REAL Chinese food!

[groovedaddy]

Op-Ed Contributors - NY Times
Eating Beyond Sichuan
By NINA ZAGAT and TIM ZAGAT
Published: June 15, 2007

TWENTY years ago, American perceptions of Asian food could be summed up in one word: “Chinese.” Since then, we have developed appetites for Korean, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese fare. Yet while the quality of the restaurants that serve these cuisines, particularly Japanese, has soared in America, Chinese restaurants have stalled. For American diners, the Chinese restaurant experience is the same tired routine — unimaginative dishes served amid dated, pseudo-imperial décor — that we’ve known for years.

Chinese food in its native land is vastly superior to what’s available here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/opinion/15zagat.html?th&emc=th

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. chinese food in india is YUMMY

here is fatty and bland and crappy

[crispini]

2. I've been to China, and it is perfectly possible

to get "real" Chinese food here, you just have to go to the Chinese sections of your city instead of going to the Chinese restaurants meant for Americans. :D That said, there are indeed certain dishes in China that I've never been able to find here in anywhere near the same quantity of yumminess! :D

[NewJeffCT]

3. Most Chinese food here is nothing like Chinese food in China

Or, in real Chinese restaurants here in the US.

Chinese food here often gets coated with this sweet brown sauce that my Chinese wife absolutely hates. And, after dating my wife for a few months, I grew to dislike brown sauce as well, and I had never really eaten Chinese food before dating her. (I had never had sushi or sashimi, either, for that matter)

Unfortunately, one of the three authentic Chinese restaurants in the west of Hartford, CT area recently shut down... :-(

[spinbaby]

4. Well, duh!

ALL food in its native land is vastly superior to what's available here.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. I think this is true of many ethnic cuisines.

Mexican immigrants come here... or Chinese immigrants come here... and some of them choose to open restaurants, and because they often don't have much money, they open up in low-rent holes-in-the-wall, or little road side trailers. And the food is fucking delicious. But after years and year of success, they open up larger restaurants with the tacky decor, and their dishes are watered down by tasteless american palates. This dish is too spicy! This one needs more ketchup! Where are the hamburgers on your menu?! And so it all goes down hill.

So look for very good chinese, or any foriegn food, in dingy hole-in-the-wall type places. Don't be afraid. It's possible you might not get a good meal. But there's a damn good chance you'll find something divine.

[spinbaby]

6. I think I have a new immigration plan

Anyone can come into the country anytime they want as long as they open a restaurant featuring their native cuisine.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Yes, I'll never forget taking my sister to an Ethiopian restaurant, and she ordered spaghetti.

One of two non-Ethiopian dishes the restaurant offered, in case of picky kids.

Sigh.

I think she was hesitant about the food to begin with, but after we arrived and she saw no silverware on the table, I think that was the end of any chance of her eating Ethiopian.

[bicentennial_baby]

8. Ha! That's like when I took someone to a Morrocan restaurant and they

ordered....Angel Hair with Marinara... :o

When I asked how it was, she replied "Too spicy!"

:rofl:

[kwassa]

9. Chinese food in LA is great, but not here in the East

The Chinese food in LA is so good because of the huge recent immigrant population of Chinese there, who cook for other Chinese, and don't make the oily and sweet Americanized version, which I can't stand, and is all that there seems to be around here.

I still haven't found a place in the DC area that cooks in the way that I like.

LA is great for inexpensive and delicious ethnic food restaurants.