| rev:text
| - My girlfriend and fellow food adventurer, Crystal, was out of town and I couldn't find any food that sounded too appealing at the time. Given that she is not a big fan of Chinese food and I could eat it pretty much any time, I decided to take this opportunity to try out China Chef. I ordered 5 items to go:
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Hot and sour soup - When I get Chinese food, I always order hot and sour soup and base first impressions off this dish. I was pleasantly surprised by this soup at China Chef. There was plenty of meat in the soup, and the taste was great without any need to add any soy sauce to keep it from being too bland (as with many Chinese restaurants). Along with water chestnuts, I was surprised to see peas and carrots in the soup, similar to those you find in many super-generic Chinese restaurants' bright yellow fried rice. I wish the soup was a touch spicier, but then again, I have a high tolerance for heat and it was nothing a touch of sambal oelek from my refrigerator couldn't solve.
Fried wontons - Some background: I just moved to the Cleveland area from Indianapolis, Indiana, and my favorite Chinese restaurant near my home there has some great fried wontons. They were cheap and packed full of a delicious pork filling. Although they are a touch more in price than their counterparts at China Chef, I was hoping for something similar, but I was wrong. The ratio of filling-to-wrapper at China Chef is way off; it took me 3 pieces before I realized I was eating something other than just the fried wonton dough/wrapper. Nestled deep in the fried dough, I found a small piece of Chinese barbecued pork, about the size of an average marble. This being said, the fried wontons were still pretty good for the price, but they definitely need to be eaten with soup or the included sweet and sour sauce.
Governor's pork - I assume this is China Chef's version of General Tso's, only with chicken instead of pork. I did not recall ever seeing a pork variety of General Tso's on a menu and I am a big fan of pork dishes, so I figured I would give it a try. When I got home and opened the typical white to-go carton, I was surprised to see the pork was encased in a fluffier batter that is more typical of sweet & sour chicken than General Tso's. The pork was still very tasty, although a couple of pieces were very, very fatty (and I typically put up with a bit of fat on meat). Also, there were only a couple pieces of broccoli, even in comparison to the small amount of vegetables that typically come with General Tso's.
Fried rice - As with most Chinese restaurants, steamed rice comes with many dishes, and I opted to sub in fried rice with my Governor's Pork. I do not recall if this substitution came with additional cost. In any case, I was pleasantly surprised by the fried rice. Given the peas and carrot pieces in the hot and sour soup, I was fearing your typical bright yellow fried rice. What I found was surprisingly dark but very tasty. I was also happy to see that there were plenty of bean sprouts in the rice, but no peas or carrot chunks.
Chicken lo mein - Another surprise here--the lo mein was very light in color compared to the lo mein with which I am familiar. You typically see lo mein that is caramel in color, but this lo mein was yellow (although not a bright almost-neon color like the generic fried rice of most Chinese restaurants mentioned above). In addition, it came with pea pods, baby corn, and more bean sprouts. The chicken was super velvety and not doused in soy sauce. This was probably my favorite sampling.
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Overall, the food was pretty good with quite a few nice surprises in terms of ingredients. China Chef does not have a lot in terms of ambiance, so this is definitely not a place to take a date. I believe were 3 booths that could seat 4 each, and one chair under a smaller flat-panel television. It looked like everyone else was waiting on to-go orders, and each order was served very quickly. There was a vending machine for soda, and I have a feeling that waitstaff would have came to the table, should I have chosen to eat in. The woman who took my order was also very friendly, and the food was hot and packaged up quickly.
All in all, I will likely go back to China Chef from time to time, given its proximity to my current apartment (it is currently the closest place to get food, aside from KFC). I am planning on moving to a different part of the near-Cleveland area once I sell my house back in Indianapolis, and assuming I find another place with decent Chinese food nearby, I don't think I would travel back to Streetsboro just to visit China Chef. For now though, China Chef is my choice for good Chinese food in the Streetsboro area.
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