Mock meats at North Sea Restaurant

Something about the approaching holidays makes me crave Chinese food, especially the excellent mock meats I've enjoyed in Philly and New York's Chinatowns. For a local fix, I consulted VegDC's mockmeat listings and found North Sea Restaurant, located at 2479 18th St NW. Its elaborate "Asian Fusion" menu includes Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese dishes, as well as sushi and organic options.

North Sea has a cramped yet cozy dine-in area. The restaurant focuses more on take out and delivery than table service. They also do brisk cigarettes, gum, and alcohol sales at the front counter. The beer and wine is actually to-go only. (The patient waitress had to explain this to several tables the night I was there.) The to-go dinner rush was great people-watching. Chardonnay seemed to be the most popular carry-out pairing.  

Above are the main dishes that we ordered, featuring the two types of soy-bean mock meats available. (Sadly, they didn't have veggie shrimp on the menu anymore, as the VegDC listing describes.) On the left is the Hunan Stir-fry "Chicken" and on the right is the Kung Pao Peanut "Beef." The veggie chicken dish had a variety of vegetables and a tasty brown sauce. The veggie beef dish was much spicier with some serious hot peppers. We were also able to score brown rice (for an extra fee).   

We had two standard appetizers: steamed dumplings and spring rolls. These apps shared the same veggie filling but came with different sauces. They were served on unappetizing beds of iceberg lettuce. Still, I'm glad we ordered them, as our entrées took awhile, perhaps due to the brown rice request or the highly popular carry-out menu.