The Deep Dish: Four Ace to Bring a Little Magic to Pizza Fest
In the lead up to our September 16-17 Pizza Fest in Wangjing Soho, The Deep Dish will be previewing a few of the restaurants that you can expect to see slinging their thick, gooey, and tomatoey slabs of doughy goodness. Now that you're hot and dribbling, let's go!
The key to any good magic trick is slight-of-hand – making your audience look the other way while the illusion takes place right under their nose. Some magicians use diversions, directing your attention elsewhere while the “magic happens.” Consider Sanlitun Soho that diversion, and consider Four Ace the “magic."
Yes, one might barely notice Four Ace walking through the brightly lit, bustling Soho complex. It’s a modest café set just off the complex's center with a pair of alfresco tables in front of an unassuming door. You might wander in expecting an average dining experience – until, that is, you see the magic.
Four Ace keeps several magicians on staff to stop at tables, entertaining and baffling the dining masses. Think of it as being like a permanent children’s birthday party you’re always welcome to attend (but, like, without children, and thus with minimum creepiness).
The whole restaurant is decorated according to this theme: an upscale casino lounge magic show. There’s a vaguely fantastical mural on the wall, a grand piano in the middle of the second floor, dark wood tables, and mahogany-hued leather dining chairs.
The food, too, is designed to match: primarily western fare on the pricey side, with soup for RMB 32-38, pasta for RMB 40-68, sandwiches and burgers for RMB 68-88, elegant main courses RMB 98-238, and a full menu of RMB 120-185 cocktails.
And that’s all good and nice, but (of course) we’re here for the pizza.
The pizzas’ thin crusts make them clean and classic, not too large or greasy or salty, but manageable and mild. The Margaret (we'll assume that's intentional) pizza and vegetable pizza came looking picture-perfect – like, exactly as they appear in the menu’s photos, as if (dare we say it?) by magic. More likely, though, through simple careful preparation.
The pizzas are beautiful and delicious, but mostly just because they are pizza. A thin crust, a nearly perfectly even distribution of cheese, and carefully placed toppings make it seem almost too delicate to be eaten the way God intended: with your hands. I felt somewhere between inspired and pressured to eat this pristine pie with a knife and a fork. Pair your pizza with Four Ace’s equally adorable and delectable tiramisu cups and you’ve got a nice meal, with nothing truly exceptional about it. UNTIL RESIDENT MAGICIAN XIAO MI SHOWS UP!
The magic we saw on our visit was modest at best: Xiao Mi, armed with a deck of cards and two rubber bands, breaks one of the rubber bands, then miraculously repairs it. We assume he can pull things out from behind your ear, or correctly identify whichever card you pick (any card!) but on our visit, there was no dry ice smoke machine, no "Final Countdown" by Europe, none of the theatrics one might expect of a magician who is the restaurant's main attraction. But his low-key nature allows him to come to your table, provide a mild wow-factor, and leave you to your meal in peace, which we appreciate.
For our Pizza Fest, Four Ace will be bringing calzones, spicy cumin lamb and a Lao Gan Ma spicy chili sauce pizza, mojitos, and – most importantly – magicians! So seek him out when you're buzzed and ready to have your mind blown.
Photos: Mary Kate White
