Familiar flavors, at last!

I love Chinese food, but I’ve been deprived of the familiar flavors of the style served up in Chicago ever since I moved to the desert. I’m still not clear what style that it is, I was led to believe it was Cantonese, but when trying Cantonese style restaurants in Vegas, I was disappointed when the dishes varied from those I was accustomed to. I’ve tried everything from the authentic-chickens hanging from the ceiling-hole in the wall place in Chinatown to the trendy Americanized P.F. Changs, to the high-end Shanghai Lily inside Mandalay Bay. And another dozen places or so places in between, none have satisfied my craving. I’ve had to rely on visits back to Chicago to fill the void. That is until I was introduced to the Chinese menu at the Victorian Room inside Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall.

Frank had lunch there a couple weeks ago and he was thoroughly impressed by their offerings. He said the egg roll was actually reminiscent of the kind we’d find back in Chicago, instead of the common spring roll. See, to us spring rolls and egg rolls are two different beasts, but most places seem to think they are one in the same. The egg roll I know and love is filled with ground pork, shrimp, cabbage and other tasty bites. They’re fairly large and filling. The outside is crisp and covered in bubbles. It’s best served with sweet and sour sauce (orange and thick, not red and runny) or Chinese mustard. Spring rolls, on the other hand, are small and filled with veggies. They have a crisp flaky pastry-like wrapper.

Friday night, Frank and I started with won ton soup ($8.99). Fresh and tasty. We split and egg roll, it had shrimp inside it was pretty good, but it still wasn’t up to par ($8.99). He tried the sweet and sour chicken ($19.99), which was decent, but it was laden with the red runny sweet and sour sauce so commonly found. I went with shrimp fried rice ($9.99). The only misstep with this dish is that it was made with peas, otherwise it was served just the way I like it, with dark rice, eggs, bean sprouts and carrots. I was in heaven. The shrimp were large and cooked to perfection. I couldn’t have been happier. I stuffed myself silly trying to consume every morsel. It was that good. The dinner menu is on the pricey side, but the fried rice must be one of the better values. My mouth is already watering at the thought of it, I must get back there soon.