That Food Guy
Monday, October 17, 2016
China Lights - Eagle River, Alaska
It was a busy time for me then. There was work and the extracurricular activities such as dog mushing that kept me busy and it was a long while before I was in town, at the right time, to get some more fried rice takeout. It was, to put it plainly, terrible. The rice was almost crunchy. It wasn’t seasoned at all except for a splash of soy sauce and there was only a pittance of vegetables and chicken thrown in. Even steaming it a bit at home I was unable to revive it and, sadly, most of that order ended up in the compost pile. After that encounter I pretty much erased the mental note and never again considered the China Lights as an asset. Over the ensuing years I have driven past the China Lights many, many times but never had any inkling to try it again.
During this 2016 trip to Alaska I noticed some TV ads for
the China Lights. They mostly featured the Anchorage store, especially the
interior shots showing the buffet, but the ad did tell of the two locations,
Anchorage and Eagle River. That got me to thinking… (Sometimes that is a
dangerous thing to do.) So, if the China Lights has been there all this time
without going under they must be doing something right and not chasing away
customers like they did me. Also, if they have made enough profit to open or
take over another facility they must have a fairly large and satisfied customer
base. Perhaps, I thought, it was time to give China Lights another try.
I called good buddy Larry Tower and asked if he would like to go to lunch one day soon. On the appointed day we made the fifteen minute drive to China Lights. Apparently the buffet is popular and the hostess/waitress assumed we were there for the buffet and when she seated us she didn’t offer the menu as an option. I thought for a moment and then decided, “Why not?” We would try the buffet today and I could come back later for a “lunch special” take home meal rather than eat in. She took our beverage order and bade us to go and select from the buffet.
As I mentioned, the store is of modest size. It is well
decorated in the Asian theme with bas-relief paneling depicting Chinese scenes.
The ceiling is embossed tiles in a copper color. Various wall hangings and
objects d’art round out the décor. There are several booths along the front
window wall and the main dining area features tables and chair that can be
arranged as needed to accommodate different sized groups. There is no room for
free standing serving bars as you would normally find in a Chinese buffet. In
the addition of the buffet to the more traditional sit down and dine in and
take out there was little room for adding the serving bars. There is a salad
bar and steam table combination, serve from one side only and about 16 to 18 feet
long, against the back wall. That leaves little room for a large number of
selections one would normally associate with a Chinese buffet. As I remember
the selections (and memory can be spotty) the selections, with some of my
initial impressions, were as follows.
Soups – Egg flower and - one other: Egg flower soup good, didn’t try the other
What is the allure of the Chinese buffet? I would answer
that it a place where, for a relatively small amount of money, you can eat to
your fill with palatable food; a place to go get stuffed. To that end China
Lights does quite well. Its selections, although limited by space, fare well
compared to any of the other buffets I have tried in the past. I do have some
minor issues with some of the offerings but overall, as I mentioned, it is
quite good as Chinese buffets go.
On my first go through the buffet
line, I got a bowl of egg flower soup and a plate with tempura vegetables,
sweet and sour chicken, a pot sticker, spicy meatballs, sesame chicken, some
Mongolian chicken and my favorite, fried rice. The soup was good. There were a
lot of egg shreds and the broth had a good flavor as well as a nice mouth feel;
it wasn’t just a bowl of flavored water. The selection of the tempura
vegetables was limited to some onion rings and some small medallions I think
were squash. The items were battered and fried but the batter was very heavy
for tempura and detracted from what taste the vegetables had. The pot stickers
were a bit chewy and perhaps had been in the pan too long. The spicy meatballs
relied on the sauce for the spice and the texture was coarse, perhaps a lot of
filler, Not one of my favorite for the selection. The Mongolian chicken was one
of the better dishes they offered. It was flavorful with lots of chicken. The
sesame chicken was much like other buffet sesame chickens, an amber sauce and
toasted sesame seeds. It didn’t stand out, kind of bland, and I think the sauce
needed a bit more sesame oil to liven up the flavor. The sweet and sour chicken
here was what I have come to learn is called New York-style; breaded chicken
pieces and a red sweet and sour sauce on the side. I learned to like sweet and
sour chicken a long time ago on the West Coast. It was dish of breaded and
fried chicken pieces, stir fried Bell peppers, onion and sometimes thinly
sliced carrots and pineapple chunks all tossed with a red sauce with definite
sweet and sour overtones; a medley of many great flavors and textures. I
am a bit biased and it is difficult to be positive about a dish that is missing
most of its elements. The China Light’s version was heavily breaded chicken (I
suspect the breaded chicken is a bulk pre-made kitchen supply) and the sauce
was indeed red, sticky and sweet but lacked any definite sour component. It was
just like all the other buffet sweet and sour chicken just a shadow of the real
thing. The fried rice was good. It was a filler dish to be sure, an inexpensive
food to bulk out the meal. Even so, it had good flavor and there were some
little goodies in the mix to add to the taste and texture.
China Lights
12110
Business Blvd #2
Eagle River,
Alaska 88577
(907)
694-8080
The China Lights Restaurant in Eagle River is a small to medium-sized
facility located in a strip mall. This particular restaurant has been there
since 1980. A sister establishment, located in Anchorage, has been extant since
2010. I have not visited the Anchorage facility so everything herein pertains
to the Eagle River store.
I have a mixed history with China Lights that goes back a
long time. I first became aware of the Eagle River China Lights when I moved
into the area about 1995. A fan of Chinese food, I was quick to spot it and
mentally mark it for later. Sometime later I had that urge for some fried rice,
one of my favorite foods, and went to China Lights for takeout. It was excellent! I really loved it; very
flavorful with a great seasoning combination I wished I could emulate. I was
very happy to have some tasty Chinese food close at hand.It was a busy time for me then. There was work and the extracurricular activities such as dog mushing that kept me busy and it was a long while before I was in town, at the right time, to get some more fried rice takeout. It was, to put it plainly, terrible. The rice was almost crunchy. It wasn’t seasoned at all except for a splash of soy sauce and there was only a pittance of vegetables and chicken thrown in. Even steaming it a bit at home I was unable to revive it and, sadly, most of that order ended up in the compost pile. After that encounter I pretty much erased the mental note and never again considered the China Lights as an asset. Over the ensuing years I have driven past the China Lights many, many times but never had any inkling to try it again.
During this 2016 trip to Alaska I noticed some TV ads for
the China Lights. They mostly featured the Anchorage store, especially the
interior shots showing the buffet, but the ad did tell of the two locations,
Anchorage and Eagle River. That got me to thinking… (Sometimes that is a
dangerous thing to do.) So, if the China Lights has been there all this time
without going under they must be doing something right and not chasing away
customers like they did me. Also, if they have made enough profit to open or
take over another facility they must have a fairly large and satisfied customer
base. Perhaps, I thought, it was time to give China Lights another try.I called good buddy Larry Tower and asked if he would like to go to lunch one day soon. On the appointed day we made the fifteen minute drive to China Lights. Apparently the buffet is popular and the hostess/waitress assumed we were there for the buffet and when she seated us she didn’t offer the menu as an option. I thought for a moment and then decided, “Why not?” We would try the buffet today and I could come back later for a “lunch special” take home meal rather than eat in. She took our beverage order and bade us to go and select from the buffet.
As I mentioned, the store is of modest size. It is well
decorated in the Asian theme with bas-relief paneling depicting Chinese scenes.
The ceiling is embossed tiles in a copper color. Various wall hangings and
objects d’art round out the décor. There are several booths along the front
window wall and the main dining area features tables and chair that can be
arranged as needed to accommodate different sized groups. There is no room for
free standing serving bars as you would normally find in a Chinese buffet. In
the addition of the buffet to the more traditional sit down and dine in and
take out there was little room for adding the serving bars. There is a salad
bar and steam table combination, serve from one side only and about 16 to 18 feet
long, against the back wall. That leaves little room for a large number of
selections one would normally associate with a Chinese buffet. As I remember
the selections (and memory can be spotty) the selections, with some of my
initial impressions, were as follows.Soups – Egg flower and - one other: Egg flower soup good, didn’t try the other
Almond Chicken
– Lots of chicken, pretty good but a bit confused flavor wise
Sesame
Chicken – A mainstream sesame chicken but a bit weak in the sauce
Mongolian
Chicken – A good amount of chicken with pretty good flavor, interesting
Spicy
Meatballs - a bit over cooked, kind of bland
Vegetable Lo
Mein – more noodles than vegetables
Pot Stickers
– not exceptional, need the sauce
Fried Rice –
for a filler dish, not too bad with good flavor and fresh looking vegetables
but not as good as my sampling many years ago
Spring Rolls
– little prepackaged rolls a bit chewy/crunchy
Tempura
Vegetables – onion rings and medallions of squash, I believe.
Sweet and
Sour Chicken – ahhh, yes! The New York-style is here too. Too bad…
Sweet and
Sour Sauce – It’s red.
French fries
– that one puzzles me – I didn’t try them but French fries in the limited space
available?
Assorted
fruits and Desserts -
On my first go through the buffet
line, I got a bowl of egg flower soup and a plate with tempura vegetables,
sweet and sour chicken, a pot sticker, spicy meatballs, sesame chicken, some
Mongolian chicken and my favorite, fried rice. The soup was good. There were a
lot of egg shreds and the broth had a good flavor as well as a nice mouth feel;
it wasn’t just a bowl of flavored water. The selection of the tempura
vegetables was limited to some onion rings and some small medallions I think
were squash. The items were battered and fried but the batter was very heavy
for tempura and detracted from what taste the vegetables had. The pot stickers
were a bit chewy and perhaps had been in the pan too long. The spicy meatballs
relied on the sauce for the spice and the texture was coarse, perhaps a lot of
filler, Not one of my favorite for the selection. The Mongolian chicken was one
of the better dishes they offered. It was flavorful with lots of chicken. The
sesame chicken was much like other buffet sesame chickens, an amber sauce and
toasted sesame seeds. It didn’t stand out, kind of bland, and I think the sauce
needed a bit more sesame oil to liven up the flavor. The sweet and sour chicken
here was what I have come to learn is called New York-style; breaded chicken
pieces and a red sweet and sour sauce on the side. I learned to like sweet and
sour chicken a long time ago on the West Coast. It was dish of breaded and
fried chicken pieces, stir fried Bell peppers, onion and sometimes thinly
sliced carrots and pineapple chunks all tossed with a red sauce with definite
sweet and sour overtones; a medley of many great flavors and textures. I
am a bit biased and it is difficult to be positive about a dish that is missing
most of its elements. The China Light’s version was heavily breaded chicken (I
suspect the breaded chicken is a bulk pre-made kitchen supply) and the sauce
was indeed red, sticky and sweet but lacked any definite sour component. It was
just like all the other buffet sweet and sour chicken just a shadow of the real
thing. The fried rice was good. It was a filler dish to be sure, an inexpensive
food to bulk out the meal. Even so, it had good flavor and there were some
little goodies in the mix to add to the taste and texture.
To date my favorite Chinese
restaurant in Alaska is the Imperial Palace. It is located in Anchorage which
is a 45-minute drive away from home. China Lights, on the other hand, located in
Eagle River, is barely a 10-minute drive away. I suspect that on my next trip
to Alaska I will try out China Lights and order from the menu for a sit-down
dinner. I remember once I had some great food from there. It would be very nice
to know that a good and trusted source was near to home. I will let you know
how well that turns out in a later blog post.
It should be noted that there is a
certificate proudly displayed on the entranceway wall of China Lights: Top
100 Chinese Restaurants: Exterior
100%, Service 100%, Food 97.06%Labels: Alaska, all you can eat, Asian, China, Chinese, Eagle River, egg flower soup, food, lights China Lights, Top 100 Chinese Restaurants
¶ 12:35 PM 0 Comments
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Product Evaluation - Great Value Canned Roast Beef
.jpg "Great VAlue Canned Roast Beef from Walmart")
.jpg "Pieces of roast beef in beef broth")
The first thing we noticed when we opened the can was there
is a lot of packing liquid, the beef broth. There was about ¾ cup of liquid in
the can. At about 4 or 5-ounces of water, in the 12-ounce can, leaves about
8-ounces or less of beef (these are all rule of thumb guesses, I only measured
the ¾ cup of liquid) and that would make the price per pound for the beef
portion at a bit more than $5 per pound. In the end, the beef in the can is
about the same price per pound as the fresh meat in the supermarket butcher’s
case.
.jpg "Beef and mushroom gravy over rice with steamed vegetables.")
Being a canned product, it doesn’t require refrigeration and
has a reasonably long shelf life; important assets for emergency food. The
price per pound for the meat itself is about the same as the cost per pound for
lower end fresh cuts of meat at the butcher counter; you don’t have to pay a
premium. It has a good flavor and a pleasing texture, not a food you have to
train yourself to like. It certainly has a place in the emergency larder or on
camping trips especially since it seems to be about the sole source of canned
plain beef. It will serve well in both roles. I will be picking up a couple
more cans for the emergency shelf on my next shopping trip to Walmart. Running
late? In a hurry? It will serve well there as well. This meal was done while
the rice cooked. All was done and ready to eat in 20 minutes. As for day-to-day
use I don’t think it will serve all that well. As good as it can be, why settle
for canned meat when, for the same price per pound of meat, you can have fresh meat
from the butcher or frozen meat stored in your freezer.
Product Evaluation: Great Value Canned Roast Beef
We dropped the dog off at the vets and had an hour or so to
wait. Just across the parking lot was the local Walmart. The wife and I wiled
away the time with a little shopping. Since it was just killing time, we paced
slowly through the aisles and that made it the perfect opportunity to watch for
new or unusual products. My eye fell upon Great Value canned Roast Beef, a
12-ounce can for $2.50. The label indicated fully cooked roast beef in beef
broth, caramel color added. No country of origin was listed but there was a
USDA Inspection logo so I assume the product is packed in the USA.
Coastal Florida, hurricane central, is one of those places
where it is prudent to have a few days’ supply of food and water on hand for
those emergencies that can isolate you, cut you off from your normal sources of
food and water, often for a lengthy period of time. Having food and water on
the shelf can do much to lower your stress levels in periods of crisis.
Canned and bags of tuna, canned salmon, corned beef, corned
and roast beef hash, SPAM and various brands of beef stew are available in the supermarket.
But plain beef, beef to use in cooking a meal are rare indeed, enough so that I
can’t right now think of an all–beef product that I have seen lately. With that
in mind I tossed one can into the basket to try out at home, to see if it was
worth putting on the emergency food shelf (and since it is wise to rotate food
stocks, another underlying question would be is it good enough for a regular,
day-to-day meal?). Local supermarket beef prices are $5 to $9 a pound. At $2.50
for 12-ounces (about $3.30 a pound) it seemed an inexpensive meat source – or so
we thought.
We decided to try it out tonight making a simple meal much
like we would make if it were a disaster time. We have rice, of course and
packaged gravy mix. From the freezer we had some mixed vegetables and there
were some cherry tomatoes fresh from the vine. Oh, yes! Don’t forget the mushrooms.
Most everything goes well with mushrooms.
The first thing we noticed when we opened the can was there
is a lot of packing liquid, the beef broth. There was about ¾ cup of liquid in
the can. At about 4 or 5-ounces of water, in the 12-ounce can, leaves about
8-ounces or less of beef (these are all rule of thumb guesses, I only measured
the ¾ cup of liquid) and that would make the price per pound for the beef
portion at a bit more than $5 per pound. In the end, the beef in the can is
about the same price per pound as the fresh meat in the supermarket butcher’s
case.
The beef, cold from the can, has a good texture and it hasn’t
been overcooked in the canning process. However, it is very bland, light on
flavor. After cooking in the can and then cooling, some of the beef fat gels
into clumps. Heating the broth and beef together redistributes the beef fat and
the flavor is significantly enhanced. The pieces of meat are of the smaller
size; most were more like soup pieces although a few of the pieces would have
made small pieces for a stew.
Our meal was canned roast beef and gravy over rice along
with some steamed vegetables. It was a tasty and satisfying meal although a bit
short on the beef. (I had the rice cooking before I opened the can of beef. Had
I opened the beef first, I would have used much of the broth to cook the rice.)Being a canned product, it doesn’t require refrigeration and
has a reasonably long shelf life; important assets for emergency food. The
price per pound for the meat itself is about the same as the cost per pound for
lower end fresh cuts of meat at the butcher counter; you don’t have to pay a
premium. It has a good flavor and a pleasing texture, not a food you have to
train yourself to like. It certainly has a place in the emergency larder or on
camping trips especially since it seems to be about the sole source of canned
plain beef. It will serve well in both roles. I will be picking up a couple
more cans for the emergency shelf on my next shopping trip to Walmart. Running
late? In a hurry? It will serve well there as well. This meal was done while
the rice cooked. All was done and ready to eat in 20 minutes. As for day-to-day
use I don’t think it will serve all that well. As good as it can be, why settle
for canned meat when, for the same price per pound of meat, you can have fresh meat
from the butcher or frozen meat stored in your freezer. Labels: emergency, food, Great Value, larder, pantry, roast beef, supply, Walmart
¶ 4:31 PM 7 Comments
