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Tribune reporter Shawn Robinson gave high marks to the new Peking City's sesame chicken, served with colorful fried rice.

The first time I visited Peking City was in June of 2020, during the thick of the COVID lockdown. I was there to photograph an abbreviated Sugar Festival parade featuring the Sugar Queen and her attendants.

The parking lot was empty, and the pavement radiated heat on a particularly hot early summer day. Of course, the restaurant was closed, which served as a sad reminder of what was happening in the world at large.

The scene was much different last Friday as Tribune reporter Shawn Robinson and I pulled into the parking lot at Peking City on our way to lunch. The lot was jam-packed with cars and trucks. The restaurant had been doing brisk business since reopening under new ownership recently.

Peking City's savory Mongolian beef, served with fried rice, doesn't disappoint.

Despite being crowded, Shawn and I were seated quickly and began scanning the menu. I have my two or three go-to items when I order Chinese takeout, usually Mongolian beef, pork fried rice or sweet and sour chicken. Once the server informed me that Mongolian beef could be as spicy (or mild) as I wanted, I went with it. Shawn ordered the sesame chicken, and we also ordered some crab rangoon, though our entrées came with a single crab rangoon or an egg roll.

As we waited for our food, new Peking City Owner Oscar Rios emerged from the back of the eatery to greet Shawn, who had written a story about the reopening of Peking City.

Rios is from the Saginaw area and has worked as a cook at numerous restaurants, including Panda Express, for more than 15 years.  He waited a long time to open his own restaurant, and he was happy that we had dropped by for lunch.

The hot and sour and egg drop soups at the new Peking City were thick, rich and flavorful.

Soon after, our extremely friendly server brought the appetizers. It's tough to mess up crab rangoon, and Peking City certainly didn't. If life has taught me anything, it's that you can't go wrong ordering fried cheese. The appetizer, as well as the standard egg rolls, came with spicy hot mustard that had a little heat to it. And by "little," I mean a lot, at least for somebody who isn't a huge fan of spicy food.

We had barely finished our appetizer when our entrées arrived. The fried rice that accompanies Peking City entrées is bright yellow and contains peas, green beans and lima beans, but no egg or meat. It was tasty, but it also benefited from a splash of soy sauce. Our server also brought out samples of the egg drop, hot and sour and wonton soups for us to try.

Peking City's wonton soup tasted like something grandma used to make, if grandma knew how to cook Chinese food, that is.

Here’s what Shawn had to say about his meal:

When I first walked into the restaurant, I didn’t know what to expect. Many community members and residents of Sebewaing said that the food was great, but I had to try it for myself.

I tried a variety of different appetizers to start, including egg rolls and egg drop and wonton soup. The egg rolls were pretty good and had lots of flavors. The two soups tasted good, but may have been just too thick in terms of the egg.

My main course was sesame chicken with fried rice. As a big fan of Chinese food, this is by far my favorite entrée, and boy, was it everything that I had expected. The glaze was fantastic and really made the meal. The chicken itself was well-cooked and still juicy and tender. The look of the yellow fried rice was new to me, as I'd never seen or had it like that before. It still tasted like fried rice that I've had from other Chinese restaurants, and it went well with the chicken.

Egg rolls and crab rangoon, with spicy hot mustard, can be found among the appetizers at the new Peking City in Sebewaing. 

Birdsall here. As for the Mongolian beef, it came loaded with green and white onions in a thick sauce served on a bed of rice noodles. I wasn't disappointed by the savory flavor or the portion size, and I couldn't quite finish everything on my plate.

I found the egg drop soup to be very rich and flavorful, with an emphasis on the "egg." The hot and sour soup, which is what I usually order, hit the mark with its contrasting flavors. The wonton soup included a hand-wrapped, dumpling-like wonton in a light broth laden with green onions and bamboo shoots. It got the job done.

As we settled up the tab, Shawn and I agreed our lunch had been worth the 30-minute drive from Bad Axe. Shawn's fortune cookie informed him he would soon receive some "wonderful" news. Unfortunately, my cookie contained two fortunes, canceling each other out, according to ancient Chinese tradition.

OK, maybe I just made that up, just like the fortune writer at the cookie factory.

Peking City is located at 747 N. Beck Ave. in Sebewaing and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and orders must be made at least 30 minutes before closing.

Rios is seeking part-time workers. Those interested are asked to call Oscar at 989-252- 3762.

Mark Birdsall has been the assistant editor of the Huron Daily Tribune since April 2022. Mark was first hired by the Tribune in the summer of 2019 to serve as sports editor, covering high school sports and running the Tribune's annual football contest. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Huron County and shut down high school sports in March 2020, Mark made a temporary move to news and officially joined the newsroom as a reporter in July 2021.

Prior to arriving at the Tribune, Mark was night desk editor for the Cadillac News, where he also helped out the sports department on busy high school football and basketball nights. He previously worked at the Holland Sentinel and the Greenville Daily News.

He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism from Grand Valley State University, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Lanthorn.

A native of Bay City, Mark is an avid fan of the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Michigan State Spartans and the Chicago Cubs. He's also a movie buff and enjoys attending live music events in his spare time.

Mark can be reached by phone at 989-623-3188 or by email at mark.birdsall@hearstnp.com