Food writer Jennifer Biggs and deputy metro editor Peggy Burch dine out often, and sometimes together. When they do, they talk about the food, the service and the atmosphere, dialogues we'll share in reviews of favorite old Memphis restaurants as well as restaurants just making their debuts. Write to biggs@commercialappeal.com and burch@commercialappeal.com to suggest restaurants for review.

Photo by Ben Fant

Wang's family-owned business has operated a quarter-century.

Photo by Ben Fant

The East Memphis location of Wang's Mandarin House on Park Avenue has a plush interior with Eastern flourishes.

Photo by Ben Fant

Wang's Sesame chicken and prawns with Chinese vegetables.

Photo by Ben Fant

Alex Ortega from New Orleans plays the piano Friday and Saturday nights.

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This week, they visit Wang's Mandarin House on Park Avenue near Ridgeway.

JB: It's easy to forget about the older places around town. I used to eat lunch at Wang's at least once a week and it never varied -- I always ordered the Ta-chin chicken lunch special. It was $4.75 and that was at least 20 years ago.

PB: I was a regular Wang's takeout customer when I worked near Poplar and Yates in the early 1990s. My orders were basic -- pork fried rice, steamed dumplings, lemon chicken from the Cantonese specials -- but Wang's did those things very well. And, as you point out, it was an economical meal. Still is: The fried rice is $5.75 now, six dumplings are $6.

JB: I've eaten there a few times lately. Each time I've enjoyed the food -- even the lunch buffet -- but it's the Peking duck we ate together that truly shines at Wang's. It was as good as duck gets, with crisp mahogany skin and a moist interior. The server rolling the duck into pancakes tableside is a nice touch, too.

PB: It would have been no trick to make the wraps by hand, but after he brushed plum sauce on the pancake -- it's somewhere between a tortilla and a crepe in thickness -- he used chopsticks and a spoon to roll and fold them. Kind of entertaining.

JB: Peking duck used to be served as a dish called "Duck Three Ways." The skin is separated from the flesh with hot forced air (that's how it gets crisp), then served in the pancake. The meat was cooked with sprouts and served as another dish, and the bones were used to make soup, which was the third dish. I like the meat and the skin in my pancake, though.

Let's step back to appetizers, and those dynamite dumplings. The menu description of the Dumpling Hunan Style doesn't do them justice. Four steamed pork dumplings come in a bowl covered with a spicy mix of soy sauce, ginger, chile flakes, and sesame oil and seeds. I took the leftover sauce home and served it over noodles.

PB: I envied you heading home with that sauce, but you called it first. I would have been happy getting two orders of the dumplings -- and skipping the Lemon Pepper Calamari appetizer.

JB: The calamari was better when I ate it from the buffet at lunch. I was looking forward to trying it made-to-order at dinner, but there wasn't much flavor to it. On the buffet, the calamari was tender and there was much more seasoning. Speaking of the buffet, there's a much smaller selection at the Wang's we're reviewing on Park than the Downtown location (113 S. Main). And speaking of seasoning that's too mild, I was disappointed by the Scallop and Shrimp with Special Garlic Sauce. The description is "Spicy Hot!" -- yet the version we were served was clearly mild and also sweet. You know, I asked the server to be sure it was spicy. I wonder if he misunderstood and asked the kitchen to tame it.

PB: Your request could have been lost in translation. Our server's English was lovely, but it was clearly his second language. I ordered a glass of pinot noir and got a pinot grigio, but they were sweet about fixing the mistake.

JB: And opened a fresh bottle for me with no complaint when I complained about my wine. Service was courteous and attentive all around, even from Alex Ortega, the piano player. Ortega came to Memphis from New Orleans after Katrina, and I had plenty of time to visit with him while I waited on my dinner companion. We talked about New Orleans restaurants, and when he started playing, he tickled out a few New Orleans jazzy tunes.

PB: The temperature was about 96 late Friday afternoon, if I recall. And Wang's is air-conditioned, is it not? Too bad you had to wait a while in a cushy booth, while giving Mr. Ortega a list of your favorite songs to play. And being plied with offers of wine or cocktails.

I do admire that old-fashioned restaurant/lounge décor at Wang's -- sort of plush steakhouse, with Eastern flourishes in the furniture. And that occasional splash of neon on the walls is cool. It's a dramatic difference when you leave the parking lot on Park Avenue and enter Wang's world.

Final notes: Wang's needs a signature cocktail menu. Just a half-dozen or so would be fine, but give us something retro and campy -- maybe a Mai Tai or a Singapore Sling for starters. There are two bars in the restaurant, after all, and it's got such a cocktail-hour atmosphere that it seems a shame to squander it.

Second, if there's a hot pepper on the menu next to a dish, there needs to be heat in it. The servers could ask how spicy, on a one-to-five scale. Diners, on the other hand, can always send back a dish that isn't fiery enough and ask for more heat (it's hard to take it out, though).

The food that is done well is very good -- the duck entree ($22) is an example, as are the Hunan dumplings ($5). Ortega's piano playing -- Friday and Saturday nights -- is a big plus, of course. And it's a family-owned restaurant that's been in business for about 25 years, the kind of place we want to support.

-- Jennifer Biggs: 529-5223

-- Peggy Burch: 529-2392

Wang's Mandarin House

Address: 6065 Park Ave.

Telephone: (901) 763-0676

Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 4:30-10 p.m.

Price: $$

Handicapped access: Yes

Alcoholic beverages: Full bar

Don't miss: Peking Duck, Dumpling Hunan Style, Ta-Chin Chicken