Mu Lan
Set in a lovely old Victorian house, Mu Lan serves creative versions of traditional Mandarin, Hunan and Szechuan cooking. Start your meal with savory appetizers such as soft shell crab, fried calamari, honey-glazed pork ribs or dumplings with hot sesame sauce. Also try one of the soups, including spinach and tofu, corn and crab, or hot and sour seafood.
For your entree, the chef's specials are enticing. You can choose beef stir fried with dried orange peel in a sweet-spicy sauce, or chicken with hot pepper, black mushrooms and a ginger-garlic sauce. Seafood lovers will enjoy almond shrimp, prawns with sugar snap peas, and red snapper with ginger and scallions. Vegetarians have many tasty options, too, such as tofu with fresh mushrooms and eggplant with garlic sauce.
Mu Lan
824 Juniper St. N.E.
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
(404) 877-5797
mulanatlanta.com
Chopstix
Chopstix specializes in contemporary Chinese cuisine that calls to mind the flavors of Hong Kong. Patrons enjoy the many innovative dishes, starting with the appetizers. Try fresh oysters sautéed with onion and black pepper; chicken with honey-glazed pine nuts and crispy spinach, or baby shrimp stuffed in lettuce with hoisin sauce. Other crowd-pleasers are the dumplings such as seafood pot stickers, and won tons served with spicy sauce.
For your carbs, order pan-fried noodles with seafood, veal with noodles and garlic-soy sauce, or chicken with curry and egg noodles. Meat lovers will enjoy the beef with sweet orange sauce, and rib eye stir fried with garlic. Seafood aficionados will go for Maine lobster tail sautéed with ginger and scallions, or jumbo shrimp in a potato nest with honey-glazed almonds.
Chopstix
4279 Roswell Road
Atlanta, Georgia 30342
(404) 255-4868
chopstixatlanta.net
House of Chan
House of Chan is located in a strip mall, but that doesn't stop locals and visitors from flocking there to enjoy its wide range of home-cooked Chinese food. One of its specialties is kulu (sweet and sour sauce), which you can enjoy on dishes such as shrimp and chicken.
As an appetizer, order barbecued spare ribs, Peking-style dumplings or tender beef on skewers. Continue on to a delicious entree such as shrimp with lobster sauce, chicken with plum sauce, or Peking duck. Other popular choices include roasted pork with mixed veggies, beef with bamboo shoots and mushrooms, and moo shoo pork (shredded meat served with thin pancakes). Vegetarians love the tofu choices, the moo shu veggies, and the Peking Buddha's Delight with snow pea pods, broccoli, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and mushrooms.
House of Chan
2469 Cobb Parkway S.E.
Smyrna, Georgia 30080
(770) 955-9444
About The Author
Barbara Dunlap is a freelance writer in Oregon. She was a garden editor at "The San Francisco Chronicle," and she currently specializes in travel and active lifestyle topics like golf and fitness. She received a master's degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and has been a Knight Foundation Fellow.
