Sometimes a friend’s recommendation is a setup. That was the suspicion going into a recent dinner at Chef King, the Chinese takeout spot tucked into the shopping center behind Mellow Mushroom at Old Shell Road and University Boulevard. A friend who fancies himself a prankster had spent weeks insisting this unassuming storefront was serving the best Chinese takeout around, and the skeptic in me was sure a joke was underway.
It wasn’t. The food was the punchline, and I was the one laughing all the way home.
First impressions
Let’s be honest about the room. Chef King is a takeout operation first and foremost. The plexiglass window and microphone system from the pandemic era are still in place, and the food window sports a latch that looks borrowed from a fence gate. Booth seats sit without tables, which tells you exactly how much dining in is encouraged. This is not a date-night destination. It is a call-ahead, grab-the-bag, eat-at-home establishment, and it makes no apologies for that.
Places like this have historically delivered some of my favorite meals in town, so I ordered with hope and a little suspicion. The menu prices are a pleasant surprise in an era of creeping fast-food prices, which is part of why neighborhood takeout spots like this one have such loyal followings.
The wings are the headliner
The recommendation I could not escape was the lemon pepper chicken wings, priced at $9.70 with French fries included. The bag weighed a ton — a lot of duck sauce, a mountain of condiments and the unmistakable heft of a takeout container packed with intent. The fries, battered and seasoned, were gone before we made it back to Midtown.
The wings waited until we got home, and they were worth the wait. Four drummettes and four flappers arrived hand-battered and dry-seasoned with a salty lemon pepper crust. Tender all the way through and unmistakably hand-battered, they nailed it. If you go for one thing, the wings are it. Do not sleep on them.
The soup that shames the broth skeptics
Egg drop soup is where a lot of local Chinese kitchens stumble, so I ordered the $3.25 bowl with measured expectations. The broth was pale — and I am here to tell you never mistake a pale broth for a flavorless one. The fried wontons were crunchy, not the least bit stale, and the soup had a clean, well-seasoned flavor without any greasy finish. If this was the small order, I would hate to see the large.
The plates
Lunch specials run $7.55 and come with fried rice and an egg roll, which is about as close to a time-machine price as Mobile dining offers. On the dinner side, the Kung Pao chicken was an unpretentious version — not overloaded with vegetables, but carrying celery, carrot, mushrooms and baby corn, with flavor where it counted. My dining companion, who likes a little spice, approved.
Orange chicken, the standard order in my household, arrived with julienned strips of orange peel that added a snappy bite, and it was surprisingly spicier than the Kung Pao. I expected it to be my least favorite dish; it grew on me. The broccoli was more garnish than ingredient, but nobody complained.
The beef and broccoli was the sleeper hit of the night. The broccoli was cooked through, the onions scarce but crunchy, and a bit of carrot filled in the gaps. The beef was above average and the sauce was smooth — my favorite plate of the night.
The steamed dumplings, six dollars for eight, nearly disappeared before the rest of the food made it out of the bag. Steamed on this visit rather than fried — though fried is the usual order — they were plump and satisfying. And the egg rolls that came with the specials were best on their own, needing no sauce at all.
The math
The whole dinner for three came in under $50 before the tip, and it produced two full meals. Nobody at the table complained about a single dish. That is a rare sentence to write about a takeout order for three.
We ordered chicken-heavy and skipped the seafood and pork entirely, which means there is a whole second act to this menu still unexplored — the shrimp and pork dishes will have to wait for a return trip.
Verdict
I would not call Chef King life-changing. I would call it exactly what a neighborhood takeout joint should be: fast, consistent, generous and affordable, with a kitchen that quietly executes the classics. The ambience is a plexiglass window and a fence-gate latch; the food is the reason to go.
My friend was right, the joke never came, and the only thing funnier than the prank I expected is how quickly the leftovers disappeared. Don’t trust the weight limit of the elevator. Don’t trust a jealous opinion. But when it comes to Chinese takeout in Midtown, trust the comedian. And get the wings.