YLCF Gretchen Reduced To Blogging About Mall Food

[bea]

Seriously.

[link=http://gretchenlouise.com/2013/03/dear-panda-express/]An entire entry about the wonders of Panda Express.[/link]

PANDA EXPRESS. Where they ate all the time while they were on vacation and all their kids love the food.

I just...what on EARTH would make her think this is compelling blog material? Panda motherfucking Express. Oh Gretchen, how the mighty have fallen.

[Hane]

OMFG. I'm a NYC native, and the FIRST place I was ever taken as an infant (1952) was a Chinese restaurant. The family law was that we ONLY ate in the Chinese restaurants where the Chinese people ate; my grandparents were born in Little Italy, right next to Chinatown.

Grandma and Grandpa are spinning in their graves.

[MyName]

Panda Express is disgusting.

[lilah]

Maybe she's getting a kickback? Bloggers do this all the time, blog about things in exachange for money or free stuff.

I personally think it's nasty even on the scale of mall chinese food.

The family law was that we ONLY ate in the Chinese restaurants where the Chinese people ate; my grandparents were born in Little Italy, right next to Chinatown.

Excellent rule if you live in a diverse urban areas, but in rural areas you aren't likely to find big populations of every minoirty.

[memmy]

seems to me like she wants them to contact her and provide some coupons or free meals

kind of like an ad for panda express...

[keen23]

Panda Express in the Phoenix metro is almost entirely staffed by teenagers who are either white and/or Latino. It's horrible food. But, then again, it's almost impossible to find "authentic" Chinese food here (not entirely, there are a few places, but you get the gist). But, hell, I totally crave Panda orange chicken now and then.

[rward]

I'm eating truffle fries from a food truck right now. I didn't think they could taste any better.

[VooDooChild]

Leghumping panda express? Geez Gretchen, you need to get out more.

[doggie]

I ate there once I think burned fried rice. of course my daughter likes it.

[Guest Anonymous]

She's added links, hoping for some freebies, I expect.

[Closed Womb]

I am in no way a food snob, and, quite honestly, I would look down on people who judge other people for their food choices well before I would look down on someone because of what they are eating/what they like to eat.

That said, Panda is on my *very* short list of places that I tried once and I will never return to. However, I guess it could be gourmet eats (even cold out of the ice chest?) compared to a bunch of sandwiches made on the road? Maybe?

[Guest Anonymous]

I looked on the website. It looks like fast food, with drinks served in paper cups. I'm guessing that comparing that to a 'proper' Chinese restaurant is like comparing McDonalds to a steak house. The price would be vastly different, especially since they seemed to be saving coupons and splitting meals between themselves. Also, it would be a much more relaxed place to take kids to eat. I definitely think she is just hoping to blag freebies.

[frumper-rump]

I never knew Panda Express had free-standing restaurants.

The idea of leftover, mall-Chinese food that has been sitting in a cooler for 24 hours is so unappetizing...

[Closed Womb]

I looked on the website. It looks like fast food, with drinks served in paper cups. I'm guessing that comparing that to a 'proper' Chinese restaurant is like comparing McDonalds to a steak house. The price would be vastly different, especially since they seemed to be saving coupons and splitting meals between themselves. Also, it would be a much more relaxed place to take kids to eat. I definitely think she is just hoping to blag freebies.

Panda is definitely fast food. It's actually immediate food, as it is cafeteria style (I think that is what it's called -- where the food is all set out, you order, and the workers dish it up for you.)

[emesbe]

I usually try not to yuck other people's yum, but :angry-screaming: Ew.

[DarkAnts]

Panda Express in the Phoenix metro is almost entirely staffed by teenagers who are either white and/or Latino. It's horrible food. But, then again, it's almost impossible to find "authentic" Chinese food here (not entirely, there are a few places, but you get the gist). But, hell, I totally crave Panda orange chicken now and then.

I am surprised to hear that. Albuquerque has a reasonable number of "authentic" chinese places. We also have some good indian, thai, and vietnamese restaurants. I would have expected Phenix to have more variety because its quite a bit larger.

[OkToBeTakei]

I am a food snob and I make no apologies. There again I don't force my choices on others who if they want to eat whatever all day long is not my concern. I have yet to find ANY fast food chain restaurant I like enough to visit in anything other than a food emergency :lol:

None of that looks remotely like the Chinese food I am used to.

[yewchapel]

I sometimes do get a craving for crappy 'Chinese' food - but it's about as Chinese as haggis! :lol:

[Lillybee]

Panda Express's food is very greasy and too sweet for my taste.

[silvia]

Yeah, the links to the Panda Express website are kind of unseemly. If not for those, I'd have taken this as an inoffensive (if bland) entry about surface-level family life. The real shame is that Gretchen is capable of much more -- that is, she would be if she were brave enough to take an introspective, questioning stance in her posts.