General Tso’s Chicken from the Happy Wok at East Towne Mall in Madison, WI.
Mmmm, mmmm. Crispy and crunchy and sweet and spicy. A plate for less than five bucks that’s so big my wife and I split it between us and both get full. I look at everyone else in the food court with their Taco Bell and McDonalds trays and I think “Are you people nuts? You could be having some General Tso’s! Why would you come to the food court and buy anything else?”
Well, it’s pretty obvious to me that, like all fast food, the goal of food court fast food was to have something tasty but not really good because that would be expensive. Urgh.
For me there’s a greek place in the Crystal City, VA underground called ‘Moby’s’ that does some killer shish kabobs. I don’t think it’s part of a chain, though.
When I was a boy it would be Perry’s Pizza in Del Amo Fashion Square in Torrance, CA. I’m sure I’d be revolted by it now.
Sure, sure. I am always up for good food. Fortunately New Jersey has some very nice Japanese restaurants both inside and outside of food courts.
Cozzoli’s Pizza, usually found in mall food courts in Florida (although moreso in the '80s and '90s, before Sbarro became so widespread), has KILLER New York style pizza: large, thin, crispy, chewy, greasy, cheesy slices. It’s the perfect consistency for by-the-slice pizza, and I’ve loved it my entire life. Cozzoli’s is the only thing that can distract me from my bourbon chicken.
The nearest mall to us has a food court where almost every restaurant serves a variation on the same dish: a pile of flavored rice served with chicken nuggets coathed with sweet-sticky sauce. Whether it’s the Japanese or the Chinese or the Cajun or the Mediterranean place, it’s all pretty much the same, which is to say teh suxxors. They do have a Great Steak and Potato, and it’s the exception, and its fries are absolutely delicious as noted.
Why did I suddenly flash to Brazil ?
Waiter: You must make ze selection!!
You too? Being from Des Plaines, that is. I’ve not been to Golf Mill for over 15 years.
Is “Great Steak and Potato” the same as “Great Steak Escape”? If so, there’s one near my office and the fries are by far the best thing they have. Sandwiches aren’t too shabby, but they are a bit expensive at close to ten bucks for sandwich, fries and soda.
I do eat more Panda Express than I probably should, but when you can get lunch for under seven bucks, it’s a good thing. Their food is generally quiite decent, but there is some variablility - some days they seem to have taken a bigger scoop or squirt of whatever. But that’s pretty much part of wok cooking - when you’re cooking on 75,000 BTU or so, you have to act fast and there’s just not time to be precise with amounts.
Here in Vegas, most of the big off-strip casinos have installed “food courts”. Not as big as mall courts, but some very good places are represented. Sunset Station has Panda Express , Quizno’s (lousy commercials, great sammich), Fatburger (not as good as it used to be) and the underrated Sbarro . For a fast food pizza joint, I’ve always thought it was pretty good, and the pepperoni stromboli at $3.95 is a steal–big, filling and tasty.
wooosh…
One of my favorite food courts is here: http://www.crossroadsbellevue.com/restaurants/index.htm
Vietnamese, indian, chinese, russian, korean, japanese, thai, mexican, medeterranian, plus sausages, an american grill, BBQ, pizza. mmmmmmmm
And it’s less than 15 minutes from work.
I used to love One Potato Two but I don’t think they have them anymore.
I haven’t been to a mall in ages!
The Onion article was hilarious…!!
You beat me by about two minutes. I miss my mall taters!
Mr. S usually gets the chicken teriyaki or whatever the special is at Sarku. Since the demise of 1 Potato 2 I usually join him, or else I get Taco Bell. sigh
oh ho ho, it is to laugh! Singapore SO doesn’t have the best food courts! (**Tabby_cat’**s going to kill me. Sorry man).
[minor hijack] There’s way too little choice, with most stalls offering only a few dishes, and other stalls repeating the menu over and over and over. (I’m speaking from my limited experience of Australian, HK and Japanese food courts, that seem to have a broader selection), This means overall, a food court will represent less diversity, and often it will appear as if a menu from one stall has been split amongst five or ten stalls (one stall does veg rice, one does noodles, one does chicken rice, one does dumplings, etc. In other countries, this would appear to be the output of one stall).
The argument is that each place does that one dish REALLY well, but sadly that’s rarely the case. There’s also way too few stalls offering foreign ‘interesting’ fare, and way too many in the one place offering the same thing to varying degrees of quality. This is why I’m reading in awe about Ukranian food and Bourbon Chicken! That is so damn cool![/hijack]
On a not-so-snarky side note (sorry about that anti-S’pore-food outburst) it really depends on what you’re looking for here. We did a major lunch trip yesterday to get mixed rice for lunch down at Suntec City (mostly cos the driver couldn’t think where else to go). There’s a place in Bedok Central (near the bus interchange) that makes GREAT Tsui Kueh. I’ve had fantastic Popiah and Chew Chong Fan in Tampines, at Century Square (sadly, the stall is now gone). There used to be a superb little Vegetarian stall at Jurong Point, and there was a good hawker centre near the old Jurong cinema. Some of the best Murtabak is to be had down along Bencoolen street (although some may argue). There’s also a wonderful Char Siew Bao stall in Aljunied, not far from the MRT, and I found a pretty good Bao shop in the basement of Katong Shopping Centre just the other day!
Most touristos seem to visit Lau Pa Sat, which is in the middle of the CBD, and while it’s nice and reasonable (decent satay there too) you really need to head off into the towns to get your good food!
Chinaguy what did you see while in our little neck of the woods? oh, and please tell folks about food in Shanghai. I had some amazingly delicious eating there many years ago!
There used to be a great WanTon place near the Shanghai hotel. I have no idea where specifically, but that was some great food! I also had some delicious snake-skin soup somewhere near Songshan Lu. And the dumplings, the dumplings. [homer noises].
There’s a good teriyaki place in our local mall. They had good miso soup as I recall.