"Jim Elbrecht" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 7 Jan 2013 15:07:54 +0100, "ViLco" > wrote:
>
>>What are the most common fake chinese dishes served in chinese joints and
>>restaurants in your area? Here in northern Italy the most widespread fake
>>is
>>"riso alla cantonese" (tr. "cantonese rice"), which does not exist nor in
>>Canton nor in all of China, or so a chinese friend told me: basically it's
>>a
>>dish of rice with no sauces but just a lot of peas and bits of scrambled
>>eggs, along with diced prosciutto cotto (!!!). Every chinese restaurant or
>>take-away has them on the menu, every single one.
>>Here a shot of the infamous cantonese rice:
>>http://www.giallozafferano.it/images.../slide-450.jpg
>>And in your area?
>
> Crab rangoons! [another of my wife's favorites]
>
> Invented by Trader Vic in San Francisco [I think]. A very slightly
> crab flavored cream cheese filling- wrapped in wonton wrappers into
> little 'purses'- so there are lots of edges-- and deep fried.
>
> I'm in NY and there are no 'Chinese' places that don't sell them.
>
> Served with sweet and sour sauce. I've eaten worse, but don't get
> excited over them. Lots of folks love them.

Oh yes! I had a catered party for Angela's Sagwa the Siamese Chinese Kitten
birthday party and those were included in the appetizer assortment that I
got. Those were what everyone wanted and they went right away. People were
complaining and wanting more but I had sooo much other food, I didn't want
to place another order. The Lo Mein didn't go over well at all. Most of it
sat in the freezer for a while after the party and it was eventually thrown
out because we didn't really like it there. I also got some kind of chicken
wontons that I don't think were authentic.

I'm sure there are a lot of things on the menu that aren't authentic. I've
been told that chow mein isn't. I don't know for sure.

My favorite dish is tomato beef and I've found that the Americanized places
don't usually serve that.