Tasty China

A disappointment. The won ton soup was watery with little or no chicken flavor. The kung pao chicken was so hot as to be almost inedible. It also contained too much ginger.

Right off Franklin Rd in Marietta, where it crosses the 120-South Loop,

somebody dug a hole to China, specifically the Szechuan region and out popped some of the spiciest Chang chow to ever pan-fry a palate. From what I hear, the chef who dug the hole at Taste of China, calls himself Peter Chang and he launches some of the most on-target, heat-sinking missles of meat, mein and Mouth-tse Tongue this side of the Great Wall.

Chang must have been the guy who stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square, because he doesn't kow-tow to even the most stalwart Chinese-American-trained taste buds. This ain't your Daddy's Happy Family w/egg roll and egg-drop soup.

No siree! More like a happy family on steroids! Egg-rolled rage, so to speak!

From the hot-damn Dan Dan noodles to the incendiary devices planted in the fried dry-eggplant sticks, there is not a plate that comes out of Taste of China's kitchen that doesn't give new meaning to Lt Colonel Kilgore's exclamation of delight, "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!" in "Apocalypse Now."

This stuff will burn you up, baby. Fourth of July fireworks going off in your mouth, food-rookie. But don't be scared. This is not heat for torture's sake. Rather, sit back and enjoy as Chang's Culinary Circus of Pyrotechnics brings out the Forbidden City flavors in food through deft use of sizzle-spice that makes them confess their charms and give up their goods. In so doing, Chang turns foods that were foes into friends. Noses that turned up at tripe and tongue now whiff with delight at these new bites of dine-oh-my-te!

Forget the threat of Red China--Chang's Taste of China, through diner diplomacy has normalized relations with Red Pepper China by calming fears of the unknown tongue or tail. Even if it took lighting a little fire under your palate to do it. Nothing like a meating of the mines, or in this case, a mining of the meats, to bring about world peace. All aboard this peace train to Szechuan. Hope Chang's hole remains open for a long time to come.