# Enough with the Chinese menus! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 5, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830 "2007-06-05T13:43:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/1 "2007-06-05T13:43:19Z")
Look, I realize that most of the people at these take-out specialists are just doing what [New York](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10069448) is telling them, but I don’t need a reminder that the Beijing Palace is 4 blocks away once or twice a month. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/2 "2007-06-05T14:13:24Z")
[QUOTE=Great Dave] Look, I realize that most of the people at these take-out specialists are just doing what [New York](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10069448) is telling them, but I don’t need a reminder that the Beijing Palace is 4 blocks away once or twice a month. [/QUOTE] Amen! At least 2x a week, I come home to find a menu from some crappy place that I’d never eat at again. Oh, and a little tip for those guys: If your food is oily and tastes like feet, maybe giving away free samples at the street fair is not the best method to generate business. All it told me was never to eat at Golden Fat Beijing Rice Pagoda EVER. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/3 "2007-06-05T14:15:56Z")
And if you’re going to stick a bunch of menus through my door, please have the courtesy to stay in business long enough for me to try you out! There’s no point giving me a menu on Monday and for your phone to be disconnected and your premises boarded up by Friday. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/4 "2007-06-05T21:28:04Z")
I understand English might be the primary language of the person writing the menu but why the hell can’t they have someone proof read their menus before going to print. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/5 "2007-06-05T21:30:45Z")
[QUOTE=boytyperanma] I understand English might be the primary language of the person writing the menu but why the hell can’t they have someone proof read their menus before going to print. [/QUOTE] I assume you meant “might _not_ be”, and to answer your question in a word: Tradition. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/6 "2007-06-05T21:42:15Z")
DAMN! I’m hungry. I think I’ll phone in for some Chinese. But, how will I know who to call? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/7 "2007-06-05T21:43:48Z")
Mmmm, oily feet. ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/8 "2007-06-05T21:47:06Z")
Menu Boy no be coward like shrimp, Menu Boy be brave like prawn. Menu boy must move silently like ghost. Leave no footprint, only lunch special. [/Simpsons] ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/9 "2007-06-05T22:17:23Z")
I mostly get flyers (usually professionally printed door-hangers) from crappy pizza chains. The Chinese guys don’t even come up to my floor; they just fling a few menus at the bottom of the stairs. ---
**Author:** ![Boggette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@Boggette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boggette)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/10 "2007-06-05T22:45:45Z")
Sorry. In my area there are only two kinds of food. Pennsylvania and Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/11 "2007-06-06T08:57:47Z")
My experience is, the less a Chinese restaurant advertises the better it is (and the reverse seems to be true). If you get sent there by a friend who treats it like a state secret, there’s no sign, you have to enter through an alley and the kitchen, no menu, and the staff barks “What you want? Hurry up!” as they jog by with a cart. . . you are in for some damn good dim sum. I had suishi yesterday because of that thread. Now I really want bao. I get shitty pizza menus all the friggin time. I was raised in the New York metro. San Francisco has a huge variety of excellent cuisines, including some of the best Chinese and Japanese food you can find in the US. Great bread. Great seafood. We can _not_ do pizza (or bagels). ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/12 "2007-06-06T10:12:43Z")
PLEASE DO NOT REQUEST NO SPICY HOT ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/13 "2007-06-06T13:55:28Z")
We get menus like that at work all the time. Since I work at a government contractor we have a lot of security, like those badge scanners on our doors. I once had a menu-passer-outer try to follow me through and get pissed at me when I wouldn’t let him. He stalked off swearing at me (I assume, based on the tone of his voice) in Chinese (I guess, since I’m an ignorant roundeye who can’t tell one asian language from the other). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/14 "2007-06-06T13:59:49Z")
[QUOTE=Boggette] Sorry. In my area there are only two kinds of food. Pennsylvania and Dutch. [/QUOTE] With 6 you get spaetzle. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/15 "2007-06-06T14:08:57Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] I mostly get flyers (usually professionally printed door-hangers) from crappy pizza chains. The Chinese guys don’t even come up to my floor; they just fling a few menus at the bottom of the stairs. [/QUOTE] Me to. I get far more pizza menus than Chinese. And where the fuck are all the Afghani menus? Or French bistro menus? And hello, ever heard of Indonesian? Fuck no! It’s all pizza. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/16 "2007-06-06T14:26:27Z")
I get my Chinese takeout at a Chinese restaurant that has no name. They have 3 tables, but no one has ever actually been seen eating at one. They have a menu, but they get mad if you spend time looking at it. I guess they figure you should just know what you want when you enter their restaurant. They do have a restroom for customers. It has a sign. ‘Bathroom no for unless buy food.’ I love that place. What part of Pennsylvania doesn’t have Chinese food? I live in Pittsburgh. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/17 "2007-06-06T17:57:25Z")
[QUOTE=Obsidian] I get shitty pizza menus all the friggin time. I was raised in the New York metro. San Francisco has a huge variety of excellent cuisines, including some of the best Chinese and Japanese food you can find in the US. Great bread. Great seafood. We can _not_ do pizza (or bagels). [/QUOTE] Ever go to Zachary’s in Berkeley? Awesome deep dish- better than Gino’s in Chicago. And what about Noah’s Bagels? Not authentic enough? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/18 "2007-06-06T18:00:52Z")
_Please enjoy your food with chopsticks. The traditional and typical of Chinese glorious history and culture._ ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/19 "2007-06-06T21:29:41Z")
[QUOTE=Great Dave] Ever go to Zachary’s in Berkeley? Awesome deep dish- better than Gino’s in Chicago. And what about Noah’s Bagels? Not authentic enough? [/QUOTE] Noah’s??? Oh, you slay me. It’s funny, I called a friend of mine on Saturday because I wanted to stop by and say hi as I happened to be in the south bay. He told me he wasn’t around because he’d gone to Berkley for pizza. I thought he was nuts-- now I seriously wonder if it was that place (I’ve never been). ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-chinese-menus/406830/20 "2007-06-06T22:52:19Z")
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