The newly opened Dragon Cafe aims to give customers a taste of Chinese cuisine while keeping American taste buds content.
The restaurant, located at 431 Third St., is open weekdays for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and offers nighttime catering.
Owner Pai-Cha Hu and her husband Shih-Chang Hu, a former University forestry professor, re-opened the downtown restaurant about six weeks ago.
“We get more business everyday,” Shih-Chang Hu said.
Hu and his wife, who taught Chinese cooking for 20 years at LSU Continuing Education, are retired educators. Hu said they moved north of Baton Rouge after retiring, but grew bored and decided to come back.
The restaurant offers an all-you-can-eat, sit-down buffet including tax and a drink for $7.50. Patrons can purchase a small to-go box for $5 or a large to-go box for $6 and fill them with buffet items.
Hu offers a free drink and ten percent off a meal for students.
In addition to the buffet, the menu includes dishes like a seafood platter and lettuce wraps. Appetizers include a Cajun egg roll or shrimp toast, both for $4. Items that include seafood are $15 each.
The buffet consists of Chinese-American favorites like sesame chicken, lo mein and egg rolls. Hu also offers three authentic Chinese dishes a week. This week’s specials are Szechuan green beans, steamed chicken and a dish of meatballs, tofu and cabbage in celebration of the Lunar New Year.
The food was hot and fresh. Each item was packed with flavor and spices. All the vegetables were tender and cooked down, but still had a bit of their original crisp.
The gong bao chicken was especially spicy, but it had a bit of sweetness to take away the burn. The fried rice raised the bar for competing restaurants in the area, where it is usually over-fried and loaded with oil.
The authentic steamed chicken was my favorite dish. The meat was spicy and tender enough to pull from the bone with a fork.
Metered parking is available along Third Street and Main Street, making the restaurant easily accessible. The venue is long and narrow. Customers seat themselves in booths or two- and four-person tables.
Patrons who visited the venue under previous management may notice differences in the decor. Hu said renovations took about three and a half months.
Carpet was ripped out and replaced with bamboo wood floors. The walls are lined with red-framed mirrors and wooden plaques featuring carvings of trees, birds and the word “happiness” in Chinese. Golden dragon heads with lanterns hanging from their mouths reinforce the restaurant’s namesake.
The staff was extremely nice — Hu himself sat with me and was eager to answer questions.
Several patrons came, ate and went as I dined, but the “lunch rush” seemed to have occurred before noon. With ample seating and the help-yourself-dining, Dragon Cafe is ideal for a quick, hot meal.
 
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Contact Haylie Navarre at [email protected]