In Which a Search is Begun: The Quest For The Best Chinese Take-Out

“Great restaurants are, of course, nothing but mouth-brothels.  There is no point in going to them if one intends to keep one's belt buckled.”  ~Frederic Raphael

I, for one, have no intention of keeping my belt buckled. I follow the Mark Twain school of thought here: eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

And I like a lot of food, but one of the ones that I like, but lack the ability to make for myself, is Chinese take-out. It’s tasty, it’s oftentimes greasy, and it comes with a fortune cookie. What’s not to love?

So when I move to a new area, I spend several weeks finding the best Chinese take-out around town. And being inflicted with a severe sense of wanderlust, I move around a lot.

So if you’re ever in Groton or New London, go to the Oriental Palace on Rt. 1, if you’re ever in Norwich, go to the Pagoda on Town St., and if you’re ever in Willimantic…drive to Norwich and go to the Pagoda on Town St.

In proper scientific fashion, I get the same thing at each restaurant: Chicken Lo Mein and Crab Rangoon. Chicken lo mein is a staple of Chinese take-out, and just a wonderful little dish that’s got enough flavor that it’s tasty, but not so much that it’s overpowering and I would tire of eating it week after week (I’m looking at you, General Tso). As for crab rangoon, well, I know I’ll be getting an order nearly every time, so it’s important to know how it tastes.

I began my search at the place closest to me, the at 440 Howe Avenue. Walking in, I have to say, it was classic Chinese take-out; a desolate little store-front with a counter with a ream of menus sitting on it, several tables that appear to almost never get used, two glass-front refrigerators for drinks, and a table that had been retrofitted as a TV-stand for slow periods during the day.

Two more things before we get to the food: price and speed. The lo mein, rangoon and a soda cost me $9.70, which puts it a little on the high side of the middle of the road, as far as price is concerned. The speed, however, was kind of amazing. I wasn’t able to finish the Bob Dylan parody video I was watching on my iPhone, which means they had my order ready in under five minutes. I was fairly impressed.

Now the food, and I’ll start with what I ate first, the crab rangoon, because I like to spoil my dinner, apparently. Now here’s where Joy Lee started doing things a bit differently; traditionally, crab rangoon is pretty big and requires at least two bites, but you get six of them. At Joy Lee, they’re a lot smaller, and you can pretty easily eat one in a single bite, but instead of six, you get twelve. They’re tasty, and more convenient than traditional crab rangoon, but because they’re smaller, you get less of the tasty bits of the rangoon, so it’s not really an improvement, in my opinion. 

The chicken lo mein could use a bit of work to make it really good. The rice they served on the side was well made and clumped nicely, which is important if you’re using chopsticks, but the noodles, which are the heart and soul of lo mein, were a bit blah and it could really, really use some more vegetables thrown into the mix.

Thankfully, they did not suffer from the mistake of most places concerning chicken lo mein: skimping on the chicken. There was lots of it and it was breaded, which was interesting, but I wish that a third of the chicken were vegetables of some manner, to vary up the taste and the texture a bit more.

All in all, a solid choice and worth trying once, twice or twelve times.

“If you want the rainbow, you have to tolerate the rain.” –So Sayeth The Wise And Learned Fortune Cookie

3.5 of 5 Stars (I was wavering between 3.5 and 4, but then I saw the fortune cookie was broken into little bits and that sealed the deal at 3.5)