Bruce and Kerry Sheen think of their customers as friends and family, and they look forward
to welcoming them back.

A preview of Wok Express

[April 25, 2015]  Saturday is the big day that most of Logan County has been waiting for: Bruce and Kerry Sheen are opening their new restaurant, Wok Express.

The Sheen's have put in new carpeting, painted, added some new fixtures and an all-new kitchen in the same location as First Wok on Keokuk Street, next to the railroad tracks. The place looks wonderful and refreshed.

To make it work, Bruce and Kerry brought in two world-class chefs to prepare the food: one from Nebraska and one from New York. They say that taste expectations in various parts of the country are different, and the new chefs have worked hard to tune the food to this locale. When you look you will see that many of your old favorites still on the menu, along with several new dishes.

Happiness for Melody Mack and
Steve Aughenbaugh is terrific Chinese food.

Friday night the Sheens treated 18 lucky Logan County residents to a sampling session of their new cuisine. And none of us minded being the Wok Express guinea pigs.

We got to taste-test about 15 different entrees and menu items. Since we were all First Wok veterans, we all had very experienced taste buds, and very high expectations. We were all coached ahead of time: this is the new Wok and all the recipes are new. Bruce asked us to weigh in on each recipe, asking if any changes needed to be made.

Bruce is excited about all the new dishes
his chefs have been cooking up.

The dishes were brought out one by one and passed around the table family style. The presentation was excellent.

As we tried each dish several things were apparent to us. First, all the food tasted very fresh. The meats and seafood and the vegetables all were at the peak of freshness and everyone commented on it. Even the brown rice seemed to be extra good.

Wok Express is cooking up dishes like this Sesame Chicken and all your other Chinese favorites
with a few new options like Mandarin duck.

Second, the preparation of each dish was perfect, from the Sesame Chicken to the Tangy Treasure. The textures were wonderful, the tenderness superb, and the coatings perfect. Nothing was over cooked or under cooked. Finally, the thing that always made Wok food excellent is the sauces, and the new sauce recipes were delightful. This indeed was the new Wok!

When we were finished, we were all beyond being stuffed because the food was just that good. It exceeded our expectations. We were all raving about the food.

The Wok Express is opening primarily as a Take-Out restaurant, but you can eat there at a table if you want. When you enter you will see the familiar sights and hear the familiar sounds: Bruce’s smiling face, pointing people to an open table while talking on the phone saying “Beef Broccoli, no problem. Fifteen minutes.”

Enjoy!

[Jim Youngquist - Photos by Jan Youngquist]