Tag Archives: Hood River

Paving impact to end before you might want to visit China Gorge for lunch, dinner

Good news, dining connoisseurs: The contractor working on repaving the section of Highway 35 that passes near Grace Su’s China Gorge says crews will finish their work early Thursday morning and move operations south of the Button Junction intersection.

John Arambul, project manager for Kerr Construction, says work should be finished by mid-morning on Thursday.

As the crew moves paving operations southward up the hill, it will configure traffic to allow one lane of travel in each direction to avoid any delays.

“When we delay traffic, we delay our trucks trying to reach us with asphalt,” Arambul says.

Work will start at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, and wrap up in the area of the Button Junction intersection around 8:30 a.m.

For you diners looking to join Grace Su’s China Gorge for lunch at 11 a.m., no worries — we’ll be open, and accessible.

The contractor has assured the Oregon Department of Transportation that it will complete work on the repaving and striping project by July 20. The paving work will stretch several miles south along Oregon 35, past Odell.

Crews will repave a section of Historic Oregon Hwy 30 in front of Grace Su’s on the morning of Monday, July 16, a day that the restaurant is normally closed.

Grace Su urges hungry diners to push through paving project, for free appetizer with dinner of $20 or more

The Oregon Department of Transportation has begun a major paving and striping project that will affect traffic flow on Oregon 35 south from its intersection at Button Junction with the historic Columbia River Highway (near Tum-a-Lum and Grace Su’s China Gorge).

Grace Su assures us that the China Gorge will be glad to provide quick take-out meals for motorists stuck in expected delays of up to 20 minutes. Beyond that, she’s offering an incentive to customers inconvenienced by the construction work:

FREE FOOD!

To be more specific, Grace is offering customers a free appetizer worth up to $4.95 on every order of $20 or more. The offer is good until the construction delays end near the China Gorge.

ODOT says work hours are 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Work started Monday, June 25. This will continue through the week. No work is planned after 3 p.m. on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday. During the paving, flaggers and pilot cars will be assisting road users through all legs of the intersection. ODOT says drivers should expect delays while traveling through this area.

Even though the project presents some travel challenges for motorists hoping to access the best Chinese food in the Gorge (in our humble opinion, but you do agree, don’t you?), it figures to leave us all better off when the work is done.

ODOT plans to re-pave an 8-mile section of Oregon 35, install rumble strips and re-stripe the Button Junction intersection to create a left-turn lane for northbound traffic heading toward downtown Hood River. After it’s all done, ODOT hopes the changes will improve northbound traffic flow.

Paving will continue south from Button Junction to Willow Flat Road at milepost 94 — about 1.5 miles south of the Odell turnoff.

As we all know, that stretch of road is a bit battered. Among other things, it’s developed a washboard surface on the uphill just south of Hood River.

ODOT says that in addition to the main roadway, the highway shoulders will be paved to provide a better surface for bicyclists.

The project also will install rumble strips, to help keep drivers in their travel lane and out of the brush. The stretch of road has become infamous for traffic accidents, and ODOT hopes the rumble strips will reduce the number of head-on, side-swipe and off-road accidents. The rumble strips are being installed on the center line and both edges of the highway, where feasible.

To improve northbound flow, ODOT is re-striping the Button Junction intersection to provide a dedicated left turn lane onto State Street. Cross walks will be installed at the intersection making it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists to get through the intersection.

The project is expected to last one month and will involve single-lane closures with flaggers. Road surface grinding and paving was to begin June 18, but was pushed back to this week. It will take place at night, after 10 p.m. Other work will be during the day.

The project will be fully complete before July 30.

Pile Mom’s plate high with love — and eight entrees — from Mother’s Day Buffet

Any day should be Mother’s Day, but only May 13 is (the official) Mother’s Day.

That means Mother’s Day is just two weeks away. If you’ve been wracking your brain for a way to say, “Mom, you’re the best, and I love you so much that I’m taking you to Grace Su’s China Gorge for dinner,” then we’re here to help.

What Mom wouldn’t love Grace Su’s Mother’s Day Buffet? It features eight entrees:

1. General Tso’s Chicken
2. Salt and Pepper Calamari
3. Honey Glazed Shrimp and Walnuts
4. Singapore Noodles
5. Vegetable Fried Rice
6. Stir-fried Green Beans with Pork
7. Stir-fried Beef with Vegetables
8. Crab Puffs

All this, for the Mom-would-be-so-proud-of-y0ur-thrifty-ways price of $16.95 a person.

Don’t forget, bring Mom in with you, and she also gets a free dessert.

Broccoli chicken saves the day for Weight-Watching fan of Grace Su’s China Gorge

Just because you love the food at Grace Su’s China Gorge doesn’t mean you have to abandon the menu entirely if you decide to pursue a better body weight.

Just ask Theresa Draper of Parkdale, Ore., a small farm town about 20 miles south of Hood River, which is itself an hour east of foodie Mecca, Portland.

Bins of bounty at Draper Girls Country Farm near Parkdale, Ore.

Draper runs the orchard at the family’s Draper Girls Country Farm. But at the end of the day, when she’s done selling gorgeous pears and apples and more, she loves Chinese food. Orange chicken. Sweet and sour shrimp.

“I love her stuff,” Draper says. “I can’t eat anywhere else, that place is so good to me. The food is so fresh.”

So she had a moment’s pause when her niece invited her to attend a Weight Watchers group in The Dalles. Weight Watchers assigns point values to different foods.

More points is bad.

Fewer is better.

Draper gets 26 points per day, to spread across 24 hours.

“It depends on the person’s weight, how many points you get,” she says. “I have the lowest points you can have.”

She thought that might nix Chinese food for her. After all, several items similar to items found on the menu at Grace Su’s China Gorge carry hefty point values.

General Tso’s chicken? 17 points.

Orange-ginger beef? 15 points.

But when Draper scanned the menu, compared it to information in her “Weights Watchers Points Plus Dining Out Companion,” she found good news. Broccoli beef steps lightly on the Weight Watchers scale — at just 4 points.

“I was so happy to find that because you don’t go over your points,” she says.

She says chicken costs fewer points than beef, so she goes for the Broccoli chicken. In addition to the main ingredients, it contains garlic, rice wine, light soy sauce and carrots, says Grace Su.

“It was really really good, too,” Draper says. “For me, I feel like it’s a really good, light dish.”