Adam & Eats: King Eggroll

Last week we were shaking it to the south. This week, I thought we’d shake it to the east. The Far East. But, I’m digging this eating on the run thing, so we’re going to stick with that. This week we’re going to eat at a drive-thru eggroll joint and once again we’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Located in a tiny building just off of Broadway in Van Buren is the new home of King Eggroll. I think that the place used to be a coffee shop, but they are long gone and have been replaced by an awesome Vietnamese joint.

The place is a model of simplicity. I mean the menu has something like 9 items on it. Perfect for you folks who can’t make up your minds about what to order. And ordering is super easy. You just pull up to the menu, pick what you want, pull up to the window, honk your horn, place your order, pay, take your food, and go. Simple as one, two, three.

All of the food is made fresh every day. And the staff is very friendly and helpful. They might even be a little pampering too, if they like you.

Now that we’ve mentioned food, we’d best just get on with talking about it. I’d like to start with the spring rolls. They are the most unusual to those who are unfamiliar with Vietnamese food. They consist of a small sheet of rice paper stuffed with rice, cabbage, cilantro, shrimp, and pork, and steamed to perfection. I’m going to have to warn you, if you’ve never eaten one, it kind feels texturally like a, well, like a prophylactic. Don’t worry, it tastes awesome. It’s just that initial shock of touching something that feels like protection and not food. Some people cannot handle the texture issues. That’s fine, whatever.

For those of you who enjoy spring rolls, the King’s are great.

Now, back into the not so zany realm of fried eggrolls. These are Vietnamese eggrolls so they are smaller version of the “Chinese” variety. Still rocking the rice paper, they stuff these with vermicelli, pork, and pureed veggies, then they deep fry them.

Are they totally awesome? Yes. Are they addictive? Absolutely. What could make them more awesome? Dipping them in fish sauce.

What could make them more awesome than that? Dipping them in fish sauce and then dipping them into the secret recipe hot sauce. The hot sauce is so good, that I’ve considered just ordering that and nothing else and then eating it with a spoon. If you don’t care about eggrolls, don’t worry, they have other stuff. The chicken fried rice is excellent. Especially if you add a little of the hot sauce. Same goes for the rice noodles with “BBQ Porks.” A word to the wise about the noodle dishes, eat them quickly because they get cold in a hurry.

If you haven’t been by to visit King Eggroll yet, be sure to give them a try. Also, be sure to tell Johnny that I sent you and that you want some of the hot sauce.

Until next week, good eating to you and yours.

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When he’s not beating his eggs, Adam makes time to respond to e-mails that get past his hard-ass spam filter. You can try to reach him at [email protected]

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