Cheap Eats: Chinese takeout
GO TRIAD -- It occurred to me one night over chopsticks and pork fried rice that I always order Chinese food from the same place. There's no actual reason to dial China Wok every time I get a craving for General Tso's, aside from the fact that it's closest to where I live.
This thought began to bother me recently: Am I getting the greatest Chinese experience possible? So, I set out to find the best Chinese food in Greensboro, starting my quest by conducting a very unscientific survey of some friends. Three names consistently came up -- China's Best, China Wok and Chen's Express — as did my friends' reasons for ordering from these places: They are close. All of these restaurants deliver to all of our houses, so the logic has to be that the closer the restaurant, the faster you get your food.
Continuing my experiment, I settled on two favorites that every Chinese place should offer: sesame chicken and sweet-and-sour chicken. Then I picked up the phone and started dialing.
Each of the three restaurants had a combination plate of fairly equal value: entree, rice and a side dish for about six bucks. I placed my order at each of the three places within minutes of one another, so I was expecting a similarly staggered delivery time. China's Best outshone its competitors and showed up in 20 minutes. Chen's Express and China Wok showed up simultaneously (which made for two drivers giving me weird looks) at a little more than 30 minutes.
Now, the fun part: the taste test.
The rest
Hands down the most fun I've had writing a Cheap Eats yet. I really fed at least 12 people in my dorm that night. I'm the greatest CA ever. Or, depending on how much you know, the worst.
This thought began to bother me recently: Am I getting the greatest Chinese experience possible? So, I set out to find the best Chinese food in Greensboro, starting my quest by conducting a very unscientific survey of some friends. Three names consistently came up -- China's Best, China Wok and Chen's Express — as did my friends' reasons for ordering from these places: They are close. All of these restaurants deliver to all of our houses, so the logic has to be that the closer the restaurant, the faster you get your food.
Continuing my experiment, I settled on two favorites that every Chinese place should offer: sesame chicken and sweet-and-sour chicken. Then I picked up the phone and started dialing.
Each of the three restaurants had a combination plate of fairly equal value: entree, rice and a side dish for about six bucks. I placed my order at each of the three places within minutes of one another, so I was expecting a similarly staggered delivery time. China's Best outshone its competitors and showed up in 20 minutes. Chen's Express and China Wok showed up simultaneously (which made for two drivers giving me weird looks) at a little more than 30 minutes.
Now, the fun part: the taste test.
The rest
Hands down the most fun I've had writing a Cheap Eats yet. I really fed at least 12 people in my dorm that night. I'm the greatest CA ever. Or, depending on how much you know, the worst.
posted by Luke McIntyre at 8/25/2006 06:48:00 PM
2 Comments:
Well I'll be damned. China's Best, huh? In that case, I don't even want to think about how much money I've thrown at those China Wok people in my years here...
I do have to admit, and I only discovered this recently, the tofu at China Wok is amazing. I've had it three times in the past week.
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