It's Easy To Walk Past Proud Bird, But Don't

Feb 19, 1993

John Hinterberger

XX 1/2 The Proud Bird, 4234 University Way N.E. ($) Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese. Lunch ($3.75 to $4.50) 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Dinner ($4.50 to $12) from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; until midnight Friday, Saturday. No alcohol. Major credit cards. Nonsmoking area. Reservations and takeout: 632-7248. --------------------------------------------------------------- Consider this, with apologies to an old Continental Airlines slogan, a golden tale of the Proud Bird.

I don't know how I missed this place. The Proud Bird opened almost six years ago. I know I have walked past its storefront, grill-in-the-window facade hundreds of times. Somehow, I had the impression that it was some kind of a limited menu chicken broiler. I didn't even notice that it was Chinese.

And for that matter, if it were chicken one had in mind, Ezell's is a few doors up the street and is persistently tempting.

Perhaps the mistaken impression was at least partly justified. Owner Jim Chan explained that the Proud Bird originally HAD been just a chicken restaurant and remained that way for a couple of years. His brother in L.A., Chan said, told him everybody down there was eating lots of chicken.

"But we soon found out that even if the chicken is very good," he noted, "nobody wants to eat it every day. So, for the past 3 1/2 years, we have been adding things to the menu - and now we are a full-service Chinese restaurant."

One that still makes outstanding grilled chicken.

It is also a restaurant with a loyal following, many of whom DO want to eat there every day, and for very valid reasons. The choices are uncommonly good, the vegetables are certifiably Asian varieties (not the American rough equivalents), the service is swift (almost too swift), the portions are large and the prices are not.

The Proud Bird's $4 lunch includes an egg roll, a plump potsticker, steamed rice, a choice of nine main dishes, fortune cookie and tea. The place is often filled. It should be. My special luncheon picks: the Mongolian Beef, Shredded Pork with Peking Sauce, Chicken with Black Bean Sauce or Broccoli with Shrimp.

The restaurant is plain, with minimal decoration, but clean and attractive. The place has about 20 tables with red vinyl-backed chairs and looks stripped down for speed and turnover. It serves some of the best, most authentic Chinese food to be found outside of the International District.

For example, daily specials listed in grease pencil on one day included Taro with Bacon ($6.75) and Sea Cucumber with Black Mushrooms ($7.50). I've never developed a fondness for sea cucumber, but it's reassuring (kind of) to know that it's there.

You have to start with the Potstickers (six for $3.50); very meaty, very fragrant with minced fresh ginger and fine-chopped cabbage.

I have wondered for years why Chinese restaurants outside of the International District so seldom go to the effort to procure real Chinese broccoli, or Chinese greens, with their more robust flavors. I'm happy to report you'll find both at the Proud Bird. Try, especially, Chinese Broccoli with Beef ($6.15). Tender, yet crisp; incredibly, intensely green; with contrasting slices of carrot and succulent beef slices in lots of brown gravy.

Peking Spicy Chicken ($6.95) was a new one for me. Large chunks of grilled chicken glistened in a bold sauce that seemed derived from red bean paste and black beans. Two of us sampled first bites and rolled our eyes.

General Tso's Chicken ($4.50 at lunch) was generally less impressive, although it is quite popular. Breaded and deep-fried, we found it a bit heavy.

One of my favorite noodle dishes is Singapore Fried Rice Noodles ($5.25), which the Proud Bird does exceedingly well. The heaping platter of whisper-thin, yellow-streaked noodles is both light and powerful - with potent curry aftertastes coming through, along with contrasting crisps of carrot, onion, bean sprouts, shrimp and barbecued pork liberally brushed with aromatic five-spice powders.

I have tried three of Chan's noodle soups (there are 17 on the menu). These are enormous bowls of steaming broth with various combinations of noodles, wontons, Sui Kau (like a wonton, but flavored with black mushrooms), vegetables and pickles. Almost all of them cost less than $5; most are in the $3.50 to $4 range. If you had to live on one cheap meal a day, one of these would be it. And many of the Proud Bird's University of Washington clientele seem to have discovered this.

Try the Beef Brisket with Sui Kau for $4.50 or the Roast Duck with Sui Kau for $5.25.

On only one occasion - a midweek lunch - were vegetables less than flawless. A portion of mixed veggies with the General Tso's Chicken - cauliflower, broccoli, carrot and zucchini - could have come pretrimmed from a bag at Costco. Undercooked and boring.

Chan, who arrived in Seattle from Hong Kong, has been here for 20 years, spending much of that time as a waiter at the Four Seas and Sea Garden restaurants in the International District and at the Ming Tree in Bellevue.