Question of the day: What is a Pedeletweezer?
A. A new board game for children ages 7 and under;
B. A British word for bicycling through a narrow opening or gate;
C. The new family who moved onto Sesame Street;
D. A combination Chinese food and pizza restaurant in Arlington.
The answer is D.
What? A Chinese food and pizza restaurant.
What? Yes, for the past nine years, a family-owned Chinese and pizza restaurant in Arlington. My husband, a friend and I went to check it out recently for lunch.
The door opens to a display of kitschy Chinese and eclectic door: walls, each painted a different primary color, a huge red dragon overhead, Chinese lanterns amidst Christmas ball ornaments on strings and miscellaneous Chinese inspired decorations. Leave your pretensions at home; this eatery is all quirky familiarity.
Seating is minimal: Just four Formica-topped tables and a small counter. The table’s set with a wrought iron pizza rack next to a plastic water glass filled with chopsticks.
Our order was taken by the owner who also served us; sounds of sizzling and steaming and a glimpse of a deftly handled wok were evidence of her husband, the chef, in the kitchen.
Most of the business here is take out and much of it is regular customers.
The offerings include lunch specials (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) which include an entree, sweet and sour or egg flower soup and steamed or fried rice (which range from $6 for sweet and sour pork to $8 for Szechwan prawns).
Additionally, the menu includes typical Chinese specialty items, pot stickers and garlic chicken wings ($3 to $8) and several chow mein and rice dishes. The dinner menu includes six choices of family dinners (for two or more people), ranging from the Dragon Dinner ( $11 per person) to the Hunan Dinner ($13 per person).
On the last page of the menu are the “gourmet pizza” selections in medium, large or extra large from $12.99 to $24.95. Some examples are the Shaolin Temple (cheese only), The Great Wall (pepperoni, Canadian bacon, Italian sausage, chicken, onions, mushrooms and extra cheese), The Forbidden City (ranch sauce, prawns, green onions and garlic) and the Ghengis Khan (beef, onions, green onion, deep fried rice noodle mushrooms garlic).
My husband and friend ordered lunch specials with egg flower soup, which was swimming with lots of eggy-goodness and a few kernels of corn.
My hot and sour soup arrived, dark, thick and slightly spicy. It was the kind of hot that makes your mouth tingle but not burn, with a nice amount of sour.
Pot stickers arrived right out of the fryer, crunchy on the outside, with a familiar pork and ginger filling.
I ordered the Kung Pao chicken pizza. The house- made, thick pizza dough was topped with a slightly spicy Kung Pao sauce, small pieces of chicken, celery, carrots, water chestnuts and peanuts. A thick layer of cheese covered the toppings and was browned. It was delicious.
My husband’s sesame chicken — large pieces of coated tender chicken and a dark sesame sauce laden with sesame seeds — was great with the fluffy rice.
My friend ordered the chicken chow mein, which had generous portions of chicken. The only complaint was that there weren’t enough vegetables for the amount of chicken and noodles.
Why Pedeltweezer’s?
The owner said it doesn’t mean anything; it was just a funny nickname her father had.
Why Chinese food and pizza? They wanted to do something different.
I think they were successful and Pedeltweezer’s is the perfect name for it.
Pedeltweezer’s
20265 74th Ave NE, Suite 101, Arlington; 360-403-8382.
Specialty: Chinese and pizza.
Hours: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Vegetarian options: Yes.
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