New Plaza Bo Lings: Glamour and glutinous rice
This week marks the official one-month anniversary of the new Bo Lings Chinese Restaurant on the Country Club Plaza. Owners Richard and Teresa Ng spent a fortune opening their dream location – they had wanted to be on the north side of Brush Creek, the right side in terms of tourist traffic, for years. After more than two decades in the Board of Trade Building at 4800 Main, the Ngs packed up their woks and moved to the Skelly Building at 605 West 47th Street, leaving behind a venue that had gotten a little shopworn over the years. But when you see the new venue, you’ll understand why the Ngs lost interest in fixing up the awkwardly designed Board of Trade space: They were saving their dough for the most elaborate dining room in their six-restaurant mini empire.
The sleek, shiny space on the street level of the Skelly Building is a combination of the Qing Dynasty and the Las Vegas Strip: ceramic tile floors that gleam like marble; thick granite tabletops that could pass as broken stela from the Valley of Kings; a room divider constructed of thick glass panels illuminated by rotating color lights; gilded temple columns at the front entrance. But, lest you get too overwhelmed by the Oriental opulence, the napkins are paper, and the chopsticks are plastic.
