Jo-Jo Tai Pei

Do four Taiwanese eateries within a half-mile radius make a neighborhood a Taiwan-town?

The original two Taiwanese store fronts in Allston Village were Infusions Tea Spa (tapioca pearl tea and tea-time snack haven) and its next door neighbor - Yi Soon Bakery. Then Super 88 welcomed a Wisteria in the food court after the Newbury Street location split into two (the Super 88 in Allston and the East Cambridge sit-down). More recently Jo-Jo Tai Pei moved across the street from the bakery.

I've been there twice and both times have been quite tasty. The first time Sandra and Jack brought me there for the "special pork chop over rice" ($6.99), Taiwanese stir-fried noodles ($6.99), "famous spicy beef noodle soup" ($8.99), and "bow bin" shaved ice (small $4.99).

The pork chop plate really felt like a good value. The chop was season, fried, and enormous. Sides included a tea egg, Chinese broccoli, and some pickled turnip (?) - I never touch it, so I'm never sure. I love the "garnish" of stewed fatty pork belly pieces.





The stir fried noodles were simple, not overly oily, and perfectly seasoned with just enough garlic and onion flavor.



The beef noodles, while pricier than I'd like to pay for, were delicious. The spiciness level was decent and the texture of the noodles was dense enough to give a little chew.



The shaved ice was tasty. Of all the sweet toppings I love the tapioca pearls and boiled peanuts the best. While I do enjoy the sweet beans, my brain never gets used to eating sweetened boiled mung beans.



I followed Jerry and Scott there a second time for the "crispy smelly bean curd" ($5.99), oyster pancake ($5.99), cold dan-dan peanut noodles ($6.99), and large bow bin ($6.99).

It was my first stinky tofu experience. The whole restaurant could smell something was up once our order was fired up. A few Asian and non-Asian patrons asked each other "What is that smell?" For all it's pungency, the flavor and texture were pretty mellow. The pieces of tofu are bite-sized, so it's easy to throw a few down the gullet and act like a season stinky-tofu eater. The oyster pancake was good, but not as amazing as Myers+Chang's version. The dan-dan noodles were tasty - and easy enough to take out for a picnic dish. I enjoy them more than Thai Peanut noodle salad because they use a thicker (almost Soba-like) noodle.

I look forward to going back to search for one of my holy grail, childhood food memory dishes - the Jo-Jo Special Mini Steamed Bun. It's a thicker dough version of a soup-on-the-inside dumpling that's been pan seared. The ones I remember from my elementary school days in a South Bay Taiwanese noodle shop were pan fried on both sides, but the Jo-Jo version online appears to be close enough. I'll find out one of these days.