I love me some Chinese take-out. Delicious, cheap, and largely portioned. This is my daily formula when looking for lunch, and China Chef always hooks me up with one of the greatest lunch specials in the world. Your choice of rice(chicken fried, shrimp fried, steamed, ect.), a main item and an egg roll for $4.29. This ends up costing you a little under $2 per pound. I have to admit that eating at a Chinese restaurant with an entirely Spanish speaking kitchen staff is a little odd, but they put out some of the best Chinese take-out I have had.
Take a look at this pile of Chinese greatness:
General chicken with fried rice
And if you have what some may call an eating problem like I do, they have great dumplings for only $2.25.
Nothing unique or special. Just a whole lotta good Chinese food for not a lot of cashish. Depending on how poor I am, this can be lunch AND dinner. Gotta cut back somewhere in these harsh economic times. Thankfully, China Chef is there for me.
Stephanie and I went over to the Jolly Pumpkin Cafe & Brewery in Ann Arbor for some locally brewed beer and vegetarian eats. They don’t only offer vegetarian menu items, but I’ve been trying to up my veggie intake. Jolly Pumpkin is a brewery in Dexter, MI that produces unfiltered and unpasteurized beers that maintain a rustic, country style. Their beers are aged in wine bottles that creates a unique, earthy taste. They recently decided to open up a cafe/restaurant on Main St. Unfortunately, we went on opening day and they had not yet obtained their liquor license. No beer for us. Single tear.
We began the meal with a cashew, corn soup. Fantastic. I’ve never had a soup that featured cashews, but this was very good. Kind of a corn chowder with a hint of cashew. I apologize for the terrible quality of the picture. Just seconds before taking this picture, Stephanie spilled her entire beverage across the table and onto my lap.
Cashew and corn soup
I decided to go with the Green and White Pizza, which was a homemade sourdough bread topped with Ricotta cheese, preserved lemon, roasted garlic, arugula, and spinach. I was worried about the large amount of greens and bread, and the lack of cheese. This wasn’t the kind of pizza that I’m used to. The problem turned to be the strong taste of the lemon peel. It was hard to taste many flavors besides the lemon, which led me to remove them all together. Once the peels were gone, this was a pretty good pizza. Not great, but good. I would be hesitant to order this again because of the strong citrus taste.
Green and white pizza
Stephanie ordered the crushed Smashed Chickpea Panini, which consists of a crushed chick pea salad with cucumber yogurt dressing, grilled eggplant, and arugula on rustic Italian bread. I can honestly say, even without the presence of any bacon or pork product, this was one of the most delicious sandwiches I have ever eaten. The chickpea salad was a little spicy and the grilled eggplant nicely replaced any meat that could have been added. It almost resembled a chili verde.
Smashed chickpea sandwichSmashed chickpea sandwichSharing is caring
Solid food and the beer is outstanding. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the beer with the food but the visit was worthwhile. I would definitely recommend that you give this place a try.
A new sandwich shop, West Coast Sandwiches & Grill, opened up down on Cross st. in Ypsi so I had to go let them know who runs the food blogging circuit in this area. The owner greeted me on my way in and spoke for a few minutes about his business and food prep. He stressed that all their meat is purchased daily and marinated on site. It’s always nice to see an actual sandwich shop open up and take on Subway, which slangs compete crap on bread. West Coast Sandwiches has four categories of sandwiches, chicken subs, steak subs, cold cuts, and seafood, and all sandwiches come in your choice of a pita or toasted bread(for real toasted, not that Subway imitation toast bullshit). They keep it simple but have a lot of interesting touches to their menu items. Many of the sandwiches contain potato sticks, which are similar to little dried french fries. They add an interesting touch. The seafood section of the menu includes tuna, shrimp, wild caught salmon, and a crab mixture that makes up the seafood sub. All the guys in there are friendly as hell and will hook your sandwich up the way you want it. Every sandwich is under $5.00, and you can get some great sides such as potato salad, hommous, breaded mushrooms, and zucchini stix.
My first visit, which is documented here, consisted of a delicious buffalo chicken sub with marinated chicken breast, Frank’s red hot, potato sticks, and ranch. I was a little disappointed with the size, but the chicken breast in this thing is incredible. The potato sticks are a nice touch, and the Frank’s is delicious as always. Not an amazing sandwich, but very good. I actually went back the next night and got the exact same thing, but asked the guy to load it up and add some cheese. He obliged and I got a MUCH bigger sandwich than this one. Don’t judge. Go and pay these guys a visit if you live in the area.
West Coast Sandwiches & Grill
505 W. Cross St.
Ypsilanti, MI
