How to get real Chinese food at a Chinese restaurant

...what about idiot trolls?

The original ranter seems to think there's some secret handshake for white people to get traditional Chinese food in the restaurants that actually offer it, which I think is BS (based on my own ease of getting it in Boston's Chinatown and elsewhere). She also asserts that if Chinese restaurateurs would only do a better job of promoting traditional cuisine, more people would try it.

I don't think that's the issue at all. Restaurateurs aren't in the business of evangelizing, but finding a need in the market and filling it. When more Americans demand traditional Chinese cuisines, restaurants will step up to address the demand. In the meantime, there are plenty of places in both Chinatown and the suburbs that offer both traditional cuisine and American-Chinese food, allowing customers to get what the like.

I try to do my part in introducing traditional Chinese cuisine to my friends and the people who read my food writing, but I remain firmly in favor of you liking what you like, even if that means you order pork fried rice and General Gau's chicken every time in a place that offers traditional Chinese cuisine I think is much more interesting.

Especially the part about Sichuan Gourmet! The authentic dishes on their menu are absolutely fantastic. My girlfriend, who is Shanghainese, says the place immediately across from Sichuan on Route 9 in Framingham (I think it is called Uncle Cheung's) is also a family favorite for Shanghainese food. I've never been there, so I cannot confirm, but they really love it.

Really though, the bottom line here is venturing out = good strategy for quality new eats.

... and familiarity with the cuisine. If you know what you want and are in an appropriate regional cuisine restaurant, chances are you will be able to get it, menu or not, Chinese or not.

However, having people with you who speak the same dialect as the staff at the restaurant opens up possibilities that you might not otherwise know about - particularly when it comes to variations and specials written in Chinese.

We have a local Sichuan place called Chili Garden - it is pretty well known, actually. It is also walking distance from the middle schools, which have "early release" days once a month where the kids descend on Medford Square for lunch in masses. My elder son and a couple of friends started going there in sixth grade for their luncheon specials and some quiet dining (compared to the pizza and hot dog/ice cream place, which were mobbed). By the time he was in eighth grade, this group had grown to as many as 14 people, and included a couple of kids who spoke the same language and local dialect as the staff.

Once the local speakers joined, the quiet luncheon turned into a banquet. Not only would they send out lunch special plates groaning with food for hungry teens (I saw pictures - it was a lot more food than they typically served - or, as my son said at the time "good tips help"), the restaurant would also send out a couple of plates of new things to the table (gratis) to encourage them to try different things, mediated by the kids who were familiar with the dishes. I saw some pictures of this and was amazed - they were actively enlarging the horizons of these kids. Yes, they were pleased with getting a large lunch group at a slow time, but the staff seemed almost indulgent of them all the same - and willing to teach them something about the food itself.

So, yes, these places are willing to serve interesting food to non-Chinese people but only if they know you know what they are serving (and it helps to have an interpreter for the food in your group). Otherwise, why should they take that risk if they don't know that you are receptive?

BTW, Chili Garden is wonderful and we still get all our take out from there.

amazing french fries and gravy!

The only other post to mention rangoons did so in a mildly desultory manner. You might have meant the comment about using peking ravs as a quality barometer, which was made by one person, and at this point has received...no thumbs up.

There's not a lot of comments here, probably because there are other stories taking people's attention right now and because this story is not about food per se, but about whether there's anything to one blogger's speculation that there's a racial aspect to being served the good stuff (consensus seems to be pretty clearly - NO).

I suggest that if you want to get an idea of how invested and adventrous Boston-area foodies are, you visit a site that specializes in that kind of discussion (eg Chowhound). Or even one of the threads here that is directly targeted towards food-talk.

p.s. China King (aka the *real* King Fung Garden) FTW!