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Fresh Creative Studios
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Victoria Quirk Photo
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Fresh Creative Studios
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Chefs, restaurateurs, and life partners, Gracie Nguyen and Chad Newton have no shortage of terrific ideas for restaurants in Nashville. It started during the pandemic when the couple, undaunted, opened East Side Banh Mi on Gallatin Pike. In rapid-fire succession, they followed that success with East Side Pho (2022), Sweeza Super Quesadilla (2023), and Fly Pelican Fly (2025), a tropical, all-day refresher, all three in East Nashville’s food hall, The Wash. While all of these concepts have been well embraced by the community, none have been matched by the lines and overriding enthusiasm for their latest: Golden Prawn #3, a Chinese American takeout spot in East’s Riverside Village.
Golden Prawn #3 taps into the nostalgia of the Chinese takeout experience.
Victoria Quirk Photo
You recognize it once you go through their door—the wok sizzle in the kitchen, the aromatics of onions, peppers, ginger, and soy, the steam table laden with colorful stir-fries. You recognize it again once you’re back home, unpacking the white paper takeout boxes by their wire handles, filled with the likes of chow mein, fried rice, Broccoli Beef, and Moo Goo Gai Pan. You remember dumping out the packets of soy sauce, hot mustard, and wooden chopsticks (some you’d have to snap apart), looking for the fortune cookie.
Such evocative memories bring true pleasure, but here’s the best part: The takeout from Golden Prawn #3 tastes better than what you remember. In developing the menu, Nguyen and Newton draw on their seasoned skills as chefs, their dedication to fine ingredients, and their own dining memories from living on the West Coast.
“Growing up in Mountain View, California, I had access to many great Chinese takeout places, several right along Castro Street,” recalls Newton. “One I loved so much, I would visit two to three times a week!”
The couple worked closely together on each recipe.
“Gracie has wok skills. We would talk through a dish; she would make it, and we’d taste,” says Newton. “I drew on my memories—like, it’s almost there, not quite, maybe it needs a little more of this—until we got a dish where we want it. We enjoy the collaboration.”
The setup at Golden Prawn #3 is straightforward: come up to the counter and place your order; you’ll see it assembled from soup to fortune cookie. Pay at the end, grab your sack, and go. The space is compact—much of it devoted to the kitchen and service area. On the wall to the right hangs an assortment of framed Chinese takeout menus—many of them vintage. This is Gracie and Chad’s homage to places they have loved, and the era itself. (You’ll notice Corner Asian in Brentwood, their local favorite.) There are eight seats along counters at the storefront windows where you can dine in, if you desire, and if space allows.
They’ve arranged the menu for easy ordering. From the daily hot line, you pick your entrée, your house fried rice or chow mein (can’t decide? They offer the half-and-half option). For modest upcharges, you can order up to three entrées with your side. Soup, vegetarian spring rolls, and pork-shrimp potstickers are also available as add-ons.
For our first visit, we ordered the Orange Chicken—fragrant, with the right citrusy zing; the Sweet & Sour Pork—with wok-fried meat, peppers, and pineapple nestled in that glossy orange-red sauce, a childhood favorite; and the Mongolian Beef. This one was the sleeper—the slices of beef were succulent and tender; the brown sauce, amply bolstered with scallions and enoki mushrooms, perhaps with a hint of star anise. We had to get half-and-half sides—chow mein and fried rice—and were happy with both. To round out our feast, we added the spring rolls (hand-filled and rolled, crispy and delicious), potstickers (also handcrafted, very tasty!), and a cup of egg drop soup (silken and savory, with cubes of tofu). Everything was packaged carefully to ensure a safe ride home.
Our meal was so good—fresh and flavorful; the sauces had balance and complexity—nothing too sweet or cloying—and left us with the feeling: We must go back to try other dishes. And there’s plenty to beckon you back: Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet & Spicy Eggplant, Salt & Pepper Shrimp, Spicy Hunan Beef, and Shredded Pork in Garlic Sauce. Menu items are, of course, available à la carte, packed in the traditional white containers with wire handles, ready to share with family and friends.
One last word: the fortune cookie. The Golden Prawn #3 team has composed the fortunes themselves. Our little strip of paper read: “Your lucky numbers are 615-964-7467. Oh, wait—that’s our phone number!” Pretty clever, Golden Prawn #3, as we’d say having that number handy is very lucky indeed.