Step into a Chinese time machine at House of Fong

Tag : peapods
Tags: house of fong , chinese , old school , port china

I love Chinese food, and I always have. But my earliest memories ofAsian cuisine, in retrospect, were bland and downright Americanizedcompared to what I prefer now.
Growing up, we ordered take-out, pretty much exclusively, from aplace called Port China, 312 W. Bradley Rd. This was before I knewthe different between Szechuan and Cantonese. I didn't know Asianfood comprised Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean or Vietnamese (andmore). I just knew that when my sister and I would stay at mygrandparents' house, my grandma would simply say, "Would you likechop suey for dinner?" and send my grandpa out to pick it up.
By "chop suey," my grandma was referring to all Chinese cuisine,but without fail, I ordered beef with peapods and chicken friedrice. I can still taste that dinner now.
I bring all this up because my wife and I had a ridiculously retroand wonderful dinner this weekend. Running around, doing pre-babychores, we passed House of Fong, 5460 S. 27th St. We've seen thisplace before with its teal, pagoda-inspired exterior.
But this time, we said, "Lets do it."
Walking inside was like stepping into a Chinese time machine. Redvinyl booths, arched wood paneling and a sound system quietlyplaying the theme from "Taxi."
I felt almost giddy.
I knew, then and there, that I'd be eating a dinner that would bepumped full of MSG, heavy on the sauce and light on the spice.Could I really order anything but beef with peapods? Of course not.And just to keep it real, Velia ordered "chop suey," which, Ibelieve, was invented in America.
You know what? The food was great. If there's a such thing asChinese comfort food, this was it. The thick, black "soy sauce"made it even saltier, too, and it brought me back to 5 years old,sitting in my grandparents' kitchen.
House of Fong is ridiculously inexpensive, too. Two dinners (hersincluded soup, egg foo young and ice cream), plus a virgin Mai Taifor the pregnant wife, came out to less than $20.
We are so coming back ... with friends.
For the record, Port China is still there, but after a visit a fewyears ago, it felt rundown and bland and reminded me that you cannever really "go back."
That said, House of Fong is about as close as you'll get. It's asfar away as you can possibly get from nouveau Asian fusion cuisine.
But sometimes, a little old-school chop suey is all you need.