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Old 11-05-2021, 08:22 AM
 
42 posts, read 63,782 times
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New to Az last year and am having trouble finding any Chinese restaurants in Az that has Chow Mein, 99% of what I find is Lo Mein and I don't like lo mein. A lot of the restaurants I have asked don't even know what chow mein is. Location doesn't matter but the greater phoenix area.
Any recommendations?
Thank you
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Old 11-05-2021, 09:17 AM
 
9,195 posts, read 16,634,851 times
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Panda Express?

Shaanxi Garden is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the valley. Not sure if they have that, sort of doubt it, but it’s worth a try.
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Old 11-05-2021, 10:49 AM
 
Location: Out there somewhere...a traveling man.
44,620 posts, read 61,578,192 times
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OP check these out...

The 15 Best Places for Chow Mein in Phoenix
https://foursquare.com/top-places/ph...aces-chow-mein
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Old 11-05-2021, 11:46 AM
 
Location: Phoenix
962 posts, read 468,946 times
Reputation: 1340
Quote:
Originally Posted by wildbillhiccup View Post
New to Az last year and am having trouble finding any Chinese restaurants in Az that has Chow Mein, 99% of what I find is Lo Mein and I don't like lo mein. A lot of the restaurants I have asked don't even know what chow mein is. Location doesn't matter but the greater phoenix area.
Any recommendations?
Thank you
My wife has had me searching for East Coast-style Chinese, and more specifically, real chow mein, since we got here two years ago. While we actually like Panda Express, it's more West Coast style, and they don't have chow mein.

Calling up and asking questions wasn't really helpful, so I started checking menus online and making a list of places to pop in and have a look. Unfortunately, the virus put a damper on the search, and more unfortunately, quite a few of the small places have closed. And while it's important to her, it's not so important that she wants to sit in the car for an hour to go get mystery takeout, so my search has been limited (so far) to a 20 minute radius from our house (west side of Lookout Mtn.).

If you find some, please come back and let us know where.

Next on my list to try:

GoGo China - 13636 N. Tatum (looks promising - they say it's served over crispy noodles, which is what we're used to)
Nee House Chinese - 13843 N. Tatum
New Asian Kitchen - 4231 W. Bell Rd
The Wok Express - 4835 E. Greenway
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Old 11-05-2021, 11:56 AM
 
Location: Phoenix
962 posts, read 468,946 times
Reputation: 1340
Quote:
Originally Posted by wit-nit View Post
OP check these out...

The 15 Best Places for Chow Mein in Phoenix
https://foursquare.com/top-places/ph...aces-chow-mein

Been to Great Wall and Dragon Palace. Both decent food, but not real chow mein. Thank you for the list, though. We'll check out some of the others on there.
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Old 11-05-2021, 04:02 PM
 
42 posts, read 63,782 times
Reputation: 93
Yes thanks for the list, I'll give it a try.
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Old 11-05-2021, 07:01 PM
 
42 posts, read 63,782 times
Reputation: 93
I never thought there would be different Chinese food in different areas of the country, I would think there would be different food from different areas in China. I love pork chop suey chow mein from the west coast. I see it's also a challenge to get a combo plate. I would typically order pork chop suey chow mein with fried shrimp or sweet and sour pork with pork fried rice all on one plate in a combo. Here it seems you can only choose one item and have a mountain of it
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Old 11-05-2021, 07:38 PM
 
Location: Phoenix
962 posts, read 468,946 times
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Of course the food in China varies by region, and I like most of it. Their eight "traditional" cuisines are:
  • Shandong Cuisine: fresh and salty with a lot of seafood dishes.
  • Sichuan (Szechuan) and Hunan cuisines: hot spice.
  • Guangdong (Cantonese), Zhejiang, Jiangsu cuisines: great seafood, and generally sweet and light flavors.
  • Anhui and Fujian cuisines: inclusion of wild foods from their mountains.

In the US, West Coast cuisine in general tends to be lighter and "healthier" than back East, and Chinese food here follows the same trend. West Coast tends to have more veggies and lighter sauces than East Coast Chinese. Sort of a Spring Roll vs Pork Egg Roll thing.
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Old 11-06-2021, 02:50 AM
 
Location: Tempe and Payson
1,216 posts, read 3,028,186 times
Reputation: 1707
I am originally from Boston so when I moved here 30 years ago I really missed the Chinese food back home. Several years later I finally found a place that in my opinion is one of the best for that back home flavor: Mings Pagoda. They are the only one I have found that with house special egg foo young will put the meat inside the egg patty and not just make a plain hockey puck style egg patty with the meat in the gravy/sauce. Their fried rice is excellent and their bbq pork is great too. I have tried many of their dishes over the years and can't recall being disappointed. As to the Chow Mein, one dish I have never particularly cared for as far back as I can remember, prefer lo mein. Funny story though, here in Arizona be sure to ask if their chow mein or their lo mein has the crispy noodles. Some places have chow mein but prepare it with soft noodles (Abacus Inn).

https://www.mingspagoda.com/

I will also agree as others have mentioned, Abacus Inn and Dragon Palace are decent.

*** Added note: Panda Express is NOT chinese food. It tastes like food from an elementary school cafeteria.
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Old 11-06-2021, 08:32 AM
 
42 posts, read 63,782 times
Reputation: 93
Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalys View Post
I am originally from Boston so when I moved here 30 years ago I really missed the Chinese food back home. Several years later I finally found a place that in my opinion is one of the best for that back home flavor: Mings Pagoda. They are the only one I have found that with house special egg foo young will put the meat inside the egg patty and not just make a plain hockey puck style egg patty with the meat in the gravy/sauce. Their fried rice is excellent and their bbq pork is great too. I have tried many of their dishes over the years and can't recall being disappointed. As to the Chow Mein, one dish I have never particularly cared for as far back as I can remember, prefer lo mein. Funny story though, here in Arizona be sure to ask if their chow mein or their lo mein has the crispy noodles. Some places have chow mein but prepare it with soft noodles (Abacus Inn).

https://www.mingspagoda.com/

I will also agree as others have mentioned, Abacus Inn and Dragon Palace are decent.

*** Added note: Panda Express is NOT chinese food. It tastes like food from an elementary school cafeteria.
On the Chow Mein crispy thing. I know there's a difference, The noodles I like have been pan-fried, not rice crispies fried, but still a soft noodle that has been surface fried or stir fried in a wok. I know I'm picky about Chinese food. I really didn't know there were so many kinds out there because, for 100 miles in any direction of where I lived in Cali, there was no other type. I might even pinch my nose and try get used to Lo Mein but as I stated earlier when ordering here, you get a huge pile of one thing and not a combo plate.
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