chan
536 Wilmington Ave, Dayton OH 45420
(937) 259-9866
*this is the location featured.

2nd Location:

2747 W Alex Bell Rd, Moraine OH 45459
(937) 259-8882 
Mon – Thu: 10:30AM–10PM
Fri – Sat: 10:30AM–10:30PM
Sun: 11:30AM–10PM

CJ Chan: Embodying the True Trifecta of a Quality Dining Experience

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“CJ Chan provides delicious food with a smile and serves the best sushi in Dayton,” testified Alex DeJulius, a University of Dayton senior studying Finance and Economics, who definitely can be considered a regular at this venue since its opening last November. From the outside, it may appear like your typical take-out Chinese restaurant, but step inside their doors, and you realize this experience is anything but typical.

CJ Chan has been open for exactly one year this month. This cozy little restaurant is owned by Him Chan and Juan Zhang; I had the pleasure of sitting down with Juan this last Friday to get some behind-the-scenes perspective. The couple is very hospitable and truly cares about providing for the customer’s needs. Because of this, their restaurant focuses on three main aspects: the best selection, the in-house dining experience, and affordable prices. All three of these things bundled into one enjoyable meal makes for some pretty good eats.

ONLY THE BEST—that’s what you can expect from the selection at CJ Chan. This restaurant is both Chinese and Japanese. Juan explained to me that the name CJ Chan actually stems from this: C for Chinese, J for Japanese, and Chan for Him’s family name. In offering this dual cultured cuisine, CJ Chan stands apart from any other restaurant in the Dayton area. The couple decided their restaurant needed to offer the customer with more choice. Their menu offers over eighty dishes “ranging from the traditional Chinese favorites and innovative specialties to classic from across Asia.” The kitchen at CJ Chan also prides themselves on using only the freshest, most natural ingredients, which further enhances the quality of their selection. The menu also gives customers the option to create-your-own dish, ensuring satisfaction. Located up the hill from the University of Dayton, the owners’ choice to include beer and wine on the menu was also very intuitive. Their food—arguably the most important part of a restaurant—is only complemented by the dining atmosphere this eatery provides.

QUALITY SERVICE—CJ Chan’s in-house dining experience offers you just that, the second key to running a successful restaurant. Juan and Him didn’t want a typical Asian restaurant; they wanted to provide unbeatable service in a setting that is comfortable and enjoyable for the customer. CJ Chan is mainly a sit-in restaurant, though they do provide call-in and pick-up service for those with busy lifestyles. Okay, who am I kidding? We all have busy lifestyles nowadays, but the festive wooden furniture and Chinese and Japanese decorations that line CJ Chan’s walls, as well as the employees’ smiling faces, coax you to sit down and stay a while; and believe you me, you won’t regret it. When I had the chance to sample some of CJ Chan’s selection, I was amazed at how quickly the food was brought to our table. The presentation, by no means, looked rushed, either. Their timely service, as well as accommodating staff make you feel at ease and satisfied, which quite frankly makes it a lot easier to truly enjoy their food. Sure, it may be nice to go to a fast-food restaurant where you can get your grub and go, but those restaurants only care about that one thing: fast service. Wouldn’t it be more worth your time and money to be able to have timely service at a restaurant where the quality of their cuisine is just as important as the time it takes for your meal to be placed in front of you?

AFFORDABLE PRICES—The last of the trifecta embodied at CJ Chan. The owners wanted their customers to be fully satisfied, and this really wouldn’t be possible if they were being offered the best service and best food, but their wallets were still being torn to shreds. So CJ Chan focuses on providing affordable prices for quality meals. Juan emphasized how they specifically focused on making sushi affordable, it being something that many people love but can’t afford to eat on a regular basis. For busy families and the average poor college student, CJ Chan’s prices won’t rob your piggy bank and the food and service will be more than worthy of the price.

As is expected of any business, competition is present for CJ Chan, but “within this first year, the business has been pretty good,” explained Juan. As the word spreads about the whole package this cozy eatery is offering, their consumer base continues to grow. Juan mentioned how they are hoping to expand their restaurant to include the next door property sometime next year; this would offer more dining space for customers and allow their kitchen to grow as well. I’m excited to watch the size of this restaurant grow in the upcoming years, but it is questionable if it is even possible for CJ Chan’s physical size to match the size of the amount of care that truly goes into this business.

Many say, “Good things happen in three’s.” This holds true for CJ Chan, but the only true way to understand the excellence of this trifecta is through experience. So next time you’re craving Asian cuisine, stop on in and stay awhile. They are located conveniently on Wilmington Avenue, and their healthy, affordable Chinese and Japanese concoctions are sure to put a smile on your face and keep some green in your pocket.

In the words of my wise father—“That’s all I got to say, and I’m stickin’ to it!”

CJ Chan is located at 536 Wilmington Ave Dayton OH 45420.