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Dining Divas at Great Castle
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Anonymous user Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:15:30 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Tracy Walker Keiser says her weekends are spent with her husband doing errands or working around the house.  Friday evenings is usually date night, Saturdays are for friends and Sunday evenings are for family.  Sunday mornings are all about cooking a big breakfast and relaxing on the sofa reading the paper and enjoying coffee.
 
Penny was raised in South Dakota. Her mom was a good cook who grew up on a farm. A typical dinner consisted of meat, potatoes, a vegetable, rolls and of course dessert! Mom cooked every meal at home and  a treat for was when the family was allowed to eat at McDonald’s.
 
Lydia is currently bracing for the holidays. She is quite certain that as this goes to print she will not have her shopping done and will not have mailed out her holiday cards.  She will secretly resent those of you who get your shopping done in November and mail your cards out after Thanksgiving. She will once again pledge to start earlier next year but won’t.
 
Katie moved from the South to New England in pursuit of degrees in Painting and Art History. Her studies took her to Rome and Italy. Living in Rome was an indelible experience in many ways as she discovered her passion for the perfect pizza. She went so far as to deliver pizza for “Zi Fenezia” a kosher pizzeria. I ate there so much they offered me a job and paid me in pizza.


Only new for one of us

Katie - My husband has been trying to take me to Great Castle for dinner since we moved to Bakersfield four years ago. Despite the fact I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about the restaurant from nearly every single one of my friends, today was my first taste. Out of our entire group I was the only one who had never eaten at Great Castle.

Tracy - Growing up I loved Chinese food and my sister loved Mexican.  Every week my parents would allow us to pick our own restaurant, mostly to keep the peace so for my sister it was Mexicali and for me it was Great Castle.  All these years later, I still love going to Great Castle.  Maybe it's the old style Chinese ambiance or the ever-changing Union Avenue landscape, but mostly it's about the incredible food.

History 

Lydia - Great Castle looks like, well, like a great white castle on the middle of Union Avenue. It’s a family owned business that’s been around a lot longer than I’ve lived here. I like the fact that it’s an old-school Chinese restaurant. It’s dark inside with a traditional Chinese décor that gives it an overall vintage kind of look.

Ambience

Penny - When you walk up to the front, there is a beautiful red door with water features on either side. The owner Young Lee welcomes you when you arrive. Many members of the family work there, including Young Lee’s sister in law.

Lydia - Walking in to Great Castle, the first thing you see is a large fish tank that dominates the front dining room. There are some serious huge fish in that tank and they’re fun to watch if you eat in one of the booths up front. The back dining room is bigger and has large round tables for groups.

A look at the Menu
 
Lydia - Lunch is when I usually come to Great Castle. Their lunch specials are hard to beat. For around $10, there are about 20 different entrées to choose from and each comes with hot and sour soup, fried or steamed rice, an egg roll, fried wonton and a chicken wing. It’s easily enough food for lunch again the next day.

Ordering

Tracy - Lots of laughter followed as we each started naming off favorite Chinese dishes and found the common ingredients we all love was shrimp and chicken.  We ordered pan-fried dumplings, Moo-Shih Pork, Walnut Shrimp, Dai Chin Chicken, House Special Fried Rice, Kung Pao Shrimp and the House Special Sizzling Scallop and Beef.  Wow! Do not order this much food unless you are a party of 12 or more.  But we just could not resist; we were hungry, having fun and wanting to let you all know some of their house specialties.

Penny - On the table there are wontons to graze on with a dual serving dish of hot mustard and ketchup for dipping. The wait staff also brings containers with soy sauce with scallions and chili sauce. Since I love sauces I put some of each on my plate for dipping. It is so hard to decide what I like best.


Our Meal

Lydia - Since we knew they took about 15 minutes to prepare, we ordered the pan-fried dumplings, commonly known as pot stickers, as soon as we sat down. When the dumplings arrived, they were perfect. The eight little pockets of surprisingly light dough were hot and perfectly crispy on the bottom. We mixed our own dipping sauce from the duo of soy sauce based “potsticker sauce” and chili oil that was brought to our table.

Penny - My must-have is Moo-Shih Pork. They prepare it at the table; the tender pork is wrapped in homemade thin pancakes with bean sprouts and scallions cooked with the pork. The plum sauce that is served with it is out of this world. This dish was big enough for each of us to have a serving.

Katie - Lydia, Penny and Tracy unanimously ordered the “Walnut Shrimp,” a sweet and savory combination of battered popcorn shrimp and walnuts smothered in a golden sticky sauce. We each enthusiastically spooned the colorfully coated shrimp to our plates. Then after the platter completed its circle around the table, the strangest thing happened: total silence. This shrimp dish was so good that it actually muted some of the chattiest people I know. There would be no leftovers of the “Walnut Shrimp.”

Lydia - The next dish delivered to the table was Dai Chin chicken. We were going to order orange chicken but in the words of the owner, “Anyone can do orange chicken. You need to try Dai Chin chicken.” She was right. The dish was unlike anything I’d ever had.

Penny - The Dai Chin Chicken might be my new favorite. It is tender chunks of chicken meat with sweet and spicy sauce over the top. The meat is moist and tender and the sauce is delectable.



Lydia - So at this point I was crazy full but determined to charge ahead. I took a scoop of the house special fried rice. It was particularly impressive. Every Chinese restaurant does fried rice, but what I liked about this version was that it wasn’t overly salty or greasy. The rice was still white – it wasn’t soaked in soy sauce – and had been quickly fried up with egg, vegetables and large pieces of beef, chicken and shrimp. It could easily be a meal on its own.


Lydia - Despite the fact that I’ve had kung pao shrimp at Great Castle dozens of times, I couldn’t resist having just a little bit more. All the kung pao dishes at Great Castle are good, but I particularly like the shrimp. The shrimp are surprisingly big and tender and always very fresh tasting. Along with the shrimp are the usual peanuts and big chunks of red and green bell pepper and onions that are always still a little bit crispy. It’s a combination I find irresistible.

Katie - The last dish served to our table was the “House Special Sizzling Scallop and Beef.” Preparation was completed at our table as the ingredients were combined onto a sizzling red-hot platter. The fusion of the sweet scallops, savory beef and crunchy vegetables was the perfect end to our huge lunch.



Impressions

Tracy - Great Castle is nostalgic and comfortable, with excellent food and a welcoming atmosphere. 

Lydia - I’ve eaten Chinese food at restaurants all over Bakersfield, all over the United states, and even in other countries and as far as I’m concerned, Great Castle is one of the best. From the quality of the food to the quality of the service, I can always count on a great time.


Penny - Great Castle offers a cozy atmosphere, knowledgeable staff and outstanding quality. I love that they serve family style so you can sample the dishes that others order without feeling funning about sticking your fork on their plate. My recommendation is that when you go, bring a lot of friends so that you can sample all of the varieties of dishes. Only then can you truly say that you have experienced the Great Castle Restaurant.


Katie - Chinese restaurants on the opposite end of town may garner more attention than Great Castle, but take my word for it, don’t miss a chance to dine at this longtime Bakersfield favorite. Don’t be like me and regret never eating there before. Great Castle has a strong and much deserved following of patrons, myself newly included.

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