On the spookiest day of the year, Halloween Day, I found my friends and I were looking for places to go eat – somewhere that was cozy, welcoming and most importantly with delicious food. As we drove around for about 10 minutes we found ourselves going to a small and family owned restaurant called Old Place Cafe, off of Highway 6.
The restaurant itself is a Chinese restaurant filled with many options that are typical foods from the northern side of China. The place itself, while simple in design, gives it a cute and cozy feel, with simple yet aesthetically pleasing colors inside. It has a comfy messy look to the place.
We walked in and were greeted to the many flavors and spices all around the restaurant. The receptionist at the front played a small joke of hiding and popping out for the sake of being a little spooky. Once we ordered our food, we were asked to grab our own plates, utensils and chopsticks which were set aside next to a TV that was playing a Chinese melodramas series. This is what I found most comforting (besides the food), since I grew up watching all sorts of melodramas, from Hispanic telenovelas to Turkish and Chinese melodramas.
As we sat, me and my group decided to order spicy wonton, spicy noodles, and small dragon buns, as our main entrees. The first two options came in first; at first the plates and dishes themselves looked very unassuming and the plates were small and simple. Yet the flavors and spices in them exploded once tasting it. There were about nine pieces of spicy wonton that came in the plate, while the noodles were served in a medium-small sized plate.
The noodles, while not having a lot of water in them, had many small pepper flakes as well as other small pepper seeds in them which gave them an extra crunchy feel to them. Complemented by the spicy and watery wontons, made these two a delectable treat, and the flavors and textures combined to make the meal filling and satisfying.
As stated before, the rations of food that we were given were small yet filling, so much so that by the time our small dragon buns came out, it seemed like a herculean task to try and finish them. This plate included about 12 pieces of steaming hot dragon buns, since they had just come out of the kitchen. In order to eat these small buns one had to quickly grab them and place them into one’s mouth and let it essentially melt in it. It had pieces of flavorful water and beef, which made it kind of like unwrapping a small gift in one’s mouth.
Even though we were full, we decided to divide and conquer the food, and thus how we ended up eating all of it. Overall the food was delicious and was a satisfying dinner before heading out to trick or treat with our friend group.
