Super salty PF Chang's

Last night I had the pleasure of sampling PF Chang's, the American Chinese restaurant chain, with some of my work friends... you know, for the heck of it... since I knew it was gonna be faux Chinese, but at least it never pretended to be anything but. The decor was rather nice and upscale-looking, kinda like a Cheesecake Factory with a Chinese motif (complete with a replica Terracotta Warrior standing guard next to the staircase that joined the split-level dining area).

I ordered the Mu Shu Pork, just so that I could be fluent in American sitcom-cliche Chinese take-out -- it was either that or Kung Pao-something, which I also was able to sample thanks to a colleague. The Mu Shu Pork wasn't bad; for those not familiar with it, it's basically ground pork, onion and mushroom in a hoisin sauce, wrapped and folded in a pancake parcel Peking Duck-style. I got a huge portion, of which I could finish only half, so you can't complain too much about serving sizes. My main complaint was that the dish was super-salty, and so was the Kung Pao Shrimp I nibbled on from my colleague's plate... Someone hand me another glass of water!

At least my curiosity is now satisfied. It still doesn't change my opinion that a "real" Chinese restaurant that uses fresh ingredients and more traditional recipes would easily beat the pants off PF Chang's, but I suppose it depends a lot on the tastebuds you grew up with, and PF Chang's does a good job of catering to American palates and expectations.

The funniest thing was the e-mail circulating around to organize our outing, where one of my colleagues (who's from mainland China) said: "Why are we going here? This restaurant is not well-known in Chinese community." And if there's any nationality that's universally picky about their food, it's the Chinese :).

Check out the Wikipedia entry for PF Chang's, especially the references to PF Chang's in popular culture -- funny :).