The Case of Ridgewood's Missing Blue Cheese

Ridgewood Barbecue
900 Elizabethton Hwy.
Bluff City, TN 37618

(423) 538-7543

Sherri and I made a trip to Ridgewood BBQ this past Friday afternoon. As always, there was a large crowd even at 1PM but didn't have to wait long for a table.  We ordered a starter of the BBQ beans for me and she ordered a bowl of their famous Blue Cheese Dip which comes with a bunch of saltine cracker packets. My beans were really good and actually hot this time. The last time I got them they were barely even warm which was pretty unusual.  I do think I could eat them straight out the fridge though as they're that good!

The pork BBQ sandwiches and an order of fries we ordered were wonderful as usual but biggest letdown of the meal was the Blue Cheese Dip.  I don't know what they've changed about this but what we got was nothing like we've had in the past.  While it looked pretty typical and there was lots of cheese crumbled up into it, it was noticeably missing the larger chunks of blue cheese. I'll have to say that while pleasant, it didn't taste anything like what I had there for many years.  It tasted more like some sort of ranch dip than blue cheese.  In fact, I didn't taste any blue cheese at all!  I'll have to say that Chef G.W. Clisso's Smooth Tastin' Chunky Bleu Cheese Dressing (Pound, VA) that's used by several area restaurants has a much stronger blue cheese flavor than what we were served Friday. I'm really disappointed with this!

We brought home about a half pint of it that we packed in ice and later that evening my blue cheese fanatic son had a taste of it.  He also thought it tasted more like ranch and none of blue cheese.  I'm hoping this is just a mixing anomaly and not what they're now settling for to serve. If so, I'll just buy G.W. Clisso's at IGA or Ingle's grocery stores.      



 

Joe Gong's Chinese BBQ Chicken Lives Again! (well, almost)

China House Chinese Restaurant
1001 N. Eastman Rd.
Kingsport, TN 37664
423-247-4461                                                                                                                                         

(back to the left side of the new post office where Service Merchandise was located).
Open M-F 10:30am-10:00PM, Sat. 12 noon-11:00PM, closed Sunday.
They also do delivery within reasonable distances on min. $10 orders with a $2 service charge.

It's a shame that Joe Gong's Chinese Restaurant has been closed at least sixteen years but many people in this area still remember and crave his famous and unique Chinese BBQ Chicken.  Joe's still alive and kicking at age 93 and only closed down because he wanted to retire and it has been good to him and his wife Lou.

I had a hankering this evening for Chinese BBQ Chicken à la Joe Gong's and went to the China House Restaurant to satisfy it.  I don't know how this quite young couple that owns the place figured out the dish but I congratulate them!  I had to take a picture of my plate tonight as it looked so appetizing! I was a bit surprised but more concerned that nobody was in the restaurant at 6:30PM on a Saturday evening but me. The nice young lady that's one of the owners seated me and I ordered the usual C17 Chinese BBQ Chicken combination plate for $7.99. It consists of a big piece of the Chinese BBQ chicken on a bed of lettuce, covered in a brown gravy and topped with green onion bits and sliced almonds. It comes with a nice serving of their pork fried rice and a good egg roll. It was very tasty!

The bbq chicken itself is quite good and as I've said previously, it's about 90% of what Joe Gong used to make. I think they use a lot more soy in the chicken stock-based gravy compared to Joe's and noticeably less of the secret spice but all in all, it was a great meal that I would highly recommend to any fans of Joe Gong's original version. I'm sure it will bring back a lot of memories of being at Joe's.

The thing that concerns me most about this place is that I've found that almost no one seems to know that this restaurant is there, even though it's been there for at least 25 years. They have a buffet at lunch during the week and I'm sure get a lot of business from Eastman employees as it's so close to the plant.  I shared my dinner tonight with the young couple's 11 month old baby daughter Renee in a walker across the dining room with her mom darting in and out. It's got a five star rating on Yahoo! but they definitely need a lot more dinner business to survive. I think they are about the fourth operators of the restaurant since it opened in the late 70s-early 80s. The previous owners had it for about fifteen years and retired due to advancing age a couple of years ago.

I first learned to cook restaurant-style Chinese food there in 1989 under the tutelage of Mr. Song, a master chef and Karen Yau's father who came from San Francisco to help her and husband Cheuk out in this restaurant. He made the best Mongolian beef I've ever had in my life. He spoke almost no English but was very good at demonstrating techniques and Karen kindly helped out when translation was necessary.  It was an education I've never forgotten and although it was hard work, getting paid to learn something most non-Chinese people could never experience was great!   

There ought to be enough fans of Joe's BBQ Chicken out there to give this place a big kick start if the word gets out. I hope y'all will give the place a try.  I've not had any of their other dishes but I'm sure they've got some good ones.  Fear No Food!