Hunan

Hunan

1940 W. William Cannon (@ Manchaca), 443-8848

Monday-Friday: 11am-9:30pm; Saturday-Sunday: 11:30am-9:30pm

Sliding up to a table at Hunan is like slipping on a favorite worn T-shirt: comfortable and predictable. It's the kind of place where your waitress knows your order when you walk in the door, even if it's been a while since your last visit. We've been fans of the lunch specials there (served daily until 2:30) for at least the past 15 years, and seldom a week (OK, a month, tops) goes by that we don't cross their threshold.

The portions are gargantuan, and many of the patrons leave with to-go boxes for the leftovers. There are 35 different choices on the lunch menu, with prices ranging from $4.95 to $5.50 (OK, one of them, the mixed meats Happy Family, is $5.95). For this pittance, you start with choice of soup (the hot and sour is excellent), a huge egg roll, two scoops of rice (fried or steamed), and your entrée. Even friends with legendary appetites have trouble finishing it all. And here's the clincher: It's really good!

After eating our way through the menu repeatedly, our established faves are the Twice-Cooked Pork (laden with cabbage and dry-spiced tofu), the Shrimp and Chicken With Hot Sauce (loaded with shrimp and crunchy water chestnuts), and the Hunan Chicken (bone-in drumettes with broccoli in spicy red sauce). Of the remaining 32 choices, there are ample selections to please any vegetarian, child, or persnickety eater. Service is first rate, the tea is strong and flavorful, portions are more than generous, prices are incredible, and they have one of the coolest salt-water aquariums in town. We only have one gripe: As many times as we've been there through the years, it's a rare occasion when we are offered the fabulous gratis pickled daikon. We'll keep working on that.