Imperial Palace - Anchorage Alaska - A Birthday Revisit 2016



The first time I ever saw the Imperial Palace was back in 1988 or so. It was on my first trip to Alaska. I saw the restaurant across the highway and down a small street each time I went to the Flight service Station to get a weather briefing. Flight Service Stations are gone now but the Imperial Palace is still there. I didn’t visit the restaurant that time but marked it in my mind for a future time.

As a young child my first encounters with Chinese food were from Chinatown in Los Angeles.  Those savory dishes, the look, the smell, the taste – those delicious flavors, were the major part of larger experience. It was an alien world, the exotic dress, the incense, red and black lacquer décor accents, gilt trimming, paper lanterns; it was all heady stuff to an 8 or 9-year old but it emblazoned on my mind what eating Chinese was all about. The menu to a young person was almost impossible to comprehend. The entrees were a strange combination of alien sounds. As a family, we would usually order from the combination meals, you know, “…with four you get eggroll.” I have not been back to Chinatown for more than 50 years. It has changed I hear and sadly not like it once was. Today it is very hard to find a Chinese restaurant that compares to the old days of Chinatown. There are a lot of storefront take out emporium who all seem to serve carbon copies of each other, now served as Styrofoam plated combo meals. Even the long cherished Chinese food take out container is hard to find. It is sort-of Chinese at least in name, often fusion dishes you are a bit adverse to try. As well, the all-you-can-eat parlors are popular as well. If you want to get your Chinese food fix it is a place to go with lots of variety and in seemingly endless quantities. However, I am sure you will agree with me that it is only a semblance of what Chinese food for Americans could and should be.

The menu, in an elegant cover, is quite complete. There is a large selection of al la carte dishes including a choice of Korean dishes, a goodly selection of luncheon combinations at a reduced price, a list of single and double entrees dinners for one, and even family-style with combinations from $13.95 to $19.95 each (there are numerous combinations but the selections do not increase with the number of diners, i.e., “…with four you get eggroll.”) . For our group of five with eclectic tastes the combination dinner for one was the best way to because everyone would get just what they desired.

The other Larry ordered the C1 Combination Dinner (13.95 Mongolian Beef and Sesame Chicken – Served with eggroll, pork fried rice and daily soup). An attractive presentation, stir-fried beef in a dark brown glaze, a cone of fried rice, an eggroll sliced in two, and a helping of breaded chicken fried golden brown and accented with sesame seeds. He said everything tasted good and he had no trouble at all completing his meal. He agreed with me and added that it was a place to come back to.

Gloria and Wasana both ordered the C4 Combination Dinner ($13.95 Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and Sour Chicken – Served with eggroll, pork fried rice and daily soup). An equally pleasing plate featured stir-fried chicken with vegetables in a sauce and, of course, the peanuts, there was the fried rice and eggroll, and stir-fried breaded chicken with peppers, onion and carrot, in a sweet and sour sauce. A very pretty plate but all was not as it seemed. Both of them liked the sweet and sour chicken and the fried rice and eggroll. However, both of them agreed that the kung pao chicken was just too salty to enjoy and both were unable to finish their portions; everything good except the kung pao chicken.

The Imperial palace is a small and I believe a family-run business. We actually only saw one person most of the time in the dining room. She as the hostess, the waitress and the bus boy all wrapped up in one. She was never hovering but she seemed to know when you needed her.


dly

Labels: Alaska, Anchorage, chicken, Chow Mein, garlic, Imperial, Kung Pao, Palace, pork, spicy, sweet and sour

  ¶ 1:44 PM 0 Comments

  Chicken Chow Mein for Breakfast

Chicken Chow Mein for Breakfast

It is true. This blog is about chicken chow mein for breakfast. It’s not just for dinner anymore! Chicken chow mein is for breakfast too. But seriously, it is also about a tip to save time and some money

So, that brings me today. We buy our chicken in the multi-piece pack from the big-box stores and I repackage when we get home into smaller portions. A lot of the times the chicken breast will have rough edges or pieces of the tenderloin still attached. I trim those small pieces of chicken and place them in a separate bag. And presto, I have recipe ready chicken.

I used a bit of that recipe ready chicken to make my chow Mein this morning for breakfast. Normally, my preferred breakfast is a serving of hash browns (I like to make my own but I usually make too much so I use the little already cooked prepared hash brown patties), and egg, and usually one strip of the pre-cooked bacon (that saves a lot of frying time) and sometimes they slice of buttered toast with a little dab of jam. As I said it’s my preferred usual but sometimes a little difference is appreciated.

In short order I assembled all the goodies to make my chow Mein. I sliced up some celery, a bit of roasted red pepper, a small onion, some sliced baby carrots, a clove of garlic and went to work. I use my five dollar Walmart wok. The thin steel heats quickly on the ceramic stovetop so the stovetop doesn’t get too hot. I preheated, added a bit of canola oil, watched it smoke, and tossed in my chicken. I stir-fried until the chicken was browned but not quite cooked all the way through. To save a bit of time I directly added the vegetables but held back the bean sprouts and pea pods. I stir-fried the vegetables until the celery was just tender. I then added the sprouts and pea pods along with a few mushrooms that had been cooked the day before, mushrooms that I put on just about everything else. While that was cooking, I made a slurry of a rounded teaspoon of chicken base, a quarter cup of water, and a few drops a sesame oil, and a good sprinkle of soy sauce with a tablespoon of added cornstarch. I seasoned with salt, pepper, and some MSG.

Just remember, with the possible exception of the ham, the meats, chicken and beef are raw and all precautions need be observed when handling, preparing, freezing and storing the raw meats to prevent contamination and the possibility of causing a food-borne illness.

Using my stash of Recipe-Ready chicken pieces, I had fun cleaning out the refrigerator and was rewarded for my efforts with some delicious meals. Best wishes from Tennessee, home of chicken chow mein for breakfast!

Labels: bean sprouts, breakfast, chicken, Chow Mein, convenience packaging, food safety, meat, portion sizes, stir fry, wok

  ¶ 12:53 PM 0 Comments

  Imperial Palace- Anchorage, Alaska Imperial Palace
400 Sitka St Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 274-9167 ImperialPalaceAlaska.com

A little bit of Los Angeles’s 1950’s China Town is alive and well right here in Anchorage, Alaska. It isn’t an exact copy but it is the closest thing I have come across in many, many years. Adjacent to the Merrill Field Motel, it is a bit off the main street through town, and somewhat hard to see. I first saw the restaurant on my first trip to Alaska more than twenty years ago. It had always been an item on the to-do list but somehow always overlooked at least until today. We made it a planned stop on our way home from a tour of Whittier via the shared railroad tunnel and Girdwood.

For southbound traffic it is a simple turn but for the northbound vehicle the divided highway means a turn early to go around the block. There is adequate parking in the shared lot with the Merrill Field Motel. The interior is decorated mildly in an Oriental motif, inviting without being garish with seating for about forty people. The lighting was subdued but thankfully not dark. The restaurant was not crowded so the noise level was very subdued, always a positive feature.

I saw two people, a woman who took care of the dining room and a man who worked the kitchen. I could not see the back kitchen area and there were perhaps others to help at busy times but we were certainly never aware of them. That is not to say service was poor. The woman was quick, personable and accurate in orders and was frequently nearby to refill glasses and to see if anything additional was needed or desired. Food service from the kitchen was completed in a reasonable time as well.

As I mentioned above, like a bit of old Los Angeles Chinatown; that is where I learned what Americanized Chinese food was all about more than fifty years ago. The storefront takeout emporiums and now popular all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurants dropped the quality of the food enough that I hardly bear any resemblance to what I remember. A particular example is the so-called New York-style sweet and sour dishes. Now nothing more that some breaded meat morsels with a red sauce drizzled over it, it pales in comparison to the delicious and colorful sweet and sour presentations of the Chinatown restaurants with green and red Bell pepper, white bits of onion and the happy yellow of pineapple. With that in mind, we went to the Imperial Palace to see what they had to offer.

The menu has a bit of nostalgia. In addition to entrée items, the menu offers family dinners, a combination of entrees and side dishes at a per person price. All that was missing were phrases like, “…with three you get egg roll.” We ordered tea while we perused the menu. We were quickly served a pot of piping hot green tea. At long last, three people of different minds, we ordered from the Dinner For One and the Combination Dinner For One columns; something for every taste. Sister Pattie Sue ordered the Szechwan Pork ($13.95 Served with eggroll and pork fried rice). My nephew, Ron, ordered the Mongolian Beef and Teriyaki Chicken combo ($14.95 Served with eggroll and pork fried rice). I, on the other hand, ordered the Chicken Chow Mein and Sweet and Sour Pork ($13.95 Served with eggroll and pork fried rice).

Our order taken, we sat back to wait. Almost immediately we were served bowls of egg flower soup. The soup was not mentioned in the menu but it seemed to be included. It was a nice hot soup with lots of vegetables and egg flowers in a savory broth. It was a tasty appetizer for the food to come. Pattie Sue’s Szechwan Beef was served, as were the other dinners, on a platter. The greater half was the Szechwan Beef, the remainder, the pork fried rice. An egg roll, sliced diagonally, framed the presentation. The hot peppers made for a spicy dish but not too hot to be enjoyable. The vegetables were cooked but still crisp. The beef was tasty, tender and not chewy. The fried rice had a nice flavor. Portions were more than adequate and a goodly portion of Pattie Sue’s dinner went home in a Styrofoam box.

Nephew Ron’s Mongolian Beef and Teriyaki Chicken shared a platter with a serving of pork fried rice in the middle. The sliced egg roll also framed the dish. Ron found the Mongolian beef to be tender and tasty with enough spice to give it the kick he loves but not too spicy to be enjoyed. The Teriyaki Chicken was tender and had a good flavor but he says it had a bit too much teriyaki sauce and that detracted from the flavor of the chicken. He added that if her were to go there again he would order the Mongolian Beef alone and forego the Teriyaki Chicken.

My Chicken Chow Mein and Sweet and Sour Pork shared a patter with a serving of Pork Fried Rice; again, all framed with a sliced eggroll. Serving size was more than adequate, perhaps more than I should have eaten in the one sitting. The chow mein was a medley of vegetables and chicken served over crisp fried noodles just the way it should be. The sauce was flavorful just like he chow mein dishes of old Chinatown. Slightly thickened juice of the fried chicken and the vegetables provided the flavorful basis for the sauce. The vegetables were tender crisp, the chicken tasty and the noodles added a crispy counterpoint. The eggrolls were composed mostly of cabbage but had a good
flavor. They had been fried crispy but were not greasy or oily. They did benefit for a dip in the accompanying sweet and sour sauce (I do miss the old-fashioned cocktail sauce with a dollop of Chinese hot mustard in the center). The fried rice was flavorful with bits of vegetable and fried egg. The rice is American style, fluffy and really requires a fork to eat it. If you want o use chop sticks they would work well with the chow mein and the sweet and sour but the rice would be another matter entirely. The Sweet and Sour Pork were excellent. It was colorful with the vegetables, pineapple and sweet and sour sauce. It was well cooked, well seasoned and a pleasure to eat. The food on my plate had similar appearance and taste of the food of old time Chinatown.

The restaurant and its facilities were neat and clean. Dining was in a comfortable atmosphere. The service was excellent. The food was good and evoked memories of past meals with family and friends. We all enjoyed our meals and we will most likely be back again for another go at the local incarnation of old Chinatown.

Labels: Anchorage, Chow Mein, egg roll, Field, fried rice, Imperial Palace, Merrill, Mongolian beef, nostalgia, sweet and sour, tea, teriyaki chicken

  ¶ 1:45 PM 0 Comments