Delicious red snapper is seasoned with slivers of scallions and ginger at New China restaurant on Broad Street in downtown Chattanooga. The eyeballs are a favorite treat, proclaims hostess Jolin Lin.
Duck soupIf you go
› Where: New China restaurant, 1900 Broad St.› Phone: 423-267-5941.› Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Friday; noon-10 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.› Prices: $1.50 to $29, with most dishes falling within the $6.55 to $10.50 range; lunch specials $6.55.
The huge wall mural of doughnuts flying through outer space leads you to the entrance of Koch's Bakery. Most people are pulled by the buttery baking smell right through Koch's door without glancing at the little door beside it. But it leads to New China restaurant, where visitors can enjoy wonders like flash-fried red snapper with ginger and scallion sauce, duck soup, Szechuan lobster and grilled pompano with desserts such as sesame balls made of seeds, nuts and honey.
THE SPACE
The dark shades on the big windows are often pulled down because the owners figure not everyone wants to stare out at Broad Street traffic. But the dining room is welcoming, with a big painting of cherry blossoms over a blue lake and claret-colored leather booths whose color matches the spotless tablecloths.
It's the sort of hideaway where Frank Sinatra would take the Rat Pack to recover after a night of martinis, brawls and crazy dames.
THE MENU
As you might expect, there are the usual General Tso's Chicken, Kung Pao Shrimp and egg drop soup that are the staples of most Chinese restaurants in America.
But the chef can whip up a lot of old-school authentic Chinese dishes for guests. All they need to do is ask.
"We get a lot of Chinese visitors from China who drop by here and order a big banquet with lots of business colleagues and friends invited," explained the chef's daughter-in-law, Jolin Lin. "When they come, they ask for the sort of food they could find back at home in Beijing or Shanghai. I would love to help our guests from Chattanooga who want to know more about those dishes. Sometimes I put them on the menu, but no one orders them. One mango dish was on the menu for a year and no one ordered it."
Prices range from $1.95 for egg drop or wonton soup and top off at the $29 Szechuan lobster. Most dishes fall into the $6.50 to $10.50 range.
THE ORDER
Give those chef's specials a chance. I did, and the grilled red snapper came from the kitchen juicy and heaped with a mound of cilantro, sliced scallions and a lustrous ginger sauce. Lin expertly deboned it tableside. Under the browned skin, the snowy fish was tender and moist, soaking up the ginger sauce she drizzled on it.
"Would you like to eat the snapper's eyeballs? They are the best part, my favorite treat," Lin asked scooping them out with a spoon.
She plopped the eyeballs on a pretty flowered plate. The snapper's disembodied eyes stared at me, clearly annoyed.
"Um, not this time - why don't you enjoy them," I offered, wussing out of my vow to be a bold diner.
The duck soup was another yummy surprise, and no eyeballs were involved. The restaurant does not use MSG. It only uses corn syrup if a diner says a dish should be sweeter, Lin said, with a laugh.
The broth was clean and elegant, a perfect blend of rice wine, vinegar, pepper and soy sauce. Plump black mushrooms bobbed in the bowl heaped with shredded roast duck, chopped scallions, cilantro and crunchy snow pea pods. The smoky, rich soup will make you forget chicken soup as a favorite comfort food.
The snapper was $19.95 and worth it.
My friend ordered butterfly shrimp for $10.50. It looked like a sinful, fluffy omelet encasing huge juicy shrimp butterflied flat atop strips of bacon. This is probably a dish that has no Chinese culinary history. It's more like a mashup of Southern diner and Chinese seafood, but it's hard to think of two tastier cuisines. My friend loved it, then tried to calculate all the gym time it would take to burn off the calories on his Fitbit.
There are healthy vegetarian options on the menu for $8.50 each that he concedes he could have chosen. And there are decadent desserts like fried ice cream.
THE SERVICE
The service was fast both for my dine-in meal and my friend's carryout and the box of mini-doughnuts I brought back to share with my hard-working comrades. Lin deftly carried soups and sauces, never spilling a drop, while carrying her toddler, possibly the best-behaved baby in downtown, in her other arm.
But keep in mind, for true fast-food options when you only have 10 minutes to wait for your meal, choose the $6.55 lunch specials, standards like stir-fried beef with broccoli that include egg roll, entree, rice and soup. A chef's special takes more time to prepare. Allow 20 minutes or call ahead - or go for dinner after work when there is time to relax.
THE VERDICT
The Chinese New Year is coming up Monday. You can celebrate the Year of the Monkey with a box of 20 piping hot, puffy, beignet-style miniature donuts for less than $10.
Legend has it that the Monkey years are full of fun, tumult, wit, surprises and strange adventures that cause even the most staid and priggish to change their minds. The chef's specials may be the safest and surest gamble you take in 2016. Happy new year!
Contact Lynda Edwards at ledwards@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6391.