Charlie's Bakery and Chinese Cuisine

Courtesy of 907eat.blogspot.com

Charlie's is the place for dim sum and wedding cakes, kal bi and red bean sesame balls. Like the Tibetan place in Spenard or the Eastern European Deli with fresh pelmenis to go, Charlie's is an oddity so authentic that you'd think it would only exist in a bigger city, but in fact, it is the epitome of Anchorage. It's in a strip mall on "C" street across the street from Wells Fargo By the B & J Store that sells fishing knives and has a grimy marquee advertising rubber boots for breakup. I have spent many of my Saturdays in Anchorage since I moved back to my hometown trundling to Charlie's for their dim sum menu, but my current craze is Spicy Braised Beef with Noodles. This dish is a soup with a rich, chili-laden broth, swollen with long noodles and slow-cooked beef. Like all the best soups, the Spicy Beef has a complex, well-developed base, in which I struggle to pick out particular flavors and fragrances. My guess would be beef and bones, chili, garlic and scallions. The generous chunks of braised beef are velvety and tender to the fork. A scattering of shredded green pickle lends the soup a tart dash. Take advantage of the brisk days of breakup and order the Spicy Braised Beef with Noodles