About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2011)
125 East Clayton Street • Downtown, Athens • 706-546-8826 TflA tHmtTftOPOLITflN 145 E. CLAYTON ST. c/e/y l/j? S' CD> y?<e urum “Been There - Did These” Recent Paintings by Greg Benson Wire Sculpture by Noah Saunders JEWELRY • ART Come See Olive! Hair Extensions, Eyelash Extensions, Up-clos, Oh my! 706.552.1515 100 Athenstown Blvd. Citysalonandspa.com If you are in crisis due to domestic violence, Classic City Orthodontics wants you to find help. If your partner objects when you use the phone, limits your everyday contact with family and friends, and you restrict yourself to avoid angry, aggressive confrontations, you need to step back and take another look. How can you cope once you are involved with a controlling partner? Call Project Safe for help. Our hotline is confidential, and counseling is free. Get your life back. Get help. 706-543-3331 Hotline, 24 hours/day © Linea de crisis, las 24 horas del dia ROCKING THE WOK vvmiervme excursion. i was going to try to make tnis weeks column all about Winterville, but an attempted visit to Don Nacho revealed that restaurant is no longer. What this means is that Wok Star (225 Cherokee Rd.), just down the road, is about the only game in town. The shopping center it occupies resembles nothing so much as a prison, but the interior is more welcoming, with neither the ostentatiousness of some Chinese restaurants nor the greasy fast food feel of others. Wok Star advertises itself as "fusion" cuisine, which isn't exactly accurate. It's more that it cooks both Chinese and American food than that it merges the two into something new. At breakfast, you can get a biscuit or a plate with eggs, grits and toast, but you can't, unsurprisingly, get congee, the rice porridge popular throughout China for the morning meal. Lunch and dinner menus include a section of burgers and sandwiches such as BLTs and chicken salad, but I opted for the Chinese offerings instead and was mostly pleasantly surprised. Wok Star is a little greasier than Chef Ming (on Epps Bridge Parkway), but the two restaurants are in the same ballpark: some more interesting dishes and solid execution of Chinese- American standards, which feel made from scratch and not just MSG-ed into submission. Potstickers, for example, are porky and appropriately fatty, with their thin skins nicely crisped in the pan. The hot and sour soup is peppery and starchy, and another soup of tofu and spinach (or, in my case, Chinese cab bage) is refined and restorative, the kind of thing you feel both virtuous and supremely happy sipping. Basics like Mongolian beef and moo goo gai pan contain fresh ingredients, with crisp matchsticks of cabbage and an abundance of bright green scallions. Salt and pepper shrimp is, unfortunately, a bit too heavy on the salt, even for yours truly, and its batter is flat and soggy. The rice, in general, isn't very good, with a hint of oil that doesn't taste great. Venturing into the chef's specials section of the menu is a good idea. The Chinese pot roast takes longer to prepare than other items, so you may want to call ahead or make sure you have time for a lengthier meal, as it's worth the wait. Unctuous and fragrant with spices like star anise, it's rich enough to feed two. Wok Star is open for lunch and dinner six days a week (closed Tuesdays), serves breakfast (except on Sunday), does delivery and take-out, has no liquoV license and takes credit cards. It has a good number of vegetarian dishes. ...fragrant with spices like star anise... Collegiate Eats: Chango's Noodle House (320 E. Clayton St.) hasn't changed much in its switch to its current name from Doc Chey's. Other than a bit of paint and a new name and logo, you'll be hard pressed to see any differences at all. The menu and the recipes remain almost identical: pan-Asian noodle and rice bowls, plus soups and snacks. In most cases, you can choose your pre ain (tofu, chicken, beef, shrimp or salmon) or to remain with veggies only when you order something like a big bowl of lo mein. Steaming and freshly stir-fried, it arrives swiftly to your table, a welcome sight on a cold, rainy day. Like its predecessor, Chango's is an ideal place for college students, large groups and business meetings. Most people can find something to their taste, and the fact that it serves sake bombs alongside its food makes it a popular destination on Sundays in Athens. The appetizers are pricey compared to the mains ($4 for edamame), and the renderings of different Asian dishes aren't tremendously authentic, but one shouldn't expect them to be. I also miss the chicken wings Doc Chey's had added for a while. Chango's is open for lunch and dinner every day. It serves beer, wine and sake, does take-out and accepts credit cards. What Up?: Although Athens Bagel Co. (on Jackson Street downtown), the second location of Sr. Sol (on Atlanta Highway in the former La Cazuela) and The Volstead (on Clayton Street downtown) are all getting close to opening, none are quite there yet. The Big Easy Cafe in Watkinsville has opened its second location, on Baxter Street, next to Domino's, where it serves dinner as well as breakfast and lunch. The Dogg Pound, serving hot dogs and deep-fried candy bars in the former Hollis Ribs (on Broad, near Hancock Avenue) is also open. 12 FLAGPOLE.COM • OCTOBER 19, 2011 Hillary Brown food@flagpole.com
