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Sesame Chicken Around the World
Or at least around St. Louis. If you've ever eaten Chinese food with me, you know I invariably order the same thing: Sesame Chicken. It's the "cashews" of fake American Chinese food, if you will. But not all sesame chicken is created equal. In my quest for the perfect sesame chicken, I've come across various incarnations, some good and some very bad. Here's a quick guide to the various Chinese establishments in the St. Louis area ranked by the tastiness of their sesame chicken:
WonTon King (8116 Olive Blvd. between Skinker and 170):
Definitely the gold standard of St. Louis-area sesame chicken, Wonton King is also invariably empty so it is always easy to get a table (unless there's a private party). Not only is the flavor outstanding, but what really sets this sesame chicken apart from the rest is that it comes with broccoli. There's easily enough food here for 2 people, and it's only $10 or so. If you split it, you've got a tasty and well-balanced dinner for only 5 bucks, and you can't beat that.
The Jade Garden (9499 Olive Road on the other side of 170):
The building (and parking lot) are deceptively small, but Jade garden has two stories of cliched Chinese-restaurant stuff to get you in the mood for so-so sesame chicken. The price also hovers around $9-$10, but in this case the portion is only enough for one person and does not come with any vegetables. Another caveat is that the Garden serves a wide variety of horrific-looking food, including a raw fish (head, scales, and all) baked into a fish-shaped pie as well as cold chicken marinated in vinegar which was so bad and left such a strong aftertaste that David and I were unable to enjoy the rest of our dinner.
Chinese Express (311 Debaliviere Ave. across from Talayna's, next to the Forest Park metrolink station, and minutes from a potential armed robbery):
A favorite of many college students because of its price (half-orders for $3, huge whole-orders for around $6) and its speed (the "Express" part), Chinese Express doesn't offer sesame chicken but does have a similar-tasting Hot Braised Chicken that's just missing the sesame seeds. The flavor is a little off in a way I just can't explain, and they are closed on Sundays, which is invariably the day I want to eat there. Plus, one time I ordered a "full order" and they misinterpreted me as saying I wanted "four orders". And I usually get panhandled on my way to my car.
Joy Luck Chinese Buffet (8030 Manchester Road just west of Hanley):
Normally I am a big fan of Joy Luck, with its deliciously-misspelled all-you-can-eat entrees like "Potto Chichen" (potato chicken) and "Japaness Chichen" (Japanese Chicken), but when it comes to sesame chicken, Joy Luck is sorely lacking in taste. Not only is the sesame chicken red, for some reason, but it has a bizarre bad taste that could be at least partially due to it sitting in a heated bin for hours and hours.
Comments
I know you have no real reason to come out so far, but Hot Wok Cafe in Chesterfield (right near where I work on South Outer 40 Road) has some of the best Chinese food I've ever tasted, plus it's cheap — about $5.75 (including tax) for lunch entree, fried wonton, crab Rangoon, fried rice and choice of soup. And if you do end up at Hot Wok for some reason and you want to vary from sesame chicken, I recommend their yellow curry chicken.
Posted by: Rachel at February 11, 2004 5:36 PM
Hunan Star on Manchester has amazing Sesame Chicken. It is by Manchester and 270. It is like my favorite thing in the world.
Posted by: Nathan at February 11, 2004 5:56 PM
Hunan Star no longer exists. It moved to Olive and changed its name to Wonton King. That's how I found it in the first place, since one day we showed up at Hunan Star and it was closed.
Posted by: Chris Hill Festival at February 11, 2004 10:11 PM
Wrong. There were 2 Hunan Stars. The one on Brentwood closed. The other one, out off of Manchester, is still very much alive and well.
Posted by: Nathan at February 13, 2004 1:28 PM
Damn those Chinese restaurants all using the same names! Where on Manchester is this impostor Hunan Star?
Posted by: Chris Hill Festival at February 13, 2004 11:39 PM
Manchester by 270. And it isn't an imposter. It is run by the same people, and it has the same chef.
Posted by: Nathan at February 14, 2004 9:41 AM
Just stumbled upon this blog by accident looking for stuff about Reserve at Forest Park (who today sent a letter to all the people in my building saying we had to move out at the end of our leases -- mine is up in April. How's that for advanced notice?). My favorite Chinese food, and by far the best sesame chicken I've ever had, is Yen Ching on Brentwood across from the Galleria. It looks like a dump from the outside but their sesame chicken can be to die for!
Posted by: Nick at February 19, 2004 7:03 PM
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