"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
>
> I have noticed the same tendency in Chinese food. It's all the same
> anymore. Once, I made a trip to get food from a place I used to
> really like, I might as well have saved the trip. Even the Wonton
> soup was all pasta and sucked. I swear, the Chinese mafia has moved
> in and the restaurants don't cook anymore, they just buy buckets of
> beef and broccoli/etc from some comglomerate.
>
Look around, often the "hole in the wall" type places are the best. The big
trend seems to be the buffet places that make buckets of industrial food.
But often there are gems just waiting to be found. There is an example of
that in my small hometown. A few years back a Chinese family opened a small
place in a nearby town. The place is squeaky clean, the food quality is
excellent, varied and prepared on demand. Some of their family members
opened a small place in my town and it also has the same qualities. You
wouldn't find either of the places unless you were looking for them because
they are not in malls but just in older buildings on "Main St.". Both do a
good business I think mainly from word of mouth.
> At any rate, a couple of issues ago, in Cook's Illustrated, they
> explained how the Chinese 'velvet' meat. I think it involved
> cornstarch, I should have saved it.
>
> nancy