Information on Traverse City, Michigan and the surrounding Northwest Michigan area

Summer Guide, August 2006

Let's Do Lunch

Spicy sauces at Hang-On Express

by doug davenport
For more restaurant profiles, see our Let's Do Lunch page

Photo by Doug Davenport
Hang-On Express specializes in Chinese and Thai cuisine.

Restaurant: Hang-On Express

Address: 316 St. Joseph Street, Suttons Bay (GET MAP)

Phone: 271-0202

Cuisine/Price Range: Lunch (served until 4 p.m,) and dinner menus feature an extensive selection of Chinese and authentic Thai dishes. Old favorites include beef, chicken, pork, or tofu Chow mein, Chop suey, and Sweet & sour plates, served with fried or steamed rice. Try almond boneless chicken, curry chicken, lemon chicken, Moo Goo Gai Pan, pepper steak, and Mongolian steak or chicken. Hang-On prepares a number of hot Chinese, Szechwan and Thai specialties. Thai plates like Gang Curry, Pad Kratiam and Pad Ped will chase away a chill with ingredients such as red curry paste or masaman curry paste blended with peppers, garlic and vegetables and even jalapenos.

Lunch plates are in the $6-7 range, while dinners vary from about $9-14.

Appetizers of egg rolls, spring rolls, crab wonton, fried shrimp, and dumplings are offered from $3 to $5. Egg drop soup, as well as wonton and other specialties, are $2-$3.

Atmosphere: Hang-On Express is where East meets Up North. The family restaurant specializes in take-out orders, but limited seating is available for quiet dining-in as well. The year-old establishment recently received a facelift, and the freshly painted exterior welcomes guests.

The small dining area in this smoke-free establishment seats about 15 at a few tables and comfortable booths of rose-colored, tufted vinyl. Cool green walls are decorated with Oriental art. Greenery hangs over the wall that separates the dining area from the take-out window.

Chef Favorites & My Choice: Owner/chef Vang Hang recommends a seafood specialty known as "Happy Family." It features shrimp, scallop, imitation crab meat and lobster stir fry with Chinese greens in garlic sauce. The Pineapple Duck is beer battered duck topped with pineapple in a sweet and sour sauce. Try the Triple Harvest, a blend of chicken, beef, and shrimp mixed with greens in a spicy peanut sauce.

After assurances from our waitress that hot dishes could be prepared with milder taste, I opted for a hot Thai plate called Thai Ped. This was prepared with chicken, mushrooms, peas, baby corn, celery, onion, water chestnuts and carrots in a creamy, spicy sauce of coconut milk, garlic and Szechwan powder. Served on fried rice, it was a tasty treat with just enough heat to tingle the taste buds.