Dangerous Knowledge: Stir Chinese Restaurant Delivers Spice, Even to Skyway

Growing up in New York, take-out Chinese was a ritual in my life, right up there with pizza night.

When I moved from a rental in Seattle's Madison Valley, to our house in Skyway, I remember calling Pagliacci to inquire about delivery to our new abode. I spoke with a chipper operator, "Hi, I'm wondering if you deliver to my area..." "We deliver everywhere! Zipcode?" chirped Ms. Pagliacci.

"Wait, where do you live?" after plugging in 98178. Apparently the black hole of pizza.

It's taken me six years to realize that Stir would come to me. In 45 minutes, for a $2.25 surcharge. It may not be as great as the takeout I ate back in New York, but it hit the spot especially since it's brought warm right to my front door.

I like to start off with a little soup, so I ordered a cup of Hot and Sour ($2.99) for myself. It's often disappointing, so my husband passes.

But in this case, nicely done, Stir. Not gloppy with cornstarch, pleasantly spicy, plenty of tofu and cloud ear mushrooms. I doubt the stock was vegetarian, but there were no pork strips, which I prefer. Call me less traditional.

Next on order were fanned out Pot Stickers laid upon cabbage, $5.99 for six. You can choose steamed or pan-fried — I think pan-fried would have been the tastier, yet obviously the less healthy choice. The ground pork filling plodded incongruously inside a thick doughy wrapper. On the other hand, the ginger-infused soy sauce was worth dipping into, reminiscent of a flavorful Gyoza sauce.

Sounding like a rock group, the Kung Pao Three ($11.99) caught my attention. Kung Pao is usually a safe bet and Stir offers a variety with chicken, beef and shrimp. Not bad for 12 bucks. The chicken was tender as I could have hoped, and there were generous strips of beef and whole shrimp. Plus crisp carrots, lots of roasted peanuts, and water chestnuts added for crunch.

The Blazing Street Noodles come with your choice of meat or vegetable ($8.29), or alternately with shrimp or 'combo' ($8.99). This dish reflects their Thai influence on the not-quite schizophrenic menu. Wide rice noodles, Sen Yai, are stir fried in a spicy sauce with basil, onions, broccoli, and in my case tender beef strips. On the whole, a pretty good dish, but yellowed broccoli crowns were a turn off. There were no leftovers of these.

I wanted to sample one of their vegetarian options, so I ordered the Family Style Tofu ($8.29). Usually this dish, “jia chang doufu” is made with ground pork, but Stir subs in plenty of vegetables (carrots, celery, onions, green pepper) in a dark soy gravy. While I found it a bit salty, it was generous in the fried tofu department.

In the future I might order their Princess Prawns ($11.99) or General Tso's Chicken ($9.99), but as both these dishes are fried and best enjoyed fresh from the wok, I wondered how they would travel. Probably best ordered in-house.

I'm actually glad that they got rid of the sushi component of their menu. When a restaurant does Chinese, Thai, Korean, & Japanese I think the menu suffers. I also find their dessert menu curious, with an offering of New York style Cheesecake. I didn't go there.

But Stir, I must say thank you for delivering a fresh stir-fried dinner to my house in Skyway.

Stir Chinese Restaurant

Address: 151 Sunset Boulevard North, Renton, WA 98055 

Telphone: (425)235-1818      

Business Time:Monday—Friday 11a.m.-10p.m.

Saturday & Sunday 4-10:30p.m.