Anyone from California knows how hard it is to find decent Chinese food in Portland Metro. Sure, there are a couple of good ones–Lucky Strike on the East Side comes to mind–but by and large, you’re stuck with places that don’t know the difference between pot stickers and fried ravioli. One of the things I miss most from California and Nevada, are good greasy chopsticks, where the chow mein isn’t dumped from a can, where everything isn’t deep fried in the same batter and drenched in a red dye #2 liquid that looks like the rinse water from a kindergarten class, or where the grease doesn’t pool under whatever is on top of it.
I’ve only been once, but I have to recommend Taste of Sichuan in Beaverton. It occupies a former Marie Callendar’s store in Tanasbourne on Cornell Road. The first thing that tips you off is the aroma in the parking lot–gingery and garlicky. Young Chinese men in a huge hurry make up the staff, and the clientele is decidedly more Chinese than American and Indian.
The food plates range from the familiar to the exotic–they do things with entrails and offal I’ve never seen done before, except maybe in some back rooms in Chinese neighborhoods in San Francisco. I was only there for lunch, where plates are in the $6.50 range. We had to wait t get in. Once inside, your plates arrive a bit unevenly, since it’s all wok-cooked to order.
I can’t wait to try it for dinner.
