The Bulletin file photoFrom left to right: shrimp har gow, jade dumplings and pork shiu mai at Chi Chinese and Sushi Bar in Bend.

A patron’s first clue that Di and Howie Long’s new Chinese restaurant is a change from the Central Oregon status quo is at the tables: They are set with formal chopsticks but not with forks and knives.

Chi Chinese & Sushi Bar, which opened toward the end of June in the old Bend Elks Club where Newport Avenue crosses the Deschutes River, is the nearest equivalent to a good contemporary Chinese restaurant as may be found on this side of the Cascade Range.

Thanks in large part to the culinary skills of Di Long, whose training as a French pastry chef led her to open La Magie bakery and café on Bond Street in early 2012, Chi has crossed the invisible line that separates a 20th-century “Chinese-American” establishment from a 21st-century Chinese restaurant.

Don’t come here looking for chop suey or egg fu yung. They are only Americanized versions of misunderstood immigrant cuisine and are not on the menu at Chi. Instead, plan to enjoy dim sum dumplings, ma po tofu and kung pao chicken.

My recommendation is that you also pass on the sushi. There are better places to enjoy raw fish in Bend, and Chi’s strength is in Chinese, not Japanese, cuisine.

“Chi,” for those unfamiliar with Asian philosophy, refers to the internal energy flow that sustains life. Also transliterated as “qi,” or as “ki” in Japanese, it is an essential consideration in preparing healthy meals. Here, the Long family — who also own Bend’s Szechuan, Soba and Level 2 restaurants — have channeled their own “chi” into the best of the group.

Finding Chi

First-timers at Chi might be forgiven if they are confused upon arrival. The building is shared with the evangelical Journey Church, which holds services on the lower level and also uses a fellowship hall on the upper level, where Chi is located. The main entrance to both faces Newport Avenue, although a majority of diners enter through a side door atop a ramp beside a parking lot, on the east side of the building.

A statue of Guan Yu, the legendary Chinese god of war, greets patrons from an opulent hostess stand outside the restaurant’s entrance. Painted a traditional red color and backed by a display of ceramics, it conveys an impressive first impression, even if it was briefly unattended on each of our two visits.

After a couple of minutes’ wait, my companion and I were led through the very spacious restaurant to intimate window seats. In all, Chi accommodates about 120 indoors — perhaps a third of the seats in a separate banquet room — and an additional 30 on a riverside deck. A long cocktail bar, the legacy of a couple of nightclubs that formerly occupied this space, separates the dining area from the good-sized kitchen.

Starting out

Up until now, Bend hasn’t had a Chinese restaurant that serves fresh dim sum, the bite-size dumplings that draw whole families to brunches in larger cities. Di Long makes them from scratch, offering pork shiu mai, shrimp har gow and other steamed bites in a stacked “dumpling tower” ($10) that I could enjoy every day.

Likewise, her pastry-chef training was obvious in her preparation of “golden crab purses” (also $10), sometimes called crab puffs or crab Rangoon. Cooked snow crab, blended with cream cheese and sesame seeds, was packaged not in heavy wonton dough but in a light and crispy wrapper. Served with a sweet chili sauce, the four “purses” were delicious.

We were a little disappointed in the mu shu pork, as the pancake that wraps it was more like a flour tortilla than a thin crepe. Because it is offered as an appetizer rather than as a main course, Howie Long said, it is pre-wrapped and cut in the fashion of spring rolls. The savory filling of meat with cabbage, onions, mushrooms and other ingredients, drizzled with sweet-and-salty hoisin sauce, would stand out better in a thinner pancake.

A bowl of war wonton soup more than made up for this shortcoming. The seasoning in the broth, perhaps a traditional Chinese “five spice” of star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel and red pepper, was perfect. A variety of ingredients including chicken, shrimp, barbecued pork, broccoli, zucchini, carrot and shiitake mushrooms, could have made this a meal in itself.

But a rainbow roll from the sushi bar was nowhere near as satisfying, especially as the vinegar-rice mixture was stale tasting. The combination of fishes — ahi and hamachi tuna, escolar and salmon — along with crab, shrimp, avocado and cucumber, did not seem of the same quality as we’ve had elsewhere.

Main dishes

Our favorites from among the five entree-size dishes we tried were ginger beef and steamed halibut. The tender slices of meat, served on a nest-like bed of vermicelli noodles, were topped with a delicious brown sauce that incorporated thin slices of ginger root and crushed peanuts. The perfectly cooked fish, offered in a light black-bean sauce, also had thin slices of ginger and finely chopped green onion as part of its presentation.

Cashew-nut chicken and a spicy vegetable medley were heartier plates. Both the chicken dish (which included celery, water chestnuts, carrots and shiitake mushrooms) and the veggies (featuring tofu, baby bok choy, shiitake and beech mushrooms, snap peas, red bell peppers, zucchini, carrots and broccoli), might have been prepared with somewhat lighter sauces — such as that of the Szechuan duo. This latter entrée, coupling shrimp and chicken breast with shiitakes, bok choy, zucchini and red bell peppers, had a better balance.

All large dishes are served with white rice and low-sodium soy sauce. My companion, who prefers brown rice, was assured that will be offered here in the near future.

Through Oct. 21, Chi Chinese is donating all happy-hour sales from its “pink cosmo” cocktail to the Susan G. Komen charity for breast-cancer research. From Oct. 22 through Nov. 1, the restaurant will be closed as the Long family takes an overdue vacation.

— Reporter: janderson@bendbulletin.com