Jeannine and I met at Good Fortune for lunch today; and I must say it was my good fortune that we did. I’d not been happy with the Chinese restaurants we’ve eaten at in St. Joseph and was about to write the community off as lacking in egg roll or chop suey cuisine.
It’s not that I eat Chinese food often, but when I do I want it to be more than what you can throw together with cans of crunchy noodles and basic ingredients from the super market. I want it to be memorable, because there’s not a lot of difference in the taste from entrйe to entrйe. They all have that distinctive Chinese gravy, rice accompanies almost every dish, and braised celery is a staple. Except today we had Egg FooYung, so bamboo shoots stood in for the celery.
But first we had egg drop soup, a thick almost gelatinous mixture that was really quite tasty. I am used to the brothy kind of egg drop soup, where the thin ribbons of egg can escape your spoon. This soup, however, made sure the egg got to your mouth.
Next came an egg roll, crunchy on the outside with veggies on the inside. And finally, the entrйe, two gigantic egg pancakes with an equally gigantic side of rice. For someone like me, who usually doesn’t eat lunch, it was a huge portion. But I determined to take whatever I couldn’t finish home and not have to cook dinner for Earl in the bargain.
The entrйe was followed by the usual fortune cookie. My fortune acknowledged that I was a person of culture, while Jeannine’s said she was ready to live life to the fullest. We both agreed with our cookie’s assessment, and maybe that was the best part of all. Laughing over food always makes it taste better.
On the way out, we asked if the restaurant delivered; evidently it does. So the next time I have a Chinese food attack I think I’ll call upon Good Fortune to rain down some of its culinary specialties on me. Thanks, Jeannine, for the experience.
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