52 Tables

Jo, Don and Donna

The Sharing Table

I am calling this post the sharing table because for some particular reason we shared everything today! From food to conversation, we shared it all.

We’re an easy going lot and when our plans to eat across the street at Outback Steakhouse fell through, it wasn’t hard to choose eating at P.F. Chang’s instead. We love eating dishes with an Asian influence. When I was much younger…much, much younger, Mom and Dad frequented a local Chinese food restaurant. When you’re four, five years old, it all looks like regurgitated food. The only thing I would eat were the fried wontons. Well, low and behold, what did I spy on the menu? Fried pork wontons! Had to have ’em. Oh… the memories of early childhood! And, of course, we shared them. We also order the chicken eggrolls. And, of course, we shared them. I should have known this was an indication of the way the rest of this week’s table was going to go.

Many of the dishes, even on the lunch menu, are served family-style. Mom ordered Chang’s Chicken, I got the Mandarin Chicken, and Dad had the Cashew and Almond Chicken rice bowl. More sharing…a side bowl of white rice accompanied my plate. I don’t eat a lot of rice, but I do like a bite or two with my Asian dishes. About half way through the meal, Mom and I notice Dad picking up my bowl and starting to eat out of it. We both giggled, trying to explain it was my bowl of rice. I didn’t care. There was plenty of food on the table and after all, it is better to share. On that note, we all started sharing our food to see what each dish tasted like. They were all very good.

Speaking of sharing, our waitress Dodee was exceptional. Not that the other wait staff who have served us weren’t exceptional, it just seemed that today it was Dodee’s turn. Her charm, quick wit and humor made this a dining experience we will not soon forget. Dodee has been at this P.F. Chang’s since they opened seven years ago. Mom’s spicy dish momentarily rendered her speechless, gesturing for Dad’s glass of water. When Dodee stopped to check on us, Dad requested a glass of water for Mom. Dodee gingerly placed her arm around Mom and asked if she was being bad again seeing that Mom was still speechless.  We we’re in stitches we were laughing so hard. No one at the table was safe as she cracked at Dad, saying something about his ‘curly moustache’ and ‘turning it into a double-twistie.’  The tears started flowing down my face I was laughing so hard.

Banana Springroll

By the time we were done eating and sharing, we were pretty full. The dessert selection was so tempting.
We all agreed we didn’t really need dessert until Dodee described the banana spring rolls. Now this was a true treat, and easily worth sharing. One thing you can say about us Hawthorne’s is food rarely goes to waste no matter how full we are. Again (I know I’ve said that a lot in this post) this dessert was definitely made for sharing. Three bananas, each wrapped in its own skin and deep fried, then cut in half and served with a toasted coconut ice cream and caramel sauce. This was the perfect ending to an absolutely wonderful, “feel good” table!

This was truly one of our most pleasurable and now memorable tables. I’ll share this, too: Dodee works the lunch shift Monday through Friday. We highly recommend her table, and yes…P.F. Chang’s takes lunch reservations. Be sure to let Jon (manager) and Mynette (hostess) know that 52 Tables sent you! We believe you won’t be disappointed in the food or the service.