New and noteworthy in the Renton area



Before I delve into what's new and noteworthy in the Renton area, restaurant wise, I thought I should officially announce that I'm in my pupusa phase. They're delicious. Renton has a couple of places to get pupusas. One is at the Latin market across from McLendon's hardware, and the other is at the City Cafe at 3700 NE 4th St, a couple of blocks past Renton Technical College. The picture of the pupusa menu and the pupusas are from City Cafe. Among other fillings, they have spinach and cheese, jalapeno and cheese, and Loroco( a Central American herb) and cheese. Totally yummy. I've been to the excellent pupuseria in White Center, and there are two in Burien, so I have to check them out.

But new and noteworthy in the Renton area?

Quan Ngon, 212 S. 3rd St, Renton, recently opened in the location where Gene's Ristorante was for many years, inside of an old house. I was a huge fan of Gene's, and ate there fairly regularly. The place looks the same on the inside, but it was empty on the evening we dined there. Gene's was frequently packed. But the building has been empty for a few years, and word hasn't gotten out that there is an open restaurant there. The menu at Quan Ngon has a lot of Vietnamese items not normally seen at local Vietnamese restaurants. The picture of what's in the bowl was the Lemon Grass Tofu, and it was very good. The menu has a lot of soups, as well as many other things. I'll go back again, and I liked the food, but it seemed like about a third of the menu items were crossed out.

Zhen Kee, at 151 Sunset Blvd N, Renton, recently took over the space that housed Stir for the last 15+ years. When Stir first opened( somewhere around 2000), they were really good. Then, after some years, the menu changed, the quality declined, and at some point they were closed by the health department, and went out of business.
But Zhen Kee is really good! They have many of the standards often seen on Chinese menus, but they also have a "Chinese menu" which is also in English.  We had several things there, including vegetarian egg rolls, BBQ oysters(yum!), and shrimp with honey and walnuts.  Everything we had was good. Everything tasted fresh, service was very competent and friendly, and it's nice to have another good Chinese restaurant around.

Aastha Indian Cuisine, 811 S. 3rd St, Renton is the same address as Hacienda Santa Fe, a Mexican restaurant, and indeed, they do serve both Indian and Mexican food. I've been to the Indian lunch buffet twice, but have not yet been for dinner, where they have a large Indian menu. It was pretty good, and the buffet was a good value at 10.95. For those so inclined, Smoking Monkey Pizza also has a lunch buffet just down the street. More reasons why Renton is great. But it is a bit incongruous to be eating Tandoori while listening to Mexican music and looking at decorative sombreros.

And up the hill in Skyway, My''s Vietnamese Sandwich and Deli is opening soon. I'm a fan of the Banh Mi sandwich. Good and cheap.
A few doors north of there, Nezvat Cankaya should be opening his coffeehouse and Turkish breakfast and lunch place over the next six months or so. It was quite the battle to get King County council member Gossett to sponsor the legislation allowing it to be rezoned so that there could be a drive through window for coffee to go. Years ago it was a drive through"Milk Barn", and the drive through window is still there, but Councilmember Gossett generated a lot of community opposition as a result of his unwillingness to take action. He may end up paying for this when it;s time for his next election. Nezvat and his coffee are much beloved in Skyway. He's certainly far more popular than Councilmember Gossett.


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