Thursday, March 3, 2011

Rice Cooker

2436 Lake Circle Dr
Indianapolis IN 46268

I felt like I was cheating on a girlfriend in going to another Chinese restaurant not named Yen Ching. Rice Cooker just opened recently near 86th and Townshipline Rd. Their other location is in Zionsville. I had heard great things about that one so I floated the idea out to my coworkers to try during lunch. Around 1pm on a Friday, we were the only ones in there. The decor is pretty plain and they were playing Michael Buble instead of traditional Chinese restaurant music. I love me some Buble.


Upon arrival we were greeted by the owner. He was very friendly as was our waitress (his wife?). They were always asking how our food was and they were very prompt with refilling our drinks. Because I love Yen Ching so much and have always been overly satisfied with their lunch service, all other Chinese restaurants compared to Yen Ching. The Rice Cooker scored a point with the fried wontons and two types of sauce (Chinese mustard and chili sauce) brought to us when we sat down. The wontons reminded me of Chinese tortilla chips. The wontons at YC are cut like noodles, whereas these are more square. We didn't even have to request them. Rice Cooker also offers a lunch special consisting of soup, entree, fried rice, and a fortune cookie. I of course got the Hot and Sour Soup. This was a nice preview of the rest of the meal. The soup was served VERY hot, temperature wise, not spice wise. I burned my tongue right away. Once I let the soup cool off, I was able to enjoy it. The thing I liked about this soup was the abundance of meat in there. You are lucky to find more than one piece of meat in Yen Ching's soup, not so with RC's. There was more egg and less vegetables in RC's version as well. The consistency was more thick and it had a flavor I really couldn't put my finger on. It wasn't bad, it was just different. I ordered General Tso's for my entree. Once again, it was REALLY hot temperature wise. If you burn your mouth, its your own fault. I tried to warn you. As for the flavor, I requested mine be prepared spicy hot. They were spot on with this as there was heat, but it wasn't like eating a Blazin' wing from BW's. There was just something missing flavor-wise. The sauce wasn't that thick and there were actually veggies in the sauce. I really enjoyed how they add veggies, point RC on that account.  Also scored HUGE points on the chicken. It was white meat chicken that had a very light coat of breading, this made me feel like I was eating somewhat more healthy in that it wasn't mostly breading. The fried rice was good, but YC wins in that category. The fried rice was heavy on the eggs, which is fine, but the taste reminded me of Panda Express fried rice. 

I will definitely go back again and be sure to try something different. YC wins the overall price category as it is about $3 cheaper, but RC kept me satisfied. The staff was so friendly (maybe it will get to the point where they know me by name too).  It is nice to know that I have another option for Chinese close to work and my parent's house. 

 

“With coarse rice to EAt, with water to drink, and my bent arm for a pillow -- I have still joy in the midst of all these things.” -Confucius

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