NoonEats: Chicken and Chinese Eggplant from Chen's 22

Every town has its share of sketchy looking hole-in-the-wall-type Chinese takeouts, as well as restaurants that serve fresh, quality Chinese food. To help me sort the former from the latter, I asked readers for recommendations of Chinese restaurants in town. A couple months ago, I received the following comment from a reader: "Our favorite Chinese Restaurant in Springfield is Chen's 22. The food is always fresh, hot and delicious. It never leaves you wanting to drink a gallon of water when you are finished as many other places do. The people are courteous and the prices are reasonable."

Putting those words to the test, I visited Chen's, in Echo Plaza, where Mountain Avenue meets Route 22. The long blue and black dining room has about six tables on each side, and a sushi bar sits at the front of the restaurant. I opted for Chinese food over the sushi bar and took my seat at a table near the front of the restaurant.

The crispy wontons served immediately were a little stale, and the dipping sauce for them did not arrive until later. But hot tea was served promptly. With temperatures reaching 100 degrees, it should not have been my first choice of drinks, but inside this air-conditioned restaurant, I enjoyed the tea very much, refilling my cup from the white China teapot often.

A list of 26 lunch specials are available for $5.95, each coming with a choice of soup—wonton,, egg drop, hot and sour, and Russian. Again, hot soup in the summer doesn't sound right, but the wonton soup was a good start to my meal. With two wontons and a few fresh scallions, the broth was flavorful without being overly salty.

For my entree, I ordered Chinese eggplant in a garlic sauce with chicken. It was served steaming hot—almost too hot to eat right away. The ratio of chicken to eggplant was even, with the bright purple eggplant having a slight edge.

(The pictures of this meal do not do it justice. I recently traded my BlackBerry Curve with a dead camera for a BlackBerry Bold with a 3.2-megapixel camera. Since then I have been using the phone to take food pictures for this column. With natural light, it works great. But in a dark dining room, I should have reverted to my Canon SD890. A digital camera may draw some attention, but it does a much better job.)

The eggplant took on the flavors of the garlic sauce, which was not overpowering. It was spicy enough to clear my sinuses, but not so spicy I was constantly reaching for the ice water to cool a fire in my mouth. And like the soup, it didn't rely on an overload of salt for its flavor. 

Like all good Chinese meals, this one ended with a fortune cookie, reminding me that I am always welcome in any gathering.