Chinese food terminology, advice sought

[Maerdwyn]

My experience with moo shu (or moo shi) pork has been in relatively greasy dives, but it's been tasty.

small pieces of fried pork, maybe with some vegetables (scallions or napa), maybe not, and eaten in a thin, folded pancake with hoisin sauce. Any place I've every seen it has also sold crab rangoon. (mmm - fake crab meat and cream cheese goodness )

 

[Dogbrain]

All of the aforementioned can be quite good to eat. They can also be horrors, although the chow mein is usually the safest bet of the choices given.

I just eat where the Chinese college students all eat. It's usually a safe bet--and cheap.

 

[Wycen]

All of the aforementioned can be quite good to eat. They can also be horrors, although the chow mein is usually the safest bet of the choices given.

I just eat where the Chinese college students all eat. It's usually a safe bet--and cheap.

Ding ding ding. I have found that if you find a place that people of the same ethnicity of the food go into and eat, that's probably a good place. Except sometimes the menu is catering more to their taste so you can end up ordering something not quite what you expected, though this rarely ends in a horrible experience.

 

[Dogbrain]

and eat, that's probably a good place. Except sometimes the menu is catering more to their taste so you can end up ordering something not quite what you expected, though this rarely ends in a horrible experience.

That's how I found out that I like dau-she.

 

[Kesh]

Luckily, my new job is on the edge of Chinatown.

 

[Gizzard]

Once again I find myself looking at a Chinese menu and trying to find something new and interesting, yet not horrible and repulsive.

One other thing is that Chinese cuisine has a lot of different aspects. Depending on where you live, different things will be done well. For instance, San Fransisco has a lot of Cantonese expatriates, so the Cantonese stuff is a good bet. This will shade which things are good/bad/available.

Anyway, if you live somewhere with a large Chinese community then you have a lot of choices. If you are living in a small town somewhere with one restaurant then you are likely facing a very Americanized menu. (For instance, I am shocked to see Egg Foo Young recognized as actual Chinese cooking - locally no Chinese would consider eating at a restaurant that served that dish!) So, what general area are you in? Maybe someone nearby can recommend a restaurant/dish.

Note: If you are willing to risk something horrible and repulsive, yet quite authentic, ask for a dish with Bitter Melon (foo gwa). Damn, that's bitter. Like licking volcanic ash. Apparently it grows on you though. ;-)

Any place I've every seen it has also sold crab rangoon.

This is another dish that is in the "fake" catagory locally, like Egg Foo Young. As one of my friends said, "Number one, the Chinese do not cook with cream cheese. Number two, Rangoon is not in China." Not that it might not be tasty, but it's not authentic.

 

[WayneLigon]

When it comes to Chinese, one of the big problems I have to deal with constantly is the question of onions. Man, I cannot stress how repellent it is to find a slimy onion in my food.

In the Chinese places I've eaten in, you can usually tell them not to put in certain things, or to add certain things; they have to usually mix it together anyway, so leaving something out isn't really an inconvenience. If you don't do that and you don't like onions, you're pretty much boned. Rarely have I ever had a Chinese dish that didn't have green or white onions in it.

What you want to find is a place that does good dim sum. People come around with carts of appetizer-sized (real appetizers, not the pseudo-meals you get in most restaurants) portions. They generally have a huge variety, including soups, noodle dishes, meat and veggie dishes, desert things, etc. Generally you're charged by the plates on your table when you're done, and it's generally pretty cheap - best place I ever ate at was in the heart of San Francisco and it was $13 for two people. This way you can sample a lot of things at a low price. You might want to try a Chinese buffet, but that can be at best mediocre and at worst, well, pretty awful. Most Chinese food doesn't keep well under hot lamps. Watch and jump up when they first bring out a dish. At least then you can see what you like, as well.

 

[Mistwell]

Man, and here I thought this thread was going to be about some of the Hard Core "are you sure you want to eat that" items on a good chinese menu. Moo shu? Cho Mein? These are standard staples of any fast food chinese menu.

Now, going down to Chinatown here in Los Angeles, I really could use some serious translation/identification help with the dim sum. Like I need to know how to read the words or quickly spot pigs feet and chicken heads. Though, usually the wait staff will just look at me and know that nerdy white boy probably doesn't want bird's nest soup, jelled blood, or fish flotation bladder.

 

[Chorn]

If you're going for dim sum, you should know that pricing methods might vary. Most places I've been to are the familiar sorts with the carts. Get a dish and they'll stamp your check according to the price. I don't think I've ever seen a per person charge like the one WayneLigon mentioned. I've heard that a lot of dim sum restaurants are going back to the traditional approach where you order off the menu. You might be in trouble there if you can't read Chinese since the English is either nonexistant or poorly translated.

For Mistwell, I recommend you ditch Chinatown and try checking out restaurants in Monterey Park and Alhambra. I can't really recommend any particular places as I've become kind of jaded on going out for dim sum, but hopefully this will expand your range of choices.