# What's Your Order: "Chinese"



## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

I guess we can have a thread for all the different ethnic foods, but I think probably the most popular here in the USA, and the most standard (meaning, unlike Italian or Mexican food, no matter where you are in the country, most "Chinese" is the same)...also note the quotation marks. I know that what we consider Chinese food is not actually food from China, but a bastardized American version of what we think Chinese people eat.

Anyway...I like:

Spare Ribs (I know I know, but they taste so damn good)
Dumplings (oh that ginger sauce!)
and either Moo Shoo Chicken or Garlic Shrimp

How about it AAAC Forumites...what do you order when you order "Chinese"?


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## pt4u67 (Apr 27, 2006)

Cashew chicken with brown sauce. 

By the way, who is General Tso and what is it about his chickens?


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## Threadman1891 (Aug 17, 2008)

Moo goo gui pan, sweet and sour pork, shrimp fried rice, and of course fortune cookies. ( Keep eating them 'till you find the fortune you like )


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

rgrossicone said:


> How about it AAAC Forumites...what do you order when you order "Chinese"?


If I go to P.F. Chang's, I order hot and sour soup, steamed shrimp dumplings, and the kung pao chicken. And yes, I eat the little red peppers.

I've never had their spare ribs, don't even know if they have them. But I really enjoy the ones at Trader Vic's.

Yes, I know, neither of them are very authentic. But Americanized Chinese food has been part of our culture for so long that it's a subset of "comfort food."

Anthony Bourdain recently did an episode of "No Reservations" where he visited several old restaurants in New York. He went to a Chinese restaurant he used to visit regularly as a child, and brought someone who was actually Chinese-American with him. They each ordered the things they remembered getting there years before, and of course they were completely different. The true Chinese food is offered on a menu with no English writing at all; someone who didn't read Chinese would probably find the stuff disgusting.


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## nolan50410 (Dec 5, 2006)

We have a local Memphis place called "Mosa Asian Bistro". It's sort of like Pei Wei, but locally owned and not just chinese food, but also thai and japanese. I had it twice this week. On Wednesday night I had the Szcheuan Chicken with brown rice and yesterday I had the Thai Cashew chicken with white rice. They also have great currys and noodle dishes. 

If I had to pick my favorite chinese dishes in no particular order:

1) Mongolian Beef
2) Orange Chicken
3) Steamed Pork Dumplings
4) Twice Cooked Pork


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

1) Spring rolls
2) Vegetable Lo Mein
3) Moo Shu Chicken


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## Style (Mar 8, 2009)

Spring Rolls
Peking Duck
Crispy Fried Beef
Chicken Chow Mein

Not all to myself I must add! Usually some friends and I order together and tend to share the same dishes.


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

Style said:


> Spring Rolls
> Peking Duck
> Crispy Fried Beef
> Chicken Chow Mein
> ...


Peking Duck rules...but its like the fat equivelent of 27 Big Macs...but sooo tasty!


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## Mannix (Nov 24, 2008)

Sesame chicken
Mongolian beef
Walnut shrimp
Eggrolls w/sweet & sour sauce


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## eyedoc2180 (Nov 19, 2006)

General's Chicken and Hot and Sour soup. Are there two less authentic dishes offered anywhere? I am so ashamed.


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## welldressedfellow (May 28, 2008)

Sesame chicken, pepper steak, Hunan chicken, crab Rangoon's, spring rolls, sweet and sour combo (pork/chicken/shrimp), beef with broccoli, spare ribs (not at the same time, of course). What can I say, I love Chinese food.


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## brokencycle (Jan 11, 2008)

I used to be a huge fan of the empress and tzo's chicken, but then I noticed a lot of places were using non-white meat, and now sometimes the thought of it is enough to get me sick. =/

So I no longer have a favorite except wanton soup.


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## Crownship (Mar 17, 2008)

Tonight I picked up Chinese take out.
1 qt. chicken chow mein
chicken egg foo young for me
mushroom egg foo young for my wife and me
cheese won ton 
white rice

It's nice to have someone else cook every once in awhile. We don't eat out as often as we used to. I like home cooking the best.


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## radix023 (May 3, 2007)

The local choices have been growing of late and we're beginning to see real Szechuan. I've been blessed with a great local food writer, Jennifer Zyman (www.blissfulglutton.com) and have been expanding my list of restaurants with her help.

Most recently a new Szechuan place called Delicious Kebab.

I had lamb kebabs and then chicken with scallions (actually there are some leftovers in the fridge).

For standby's, there is a Chinese place run by a family that came over from S Korea (still ethnic Chinese). Pung Mie is the name. I love their steamed pork dumplings and when I've got a cold or a cough I get their Sea Shan Seafood soup (slightly spicy noodle soup with a good half dozen sea critters in it).

I'm trying to get past 'American-Chinese' to 'Chinese-Chinese' and to that end I am learning to actually read the menu. I found a great book:
"The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters"
James D. McCawley
C.1984 Univ of Chicago Press
0-226-55592-5


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Finding myself so conflicted by the requirement to pick just one, two or yes, even three "Chinese" dishes, that my fingers were frozen in place over the keyboard; suffice it to say my favorite is the "all you can eat" Chinese buffet. Fine dining...not even by my questionable culinary standards but delicious, Oh yes, without a doubt!!


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## welldressedfellow (May 28, 2008)

brokencycle said:


> I used to be a huge fan of the empress and tzo's chicken, but then I noticed a lot of places were using non-white meat, and now sometimes the thought of it is enough to get me sick. =/
> 
> So I no longer have a favorite except wanton soup.


BC, if you think non-white meat is bad, what about non-chicken? I tried the chicken on a stick at one place a few years ago and stopped after the first bite because it didn't taste like any chicken I've ever had. A week later they found cats in the freezer. :icon_pale: I never confirmed whether or not I ate something that clucked or something that meowed, and I honestly don't think I want to find out.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Although one is a Chinese-American dish and the other is totally American, my favorites when I'm at a Chinese restaurant are cashew chicken preceeded by an order of crab rangoon with a healthy dose of that hot mustard. 

The hot mustard is an excuse to have a couple of Tsingtaos. After all, if I'm in a Chinese restaurant I should have at least one item that is actually Chinese. :icon_smile_big:

Cruiser


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

One place by me sells a bowl of soup for $150.

Shark Fin Soup

I've never tried it, but it always interested me...a little because of the price, and a little because of the shark fin.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

welldressedfellow said:


> BC, if you think non-white meat is bad, what about non-chicken? I tried the chicken on a stick at one place a few years ago and stopped after the first bite because it didn't taste like any chicken I've ever had. A week later they found cats in the freezer. :icon_pale: I never confirmed whether or not I ate something that clucked or something that meowed, and I honestly don't think I want to find out.


_Mrs. Mooney has a pie shop!
Does a business but I notice something weird.
Lately all her neighbors' cats have disappeared!
_
_- Mrs. Lovett, "Sweeney Todd"_

There used to be a restaurant near my office called Chien's Oriental. Knowing what "chien" means in French did not make it more appealing.


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## TimJoe (Mar 2, 2009)

rgrossicone said:


> One place by me sells a bowl of soup for $150.
> 
> Shark Fin Soup
> 
> I've never tried it, but it always interested me...a little because of the price, and a little because of the shark fin.


I've had the "pleasure" of having this and Bird's Nest Soup (yes, made from Swift saliva!) and could not recommend either! The shark fin is because it is chewy (nothing but cartilage) and the practice of chopping off the shark's fins and tossing them back in the ocean to drown is cruel. I only remember the Bird's Nest Soup as unremarkable but reallllly expensive. My rich aunt bought lunch that day :icon_smile_big:


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## perryw (Sep 22, 2008)

eagle2250 said:


> Finding myself so conflicted by the requirement to pick just one, two or yes, even three "Chinese" dishes, that my fingers were frozen in place over the keyboard; suffice it to say my favorite is the "all you can eat" Chinese buffet. Fine dining...not even by my questionable culinary standards but delicious, Oh yes, without a doubt!!


My coworkers and I end up at a "Chinese" buffet about once a month for lunch. I prefer the buffet too, because I can get a taste of everything. Piece of the General's chicken, piece of sesame, piece of fish, one crab rangoon, couple lo mein noodles, etc. I'm like a kid in a candy store :icon_smile_big:

If I go to a regular restaurant, it will be sesame chicken, General Tso's, garlic chicken, and the local place has something called sizzling chicken. I've been trying to find the stuff that isn't deep fried, recently. I had some sesame beef the other night for the first time, and thought it was a nice change. We'll go to the regular restaurant 2 or 3 times a month.


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## rlp271 (Feb 12, 2009)

My favorite two things are from completely different places.
Shao long bao, which are these soup-filled pork dumplings from Shanghai
Chow fun, which is kind of an all over thing, but I've found the best at some of the HK-style restaurants in NYC

I have had sharkfin soup, and maybe I was influenced by all the Chinese people chowing down around me, but I kinda liked it. The one thing that I had trouble liking was boar's blood congee. It's one of those things that will never be listed in English. The coagulated blood has a kind of metalic taste, and when mixed with the rice gruel isn't half bad. It's just a bit strange.

As for other Chinese, well I have to say the Szechuan province probably has my favorite food overall. HK has ridiculously good noodle soups though. mmmm, too bad I'm in Korea, I now want noodle soup with roast duck...


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## TheGuyIsBack (Nov 6, 2008)

I just like the 'standard' things:

Chicken Fried Rice
Peking Duck
Crispy Roast Chicken (chopped up)
Battered Big Shrimps (including hot sauce)

Over here in the Netherlands, most Chinese restaurants combine their cuisine with the Malay/Indonesian one. In that case I usually order Lumpia (crispy spring rolls) and Satay (pieces of meat roasted on a stick accompanied with peanut sauce) on the side.


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## the420skipper (Mar 14, 2009)

Some sort of spicy shrimp, General Gao's chicken, pork fried rice.


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## slc-yyz (Jan 10, 2008)

*My chinese picks*

Background...ethnic chinese who grew up in Canada.
(pls forgive my hackneyed pin yin)

1. Steamed Chicken
- Plain white 
- Hainan style

2. "Pah Ahp" ... Braised Duck
- This is a Cantonese dish...roasted duck which is then braised with various veg, seafood, bbq pork all in a brown sauce (sort of like an oyster/soy mix). The duck becomes fall of the bone and skin all soft. It is a 'trad' dish and not universally liked as the texture of the skin is quite soft.

3. Sweet and sour pork

4. Steamed scallops on the half shell
- With minced garlic on top

5. Steamed whole grouper

6. Stir-fried/braised pea shoots
- stir fried in consomme with miced garlic

7. Mushroom E-Fu Noodles

8. Yin Yang Fried Rice
- This is the one you see that has two sauces topping it.
- Red (sweet and sour) and White (cream sauce).
- So it's fried rice with sauce on top.


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## Penang Lawyer (May 27, 2008)

There is very little Chinese food I don't like. But I always start off with a Poo-Poo platter. I did a lot on entertaining in business and whenever the Brits were here it was NYC Chinatown for them. Be careful if you go to PF Chang's I had my Amex card compremised there. I caught it the next day via online and Amex was excellent about.


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## rlp271 (Feb 12, 2009)

In NYC Chinatown, I'd suggest Green Bo on Bayard, but it's cash only. There's also a great congee (rice poridge) place on Bowery, well two of them both called Congee. There's also a good Vietnamese place called Pho Tu Do on I think Grand and Bowery. I spent most of my 4 years at NYU eat in Chinatown with my friend who grew up there.


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## TheGuyIsBack (Nov 6, 2008)

Penang Lawyer said:


> There is very little Chinese food I don't like. But I always start off with a Poo-Poo platter. I did a lot on entertaining in business and whenever the Brits were here it was NYC Chinatown for them. Be careful if you go to PF Chang's I had my Amex card compremised there. I caught it the next day via online and Amex was excellent about.


What the heck is a Poo-Poo platter? This just doesn't sound right.


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## jht3 (Jul 8, 2009)

TheGuyIsBack said:


> What the heck is a Poo-Poo platter? This just doesn't sound right.


it's basically a platter of various appetizers. not sure where the name came from, but i recommend it for large groups


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## Shriver (Apr 23, 2005)

fried lotus root slices with garlic and pork belly

Scallops on the shell with garlic and clear noodles

Shark fin and chicken shred soup

Peking duck

Anything with "ganbei" / conpoy big dried scallops

green beans with sweet dried fish

shui cai

razor clams with garlic/clear noodles

bok choi pork shui jiao (boiled dumplings) 

wonton soup

lamb chuanr (kebabs) 

qinghai knife cut lamian lamb soup

lamb hot pot with melon

donkey hot pot

donkey blood rice in an earthenware bowl

roasted pigeons

xian noodles / "chinese hamburger" things

banana youtiao 

xiaolongbao

chao shao (char siuu) 

roast goose

I lived for 2 years in China

there are too many things to name \

ETA lots of congee!

and my favorite: steamed fish


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

Spring roll
Wonton soup
and a number 74.

(scallop and shrimp in garlic sauce)


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## Country Irish (Nov 10, 2005)

It depends on where I am. For example west coast USA sweet and sour pork is great but southeast is horrid. Thus I have different answers.

SFO to San Jose area (mom and pop places preferred)
Lemon Chicken
Mai Fun
Any Szechuan dish
Cashew Cashew
Mongolian Barbecue
At least one of the more exotic dishes for diversity

Southeast
Mai Fun
Orange Beef
Sesame Chicken
All are Americanized so don't I bother with any others.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

I usually order something our local take-out calls "Four Seasons" - it has a mixture of pork, beef, chicken and shrimp with vegetables in a sauce. I love General Tso's chicken, but only eat-in. It loses its crispness in the take-out container. Any Chinese soup is great. Also spare ribs (with the sinus-clearing homemade mustard).


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## WouldaShoulda (Aug 5, 2009)

JerseyJohn said:


> I usually order something our local take-out calls "Four Seasons" - it has a mixture of pork, beef, chicken and shrimp with vegetables in a sauce.


Down here it's a "happy family" at The Lucky Dragon Golden Panda Garden!!


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## fenway (May 2, 2006)

I LOVE bad, greasy American-Chinese food!

Fried rice (beef or pork)
Crab rangoon
Chicken fingers
Beef teriyake
Egg rolls
Copious amounts of duck sauce

My cousins, who are half-Asian, just shake their heads and frown. They don't understand at all.


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## turban1 (May 29, 2008)

*fry like the wind*

a few places in london do cantonese wind-dried food, chiefly duck and semi-sweet sausage cured out of doors at some time of the year in canton. it is well worth a try.


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## Artisan Fan (Jul 21, 2006)

Moo Goo Gai Pan and Beef & Broccoli. Shrimp fried rice as well.


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## dwebber18 (Jun 5, 2008)

General Tso's is my go to, but I love pork fried rice as well. I always have to order dumplings, but I just made them at home from scratch for the first time last night and they were just as good!


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