Food notes, minor

cattitude and I tried a new local Chinese restaurant for delivery this evening (this is after being increasingly disappointed by both delays and reduced quality from the nearest outpost of the Szechuan Empire). We ordered fried pork dumplings and mango chicken, and the woman said "I'll give you an egg roll for free." The egg roll was good--not at all greasy, basic cabbage, bits of red-rimmed pork, and a noticeable flavor of cinnamon. The dumplings were good, with a very dark filling: Cattitude's guess, from color and flavor, was a bit of barbecue sauce.

At this point, having seen them have tasty fun with two very standard things, I was optimistic about the mango chicken, which is less standard. We were disappointed---basically a variation on sweet-and-sour, but without the green pepper (mango possibly standing in for the pineapple), breaded in long thin pieces meaning far too high a dough:chicken ratio.

The other disappointment was that, after the woman who took the order asked if 35-40 minutes would be okay, it took twice that. We'll probably give them another try, with a more standard entree, since those dishes seem to be where the chef has decided to express her/himself.

For the record: Lotus Express, 4840 Broadway.

Food notes, minor

cattitude and I tried a new local Chinese restaurant for delivery this evening (this is after being increasingly disappointed by both delays and reduced quality from the nearest outpost of the Szechuan Empire). We ordered fried pork dumplings and mango chicken, and the woman said "I'll give you an egg roll for free." The egg roll was good--not at all greasy, basic cabbage, bits of red-rimmed pork, and a noticeable flavor of cinnamon. The dumplings were good, with a very dark filling: Cattitude's guess, from color and flavor, was a bit of barbecue sauce.

At this point, having seen them have tasty fun with two very standard things, I was optimistic about the mango chicken, which is less standard. We were disappointed---basically a variation on sweet-and-sour, but without the green pepper (mango possibly standing in for the pineapple), breaded in long thin pieces meaning far too high a dough:chicken ratio.

The other disappointment was that, after the woman who took the order asked if 35-40 minutes would be okay, it took twice that. We'll probably give them another try, with a more standard entree, since those dishes seem to be where the chef has decided to express her/himself.

For the record: Lotus Express, 4840 Broadway.