Meal 34

Szechuan Beef

 Rating: 9(The Cat’s Meow)

Fortune of the day- Investigate new possibilities with friends. Now is the time!

Let me start off by saying this meal had amazing proportions. It had enough beef and was not overrun by vegetables! The Szechuan Beef, which is a style of cooking that originated in the Sichuan Province of China, was fairly bold in flavor. Its use of red pepper flakes provided a charming contradiction to the sweetness of the dish. Only having onions, broccoli, bamboo shoots, and carrots, I was even lenient on the water chestnuts. The meal was bold, testing the limited limits of the American palate. This expression of brassiness earned the Szechuan Beef the Cat’s Meow of Dragon City.

Meal 33

Mon Go Chicken

Rating: 6.5(Mediocre-Succulent)

Fortune of the day- We must always have old memories and young hopes.

As before, Mon Go Chicken is practically identical to the Mon Go Beef. I find it rather difficult to find anything interesting or original about the dish. It has chicken instead beef…that is about it. It had the same vegetables; baby corn, water chestnuts, carrots, onions, green bell peppers, bamboo shoots, and peas. The onions needed to be cooked a little longer and if broccoli would have taken the place of, let us say water chestnuts, then it might have made the meal more appetizing. The best word I can think of for the Mon Go Chicken is dido. I have had to say the same thing twice, therefore only granting this meal a 6.5.

Meal 31

Mon Go Beef

 Rating: 6.5(Mediocre-Succulent)

Fortune of the day- An interesting musical opportunity is in your near future.

The Mon Go Beef was just another ordinary meal at Dragon City. The dish was lacking originality and complexity. It favored many of the other plates, consisting of the identical ingredients and occupying the same basic texture and taste. Fashioned out of the common vegetables found in Chinese dishes, there were carrots, baby corn, onions, green bell peppers, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots. Strangely enough, there was no broccoli, which would have maxed out the foliage in this fare. The onions were not cooked thoroughly living a slightly bitter taste to them. They usually do a wonderful job cooking the food but finished this meal a little too soon. I recommend this meal to anyone who is too afraid to take chances because I guarantee this meal will not deviate from its 6.5 rating. 

Meal 30

General Tso’s Chicken

 Rating: 10(Godsent)

Fortune of the day- Believe in yourself!

As most of you know, General Tso’s Chicken is the dish that started it all. It is extremely hard to find the right words to describe this meal. There are none that come to mind that can even remotely express how we feel about this astonishing and majestic meal meant only for the gods of men. I found this quote to best suit our sentiment:

Tell the heavens and the earth to celebrate and sing! Command every mountain to join in song! For General Tso’s has arrived.

                                                                                               -Isaiah 49:13

Many would disagree with this quote, mainly for the last part but I promise you it is in the bible. God not only sent is begotten son but also this tasty dish thus earning the ultimate Godsent!

Meal 29

Hot & Spicy Shrimp

Rating: 8.5(Ballzy-The Cat’s Meow)

Fortune of the day- A day without sunshine is like night.

The Hot & Spicy Shrimp was basically the Szechuan dish of shrimp. Seemingly the same sauce as the Shredded Beef Szechuan, the Hot & Spicy Shrimp had a tangy yet spicy flavor, twisting our tongues into a delectable predicament. Containing the most perfect collection of vegetables, this hearty dish of onions, bell peppers, celery, and carrots did extremely well in not overloading the plate. It was a wonderful combination of sweet, zest, fiery savor that placed it above many of the other dishes. This meal was by far the best shrimp dish that we have encountered along the way ergo earning an 8.5.

Meal 28

Roast Pork in Garlic Sauce

Rating: 7.5(Succulent-Ballzy)

Fortune of the day- You will have a long, adventurous life.

Now with most of the information we have gathered, it is no longer a difficult task deciding what is in the meals at Dragon City. The Pork in Garlic Sauce, for anyone who has kept up, is the same as the Chicken with Garlic Sauce, minus the “Chicken” and the word “with” in the title. It had all the fixings such as water chestnuts, baby corn, broccoli, celery, cabbage, carrots, green peas, and bamboo shoots. I know it’s overwhelming but you can pick through them. The sauce was the same with a sweet and tangy spin, making for a decent meal. If you are more of a pork fan than you are a chicken or plain broccoli fan, then I highly suggest taking the succulent to ballzy route on this one.

Meal 26

Hunan Beef

Rating: 8.5(Ballzy-The Cat’s Meow)

Fortune of the day- ¡Usted es el más grande en el mundo!

First of all, let me say that the fortune of the day is in Spanish because this is what we pulled out of our fortune cookie. I could tell you what it says but it is so darn easy to translate things these days with Google and things like that, that I don’t see why I should! Now that’s done, we can get down to business. The Hunan Beef was eerily similar to the Hunan Chicken; it really freaked us out. Actually no it didn’t. We expected the two meals to be almost identical with the exception of the beef and chicken. This dish had the same vegetables which included (in case you didn’t read Meal 25) water chestnuts, baby corn, broccoli, celery, cabbage, carrots, green pepper, and bamboo shoots. If I missed anything, please take note of it and send me an email to let me know. This meal was also spicy with little flakes of red pepper floating around in the sauce. It too provided as a great nasal cleansing. As with most meals, if they would have exempted some of the unwanted vegetables, than it would have been rated higher than an 8.5

Meal 25

Hunan Chicken

Rating: 8.5(Ballzy-The Cat’s Meow)

Fortune of the day- Read between the lines.

Remember meal 5, the Chicken with Mixed Vegetables? Well take that meal and throw some red pepper in there and you have yourself a Hunan Chicken. Like many of the other dishes, this plate had every vegetable under the sun from baby corn to green peas with water chestnuts, broccoli, celery, cabbage, carrots, and bamboo shoots in between. The chicken shredded and mangled like it usually is. The sauce was fairly dark and rich with red pepper flakes scattered throughout. It gave the dish a distinctive taste, setting it aside and declaring it different.  Even with all of the unwanted veggies, this dish left my palate exposed, earning an 8.5

Meal 24

Curry Chicken

Rating: 8(Ballzy)

Fortune of the day- A good worker deserves a good salary.

The Curry Chicken definitely earns a top choice award for leading us off the beaten path. This Guru, of a seemingly Indian cuisine, brought a lot of kicks to the chop sticks. After diluting some of the vegetables, this dish was not overpowered too greatly only containing carrots, onions, baby corn, green peas, celery, and water chestnuts. The curry is what brought this one home, adding a completely new dimension of flavor. It was moderately spicy, clearing out the sinuses and making way for a distinct taste. Curry, commonly thought of as a type of spice, can mean many things. Its basic definition states that it is a collective seasoning of different types of hot spices (including curry powder), thus making it extremely difficult to tell you exactly what was in the Curry Chicken.  All I can say is that this meal had my taste buds "Bollywooding" and karate chopping, earning a ballzy title. 

Meal 22

Kung Pao Chicken

 Rating: 6(Mediocre)

Fortune of the day-You have a charming way with words. Write a letter this week.

“Why put peanuts on a perfectly good meal?” I want to ask Dragon City. It seems it would have been perfectly acceptable with a vacancy of goobers but instead they beefed up the Kung Pao Chicken with more protein than you can possibly govern. This pallet of feed exhibits a fine display of traditional Chinese vegetables flaunting diced celery, water chestnuts, and carrots along with green bell peppers and baby corn. When you get down to the actual chicken, it’s really not too shabby, advocating an interesting blend of sweet and spicy zest. Two components made this meal undesirable and that was the peanuts and water chestnuts. Kung Pao Chicken is a strange enough of a name. Literally called pinyin gōng bǎo jī dīng, it obtained its name from Ding Baozhen, an official in the late Qing Dynasty. After the Cultural Revolution, it was deemed politically incorrect being then known as “fast-fried chicken cubes” and was not reinstated until the 1980’s. Maybe you will like the salty peanuts in contrast to the peppery chicken but we found it frankly, marginally Mediocre.

Meal 21

Shredded Beef Szechuan

Rating: 8.5(Ballzy-The Cat’s Meow)

Fortune of the day- Now is the time for peace in your life. Go along with other’s ideas.

Chances are I haven’t pronounced this dish correctly yet. Having said that, who cares? This platter with surprise matter was more than expected for even the heartiest of eaters.  The Shredded Beef Szechuan’s sauce danced around a tingling, yet welcomed spiciness in my mouth, providing a sultry base on which a pyramid of epic deliciousness was constructed. This lunch special boasted its fair share of veggies including, but probably not limited to, onions, green bell peppers, carrots, and celery.  Intertwined within the surplus of vegetables was a healthy portion of beef.  Two factors made this dish a great success: 1.) the shredded vegetables took the shape and place of noodles creating an appeasing texture. 2.) The sauce leaves you begging for more rice as it blended beautifully with the golden field in the Styrofoam container.  All things considered, this was the Ballziest Cat’s Meow on Main Street, earning it a rating of 8.5.

-Ethan Constant-

Meal 20

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

Rating: 8(Ballzy)

Fortune of the day- You will advance socially, without any special effort.

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce sounds like a dull and banal meal consisting solely of a tree-like vegetable. Actually the dish was a delight, leaps and bounds better than Vegetable Delight. Even though it had just one ingredient, this plate gave our palates that perpetual piquancy that we have been pursuing. The trunks of broccoli were entirely too large. It was difficult to shove an entire piece into your mouth. Do not fear though, the sauce made any inconvenience the meal provided seem small and insignificant. The sauce was thicker than others being rather sweet; it caught us off guard. After the sweetness wore off, the spiciness shown through but this was expected since we have entered the spicy meals off the lunch menu. Of course there was a hint of garlic but come on, its in the title.  This contradictory made for an extremely appealing taste earning a solid 8.