Fresh, and It Won't Bust the Budget

Healthy Chinese takeout isn't always an oxymoron. Red Mei, which calls itself a "fresh Asian cafe," serves up simple takes on favorite Chinese and Thai dishes.

Brothers Jehat and Yusuf Mehmetoglu opened the restaurant last year in Old Town Alexandria. Inspired by his work in several local Asian restaurants, Jehat set a goal of improving standard dishes with ingredients that were more healthful. He also consulted with Thai friends to plan the restaurant's small, affordable menu.

"All our sauces are made here from scratch, and the vegetables are fresh," he says. Dishes are prepared with peanut oil, but the restaurant will substitute olive oil for those with peanut allergies.

More than half of the restaurant's business is takeout and delivery, but customers can also stay and eat by capturing one of the 30 seats.

The menu includes two starters ($3.19 and $3.99), three salads ($6.19 to $6.89) and two kids' options ($3.95), but it consists mostly of entrees, served with a scoop of steamed white rice (all $5.99). Customers have the option of ordering most of the dishes with either chicken, beef or shrimp. Everything is cooked to order in woks on burners near the front of the restaurant, and dishes can be customized to incorporate more vegetables, fewer peanuts or light oil. The vegetables are crunchy, the flavors are vivid and the food is always steaming hot.

Jehat Mehmetoglu says the restaurant goes through a few crates of lemons each week, and in several dishes the lemon flavor shines through. The tangy pad Thai is a terrific rendition of the popular noodle dish, with zesty, light rice noodles, crisp bean sprouts and snap peas, and soft tofu. The chicken in the Thai Ginger Garlic Chicken has been known to be dry, but fresh broccoli and the punch of chili peppers, cilantro and visible flecks of ginger in a lemon-based hot sauce help make up for it. Red Mei Spicy Shrimp is the restaurant's version of General Tso's, served with bamboo shoots, green onions and peppers in a hot, spicy sauce.

Nothing dazzlingly new or adventurous; just familiar flavors and clean preparations. As Mehmetoglu says, when food is truly made to order, it "will always taste better."

Red Mei, 602 King St., Alexandria. Open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday noon-9 pm. Call 703-837-0094.

-- Erin Hartigan