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7 Comments:
Adam,
If I read your post's title correctly . . . "The Zagats: 'U.S. Chinese Food Sucks' " you are going to really gore some sacred oxen out there!
And, personally, I love it . . . because I have always figured that the "Zagats" were full of guano.
But I will wait to see other folks' reactions before I dig myself into a hole too deep to get out of :>)
DocChuck at 4:01PM on 06/15/07
I find that there are many good chefs (maybe not star chefs, but good chefs) and restaurants making authentic Chinese food in Asian communities throughout the US (trust me, my parents are nothing if not connoisseurs of finding such places) -- but the problem is, so many of them offer completely different menus to Chinese customers than to Westerners, creating a sort of Great Wall between authentic and "American" Chinese food. Chinese restaurants don't seem to think Americans want to eat anything but chop suey and sesame chicken. So cheers to the Zagats for the desperate plea!
Cathy@noteatingoutinny at 4:04PM on 06/15/07
Doc: Wasn't my intention to gore Tim or Nina, whose guides I quite enjoy. But that's basically what their op-ed piece boiled down to. OK: Maybe it boiled down to "U.S. Chinese food is boring." But I hope they don't take offense to the headline here. They have a good point. All my Chinese-American friends who maintain ties to their homeland and/or travel there pretty much echo the Zagats' sentiment on this, particularly my New York–based buddies. (They also roll their eyes when I profess my love of crab rangoon.
Adam Kuban at 4:18PM on 06/15/07
Well, I have to agree with part of that post, about the "crab rangoon."
Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE crab rangoon . . . especially the way the missus makes it.
p.s. Since I'm not a HTML expert, please tell me how to get "colored" print . . . especially "red."
DocChuck at 4:28PM on 06/15/07
I have to agree with Cathy. My favorite Chinese places (which are few) tend to have separate menus - one for Americans, and the other in Chinese for Chinese customers. Unfortunately I can't read much Chinese, so I'm stuck depending on other people to order the "authentic" or more interesting things. There are some places popping up with more ambitious menus (foie gras dumpling anyone?), though - but they're not in the big cities.
toastykitten at 10:36PM on 06/15/07
Well, Adam, I guess that this is one of the few times that I will have to disagree with you.
First, I have never found the Zagat Survey to be very impressive, or accurate, for that matter. I realize that the Zagats have managed to carve themselves a very profitable niche with some media outlets.
I have often equated them with some of the political “mouthpieces” that have come to dominate the media (Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh as examples).
As an example, I find the following statements suspect:
• Chinese food in its native land is vastly superior to what’s available here
• Unless you’ve visited China, they most likely have never reached your lips
• To please the naïve palates of 19th-century Americans
• China and the United States should work together on a culinary visa program that makes it easier for Chinese chefs to come here
• We have a much more ambitious dining culture today than we did 150 years ago
Well, and I'm trying to keep it civil, . . . just a FEW of my replies would be as follows:
Well, I have visited China . . . several times, and I don’t need the Zagats to inform me of the tastes that “reached (my) lips”
I question how the Zagats are so familiar with our “dining culture” of 150 years ago.
I do NOT need the Zagats to judge the quality of my palate.
I have a serious, very, very serious problem with what they call “getting ingredients” from China. Personally, I will NOT knowingly eat any “ingredient” that is imported from China. China’s exports are killing and sickening people all over the world!
Frankly, I think that the Zagats’ so-called “OP-ED” column was not, and is not, worthy of being printed in the New York Times.
Indeed I think that the Zagats’ “Eating Beyond Sichuan” editorial is one of the most propagandistic missives that I have read in a very long time.
BUT . . . that is just my opinion! And my opinion of the Zagat's latest "OP-ED" is very low.
DocChuck at 4:04PM on 06/16/07
Honestly, this takes the cake: "TWENTY years ago, American perceptions of Asian food could be summed up in one word: “Chinese.""
Jeez. That turned me off to the article straightaway. Didn't read further.
TikiPundit at 8:28PM on 06/17/07