Little Rock's best kept secret and turning 40-years-old

Since I live in scenic Benton, Ark., and commute about 20 miles a day to get to work in Little Rock, I wind up going out for lunch quite a bit.

My friend Dave and I head to a spot called the Chinese Kitchen at 11401 N. Rodney Parham Road quite a bit. We love the heck out of it as it's both inexpensive and tasty as can be.

Just today, I got pepper steak with an egg roll (a darn good one if you like that type of thing) and some of the best fried rice on the planet (just a little egg, soy sauce and pork -- nothing weird). Throw in a root beer and my bill came to $5.48. Outstanding.

I've never had anything bad there, in fact. The portions are plentiful, the ingredients are fresh and you just can't beat the place if you're interested in some Chinese food for lunch (or whenever else).

There are only a few drawbacks to the place, really. The lunch menu could stand to be a little larger and they make a very good catfish fillet (seriously!) but don't provide lemon for it. Also, the restaurant is very small as it seems to be mostly geared for takeaway orders (we've never had a problem finding a table, though). Finally, the restaurant is closed on Monday and that's thrown us for a loop at least twice.

There are a few places off the beaten path in Little Rock that are well worth discovering. The Chinese Kitchen is one of them.

Turning 40-years-old sucks

As I whined about last week, my 40th birthday was on June 16. I'm not happy about it one bit.

Luckily, I made it home on the afternoon of my birthday from some out-of-town meetings. The kids are gone (my son is in northwest Arkansas visiting my wife's family and my daughter is at a Girl Scout camp) so we'll have the place to ourselves until Friday afternoon.

That's pretty nice, actually. We've not been able to do things like finish conversations with each other for years.

Hanging out with my wife without a child running past and making racket every few minutes has certainly taken the edge off of officially hitting middle age. Don't get me wrong -- having the kids back in the house will be great. Regardless, I'm enjoying the quiet.