tastes like chicken

My favorite Chinese place is called Plum Blossom in Troy NY. The atmosphere is great even though the food isn't super wow.

It's very tasty, though.

It is always a challenge to find a good Chinese place. I have also found that Chinese places inside a single town or area will always have a style. Like, all of the Chinese places in Topeka where I used to live all had a similar style to them. Jade Garden is the place in Topeka BTW. And all the Chinese places here in Kansas City seem to be similar but very different to those in Topeka. Kin Lin is my place.
Orlando, Ft. Smith Arkansas, Tulsa Okalahoma, and Omaha are all totally different also.

It is like a family moves into the area, or a group of people from the same region of China and they open all the restaurants and then set a standard. So when you move around you have to relearn how they do things and then find one that fits your taste buds.

BTW, there is a P.F. Changs on the Country Club Plaza that is like 2 blocks from where I work. I have never been to the place because of cost and amount of people. So I go 4 blocks away to the place that is right off the campus of UMKC.

Pei Wei is one of the better chain-type asian food. Everything is cooked to order. It's one of those places where you order a sauce type, a meat, veggies, and rice (white or brown) or noodles and they stir fry it. Now that I think about it, it's kind of like a single order of Mongolian BBQ. The food isn't spectacular, but it's better than most. I believe it's the same parent corporation as LeAnn Chin's, Chin's Asia Fresh, etc. One warning I'll give about Pei Wei is that they tend to skimp on the sauce, so it's good to order some extra on the side.

A trend that has happened here is that most of the cooked to order chain restaurants have closed and been replaced with the a la carte style places of the same parent corp.

I have visited most of the Japanese and Chinese places in my area over the years. Many of them don't exist anymore.
We have two chains in the mall where I work, 'Mandarin Express' and 'Sarku Japan'. There right next to each other and I alternate between the two. There is a 'Panda Express' out in front of the mall and a 'China Garden Buffet' to the side. I like the buffet next door. The food is very good but the atmosphere is just like a regular resturant. They have a sushi chef prepare the sushi out where you can see and they have a pretty nice selection. They have tables with very colorful tops with pictures of temples, festivals and flowers. I would really like to have one but I think they would notice me going out the door with one.

So the Japanese place that opened up, LITTERALLY, in my back yard left a menu on the door today. It looks promising. Wile it is the typical expensive Japanese place, it has a really good variety of things and quiet honestly the menu is more authentic then I have ever seen before. And the prices are lower then any other Japanese place I have been to, still the most expensive place I would consider going to but not bad over all. Best part, and worst if you look at it the right way, is they open for lunch at 11. Just in time for me to hit them up before I go to work.

Cool!!!