Email
Nancy and John Cigliano of Santa Fe have lunch at the Double Dragon II Chinese restaurant. (Eddie Moore/Journal)
If you’re in the mood for Chinese food cooked fresh and served up at a good price, consider a visit to Double Dragon II, the sister establishment of the Double Dragon in Rio Rancho. This south Santa Fe restaurant offers a large menu, good service, an attractive and clean environment and reasonable prices.
It’s hard to beat its lunch deal – soup, an egg roll, entree, rice and probably a take-out box for the leftovers – all for $5.45. The most expensive item on the menu, seafood delight served atop crisp pan-fried noodles, is $14.75.
Double Dragon has an extensive menu of classic Chinese favorites. You’ll find a long list of lunch/dinner combos, family dinner specials, chef’s specialties and even “diet specials.” It takes some serious pondering to come up with a standard Chinese dish that’s not on this expansive menu. The only things missing I could think of were Peking Duck and whole fish presentations. There’s nothing novel or experimental at Double Dragon, but plenty of the Chinese dishes Americans expect, served up beautifully in ample portions.
 |
||
|
Double Dragon II
LOCATION: 3005 S. St. Francis Drive, Suite D3, Santa Fe 505-989-8880 HOURS: 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays; 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sundays NO ALCOHOL |
|
|
Crisp veggies in a rainbow of colors make the difference between average and outstanding in Chinese cuisine. The kitchen here does vegetables right. Not everything on the menu is rich with veggies, however, so if that’s your preference, ask your server.
The three stir-fried dishes my friends and I sampled as lunch specials gave us nothing to complain about. Moo Goo Gai Pan included beautiful whole snow peas and mushrooms along with slices of delicate white meat chicken. The sauce was light, fresh and not overly salted. The Kung Po chicken had lots of crunchy peanuts and zucchini, celery and green bell peppers chopped into small pieces. The sauce was just enough to enhance the natural flavors of the ingredients.
The pepper steak included a generous serving of tender beef. The onion and green bell peppers that came with it were sliced into man-sized pieces, almost too big to easily negotiate with chopsticks.
We also tried two non-stir-fried dishes, the Chinese-American classics Egg Foo Young and pork Lo Mein, also from the specials list. The Egg Foo Young was practically as large as the plate it was served on and arrived steaming hot, obviously freshly made. It was full of veggies, mixed with a generous amount of pork, cooked inside the egg pancake. The sauce came separately, in a warm dish on the side. This is a nice touch especially for more leisurely diners who can add the sauce as they go to keep the dish firmer, rather than letting it sit and soak.
The pork Lo Mein had plenty of meat and vegetables and lovely soft wide noodles. Nicely done!
All lunch and dinner specials come with choice of soup. The egg drop was a basic but tasty rendition of the standard version of whipped egg in a hearty chicken broth. The wonton soup contained two dumplings, rather more noodle than filling, and a garnish of strips of barbecued pork and scallions. The hot and sour was the least yummy of the trio. I’d describe it as a muddle of flavors (but my friends enjoyed it).
Lunch specials and dinner combos are served with fried rice or brown rice on request. The rice is included in these plated meals and with the a la carte dishes, not used as another profit center. I especially liked the brown rice with its slightly nutty flavor. The veggie fried rice at lunch was good, but a bit undercooked. The “special combos” served at dinner offer an upgrade to pork fried rice. Both lunch and dinner come with small, average egg rolls.
The restaurant’s clean, contemporary and inviting look welcomes customers without the Chinese lanterns, dragons and horoscope placemats.
