An Ottawa landmark celebrated its 64th anniversary this past weekend. And hundreds lined up around the block to ‘help’. The Golden Palace restaurant welcomed well-wishers with an offer the fans couldn’t refuse: Half-price Egg Rolls!
Anniversary Egg Roll Special lineup at Ottawa’s legendary Golden Palace…
The Golden Palace’s open-ended Egg Rolls are nothing less than legendary. I never lived close to the Palace, but I – and legions of others – have gone out of our way over the years to pick up a dozen of their unparalleled Egg Rolls.
Let me start by saying I’m a big fan of open-ended Egg Rolls, even though many folks think ‘proper’ Egg Rolls should be closed-ended. That’s a prejudice entrenched in the Western Mind by many decades of ‘Cantonese-style’ American Chinese Food menus that only offered the closed version. Open-ended Egg Rolls only became common on Chinese Food menus in the late 1970s to early 1980s.
A little history
The Egg Roll is an entirely American Chinese creation. Though they do owe homage to the classic Chinese Spring Roll. The Spring Roll, however, features a much thinner, translucent crust and traditionally incorporates somewhat different fillings.
Two chefs from separate New York City restaurants claimed to have invented it around the same time, in the early 1930s. Lung Fong of Lung Fong’s, and Henry Low of Port Arthur are said to have both staunchly defended their claims over the ensuing years.
The earliest published mention of Egg Rolls is believed to be a recipe from the Cook at Home in Chinese (1938). Ingredients included, bamboo shoots, roast pork, shrimp, scallions, water chestnuts, salt, MSG, sugar, palm oil, and pepper. Oddly, it doesn’t mention cabbage, which is the most abundant ingredient in modern Egg Roll fillings.
No, there are no eggs in Egg Rolls. But they do bundle up a lot of good, nutritious things. Some say Egg Rolls are a tribute to Asian egg symbolism – honouring fertility, wholeness (as in the family unit) and prosperity – gold for the yolk, silver for the white.
Personal observations
First of all… I as introduced to the open-ended Egg Roll by the Golden Palace, back in the late 1970s, when I was a general assignment reporter for ‘Ottawa’s Leading Radio News Voice’. I used to take the long way home from the station after work to hit the Palace for a half-dozen of their crunchy little golden gems. Back then, I recall they cost $0.75 each. And that was very agreeable to me on my bottom-of-the-pecking-order salary.
But as time took its majestic and inevitable course, my beloved Egg Rolls shot up to $1.00 apiece. But that didn’t deter me. Only when I moved to a totally different part of town in the mid-80s did my link with the Palace become tenuous. I dropped back from one or two trips a week to one or two a month. But then, other American Chinese-style restos were offering pretty good (though generally not great) open-ended Egg Rolls.
Now, Golden Palace charges $2.65 each for its classic Egg Rolls. And I guess that’s to be expected – and fair – under the current economy.
Price no object?
Price was certainly no deterrent for the hundreds of fans who lined up for half-price Egg Rolls this past Saturday. Some said they had set their alarms for 5 a.m. so they could be first in line, or close to it. The Palace doesn’t open until 11. Resto staff told reporters they had prepared in 6,400 extra Egg Rolls for the birthday event. It’s been an annual tradition for the past 14 years.
If you wish you had been there, you can have the Palace’s famous Egg Rolls shipped to you. They’ve travelled all over the world!
“It gives us goosebumps, we’ve been dealing with five generations,” reminisced resto manager Sam Wong. “Imagine that, five generations of families. When you come to work every day it’s like family. You see, babies, parents and grandparents.”
My take
I agree wholeheartedly with Evan Richins, who achieved a spot close to the front of the line.
“This is the only really good Chinese restaurant that’s left,” Richins insisted. “There aren’t many left. And half off! I’ve loved egg rolls my whole life. I can eat them forever.”
I can’t argue with, or improve on that…
~ Maggie J.