Chang's lettuce wraps were delightful, my first time to try.

glenda_al

4 years ago

Monthly group luncheon, today, at

There were 20 of us and everyone enjoyed their food and great service.

My first time to try was Chang's lettuce wraps with rice noodles.

Someone ordered crispy green beans with spicy sauce appetizer and passed around. DELICIOUS!

Place was packed, probably due to the holiday and took them a while to serve our group. But worth the wait.

Featured Answer

Elmer J Fudd

4 years ago

Our area is awash in excellent Chinese restaurants of all regional types - some large, some small. The few Changs that are around have the lowest of Yelp ratings because they don't measure up. I think it's ersatz Chinese food, not unlike Panda Express which isn't as fancy but equally make believe. I get it that some areas don't have a lot to choose from but find locally owned Chinese restaurants operated by people trained in the cuisine (who don't need to be ethnic Chinese) and help them be successful with your business!

Comments (27)

Chi
4 years ago
I like their tofu lettuce wraps. I haven't been there in years, but I have a gift card so I should go soon.

Last time I was there, my fortune cookie said, "you need to exercise more." Cheeky!
Fun2BHere
4 years ago
All of the locations near me except for the ones in malls have closed. I didn't go there often, but I always enjoyed it when I did go.
Related Discussions
Paper-bagging it for the first time: the good, bad, and ugly
Q
Comments (21)
Ummm..using words like "cruel & inhumane" on a board is a sure way to send some flames your way. I think when choosing between a paper wasp chewing their way through a live caterpillar and a nice cozy paper bag, they would choose the paper bag everytime. But I might be a little anthropomorphic here (a word you might want to check out). I would love to hear what Larry would say (hee hee). I am sure there are studies out there that talk about ideal humidity levels. There are single studies for different species. I also think that removing the leaf from the plant runs the risk of disease taking the egg. The plant manufactures secondary compounds to fight fungus and bacteria and when we remove the leaf, it stops making these compounds. I have lost eggs because they failed to hatch before the leaf turned black. That is why I try to take as much stem as possible so the leaf can continue to live and maintain if not manufacture it's secondary compounds. -Elisabeth
...See More
Changing the world, one veggie garden at a time!
Q
Comments (12)
Gary, This is really an issue of resources and conserving them. More municipal water is used (and wasted) in Dade County on lawns than for drinking and bathing or agriculture. Instead of watering a lawn, I devote some of that area to a mulched vegetable garden watered mostly with a rain barrel and with soil that is being improved every year with compost. So, some rain water doesn't drain off my property, running over oil-slicked roads and over-fertilized lawns before draining into the Bay - where it pollutes. Tax dollars end up paying for storm-water treatment, to keep the Bay clean and the fish and wildlife there surviving. Instead some of my excess rain helps me grow tomatoes, beans, herbs, cukes and the occasional melon. Kitchen and yard waste that would end up in landfill go into a composter and then it's all ultimately spread in my veggie garden, under newspapers that could also go in the landfill. This reduces hauling and landfill costs that all taxpayers share. No harsh pesticides are used on my garden because a) I don't want to eat stuff with pesticides on it b) I certainly don't want my garden to contribute to polluted run-off and c) I'm not a professional farmer skilled in the ways those chemicals should be used. I use soap and water. And I haven't exactly withdrawn from the global economy. Just got back from Publix, in fact, where I bought pork chops and paper towels and dog food along with my organic eggs. While other people have other hobbies, this is mine. It does nothing to harm anyone and does a little to reduce the resources I'm using - resources we all pay for. Then, when I buy a Florida grapefruit instead of a California one, I'm supporting my neighbors, and in some cases, my family. I'm descended from a long line of farmers, including a grandfather who saw his land fouled by a nearby phosphate mine. There are still citrus groves in my extended family. My grandfather would be proud of my hobby and pretty confused by your concern that I'm endangering the global food supply by growing a little bit of my own. I am too. S
...See More
Hydro tips for first time?
Q
Comments (10)
Update: There's an utterly gorgeous crop of lettuce growing in the system right now. Most other plants aren't as far along; the lettuce got an early start. Some lettuce roots stick out the bottom of the pot, but rather than those exploratory roots dying off like I expected, they still look white and healthy. I guess they're getting O2 somehow. Well, I'm not going to complain. :) Germination was poor in several pots, although almost all of my seeds are old. My spouse dropped our (non-waterproof) pH meter in a bin. It shorted out. She took the batteries out and let it dry out, then put them back in. It behaved very strangely -- not only was it off on the pH, but it still ran when the meter was turned off -- just with a dim screen! Thankfully, this latter symptom has gone away, so I think all we need to do is recalibrate it. Tip #1: When suspending the light fixture with a taut hitch, tie an additional half-hitch at the loose end of the rope. This will prevent the taut hitch from accidentally pulling undone over time. We lost a taut hitch and our light fixture fell down (thankfully, it didn't break any bulbs, since what it ran into was the floating trays, which absorbed the shock). Tip #2: Silicon gel should not be used to patch leaks. It seems to work at first, but it doesn't last; the leaks will just open back up in time. Instead, use "3M High-Strength 90". It's one of the only adhesives in the world that your average consumer can readily acquire in small quantities which can get a good polyethylene bond (I should have gone straight to it the first time, as I have dealt with polyethylene film before for different purposes and came to the exact same conclusion). And it's really convenient to use, since you can just spray it out in big swaths across the plastic, and it'll foam up a little and fill in the gaps. Tip #3: When making homemade nutrient mixes, a spare coffee grinder will work *wonders* for dealing with the pelleted nutrients. Tip #4: When dealing with calcium nitrate, never leave it exposed to air for more than a few minutes. It'll absorb moisture from the air until it liquefies itself! Tip #5: To get dilute mixes like lettuce to have a proper (read: very low) EC, you'll want to keep all of your cations down to the bottom end of their normal range except potassium, which you should have below the normal range (lettuce doesn't like it much). Try to hit the minimum sulfate (~60ppm), then make the rest of the anions nitrate, since lettuce loves nitrate. High-EC plants like tomatoes are easy, but tomatoes also don't like much nitrate (~80ppm); for the most part, use sulfate salts in a tomato formula composition. Remember that (from what we've read) seedlings like to start off with extra-diluted macros, but micros should always be at full strength. Also, to keep EC reasonable, we found we could only manage 30 ppm silicon in the dilute and semi-dilute mixes, but we were able to manage 100ppm silicon for the tomatoes. Apart from all of that, it's all pretty noneventful. :) Plants just sit over there growing.
...See More
My first time from seed?
Q
Comments (5)
I'm not saying this to discourage you from raising them from seed, but just so you will know....you can buy Cherokee Purple transplants in stores. I see them at Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart, as well as at smaller, local ma-and-pa type nurseries, every year. So, if you think you have to raise CP from seed in order to grow them...well, you don't. However, I prefer to raise tomato plants from seed rather than buying them at stores. I think I get healthier, happier, stronger plants that produce better for me when I grow my own. Mostly that is because I am able to start the seeds at exactly the right time in order to have them the size I want for the approximate planting date I have in mind. I've grown CP and the closely-related Indian Stripe from seed for over a decade and you have to be careful about your seed source. Some of the seed available commercially just isn't the "real" CP. Jay was the first person here on this forum to mention this years ago, so I started paying attention to the seeds I was using, and sure enough, I found I agreed with him. I changed the seed supplier I was using, and found to my delight that the seeds I purchased reminded me of the "old" CP I grew in the early to mid-2000s much more than the plants I'd grown from seeds purchased from other companies in recent years. The seed supplier whose seed produced the real CP for me is Gleckler Seedmen, and I'll link them below. I'm not saying all other CP seed will give you a lesser plant with smaller, less flavorful fruit, but that is what I found in several instances with seeds purchased from several other sources. For a starting mix, you can use any sterile soil-less seed-starting medium. I've used several kinds and find that any variety purchased off the shelf has worked for me. You can spend a lot or a little on a growing medium, and I don't necessarily think that the more expensive mixes give you any better result than the less expensive ones do when you are starting annuals from seed. I usually just buy the Jiffy sterile soil-less seed starting mix because that is what is on the store shelves when I am ready to plant. You can use whatever size container works for you. Starting small and potting up works, but you also can start with a larger container. It is just easier to manage smaller containers if you are starting lots of plants from seed. I usually start everything in 72-cell flats, planting multiple seeds per cell, and then pot up to individual containers once the seedlings have a couple of true leaves. When I pot up, I usually put two seedlings in each small pot (I use paper cups if I pot up while the plants are really small or larger plastic Solo cups if I am behind and don't get around to potting up until the plants are larger). As long as you have holes poked into the bottoms of the cups for drainage, any of them will work. Plain old shop lights work just fine. I've raised thousands of seedlings under them with no problem whatsoever. Just remember that no matter what sort of lights you use, the seedlings have to be hardened off to outdoor conditions gradually. I start with one hour the first day, two hours the second day, three hours the third day, etc. Remember that plants raised indoors are not used to direct sunlight or direct wind, so suddenly exposing them to a full day of sunlight and spring wind often will kill them that very first day. Proper hardening off is a vital part of the process you cannot ignore. A lot of us make our own seed-starting shelves by suspending a shop light from chains on a shelving unit. My first one was just three plastic shelves and it cost less than $10.00. Each shelf was lit by one shop light that had two bulbs. My current unit has 5 shelves and each shelf is lit by two shop light fixtures, each one containing two fluorescent tubes. It is easy to start small your first year and, then, if you find you enjoy raising plants from seed, you always can invest more money in a larger shelving system and more lights as the years go on. I went pretty slowly from using the 3 shelf unit for a couple of years to a 4-shelf unit for a couple of years and then to the current 5-shelf unit. Actually, my first couple of years of raising plants from seed indoors, I just raised them on an east-facing window sill because that was the only place we had direct sun. The house we lived in then was on a mostly shady lot, so I had to work with what I had. The plants got a little leggy, but not unbearably so. The seed company I'm linking below has seed that is true to type. The Cherokee Purple seeds I purchased from them produced plants that produced fruit that was larger and true to type and taste. I had become increasingly frustrated with growing CP from seed because the seed from many suppliers is producing smaller fruit that was not/is not the same CP I first grew in the early to mid-2000s, so I have been very happy to have found seed that produces the Cherokee Purple that I remember. It sounds nitpicky, but if I am going to grow and eat CP, I want it to be the best CP available and the one that is the most true to what CP is supposed to be. Victory Seed is another company whose seed usually is true to type, and so is Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I've gotten really picky about who I buy tomato seed from because I'm seeing a lot of heirloom tomato seeds producing fruit that is not the fruit it is supposed to be, and that is very frustrating. I think too much seed is being produced without the proper protection and some seed is cross-pollinating and giving us plants that under-perform. I used to start seedlings in very small containers and progressively move them up every couple of weeks to bigger containers. One year I just decided to skip that step and went from the 72-cell flats to 20-oz. plastic cups and it worked just fine, so I no longer bother progressively potting up to bigger containers. I get ripe tomatoes about the same time every year regardless of how many times the seedlings were (or weren't) potted up while growing indoors. The important thing is just to not start your plants too early. If you start them too early and they grow well, you likely will have to pot them up to larger pots to avoid having them become rootbound. If you start your tomato seeds 6-8 weeks before your anticipated transplanting date, your plants will be just the right size at planting time and you shouldn't have to worry about potting them up more than once. If you grow peppers, by the way, you can start them at the same time you start tomato seeds, but you need to hold them indoors a couple more weeks because they do not tolerate spring''s cooler soil temperatures and air temperatures as well as tomato plants do. I like to put 7 or 8 week old tomato plants into the ground, but will hold my peppers in pots (and this may mean I have to pot them up twice to bigger paper or plastic cups or pots) until the night-time temperatures are sufficiently warm. So, often, my pepper plants might be 10-12 weeks old when they go into the ground. That sounds too old, but from plants put into the ground in early May, we're usually harvesting jalapenos before the end of June. I like to have the first big harvest of paste tomatoes and peppers ready together in June, along with onions, so I can make and can oodles and oodles of salsa from late June through late July. Some years it all works out that way, and other years the tomatoes are ready before jalapenos and onions are. I think you'll really enjoy starting plants from seed. I noticed how much thought you put into building your raised beds and how well they turned out, so I know that you can do this. The big secret about raising plants from seed is that it is pretty easy. Annuals, in particular are a cinch, and once you understand the stratification needs of biennials and perennials, they aren't as hard as you'd think. Once you start raising your own seedlings, you'll have so much fun you won't want to stop. The first couple of years after we moved here is where my seed-starting activity suddenly exploded and got out of control because I finally had enough full-sun areas to plant as much as I wanted. So I did! As soon as I moved one flat of plants outside and had an empty space on the light shelf, I started more seeds. I kept doing it until the weather really was too hot for me to be transplanting young plants into the ground. It amazes me how many flowers, veggies and herbs I can cram into my raised beds, and growing plants from seeds makes it possible to grow lots of interesting plants that you rarely see in stores. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: CP at Gleckler Seedmen
...See More
ritamay91710
4 years ago
Oooh, those are yummy!
Lindsey_CA
4 years ago
We love PF Chang's and go there at least once a month. I usually order either the Crispy Honey Chicken or the Ginger Chicken with Broccoli.
Michael
4 years ago
Ginger Chicken with Broccoli.

YES!
kathyg_in_mi
4 years ago
Love the lettuce wraps and crispy green beans. Haven't been to one in at least 3 years. Sometimes we find a restaurant that serves the beans.
OutsidePlaying
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Love lettuce wraps. Sometimes that is my meal. I like the orange peel chicken or shrimp. It’s probably my favorite main dish. And yes to the ginger chicken with broccoli too.
Adella Bedella
4 years ago
I love both of those. My crew fights over the green beans. We don't live close to one anymore so pretty much don't eat there anymore. They also got rid of the wok charred beef which was our favorite.
sephia_wa
4 years ago
I was thinking, "holiday? What holiday?" I had to look it up. I see it's Columbus Day. My employer doesn't give that holiday to us.
Chi
4 years ago
I think there is a place for both local Chinese and the chains. 99% of the time we patronize the local places but my husband has tried the honey walnut shrimp at all of them and still says PF Chang's version is the best.

Sometimes the chains also work better for me as a vegetarian. We've gotten to know the local places a lot more so they work with me now, but generally it's difficult to find vegetarian meals in the truly authentic places.
wildchild2x2
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
I have never eaten at PF Changs but I do love lettuce wraps. I prefer local Chinese restaurants but I do stop at Panda Express for a healthier fast food meal now and then. I like having options and stay away from their heavier battered items. Funny thing is I once asked a lady from China (immigrated as a young adult) who was in a group I belong to where the best Chinese food was. She laughed and said was that so many restaurants have over-westernized their menus so badly that she often just hits Panda Express for simple basic Chinese. I know chow mein is pretty much westernized, but I will only eat it at Panda Express. Unlike most Chinese restaurants it is "drier" and "crispier", not that bloated noodle slime that most places call chow mein. For Chinese restaurants I prefer those with Sichuan dishes on the menu.
sephia_wa
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
As someone who travels often to China for work, what the Chinese woman told watchme is spot on. We tend to "Americanize" Chinese food. Authentic Chinese restaurants tend to be in Chinatown parts of town. I like some of the local chains, but I'm also aware that the food isn't often authentic.

Like this dish. It's called "Chinese worm jelly." It's native to Xiamen. That's not the real name though. It's the translated version of the word. It was being served in a hotel I was staying. Probably not going to find this dish in the local neighborhood chain restaurant. And no, I didn't try it ;>)
Chi
4 years ago
One of our favorite local places has two menus - the Americanized menu and the authentic menu. The Americanized menu has all the classics, and the authentic menu is full of things like "pork intestine fried pepper" and "duck feet in dried pot."
Elmer J Fudd
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Chinese from the coastal south have been present in the Bay Area for over 150 years. I suspect so-called "Cantonese" food and dim sum are pretty westernized, I agree. In the last 30 years, immigration of folks from all over China, from Taiwan, and so-called "overseas Chinese" have come to Silicon Valley in large numbers. I get suggestions for restaurants from Chinese people I know and the suggestions are often accompanied with the description of "authentic". And when I can, I like to go to Chinese restuarants with Chinese friends so that they can do the "off the menu" ordering. Again, I know many don't have such access.
patriciae_gw
4 years ago
What is authentic? food evolves with what is available and what people want to eat. I don't see that as a bad thing. Are the multitudinous peoples of China cemented to a set in stone cuisine? Well the word cuisine isn't Chinese is it? Big world.
Elmer J Fudd
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
In the context of the conversation, I think it's understood "authentic' suggests that specific dishes are cooked with ingredients and with a style of preparation as would be found in the area where the dish originated and would be recognized as such by someone from that area. When transplanted to new countries, of course old country dishes change. Much (not all) of "Italian" food in the US is different from what you would find in the UK and from what you would find in Italy. Same progression of differences and local assimilation with Chinese dishes.

Some Chinese food is set in stone pots (sorry for the stretch for a pun) but Chinese food is very regionalized and different. Just for a start, it varies based on what ingredients are available where and you can be sure over such a large country with wide variations in climate, the diversity is huge.
Adella Bedella
4 years ago
Interestingly, our local Chinese places aren't all that great. They are edible, but wouldn't direct someone to eat there. I have Chinese neighbor friends and sometimes the wife cooks me food. She is an excellent cook. She is overseas right now. Sometimes she makes me authentic food. Sometimes, she uses American ingredients, and sometimes she makes food from the middle east where she is currently living. She orders for me when we go to restaurants. I've tried some interesting things. My favorite is still American Chinese. PF Changs is one of my favorites for that.

I've been to a couple of places in China Town. No complaints about the food from me. Unfortunately, the area isn't all that safe. My Chinese friends are hesitant to go there which is a shame.
User
4 years ago
Haven't been to PF Changs in years. I recall the food being very salty. That said, I do love good fried green beans, meaning not greasy. We had a Pei Wei (also owned by PF Changs) for about a year. Don't know why they closed. Loved their spring rolls.
Lars
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
The closest PF Changs to me is at the airport, but I won't be going to the airport to eat unless I am flying. I will look for it the next time I am at LAX, however.

In Los Angeles County, the best Chinese restaurants are in Monterey Park, and the last one I went to gave us the bill written all in Chinese. Chinatown here has some mediocre restaurants, and so I don't go to them unless I am in Chinatown to pick someone up at the bus station. I do like Chinese food, and there used to be a good Szechuan restaurant down the street from me in Venice, and we went there often because it was walking distance - about two blocks. We have a much better selection of Japanese restaurants here than Chinese, as there is a large Japanese population on the West Side. We also have a lot of Japanese markets - much more than we have of Chinese markets. For Korean food, we go to Koreatown.

When I lived in San Francisco, the worst Chinese restaurants were in Chinatown, as they catered to tourists, and the best were in the Avenues, around Clement Street.

Where I grew up in Texas (Temple) there were good Chinese restaurants. The town was started by the Santa Fe Railroad and some Chinese workers stayed there after the railroad was built in 1881. Temple TX was a junction of the railroad from Houston, and one branch went north to Chicago and the other branch went west to Los Angeles. The Santa Fe Railroad also built a hospital in Temple.
nicole___
4 years ago
Glenda....Is PF Chang's usually good? We've never tried them. I've seen the BIG Tang horse. Cool exterior decor. I usually do mom 'n pop eateries.
glenda_al
Original Author
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
nicole, the food is great! My group has eaten there three times in the past and no complaints. Their service is excellent. Always busy. Yes, I recommend.

We do have mom 'n 'n pop Chinese food restaurants. Two that I frequent are New China and Chop Suey Inn. Being as these two are family run and small, they cannot accomodate groups.
Kathsgrdn
4 years ago
We had a PF Changs at the mall in Lexington but I think I ate there once or twice and didn't care for it. Neither did my daughter. I vaguely remember eating something with peanut sauce there and that may be why I didn't like it.
wildchild2x2
4 years ago
When I lived in San Francisco, the worst Chinese restaurants were in Chinatown, as they catered to tourists, and the best were in the Avenues, around Clement Street.

Agree!
arkansas girl
4 years ago
If I had to eat those jelly worm things, I'd just have to starve to death! And, I'm not a picky eater either! GAG!
User
4 years ago
The title started me thinking about the Thai lettuce wraps at the Cheesecake Factory. Only problems was the serving was enough to feed 3-4 people a full meal easily.

There's a Thai restaurant that I love that serves their salad with peanut sauce, yummy.
DawnInCal
4 years ago
I'm not familiar with Changs, but the food in the photos looks yummy! We do have Panda Express and I've also seen it at a couple of airports, but have never tried it. Maybe next time I'm out running errands, I'll give it a whirl so I'll know what everyone is talking about.

Chang's lettuce wraps were delightful, my first time to try.

Elmer J Fudd

Comments (27)

Chi

Fun2BHere

Related Discussions

ritamay91710

Lindsey_CA

Michael

kathyg_in_mi

OutsidePlaying

Adella Bedella

sephia_wa

Chi

wildchild2x2

sephia_wa

Chi

Elmer J Fudd

patriciae_gw

Elmer J Fudd

Adella Bedella

User

Lars

nicole___

glenda_al
Original Author

Kathsgrdn

wildchild2x2

arkansas girl

User

DawnInCal

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Chang's lettuce wraps were delightful, my first time to try.

Comments (27)

Related Discussions

glenda_alOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

glenda_al
Original Author