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Shanghai Grill

4965 W Tropicana Ave, Las Vegas, NV
Type: Chinese Phone: 952-2500 Fax: 952-2501

Shanghai specialties, noodle rice, appetizers, soups, sushi rolls, crispy rolls. Carry-out, delivery, catering

Grabbing a long piece of dough, Mark Pi stretches it as far as his arms allow, repeatedly flips and twists it, then uses it as a jump rope.

Adding a bit of flour every once in a while, Pi keeps working the dough until it begins to separate into long, thin strings of noodles to the applause of customers at his Shanghai Grill restaurant at 4965 W. Tropicana Ave.

Pi probably should attach a warning to his noodle-making demonstration: Kids, don't do this at home. Ugly kitchen accidents may ensue.

Leave the noodle-making to Pi. In 1994, he made it into Guinness World Records for noodle-making by hand with 4,096 noodles in 41.34 seconds. He plans to top that record later this year at Shanghai Grill.

But Pi knows more than noodles. His ability to build a franchise empire out of serving up Chinese cuisine is an American success story.

Born in Korea in 1945 to Chinese parents, Pi has lived in China, Japan and Taiwan. He moved to Chicago in 1972 with only $50 in his pocket.

His first job was at Chicago's Mongolian House Chinese restaurant. Five months after starting to work there, he got a loan and bought the restaurant.

"This is the land of opportunity," Pi says of the United States. "If you work hard all your dreams will come true."

Pi now owns 45 Chinese food outlets -- under the names Mark Pi's China Gate, Mark Pi's Express, Mark Pi's Feast of China Buffet and Shanghai Grill. His various eateries are in Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

He's also a master chef of Chinese cuisine, speaks four languages (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, English) and holds a third-degree black belt in karate.

"Mr. Pi has done express and fine dining restaurants, so with Shanghai Grill he has taken the best of each and rolled them into one," says the restaurant's manager, Jon Cheney.

Pi had his eye on moving into the Las Vegas market but decided to wait until the city had grown more so that he could concentrate on the local market, not serving mostly tourists on the Strip.

"Las Vegas is the best of the best," Pi says.

Shanghai Grill differentiates itself from the competition in Chinese cuisine, Pi says.

"Our food is different from other places serving Chinese," he says. "We have a wide array of food, not just Cantonese. And we have wok cooking only. Everything is cooked to order and it's fresh."

And no MSG is used t the restaurant, Pi adds.

The menu starts with soup items, such as egg drop, hot and sour, and won ton ($1.75 cup, $2.50 bowl).

For appetizers there's barbecued ribs ($4.95); crab pockets, with crab, cream cheese and Spanish onions ($3.75); gan pong chicken wings, crispy chicken wings with a sweet red pepper sauce, jalapeños and green onions ($4.75); and shrimp with vegetable tempura ($4.95).

Crispy rolls come in three versions: Vietnamese, containing clear noodles, shrimp, pork, cabbage, carrots, toro, Spanish onions and bean sprouts; vegetable, with cabbage, celery, carrots, onions, peanut sauce and garlic; and Marco Polo, stuffed with sausage and pepperoni, mozzarella and provolone cheese ($1.25 for one, $4.50 for four).

Shanghai Grill also serves four choices of sushi rolls ranging from $6.95 to $8.95. A combination platter is $12.95.

Caesar chicken ($5.25), teriyaki chicken ($5.25) and hand-tossed salads ($5.50) also are on the menu.

Shanghai Grill offers a variety of specialties that can be ordered with chicken ($6.95), beef ($7.95), shrimp or scallops ($8.95) and vegetable five-spice tofu ($6.50), including cashew chicken, hot pepper chicken, kung pao chicken, beef string beans, snap pea chicken, Mongolian beef, Szechwan beef, and sweet and sour chicken.

Other menu items include almond boneless chicken; General Tso's chicken, with crispy chicken, sweet-flavored chili sauce, mushrooms, red bell peppers, broccoli, zucchini, baby carrots and snap peas; and orange chicken ($7.95 each).

Grilled specialties are chicken teriyaki ($8.95); beef teriyaki ($9.95); boneless Korean spareribs ($12.95); and yaki soba, egg noodles, snap peas, red bell peppers, carrots, Spanish onions, green onions, cabbage, and bean sprouts served with a choice of chicken ($5.50), beef ($5.75), shrimp or scallops ($5.95); and barbecued pork ($5.50).

Rounding out the menu are noodles and rice dishes such as lo mein, fried rice and pad Thai offered with a choice of chicken ($5.50), beef ($5.75), barbecued pork ($5.50) or vegetable five-spice tofu ($4.95).

Shanghai Grill is open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, noon-10 p.m. Saturdays and noon-9 p.m. Sundays.

Pi plans to open up to six Shanghai Grills in Southern Nevada in the next few years.

Appetizers is a weekly informational column about new developments on the Las Vegas dining scene. Items should not be considered reviews or recommendations and none is a paid advertisement.

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