You'll find good fortune at these restaurants

By Erin McCalla
fredericksburg.com

There is something simply satisfying in crispy egg rolls dipped in duck sauce, sticky white rice clinging to chop sticks, crisp pea pods and soft bamboo shoots, and, to top it all off, white paper boxes with wire handles dripping with leftover Szechuan. Chinese food...we asked for your favorites and you told us: Formosa and China House tie and take the cake...or fortune cookie.

How did you decide? We're not quite sure. Have your fortunes been more promising at China House? Were your lucky numbers shockingly your childrens' ages at Formosa? Perhaps we should have asked for explanations when it came to the Chinese food category.

I find it hard to believe your choices were based strictly on cuisine quality when Chinese food menus have little to no variation. I mean, fried rice is fried rice, right? And how many spins can you put on sweet and sour?

Maybe it's the prices. I know I get frustrated shoveling out $20 on Chinese for a dinner for two, mostly because I rarely finish the endless leftovers and you know as well as I do the rice will never taste the same the next day. (If anyone knows the secret to rejuvenating the refrigerated, no longer sticky, dry grains of leftover rice, please write in to Fredericksburg.com.)

Don't get me wrong, I like Chinese food. In college, my hall lived on sesame chicken Wednesdays. I think we got a student discount. My point is, I've never had Chinese food I didn't like, and if you fed me lo mein from three places, I'd have a hard time deciphering.

Is it perhaps the ambiance of the restaurants that determined your votes? Both Formosa and China House contain casual dining rooms for their eat-in guests. If you're anything like me, though, you'll have the make and model of the delivery boy's car memorized before you even get a glimpse of the restaurant's decor.

It could always be the coupons. Those who order out know restaurants battle over the best food bargains. Still, even the coupons tend to be the same - free egg rolls when you purchase this much, crab ragoon with an order over this amount, and a pint of general tso's if you spend a fortune.

However decided, we respect your votes and are actually glad to have been tuned in on the best Chinese restaurants because, to be honest, we couldn't have decided. We like it, we eat it, and unless there's a floater in our wonton soup, we'll go back for more.