In the search for the best Chinese food in town, I think I’ve narrowed my choice down to three restaurants: Chow’s, Golden Phoenix and the newly reopened and relocated Fung’s Kitchen.

In what was last Crawdaddy’s and before that Pizza Hut, Fung’s Kitchen has done a fine job of renovating the interior, but they still need to do something about the out-of-place pier decking in front. Perhaps they can expand to have some outdoor dining when the weather is nicer.

As one of our readers mentioned in our comments section on another post, you can tell a good Chinese restaurant by the quality of its chopsticks.  I’m glad to report that Fung’s Kitchen has nice chopsticks and even goes so far as to include a ceramic stand for the spoon and chopsticks.

Before I go any further in this review, I must mention that the best way to truly enjoy restaurants like this is by coming with your entire family or a large group of friends. I made the mistake of ordering just the Bitter Melon Spare Ribs Hot Pot ($9.95) for dinner the other day. It was served with a bowl of rice and was good up until I was halfway done when the bitterness really started to shine through. If this were shared along with 4-6 other dishes I’m sure I wouldn’t have had the same flavors stagnating in my mouth. The dish is made of slow-cooked pork spare ribs in a black bean sauce with ginger and an herb garnish and the pork was quite tasty. I also liked how the ginger helped break up some of the bitterness towards the end.

Another time I went to Fung’s I was with just one friend. We ordered the Crab Meat and Asparagus Soup ($7.95) to start and had the Roast Duck and Roast Chicken 2 Choice BBQ Combo ($9.95) and Soft Shell Crab in Salt and Hot Pepper ($12.95). I’m not sure if the chef had a cold that day or something, but all the food seemed really bland. What made things worse is that the salt and pepper shakers have such miniscule holes that I had to literally use my entire body to get a few crystals of salt and specks of pepper out of them. Being a somewhat sodium-conscious person, I like how the food wasn’t overly salted and that I can flavor my food to taste. However, for my own sanity, I hope my next visit doesn’t require me to look like I’m having convulsions to add salt and pepper to my food.

Even with the two of us, I felt that we didn’t have the variety of dishes I typically enjoy at family-style places like Fung’s. The soup was large enough to feed at least four people. The asparagus in it isn’t your typical grocery store variety. This is the more yellowish variety and is more bitter in flavor. I’m hoping to try the West Lake Beef and Egg Swirl Soup ($6.95) the next time I visit.

The BBQ combo comes out as a plate of just meat. No sauces or garnishes, just straight meat. While on the topic of BBQ meats, this place is similar to Golden Phoenix where they have a glass display showing off the hanging cuts of pig, duck and chicken. Some might be turned off by it, but it makes me salivate every time I pass by the display.

I was really looking forward to the soft shell crab, but was a bit disappointed because it wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. I was hoping for the dish to be a like a saucy-spicy garlic mixture with salted and fried crabs like I’ve had before in San Francisco and L.A. Instead, it was just salted and fried soft shell crab with slivers of hot chili peppers. Despite my failed expectations, this was by far the most flavorful of the dishes I had that day.

Now, the biggest treat is that Fung’s also offers Dim Sum on the weekends. To get in the mood for dim sum, I like to play this song on my way to eating it. It’s really all about the dim sum carts if you’re going to eat dim sum. Not only do those carts help keep the food warm, but they also keep the food moist. At Grand House, servers bring the plates out directly from the kitchen, and if they’re walking around the whole place with no interested diners, the food gets old and stale — not very appetizing. Because of this, I never even bothered eating dim sum in OKC because it tended to be cold, dry and way too salty. Now that Fung’s Kitchen is offering a dim sum alternative with carts, I’m pretty sure I’ll be eating it more often.

If you’re not into the whole dim sum thing and you decide to crave some food here, don’t worry, you can order off the regular menu as well.

Well, that’s my Fung’s experience. In spite of a few disappointments here and there, I still consider it one of my favorites for authentic Chinese in OKC. I look forward to returning with a larger group to experience a larger sharing of different tastes. Have you been to Fung’s? How was your experience? Tell us what you’ve tried and what you thought about it in the comment below.

Lately, I’ve been tired of cooking for myself and have had an insatiable desire for Asian food.  I have a string of Asian restaurant reviews coming soon and hope I don’t have a heart-attack from all the MSG I feel like I’m consuming (just so you know, it makes food much more delicious despite what critics of the flavor enhancer say).  Anyway, several people have dropped the name Lido around me so it sparked my curiosity enough to give it a try.  Legend says that Lido was the original Vietnamese restaurant to open up in Oklahoma City with success.  The influx of new immigrants, however, has allowed newer and better restaurants to open up around Oklahoma City. In my experience, Lido is an ok option, but there are many other places that offer better Chinese/Vietnamese food, often for less money.

If you look at the sign outside of Lido, it says “Vietnamese, Chinese and French Cuisine,” but when you look at the four items found in the “French Specialties” section on their 164 item menu, you’ll see Diced Filet Mignon, Mushroom Pork Chop, Mushroom Garlic Shrimp . . . and then you’ll notice Korean BBQ Beef ribs.  The last time I checked, Seoul is about 5,500 miles from Paris.  I don’t know about you, but I was scratching my head on that one.  I was hoping that the food wasn’t going to be plagued with the same sense of culinary confusion.

Besides the frog leg dishes, all the menu items were typical of most Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants. Nothing really stuck out.  However, conveniently located under the tabletob glass are various specials that actually caught my attention.  For $12.95, I had the Sizzling Fish Special.  You can choose from various types of fish, so I went with salmon in the mushroom garlic sauce (mushroom black bean and sweet & sour sauce are also available).  It also comes with your choice of steamed or fried rice and soup (egg drop or hot & sour).

The hot & sour soup I had was disappointing.  I’ve had Chinese delivery soup with much better flavor.  But I held out hope that the sizzling fish would surely change the course of this meal.  It came out similar to how Mexican fajita dishes are presented, nice and sizzling hot on a metal skillet. The sight of it definitely whetted my appetite.  It had a nice array of vegetables (baby corn, cilantro, peas, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, celery, bell peppers and spinach) with deep-fried, crusted fish covered in sauce.  Unfortunately, it looked a little better than it tasted, but it was alright. At least it satisfied my big appetite.

I’d heard that the vermicelli noodle dishes are the best thing to get at Lido, so I decided to visit one more time.  I ordered the charbroiled shrimp bowl ($8.95 dinner, $7.55 lunch).  The dish includes your choice of meat or shrimp, with cucumbers, carrots, and peanuts on a bed of thin vermicelli noodles, plus bean sprouts and shredded lettuce.  This includes a small bowl of Nuoc Mam (watered-down fish sauce) that you pour in the bowl to add flavor, and to help loosen up the noodles.  This dish was ok, but the shrimp was overcooked and the flavors didn’t really pop out to me.  It’s worth adding a few squirts of Sriracha sauce (Vietnamese chili sauce) to give it a little kick if you like a bit of spice. I’m not saying it was bad, but I just think many places, including Pho Cuong (3016 N. Classen Blvd. – review to come) up the street, offer better, and cheaper, variations of this dish with more flavor.

Since I haven’t even come close to making a dent in the massive selection of dishes, I know I can’t give a fully comprehensive review of Lido, but based on the few things I have tried and the less-than-satisfied comments from a few friends of mine, I know there are several other restaurants that do a much better job with Chinese/Vietnamese food.

That’s my take. What’s yours? If you’ve had a better (or worse) experience at Lido we’d like to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

When I sat down to write about Kang’s Asian Bistro, I found it hard to describe. Part of it, surely, was from food overload. We had so many dishes and sushi rolls that it’s hard to really separate them properly.

But part of it also is that Kang’s has such a broad reach — from Thai to Chinese to Japanese to American foods — that it can be a little schizophrenic. It’s very much like a locally-owned P.F. Chang’s, except with sushi — or maybe a less-expensive version of Buddha Tao.

For instance, we started the meal with summer rolls — the Vietnamese restaurant favorites with shrimp and vegetables stuffed inside sticky rice paper. These fresh, light rolls don’t boast as much punch as some I’ve had (there was much less mint than I’m used to) but the accompanying spicy garlic sauce and the peanut sauce more than made up for it. But at $7 for four pieces (two rolls cut in half), it is a pretty expensive start to the meal.

We also had lettuce wraps ($8.45), the kind you might find on the menu at Chili’s, but these were much better. The chicken was expertly cooked and flavorful and the spicy sauce they served with them had a real kick, full of nasal heat, that I appreciate.

The sushi, which came next, was good, but not quite what I like. Sushi is subjective. Some people like nothing in their roll but rice and a sliver of fish or vegetable all wrapped up in seaweed. Some like nigiri — where there’s a slab of fresh fish on a ball of rice. And some like those towering rolls, fish inside and out, plenty of sauces and creams and seasonings &mdash the kinds that look like works of art when done right.

At Kang’s, you can get a couple of nigiri at very reasonable prices — anywhere from $1.75 for quail egg or $5.95 for tuna or yellowtail — or sashimi for $9-$11. Sarah would like for me to point out that she tried sashimi for the first time here. Yes, we’re all very proud of her for eating raw salmon, but the majority of the sushi we tried were Kang’s special rolls. They were a bit too much. I am an equal-opportunity sushi lover. I take all kinds, but at some point, you just need to put the roll down and be done with it.

The Mountain Roll ($14.45) was filled with shrimp tempura, cucumber, salmon, tuna, yellow tail, masago, spicy mayo, eel sauce and green onions. It tasted fine, though a bit heavy, but my problem was picking out individual flavors. The same went for the Baby Gecko ($9.45) which had cream cheese, jalapeno, salmon, spicy mayo, eel sauce and green onion. Plus, that one was tempura fried. Tasty, but it all started to taste the same.

The Spicy Cowboy ($11.45) also had tempura shrimp in it, but was at least a bit lighter. It was Tim’s favorite, and a favorite of some we’ve heard from on Twitter. Even though most of the rolls we tried were heavy and complex, they do have plain-old tuna and cucumber and California rolls, too and the pricing is quite reasonable — along the lines of what you’d find at Tokyo.

One big selling point for Kang’s is that if you don’t like sushi, there’s plenty more to eat. My favorite was probably Kang’s Fiery Chicken ($11.95) which was basically a General Tso’s Chicken with a fresher, spicier sauce. I also enjoyed the Mongolian Beef ($11.45) which was tender and flavorful.

One disappointment was the Crispy Thai Fire Fish ($15.45). Everything about that dish was perfect, except for the fish. If they had just chosen something other than catfish, I’m sure it would have been my favorite. Catfish, as Andrew said, just tastes like catfish, and messing with that can create an odd flavor. It wasn’t bad, I just would have liked it a lot more if it had been rainbow trout or another lightly-flavored white fish.

A delicacy was the Five Spice Quail, which wasn’t too hot, but had a richer flavor than plain old chicken. At $16.95, it’s an expensive treat, but delicious.

One other let down was the Thai Steak Salad ($11.50), which tasted great, but was textured all wrong. The lettuce was crisp, the cherry tomatoes were fresh, the marinade/dressing on the steak was wonderful, but Sarah commented that the steak itself was tough and chewy.

All in all, I really enjoyed Kang’s. The restaurant in Nichols Hills is hidden away on Olie Street, and the decor inside is modern, but comfortable. The prices are reasonable — especially for nigiri — and the flavors are spot on. Despite a few texture issues, I would definitely go back.

And if you’re with someone who just doesn’t care of Asian food of any stripe, Kang’s does a grilled beef tenderloin to placate them. If you’re tired of the long waits and higher prices at P.F. Chang’s, you can get similar, locally-produced food at Kang’s Asian Bistro. Please let us know what you think about Kang’s in the comments.

Buddha Tao does a lot of things very well, but prices itself at the level where they really need to do everything extremely well. So, while Buddha Tao absolutely brings a unique and quality offering to the Oklahoma City restaurant landscape, we’re a little unsure on whether that offering is worth the price tag.

First off, let me explain that this review represents more than just my own perspective. All of our four regular writers dined together here and each offered their own thoughts which I am incorporating into this review. In addition, one of our readers, Chris Johnson, submitted his own full review of Buddha Tao, and I am working in some of his perspective as well. So, you are getting a wide range of opinions in this article. Now, let’s get to it.

Buddha Tao is very slick. Everything from the website to the building’s exterior and interior are polished to the level that I thought it had to be a chain the first time I saw it. But, rest assured, it is not a chain. Buddha Tao is related by ownership group to In the Raw Sushi in Tulsa, but there are no other Buddha Tao locations, at least at the time of this writing. Incidentally, Buddha’s owner, Tony Henry, told me that while he does co-own the Tulsa In the Raw, he is not a part of the group opening the new location in Bricktown.

Buddha Tao is also pricey. As Greg puts it, “Buddha Tao is the kind of sushi restaurant I would love if I was rich. The decor is simple, but cool. The menu is chock-full of great items. Too bad I’m not rich, though, because I couldn’t afford to eat there on any kind of regular basis.” Putting together a complete meal at Buddha Tao, even at lunch, is going to cost you $15-$25 per person easily, and much more if you really want to try out the sushi.

This fact, and just the general feel of the place, lead me to believe it might be more of a dinner and late night kind of place than a lunch place. The four of us went at lunch and the restaurant was nearly empty. Makes sense to me as I thought the menu offered little for the lunch crowd. The pricing is high for lunch and the service was slower than what you need to fit a lunch hour. We haven’t been at night, but I can imagine dinner is more of Buddha’s thing.

Ok, so let’s talk about the food. There is good food here. There’s interesting food to be tried. Like the Robata Grill, a unique technique of charcoaling that packs a great flavor. Sarah ordered the beef tenderloin and pineapple Robata ($11) and gave us her perspective, saying “this was probably some of the best steak I have ever tasted. It was beyond fork tender and practically falling off the kabob. The lunch portion was small, with four bites each of steak and pineapple. The guys were thinking they would have liked more meat, but for me, it was perfect.”

I have to confirm what Sarah has shared about portions. If you’ve read much of my writing you know I’m no fan of large portions, but this was decidedly too small. For $11 you get the single scewer. Rice is $3-$4 extra. Plus, you’re probably going to need something additional to really get a full meal, so you can see how the bill starts to add up.

Buddha Tao also offers some excellent sushi. We all had fun trying the Lucifer’s Folly roll ($10.50). Heed the warning offered by the menu, as this is one seriously spicy roll. Greg explains, “Stuffed with Chinese mustard and jalapeno, rolled in 7-spice and laying in wasabi aoili, it will clear out your sinuses in a burst of pain. But, unlike biting directly into an habanero pepper, the searing heat will be gone in a matter of seconds. What does it taste like? I couldn’t tell you. I was too busy trying not to rip my nose off my face.”

Greg describes our take on the rest of the sushi as follows:

“The most popular roll at the table was the very expensive lobster roll. At $23.50, it is an extravagance, but a tasty one. Plus, there’s an entire tail’s worth of lobster sitting on top of the thing, so at least you know where the money’s going. The Big Buddha roll ($14) was also a treat for the eyes. Beautifully crafted, the roll looked like one solid piece until you started pulling bites away. With a crab cake center and seared tuna on top, it was probably the easiest to eat (and look at) roll we had.

The vegan roll ($5) didn’t excite me, but that’s probably because its flavor was subdued next to the lobster, crab cake and other-wordly pain of the other rolls.

One glaring omission was a sashimi platter. There are sashimi selections ranging from $11-$14, but they are for one kind of seafood each. As much as I like my raw fish, I also like a little variety and I fear that paying $25+ for two kinds of fish might be a bit much.”

The menu also offers a lot of other options. Andrew had the Kobe beef burger ($11) and loved the fact that they prepared it perfectly to medium rare, as requested. As he says, “Most places cook to at least medium when you ask for this, but Buddha Tao didn’t shy away from it. It had a spicy mayo on it that really brought out the mild flavor of the Kobe beef. I thought it was fantastic.”

I was the only one who was dissatisfied with my order. I tried the noodle bowl, which I thought looked terrific on the menu. You can order it with your choice of meat and I chose Filet Mignon ($15). Unfortunately, the meat was not nearly as tender as what Sarah experienced. In fact, it was very, very tough. Plus, I just didn’t like the noodle bowl. The broth was very dark and overpowering and, I guess, I wasn’t expecting it to be so much like a soup as the menu described it as “tossed in a tangy-savory katsu sauce.”

On the other hand, our reader, Chris Johnson, really enjoyed the noodle bowl. He comments, “A mixture of vegetables accompanied a proportionate serving of chicken — and we all loved this dish. The flavors really shined through and it was the favorite entree of the evening.” So, this one is obviously a matter of taste, though I would avoid the steak when ordering this as it seems the chicken comes out better.

So, is Buddha Tao worth a try? Well, on the one hand, it’s definitely unique and there is definitely some good food here. On the other hand, it all comes down to value — is it worth the higher price tag? Personally, I’m glad I tried it, but I doubt I’ll be going back. But that’s just me, and I think the question of value is something that each person has to answer for themselves.

If you do go, I recommend going at night instead of at lunch (with the exception of a few lunch only items, the menu appears to be very similar between lunch and dinner), trying the Robata grill and some of the very special sushi rolls, and planning for the higher-end cost. Do that and you’ll likely have a great experience, then you can decide whether to make it a regular stop.

Have you been to Buddha Tao already? Let us know what you think in the comments.

PLEASE NOTE: Elephant Cafe has closed and a new restaurant with new ownership has opened up in its place. This review does not cover the new restaurant.

When I really need a break from work at lunchtime, I know I can get a quiet, relaxing meal and a variety of tastes at the Elephant Cafe, which just opened in September in downtown Bethany.  It was formerly known as Big! Rice and Noodle (read our review here), and that owner’s niece has taken over and given it a new name.  Lein Wu is half Thai and half Chinese, and the largely expanded menu provides many Thai, Japanese and other Asian choices.  She and her employees have the gift of hospitality that so many of my Asian friends possess.

My work girlfriends and I recently ate here during a working lunch, and everyone really enjoyed their entree choices.  Susan chose safely with the cashew chicken ($6.25).  She said it was good, but for her taste, just a tad too many onions and spices.  I went with a lunch combo ($6.25), which included my choice of a veggie roll (3) or a Bangkok roll (3); a choice of miso soup or clear soup (or hot and sour soup for $1 more); and a choice of lunch entree.  I chose the Bangkok rolls, the hot and sour soup and the spicy basil fried rice, which included chicken, onion, basil and bell pepper.  It also included a spicy Thai chili sauce, but I found myself needing to add extra red chili sauce from the side.  This dish did have a good flavor, but it just wasn’t quite spicy enough for me.  Beth, being a sushi lover, went with the orange chicken ($6.25) and a salmon roll ($4.25).

Side note to whoever dines with Beth — last time we ate here, I decided to venture out and try a bite of her sushi, as she promised me there would be nothing raw or “icky” on it.  She ordered a California roll, and when it arrived, I pointed out how cute the little shaved carrots on top were.  After I had consumed my portion, she said, “oh, by the way, the ‘carrots’ may have been roe.”

“MAY have been roe?  And just exactly what is roe?” I shrieked.  I was a first time sushi eater.

“Well … like … maybe salmon eggs,” she hedged.

I had been tricked and hoped I would live to see my next meal.  Which I did.  But not before she heard another thing or two about it.

Anyway, back to lunch, friend Ali had the “best decorated” lunch by choosing the steak teriyaki lunch box ($7.95), which included the steak, rice, salad and vegetable tempura.  It probably also tasted the best.

The previous time I dined here and had my first sushi experience, I tried the elephant combo appetizer ($7.95), which included crab rangoon, Bangkok rolls, chicken satay and vegetable rolls.  It was accompanied by a variety of dipping sauces, which were all tasty.  The chicken satay was especially nice smeared with the peanut sauce.

Dinner entrees run between $8.25 and $11.95, which isn’t bad, considering the amount of food you get.  I could have easily taken home half of my lunch for dinner again that evening.  And another nice thing is that they accept credit cards whereas Big! Rice and Noodle did not.  Miss Wu has done a nice job in creating a pleasant atmosphere.  We were the only patrons when we first arrived, but several others arrived during our meal.  She sent out two dessert entrees for us to try — the fried ice cream and the fried bananas.  The fried bananas won hands down!

I’ve said before that if one works in the Bethany area, one will be challenged for lunch and dinner choices.  That’s why I’m always excited to see somebody new giving it a “go” in this part of town.  So, try the Elephant Cafe and let me know what you think in the comments.  I hope Lien will be able to stick around for a long time.

Every single time I go into Fortune Chinese Restaurant, the place is practically deserted. I think the last two visits, there was one other occupied table. And it just makes no sense.

I have been to far too many Chinese restaurants that are buffets first and restaurants second. The food they make is destined to sit on a hot line, picked over by dozens with just a sneeze-guard to protect it.

But not at Fortune. When I order there, I know that my food is being prepared for me. It is hot. It is fresh. Best of all, it is tasty.

We’ll start with a few staples of the genre — the egg roll and the egg drop soup. At $1.15, the egg rolls are excellent. There is still a little crisp to the vegetables inside and, again, they’re made fresh everyday. The soup is wonderful as well. For just $1, I don’t think it can get any better. Large streams of hot egg float and swirl in this little bowl. It reignites my passion and wonder for Chinese food.

I also tried the fried dumplings ($4.25) which I might ask for steamed next time. They were good, but not spectacular. I’d prefer a crispier, less oily skin. Also nice was the Cho Cho Beef — a skewer of fried, seasoned beef for $1.15. A nice little appetizer.

Honestly, you don’t need to fill up beforehand, because the portions at Fortune are enough for you to eat your fill and still take a little home for the next day.

I like the Slippery Chicken ($4.99 for small, $6.85 for large), though it’s not as spicy as the little chili pepper next to the name would seem to imply. Instead, it is a straightforward chicken, vegetable and brown-sauce dish. It sounds boring, I know, but it was great. Big mushrooms were included and I ate every last bit of it.

My wife tried the Champagne Chicken ($7.95), which we both found too light on flavor. Everything was cooked well enough, but the delicate champagne was too subtle to make an impact.

Better was the Cleopatra Chicken ($7.95), which is reminiscent of a General Tso’s chicken, but this was tender and the sauce, while spicy, still had great freshness. You could clearly see the diced tomatoes and onions that went into the sauce — a real departure from what you get at so many buffet-style places.

Vegetarians and dieters take note — you are represented here. For those who would eschew meat, there is the Buddhist Delight, Ma Poo Tu Fu and Broccoli with Garlic Sauce. For those watching their waistlines, steamed veggies with chicken, beef and shrimp are available.

My worry with Fortune is that business seems slow. I guess their take-out and delivery must be strong, because I don’t know how they’d stay afloat with the few diners that come in at night. Regardless, I love the place and I appreciate our reader, Dan, asking for a review. Otherwise, I might not have found a new favorite Chinese restaurant.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

I’m surprised, taken aback, shocked … I’m really quite confused by my experience at Lotsa Noodles the other day. You see, I had several people recently tell me how good the place is and so I was really looking forward to trying it. When I got there, the sweet-looking decor and high-end marketing impressed me so much I had to ask the people to make sure it wasn’t a chain (and it isn’t, though they are looking at opening a location in Woodward soon). But then my food came out and, man oh man, I was disappointed.

First of all, if you asked my wife she would tell you that there is very rarely any food that I don’t like. I mean, I just like food and I will give any food the benefit of the doubt. So, you have to understand that it is not to be taken lightly when I say that I did not like the food here. Let me say it again — I did not like it.

Of course, I was open to the possibility that maybe I just went on a bad day or chose the wrong thing from the menu. I wouldn’t want to offer such a negative impression based on one isolated experience. So, I checked with my trusty co-writers here and found that they have had equally lackluster experiences with this place (I should have checked with them before I went).

Andrew says, “I have had an alfredo dish (tastes like it came out of a jar), the Stroganoff (much better than the alfredo), and a pesto noodle dish that was very underwhelming. I’ll never go back.”

Sarah says, “The last time we ate there, he (my husband) thought the pasta was too soggy, and he agrees it is way too expensive for what you get. Nothing I’ve had has ever been horrible, but it’s nothing special either.”

With these two impressions giving credence to my own, I feel completely justified in presenting my opinion here. So, here’s a some more detail about my experience.

I’ve mentioned the sleek, high-end marketing, and it really is top-notch. Just go visit their website and you’ll see what I mean. Beautiful photographs of the food, high-end design, simplicity — they’ve got it going on with marketing. The interior of the restaurant is equally polished. You really will find it hard to believe that it’s not a chain. I’ve heard that it used to be a chain called “Nothing but Noodles,” but at some point, the owners took it independent. They must have learned a lot about marketing from their chain experience because everything looks outstanding.

But then comes the food. Again, it looks great in the photos. And the menu is really interesting and widely varied. I was getting really excited about it as I waited to order. I chose Pad Thai. I love Pad Thai. It’s one of my favorite dishes so I really wanted to see how theirs stacked up. The cost was $6.49 for a bowl. Seemed pretty good to me, so I ordered it.

But then I noticed on the take-out menu I was perusing that the Pad Thai doesn’t come with meat. In fact, most of the noodle dishes don’t come with meat. Meats are listed as “toppings” and to add chicken to your Pad Thai will cost you $2.49 extra. So, now I’m realizing that to get a bowl of chicken Pad Thai, you’re looking at $9. “Yikes,” I thought. “This had better be some really good Pad Thai.” I kept an open mind.

Then it came. It smelled funny. I stirred it around in the bowl and noticed that the scrambled egg was not crumbled up and distributed throughout the Pad Thai. Nope. It was about a 3×3 inch block of scrambled egg that I had to try and crumble and stir around myself. Then, I tasted it and what I found was an almost watery-tasting sauce with very little punch to it and an overpowering amount of garlic (which I am still tasting now). Nothing bold. Nothing to set it apart. Just a bowl of slightly Asian-influenced noodles and a big brick of scrambled egg.

The other funny thing is that they served it with an Italian breadstick. Now, I understand they have Italian noodles too, but shouldn’t you pair up your offerings in the same family?

And this leads me to my conclusion. When you have a restaurant that serves such a variety of types of foods including American noodle dishes (like stroganoff), Asian dishes, Italian pastas … etc., it’s an interesting concept but near impossible to pull off. How can you expect to create Italian dishes that rival Italian restaurants or Thai dishes that compete with the Asian district? And, even moreso, how can you expect to charge 50% more for them?

To my mind, it’s just a doomed concept. But, I will say, they appear to be doing ok. Maybe the high-end branding is enough to distract people from the food and justify the higher price tag. The free wifi is nice as well. But, I cannot in good conscience support this place or return here because they are cranking out mediocre dishes. I wish them continued success, but I’ll be getting my noodles elsewhere.

On first glance, Snow Pea appears pretty sub-standard. The atmosphere is extremely plain with laminate tile floors, white table-tops, and nothing on the walls except a big old marquee-style menu. Everything is plated on really cheap Styrofoam dinnerware along with plastic utensils and napkins that are so small and thin they’re pretty much useless. Even in the realm of cheap, fast Chinese places, Snow Pea comes off a little less interesting than most.

Yet, I still recommend that you try Snow Pea for two very good reasons:

1. Lemon chicken with steamed broccoli and no rice
2. Fried rice with chicken and vegetables, spicy

It’s rare that I get into such specifics when recommending a restaurant, but this is a special case. You see, I really like eating these things at Snow Pea, but only these things. So, I have to give specific instructions and recommend that you follow them exactly. You’re welcome to try other dishes, but I take no responsibility for any culinary calamities that may befall you.

Lemon Chicken

They actually char-grill the chicken while you wait so it comes out fresh and flavorful. Whatever marinade they use on that stuff is addictive. Sometimes the chicken is over-cooked and tough, but if you catch them on the good days (which most days are) it’s really, really good. And the cost is a moderate $6.25.

Ask for it with steamed broccoli and no rice. That way, you get twice as much broccoli and a million times less carbs. By default, it comes with mixed vegetables, but I’m telling you, you don’t want that. You just want the broccoli. Really.

The broccoli is steamed over a wok, not stir fried. It comes out perfectly crisp. There’s no real seasoning to it, but somehow it just tastes really good. I love it because it is just about the healthiest meal I’ve ever found at a Chinese place. Try it. You’ll either love it or hate it, but if you love it, you’ll keep going back.

Fried Rice

Before I was into trying to eat less carbs, I always got the fried rice. I don’t know what they do to that rice, but it is better than any other fried rice I’ve had. The grains somehow stay separate from each other rather than clumping together. The flavor from the sauce and the wok is smoky and not overly soy-saucy.

I ask for it with a combination of chicken and mixed vegetables, and I throw in a “spicy” and they give it a little bit of extra kick. The vegetables are fresh and include pieces of the broccoli mentioned above. The chicken tastes amazingly good. I’ve had it with just the chicken and no vegetables, and I’m telling you, it’s just not the same. Again, you just need to try it and then you’ll believe.

Conclusion

I’m not saying Snow Pea is the best Chinese food around. I’d say it’s average at best in most areas other than the two dishes mentioned above. I’ve tried one other dish there and thought it was pretty boring. A lot of my friends love the General’s chicken, but I’ve never had it, so I’m not vouching for it. But the lemon chicken and the fried rice, well, they have kept me going back regularly for a long time.

Try them and see if you feel the same way. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

What is a China Bistro? I’m not 100% sure, but my definition is an Asian restaurant that provides a slightly higher-end experience than your typical family chinese place. In the chain restaurant world, we have P.F. Chang’s China Bistro to give us an idea of what the term means. But really, who wants to eat at a chain? The Grand House could be compared to P.F. Chang’s, but in my opinion, it is a whole lot better, and it’s local, of course!

The Grand House is a large, well established restaurant in the Asian district of Oklahoma City, and it provides just about the “nicest” Asian dining experience I’ve found in the city. As a “china bistro” it’s priced a little higher than your typical chinese place (roughly $12-$25 per person at dinner), but the quality of food, the atmosphere, and the experience make it a great value, in my opinion. Plus, they do offer a variety of lunch specials during the week that make things more affordable. I highly recommend it any time, but in this post, I want to focus on their most unique niche offering, dim sum.

There aren’t many places in the city you can get a dim sum experience, but the Grand House offers dim sum every Saturday and Sunday for lunch. If you’re not familiar with dim sum, it’s an ancient Chinese tradition of eating a meal through a progression of many small samplings. A lot of dim sum restaurants are characterized by the “trolley carts” which contain the small portions that servers offer to each table as they roll them around the restaurant.

At the Grand House, a couple of these trolleys are in use, but most of their food is served off of trays carried from table to table by an army of servers. It’s a lot like an Brazillian churrascaria. If you’ve ever been to Fogo de Chao or the like, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Except, instead of huge chunks of meat, the dim sum delights usually consist of small steamed dumplings with different types of seafood, chicken or pork, plus a lot of other Asian specialties, some of which you recognize and some of which you don’t. You can get a full listing of the Grand House’s dim sum offerings on the dim sum page of their website.

Dim sum can be a great experience, but it can also be a little overwhelming and hard to master at first. I know it was for me. So, to help you out with your endeavor, I’ve developed two strategies for enjoying dim sum which I will share with you to hopefully make your experience more rewarding.

Strategy #1: the dim sum adventure — In this strategy, the objective is to try as many different items as you can in an effort to expand your culinary horizons. This strategy works best in larger groups so that you can all share each item and therefore try more items. When using this strategy, try not to take the items that are familiar, so that you can save your meal for the out of the ordinary. Also, pace yourself. One problem at the Grand House is that the servers come by so fast and so often, it’s easy to load up on the first few things you see and then your meal is over. Instead, take one or two items and then wave everyone off for a while until you’re ready to try some more. This makes the meal last much longer.

Strategy #2: I know what I want — In this strategy, you go in knowing what things you want to eat and the game is to wait for them to come to you. It’s an exercise in patience and discipline. I find this to be the best strategy for parties of two. After all, with just two people, you can’t try that many different things. When my wife and I go, for example, we know exactly what we want — potstickers, shrimp or pork shaomai, and singapore noodles. We wait for those items to form the core of our meal, and then throw in one or two other things that look interesting along the way. Another handy tip for this strategy is to keep your eye out for a server who speaks english well and then ask them to send over the items you are waiting for.

Note: No matter your strategy, there is one skill you need to master before going out for dim sum. That is, the art of saying “no thanks.” Sometimes I feel a little bad for constantly telling the servers that I don’t want any of their delicious offerings. You can’t feel bad about this or you will be terribly depressed throughout your meal. You are going to have to say “no” alot! You will constantly be asked if you want something and if you take it all, you’ll waste a lot of food and spend a ton of money. So really, make sure you’re comfortable saying “no” before you go.

Bottom line — I highly recommend that you try dim sum. Keep in mind, it’s not terribly cheap. The servers will stamp your meal ticket every time you take an item from their tray and at the end as you check out, they add it all up for you. In general, you should expect to pay between $10-20 per person for dim sum at the Grand House. You might end up spending more if you really go crazy with your selections. So for me, this is not something I can afford to do every week, but it’s great for a special occasion as it offers something truly unique.

By the way, the Grand House only has dim sum on Saturdays and Sundays at lunch, but they are open for lunch and dinner the rest of the week and it is well worth the trip any time. I thoroughly enjoy their Kung Pao Shrimp and Scallops (which is not a dim sum item) and my wife loves their Moo Goo Gai Pan. So, you can certainly check them out any time for a fabulous experience.