I love Chinese food so this new cookbook attracted me. But Xi’An Famous Foods isn’t just a cookbook. It tells the story of how Jason Wang and his family left China and made it in America.
I’m going to give some of the recipes in this book a try: Spicy & Sour Spinach Dumplings in Soup, Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad, and Stewed Pork Hand-Ripped Noodles in Soup. There are dozens of mouth-watering food photos to fire up your appetite! Great food and a great story of business success! Do you like Chinese food? GRADE: A
I love Indo-Chinese (or Desi-Chinese as we call it ) food but perhaps would not find authentic Chinese food palatable.
neeru, but wouldn’t it be fun to try? I enjoy discovering new foods that bring delight!
I do too, George, but my sister went to a Chinese restaurant in Canada and she said that they had something called ‘Duck Bladder soup’ on the menu. That was enough to put me off and the covid pandemic has made me even more wary of certain foods. I am looking forward to your trying the recipes though:)
neeru, like you I’m going to avoid Duck Bladder anything! But, I do love noodles so I’ll probably start with a noodle recipe soon.
As Lily Tomlin said in THE LATE SHOW, “Does the Pope sh!t in the woods?” Love Chinese food – those noodles look fantastic! – and, as a matter of fact, we are planning on Chinese takeout tomorrow, as long as the streets aren’t too icy. By coincidence, we discovered a great little hole-in-the-wall noodle shop on 9th Avenue near 46th Street in the Theater District (the original branch is in Chinatown) that serves terrific hand-pulled noodles, dumplings, etc.
Jeff, Jason Wang and his family opened 14 restaurants in New York City (they’ve been forced to close a few because of the pandemic). Diane and I were wondering if you and Jackie had eaten at one.
I’m afraid not. We mostly eat in the neighborhood. That noodle shop I mentioned is a rare exception. His places were mostly in more trendy areas like the East Village and Greenpoint, where we never go (even before the pandemic). Had we known about them, and had they been in a different neighborhood, we would definitely have gone there.
Jeff, you and Jackie have dozens of restaurants in your area. Plenty of food choices. We have choices, but mostly pizza and wing restaurants.
Love Asian food although a top-notch Chinese restaurant is much farther away than a dozen good Thai restaurants. I wonder why Americans took to Thai food more than Chinese, Korean, Indian.
Patti—I believe I read somewhere that the Thai government at one point sponsored many of the Thai restaurants opened in the U.S. That might account for there being so many of them, even in small towns. For example, there are at least three Thai restaurants in our relatively-small southern town.
We have a few near us too, but what has always surprised me since we moved here is the large number of Japanese restaurants. I don’t know of any Japanese people living here (though I’m sure there are some), but there are a LOT of restaurants. There is one we’ve been going to for many years (they moved across the street to a bigger, nicer premises about 10 years ago), and there’s a second one in walking distance from us. There are several others scattered around that we’ve never tried. There are also a couple of Korean places, a Malaysian place or two, two Vietnamese pho places that I know of (we’ve eaten at one), a couple of Indian restaurants (our long-time favorite closed, but there is a good one much closer to us), as well as the Chinese and Thai places. It’s an Asian potpourri!
Jeff, there are first-class Chinese, Japanese, and Korean restaurants just over the Border in Canada. But, with the International Bridges closed to local traffic for the foreseeable future, we rely on local restaurants that are good…but not great.
Patti, North Tonawanda has three Chinese food restaurants and one Thai food restaurant. All are doing well with Take-Out orders during the Pandemic.
I love all variations of Chinese food. When we lived in Southern California, there were two Islamic Chinese restaurants in the area. Obviously, no pork, but very spicy cuisine with an absolutely delicious sesame bread baked in a clay bowl. I could dip that bread in a mixture of vinegar/soy sauce/sesame oil and make a meal of just that. Here we have the basic “sweet & sour pork” Chinese restaurants, but my favorite is a place in Mandeville called Trey Yuen. They have the typical Buddhas & dragons red decor and some of the standard Americanized Chinese dishes, but also make a fabulous hot & sour soup and a killer Mu Shu pork.
Two of Jackie’s favorite restaurants in Florida are something we just don’t have here – Japanese buffets. (We have Chinese and Indian but not Japanese, as a rule.)
Jeff, I wonder if the pandemic will make buffets extinct.
Deb, that fabulous hot & sour soup and a killer Mu Shu pork sounds wonderful! I love hot and spicy cuisine!
I’ve enjoyed all types of Asian cuisine. Not sure I could pick a favorite. Shabu Shabu from Japan is a top one (a big vat of boiling water that you dip thinly sliced meat and veg in, and then have a yummy broth. When I was in Japan I made sure I knew the Kanji for it, and had some on both visits. It’s hard to find here, and maybe called hot pot.
I just can’t take spicy food so I often feel like I’m missing out on some good food.
Maggie, when I was a college student I ate a lot of ramen noodle dishes: fast, cheap, and delicious! Toronto has some top-flight Japanese restaurants. Next time BOUCHERCON is in Toronto, Diane and I will take you to one!
sounds good I’m only a recent ramen user for some reason early in the pandemic it was very appealing
Maggie, I pretty much lived on ramen noodles and submarine sandwiches when I was a college student.
This brings back fond memories!
Working in Germany I used to go to “Chinese” restaurants for lunch many years ago – it was nothing special but enough for a big hungry guy.
Then I did a business trip to Japan and was totally flabbergasted. Of course our hosts took us to special places – two of which I remember very fondly:
First we went to a Shabu Shabu (they called it just a hot pot) in the Garden of the Emperor’s uncle (or something like that).
Four people were seated round the gas heated pot and a Geisha helped us foreigners …
At the end some noodles were put into the broth in case you were still hungry.
My favourite story (not connected to the food):
When we walked through the garden after our meal we saw millions of glow worms flying!
The other experience:
We were lead through a passage – left and right fish were swimming – and we were asked which of those fishes we wanted! the That was of course freshly prepared and served – my problem was that I can’t eat fish. When I explained that and asked for alternatives they explained that they don’t do meat but offered rice with scrambled eggs – that was the best rice I ever had!
And now the fun part:
Sitting across from me was an American who seemed to have a similar problem like me so I offered him part of my rice – it was a gigantic portion. He shook his head and said:
Luckily on my way back to the hotel I’ll have a bite at the McDonald’s …
Later I did a business trip to China and there had great food too – but I had to tell the people about my “allergy” to fish and sea fruit.
In a good mood I would explain to them my favourite dish: Cheese Fondue …
Then they’d understand my problem – many Chinese have an allergy to milk and cheese.
The Chinese etc restaurants here aren’t to my taste – too much rice and too many spices, haven’t visited one in the last 10 years
Wolf, I love noodles so I tend to go to restaurants that feature them in their dishes. Next Saturday, I’ll have something for your fondness for McDonalds!
George, please – no!
McD is the one fast food chain where the food makes us both …
Only went there once or twice in Germany and once in Laughlin – because there was no alternative.
Ramen noodles (in Germany they are 5 min food) I also had when I was living alone or on holiday in the US alone. Even bought maybe 30 years ago a small electric heating pot – 400 Watt only so you could use it in the bathroom even if it took a long time to heat anything.
In the regular Chines restaurants the portions are just too large for us.
Wolf, you’re right about Chinese restaurants and their large portions. I’m always bringing home extra noodles, rice, and egg rolls!
Yum! When you try out some of the recipes, George, be sure to make enough to send some to the Florida Panhandle. I’m sure it will travel well.
Jerry, several of our pizza places send frozen pizzas to Florida (and elsewhere). I’ll have to look into their methods!