Peking Cheers, Szuchuan on Quince Orchard Road in Gaithersburg, Featuring the Former Chef At Joe's Noodle House - Closed

[DanielK]

Has anyone been to Joe's lately? The chef at Joe's left to open her own place in Gaithersburg and I was wondering if whatever replacement Audrey has hired has been able to maintain the quality? Thanks.

How recently? I was there about 6 weeks ago, and things seemed fine.

Is the Gaithersburg place open yet? Name, location??!!?

[gnatharobed]

I think the English name of the new place is peking cheers or something like that in gaithersburg. The split happened recently, I think the last few weeks. It's in the Chinese newspapers

[DanielK]

I think the English name of the new place is peking cheers or something like that in gaithersburg. The split happened recently, I think the last few weeks. It's in the Chinese newspapers

Hmmm... there was already a Peking Cheers on Quince Orchard for years and years - Cantonese, though. Wonder if she took it over, or if this is something else.

[Marty L.]

Well, the person who just answered the phone affirmed that Peking Cheers is serving szechuan food cooked by a new chef -- but caution, something might have gotten lost in the translation.

[DanielK]

Well, the person who just answered the phone affirmed that Peking Cheers is serving szechuan food cooked by a new chef -- but caution, something might have gotten lost in the translation.

I hope they don't drop the $10.95 whole Peking Duck special!

[bookluvingbabe]

I stopped in at Peking Cheers on my way home tonight. Roasted Duck ($9.95) is on the carry-out menu. I didn't look at the eat-in menu.

I asked if it was the most up to date menu since I had heard they had a new chef. The gentleman at the door said yes but they also had a new Chinese menu that wasn't translated yet.

I must have looked very dissappointed because he went into the back and returned with a "temporary" menu in both English and Chinese.

I will scan it and post the pdf tomorrow from the office.

[DanielK]

I stopped in at Peking Cheers on my way home tonight. Roasted Duck ($9.95) is on the carry-out menu. I didn't look at the eat-in menu.

Roasted Duck is different than Peking Duck. They have a "special" that's been running for probably 10 years. Sun-Thurs, eat-in only, a whole Peking Duck (carved tableside, with pancakes) is $10.95. Considering that this is normally $20-$30 at most DC-area restaurants, it's an incredible bargain. The rest of their menu was always fine, but nothing special. But this new chef would definitely change things.

[bookluvingbabe]

Attached is the "temporary" Chinese menu that I picked up on Tuesday.

(Please note that I had to use IE rather than my beloved Netscape to get the damn file to attach...)

Jennifer

[bookluvingbabe]

Where is this place? Did you eat there? Was the food any good?

Gaithersburg, Exit 10.

Former Chef of Joe's Noodle.

Didn't eat there.

(Don, want to move the posts about Peking Cheers over from the Joe's thread when you get a few free minutes? Thanks!)

Jennifer

[DonRocks]

Attached is the "temporary" Chinese menu that I picked up on Tuesday.

(Please note that I had to use IE rather than my beloved Netscape to get the damn file to attach...)

Jennifer

I'm going to order the dish on the bottom-right.

[ol_ironstomach]

I'm going to order the dish on the bottom-right.

Does fried baby smell if you substitute cashews instead?

[Lydia R]

Attached is the "temporary" Chinese menu that I picked up on Tuesday.

I was able to get a copy of the "finalized" bilingual Chinese menu Rocks mentioned in Lettres and scanned it into a PDF file.

Peking Cheers recently hired the chef from Joe's Noodle House, and is now serving up very good Szechuan cuisine, you'll need to ask for the Chinese menu, but fortunately it has English translations for all the dishes (this was apparently not the case two weeks ago), first and foremost, get something to cool the fire such as Spicy Sweet and Sour Cabbage ($2.50), don't let the "spicy" adjective scare you here, it's a cold dish and is much needed, Spicy and Sour Fish Filet ($10.95), Steamed Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables ($9.95), and Bean Curd Szechuan with Pork ($7.95) all make for a good, spicy combination of flavors that fit in well with the delicious but mild Hot and Sour Shredded Potato, this is solid Szechuan cooking worth seeking out, and I wonder how much Joe's Noodle House is suffering from the loss of this talented cook,

The chef came out to greet special guests at another table and she answered their questions about the glorious food on their table. How hard is it to learn Chinese?

PekingCheersMenu_Jan2007.pdf

[deangold]

Oh what a meal we had....

8 intrepid folk, Daniel K and Rachael (his wife)

Ol Ironstomach

XCanuck

Lydia R and sister

Harold

deangold

We ate lots of food, rediculous amounts for under $20 a person including a tip.

Highlights for me:

Shredded potatoe salad

Black mushroom salad (tree ear fungus with gren and red hot peppers pickled in vinegar with maybe a touch of Thai fish sauce)

Duck Feet in Red Hot Oil

Smoked Fish- dark dense piece s of smoky fish with a sweet edge

Wontons in red hot sauce

Soft Tofu in Schezuan sauce- amazing! Silky soft tofu with a dense ginger, pepper, green onion and garlic sauce reminiscent of the garlic mud at Peter Chaings

Peking Duck- very good indeed, we had 2!

Crispy Fried Beef- insanely hot, very crunchy

Whole Tilapia in a red and green pepper sauce- very fresh and good.

There was more but in the peppery haze I forget all of it. This meal was as good as any at Joe's or even better.

[DanielK]

We also had "Spicy Chicken Gizzard", "Rabbit Szechuan Style", "Shrimp w/Edamame beans", and "Crispy & Salty Eggplant"

I think the Shrimp was the only dish that wasn't fabulous, but we needed something cool at the end of the meal after all the hot and numbing peppers. I echo what Dean said - definitely the equal of meals I had at Joe's Noodle House. Things were more than just spicy - there were levels of flavor in the dishes that are impossible to describe.

I would also point out that the waitstaff were thrilled that we wanted to order the "Chinese" dishes. They made several recommendations, and were spot on each time. In fact, this was some of the best, friendliest service I've ever had at a chinese restaurant. Water glasses never went past half empty, teapot refilled without asking, duck carved tableside, dirty dishes were immediately removed, and they even swapped out our plates once or twice during the meal.

The menu is huge - it will take many many meals to get through it. But the way to go is definitely a group - you need to order a variety of dishes to really see the strength of the kitchen. The dining room is bigger than Joe's, but there are I think only 2 tables in the joint that are larger than 4-tops.

[xcanuck]

The steamed tilapia...fresh doesn't even begin to describe it! We saw the chef pull it out of a tank with a net about 15 mins before it hit our table. So sweet, so tasty.

The spicy chicken gizzards were really interesting - almost like a chinese styled beef jerky.

The dried beef was incredible. It featured the Szechuan peppercorns, which make your tongue go numb (but doesn't really burn it). Both my wife and I have experienced an increased sensitivity to salt after eating dishes with it - anyone else notice the same thing??

Man...this place is right around the corner from my work. I can see myself ordering from there every other day!

ETA: We were wondering why Sichuan peppercorns had been illegal in the States. I found this online:

Szechuan peppercorns, which had been banned in the US because they can carry a citrus canker, are available once again. Legally. The peppercorns have to be heat-treated to kill any possible canker.

[Scott Johnston]

Three of us had lunch at PC on Thursday. Each of us thought the food and menu was quickly becoming the same as Joe's.

Hopefully I have got what we ordered right...

Started with the cumcumber salad, which was more slightly pickled and sweet, very good, nice portion

Smoked Fish, I was the only one whom really liked this. I will say the fish still has a buch of bones, so you need to slowly slide the fish of the bones with your teeth. Nevertheless I like it, two others didn't. I took a bunch of this home.

Shredded Bean Curd Salad, looked more like a noodle dish, but really tasty

Triple Pepper Chicken Dry Sautee had tons of chicken with lots of peppers and was spicy, but all sorts of depth and incredible tastes. This dish really rocks

Chiense style shredd pork with hot garlic sauce. Pork dish had pork, celery, lots of ginger, large pieces of garlic, scallions, hot red peppers and some other ingrediants (maybe vinegar). Everyone liked this and I would get this again in a heartbeat.

The table next to us had the beef tendon, a fish dish that was swimming in hot sauce and a few othe dishes that we will try next time.

Service was great, and the servers were impressed that we ordered off the chinese menu. lunch was ten bucks and we took food home.

I will be back!

[JPW]

Three of us had lunch at PC on Thursday. Each of us thought the food and menu was quickly becoming the same as Joe's.

Hopefully I have got what we ordered right...

Started with the cumcumber salad, which was more slightly pickled and sweet, very good, nice portion

I tend to like this with at least a little heat, but this was still quite good.

Smoked Fish, I was the only one whom really liked this. I will say the fish still has a buch of bones, so you need to slowly slide the fish of the bones with your teeth. Nevertheless I like it, two others didn't. I took a bunch of this home.

no argument there

Triple Pepper Chicken Dry Sautee had tons of chicken with lots of peppers and was spicy, but all sorts of depth and incredible tastes. This dish really rocks

This was one of my three or four favorite dishes at Joe's, and this was as good as the best that I had there. Not to mention better than the last one I had at Joe's under the new chef.

Chiense style shredd pork with hot garlic sauce. Pork dish had pork, celery, lots of ginger, large pieces of garlic, scallions, hot red peppers and some other ingrediants (maybe vinegar). Everyone liked this and I would get this again in a heartbeat.

This is the Yu-Shiang pork at Joe's. Quite nice, even though not a really spicy dish, it usually (for the better) has a touch more heat.

The table next to us had the beef tendon, a fish dish that was swimming in hot sauce and a few othe dishes that we will try next time.

The pea shoots (?) looked really good.

Service was great, and the servers were impressed that we ordered off the chinese menu. lunch was ten bucks and we took food home.

I will be back!

It would appear that under the previous chef their big lunch business was the rather Americanized buffet. From a glance around the room, I believe that our table and the table of 5 next to us (all Chinese) were the only people ordering from the menu. Both waitresses uttered continual warnings about how spicy the stuff we were ordering was throughout our meal and seemed shocked that not only did we eat it, but that we really liked it.

[xcanuck]

I just brought home some take out from Peking Cheers as a late lunch/early dinner. It was tough placing the order with them - the two ladies at the front continually asked me if I really wanted what I was asking for, and kept admonishing me that it was too hot. When I finally got my order home, the spicy bean curd was not even CLOSE to spicy an the dry sautee beef was worthy of barely one pepper on the heat scale, and had but a hint of szechuan peppercorns. I'm sure the kitchen was instructed to take it easy for the non-Oriental customer. Cheated!!! I tell you...I've been cheated!!

As I left, a gentleman was at the front and he recognized me as part of the dr.com group that had dinner there a month ago. Or in his words "you were part of the group that ate from the chinese menu!" as he pointed towards where we sat.

So...beware if you order from here. You either need a Chinese friend to place your order for you, or impress upon them you want the full monty.

[The Hersch]

So...beware if you order from here. You either need a Chinese friend to place your order for you, or impress upon them you want the full monty.

This doesn't match my experience there. Perhaps it depends on who you deal with. I ate in the restaurant with friends, all of us occidentals, and we weren't warned off the hot dishes, and a couple of them were really very hot, in particular the rabbit szechuan style and the "chopped leek stem with pork garlic and bean" (which was way good). Our waitress seemed pleased that we were ordering spicy stuff, and commented a couple of times "ah, you like spicy!". Her recommendation of a pork dish, the rather boringly named "Pork Fillet w/ Veg Szechuan Style", was not as hot as some other things, but it was mind-bogglingly delicious.

Now if only we could get something like this in the city.

[smokey]

I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to LydiaR (thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou) for posting the chinese dish menu.

I chose to order out at PC for lunch today, and knew exactly what I wanted--the soft bean curd szechuan style. I love that yummy hot stuff on top of silky smooth tofu. God, I'm getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. So, I call to order. I'm on the phone with a man whose English is quite good, and we go back and forth on the portion size I want (this makes me anxious, because I only see one portion size-appetizer). Plus, when I try to tell him, repeatedly, that I want something on the chinese dish menu, I can tell it's not really computing with him. And when I ask him the price, he tells me $5.25, which is 30 cents more than what I see on the Chinese dish menu. Now, prices change and I was calling at a weird time (not quite lunch or dinner), so I'm not sure that's a valid measure of whether I'm going to get what I want, but it doesn't decrease my anxiety.

So, I decide to bring a print out of the Chinese dish with me with the dish circled. When I walk in, he immediately knows that I'm the person who ordered the tofu (at 3:00, there isn't much business!). So, I show him my print out and ask whether what he's giving me is what I have circled. "Oh, you want *that*..." He says no, he's given me something else and he goes back to re-enter my order. Comes back 5 minutes later with exactly what I want and explains that he's not really accustomed to his American customers ordering things like this, do I understand that it's going to be hot? Yes, yes, I do, hot is good. He gestures to a table I sat at with a mixed group of dr.com folks and chowhounds and says that some of his American customers have sat over there, however, and ordered things like this. Yes, yes, I nod happily, I was one of those people one time. He was incredibly friendly, never for a moment suggested that I should take the other tofu dish and seemed quite happy to be serving this food to me.

My belly is now full with yummy soft tofu and hot paste, my mouth tingles ever so slightly, and all is well with the world!

Thanks for your help with cross cultural communication, LydiaR!

[StephenB]

I've been to Joe's a couple of times in the last fortnight. I detect no difference in the cuisine. The cumin-flavored lamb was outstanding. The owner. Audrey, avers that the kerfuffle over a departing chef had to do with a longtime employee who demanded a piece of the action without any investment. Otherwise, the kitchen staff is the same. Is this the straight poop? I have no way of knowing. Has Audrey been to the new place? No, she says with a smile, but she has been to Dino.

[Heather]

I chose to order out at PC for lunch today, and knew exactly what I wanted--the soft bean curd szechuan style. I love that yummy hot stuff on top of silky smooth tofu.

This dish was easily the best part of lunch yesterday. Second was the dumplings in chili oil - tender wrappers and good texture in the filling.

[deangold]

We ahd a beef hot pot that I thought, when ordering it, was 2 star hot but turned out to be a rich and dark broth containing turnips and various parts, some quite odd, of a cow. It was rich and heavy but in a good way. One pot went well for four with about 1.4 of the dish left over, so I would not recommend it on a solo visit. Again, the meal was pretty incredible. We spend $14 on a lunch that was more then any of us strictly needed to consume.

[xcanuck]

The best part of the beef hot pot was the sauce that the meat was simmering in - it was so rich, delicious and intensely beef flavoured. The rice soaked it up beautifully - what a great dish. And the silky tofu with hot sauce was exquisite.

But again, the cooked dishes (as opposed to the cold, preprepared appetizers) just didn't seem to have any of the advertised heat. That's my second experience like that in three days. Time to have a little chat with the staff, or it's back to JNH for me.

[deangold]

I took Kay for her first try of PC. We ordered:

Beggars Purse & tofu soup- amazingly good! A thickened clear broth with well cooked greens & cubes of tofu. Very warming and comforting on a cold Sunday night.

Black Mushroom salad- tree ears, thai sport peppers in a tangy vinegary sauce. Great and blisteringly hot.

leek stem black bean & pork- wonderful! Hoisin sauce background flavor, positively addictive. Advertised as one star hot, and it was gently hot at best, but we did not ask for anything to be made spicy as Kay is not as hot loving or tolerant as I am. I would like to ahve seen more heat.

Spicy Silken Tofu- still the best single dish at PC IMO. tThe sauce is sneaky hot, at first hiting you with earthy and toasty flavors, then building up with a chile intensity.

Conclusion- This dinner was so tasty. We needed more people so we could eat more dishes. With 2 beers, it was $26.00!

[bookluvingbabe]

I confess: I don't much like spicy food and I am not a fan of szechuan style Chinese (with admitedly limited exposure at Joe's Noodle House.) One of these days, I'll make it to lunch with the Rockville Pike gang and perhaps with aid in ordering I'll enjoy it more.

That said, I like Americanized Chinese food. I grew up on Manderin style in St. Louis, discovered City Lights in my post college years, endured Hunan Dynasty while living on Capitol Hill and happily returned to my City Lights obsession once I met Mr. BLB and he was within delivery range of City Lights. We moved to Van Ness and they continued to deliver to us.

Since moving to Gaithersburg we've tried a number of the local delivery options without much success. I've made the trek to China Bistro for dumplings and been pleased but haven't been organized enough to take Mr. BLB... Last night I simply wasn't willing to cook and I suggested we try the carry out from Peking Cheers. We didn't order anything exciting or interesting--steamed dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, seseame chicken and wonton soup.

We were pleased. It was good and tasty. Definitely the best Chinese we've had since we've been out here... It won't make me stop missing City Lights (or suggesting that it wouldn't be that hard for him to stop at Dupont Circle for carryout on his way home from work...) but I don't think I'll be reduced to tears the next time he wants to order Chinese and I can't bear the thought of another lousy meal...

Jennifer

[synaesthesia]

Pictures from dinner: http://flickr.com/photos/synaesthesia/tags/pekingcheers/

I am too beat to write anything. Someone else please do it. And the rumors are true. I did eat a fish eye. And for the record, DininginFrederick gets the next carcass.

[deangold]

We were running a little late (nothing new there!) but making good time to PC. But then there was a little bit of a funny noise from the right rear of the car... We had a lovely time waiting for the tow truck on the 495 with a blowout! Then when the guy arrived, his jack broke and mine was missing the crank.

Dinner at Bob's shabu Shabu at 9pm hit the spot as we were in ned of physical warmth by then.

[cucas87]

Sure Dean, like we'd believe that story! Glad to hear you and Kay got the car back on track and had a good meal at the end of your ordeal. Dinner at Peking Cheers was very, very good, but I'm proud/afraid to say I stepped up and ate at least part of your share.

I don't have a menu with me and my work computer cannot open the link to the menu that's provided earlier in the thread so I'm going to work from memory despite my food coma. Nine of us had:

fried dumplings with hot sauce (really good hot sauce)

dumplings in hot oil (or something like that, these are the dumplings that are in the bowl with chili oil)

spicy soft tofu

wheat gluten and mushrooms (delicious and "meaty" despite the name)

spicy sauteed dry beef (this is the numbing beef. It was hot and slightly numbing but not impossibly numbing)

crispy whole fish (very good, in a sweetish ketchupy sauce).

three cup chicken (boneless pieces of chicken and basil in a slightly sweetish wine sauce served in a hot casserole dish. Delicious)

pork in garlic sauce

pea shoots and garlic

peking duck (really well carved and yes, they did, upon request, give us the carcass)

For dessert they gave us each a bowl of tofu in a sweet wine soup -- very soft tofu in a sweet and slightly eggy soup. Hot, comforting. Not my favorite (I didn't love the "egg" part of the soup), but nice.

I really liked PC. The menu is very broad and I'd be happy to go back and try some of the many things we didn't get to this time. I don't know if I liked it as much as Temptasian or Szechuan Boy, but I'm more than willing to go back to test that theory a few times. All in all it was a great Sunday night -- with very tasty food and good company. The tab (including tip and leftovers) came to $16 before accounting for drinks. Thanks everyone for a good night. Dean and Kay, hope to see you next time.

We were running a little late (nothing new there!) but making good time to PC. But then there was a little bit of a funny noise from the right rear of the car... We had a lovely time waiting for the tow truck on the 495 with a blowout! Then when the guy arrived, his jack broke and mine was missing the crank.

Dinner at Bob's shabu Shabu at 9pm hit the spot as we were in ned of physical warmth by then.

[synaesthesia]

I don't have a menu with me and my work computer cannot open the link to the menu that's provided earlier in the thread so I'm going to work from memory despite my food coma. Nine of us had:

fried dumplings with hot sauce (really good hot sauce)

dumplings in hot oil (or something like that, these are the dumplings that are in the bowl with chili oil)

spicy soft tofu

wheat gluten and mushrooms (delicious and "meaty" despite the name)

spicy sauteed dry beef (this is the numbing beef. It was hot and slightly numbing but not impossibly numbing)

crispy whole fish (very good, in a sweetish ketchupy sauce).

three cup chicken (boneless pieces of chicken and basil in a slightly sweetish wine sauce served in a hot casserole dish. Delicious)

pork in garlic sauce

pea shoots and garlic

peking duck (really well carved and yes, they did, upon request, give us the carcass)

We also the crispy salty eggplant, which had jalapenos and scallions. I thought it was really good, despite pretty much tasting like a salty tempura-ed potato. It's the whole fried philosophy: fry it and I'll eat it.

[baczkowski]

fried dumplings with hot sauce (really good hot sauce)

dumplings in hot oil (or something like that, these are the dumplings that are in the bowl with chili oil)

spicy soft tofu

wheat gluten and mushrooms (delicious and "meaty" despite the name)

spicy sauteed dry beef (this is the numbing beef. It was hot and slightly numbing but not impossibly numbing)

crispy whole fish (very good, in a sweetish ketchupy sauce).

three cup chicken (boneless pieces of chicken and basil in a slightly sweetish wine sauce served in a hot casserole dish. Delicious)

pork in garlic sauce

pea shoots and garlic

peking duck (really well carved and yes, they did, upon request, give us the carcass)

We enjoyed ourselves, too, and I was especially surprised that nothing was too spicy for me. I wonder what that spicy sauteed dry beef tasted like today b/c I took the leftovers of the rather benign pork in "spicy" garlic sauce for lunch today and it had real kick unlike last night. This was my first "authentic" Chinese food experience and showed me that I like it much better than the Americanized stuff. I guess I summon more courage in groups.

Pax,

Brian

[JPW]

Excellent lunch today.

From the apps menu --

Black mushroom salad - crunchy, almost as if they had been pickled

Leek stem (?) and pork salad -- earthy with a little kick. Superb and big enough to almost be a lunch in and of itself.

Fried gluten -- Good enough.

From the entrees --

Mapo Tofu -- One of the best versions of this that I have had in some time. Just a hint of Szechuan pepper.

Fish porridge -- The real show stealer. Must have been three whole fillets (tilapia maybe) in a rich and spicy broth. Nicely balanced.

The only negative was that we were three chili heads and after emphasizing that we wanted spicy, the entrees, which were spicy hot, could have still used a little extra kick. This is really minor though, as I really enjoyed everything except the gluten, of which I'm just not a big fan

[deangold]

Perhaps the best meal yet at PC.

Starters:

Black Mushroom salad: wood ears, thai sport peppers, ginger slivers, spicy sauce- cool, refreshing, incendiary.

Gluten & mushrom salad: sweet rich gluten, nice cold shrooms, refreshing

Leek stems, black beans, ground pork with chilis. Very dark and dank flavors, hit the spot as a starter.

Mains:

Fish with Rice Portage - similar to H20 at Joe's but better. The sauce is more vinegary and quite hot although not hot enough for this group. THe sauce doused over rice makes it into a Portage.

Ma Po Tofu ordered Chinese style. I have to agree with Jow and disagree at the same time. Very good as he said, but I thought it filled with a lot of Schezuan peppercorns but without much heat. It had a grassy/sour/numbing character which would have been intensified with the heat of chilis and chili paste.

The waiter said to tell them next time that we ordered "hot" and it wasn't hot enough.

$45 including an $11 tip. Food enough for 4 normal humans but with this group, 3.5!

[Lydia R]

They have a "special" that's been running for probably 10 years. Sun-Thurs, eat-in only, a whole Peking Duck (carved tableside, with pancakes) is $10.95. Considering that this is normally $20-$30 at most DC-area restaurants, it's an incredible bargain.

Guess I'm trying to do my own fact-checking. Yesterday's WaPo Food Section "Worth the Trip" had this:

Although the new chef, menu and small plates served on weekend days are attracting fresh customers, the restaurant's specialty remains a big draw. The hot bird is carved tableside, with crisp/melting skin and accompanying pancakes, scallions and plum sauce. It's $19, or $13.95 when ordered with another entree.

Did the offer change?

[DanielK]

Guess I'm trying to do my own fact-checking. Yesterday's WaPo Food Section "Worth the Trip" had this:Did the offer change?

Yes, that is the current offer, from when I was in there last month. So it's $3 higher than it was 10 years ago, and they make you order another dish, so no going solo and just ordering a duck! Still an amazing bargain, and I still get a duck when ordering Szechuan meals there almost every time.

[xcanuck]

There is nothing more disappointing than ordering the dry sauteed beef (the one with two "spicy" stars), getting home, and realizing that they gave you some godawful orange beef or similarly run of the mill, cloyingly sweet offering. It makes for a rather blah lunch.

[smokey]

There is nothing more disappointing than ordering the dry sauteed beef (the one with two "spicy" stars), getting home, and realizing that they gave you some godawful orange beef or similarly run of the mill, cloyingly sweet offering. It makes for a rather blah lunch.

I think when you call in and order something off the 'chinese' menu, it's definitely worth checking while you're there. I ordered something via phone off the "Chinese" menu and double-checked when i went in for the pick up. It was something different, and the guy very nicely admitted that he didn't really think I wanted what I said I wanted. The cheerfully replaced it with the desired item, however.

[xcanuck]

I think when you call in and order something off the 'chinese' menu, it's definitely worth checking while you're there. I ordered something via phone off the "Chinese" menu and double-checked when i went in for the pick up. It was something different, and the guy very nicely admitted that he didn't really think I wanted what I said I wanted. The cheerfully replaced it with the desired item, however.

I went in and ordered in person - pointed at exactly what I wanted and the mistake still happened. I'll give them one more shot before relying on JNH for my spicy chinese cravings. Next time I go in there, I'll suggest that they put letters/numbers beside each item so it's easier to call in an order.

[Al Dente]

I'll have to check this joint out. It appears they have a website (of sorts) now. I'll have an Economics Lunch Box please.

[JimRice]

Does an economics lunch box mean that you also have posters of Thorstein Veblen in your room?

[Al Dente]

We went to Peking Cheers last night and were knocked out by the food. We had the dry beef saute, beef chow fun, pea shoots with garlic, spare ribs, dumplings and their awesome scallion pancakes. Service was a little rough around the edges, but the food made it worth it. We tried getting the duck, but were told (after a quick headcount around the room) that it would be a "four duck wait". It took a while to find out that one duck equals about 20 minutes. I'm not sure I understand how the one duck at a time policy works. It seems to me that if the restaurant was packed and you had a lot of duck orders, you could wait several hours for it? Can anyone shed light on the space/duck continuum concept?

This joint will be a regular stop for the Dentes.

How much duck could a duck cook cook,

If a duck cook could cook duck?

[DanielK]

We tried getting the duck, but were told (after a quick headcount around the room) that it would be a "four duck wait". It took a while to find out that one duck equals about 20 minutes. I'm not sure I understand how the one duck at a time policy works. It seems to me that if the restaurant was packed and you had a lot of duck orders, you could wait several hours for it? Can anyone shed light on the space/duck continuum concept?

I've never waited all that long for a duck, and 20 minutes/duck doesn't seem right, but it's due to the fact that they carve the duck tableside. Perhaps they didn't have enough CDCs* in the house last night.

* certified duck carvers

[Pool Boy]

Several of us tried out Peking Cheers (last month) and enjoyed it quite a bit. In our minds, Joe's was/is still better, but we're planning to head back to Joe's again soon to compare. Here's a Link to pictures, etc.

[Al Dente]

Interesting dish last night-- Tofu with crab and shrimp. I'm not sure how this is made exactly, but it was like a stir fry of greens in a light colored but viscous sauce with these tofu dumplings (in the chicken and dumplings sense, not dim sum sense) filled with crab and shrimp. It was if the crab and shrimp was bound by soft tofu and probably egg. It was excellent.

Peking duck ain't bad either. There was only a 1 duck wait last night.

[Scott Johnston]

Glad to see that the cooking is still great. I had lunch on a off day a couple of weeks ago and was not overly impressed with my meal. I think it's time for another Sunday night dinner at PC!

[DanielK]

Glad to see that the cooking is still great. I had lunch on a off day a couple of weeks ago and was not overly impressed with my meal. I think it's time for another Sunday night dinner at PC!

I was there for Sunday lunch a couple of weeks ago, and had a meal that was good, but not great.

Still miles better than your average neighborhood Americanized place, but it was nowhere near the great meals I had there a few months ago, nor Joe's Noodle.

[porcupine]

Uh-oh.

[Al Dente]

Uh-oh.

Yikes. I was hoping to just see "no certified whatchamacallit on duty", or some other minor bureaucratic BS.

Guess I'll be scratching this joint off my list.

[DanielK]

Yikes. I was hoping to just see "no certified whatchamacallit on duty", or some other minor bureaucratic BS.

Guess I'll be scratching this joint off my list.

I think this is more likely to have been caused by the interchange construction going on in that neighborhood than unsafe practices of the restaurant.

[smokey]

I think this is more likely to have been caused by the interchange construction going on in that neighborhood than unsafe practices of the restaurant.

But does that mean there weren't severe rodents there?