They taste EXACTLY like that–I’ve made “donuts” with Pillsbury dough-in-a-pop-open-can and they were just like what the buffets around here serve.
The sign over these at our favorite local buffet says “Fried Biscuit” and I’m pretty sure they are tube biscuits, and yes they are yummy.
I’ve eaten at Chinese restaurants in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Missouri, California, Maryland, and Buenos Aires, Arg. and other than those buffet biscuits never been served bread.
How do you butter the bread? In all of those experiences I’ve also never had a knife on the table at a Chinese restaurant.
As it happens I expect to have dinner tomorrow evening at Kowloon in Saugus, MA. I shall report the bread status when I return on Monday.
I’ve never had bread with Chinese food, and I’ve had Chinese food in many states. Rhode Island is just weird like that. 
Sir, I’m going to need to see that recipe you’re using. cough You, uh, might be in violation of Good Taste Statute #42…I’m going to have to take these as evidence.
d&r
NOM NOM 
NOM NOM
(No, seriously, recipe?)
Metro Detroit must be weird as well. Two places within twenty miles of each other serve those dinner rolls that taste rather sweet – Lim’s Palace in Clawson and that crappy little dive down the road here in Clarkston.
This all echoes my own experience, I had never seen it or heard of it until I came to Mass. about 20 years ago. From my recollection the Chinese restaurants in the Somerville/Medford area were particularly guilty of the bread thing.
I was amazed to see what was essentially Italian bread served with Chinese food, and to have to pay extra for the white rice. People who had lived in this area all their lives were amazed that I was amazed, to them that was normal.
I came up with the same explanation Cal did, that it was a self-reinforcing cycle to conform to customers expectations. I think it also explains why there are so many mediocre to poor Chinese restaurants out there, over time that is what people expect, and expectations become demand.
Yeah – same area. I lived in Medford and noticed this in Medford, Somerville, and Everett. There were some restaurants that didn’t do it, like Beansprout and Panda Palace (not part of the chain restaurant of that name), both still going strong in Medford and still pretty good restaurants. The restaurants that gave you bread pretty much seem to have disappeared altogether.
Hmmmm, RI does sound a little funny, food-wise, but I bet it’s got nothing on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. There the “really good” Chinese place serves boiled ribs (???) that are later slapped with a sticky sweet ketchup type sauce. The preferred side dish is neither bread, nor rice, but mashed potatoes.
This is also the place where the local casino serves up pizza by the slice , with “your choice of potato” on the side. A slice of pepperoni with boiled potatoes as a side? Da hell? Other culinary atrocities that can be found include a side of mashed turnips with your spaghetti & meat sauce :eek: , and “mild” Swiss Chalet sauce. I had to know what “mild” Swiss Chalet sauce was, as I’d never heard of it, and the guy behind the counter explained that they dilute the regular stuff because the locals found it “too spicy”. The Arby’s went out of business because people didn’t like having “raw” meat in their sandwiches…
Cape Breton - the scenery is stunning, and so is the cuisine (but for a vastly different reason)
Sorry, for the hijack, but “bizarre regional variations on food that is even slightly exotic” brought up some deeply repressed memories of visiting relatives as a kid.
I once ate at the Furthest North Mexican Restaurant in the World, in Barrow, Alaska. My taco came with french fries in the shape of dinosaurs.
Eutychus, I’ve been in RI for 12 years and I still can’t get over bread in Chinese restaurants. And it’s always terrible, cold bread too.
Bread with Chinese food? That’s just weird! I don’t really think the two go together.
It does remind me though, of a Hank Hill type exchange that Harborwolf and I witnessed awhile back in a Chinese restaurant.
Man: Do you all have any rolls?
Waitress: Egg rolls?
Man: No, do you have any rolls to go with this dinner? You know, like dinner rolls?
Waitress: We have egg rolls. Do you want egg rolls?
Man: No, just plain rolls. Like bread. Do you have that?
Waitress: Just egg rolls.
and so on. . .
What, I’m the only one who found this funny?
Oh, dear Lord. The worst Chinese food, and probably one of the worst meals I have ever eaten in my life, was in Sydney, Nova Scotia. What the hell are those people thinking? I was alarmed to see the restaurants all run only by white people. Even in Iowa, that’s completely uncommon.
The Chinese food around here isn’t great, but it is ambrosia compared to Chinese food in Nova Scotia. What wasn’t sweet was completely devoid of flavor entirely.
To further the OT digression into strange combos just a bit…
I was at a training seminar in Selinsgrove PA at WoodMode. We were taken to what was billed as an amazing Mexican place. Now coming from Chicago where Taco Bells go out of business, I was skeptical.
THe place was an ancient farmhouse and very nicely appointed. I was told the beef burrito was the thing to get so I ordered as indicated. I got a good looking burrito with two sauces on top. The sauces were fantastic, a smoky chipotle and a really really nice fresh salsa. The rice and beans were just fine.
I took a bite and my brain melted a little. On the outside of the tortilla I had a perfectly good burrito indistinguihsable from dozens if not hundreds like it. Inside was quite possible the absolute best Yanke Pot Roast dinner I’ve ever eaten. Roast, carrots, potatoes in obviously home made gravy. Both were good, but the juxtaposition was jarring.
Australia. No bread with chinese here, ever. And we pay for our rice seperately.
As my dear ol’ Dad says of his East Coast family - “Lovely people, but don’t let them anywhere near a kitchen!”
I’ve also experienced “Chinese” food in northern Idaho - It came with covered in gravy! That was an awesome meal, not for the food, but for the excellent stories it generated.
Ayup. I’ve gotten bread with Chinese food around these parts. Always with takeout, but I don’t recall them ever giving me butter.
It threw me for a loop the first time I got home and there was what looked like half a loaf of French bread in the bag, but I got used to it. Like Orual, I didn’t eat it with the Chinese food, but I did eat it. Starving grad student and all that.
Having moved out of Boston proper I haven’t been given bread with my Chinese takeout in years. Not sure if the place I used to frequent is still there, or if so if it still gives out bread to unsuspecting diners.
I assert, however, that nothing beats the Chow Mein Sandwich for weird Chinese-food-related crimes.
The thought of bread with Chinese food horrifies me.
I used to go to North Andover, MA for work, and the Chinese restaurant closest to the Western Electric plant always served bread. The food was mediocre but not horrible. Joyce Chen’s in Cambridge, though, never did. I’ve never had it anywhere else in the US, including Texas and Louisiana.
the place in Corpus Christi I went to had a menu item - Coffee - $1,000 so I suppose they got requests from time to time.
Bread? With Chinese food?!
urp
(this does not include white buns, steamed buns, or those fried bread sticks that come with congee – I don’t know what those are called, my family uses a bastardized form of the name that apparently sounds a bit like chakwe)