I saw a billboard advertising Wendy’s Asian Sweet & Spicy Wings. Checkers sells teriyaki wings. Pizza Hut has 30 flavors of wings with zing. When my dad transitioned from running full-service, full-menu Chinese restaurants to developing a new fast-food business model and creating Atlanta’s original “honey-braised wings” in the 1980’s, wings were cheap and often discarded. He experimented and sold several versions over the years. The first ones were marinated, fried wings sold in Cumberland Mall in 1976. Then came others with different sauces, stir-fried with peppers and onions, lightly-breaded and finally, honey-braised–all pre-dating the ascendance of orange-colored buffalo wings and sports bars.

I remember smelling like a big chicken wing after working all day in the restaurant. I hand-carried braised wings on the airplane during visits from college, and had everyone on the airplane sniffing and licking their lips in my direction. My mom referred to the old Chinese proverb, “Buddha jumped over the fence” when I craved braised wings as a vegetarian and how I would “jump the fence” to the meat side. I am eternally grateful to my father and his entrepreneurial instincts—the success of these restaurants helped me pay for college.

There’s a lot more competition these days and the economy has been hard on the family business. The eggrolls are still made fresh by hand, served with sweet tea, of course, and I still crave the original honey braised wings. It’s a little place with a steam table and clean booths.  Don’t expect gourmet. But if you have a craving for Asian chicken (sesame, orange, General Tso’s), fried rice (only place I will eat), traditional-style eggrolls (thicker skin) and good quality Chinese fast-food (not an oxymoron) at recession prices, check out China Cafeteria.

Two original China Cafeteria locations remain, 2910 Rainbow Drive, Decatur, across from S.Dekalb Mall and  4231 Snapfinger Woods Dr across from Wesley Chapel Home Depot. Beware of imitators with the same or similar name but lower quality ingredients! Only these two locations are under our management. Check out the website!