369928 Sun Feb 11 04:42:05 -0800 2007 2 14 Washington DC & Baltimore Area 0 2281086 Last night, four of us went to dinner at HK Palace. Everyone's beloved waiter, Tom, was nowhere in evidence. When we asked about him, we were told he had left. (A group of diners seated at the next table, also asked after Tom and was told the same thing by a different waiter.) Similarly, the owner who has walked the floor incessantly on our three previous visits was nowhere to be seen -- a surprising development on a busy Saturday night. These two changes made us wonder if the restaurant has changed hands. Happily, I can't say the food suggests that the restaurant has new owners. The menu is identical; the chile pepper Christmas greetings page still begins the menu. Prices and offerings remain the same. Most significantly, the taste seemed the same. The Ziran lamb was properly incendiary and wonderful. The Salt and Pepper Shrimp tasted familiar and fabulous. Ditto to the Tea-smoked Duck appetizer. Two new dishes we ordered -- Chicken with Pickled Vegetables and Stir-fried Pork with Long Beans -- were wonderful and we'll order them again. The meal had an unsettled feel to it largely due to the crop of three young, smiling, but unpolished waiters. We tried to order the Chengdu Zhong dumplings and asked how many dumplings were in the order. The waitress volunteered "five." Someone checked the menu where the number 10 was listed in parentheses next to the item. We told the waitress that ten came with the order and pointed to it on the menu. I thought the waitress looked at the menu. However, when we were served, we did not get Chengdu dumplings but rather pedestrian versions of ordinary fried dumplings -- and six at that. Ordering Hot and Soup Fish soup also produced confusion. That is listed on the menu as costing $6.50 and, if another soup we once ordered is any evidence, could easily serve four people. However, the waitress kept asking how many orders of soup we wanted. When we said we only wanted one order since it came in a bowl large enough to serve the whole table, she didn't seem to get our point and kept pressing. We finally said, "Four orders." Four ordinary-size bowls of hot and sour soup arrived a short time later. A different waiter, a young man, brought the soup to the table. When I asked him if we were being served Hot and Sour Fish soup, he replied, "We just made this fresh." Actually, he was right. The soup had a lovely fresh taste to it unlike some Hot and Sour Soups which have an overly gelatin mouth feel to them. Still we did not get the soup we desired. The fall out from this confusion continued. At some point in the meal, the same young man brought a big bowl of something he described as Tofu in Fish Sauce. We waved it away saying we hadn't ordered the dish. Our waitress tried to deliver it a second time, and we, again told her we hadn't ordered the dish. At some point, the delivery of main dishes slowed down, and we realized that we weren't going to get the Chicken with Pickled Vegetables we really had ordered. We weren't actually hungry at that point, but we agreed that the food was so good that we wanted to taste the Chicken dish. We enjoyed the dish sufficiently that we're glad we placed the order, although we left fully half the food. The cost of our meal was slightly more than double the three meals my husband and I have eaten at HK Palace making us suspect we paid for the Tofu dish that was probably written on our check. We decided that unscrambling the confusion was in the too hard category, so we paid the bill, and left. Incidentally, the fellow who paid the bill left a 20% tip on the basis of the fact that the wait staff smiled a lot and was very pleasant. Does anyone know the story behind the missing owner and the new, inexperienced waiters? Sun Feb 11 04:42:05 -0800 2007 61567 Indy 67 1 2281118 I was in there for lunch one day last week and noticed some new faces (and no old ones) though I thought I recognized someone with an apron who stepped out of the kitchen (maybe he was a cook, maybe he was a dishwasher). It also seemed that prices on the Chinese menu had gone up a buck across the board, at least for the three things that I've ordered before. The twice cooked pork with garlic leaves was still really tasty though. There's an e-mail address for Tom (the owner at the time of the changeover, I think) on the menu that Wayne put on line. Anyone here a regular enough customer to write to him and ask whatzup? Sun Feb 11 05:22:20 -0800 2007 2281086 10624 MikeR 1 2281219 I suspect we were the group at the next table last night (maybe that was our fish tofu dish). Our experience was similar ("Where's Tom? Gone.") The food was still excellent and, on the dishes I'd had before, not noticeably different in preparation. Our young waitress giggled a lot and apologized repeatedly for her almost non-existent English. But I pointed to everything we ordered on the menu so she could see the Chinese description and we got all ten things we ordered without a problem. Our only very slight service problem was when I ordered a Bud and she brought a Bud Lite, but that was fixed with no problem. Prices were a little higher, but this is still a bargain. We had six people in our group, ordered way too much food (4 appetizers and 6 entrees), had beers, and the bill with tip was $120. Food report (2 cautious eaters in the group): Appetizers: "Tany Specy Dumplings" - Very good as usual, even the two cautious eaters loved these. Dan Dan noodles - My favorite of the entrees, much lighter than versions I've had elsewhere. Another universal hit. Green onion pancake - Fine, standard version, nothing wrong with it at all but it wouldn't be something I'd order again since it's fried and there are so many other excellent appetizers. The cautious ones liked this too. Spicy Szechuan dried beef - Great, caked with chili powder and spices. Three people loved it and three found it too hot. Entrees: Golden corn - Continues to be great. Universal hit (although we left a lot, since the portion is gigantic). Kung Pao Chicken - Fantastic, a revelation. I'd never ordered this before, thinking it was a the usual dish you can get everywhere, but one of the cautious eaters apologetically ordered it. Too hot for her, but this will be one of my favorites now. It should work well for takeout too (unlike some of the other things on the menu, like the corn) Jade jumbo shrimp - Ordered by the other cautious eater, this is just big jumbo shrimp in a mild savory sauce on a bed of greens. Nice contrast to the hotter dishes, but not something I'd order except in a large group. Fish and bean curd flower in spicy sauce - This is a big casserole full of fish chunks and very soft tofu (a challenge to eat with chopsticks, at least for me), in a delicious spicy red sauce -- but very oily. We left more of this than anything else and I probably won't order it again but won't object if someone else in the group wants it. Ziran lamb - Still outstanding. Chicken with pickled vegetables - Another very good dish, not spicy. Meltingly tender chicken with slivered vegetables that were only slightly pickled (if at all). If I'm looking for a dish to balance the heat, this will be a good choice. Still haven't gotten around to trying the ox penis dishes. I had another willing volunteer last night, but the rest of table didn't want to even see it. Has anyone tried this and do they actually have it if you order it? Sun Feb 11 06:58:35 -0800 2007 2281086 11082 Mississippi Snopes