Hungry for Chinese food? Readers share favorites

There is only one reason my family drives into the city of Lynnwood.

Wong’s China Kitchen.

We can order our favorite Chinese food there including pork noodles, almond fried chicken and my husband’s chow mein.

Though I consider myself an excellent driver, those traffic cameras in Lynnwood give me the creeps. I don’t want to pay a big ticket if I misjudge a yellow light.

My husband always amuses me when we drive there for take out. He remembers the movie “Starman,” where Jeff Bridges, an alien learning to drive, says that by watching his teacher, he learned a yellow light means “Go fast.”

Not in Lynnwood, my friend.

It’s long been my observation that folks will drive way out of their neighborhoods to munch their favorite Chinese meals. Even though we have closer Chinese joints near our home in Mill Creek, we drive to Wong’s on 196th Street SW.

Sure, we try other places now and then. The big hang up is my favorite — pork noodles. When I was a kid growing up in an apartment above Aurora Cold Storage in Shoreline, we traveled to North City for Chinese take out.

The restaurant was named the Ho Ho.

When you dialed their number to place your order, they answered the phone by saying “Ho Ho. Who you?”

Being a picky eater, my folks always ordered me pork noodles. Made correctly, it’s like a cousin of a spaghetti noodle, with barbecued pork slices on top.

I always order by saying, “No onions please.”

I asked readers to share stories about their favorite Chinese spots, to check my theory that the best food is always way across town.

Mark Hinricksen, who live in Marysville, prefers China Doll Restaurant in Everett on Broadway.

China Doll is my back-up emergency Chinese restaurant when I am in Everett as they make great pork noodles.

“Ambience ambience ambience,” Hinricksen said. “It’s like the 1960s in there still.”

He said inside China Doll, he feels like he’s in an episode of the TV show “Madmen.”

“It’s the ultimate in Chinese comfort food. No pretensions. Plus, the waitresses have been there forever. Never a turnover in help. They must be treating their employees right.”

Bill Brayer was not in line with my theory. He lives less than a mile from his favorite Chinese restaurant, Chopsticks in Edmonds on 100th Avenue W.

“We’ve been going there for years as their food is always very tasty,” Brayer said. “There is lots of it, service is fast and very good, and their prices are quite reasonable.”

The Brayer family goes to Chopsticks every year on Christmas Eve before going to Mass at church.

Art Clemente in Lynnwood is right on point. His favorite Chinese place is Kau Kau Barbeque on S. King Street in Seattle.

“The food is great, the staff is professional to a tee without being stuffy about it, and the clientele are most interesting,” Clemente said. “For instance, you might see the relieved shift of firefighters from a nearby station drop in to share a meal while they wind down from their day’s activities.”

There seem to be a number of pretty exotic offerings, he said, but his tastes are pedestrian.

“I’ve enjoyed their almond chicken and the pork fried rice and have nibbled on shrimp and crab treats, but so far, haven’t ventured too far from the old reliables,” he said. “I should mention that another reason this eatery has a place in my heart is that my third born introduced me to it during a time when I was negotiating a rough patch in life and needed a change in my thought processes.”

It helped, Clemente said.

Alisa Sands, who lives north of Stanwood, doesn’t travel too far for her Chinese fix.

“My favorite Chinese restaurant is right in Stanwood,” she said. “Dragon Palace has been in business for 22 years and what I like about it is the staff is friendly, the food is delicious and they have large portions.”

She said fast service is a plus to a full-time working mother of two small children.

“You can sit in the Pavilion, which is an airy, casual feel,” she said. “Or sit inside the restaurant which feels more authentic.”

Cathy Olivo, who lives in the Sisco Heights area of Arlington, drives to Peking Palace in Smokey Point, where she said the owner is very nice and personable.

“She knows what we want when we come in — steamed, then pan-fried pot stickers,” Olivo said. “She makes her own pork filling from scratch. Those things are so good. We usually get Mongolian beef or Szechuan pork or Kung Pao chicken. She always brings extra rice.”

Sue Strickland travels from her home in Everett to Mill Creek to visit Zen Garden Chinese Restaurant on Mill Creek Boulevard.

“The restaurant is lovely inside and outside,” she said. “The wait staff is very nice and the food is affordable, delicious and beautifully presented. A truly pleasant dining experience.”

Zen is only a couple of blocks from my house, and there are no traffic cameras.

I could give it the old pork noodle test.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.

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