Asia

BLUE SUSHI

When the kids are tired, grumpy, and hungry, you need food fast, but fast food is awful. The solution? Tasty sushi on a conveyor belt. If the sweet inari sushi, delicious tamago, or rich California rolls don't pacify the kids, the anime film loops projected on the wall will. Delectable miso soup arrives from the kitchen quickly. Chocolate-covered cream puffs or mochi ice cream finish the meal with a flourish. When it comes time to pay, the kids love dividing the different colored plates into piles to figure out your tab. Now if they could only do something about the lines of people waiting to get in. . . . GEORGE HOWLAND JR.

Serves: lunch and dinner. 3411 Fremont Ave. N., 206-633-3411. FREMONT. 4601 26th Ave. N.E., 206-525-4601. UNIVERSITY VILLAGE $ www.bluecsushi.com

CHEN'S VILLAGE

Chen's isn't just your kind of Chinese place. It's yours, period. The triangular land and building along Elliott Avenue West is owned by the taxpayers of Seattle, one of the properties being jettisoned by the collapsed Seattle Monorail Project. Place your order soon; property bids are now closed, and with a price tag of $1.3 million or more, the weathered eatery's days are still likely numbered. Too bad, because Chen's, formerly Lee Chee Garden, puts out a perfect almond fried chicken and a memorable prawns and broccoli. Also recommended: orange beef and the house special chow mein. There is, for some reason, a pool table in the midst of the dining room, which adjoins the narrow lounge. Just as curious: The bar tends to attract cops, editors, and other riffraff. Hey, send 'em packing. It's your house. RICK ANDERSON

Serves: lunch and dinner. 544 Elliott Ave. W., 206-281-8838. QUEEN ANNE $

88 RESTAURANT

I don't remember if I first enjoyed the Vietnamese food or the Thai food at this restaurant in the Alterna–International District—what, you didn't know that was White Center's nickname?—because the Vietnamese family who run it serve both fantastic (and cheap) banh mi sandwiches and excellent (ditto) Thai curries. I do know that now I can't stop by without picking up a little of each. The Penang curry is what I recommend to my West Seattle friends when they ask for a cheap, delicious dinner. Rich, red, coconut-creamy, and swimming with fresh vegetables and the tofu I request, it's as good as what—ahem—some downtown restaurants charge an arm and a leg for. LAURA CASSIDY

Serves: lunch and dinner. 9418 Delridge Way S.W., 206-768-9767. WHITE CENTER $

HING LOON SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

Hing Loon's hot pots are the cure for the common cold (and, quite possibly, common heartache, common cubicle ache, and uncommon palate boredom), but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the satay shrimp curry hot pot when you're feeling perfectly great. The menu is ginormous, a word Webster's recently added to its lists for the specific purpose of describing Hing Loon's mostly Cantonese offerings. Go with as many people as you can so that you can taste as much of it as possible. You might hear that this place isn't much to look at, but I think the floor-to-ceiling handwritten signs on the east-facing walls would make an excellent backdrop for a fashion spread. You might also hear how good the service is; I concur, and add that it might be the best in the neighborhood. LAURA CASSIDY

Serves: lunch and dinner. 628 S. Weller St., 206-682-2828. CHINATOWN/INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT $

HUÖNG BINH

When my Vietnamese friend's brothers turned 16, his parents (begrudgingly) splurged big time: They went to Olive Garden. I chuckled when I heard. But I chuckle no more. Recently I discovered Huöng Binh, those same parents' favorite—no, only—Seattle-area restaurant of choice. Immediately, $12.95 for a bowl of mass-produced pasta seemed ridiculous to me, too. Yes, the decor here in the ID is more neon-lit cafeteria than glittering downtown grandeur, but you will not care when, for $6, you're up to your elbows in the freshest, kitchen-sink- sized bowl of bun bo xao. This stir-fry is loaded with sizzling beef, sticky rice vermicelli, cucumbers, peanuts, and tangy fish sauce. A buck more gets you one of the most expensive meals on the menu, com thap cam: a plate of rice under crab-covered sugarcane and sautéed-shrimp, charbroiled-pork, and meatball skewers. Seriously, feast like a Hanoi princess in this price range instead of eating cheeseburgers and sweating fry oil. SARA NIEGOWSKI

Serves: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 1207 S. Jackson St., Ste. 104, 206-720-4907. CHINATOWN/INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT $

IMPERIAL GARDEN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

Good dim sum in Seattle is easy to find. Great—that's another question. You may have to travel to Kent, specifically to the Great Wall Mall, where you will find all things Chinese, including this mecca for lovers of Chinese brunch. Rumor has it that standards have slipped. But if that was once true, Imperial Garden has gotten its act together again, because a recent day revealed cart after cart of unusually fresh-tasting items, lacking the greasiness sometimes on offer at lesser places. The baked humbow, a kind of roll filled with barbecued pork, was a refined thing, its dough soft and pillowy. An item presented as tofu shrimp revealed a tofu base as light as custard. Tasty curried squid, with tiny balloons of squid with tentacles still on, rounded out a selection that reached beyond your typical dim sum fare. NINA SHAPIRO