Hot and fresh

Deliveries just part of its appeal

Stacee Sledge

Jun 26, 2003 — On Thursday nights, I'm often left to fend for myself when my husband goes down to Seattle with friends to see the symphony.

On a recent Thursday I pondered my takeout options. I suddenly remembered that a reader had written some months ago to extol the virtues of the newly opened Wonton House, on Unity Street almost directly behind Mount Baker Theatre.

Chinese food sounded just right. I called and placed an order, then made the short drive downtown.

Housed in a modestly decorated, spacious dining room, Wonton House looks like your average Chinese restaurant. But it offers something I don't think is available in any other Bellingham Chinese eateries: delivery. And for orders of more than $15, delivery is free within a five-mile area.

I meant to leave the house in plenty of time to arrive when the food was ready, which I'd been told would be 15 to 20 minutes. But I was detained by a ninth-inning Mariners nail-biter and then sidelined by chatting with my new next door neighbor. By the time I was ready to eat, I feared my meal had turned to mush. But I unwrapped the well-packed take-out food to find it was as hot as if it had just been removed from the pan.

I'd settled on two half-order entrées and an appetizer of steamed dumplings.

Wonton House

Location: 121 Unity St. Phone: 647-2381. Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday. Serving: An extensive menu of Chinese favorites and a few out-of-the-ordinary exotic dishes. Menu items sampled:  Steamed dumplings $4.25  Sweet and sour chicken $4.50  General Tsao chicken $4.50  Pot stickers $4.50  Pork with spicy garlic sauce $8.25  Mongolian beef $7.95

The steamed dumplings came with a container of vibrant sauce and felt far less guilt-inducing than the fried version I'm used to. Plump and almost bursting with meat filling, the flavorful pieces came with a tangy, crimson-colored dipping sauce.

Portion sizes were generous, even for half-orders, and the meal was rounded out by two fortune cookies tucked into a white envelope alongside soy sauce packets.

The next time I crave Chinese takeout, I know whose number I'm going to dial.

My husband and I popped in to Wonton House a couple days later for Saturday lunch. Weekday lunch specials are spectacular at Wonton House, as you choose from more than 30 entrées priced at $4.99. Each lunch comes with a spring roll, choice of soup, sesame shredded chicken salad and fried or steamed rice.

Although the special lunch price is only available Monday through Friday, I ordered the same five-item meal, with Mongolian beef, for only $7.95 — an extremely attractive price for so much yummy food.

My husband looked over the lengthy menu and finally settled on pork with spicy garlic sauce.

We both started with a flavor-packed hot and sour seafood soup. Red pepper flakes floated among the ribbons of tofu, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, egg and green onion, lending an enormous kick that we battled with our tall, frequently filled glasses of ice water.

An appetizer of pan-fried potstickers came next. These were a crunchier version of the steamed dumplings I'd enjoyed a couple nights before. Wonton House cooks only with vegetable oil when preparing its dishes, and you can request that less oil be used, if you like. The flavor was heightened by the heat and slightly crisp texture of the lightly oiled dumplings.

My entrée platter arrived piled high with several delectable dishes. A heaping mound of steamed white rice, tortilla chips topped with a simple-but-tasty shredded sesame chicken salad and crispy rice noodles flanking a generous portion of Mongolian beef.

Thin wide strips of tender, marinated flank steak mingled with white onion slices stir-fried to ideal softness and flavor, nestled among scallion shoots and a few well-placed slices of red chili pepper. A deep brown, slightly sweet soy-based sauce covered it all.

My husband's enormous entrée of pork with spicy garlic sauce was perhaps the only mildly disappointing dish. The colorful plate was loaded down with slices of pork, bamboo shoots, and a myriad of vegetables, but the sauce proved ho-hum rather than the promised piquant. Overall he liked the dish, but it certainly didn't have the fire he expected.

At the end of our meal, a plate of orange wedges was brought to us, just before the fortune cookies. Juicy and succulent and perfect for a hot summer day, we ate the slices and then made our way to the cash register to settle the bill.

My fortune said patience was the key to vitality, but I also think the filling, flavorful, pocketbook-friendly meals at Wonton House are an effective way to energize the palate.