There's a climactic scene in the movie Drive where the hero meets the badguy in a 'Chinese' restaurant. It's a prop for the movie to sell the idea of foreign while these two real bad American dudes hash out their differences. It's rich and exotic and mysterious and... goddamn exciting.
IG is a Chinese American restaurant in the burbs of burbs that serves burbanites, but man it had that feeling.
The Russian friend and I went there on a Sunday night for their Peking Duck special. We got that and some appetizer platter and some wonton soup and some cocktails. None of it was particularly memorable, and in fact the Peking Duck skin was *not* crispy, but the presentation was spot on. There's been so much streamlining of Asian restaurants that nice chairs and big booths with lots of room is uncommon. And on top of it I am a sucker for ethnic restaurants that have good servers that can connect with customers. Do you know how rare that is? Take advantage and talk it out. Be polite and get good service.
I don't think Madison's foodies would give this place four stars. But I saw a bunch of other slant eyes here with me, and I imagined they were like me, wide eyed and happy to be here eating whatever this was.
I'd take my mom here.