Now, I get it. It is a full circle. This is why Cheesecake Factory have beautiful bathrooms. Rome is know for their bathrooms !!!
What did the Romans ever do for us??
I wasn’t really intending that to be ‘mean’. It’s meant to look huge and opulent and a bit outlandish; it has big Roman columns that are designed to be kind of exaggerated and cartoonish. It all reminds me of the sort of over-the-top design you see in Vegas. The place makes me chuckle, but my parents enjoy eating in a ‘palace of food’.
I agree. It is nice, but a bit cartoonish. Still, the place is clean, and lighting is good…etc. It is great for informal business lunches…etc.
Thank you. You’re the reason I came here from CH, lingua. You post so I don’t have to.
signed,
Hunterwali (née Lizard)
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I think thinking that the younger people (in the video) has more to prove about their Chinese knowledge and heritage. The older folks won’t be judged the same. Yes, you may say the older Chinese (in the video) has poor taste, but you won’t able to say that they are Americanized or “not Chinese” enough. The younger crowd looks to be born in US or Canada, and therefore has more to prove.
NPR sometime ago have something on air something about children born from a black and a white parent have more to prove about their racial identity.
Yeah I think that’s it. It seems to boil down to a couple of things - food snobbery and cultural conflict.
These kids are probably food snobs (aka “foodie”). Panda Express is one of those restaurant you’re supposed to hate if you consider yourself one of these things. The young kids clearly fell into this trap, and the older ladies were somewhat part of this group also.
But I think a lot of it is being a 1.5/2nd generation immigration. Something weird happens to your relationship with your home country’s food when you grow up being a minority in this country. You’re that kid that brings weird food to school and it puts you in this weird position where you simultaneously love and hate your own food. Things like Panda Express can eventually become an outlet for such hatred.
I have perhaps a similar relationship with Korean Tacos. It’s all the rage these days and I kind of hate that. It bothers me when people who have never had a lick of actual Korean food (and probably haven’t even had an actual Mexican taco) start raving about the new Korean taco place. To me it’s the worst of both worlds - I prefer both regular Korean food and regular Mexican tacos to Korean tacos - but to everyone else it’s a delicious new invention. The way I explain it to people is like this - imagine if you went to Europe and something called a pizzasushi was all the rage. It’s a seaweed rice roll with mozarella and tomato sauce and say, pepperoni inside. People who have never eaten a proper pizza nor actual sushi rave about it and constant ask you what you think of it. You try to explain to them that while it’s tasty, you prefer regular pizza and regular sushi over it. After a while you start to hate that thing, because fuck these people, they don’t know shit about your food!
Well that’s my position on it anyway. I’m actively trying not to be that asshole and to remind myself and others that delicious food should be enjoyed on its own merit regardless of where it came from or how authentic it is. At the end of the day, mediocre and even bad food is a luxury and something that should be valued.
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Oh my. I haven’t heard about the Korean Taco. I must try to look for one (not the highest priority of course) and try it.
Agree. That being said, I understand part of your frustration that people kept asking you about the Korean Taco. Maybe they even find it surprising that you don’t like Korean Taco. Next thing you know they question your Korean food knowledge – since you don’t like Korean Taco. 
I’m surprised you haven’t heard of the Korean Taco Ck. Try a google search or youtube. It started in LA with the Kogi truck and seems to be spreading everywhere.
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Here are the equally entertaining and enlightening: Italian Grandmas try Olive Garden for the first time and Mexicans try Taco Bell videos. I would personally rather be the type of person who enjoys all of these things for what they are rather than the guy guy who goes “why do you do this to our food?” And seriously, fuck that guy, dorito tacos are tha bomb.
Aw, thankee, Lizard.
That said — please keep posting here.
There are lots of of Chinatown “delis” selling cooked dishes held on steam tables. Panda Express’ s business model?
Still not trying to defend Panda as anything other than quick, inexpensive VERY Americanized ‘Chinese’ food, but we got an email offer for a free entree at Pick Up Stix that I used last night.
Before we had a Panda near us we used to eat Stix once in a while. When Panda opened we found it to be a much better value AND way better quality (admittedly that’s a relative term). After taking home Stix last night we are unlikely to ever get it again. Panda, while certainly not ‘real’ Chinese food, is (IMHO) a MUCH better, decent fast food takeout option when taken on it’s own and not compared with ‘authentic’ Chinese (which it really shouldn’t be anyway).
Price point difference?
Chem, here are the numbers:
Stix: We got two entrees (one with free rice and the other with $1.99 added “Chow Mein” (really just noodles in sauce) along with a small drink. It was a coupon deal where you got one entree free if you bought another and a drink. Total (before the coupon discount) was $23 something.
Panda: They have combo plates all day (Stix has them only at lunch) so we usually get two two-entree orders, each with rice or chow mein or steamed veggies (free sides). The total (unless I get a premium entree item at +$1.25) is just under $15.00.
Stix (at least here) gives you perhaps 20% more quantity the way we ordered, but you can see the price is more than 50% higher. Add to that our perception of the quality difference and there’s no real decision for us going forward.
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I posted the entire page earlier, but this article stood out to me because it reminded me of this thread.
As always on our trips to America, we went shopping at the mall (more than once - clothes seem about the only thing in America now generally cheaper than the UK). And, as always, I searched out Panda Express in the food court. So much better than, say, the Chinese buffets in our Chinatown. Love it.
I don’t mind Panda Express as long as I keep in mind what exactly it is I’m getting. I agree, Pick-Up Stix is subpar.
True, locals definitely eat at McDonald’s and Subway in NYC - I do it myself from time to time. Those places are different to me than Applebee’s or Olive Garden, though. If I have time to sit down at a restaurant in NYC, you better believe it won’t be at an Applebee’s - that is strictly for tourists. However, if I really just need something quick and cheap to go, I’m just as likely to run into the nearest McD’s as a bodega or other take out place, especially if I don’t know the quality of those places in the neighborhood.
Definitely a business success, just not sure if it is a culinary curse…
