The Dragon Palace Reveals its Secrets

By Antoinette May Herndon

When you haven’t visited a restaurant in . . . well, let’s say, two years, you can’t expect much more than a professional smile. Right?

Chances are, the management has changed since your last visit, or at the very least the wait staff. Restaurants are busy places—hopefully. How can they be expected to remember me? I have enough trouble remembering myself. What’s my name again?

P-U-D-D-E-N-T-A-N-E? Well, you know how it goes some days.

That’s how it is for many of us most of the time. But now let me tell you about one place where and how it isn’t that way.

On a recent Tuesday evening Charles and I were lucky enough to have snagged his busy daughter, Marion, for an impromptu get together. Added to the festivity was the last minute appearance of Marion’s son, Brian.

Brian was about to fly off to Honolulu the very next morning to begin a new career as a picker on a sugar beet plantation.

Of course, many stepmoms would have cooked up a storm for such a bon voyage occasion. Fortunately or otherwise, I’m not one of them.

What can I say? Not every women inherits the Mother Goose gene.

It was a given that we’d go out for dinner. Next question: where?

“What about the Dragon Palace?” Marion suggested.

“Good idea,” Charles agreed. “It’s favorite of mine and we haven’t been there in years.”

At least two, I conjectured. And why was that? The Dragon Palace is a great restaurant with a very convenient San Andreas location. Maybe too

convenient. We tend to overlook it in favor of more distant places. Crazy! Just how crazy I was about to realize.

When we entered the Dragon Palace, Su Kong’s lovely face lit up in a warm, welcoming smile. The manager’s gaze was centered on Charles—her particular pet.

“Tsingtao?” she immediately asked him. Though it was clear she already knew the answer.

Charles grinned appreciatively as his favorite beer appeared before him practically by magic.

“Hot and Spicy Egg plant?” Su Kong asked.

Again the grin. This dish isn’t even on the menu but Ms. Kong remembered that Charles loves it.

The rest of us loved it too. Ask for the Hot and Spicy Egg Plant. It’s tasty enough to be the Dragon Palace’s signature dish, yet for some reason is not listed on the menu. Ask for it!

With the egg plant sizzling in readiness for us, we chose Cheese Wonton ($5.25) for an appetizer. The cheese is lush and rich with a warm crispy casing—perfect with our “Tsingtao, served chilled to perfection. ($2.75)

Marion picked Mu Shu Pork for her main course. Four tender morsels of pork tenderly wrapped in the thinnest, most delicate of crepes. ($6.95 ) Naturally we each had one.

Charles pounced on his egg plant when it arrived ($6.50) but with so many good things around him, he was forced to do a little bartering with the rest of us.

Brian will undoubtedly taste a lot of excellent Chinese food during his two month stint in Hawaii, but it’s doubtful that he’ll find that wonderful old standby Broccoli and Beef any more delicious

than at the Dragon Palace. ($7.25)

Still, I was Fortune’s Favourite that night with my choice: Shrimp With Cashews If there hadn’t been so much pressure, I would never have shared a single bite. But what can you do when you’re out numbered, three pairs of chopsticks poised at the ready to duel you for the prize.

This may have had the most tender, most succulent, most flavourful shrimp I’ve ever eaten and the delicately spiced nuts were their perfect compliment. ($8,75) I’ve relished Cashew Shrimp at Shanghai 1930 in the City and the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong but San Andreas’s Dragon Palace out-does them both.

I like the restaurant’s ambience too. The décor has that traditional Chinese grace and subtle excitement enhanced by exotic hanging lanterns, a cheery melange of red and green painted walls with a little hot pink tossed in. Dragons, dragons everywhere. And you know how lucky they are.

I felt no trepidation reaching for a fortune cookie. Savouring the message slowly, I read:

YOU WILL HAVE MANY FRIENDS WHEN YOU NEED THEM.

I hope so! In the meantime, you’ll see me often at the Dragon Palace feeling well cared for and long remembered.

VITALS. The Dragon Palace is located at 314 East St. Charles St., San Andreas. Phone: 754-3867. Both mandarin and szechuan food are served from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. every day but Monday. Credit cards accepted.

amherndon@sierralodestar.com

PICTURES:

The interior conveys Far Eastern charm

Su Kong in her Dragon Palace

Su Kong serves patrons, Marion and Brian Lauter.