You know having done this blog for a while….I get the strangest, sometimes humorous, occasionally borderline scary, and a few just plain odd emails. Recently, there seems to be something in the air, first I got an extremely racist, xenophobic, and plain insulting email about my posts on Tunisia, I'll go more into detail in the near future. Then there was the one where someone "ordered me" to add links to my blog otherwise they'd over-run my blog with spam….now that's a new one! And then there was the dude, based on the writing style (all CAPS and full of "textation" short cuts), who informed me, "U R the BGST ***** (sorry racist word deletion) FOOD SNB EVER…." etc, etc, etc….. Wow, who knew I had readers in the penitentiary? Oh, the irony of the email….if they only knew that the Missus and I had just gotten back from Mandarin Canton. The Missus needed Her "ABCDE" (American Born Chinese Dining Establishment) food fix and She enjoys Mandarin Canton……
Anyway, as always, we steer away from anything that looks either radioactive or came out of an old crankcase, is of the protein type beef, pork, or chicken breast. MC seems to do a good job with shrimp and I have a soft spot for old school fried rice……here it's the Shrimp Fried Rice:
Actually, the Missus eats all the shrimp, I eat a bit of it here and take the rest home to have the next day with a fried egg on it. There's a mild sweet-smokiness which is from a pretty well seasoned aged wok, every grain is covered evenly…it's just nice old school stuff.
The one dish the Missus comes for is the Salt and Pepper Shrimp without shell, which is probably the most expensive item on the menu at about thirteen bucks or so.
These are usually light, fried perfectly, and crisp. The garlic and scallions have been slightly caramelized developing their sugars and add nice flavor….and yes, let's not forget the MSG…..
The Missus decided to order the fish with black bean sauce, which was not bad. The fish was prepared adequately, tender, but didn't have the buttery texture of well prepped fish fillet in the Chinese style.
The big disappointment was the item i'm sure to always order here….the Salt and Pepper Chicken wings, which, over the course of my last couple of visits thought was a good contender for the best in San Diego. This time, they came out really quickly, were lukewarm, dry, and rubbery…..I think these were either crowded in the fryer, not allowing for adjustment to the temperature drop and then was lying around for a while or the oil was just not at the right temp….bummer.
Well, at least the damage wasn't too bad….MC has lunch specials, even on weekends and everything but the shrimp were lunch specials. Three of four ain't bad.
As usual, the folks here thought I was Chinese and the Missus was Filipino, which I get a kick out of. And as always, I think there a time and place for this kind of food….perhaps in the guilty pleasure category. So long you serve what you say you serve, it's prepared and priced well, I've no qualms about eating ABCDE cuisine. Coming from my background, I don't find attitudes of false superiority, self-importance, pretense, entitlement, or narcissism particularly attractive…. Let's just eat ono food!
New Mandarin Canton Chinese Restaurant
543 Telegraph Canyon Road
Chula Vista, CA 91910