Oriental Cuisine - Maryville, Tennessee

Oriental Cuisine

622 Condry Lane

Maryville, TN 37803

865-984-0810 

I would have never known the Oriental Cuisine Restaurant was there except for one thing. Several times a week my wife and I would go to the local gym. When leaving, while waiting for traffic, we would be looking across the street down a very small alley like street that has a name. In fact its name denotes its diminutive stature, Condry Lane. A lane; it is so much less that a boulevard, an avenue or even a street. It serves as the back entrance to a muffler shop and a bank parking lot as well as access for some industrial metal buildings on the left. Way down at the end of the street where it appears to dead end is one small sign; Oriental Cuisine shares sign space with a rug and tile company. From our vantage point we cannot see that building because it is set back to allow for customer parking in front. I was intrigued by this almost hidden restaurant and I thought that it must have something going for it as it would not garner any drive-by traffic.
Many months went by before I finally decided to see what it was all about. I did some internet research and found their website which is basically their menu. They offer a mix of Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese foods. I was on my own for lunch one day and stopped by for a takeout meal of sweet and sour chicken ($9.00 Breaded white chicken chunks deep fried to a golden brown and served with diced tomato, green pepper and pineapple in our sweet and sour sauce. Served with fried or steamed rice). At $9.00 dollars it seemed a bit on the expensive side but this was an exploratory visit to see what they offered and on that day I did have a “hankering” for some Chinese food. I also asked for a spring roll to compliment the meal ($1.75 A delicious mixture of jicama, carrots, onions, rice thread and pork wrapped in a crunchy spring roll wrapper) .

My order soon arrived. It was a large brown paper bag, neatly folded and stapled. I was quite surprised when I picked it up. Thinking back to my thoughts about the rather high cost I now, at least, considered it a very good deal on a price per pound basis. There was a lot of food inside that bag. I could hardly wait to get it home and check out the contents. The fact that it smelled so good made me even more eager.

(I just have to add this in as a parenthetical comment: Over the years I have noticed that sweet and sour chicken or pork have become cheapened and degraded under the banner of “New York style” and the pineapple, sweet peppers and other vegetables that helped to define the dish in Chinatown settings have been eliminated and all you get is breaded chicken and sauce usually served separate. That rendition of sweet and sour chicken is travesty and defames the sweet and savory combination that is also beautiful to the eye. A pox on New York style.)

Taking myself at my word, I divided the food into two portions and cut the spring roll in half. I would have half now and the remainder at a later time. I plated the food for a photo before eating; nothing fancy, just so it wasn’t a picture looking down into the bottom of a box. It was only half of my order but the food literally filled the plate. The sweet and sour chicken was delicious. The breading was fried crispy and the chicken inside was moist and juicy. It occurred to me while I was eating it that the extra  effort in separate packaging made for a crisp chicken in the sauce whereas if it had been all packaged together the chicken in all likelihood would have been soggy and unpalatable. The sweet and sour sauce was very good with a bit of tang from perhaps vinegar and sweetness but not just from sugar. I enjoyed the snap and flavor of the slightly crispy pepper and loved the fruity sweetness of the pineapple. An excellent sweet and sour dish I will definitely try again.

The spring roll was crispy fried and the filling was tasty. A bit of hot Chinese mustard would have been beneficial but not necessary. Although I prefer the thicker, less crispy egg roll skins, I did enjoy the spring roll. It seems that egg or spring rolls are always an appetizer on Chinese food menus. I like them well enough that they should be a main course item. I will certainly add these spring rolls to my next order.

Second Visit A Month Or So Later  – Eat In Luncheon Special

My drink was delivered with a bowl of fried wontons, I sat back to await my meal. As I mentioned, it was a miserably hot day outside and the cool interior of the restaurant was a relief. The shades were drawn and the lighting subdued but you could still see images of the out-of-doors through the slats in the shade. I looked around. It was as I described before. It was oriental in motif, black lacquer chairs, a mural but not much else to give it that Asian look, certainly not gaudy. A quick count found about 50 seats. There were two tradesmen at the table next to me and a solo elderly gentleman across the aisle. There was a party of about 6 or 8 in the alcove. About 8 people came in to pick up their take-out orders; all must have called in and each order was ready on their arrival. Towards the end of my meal several people arrive and must have been regulars from the greetings. Apparently Sabrina, the server, saw one of them parking his car and had his preferred beverage ready for him when he entered the store. My observations answered the fundamental question I had harbored. How does this almost hidden restaurant manage to survive? It requires returning customers and word of mouth advertising. It certainly has returning customers and I will be providing some word of mouth. It is not an ornate place nor does it have an elegant ambiance but it is comfortable and it does have the feeling  like in the old Cheers theme song, “…where everybody knows your name.”

My entrée soon arrived. Oh, my God! The expected meager portions were huge. I must admit that I ate the whole thing with relish but I would have been much better of eating half and taking the rest home for later (something I saw others in the restaurant do). Two people could have shared the meal and felt satisfied.

The chicken, mostly dark meat I believe, was cook just about right, the meat cooked through, the breading still slightly crispy under the sauce. Good chicken flavor in the meat and their version of the sesame sauce is very tasty although perhaps a bit thin compared to others. In this case that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The sauce that pools under the chicken provides a nice condiment for the otherwise slightly bland fried rice. It was a very enjoyable meal, one where I did really eat too much.

Labels: broccoli, chicken, Chinese, cuisine, fried rice, Maryville, oriental, pork, sesame, soup, steamed, sweet and sour, Tennessee, Thai, Vietnamese, won ton, wonton

  ¶ 12:51 PM 0 Comments

  Teppanyaki Grill and Supreme Buffet - St Petersburg, Florida
391 34^th St North
St Petersburg, FL 33713

 727 327-8886 

Labels: Chinese, Florida, fried rice, grill, Japanese, St Petersburg, sushi, sweet and sour, teppanyaki

  ¶ 3:54 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

  Super Buffet - Seminole, Florida Super Buffet – Seminole, Florida
11227 Park Blvd. North Seminole, Florida 33772
(727) 320-9888
The wife’s and my birthday are quite close. In fact they are just separated by just one week by day and month although the years are quite a bit farther apart. It does make it easy for friends who like to take you out to eat on your birthday. It is sort of like getting two for the price of one. As our birthdays for this year approached, family friend called us and asked to take us out to dinner. A date and time was set and all that remained was where.
We do what married couples do and refrain from voicing a preference to allow the other the choice. As the date grew closer Martha suggested a Chinese place she knew and liked. Neither of us knew about it so it would be a new and novel experience, a broadening of our horizons. Janis and I drove over to pick up Martha just as a Florida thunderstorm began to unleash its fury. By the time we arrived at Martha’s house the squall line was sending gusting winds and rippling waves of rain racing across the streets. After picking up Martha I was the last one back in the car and as a result became sopping wet from the rain. I hoped that would dry before reaching the restaurant.
The Super Buffet is but one store in the massive Seminole Mall. Except for the sign there is little to tell what lies within the particular storefront. By the time we pulled up in front of the restaurant, the rain had subsided to a light sprinkle. I was only half dry. We entered through double doors trimmed with brass. The foyer in subdued lighting features the cashier, the hostess and a decorative fountain. Off to the sides are two dining areas. In brighter lights ahead was the food service area. There were several serving bars featuring cold foods on ice and hot foods in steam trays. Just a note in passing, at most other restaurants of this type, self serve, all you can eat, customers pay first and then are seated. Here you are seated, you have your meal and you are presented the check. For the buffet, lunch (11:00AM to 3:30PM) is $7.39 per person. For dinner (3:30PM to 11:00PM) and all day on holidays the cost is $12.99 per person. There is a reduced rate for seniors and children
We were seated in less than a minute. The waitress took our beverage orders and bid us to begin making our selections for dinner. One serving bar is labeled Italian. There are is eclectic mixture of dishes there including some that appear to be Italian inspired, even a small pepperoni pizza. However, I am afraid that much was lost in the translation. Other serving bars are labeled salad, seafood, Chinese, and dessert. Of note, not found in most other oriental buffets, there is at the end of the food service area a grill station for Mongolian barbecue. We started off together but wended our individual ways through the aisles between the food service bars.
I started down the Chinese/Oriental aisle. There were a few signs missing but most offerings are labeled. To sample as much as possible, I took a bit of as many items as my plate would hold. There was teriyaki chicken, General Tso’s chicken, a mushroom and seafood delight, fried rice, yakitori chicken, sweet and sour chicken, an egg roll and some tempura. On the way back to the table I passed the sushi section and stopped for a few pieces as well. And lastly, the salad bar beckoned with some stuffed green olives.
I did notice that there was copious ice under the cold foods and the sushi. All of the hot foods were indeed hot and to touch the surface of the table was painfully hot. I also noted that the presentation trays were shallow and did not hold a lot of food. They had to be replenished often. During dinner I noted that the staff members were frequently busy stocking and replenishing the food items. The food would appear to be fresh from the food preparation area.
I will preface my critique with this: The food served at the Super Buffet is certainly on a par with the other local restaurants of this type. None of the foods are spectacular but on the other hand none of the foods are really bad. I think many of the items are mass prepared outside and then heated or cooked to completion before serving. As such they suffer the same ailment as other mass produced foods – designed to offend as few people as possible, they truly please even fewer.
The chicken selections were tasty but I really had to look close to see rather than taste if it were chicken teriyaki, General Tso’s chicken or chicken yakitori. The sweet and sour chicken is what is called the New York style, I believe. It is breaded and fried chicken morsels. Alongside is a container of red sauce that you ladle over your chicken morsels. This presentation certainly pales in comparison to the traditional Chinatown version with peppers, onions and pineapple. The New York style, although done well as far as it goes, really suffers in comparison because of the lack of the traditional accoutrements. The egg rolls are the smaller variety and nicely crispy fried. The filling is basically cabbage and they benefit from a dunk in hot mustard or chili sauce. The tempura selection was limited to slices of zucchini and sweet potato. They were very good, the batter fried light and crisp and the vegetables tender but not soggy. Enjoyment would have been enhanced if there were some additional tempura selections. The fried rice was more a saffron-style yellow rice and didn’t have any particular significant taste. Personally, fried rice is one of my favorite oriental-style comfort foods but I found the Super Buffet example lacking in breadth of ingredients and seasoning.
Personally I don’t care for sashimi. Therefore, my selections from any sushi bar are very limited. On this visit I selected some California rolls and avocado rolls. They were both the inside-out makizushi rolls. Each selection had a rolled coating of tobiko. They were well made, the avocado still a lustrous green without any darkening from air exposure. They tasted good and seemed quite fresh. If I eat a California or avocado roll and taste fish I know there is a problem in the kitchen. In this case there was no taste of raw fish, just the taste of the ingredients. I did notice the service area was well iced and there was not a lot of product on display. There is more than adequate portions wasabi and gari awaiting the diner.


The true gourmand can’t go to an all you can eat restaurant and eat but one serving. For my next foray I decided to try the Mongolian grill. There is a nice selection of ingredients including vegetables, (such as sprouts, green peppers, onions, broccoli florets, etc) meats (chicken, beef and pork) and seafood (white fish, shrimp). The ice table is cold. They stock small amounts of food in the trays which I guess would help to insure freshness. I made my selections of some bean sprouts, mushrooms, green peppers, broccoli, chicken and shrimp. They use flat plates instead of bowls that I have encountered elsewhere. I handed my selection to the chef and he went to work. The grill is not the round Mongolian grill of myth. It is a rectangular flat grill with an attached open flame grill that any short-order cook would instantly recognize. I would miss the flourish of the serving, a swish off the edge of the grill into the awaiting bowl. The grill was hot; I could feel the heat even through the sneeze guard. But I noticed the chef used a spritz of water and a dome for much of the cooking – steaming more than frying. The food is cooked with less caramelization than is done on the traditional Mongolian grill and the presentation is more colorful. There is a list of four sauces available and I chose the teriyaki. It was a tasty dish, the vegetables cooked to tender with just a bite. It was an enjoyable conclusion to the main courses.
I tried some samplings of the desert bar. They had a nice selection of melons, strawberries and lots of petit fours style cookies and cakes. The fruit was firm and fresh and refreshing after the heavier fare of the main courses. It was a nice sweet ending to a dinner with loved ones and friends.
Their take home menu features a list of combination plates and traditional Chinese food choices in small and large containers much like a traditional Chinese take-out shop. As well, the menu lists the majority of the buffet items for take home at $3.75 per pound lunch and $4.95 per pound dinner. Sushi and sea food have a different pricing schedule. You can have it your way; eat in or take out.

Labels: barbecue, buffet, Chinese, eat in, fried rice, grill, Mongolian, Seminole, super, sushi, take out

  ¶ 5:30 PM 0 Comments

  China King, St. Petersburg, FL

Labels: Chinese, fried rice, moo goo gai pan, sesame, sweet and sour, take out

  ¶ 7:31 PM 0 Comments