Chalin's (Formerly Charlie Chiang's), 19th and I Street Downtown, Van Ness is Closed - New Name for Chinese-American Institution

[Tweaked]

I know, their website isn't designed very well.

He did not. He was having trouble entering the order into their system, at which point he said it was new to the "american" menu. He then said the soup was also on the "authentic" menu.

at this point, I think it's probably worth just going in, asking for the authentic menu, and then ordering something like dan dan noodles, or mapo tofu, or a tripe or tendon dish, telling them that you really do want it authentic and seeing what gets served.

[The Hersch]

I've been running a little experiment for the last 2 or 3 weeks. Chalin's (downtown) is now on GrubHub,and their "Chinese" menu sections are clearly marked online. I've been ordering the "Chinese" stuff every few days, and I must say what I've received (as a GrubHub punter, no telling what a Chinese diner might get) has been food of unrelieved mediocrity. The "boiled chicken in chef's spicy sauce", or whatever it was called, was the only dish actually served in the gelatinous brown glop that almost all American Chinese food comes swimming in....I had envisioned chicken boiled simply on the bone, with a spicy dipping sauce, but what I got was the typical slivers of boneless, skinless white meat swimming in the familiar brown glop with the obvious vegetables. While none of the other dishes came in brown glop, none was worth eating. For what it's worth.

[DonRocks]

4 minutes ago, The Hersch said:

While none of the other dishes came in brown glop, none was worth eating. For what it's worth.

It's worth a lot.

[Tweaked]

Van Ness location has been closed for a while.