Before the rush of late-night debauchees and bawdy country music lovers line up outside KAM’S, another nearby location boasts its own long lines during the day.

Home of Gourmet Chinese and Thai Restaurant, commonly known as “Home of Gourmet,” is a small restaurant located on 604 E. Daniel St. in Champaign, next door to KAM’S bar. Students come and go during the day to grab some food before class or sit down for a meal. However, the ethnic dish that may bring some of these long lines is the lemongrass beef, a popular dish among University students.

“Out of all of the Chinese restaurants on campus, I think this one is closest to the authentic style of Chinese food I have in my hometown,” said Bing Zhu, junior in Engineering and international student from China.

In late 2012, House of Gourmet was taken over by a new management team whose first course of action was to remodel the entire kitchen and replace all appliances.

“The quality of the dishes has improved a lot. The lemongrass beef has always been good though,” Zhu said.

To make this dish, Xiowei Deng, chef at Home of Gourmet, mixes lemongrass, fish sauce, sugar, oil and a “special” sauce. Beef strips are then sliced and marinated in the mixture for approximately 20 minutes. After marinating, the strips are grilled and served with rice.

According to Deng, this recipe comes from his hometown, a small southern village of China in the Henan Province.

“When I was growing up, we sometimes didn’t have all of the ingredients to make this dish, or sometimes we would have too many leftover ingredients,” Deng said. “We would just mix whatever we had together to make the ‘special’ sauce. I remember we used grounded water chestnuts once. It was very good.”

Of course, at Home of Gourmet, the “special” sauce is no longer a mishmash of leftovers. It is instead a combination of Asian spices and savory sauces.

The lemongrass beef dish, prepared in the sauce, is always on the restaurant’s menu. Sometimes the dish is also available in the serving area. House of Gourmet has a unique layout where the center of the restaurant is laid out like a cafeteria. Customers can go up to a serving area where employees dish out a variety of entrees. Occasionally, the lemongrass beef will be served there as well.

“It’s a very popular choice. Many people order it during the busy hours at lunch, so sometimes we like to put it out in our serving area, too,” Deng said.

Jennie Carr, senior in LAS, said the dish changed her mind about Asian food.

“I wasn’t really into Chinese food and my friend made me come here. The first dishes I ordered were the lemongrass beef and bok cho,” she said. “The best part about this place is that it’s relatively cheap too.”

A typical lunch consisting of two entrees, a serving of rice, and a drink, all from the serving area, is $5.50. The lemongrass beef is $6.99 and served with rice and a drink as well.

With lines out the door and the inexpensive price of meals, it may be worth it to give this restaurant a try. Home of Gourmet Chinese and Thai restaurant is open on Mondays until 5 p.m. and on Tuesday through Saturday until 10 p.m. Online orders, delivery and catering are available through www.gourmetcu.com or by phone.

Jolie can be reached at [email protected].