Which (American) Chinese foods are the good ones? I always get either lo mein or orange chicken or egg foo young. Am I missing out on some good shit by never deviating?
Yeah the St. Paul sandwich.
>>21995576SAINT LOUISAN DETECTED
I like Beef and Broccoli and Kung Pao Chicken
>>21995570Try the singapore mei fun or the mapo tofu. Fried pork dumplings are always good too. It all has a pretty similar flavor profile so even if you branch out there's usually nothing too crazy different unless there's an actual dim sum submenu.
>>21995570you should try moo shu at least once. get extra plum sauce.
>>21995577Checked. Hell yeah brother, we have more iconic food items than anyone.
I like salt and pepper squid and scallops with black bean sauce. They're both pretty specific to the East coast, I never saw either when I was living in the midwest. Crab rangoons, shrimp toast and bone-in spare ribs are my favorite appetizers, you can just get a pu pu platter if you want to try a little of everything.
>>21995570>orange chickenAvoid sugary sauces. They will increase risk of cavities. Best Chinese food is the lo mein, chicken balls, breaded shrimp, and ribs.
>>21995570The deep fried tofu dishes are usually good. They just replace chicken with tofu in things General Gau's or Sesame Tofu etc. The tofu has a great texture of crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
>>21995570house special fried rice
>>21995570My favorite is honey walnut shrimp
>>21995570have you never had general tso's chicken? its by far the best thing on the chinese food menu and its not even close. get a quart of general tso's and down it in one go to feel like a god.
>>21995570Mongolian beef and 'house' anything is usually a safe bet. Mapo Tofu if it's actually Chinese owned and not some Viet larping.
>>21995570Happy Famiryyy or Hunan Deright
>>21995707this but happy family fried rice
>>21995570>>21995594seconding singapore mei funalso never bother ordering sichuan/szechuan anything from generic chinese takeout
>>21995944>also never bother ordering sichuan/szechuan anything from generic chinese takeoutwhy not?also i have no idea what the difference is between szechuan and hunan. how am i supposed to know which one is good when i dont even know if the proprietors are from china
>>21995987>difference is between szechuan and hunanBig difference is szechuan uses numbing pepper and hunan uses shallots. Also you tend to see more dried and fermented stuff in szechuan than hunan but that's not a hard rule. Done traditionally, both are the patricians choice over cantonese, but in generic takeout places they're generally butchered.
>>21995570General Tzo'sRat on a stick AKA chicken on a stickLo mein
>>21995576so fye
>>21995987so sichuan/szechuan are two different english names for the same province. hunan is a different province.hunan food is generally spicier overall but sichuan has the numbing peppercorns.neither are ever really done right outside of restaurants specifically dedicated to the respective region.
>>21995570See if you can get your hands on some 腐腋脂汁
