A lament for Asian food
Jul. 10th, 2007 10:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batskeetsSo, as many of you already know, I'm Asian. I was raised by a Chinese mother, who also happens to make some really bang-on awesome Chinese food. Sure, she made a few things that I really didn't like as a kid, but generally speaking, I was raised on good food. She even went so far as to claim that her Chinese food wasn't really that good, and it may not have been humility talking there.
I also had my phase as a crazed Japanophile. First it was the anime, then the J-Rock, then the learning of the language, and finally, the food. I still like all of that stuff all right, but I like the food a *lot* more than I used to. And then, of course, there's Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, and so forth... all great stuff in its own right, and I'll eat it all happily, because I am a pigface and embrace all foods!
Why is it, then, that I've not yet had a Chinese or Japanese food experience in Portland that hasn't been mediocre-to-bad? WHYYYY?
First, there was a Chinese place in SE, when we were hanging around at Amy and Travis' one evening. They did all right, I suppose, but I was disappointed in their sweet and sour. It was mediocre, but not great.
Then, there was the sushi joint down the street from my house, which was definitely Not Good for what they were charging. The sushi rice had a funny texture, and everything was pretty mediocre overall.
Then, there was P.F. Chang's, which is, yeah, I know, not really Chinese food. However, the pretentiousness of the place makes you think that you'd at least get GOOD faux-Chinese food, and it's SO NOT. I'll give them props for the calamari, because I actually liked that, but the broccoli beef was salty and overly strong and generally sub-par.
And now, today, there was Bush Gardens. The miso was good, and the sukiyaki was okay, I guess. However, the California roll didn't contain crab pieces: they used minced crab mixed with mayonnaise, like they do in that ghetto-ass sushi you get at the grocery store! GROSS.
They also took for-freaking-ever bringing the sushi rolls we ordered, enough so that all of us were finished with our box combos before the rolls even got there. Even worse, the rolls weren't compacted properly, so they were falling apart so bad I could barely pick them up with my chopsticks. I've rolled better sushi at home, and I've only done it *maybe* a dozen or so times.
So, yeah, I'm disappointed, once again. The whole of Portland needs to redeem itself for its misdeeds in the realm of Asian cuisine. And no, that doesn't mean opening Yet Another Thai Restaurant. (at least *those* are actually good)
My next targets are Wong's King, and Sushi Takahashi, but I'm even a little wary of them, at this point. Sigh.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm re-thinking how I sign off my e-mails, which is rather annoying. I've been using my initials as a sign-off for so long that it's pretty much a reflex, but as of late, I've been getting calls and e-mails from people, saying things like, "Hi SLG," or, "May I speak with... S.L.G.?"
The Name field on all of my e-mail accounts uses my full name, though, so they HAVE my actual name on record. It shouldn't be *that* hard to figure out from there that the "S" is for my first name, and the "G" is for my last name. Can't they just put two and two together and say, "Hi Sarah," instead of using my initials?
And in closing, this should NOT be as funny as it is:
Oh, Teh Drama!
I also had my phase as a crazed Japanophile. First it was the anime, then the J-Rock, then the learning of the language, and finally, the food. I still like all of that stuff all right, but I like the food a *lot* more than I used to. And then, of course, there's Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, and so forth... all great stuff in its own right, and I'll eat it all happily, because I am a pigface and embrace all foods!
Why is it, then, that I've not yet had a Chinese or Japanese food experience in Portland that hasn't been mediocre-to-bad? WHYYYY?
First, there was a Chinese place in SE, when we were hanging around at Amy and Travis' one evening. They did all right, I suppose, but I was disappointed in their sweet and sour. It was mediocre, but not great.
Then, there was the sushi joint down the street from my house, which was definitely Not Good for what they were charging. The sushi rice had a funny texture, and everything was pretty mediocre overall.
Then, there was P.F. Chang's, which is, yeah, I know, not really Chinese food. However, the pretentiousness of the place makes you think that you'd at least get GOOD faux-Chinese food, and it's SO NOT. I'll give them props for the calamari, because I actually liked that, but the broccoli beef was salty and overly strong and generally sub-par.
And now, today, there was Bush Gardens. The miso was good, and the sukiyaki was okay, I guess. However, the California roll didn't contain crab pieces: they used minced crab mixed with mayonnaise, like they do in that ghetto-ass sushi you get at the grocery store! GROSS.
They also took for-freaking-ever bringing the sushi rolls we ordered, enough so that all of us were finished with our box combos before the rolls even got there. Even worse, the rolls weren't compacted properly, so they were falling apart so bad I could barely pick them up with my chopsticks. I've rolled better sushi at home, and I've only done it *maybe* a dozen or so times.
So, yeah, I'm disappointed, once again. The whole of Portland needs to redeem itself for its misdeeds in the realm of Asian cuisine. And no, that doesn't mean opening Yet Another Thai Restaurant. (at least *those* are actually good)
My next targets are Wong's King, and Sushi Takahashi, but I'm even a little wary of them, at this point. Sigh.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm re-thinking how I sign off my e-mails, which is rather annoying. I've been using my initials as a sign-off for so long that it's pretty much a reflex, but as of late, I've been getting calls and e-mails from people, saying things like, "Hi SLG," or, "May I speak with... S.L.G.?"
The Name field on all of my e-mail accounts uses my full name, though, so they HAVE my actual name on record. It shouldn't be *that* hard to figure out from there that the "S" is for my first name, and the "G" is for my last name. Can't they just put two and two together and say, "Hi Sarah," instead of using my initials?
And in closing, this should NOT be as funny as it is:
Oh, Teh Drama!
