Long delay

I apologize for any folks who might be reading this but I've relocated from Tallahassee. What does that mean? Well first, Tallahassee Fried Rice will not be getting any updates from me....at least not likely anytime soon. It also means that I'm looking for someone to take over this blog. If you're in Tallahassee and you're interested in continuing the blog, please contact me and we'll see what we can do to get it switched over to you. EMAIL REDACTED

Happy Wok

Name: Happy Wok
3813 North Monroe Street #17
Tallahassee, FL 32303

Telephone :

Price: ????

Rice: Brown

Style: Chinese/Thai

Description: Happy Wok used to be the Rice Bowl and has always had a good selection of both Chinese and Thai fare. They used to be a much fancier sit-down restaurant but have scaled back in recent years to primarily to cater to the take out crowd north of I-10. They didn't have vegetable fried rice on the menu but after questioning the server, he was able to provide it. The meal came with lots of vegetable, unfortunately, it wasn't very good. It contained zucchini, mushrooms, water chestnuts, snow pea pods, peas, carrots, broccoli, onion, mini-corn and cabbage. I don't want this review to detract people from going to Happy Wok however, because the other food - the dumplings and the Chicken Larb were both really good!


Fortune: They are never alone who are accompanied by noble thought. (This was a Golden Bowl® Fortune Cookie - Wonton Food Inc Brooklyn NY) (My girlfriend's cookie was much better - her's said "Take a vacation, you will have unexpected gains" She didn't have quite the same opinion of her cooking being all that great.)

Overall: 2

New China Restaurant

Name: New China Restaurant
Unit 13 Old Bainbridge Square
1000 West Tharpe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32303

Telephone : (850) 385-5445
http://newchinafl.com/

Price: $3.50

Rice: Yellow

Style: Chinese

Description: The sign on the wall should have been a warning. It said "If you like our food, please tell your friends. If you don't, then remember, silence is golden." Actually I kind anticipated the place would be rather bland and I was right. The rice was nothing special. Had the usual frozen carrots and peas, barely cooked broccoli, mushrooms, onions and what I'm guessing was cabbage. I also got some teriyaki steak and while it was a heaping amount for relatively little money it was quite chewy, about what I'd expect from a fast food chinese place.


Fortune: Golden investment opportunities are arising. (This was a Golden Bowl® Fortune Cookie - Wonton Food Inc Brooklyn NY)

Overall: 2

Name: Emerald Garden
2910 Kerry Forrest Parkway
Suite A-4
Tallahassee, FL 32309

Telephone : (850) 894-3229
http://emeraldgardenonline.com/

Price: $3.95

Rice: Yellow

Style: Chinese

Description: Never go to a chinese place when nobody else is there and the cooks are eating. They had some amazing looking food that wasn't on the menu, of course. Anyway, I went with the girlfriend and had some veggie fried rice and steamed dumplings (because earlier we had watched Anthony Bourdain in China eating some awesome looking dumplings). The rice was nothing special. I think I'm getting more critical as I go along. This could have been a 2 or 3. It had both frozen carrot cubes and sliced carrots, frozen peas, bamboo, water chestnuts, snow peas, broccoli and cabbage.


Fortune: Time is money. (Another Hunsty fortune cookie with no real fortune only a proverb.)

Overall: 2

Name: Golden Dragon
1964 W Tennessee St # 19
Tallahassee, FL 32303

Telephone : (850) 575-8868

Price: $5.75 (hot wings with veggie fried rice)

Rice: Yellow

Style: Chinese

Description: I'm still trying to get veggie fried rice but also order some meat. This time I got the Hot Wings with veggie fried rice. This appears mostly to be a takeout joint though they do have some booths to sit in. My biggest blog fan and I decided to hit this joint together. She had veggie lo mein (I believe). The rice wasn't that good (and neither were the wings for that matter, they were undercooked and greasy). The rice had the typical broccoli, onions, frozen carrots and peas and some mushrooms. It was nothing to write home about and actually not very good.


Fortune:

Overall: 2

Name: Zheng's Chinese
1350 East Tennessee Street Ste. C1b
Tallahassee, FL 32308

Telephone : (850) 942-9990

Price: $3.99 (for the fried rice)

Rice: Yellow

Style: Chinese

Description: This is almost exclusively a takeout joint though they did have a few tables that myself and my friend Lindsay sat at. They had kids playing all around and our server carried a little baby as a backpack. I ordered a pint of veggie fried rice and some fantail shrimp. The rice was alright, nothing special. It came with onions, broccoli, mini-corn, snow peas, carrots, cabbage and sprouts. The carrots were noticeably not the pre-cut frozen kind though overall the vegetables didn't seem especially fresh.


Fortune: Had to ask for it as I was leaving, but haven't opened it yet. EDIT: "You will attend an unusual party and meet someone important"

Overall: 3

Name: Ocean Garden
2814 Apalachee Pkwy
Tallahassee FL 32301
http://www.oceanseafoodtally.com/

Telephone : 850-877-5888

Price: $5.95 (for the fried rice)

Rice: Yellow

Style: Chinese

Description: I did not get the buffet here because it seemed expensive and I wasn't in the mood to eat a lot of food. I did order some vegetable fried rice, spring rolls and an ice tea. The rolls were decent but the ice tea was very dry. Not sure how else to describe it. This place used to be named China Garden but has obviously undergone a renovation recently to focus on seafood.
They only had one size of fried rice, probably a quart since it seemed like more than a pint but since it was served on a plate, I'm really not sure. The fried rice was better than expected. It had mushrooms, broccoli, bok choy, peas, carrots, onions and scallions in it. It wasn't anything to rave about but not bad either.


Fortune: None.

Overall: 3

Name: Sumo Sabi
2020 Pensacola Street
Tallahassee, FL 32304
http://www.sumosabisushi.com

Telephone : 850) 222-5550

Price:

Rice: White

Style: Japanese.

Description: This was a Japanese sushi restaurant. They didn't have a vegetable fried rice entree so instead I got Volcano Tofu on fried rice. The rice had a very distinctive flavor. Not bad or good but I couldn't quite place it. It came with egg, carrots and peas. The rice was sticky and worked well with chopsticks. The meal overall was good though the fried rice was nothing exceptional.


Fortune: None.

Overall: 3

Empire Chinese Restaurant

Name: Empire Chinese Restaurant
1700 N Monroe St # 12
Tallahassee, FL 32303

Telephone : 850) 222-5550

Price: $7.05 (quart with shrimp eggroll)

Rice: White

Style: Chinese.

Description: This is a first for me and this blog, in that I'm live blogging or writing this as I'm eating. I had been avoiding this restaurant because, though I've eaten here many times before, I knew it was particularly nothing special and have been wanting to try other places. I go here quite often because it's right by the Publix that I shop at and, as it were, I had to pick up a few things at Publix, so I figured I'd go ahead and get the review of this establishment out of the way. I often like to kill two birds with one stone and get things done in pairs (like shopping and getting lunch). I guess it's a hold over from the days of $4 gasoline.
The rice has cabbage, broccoli, cubed carrots and peas, water chestnuts, mushrooms and baby corn. While deep in variety the tastes is rather bland.


Fortune: Keep your plans secret for now. (HUNSTY cherries brand)

Overall: 2

Bamboo House Chinese Restaurant

Name: Bamboo House Chinese Restaurant
112 East 6th Avenue
Tallahassee, FL 32303-6129

Telephone : (850) 224-9099

Price: $9.00 (buffet with drink)

Rice: White

Style: Chinese.

Description: My friend Lindsay and I went to lunch (I owed her for buying me ice cream the other night). This place was a real restaurant! Not a Chinese take out joint. Being such, they had a buffet lunch which I decided to partake in. The buffet is very vegetarian friendly (I'm not a vegetarian, I just play one on the Internet(s)). They had lots of yummy tofu dishes and a really good veggie eggroll. I also had some fruit, Chinese donut and miso soup.
While I didn't have veggie fried rice, they obviously had plain fried rice. The fried rice was exactly that: plain. No veggies though it did have egg in it and a slight browning. Overall, unimpressive and fairly bland so I mostly ate the other yummy dishes this place had to offer. Please don't construe my 2 rating below with the overall quality of the restaurant. Most of the food was very good, but the rice was for the most part disappointing. I may also be getting more critical and I get a bit sick of eating fried rice so often. Maybe I need to break for a week or two and eat other things.



Fortune: "You will be called upon to help a friend. Answer it." Wow! An actual fortune. Most fortune cookies contain old Chinese proverbs or more recent renditions of wisdom. This one contains an actual predictive element. I probably need to start paying attention to who manufactures what kind of fortune cookies.

Overall: 2

Eastern Chinese Restaurant

Name: Eastern Chinese Restaurant
6615 Mahan Dr # 108
Tallahassee, FL

Telephone : (850) 942-3777

Price: $6.72 (with shrimp egg roll and iced tea)

Rice: Yellow.

Style: Chinese.

Description: I went out this place far off Mahan right near the I-10 exit. Technically, I think it's outside Tallahassee, but they have a Tallahassee address and this might be useful to anybody coming to Tallahassee from I-10. The rice was pleasantly served on a real plate, not a disposable one. It was light and fresh and almost seemed like just a plate of mixed veggies and rice. You could hardly tell it was "fried." There was a good mix of vegetables but it was hard to make the distinction between whether they were frozen or fresh. It had the standard cube carrots and peas but also a good helping of mushrooms, broccoli, thin strips of bamboo, lettuce, onions, and snow peas. Overall quite good but nothing to rave about.

Fortune: Damn it! They had a bowl of fortune cookies on the counter and I forgot to get one!

Overall: 3

Hong Kong II

Name: Hong Kong II
www.hongkong2restaurant.com
2525 S. Monroe St. #26
Tallahassee, FL 32301

Telephone : (850)877-9930

Price: $4.25

Rice: Yellow.

Style: Chinese.

Description: Pretty standard fare. You ever realize how interesting it is that despite the fact they are independently owned and operated, many Chinese take out places are almost cookie cutter. It's like they are franchises but they aren't. The menus are all printed by the same company, they look similar inside, the only difference is the quality of the food. When you eat at a chain, that familiarity of being a Pizza Hut gives you a signal about what you're going to eat. However, at Chinese fast food, they all are eerily familiar, yet the food can be vastly different in quality.
My pint of fried rice came with broccoli, carrots, peas, onion and mini corn. Nothing exciting, rather bland but not bad. Because I was short on cash, I brought my own drink from home and since I didn't want to be tacky I got my food to go. Speaking of being short on cash, as an unemployed food critic (looking for a day job as a programmer/lawyer/privacy activist), I have to ask: if you find this blog interesting, entertaining, informative or otherwise, please consider donating the cost of one meal.

Fortune: "The only way to have a friend is be one." I actually got two fortune cookies because they didn't give me one at first and when I asked he threw two in my bag. I haven't opened the second one yet.

Overall: 2 (originally written as a 3 but downgraded upon further reflection)

Zhengs
1350 East Tennessee Street Ste. C1b
Tallahassee, FL 32308

1 Fresh Stirfry
(850) 422-2111 1820 N Monroe St

1 Fresh Stirfry
(850) 580-2111 1176 Capital Cir SE

Asian Cafe
(850) 580-5400 444 Appleyard Dr

Bamboo House Chinese Rest
(850) 224-9099 112 E 6th Ave

Bamboo Wok
(850) 656-6686 101 N Blairstone Rd # 103

Canton Restaurant
(850) 574-6080 2624 W Tennessee St # D

China Delight
(850) 222-8898 220 W Tennessee St

China Dragon
(850) 219-8899 1717 Apalachee Pkwy

China First
(850) 656-2882 400 Capital Cir SE # 23

China King
(850) 514-3688 3840 N Monroe St

China Super Buffet
(850) 553-9292 2698 N Monroe St

Eastern Chinese Restaurant
(850) 942-3777 6615 Mahan Dr # 108

Emerald Garden
(850) 894-3229 2910 Kerry Forest Pkwy # A4

Empire Chinese Restaurant
(850) 222-5550 1700 N Monroe St # 12

Fareast Cuisine # 17
(850) 907-9400 3425 Thomasville Rd # 17

Golden Dragon
(850) 575-8868 1964 W Tennessee St # 19

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
(850) 894-4136 1400 Village Square Blvd # 14

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
(850) 576-4884 4220 W Tennessee St

Hong Kong
(850) 877-9930 2525 S Monroe St # 26

Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant
(850) 877-6652 1214 Capital Cir SE # C

Hong Kong Restaurant
(850) 562-2300 5810 N Monroe St # 208

King Buffet
(850) 216-2188 2814 Apalachee Pkwy

King House
(850) 893-6969 3491 Thomasville Rd # 12

Manchu Wok (Tallahassee Mall)
(850) 385-1417 2415 N Monroe St # Fc6

Mihao Chinese Restaurant
(850) 878-6668 6668 Thomasville Rd

Ming Tree Chinese Restaurant
(850) 878-1779 1435 E Lafayette St

New China Restaurant
(850) 385-5445 1000 W Tharpe St # 13

No 1 Chinese Restaurant
(850) 574-5008 1434 Capital Cir NW

North China Gourmet
(850) 561-8889 1415 Timberlane Rd # 405

Peking Garden
(850) 656-1963 3111 Mahan Dr # 89

T F's Wok
(850) 893-5336 4500 W Shannon Lakes Dr # 10

Tan's Asian Cafe
(850) 523-4282 2743 Capital Cir NE # 110

Edit: I'm striking through these as I go there.

Samurai Express

Name: Samurai Expres
www.samuraiexpress.com
3111 Mahan Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32308-5511

(850) 877-2904

Price: $6.13 with an ice tea.

Rice: white.

Style: Japanese.

Description: They don't have a "vegetable fried rice" option at Samurai, just a veggie bowl with fried rice, which is close enough for government work so I went with that. The bowl is full of great stir fried fresh veggies including cabbage, broccoli, mushrooms, onions and zucchini. The actually rice, additionally, contains peas and carrots. The vegetables are fresh and light, not overly cooked or greasy. They also include a side of YumYum sauce, which is a mayonnaise based sauce that is great for dipping the veggies in (or pouring over the whole concoction if you feel so inclined.)

Fortune: Samurai does not give fortune cookies with their meal.

Overall: I'm tempted to give it a 5 because it was so good, but I still need to compare that to Yum's so I'll stick with a 4 strictly on the quality of the rice.

Starting an adventure

For the last month or so I've been obsessed with fried rice. This was ever since I had the delicious experience of eating some fried rice at Yum's Chinese Restaurant in Lake City, FL. Until eating some of their plain fried rice I couldn't even remember how good fried rice could be. It was simply scrumptious.

Anyway, fast forward to today when I'm deciding to embark on a journey to sample every fried rice dish in Tallahassee (where I currently reside). While the ultimate goal is to find something comparable to Yum's, a side goal is simply to provide a worthwhile guide to fried rice in the Tallahassee area. In doing so, maybe I'll help others looking for a good food experience.

Embarking on this journey, I will use the following system:

1. I will order a pint of vegetable fried rice. I'm currently on a no meat kick and I think vegetable fried rice will give a nice simple way to compare all the various restaurants.
   
2. I will post a list of ingredients, mostly which vegetables I find in the rice along with whether it contained egg.
3. I will also try to describe the rice. Some restaurants use brown rice, some white and some yellow rice.
   
4. I will rate the fried rice on a scale of 1 to 5. 5 being comparable to Yum's, and 1 being comparable to what I would make at home. LOL. I will also do my best to write a decent description of the rice overall, whether it was greasy, etc.
   
5. A part of an inside joke with my friend Kelly, I'll also be posting my fortune, should I get one with the rice. It's up to individual readers to determine if the fortune affects the quality of the fried rice being served, I will just provide it with no comment.

My first goal should be probably to compile a list of restaurants in Tallahassee that serve fried rice. No easy task since not all restaurants have menus online. I also aim to try at least one serving a week in order to finish this in a reasonable time. I'm off right now to go to Samurai Express which has some decent food but I've never really paid enough attention to the rice to qualify it.

www.samuraiexpress.com

3111 Mahan Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32308-5511
(850) 877-2904

That's another thing. I should probably post addresses and phone number along with web addresses of the places I visit.

My review of Samurai will be forthcoming. Hold onto your hats, your breath and anything else.