"because when he asks a waiter about an interesting dish that is untranslated, all he gets is “You no like.”
Several decades ago I went on a trip to San Francisco and wanted the try Dim Sum. At the Dim sum place in Chinatown, they came around with the cart of covered dishes and showed me a couple (all of which were yummy) but there were some I didn’t get to see. I aksed about those and was told “you no like” I conviced the waiter that i want to try it, they were right i didnt like it but I ate it anyway and didn’t tell them they were right. It was some kind of ground up fish stuff that tasted very strong of fish.
@OldOlds , if the restaurant is still there, have you tried asking them for the recipe? I’ve had surprisingly good luck requesting recipes from restaurants. They don’t always provide it, and sometimes it’s way too complicated to make at home. But … they usually give me something, and often I can cook it, or close to it.
Same.
Once in awhile the cooks take the message and make it seriously native-level spicy then when it’s served you can see them lounging in the kitchen doorway to watch the round-eye suffer his comeuppance. So while I’m smiling happily and the food is going down easily they’re muttering to each other and shaking their heads.
Although as I’m getting older I have to be a bit more circumspect about really challenging the chef to heat tolerance contest.
One nice thing about ordering it seriously spicy. Nobody cadges my leftovers. 
ISTM the “separate menu in the ethnic language for the local ethnics only” routine only happens in areas with a large expat community of that ethnicity. That’s when the restaurant will have a big enough clientele of their own ethnicity who’ll want real back-home style cooking, not the Americanized stuff.
Two weeks ago at a local Indian place:
All our dishes are available mild, medium, hot, and extra hot.
I’ll take extra hot.
You should do medium.
Extra hot is fine. Please.
Maybe hot then?
Look, I promise I won’t send it back if it’s too hot. Extra hot please.
OK
(it was fine)
I’ve been to Chinese restaurants in NYC and LA that has different menus in Chinese and English. These were confirmed by native speakers. The dishes only on the Chinese menu weren’t readily identifiable as well known dishes to the native speakers, and further inquiry regarding the dishes lacking identifiable ingredients was that sort of “you no like” response with no further details. One Japanese fellow who knew only a few Chinese words gave us an entertaining assessment of several items based on his own misunderstanding of the words.
Also, the well known Chinese restaurant dishes don’t have an official recipe. They vary by region here in the US according to to local custom and chef’s choices. If a dish is well standardized in US Chinese restaurants I’d think it’s closer to the category of fast food than an ‘authentic’ dish representing home style of fine dining.
That reminds me of this post from Ask a manager:
And definitely read this follow-up.
I love it!
Almost too good to be true. But fun whether true or not.
Is it this dish from their Google Reviews?
If so, that looks like a Sichuan dry pot with wood ear mushrooms and lily bulbs.
If you want the precise way they make it, best to contact them as it looks like their version is pretty particular. If you just want a general idea, the name they give on the menu for it is 木耳肉絲 and if you google that, there’s a bunch of recipes on YT with english translation that show you how to make it.
The first time I got them to make my Kao Pad Kra Pow “Thai hot” the waitress watched from a distance. It wasn’t until 5 minutes later, when I asked for more napkins because my nose was running so hard that she relaxed and was finally convinced I was human. She told me “You made the cook cry” from the fumes of the cooking chilis. Apparently I am the only person who orders it that hot. Was delicious!
That’s it! 100%
It’s truly amazing, and if anyone reading this is in the Boston area, it’s worth a trip to Billerica. Just be warned that the last time I was there, the only beer choices were Tsing Tao (Chinese Budweiser), Sapporo (Japanese Budweiser) and Sam Adams Boston Lager (OK, but not my favorite)
Also recommend the Xi La Fish and they have a spicy crispy chicken dish that’s excellent (not sure the actual name, but it’s many small pieces of fried chicken, not whole breasts or tenders)
Sichuan food is intentionally meant to be paired with crisp, light lagers to complement the mala flavor.
See, I do that with my dishes and yet my wife, who claims she doesn’t like spicy, will eat my leftovers up anyway, while later complaining how spicy they were. Grrr… I would make some seriously spicy stuff like phall at home with habaneros and even ghost peppers, and still my leftovers would be missing a portion at some point.
Hmm. I suppose divorce is out of the question? j/k.
Does she have enough leftovers of her own?
My wife is a very light eater and brings home 2 or 3x the leftovers I do. Then eats small servings from those. Which means she’s always got lots in the fridge while I often have none. Which invites … controversy about where and what to eat for the next meal.
At least she’s happy to share hers with me and there’s nothing objectionable to me about her meal choices. But it does feel weird eating “her” food when she rarely or never reciprocates.
Dang, great find. That looks really good.
The overall mystery appears to have been solved - go Dopers! - but I am still confused by this phrase above. How in the hell do you “dry braise” something? That has to be a mis-translation, right?
For those dry pot dishes the meat is often braised separately first, then added to the dish.
There’s definitely still one in North Seattle - Chiang’s.
Crispy Pig Intestines or Fried Tofu of Strong Odor, anyone?
This was a question I asked many times, and never got a satisfying explanation.
Regarding the picture, it’s 100% the dish, though in my experience there was a bit more liquid in the bowl.
The restaurant was 5 minutes from work so we used to go there for lunch regularly.
Yeah, here in Chinatown, I do think a few have figured out that it’s not worth trying to hide the more exotic dishes from the non-Chinese. One of my regular restaurants, for example, has the following on their regular menu:
Pork Intestine & Pork Blood Cake in Pot (spicy)
Chinese Marinade Duck Heads
House Special Chicken Feet
Plus stuff like beef maw, tendons, kidney, etc. I’m not sure if they have a separate Chinese menu there. Apparently they at least used to about 15 years ago, but they might have just consolidated it to a single menu.
Ran into that issue at an Ethiopian place in Fresno about 15 years ago. Some of the dishes I was reasonably OK with [with copious glasses of milk, and some cucumbers] but the one dish that was specifically for me was a raw beef dish, and I ordered it to be the least hot version [they had a choice between mild and hot] and specificed ‘white girl mild’ and I swear it lit my Fresno raised hot food loving husbands nose hairs to where HE couldn’t eat it. [[we made the determination that I would be OK with them ordering from there again, but I am going elsewhere to get food I can eat. When the only food I can eat comfortably is the damned injeera, not a happy camper here.]]