F19. Crispy Chicken (or Beef)

This trip was a double trip since I clearly have a long way to go before I make it through this menu. Katie and I decided to get chinese so I had some of hers to get through 2 dishes. So dish number 2 was Crispy Beef. I may go ahead and do Crispy Chicken later but I think, for the purposes of this blog/challenge I will be considering each menu number to be one dish, therefore, by getting Crispy Beef I have also fulfilled Crispy Chicken.

ingredients:

-beef

-carrot

-onion

-green pepper

-sweet chili sauce

description:

Consisting of primarily crunchy, slightly chewy beef, this dish is served with rice. The sauce is a thin sticky, slightly sweet, slightly spicy sauce that just barely coats the thin slices of crispy beef. the beef is very crunchy and has a nice bit of chewiness to it as well.

opinion/review:

I find that there are 2 kinds of crispy beef people in this world, as well as 2 kinds of crispy beef restaurants. Some like it seriously crispy and chewy, while others prefer it to be more like a general tso's chicken consistency. Personally I like the kind that is actually crispy and I've only had this at 2 locations. Happy Uncle in Germantown, and Spring Garden. Despite consisting of almost nothing but these thin slices of spicy crunchy beef, this dish is really a great one. Personally I can't eat it for dinner without something else, but this usually works out because Katie and I will usually split it. They actually almost find a way to turn beef into a desert because sweet is definitely a strong element here. The crunchiness combined with the chewiness of the beef is incredibly addicting, as is the chili taste mixed with so much caramelized sugar that coats the beef strips.

B11. Beef with Black Bean Sauce

This one was sort of a request from my sister. She asked that I get something with black bean sauce and so I did. I had never had the black bean sauce before, it was interesting. Almost a slight taco seasoning flavor to it, along with the beans. Another stir fried dish served over rice, BWBBS didn't disappoint.

ingredients:

-beef

-onion

-snow peas

- water chestnut

-black bean sauce

-bamboo shoots

description:

Similar to most stir fries, the sauce is medium thickness with a slight bite to it. The bean element isn't really all that present but there is definitely something slightly different between this and a standard brown sauce.

opinion/review:

Not great, not bad. Basically this dish is inoffensive but not terribly exciting either. I really do wonder about the origin of the black bean sauce, perhaps I should look into this for the next time I get a black bean sauce dish. But it almost just seems like they add a slight cayenne seasoning and a few black beans to the regular sauce and call it a day. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just doesn't add much. Regardless, it still tasted good. I am certainly starting to feel as though there are really only a few dishes on this menu but with tons and tons of variation. I'll have to really start trying to pick the ones that seem very different.