“It just doesn’t make any sense”

Sometimes food doesn’t have to make sense, and I guess Chinese food does whatever it wants.

Growing up in Payson, Arizona, my Chinese food knowledge was limited to chow mein and orange chicken. Growing up, I had no idea what to order at Chinese spots. I would either order what I knew, not a lot, or just order what looked/sounded the best … not always the best way to go about things.

My co-host Bryan felt the same way, except he spent his early years living in Seattle, where good Chinese food was readily available. Then he moved to Phoenix, Mesa/Chandler to be specific, where he and his mom struggled to find GOOD Chinese food … turns out he lived around the corner from a spot on the list!

So we gave a call to Donny Hawk, sous chef at the Glady, who seems to have his finger on the pulse of good Chinese food here in Phoenix …he seems to have eaten most of the dishes at most of these places … a couple of the restaurants recognized him as soon as we walked in! We took that as a good sign.

Below are some of his favorite spots and favorite dishes, the ones in bold are HOLD YOUR FORK approved, meaning we had it and loved it. The others are dishes Donny recommends, but we didn’t get a chance to try.

Enjoy.

THE DOPEST CHINESE FOOD WITH DONNY HAWK

Shaanxi Garden

SHAANXI GARDEN OF THE GODS IS MORE LIKE IT! Everyone is a spicy boi at Shaanxi, if your heat tolerance is low, you can still enjoy the wonderful spices and flavors that are going on here! The dishes all have a dulled spice, that doesn’t just kick your ass right away, but slowly teases you the entire meal.

Stir-fried lamb

Spicy sliced beef

Beef stew with mapo sauce (MUST GET)

Fried chicken

Chicken cabbage

Sour lamb dumpling soup

Twice cooked pork

Spicy fried potatoes

Sichuan hamburger

Beef tounge shovel

Braised pork knuckle

Water boiled fish

Old Town Taste

Tucked away in a Tempe strip mall, a restaurant that Instagram doesn’t even know exists … lies Old Town Taste. The baby blue walls provide a sense of calm to a place that can be a madhouse.

Sichuan dry-fried fish (Watch your bite, the peppers are for additional flavor, don’t eat them)

Eggplant in brown sauce

Scallion pancake (CRUSHABLE)

Green beans with preserved vegetables (Be healthy kids)

Dry fried intestines

Pork belly in brown sauce

Chou’s Kitchen

This is the spot! If you need to prioritize what spot to go to first … go here. There are two locations though … the OG location is in Chandler, they have bao dumplings … which are stoopid good. The second location in Tempe tends to offer a couple more adventurous dishes mainly due to the proximity to the ASU campus.

Beef/pork pies

Beef and tripe in Chile oil

Sichuan spicy beef

Green beans and pork

Soup dumplings

Chive egg pockets

Squash egg dumplings

Sliced beef roll

Green onion bread

Eggplant potato and jalapeño

Great Wall Cuisine

This place is an actual mad house … during my time in the great state of Arizona, I have never seen anything like it. People are lined up out the door, on a Sunday morning at 11 am. Wtf. We get inside, and the place is full, and let me tell you this restaurant is huge.

If you go, go prepared, take this list and use it as your guide, but we urge you to deviate, order what looks good. This is the place to get out of your comfort zone.

Bbq pork buns

Fried moochi dumplings

Congee

Roast pork

Salted fish fried rice

Shrimp hargow

Shrimp noodles with soy broth

Egg tarts

Asian Cafe Express

This is the place. The place where you can go to weekly. The place that will make you say “fuck Panda Express” the place where orange chicken THRIVES!

Orange chicken (MUST GET)

Hong Kong coffee

Twice cooked pork

Dry beef chow fun

Combo fried rice (MUST GET)

Xo beef

Bring your own seafood

Black pepper beef

Crab puffs

Salt and pepper chicken wings (Dry rubbed to perfection)

Hong Kong Asia Diner

As we pull up to this restaurant, Bryan is kind of losing his mind, he grew up maybe two blocks from here. He walked past it multiple times a week .. yet never thought to pop it.

This is the place for DUCK! We made the mistake, and forgot to call ahead for the clay pot of duck rice … thanks Donny … CALL AHEAD AND GET THIS! Also order the Peeking Duck, a full order. We did a half and I am still a little upset about it.

Crispy pork belly

Clay pot duck rice (must call 2 hours ahead to order)

Peeking duck

Dry scallops egg white fried rice

Seafood tofu soup

Pork belly taro root clay pot

Salt and pepper pork chop

Walnut shrimp

THE DOPEST CHINESE FOOD IN TOWN: with guest Donald Hawk