ARLINGTON – The Herald readers who e-mailed me about one of their favorite restaurants warned me it has a strange-sounding name and serves an unusual combination: Chinese food and pizza.
But they described Pedeltweezer’s as “one of the best-kept secrets in north Snohomish County.”
Pedeltweezer’s is located in the Haggen Shopping Center, and owners Michelle and Xiao Oin opened the restaurant about 18 months ago. It’s a small place with three booths and several stools for eating at the counter or waiting for take-out orders. The kitchen is open. The owners livened the place with bold, primary colors that are common to China and Italy.
The pizza menu includes traditional Italian choices. For example, customers can build their own pizza from ingredients including pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushroom, tomatoes, red onions, black olives ($14.99 for a medium with six toppings).
Sounds pretty normal, right?
The unusual pizzas have Asian toppings. For example, there’s the Thai chicken pizza with the traditional grilled chicken and peanut sauce along with red onions, carrots, mushrooms, peanuts and cashews ($13.99 for a medium). The Genghis Khan has beef, yellow onions, deep-fried rice noodles, mushrooms, garlic and the chef’s special sauce.
We found the idea of combining Chinese food and pizza dough intriguing, but we ordered from the traditional Chinese dishes. The menu includes standard selections such as egg rolls, chow mein and prawns with snow peas. The weekday lunch specials include pizza ($6.95) and Chinese choices ($5.95)
On a recent Saturday visit near the end of the lunch hour, my friend and I decided on individual dinners rather than multiple separate entrees. He ordered the soup, almond chicken, egg roll and fried rice plate ($7.95), and I chose the soup, Mongolian beef, pot stickers and fried rice combo ($8.95).
We both asked for the hot and sour soup. It arrived steaming, and had enough red pepper flakes to cauterize my winter throat. I asked my lunch companion if I was just hungry or if the soup was just a notch better than others. He felt it was just a little tastier. Our fried rice was fluffy and accented with the standard scrambled egg, peas and carrot squares, but was enhanced with bits of barbecued pork, which made it just a tad tastier than usual.
With our first bites, we knew we’d ordered delicious dishes. My friend’s almond chicken was lightly breaded and fried, then covered with one of the tastiest almond sauces I have eaten. The sauce on my Mongolian beef was better than most, as was the dipping sauce for my pot stickers.
We didn’t try the “chef’s special sauce” on the Genghis Khan pizza, but we decided that all the sauces we did taste really made our lunch.
Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs. Contact Anna Poole at features@heraldnet.com.
Pedeltweezer’s
20265 NE 74th Ave, Arlington
360-403-8382
Specialty: Chinese and pizza
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; noon to 9 p.m. Saturday; noon to 8 p.m. Sunday
Price range: inexpensive
Liquor: none
Smoking: not permitted
Reservations: none taken
Vegetarian: Choices in all categories
Disabled accessibility: easy access
Credit cards: American Express, Master Card, Visa
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