 Panda Express
I've never been disappointed in this chain, and I've been to many of them across the country, from the ritzy location in Agoura Hills, CA, to the compact, no-frills nook at the mysterious Denver International Airport. The Wheeling store offers nothing unique, but the food is terribly consistent with the quality you'd find at any other Panda.
With the exception, here, of my pal Pinguinto. This Panda, like any I've been to, is staffed with a melange of Mexicans and eastern Asians, but there is one white kid working there whose name tag, inexplicably, says "Pinguinito." I can only surmise that this means "little penguin," but how did the kid come to go by that name? An affectionate nickname from his Hispanic cohorts? Eccentric parents? Maybe he's really into Linux? I don't know, nor do I want to. It would ruin the appeal.
Orange chicken, beef with broccoli, fried rice; that is my bread and butter.
Debate all you want whether Panda Express is "real" Chinese food – I hear
those slant-eyed commies eat dog, so count your fucking blessings, comrade.
Review by Sammy Salsa, May 2003 |