DINING OUT -- MARY FURR

“EverGreen” is a great name for a salad place -- but EverGreen Super

Chinese Buffet, at Goldenwest Street and Edinger Avenue in Huntington

Beach, offers much more. It’s like a whole Chinese menu spread before

you. There’s chow mein and lo mein, and if hi mein existed they’d have

that too!

The dining area has booths and tables, four hot and cold buffets and a

joining VIP room with double-mirrored walls and pink accents, a small

dance floor and bandstand for private parties -- great for upcoming

graduations and family reunions.

But the drawing card at EverGreen is the varied and fresh buffets

(lunch $5.39, dinner $7.99). It’s not a static restaurant, but one that

follows the seasons, says owner Eric Zhang and his lovely young wife Lisa

who brought EverGreen last December.

On the special lunch menu ($4.35) there’s vegetable delight bright

with snow peas, carrots, broccoli, beef and chicken with mixed vegetables

and a spicy warm dish to try -- General Tso’s Chicken. It’s a Hunan (hot)

style preparation with deep-fried chicken cubes tossed with a garlicky

and, here, medium hot sauce.

That was only one of the nearly 40 items -- with labels, thank

goodness -- offered daily. Another is curled up, firm pink shrimp with

water chestnuts and broccoli. There are skewers with really tender

barbecue chicken -- good but try to catch them when just brought from the

kitchen -- one time the chicken was almost cold.

The spring rolls (so called because they are traditionally served on

the first day of the Chinese New Year in early spring) have paper-thin

tissue wrappers, crisp and good stuffed with fresh cabbage. The fried

wonton dumplings filled with a creamy cheese can become addictive --

they’re good plain or with a sweet dipping sauce. There are lots of

traditional dishes like shrimp or chicken with cashew nuts, egg foo young

and moo goo gaipan.

One selection not often found are small round puffy beans covered with

granulated sugar. They’re light and perfect with the fresh fruit (melon,

honeydew, mandarin oranges and grapes), pudding or ice cream.

EverGreen is a restaurant you can relax in -- it’s lovely to look at,

efficiently run by an experienced owner who is on the premises. Trays are

replenished quickly and dishes are cleared.

Zhang and his wife come from restaurant families in Arkansas. He

attended the University of Arkansas before transferring and graduating

from Cal State Los Angeles. This is their first California venture and

they have plans -- including adding dim sum, Peking duck and walnut

chicken to EverGreen’s already extensive fresh selections.

* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have comments

or suggestions for her, call (562) 493-5062.

FYI

EverGreen Super Chinese Buffet

ADDRESS: 6838 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday

MISC.: 10% senior discount. Credit cards accepted.