The Silver Spring Penguin

Dear Councilmember Trachtenberg,I know that trans fats are bad for me, that deep frying dark-meat chicken and smothering it in tangy sauce sets a bad example for the county’s youth.

But if loving the sesame chicken at Spring Garden (8613 16th St) is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right.

Sure, I’ve tried the Chinese restaurant’s theoretically lower-trans-fat stir fries. The moist chicken with crisp, antioxidant-rich broccoli ($8) is okay. But its brown sauce cries for bright scallions and fragrant ginger to accentuate the soy sauce’s natural sweetness.

I’ve also ordered the Szechuan chicken ($8) — tough, stir-fried strings of chicken buried in an overwhelming, high-fiber pile of julienned celery. But its brown sauce also lacks balance and doesn’t deliver on the advertised heat.

So the sirens of the deep fryer beckon me. Spring Garden’s trans fat trifecta — a beautiful platter of shrimp, chicken and beef, all deep fried ($15) — sings to me.

The plump shrimp is lightly battered, submerged in scalding oil and then served with fried walnuts and a tangy, sweet-and-sour sauce. The General Tso’s chicken is equally indulgent, with moist chunks of dark-meat chicken battered, fried and glazed with an orange-accented sauce.

The dish’s third component — crispy beef strips — is somewhat muted by a thin batter seasoned overwhelmingly with sesame. What results is more nutty than meaty.

I’ve also been lured by the sesame chicken ($9), moist chunks of dark meat that are battered, deep fried until crisp and then shellacked with a syrupy glaze. The sweet glaze is balanced nicely with nutty sesame seeds.

With such good food from the fryer, how can trans fats be so bad?

Respectfully,

The Penguin

Spring Garden, 8613 16th St, Silver Spring, (301) 588-9337.