Dining for $25 or less: Hunan Legend

By Karen Nitkin | Special to the Sun

February 7, 2008

What's a suburban shopping center without a Chinese restaurant? Hunan Legend, which has been dispensing egg rolls, chicken lo mein and other tried-and-true dishes from a Howard County village center for a dozen years, is a perfect example of the breed.

The restaurant is spacious and brightly lit inside, with white tablecloths on large round tables perfect for sharing food. The unbelievably lengthy menu offers mostly Hunan and Szechwan dishes, and touches down briefly in Thailand with a version of pad Thai.

On a cold Friday night, the dining room was nearly full, and the staff at the takeout counter was handing over large bags of food without pause. Still, we never felt crowded or rushed, and the service was effortless and attentive. Our water glasses were frequently filled, our order was taken just when we had made up our minds, and a very nice man, perhaps a manager, even stopped by on a regular basis to dispense extra fortune cookies and shower attention on the kindergartener in our group.

Because I grew up in a New York suburb and now live in a Baltimore suburb, Hunan Legend seemed like an old friend. Giving in to a wave of nostalgia, I ordered the puu puu platter ($10.95) to start. It was just as I remembered, complete with a tiny barbecue in the middle, sputtering a blue flame.

Spinning the platter around on its Lazy Susan base, I discovered an egg roll cut in two, two large tempura shrimp, crunchy fried wontons, marinated beef on skewers, and chicken wings.

The marinated beef was by far the best offering. The meat was tender and infused with a sweet and mild flavor. The egg rolls, stuffed with a savory mix of cabbage and pork, came in a close second, losing points only on account of excess grease. Still, they were practically a South Beach Diet entree compared with the shrimp tempura, which had so much fried breading that my first bite didn't even reach the seafood inside. The chicken wings were heavily fried, too, as were the wontons, which contained no filling and were different only in shape from the crunchy noodles placed on our table moments after we arrived.

Just as we had finished the appetizers, the main courses arrived. The Chef's Delight ($13.50) was a brightly colored melange of broccoli, straw mushrooms, carrots and baby corn, tossed with sweet scallops and shrimp and served in a light garlic sauce. This instantly became our favorite.

The chicken lo mein ($7.50) was a standard version, with strips of white meat and bits of veggies studding a generous pile of warm, salty, greasy and slightly smokey brown noodles.

Hunan Legend also had Peking Duck on the menu. I was hoping it would be carved at the table, always a fun ceremony, but since we ordered half a bird ($12.95), we were disappointed. The meat arrived on a platter, already cut into bite-sized pieces, along with a bowl of slivered green onions, another of thick hoisin sauce, and four warm, thin wanton wrappers. Rolled together, the richness of the sauce and sharp crunch of the onions provided a perfect counterpoint for the moist duck meat and decadent, deep-orange crispy skin.

Since the menu had a few non-Chinese dishes, we decided to try the pad Thai ($10.50), but we found that it didn't have the subtle balance of flavors found in good Thai food. Instead, it tasted like lo mein, with shrimp, crushed peanuts, chicken and sprouts added.

Dessert, in addition to fortune cookies (mine said I'm going to make somebody a fine wife someday), were slices of bright-pink blood oranges and crisp almond cookies, a nice, light finale to a rich meal.

Hunan Legend has been popular for so long, I suspect, because it knows what works for its customers.