Monday, September 3, 2007

Mr. Chen's

Last night I gave into my craving for Chinese food and ordered from Mr. Chen's for dinner. Since I had been subject to potentially the worst Chinese food on the planet while living in College Park, I had been on the lookout for good places in the area, reading a number of reviews before choosing Mr. Chen's. The tipping point was that fact that the food is organic, and we know how I feel about that.

To test Chinese places, I order the same thing: crab rangoon, steamed vegetable dumplings, shrimp lo mein, and then a rotating dish, which this time was sesame chicken. Everything passed muster: the rangoon wasn't too heavy or sweet. The dumplings had bean curd, which is a big plus, and they didn't fall apart when dipped into the sauce, which was neither too sweet nor too salty. They also had a very good wrapper to filling ratio, and really good taste. The lo mein was also good, though there was nothing to distinguish it. The sesame chicken was really excellent — the taste wasn't overpowering, there was the perfect amount of coating, and the amount of sesame sauce in the bottom of the dish was ideal — it was neither drowning the chicken nor too sparse. It's definitely a place I would get food from again, although my Chinese cravings don't come as often as my Indian or sushi cravings.

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