Misfortune Cookie: "DC is no Beijing or Hong Kong, nor is it New York or San Francisco or Los Angeles. But there's no obvious reason that the city, accommodating a steady stream of cosmopolitan and international population, should be content dwelling in a cesspool of Chinese/ethnic food mediocrity." [The Atlantic] Head of the Class-Action: A [...]

Everything I used to know about Chinese food, I learned from a Taiwanese Christian minister in the sedate upper middle-class Michigan suburb that inspired the American Pie movies. Forgive my teenage myopia. The minister in question gave me my first job during high school, working the front counter at his drab take-out. For better or [...]

Whenever the wife and I go for dim sum at Hollywood East Cafe on the Boulevard in Wheaton, Carrie almost immediately starts scanning the carts for her favorite dessert, these custard-filled treats shaped like carrots. The deep-fried goodies brilliantly undermine the very idea of healthy veggies. After all, whose mother, at some point or another, [...]