Text 28751, 73 rader
Skriven 2015-07-02 13:35:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Chinese food DC 920
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A rematch with A&J, which Jonathan has taken a shine to, as
it keeps appearing on the newspapers' and Websites' lists of
"cheap eats." Only the only reason for the lowness of the
prices is the smallness of the portions, and you end up
spending more for your food than you were planning to,
because you have to order more dishes.

Jonathan had wanted to go back to the Golden Corral, but I
said that if I was going to be going with him, no way. So
he said A&J, and I countered with the Sichuan Jin River
place, which he's taken to dislike because he smells bleach
there (better than smelling putrefied meat, which is what
you get some places). Or Popeye's, which is cheap, plus
there isn't one within forty minutes by public trans, whereas
he has a car, so I figure that would be a win-win, but no.
As A&J is acceptable to me (I've acceded to it several times
these last couple years), I didn't fuss as trying to make him
budge further might be a frustrating endeavor.

It was raining heavily, and the place is in a dip, and I was
apprehensive that the parking lot might be flooded, but in
fact it cants toward one corner, so the torrent was diverted
into a creek that runs beside - good job, architect.

The place was fairly full considering the weather and its
being midafternoon; plenty of Chinese families and a
smattering of adventurous or bargain-hunting or gourmetish
white folks.

I ordered the hung you chow show (suan la chow show to you),
which were completely different from last time - small kind
of hard wontons in a soy and vinegar broth with some hot
pepper jam but no Szechwan pepper and no sugar, whereas last
time there had been an abundance of both of these.

An order of 8 guo teh came with somewhat thicker wrappers
than on previous visits. This is kind of okay because then
they don't tear when you pan-fry them, so the juice doesn't
run out. These were decent in flavor though a bit unsubtle.
Jonathan scarfed down 7 in the time it took me to eat one.

A double order of xiao long bao was just about the right
quantity, but a little extortionate at a buck each. These
are by far not the best in town but are decent, and there
is plenty of juice, which the slightly thicker than optimal
wrappers hold in nicely. The almost mandatory ginger shreds
were strewn somewhat carelessly over only one of the orders.
Do you see a trend here? I'm guessing that somebody had
complained that the wrappers were too thin and the juice was
squirting out and making a mess, either that or the tablecloth
laundering expenses were becoming excessive. This time the
contest was more equal, and I got 3 to his 5.

The pork knuckle in special spices for $6.55 was an
exceptionally small one, pressure cooked I think, the spices
mostly a bit of star anise, salt, and maybe garlic. I doubt
there was any more than three ounces of meat, skin, and fat
combined, the rest being bone with a little gristle to make
things interesting; this underdelivered substantially in
both quantity and flavor.

As I was still quite hungry, we got another order of guo
teh this time much more browned. The wrappers were really
thick this time, perhaps twice as thick as the previous
order's, which were perhaps twice as thick as the previous
visit's. Obviously from another batch but coming from the
same freezer. At least it wasn't a warehouse. Again he won,
3.5 to 4.5, and only because I ceded him a half.

I used to kind of like the place but am now leery of it for
its inconsistency.
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