Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/642573
96 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 3.16 FOOD& DRINK THE DISH Photos by Amber Estes Thieneman Come summertime, Germantown will reach a milestone. Less than a mile, actu- ally. Within a fve-block radius, there will be fve restaurants that likely offer beer cheese. Menu items often footnote a neighborhood's hip evolu- tion. Burgers document their grass-fed begin- nings, Gouda fnishes and kale sides, retiring the likes of Cheddar and onion rings. Welcome progress can shoplift the spotlight from reliable vets, the places you lean on when meals are a question mark and exclamation points stab empty stomachs. Sometimes it takes a reminder to revive old habits. Recently the Germantown Kroger featured next-door neighbor Double Dragon on its "Business of the Month" bulletin board for what felt like six months. Double Dragon has fed customers glistening heaps of General Tso's chicken (and dozens of other dishes) for 24 years. So when a craving for crab Rangoon erupts, my mind fashes back to Kroger's bulletin board. Ah, yes. The Dragon. I visit during lunch rush. Double Dragon mir- rors other strip-mall Chinese. Two tortoise-sized rice cookers angrily exhale steam. Four young workers toil over large metal pots, metal spoons Double Dragon 1255 Goss Ave. shoveling the cuisine advertised as "quick, cheap" and "the fnest Chinese." The phone rings every few minutes with orders. Above the register, pictures of food glow in unnatural lighting. A few red Chinese lanterns hover like thought bubbles. The food doesn't strive for glory. A diner with restraint could stretch a $6 lunch special into two meals. But on this day, two middle-aged men, one in jeans and a hoodie, the other with a cowboy hat and switchblade on his belt, guzzle the goods piled onto Styrofoam plates. No need for delicate when tangling with Double Dragon. My crab Rangoon arrives swaddled in hot, oily wax paper. Andy Liu, the friendly and boy- faced owner, who grew up in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, happily reports his version is "more authentic Chinese" than other places. I have no idea if this is true. I'm fairly sure America invent- ed the dish. Regardless, my teeth sink into the crispy triangle fried to an almost Post-it yellow. Its contents gush soft and warm. Not too cream cheese-y. Perfectly crabby, be it imitation or canned. Who cares? A blend of seafood and fair food, rejection seems impossible. — Anne Marshall FEBRUARY 2016 $4.70 SUBSCRIBE $22/year Call 625-0100 or email circulation@loumag.com