Jia at Beau Rivage

Jia at the Beau Rivage a soothing experience 

Walking into Jia at the Beau Rivage is like walking into the mouth of a whale.

Tucked into a spot on the far wall of the casino, a pair of red cascading water walls at the entrance keep you separated from vertical rib-like wood slats. Inside it is dark and warm and, most appropriately, seafood dominates the menu.

My dining partner and I were looking for an escape for dinner, and even though you can hear and see the pinging slot machines through the rib-like walls of the sushi bar and bar at the front of the Asian restaurant, the dining room has great décor.

Pleasantly dark with funky, earthen tableware and bamboo tube lights, it is without a doubt one of the most unique, modern settings for a restaurant on the Coast. We wanted to feel like we were far away from South Mississippi and got it here.

At the far rear of the restaurant there is also an hibachi grill - the kind where they cook in front of you with lots of utensil banging, fire and showmanship - but I felt like I wanted something mellower and certainly got it.

We started off our meal with Pork and Ginger Potstickers ($8) and Chilled Crab and Asparagus Salad ($14).

The potstickers were not over-fried and came with a pleasantly tangy dipping sauce.

The salad had a creamy dressing that masked the sesame allegedly contained therein, but it was great to have fresh, tasty mesclun leaves in a salad that contained something other than romaine lettuce. It was the first time I had ever had asparagus shredded and mixed with fresh crabmeat, which I found to be a winning combo.

For dinner, we go further with seafood if you count duck, which spends most of its life in or near water.

I had the 5-spiced BBQ Half-Roasted Duckling ($22,) which tasted more fried than roasted. Nevertheless, the apple-ginger dipping sauce was great and no matter how you cook duck skin it is as salty and greasy as bacon, which means very yummy.

My dining partner ordered the Citrus Seared Sea Scallops and Seared Tiger Prawns ($34), the highlight of the meal.

I suppose to be a chef of any worth in South Mississippi you better be able to grill shrimp, and this entrée proved Jia’s chef worthy. There are few tastier treats in all of the cuisine world than a well-grilled, warm shrimp - and Jia serves that up.

For dessert, we ordered the Chocolate Lava Cake and the Three Kinds of Ice Cream Sandwiches ($8 each).

The lava cake came with one of the most original presentations I’ve ever seen on a desert, managing somehow to look like a cherry-blossom display.

The ice cream sandwiches were more like small scoops of ice cream placed unceremoniously between sugar wafers, but that did not diminish my enthusiasm for devouring them quickly and completely.

The sesame and ginger flavored ice cream was a delight.

While a bit pricey, Jia is certainly far different in style from anything else on the Coast. It’s great décor and mellow mood will sooth you.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 9:21 am and is filed under Biloxi Hotels, Biloxi Mississippi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.