Golden Gate Restaurant

Golden Gate is a hidden gem in Waukesha that won Top 10 Chinese Restaurants in America Award in 2010. I had the food once as take out that someone else picked up. But recently my guy and I decided to go there for dinner and eat at the restaurant.

It's located off of Racine Avenue & the 164/59 bypass in a strip mall that houses an antique mall and a few other businesses. When you walk in, the bar is to the left and the dining area is to the right. The dining side is decorated in traditional Chinese decor. We were seated at a table and greeted by our friendly server. She gave us a few moments to find some drinks to enjoy.

I chose a "Virgin's Dilemma" made with fruit juice, rum and peach schnapps. It was very sweet but delicious. 

We decided to go all out, as I typically do with Chinese food and because my guy has never had Crab Rangoon so we ordered that as an appetizer. It was spectacular! The triangles were perfectly fried and there was plenty of crab meat mixed into the cream cheese filling. I made my guy a fan of these which is awesome!

For our main course, I ordered the sweet and sour chicken which was presented on a large plate with fried chicken, green peppers, maraschino cherries, sesame seeds and plenty of sauce. Each piece of chicken was nice and crispy; the sweet and sour was unique and probably a more traditional sauce than what I get at the take out places. The sauce was a little thinner and had just a hint of sweet.

My guy ordered Kung Pao Shrimp from the Hunan and Schezwan menu. He had the option to order it mild, medium or hot and he chose medium - he likes a kick to his food. His meal came on a very large platter too. I sampled a few bites of it, and the shrimp was cooked perfectly. But it was a little too spicy for my buds to handle. He really enjoyed the meal and we both had leftovers to take home.

After our meals were packed up, our server brought us fortune cookies and almond cookies to enjoy after the meal. I liked the almond cookies and it brought me memories of a trip to the International Folk Fair when I was in grade school. These tasted almost the same as the ones from back then.

As we left, I took a look inside their display case and saw all sorts of awards that the restaurant has won. This place is quite the hidden gem as I don't hear too much chatter about it in Waukesha - but it has a steady following - the parking lot is always full. They also put on some demonstrations and a big Chinese New Year celebration complete with traditional dances in the parking lot.

Quick Asian Inspired Dinner

I fell in love with peanut sauce about six years ago and haven't regretted it yet. have found the best "kit" to use for easy peanut sauce flavor is Auntie Chun's and you can now find it at almost any store. It comes with wheat noodles, peanut sauce and sesame seed oil.

I boiled some chicken breasts and chopped up the meat. I bought some veggies for another meal I'm making this week and used what would be leftover for this meal. I sauteed some peppers, celery, and onion in oil for a few minutes. 

Then it's as simple as combine, add the sauce and oil and stir it up. I did add some creamy peanut butter because it is just soooo yummy and helps really emphasize the peanut flavor. I didn't have any peanuts in the house or I would have put some of those in as well. 

This whole meal took no more than a half hour to put together and serves three decent-sized portions. Yay for leftovers!!!!

Crockpot Cashew Chicken

I would love to say that this recipe is my own, but I am not creative enough to think this up. Besides Sesame Chicken and Chicken Lo Mein, Cashew Chicken is my next go-to item when I order take out Chinese food. I have had it with a white sauce before and then with a more soy based sauce and prefer that version.

So when I found this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it. And seeing as my boyfriend will eat just about anything, I have a great test subject for recipes now :)

I found it interesting that the sauce called for ketchup and in the future, I might omit this item. I think more soy and a little more teriyaki flavor would help the meal.

 You need to flour coat and saute all the chicken pieces first and then add them to the crockpot or slow cooker. It was in this stage that I realized a few pieces were probably larger than ideal, but we would make it work.

 I added some green onions for additional flavor.

 And some cilantro and celery pieces. I figured this couldn't hurt and I like seeing a little green in all my dishes.

 Then you coat everything with sauce and let the crockpot do the rest of the work.

 I stirred things up after a hour and a half on low and realized that the 3-4 hours was going to be closer to 4.5. So we bumped it up to high to speed up the process :) Tim added some chopped mushrooms at this point too.

 And Voila - add the cashews at the end, stir and you have cashew chicken. Tim made some white rice on the side and we opened a can of pineapple for a sweet touch.

Finished product was delicious but the ketchup I think left a tang I didn't feel was very Chinese-influenced! The chicken fell right apart, so even though some pieces were too large, they cut with a fork just fine. The celery, even after cooking for 3 hours, still had nice crunch. The mushrooms were lost in the flavor, so I would add them right at the end or leave them in larger pieces.

I definitely recommend this recipe and I would make it again, with some modifications to the sauce. But for a nice easy slow cooker meal, this is on my go-to list now.