On a recent Thursday night, the large dining room of Taste of D-Light, a Bryant restaurant that has been open for nine years, was sparsely populated, but I can't figure out why.
   Even though the late-evening customer base was small, the restaurant, which has a distinctly Oriental feel to the outside with a well-manicured lawn and flowery fountain, and on the inside with framed, glittery kimonos on the walls, was worth a visit if only for the crab rangoon -- hot, creamy, not too greasy and stuffed to the brim with sweet goodness.
   Taste of D-Light's entree portions of Chinese and Vietnamese food are generous and, unless you're with a group or really ready to stuff down some serious food, an appetizer might be too much, as we learned the hard way.
   We ordered the Pu Pu Platter appetizer ($7.50) -- which comes with two each of ribs, crab rangoon, chicken wing, beef stick and fried wonton. The platter was served with a little flaming iron grill in the middle, which my dining companion thought must mean that everything should be charred really well on top of it before eating. I figured it was just nifty decoration, but either way the food was warm enough for me without putting it over the flames. The ribs were kind of dry and not heavily seasoned; the beef sticks were sweet with pineapple and veggies and had a cherry on top. The wonton and chicken wings were very crispy, too much for my taste, but all were overshadowed by the delicious rangoon.
   For the main meal, I ordered the House Chicken ($7.95), which comes with shrimp and is in a sesame sauce, and my dining companion ordered the Four Delights of Kung Pau ($10.95) which includes shrimp, beef, scallops and chicken. Each entree can be made into a Complete Dinner for $2.30 more and includes soup and one each of egg roll, crab rangoon, chicken wing and dessert.
   For those not getting an appetizer, I would recommend getting this. The soup choices were hot-and-sour, egg drop or wonton -- the hot-and-sour was thick and chunky with a kick and very good. The wonton was also good -- salty with firm dumplings and green onions floating in the broth.
   My House Chicken entree included thick chunks of chicken and big pieces of shrimp breaded and fried and covered in a sweet soy sauce along with snow peas, onion, bell pepper and water chestnuts. Because I was so stuffed from the appetizer, I took most of it home, and it reheated very well.
   My dining companion said his entree was spicy with red chili peppers and no shortage of meat. The many peanuts in the dish soaked up all the heat and pretty much drowned out the light scallops but went well with the other meats. We shared a heaping plate of steamed rice, but fried rice was also an option. The dessert was a simple little shortcake dish with syrupy strawberries and whipped cream on top.
   If Taste of D-Light was hurting for customers on the weekdays, it more than made up for it on Sunday, the only day the restaurant opens up the buffet ($8.60 or $9.60 with a drink).
   The dining room was just about full, and it was easy to see why -- the buffet had rice and all manner of saucy stuff to top it with like the old standby General Chicken, as well as Pepper Steak and Twice-baked Pork and Imperial Shrimp. The bar also had sides of boiled shrimp and cocktail sauce, fresh fruit, Szechuan green beans, chicken on a stick, egg rolls, sushi, mussels on the half shell, wontons, fried doughnuts and the fabulous crab rangoon -- did I mention those? The waiters also asked me what kind of soup I wanted.
   Then there was the whole table devoted to desserts, like thick chocolate pudding, which my dining companion went crazy over, and probablynot-from-scratch but just as welcome sweets like German chocolate cake, turtle and plain cheesecakes and carrot cake. All the desserts were sliced very thin -- as if they wanted you to be sure to try them all -- which I pretty much did.
   My favorite buffet dish -- besides the rangoon -- was the General Chicken, which was sweet at first but left my mouth full of heat afterward. Dining Companion's favorites were the Twice-baked Pork, which he said was also spicy, and the Imperial Shrimp, which was a kind of broccoli and shrimp succotash.
   The only negative thing I could say about the Sunday buffet is that the restaurant seemed to have trouble with such a large crowd and the drink refills were kind of slow; because of all that spicy stuff, my glass was empty often.
   

TASTE OF D-LIGHT Address:
3200 N. Reynolds Road, Bryant

Hours:
11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Buffet:
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday only.

Cuisine:
Chinese and Vietnamese

Credit cards:
V, MC, AE, D

Alcoholic beverages:
No

Reservations:
No

Carryout:
Yes

Wheelchair accessible:
Yes

(501) 847-6267

This story was published Friday, October 06, 2006