Location: 987 NW Second St., Prineville

Hours: Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday noon to 9 p.m.

Price Range: Lunch entrees $3.75 to $5.25, dinner entrees $5.50 to $8.25

Alcoholic Beverages: Full service

Kids’ Menu: Available

Reservations: Available

Credit Cards: Visa, MasterCard

Contact: 447-6115

PRINEVILLE – Got a hankering for Chinese food?

When in Prineville, do as many Prinevillians do. Go to Gee’s.

Gee’s Family Restaurant has been cooking in Crook County for years and has developed quite a following.

”Most of the customers are from town here,” said Gee’s manager, Gen Chu. ”They come over and over again.”

But more and more outsiders – from Redmond, Bend and beyond – are discovering the restaurant in the old building at the bottom of the grade, he said.

It’s the Cantonese cuisine that draws them. The small town, laid back ambience isn’t bad either. The eatery has a main dining room, a small fireplace dining area for cozy family meals and a banquet room upstairs.

Gen Chu and his father, Ying Poy Chu, hail from Canton, China, where the staples are rice, tea, and chicken and pork dishes.

The menu is extensive and varied. Gee’s favorites include chicken, shrimp and pork egg foo yung (served with seasoned rice), pork chow mein, and sweet and sour spare ribs.

Shrimp dishes include Szechuan shrimp (spicy), curry shrimp and cashew shrimp.

Favorite beef offerings include Mongolian beef (spicy), beef, tomato and green pepper, and Kung Pao beef (spicy).

Chicken is a mainstay. This section features more than a dozen different entrees including hot and spicy lemon chicken, General Tso chicken and Mandarin chicken.

Daily lunch specials run $5.25 and include soup or salad, tea and fortune cookies.

”We always try to treat our customers right and treat them the best we can,” said Gen’s sister, Tiffany Chu. Customers, for instance, can choose to have MSG included or left out.

You can also pick up a bacon cheeseburger, a 12-ounce New York steak (with sourdough bread and butter, soup or salad, baked potato or fries) or halibut steak (with same choices as the New York steak).

On the children’s menu are top sirloin steak, fish and chips, and grilled cheese.

There’s nothing fancy about this Prineville landmark. Just fare that keeps patrons coming back for more. ”It’s always good food,” said Gen Chu.

Jim Witty