Doong Kong Lau becomes Mi Chalateca II

Carol and Milo Marshall wrote, perplexed, wondering, "Do you know what happened suddenly to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Doong Kong Lau?"

The Marshalls were among several readers who e-mailed to say they've frequented the Aurora Avenue restaurant for years and were shocked to find that their longtime haunt had (as Carol put it) "vanished." I feel their pain.

When Doong Kong Lau Hakka Cuisine opened in 1990, I lived and worked nearby, and I, too, considered it a favorite. Though it's been way too long since I've eaten there, I clearly recall a ridiculously lengthy menu, sizzling platters heaped with oysters, moist morsels of salt-baked chicken and dim sum served by exceedingly friendly folks — including co-owner Henry Chen, who had relocated from Hawaii to introduce Seattle to the home-style fare of migratory tribes of ethnic Han.

The closure that evoked that trip down memory lane soon had me on another journey — north on Aurora — where I found that the former Chinese restaurant is flying a very different flag. Step inside Mi Chalateca II (9710 Aurora Ave. N., 206-524-3046) and you'll see a kitchen draped (literally) with the flag of El Salvador.

According to new owner Jorge Castellanos, Doong Kong Lau closed Jan. 31, when he and his partner Anna Jimenez took over, turning the place into an inexpensive, family-friendly Salvadorian restaurant and pupuseria. The Chens, he says, have moved back to Hawaii, presumably to retire after 30-plus years in the restaurant business.

Like its sister-store, Mi Chalateca in Federal Way (33427 Pacific Hwy. S., 253-838-1688), this one specializes in traditional Salvadorian home-style cuisine, including pupusas (thick, stuffed, handmade tortillas), tamales (steamed with corn, chicken or pork), grilled or roasted beef and chicken, fried fish, and shrimp served in a variety of guises (cold, hot, in soups, etc.). Like your huevos with a side of beans and tortillas? Come for a late breakfast, and they'll set you right up. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

It takes a(n Oak Tree) Village

After grabbing a menu and a look-see at Mi Chalateca, I drove up the block and hit another old-favorite haunt from my early years in Seattle — the former flagship Larry's Market in Oak Tree Village. Talk about a sea change. This space is now the gargantuan new HT Market (10008 Aurora Ave. N., Seattle; 206-527-5333), offshoot of Hop Thanh Supermarket in the Chinatown International District (1043 S. Jackson St., Seattle, 206-322-7419).

Back in the '80s, before major Asian supermarket chains and smaller Asian groceries began to proliferate locally and the eastern edge of the ID had yet to be christened "Little Saigon," I regularly bargain-shopped my way around Hop Thanh. Writing about the crowded Vietnamese grocery in 1993, I noted, "This may be the best reason to head for the Vietnamese district," urging readers to shop here for such exotica as dried mushrooms. "For less than five bucks," I told them, "you can buy a bag that will last a year. Think about that the next time you pay $4.99 for six dried morels at your local specialty food shop."

Strolling through the dimly lit 45,000-square-foot HT Market, recalling when Larry's was the light of the neighborhood, the height of specialty-foods-supermarket sophistication in Seattle, and my go-to joint for expensive dried mushrooms, I couldn't help but get a feeling of who-da-thunk-it déjà vu.

Here where I'd formerly bought such "new and exciting" convenience foods as readymade rotisserie chicken, I can now buy (far more exciting) options like barbecued pig's head and roasted duck. At the bakery I snagged a couple of house-baked hom bow and a bag of Vietnamese sandwich rolls while listening to a fellow new to the Asian-market game haranguing the counter-lady about the lack of Danish pastry in her case. (Hey, mister! Larsen's is only a short drive away!)

I followed Spanish-speaking customers as they perused an aisle's worth of Latino foodstuffs, examined a basketsful of fish heads at the market's seafood counter, frozen black-skinned silkie chickens in the poultry case and a produce section stocked with bargain bunches of bok choy and rau (Vietnamese herbs). I was also pleased to see there's still a spacious wine and beer department. Open 9 a.m-9 p.m. daily.

And speaking of drinks

and chicken

All hail the Second Coming of Baguette Box, as I did last week while indulging in a late lunch in Fremont. Somehow, I managed to refrain (for once) from ordering the best-selling "Crispy Drunken Chicken" ($6.50) or my other baguette-embraced must-have, house-cured salmon gravlax with radish, capers and sauce gribiche ($7.50 and sold-out), nor did I knock back a side of truffle fries ($4.80).

Fremont's Baguette Box (626 N 34th St., Seattle, 206-632-1511, baguettebox.com) is twin to Pike/Pine's same-name sandwich shop (1203 Pine St., Seattle 206-322-0220) and cousin to Capitol Hill's Vietnamese bistro, Monsoon (615 19th Ave., 206-325-2111). Those yet to find this sunny spot will find it tucked into a tiny space between Peet's Coffee & Tea and Cold Stone Creamery, in the same mixed-use building that houses PCC.

Sharing a lipstick-red community table and striking up a conversation with a stroller-toting mom, I exchanged stuffed-mouthed views on our respective sandwiches: Hers a grilled Spanish chorizo with roasted peppers, harissa oil and aioli ("mmm, mmm, hmm, hmm"), mine a grilled lemongrass skirt steak with pickled daikon, carrot and cilantro (an upscale take on the classic banh mi ("hmm, mmm, mmm, hmm").

Meanwhile, she fed her baby a bottle, I sipped iced tea sweetened with condensed milk, and we each ogled another guy's baguette, stuffed with tuna, tarragon, parsley, capers, cornichons and boiled egg. Both locations open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

Nancy Leson: 206-464-8838 or nleson@seattletimes.com.

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