In contrast to the bad Chinese restaurant experience about which Mark wrote a while back, I'd like to describe the meal I had this evening.

A friend of ours from Germany is staying with us, so we decided to get together with a couple of Chinese guys that we all knew when she was living next door to us here in North Carolina...Mao and Chunyu. Mao recommended the restaurant, called "35", but the name on the menu was only "Chinese Restaurant." It was in the back of an office building that I never would have found myself. He said that the cooks were recruits from LA and Chicago and that the food was very authentic. He also said that we didn't need to choose from the menu, only tell the manager what types of food we wanted and he would make something for us. I asked if this was how everyone ordered. He said only Chinese people and their friends are given this privilege.

Sure enough, we told him what we wanted, accepted his recommendations, and were highly pleased with all the dishes....beef & green onions, a tofu dish, a fish dish, a scallop dish, a spicy chicken dish, a Chinese squash dish, and an appetizer. And the fortune cookies with the check. Mine said, "Simplicity and clarity should be your theme in dress."

As we left, the manager said to me: "When you come back here, I already know what you like." Needless to say, we will be back.