Dollar Chinese Food!??!?!

a huge WTF goes out to Wok Inn Wok Out in the beautiful tacoma suburb of lakewood, wa. does this place look good to anyone? i know the economy isn't so sweet right now, but i hear the dollar menu at mcdonald's might be a safer bet.

i don't know about you, but i'm not about to try this hellish looking den of chinese iniquity. however, on urbanspoon, they're sitting steady at a 60% like rating. a huge WTF indeed.

anyone been here?!?

a proper chinese birthday

my mom's birthday was last week, and being the low-key woman that she is, i asked if she even wanted to do anything...a sunday dinner, perhaps? she said she wasn't sure and would let me know later. the last thing i wanted was for her to prepare dinner for "the kids"...it was her birthday, after all.

a couple days later, my e-nbox pinged, and my mom invited us out to her house for hot pot! yay! i love hot pot, but it wasn't really a food tradition in my family. heck, i didn't even think my parents would break out the burners for the real deal. boy, was i wrong.

my parents bought the hot pots with the divider in the center so that we had both a hot and a "normal" broth. they went for extreme variety, offering chicken, beef, and vegetarian broth (whee!).

yeah, i took a picture of the blue flame, so sue me for nerding out!

the spread included spinach, baby bok choy, lotus root, bean sprouts, snow peas, green onion, purple basil, cilantro, fresh and fried tofu, shrimp, chicken, pork loin, and two types of beef, one sirloin (i forget..?) and one "ungraded" per vietwah. mmm, check out that red broth! i would've gone hotter, but with the temp and the spice combined, i was pretty satisfied.

here's my brother dunking some chicken into his broth. delicious.

i had a lot of fun engaging in the communal activity that is hot pot. i love interactive food, and this was super tasty, filling beyond words, and a fantastic way to celebrate my mom's birthday.

thanks for dinner, guys!!

Emerald Queen Casino: The EQC

No we didn't gamble because we were there to see a concert. An awesome concert to be exact. I have been a fan of Musiq Soulchild for years, he is always putting out quality music and I absolutely love his voice. The venue was packed and he sang for almost two hours. It was a great show. Overall, an amazing ladies night.

After the show we all needed to get some food, and since EQC has a few restaurants we took to the grand staircase to see what the International Restaurant had to offer. We were seated fairly quickly in a dining room very reminicant of a Old Country Buffet but were spoiled with the maroon cloth napkins. Classy. The menu had everything from salads to sandwhiches along with a fairly large section dedicated to chinese american.


First up was the drink order. I was surprised to see the prices under 5 for most drinks. Well A. and I splurged and went with the 5.50 Electric Ice Tea. I think it tasted like sour lemonade and needed more alcohol, but I also heard it may have come out of a gun. Oh no. Not awesome.

They messed up K and M's order but they sent out the mistake while they prepared their appetizer. If I remember correctly they were crab cakes, but I didn't taste them or get a pic. I was worried that security would take my phone because they sent a few people to let us know that photos inside the casino was an absolute no. Point taken, especially when they sent the female security guard complete with a headset and a green windbreaker. I was unable to get photos of the other ladies food without drawing attention to myself but "straightened hair" M. got a burger and A. had a chef salad and everyone enjoyed a few sides of the steak fries.

After the crab cake mistake, K. and M. got their portobello mushroom caps and side of fries. M. said she was impressed by the quality of food at EQC...and the app prices were not that bad.


And, I went with the club sandwich, the roasted turkey was very tasty and the perfect amount of salty. The bacon was crispy and had just enough black pepper to give it a kick. I think the thick slice of cheddar was a nice touch and made the sandwich the perfect drinking meal. I liked the fries but didnt think they were hot enough. I also tried not to eat too many beccause I wanted to eat my sandwich! I do like a good club and this one makes my top ten for sure. And, it was reasonably priced at 8.95.


Not sure when I will go back to EQC but, I would eat at their restaurant again...and who knows perhaps with some gambling we could take on their Surf and Turf buffet complete with crab legs and iceberg lettuce salad bar.

Honey Court Seafood Restaurant

I don't even remember the first time I went to Honey Court, but I know it was after a late night of drinking and partying. Honey Court is a comfortable, family style Chinese restaurant open until like 330am (Fri-Sat) in the International District. The place is extremely bright, worn down, full of random decor and always fast paced. The restaurant is typically packed with the younger club crowd and local regulars.

After too many happy hour cocktails after work and a run up to a beacon bar we ended up needing to soak up some liquor around 11pm. We stumbled into Honey Court and were greeted by the woman who always seems to be serving whenever you go. She took our order of Hot and Sour soup ($6.95), Barbecue Pork Fried Rice ($6.50), Chicken Chow Mein ($6.95), Honey Court Walnut Prawns ($10.95) and the Crispy Chicken w/Prawn Chips ($7.95). The Crispy Chicken is not pictured...think I was too busy shoving food in my face when it showed up to the table.

The first time I had the Honey Court Walnut Prawns, I did not like them. I am now convinced they are one of my favorite dishes. L. and I even made them for our valentines dinner this year. The cooking process for these is intense, multiple steps and ingredients...which includes mayo. They are so damn good. I am also a huge fan of the crispy noodle chow mein....the noodles are perfect and the sauce is so savory. This is the perfect food to eat when you are hungover or drunk. I will however point out, that it is just as good sober. I liked the rice but it was hard to eat, but it did have a nice flavor. I also enjoyed the crispy chicken, which is just your basic lightly seasoned fried chicken. The soup is also exactly what you would expect, yet it comes out in a huge bowl with enough soup for like 6 people.

Honey Court has over 200 dishes, you will certainly find something you like. I also heard they have a great Dim Sum but I have yet to check that out.

516 Maynard Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104

Mon-Tue 10am-2:30am
Wed-Thur 10am-3am
Fri 10am-3:30am
Sat 9am-3:30am
Sun 9am-1:30am

mee sum transplant

nestled on pike place, mee sum bakery is one of several international options in the tourist-heavy market. their storefront is simple, a little run down, and in need of a good, old fashioned windexing. when my coworker mentioned a new chinese bakery near my office, i had to go for lunch. daydreams of vegetable humbow and sesame balls danced in my head all morning until i took orders from my officemates and headed over to the bakery for a quick pick-up. little did i know that it was mee sum parte due!


my girl sissy ordered the curry beef humbow from the hot case. she said it was bombers. she and her husband hadn't found good bow since they lived in san francisco maaaaany many years ago. as pictured, mee sum also offered chicken bow.


i was excited to sink my teeth into a vegetable bow since i hadn't had a full bite of baked bow in about 8 years. unfortunately they ran out. sigh. however, i did get a taste of my coworker's. next to the vegetable is the char siu bow. sheesh i used to like bbq pork.

the hot case also featured sesame balls, hot wings, crab rangoon, and egg rolls, i just forgot to capture them in my excitement.


mee sum also offered a steam case full of steamed char siu bow, steamed chicken bow, gyoza, and nor mai gai, which is a savory sticky rice stuffed with pork, chicken, a slice of sausage, and dried shrimp. it is then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed to perfection. mmm.


mee sum bakery also had a "wok menu," which listed several standard entrees, like mongolian beef, chow mein, honey sesame chicken, etc. my coworker who suggested mee sum for lunch actually went there once before and ordered the chow fun (wide rice noodles stir-fried with green onions and soy sauce). it was pretty good, simple, and cheap!


you can read the rest of the menu above. i ended up getting a tofu bahn mi, which was okay. the bread was a little dry, the tofu was crispy and good, but there was a severe lack of daikon/carrot pickles, and i didn't get a single leaf of cilantro....only stems!! i also got a sesame ball which was crisp and decent for take out.

i would suggest mee sum to anyone trolling around the udistrict around lunchtime, or even for a snack. i think you best bet is ordering any of the bow or entrees off of the wok menu. it's inexpensive and even offers a variety of bubble teas. this is a great spot for a snack.


4343 university way ne
seattle, wa 98105

nb: the kitchen closes at 9pm but they're still open late for bubble tea

the (dim) sum of all things

{click to enlarge}

coming from a former dimsum addict (suge and i used to double-dimsum a weekend), Top Gun Seafood in factoria is bizzomb. like, holy wow that place is good. i've been there literally hundreds of times, but i'll never forget my first time there. it was when i was in high school, and my uncle called the family together to enjoy some food and catch up. i don't speak chinese, but he and his family do, so out came all sorts of crazy good shit that's not skating around the room on steel carts, like cold sesamie jellyfish, special noodles, crispy and chopped duck (creatively deemed "duck two ways")...i can't even begin to list it all, but it was truly magical (and that was back in the day before i was sans-meat).

my family is chinese, so when i was younger, we would all go out to dimsum. every weekend. my father has two brothers that live in the greater seattle area, so the extended family would convene for dimsum at least every two months. sun ya used to be our favorite spot, but after changing over to new ownership back in 1999, it's never been the same.

the last time i went to dimsum there was probably 2-3 years ago (i lived next door), and it was good....just different from my rose-tinged memories.

ah, tea. i love tea. one nice thing about Top Gun is that you can ask for different kinds of tea...i always go for jasmine because i love the perfume, but you can get something heavier, like oolong. i also wash my hands with tea after i eat because the tannens cut through any oil that's made it's way onto my hands. :)

so here's the spread: shrimp on green bell pepper with a black bean sauce, hargow (shrimp dumplings encased in a rice noodle hug, turnip cake with flecks of pork, siu mai (pork dumplings with a rice casing on the bottom, nor mai gai (sticky rice stuffed with pork, "gravy," dried shrimp, and lap xioung [delicious sweet sausage]), and shrimp-stuffed eggplant covered in black bean sauce.

here's another look at suge's hargow handstyle. :) i forgot to capture the char siu bau (steamed bun with bbq pork stuffing)!

and of course, the crowd favorite, honey-walnut prawns. i had actually never had these little gems of fried goo until about three years ago, but i do like them. i have a tenuous relationship with shrimp, so i'm not always in the mood for HWP, but these were tasty.

ah, mango pudding. how do i love thee?? covered in condensed milk, of course!!! i like the mango pudding at Top Gun because it has chunks of mango in it, and they make it with a little bit of coconut milk, so there's the slightest hint of that flavor in the pudding. also, it's not really pudding, like bill cosby-style. it's more of a cross between jello and pudding...it's soft, but you couldn't stir it. whatever it is, it's awesome. it actually so inspired me to make some red bean jelly/pudding at home! all i need is a can of lychees, and it's dessert time all the time!

last, but certainly not least, the black sesamie balls. holy crap i love these. they're little balls of mochi covered in black and white toasted sesamie seeds, stuffed with black sesamie puree, and flash fried until the outside is juuuuuust crispy. damn, they're so good. i like the white sesamie balls, too, but they're stuffed with lotus paste, which is a little too rich for me in this particular incarnation.

Top Gun Seafood

12450 SE 38th St
(between S 124th Ave & S Factoria Blvd)
Bellevue, WA 98006

(425) 641-3386

CAVE: this place is uber-busy on the weekends, especially sunday in the post-church time. i would suggest arriving early, like between 10 and 11. if you arrive after 1130, you're completely screwed and will have to wait at least 30 minutes. going late is also an option, when we went, it was nearly 2, but we still had to wait about 15 minutes. you have now been thoroughly warned.

parking is a bitch, too, so park in the back movie theater lot. do not park in marked places, because they will surely tow you. they are serious!

R.I.P. Broadway Wok, Hello Julie's Garden

Damn, R.I.P. Broadway Wok, one of the only places that you can get Chinese delivery on Cap. Hill. What sucks is that we found out the bad news as L. repeatedly called the number which was disconnected. After two years of living up here, I figured out what things to order and found a solid group of menu items that did the trick. I cannot find any real details about the closing of this spot, but I will take a wild guess that a condo is going up over there...or because of the condos they couldn't afford rent.

So because we were dedicated to not leaving the house we hit the internet to find a new delivery spot...and low and behold we found Julie's Garden which is located in Pioneer Square. L. called them up and its true, they do deliver to Cap. Hill.

We got General Tso's Chicken, which was decent, the portion was solid and the chicken was fresh. It could have had some more heat factor and perhaps they should have cut a whole in the styrofoam because it was way over-steamed. Most lacking was that recognizable flavor of the General Tso sauce...

Curry Sauce Chicken, pretty good even though what I was expecting was something with less turmeric. This dish also needed some more heat...and some overall flavor besides overcooked veggies.

And some egg rolls, sorry no picture...they were as expected.


The delivery took over an hour but Julie's Garden is cheaper than Broadway Wok...so that is a plus. Now we will move into the phase of finding the right menu items to order. They do have Pho....and beer.

For delivery call:
206.223-3690

Free Delivery in the Downtown Seattle Area (Minimum $20. Limited Area)

Mon-Fri: 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
Sat: 11:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sun: Closed