Hoping for good; settling for edible: #2 China Yi Wang

For today's adventure I found myself having to travel all the way to the intersection of Eastern and Burton. It turned out that many of the places I thought were restaurants were actually hair salons or churches.

China Yi Wang

Address: 1947
Style of food: Chinese
Travel method: car
Food ordered: Hunan Chicken with fried rice
Cost: $4.50 OTD
Would I eat it again?: No
Did my dog eat it?: N/A
Health inspections: Check
After effects?: Yes

China Yi Wang is one of the places that inspired this blog. I had never seen it before that one walk a few weeks ago. Then, as now, when I walked past I saw a mostly empty restaurant. The tables and chairs seemed to be merely decorative. This is really a take-out only kind of place; a big open room with a giant menu board, and a few cafeteria style tables to sit it while you questioned your choice of food.



At first I imagined that the name of the restaurant means "impressive chinese package", but it turns out the restaurant is named after a Hong Kong grad student who likes to wears skin tight track suits.


The real Yi Wang

I ordered my usual choice of whatever "main spicy chicken dish", usually implemented as Kung Pao, Szechuan or Hunan. Hunan was the variation in this case.

The cooks impressively fired up the stove and began cooking the food. It looked like a blacksmith furnace. Bright flames shot out of gas jets onto giant blackened woks.



The food was served in a cheerful bag by the slightly less cheerful cook. The only other customers were two bored girls who asked the price of a pop, and then decided against the purchase.



Inside the cheerful bag was a silver dish of some very good looking food.




The chicken meat was white and tender. The vegetables weren't too overcooked. With the first bite I was beginning to enjoy it, but the flavor of the sauce became annoying. Then it began to taste bitter and greasy. Then I saw what was on my fork.



That same stuff was coating my mouth and teeth.

For having made it through the food, I was awarded with a decent tasting fortune cookie. Inside it read "You have a friendly heart and are well admired". True it may be, but my heart wouldn't be friendly or alive long if I ate this food very often.

Eastern Avenue Lunch Adventure #1: Black Castle

I work a short distance from Eastern Avenue on Wealthy. One day while walking down Eastern to Real Food Cafe, I noticed how many small restaurants there are on Eastern that I've never been to. So I decided to make it a goal to try each place on Eastern, starting south from Wealthy.

The only rules would be that it is an actual restaurant, and if it's a chain, it would have to be a chain that I've never been to.

Each Monday I will travel from my workplace at lunch going a little farther south each day. I started out by walking. Eventually biking, buses, and cars will also be used. I'll try to give a detailed enough description of the establishment to help you decide if it's a place you'd like to check out yourself.

I will often try to be humorous, often at the expense of the business, but I am not trying to be a restaurant critic. I want to bring to light some interesting places that people may not know about, and at the same time give you a feel for what it would be like there, good and bad. I think most restaurants have their positive attributes, even if they may occasionally make you sick.

So, let's begin with our first stop on the adventure.

Black Castle



Street Number: 547
Style of food: Hamburgers
Travel method: walking
Food ordered: 3 Castles w/cheese
Cost: $4.50 OTD
Would I eat it again?: Yes
Did my dog eat it?: Yes
Health inspections: Check

Black Castle is a place I've often seen heading down Eastern, since it's only a couple blocks south of Wealthy. You'll notice two things before you enter. The sign for tax preparations, and the "99¢" burgers. Once you enter, you'll seen no evidence of anything that looks like a tax preparer, and looking at the menu you'll see that burgers are now $1.25. Inflation has even breached the ramparts of the castle.

On the wall to your right is an impressive mural in honor of the hamburger. In the far corner is a spiritual painting of 2 Pac, in a most velvet Elvis/Jesus style. I could almost believe he died for our sins.

Behind the counter you'll usually find a cheerful person taking your order. I get the impression, from my two visits, that it is staffed by family or friends of the owners. The first time there the young girl behind the counter ran down the street to get change for my $5 bill, while grandma watched the kids in the tax-preparation area.

Even though there seems to be room for tables, all you'll find are chairs lined up against the wall for sitting and waiting. This is definitely a get them and go kind of place.

This time I decided to go for 3 Castles with cheese. I've had the fries. I know they're good, but I wanted to try the burgers again to disprove a certain experience from my first visit. More about that later.

Two more patrons arrive while I wait. One of them places his order, and then heads down to the corner store to bring back a beverage for his meal. No over-priced combo for him.



The food arrives quickly, and well presented in a fresh, nondescript paper bag. By the time I get back to the office, just a little bit of grease is starting to show through.

Inside the bag, I find three neatly wrapper sliders. The smell of the special seasoning begins to fill the air.

For some reason they apply some abnormal amount of manual pressure to the burgers. Personally I like to squish my burger myself. Squeezing it down into the easiest to bite form is one of life's little pleasures. But maybe this is just the Castle's way of trying to save time for their customers.



Inside the burger I see the perfect assortment of ingredients. The only other toppings I might add to a burger would be bacon or olives. In most cases, though, this is all I want from my steamed ham.

The cheese has that perfect processed cheese texture and meltiness that I prefer. The patties are clearly hand made, and not stamped out cookie cutter style. They're also very thin, which allows the grill flavor to thoroughly permeate the meat. As I chew my first bite I can taste a hint of onion powder and worcestershire.



I give a little piece to my dog, and based on her whining during the rest of the meal she either really liked it, or she just had to pee.

12 hours after lunch, I'm still satisfied. There was a bit of time spent on the toilet, but it could just be due to eating three greasy burgers. It didn't seem like a serious case of food poisoning.

If you want to try it out, I would recommend just getting the smallest combo they have. Their fries are pretty good, but you might not want to risk eating too much ground beef.