When you're new in town, and especially a town that is radically different from any place you've ever lived before, finding familiar comfort foods becomes a fixation. At least that's been my experience. A native of Chicago, I also lived in the Pacific Northwest for 12 years before my husband's job brought us to South Reno, Nevada.
I'm a creature of habit. So it seemed that just when I really got into eating salmon (but never on pizza!) and just when I understood all the jokes on the Seattle-based TV comedy show "Almost Live" — and just when I'd learned to prounounce tricky location names such as Puyallup, Cle Elum, Enumclaw and Federal Way (Seattleites say it like "FED-ral Way"), I was shot out of a cannon into the Comstock. Growing up, the only Comstock I knew was the label on a can of pie filling. I'm serious.
Anyway, flipping through photo albums, I spotted a picture of a favorite take-out spot in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Illinois. The marvelous, unpretentious, and sadly, now-defunct Downers Grove Chop Suey. I used to be a regular there. So much so, that the girl who worked the counter, probably the owners' daughter, would scoff, "You're here again? Why do you always order the same things?" Ambiance and attitude were lacking but the place had great food. Cheap, unassuming, old-school Chinese take-out items like Chop Suey, Chow Mein and Egg Foo Yung.
I know what you may be thinking, as does everyone who lives west of the Rockies. "That's not Chinese food! That's American Chinese food." A snooty restaurant critic in Seattle, whom I contacted for tips on where to go for good Chop Suey, went a step further, admonishing me, "It sounds like you're looking for the kind of food that I try to avoid like the plague." Well, you know, I grew up enjoying this kind of food, for which I won't apologize. I like what I like. I'm not one to jump onto food trends and run to certain restaurants because they're "the place to be seen."
So what's a girl with a craving for unsophisticated, Midwesterner-friendly Chinese food to do in a place like South Reno? My first Chinese dining experiment in the area turned out to be pretty lucky.
CaiE's Oriental Cafe (yes, that is the correct spelling) in the Smith's Shopping Center at 770 S. Meadows Parkway #101, Reno does not offer Chop Suey or Chow Mein as I knew it in my youth. Chow Mein in the West is what we'd have called Lo Mein in the Midwest. But CaiE's serves an excellent Chow Fun dish in Vegetable, Beef, Chicken, Pork or House (mixed) varieties, with wide rice noodles and scallions, in the $7.75-9.75 range, depending on your choice of ingredients.
The Kung Pao Shrimp ($11.50) at CaiE's is another standout dish, with a sauce that is not overly spicy and good amounts of tender shrimp, crisp celery, peanuts and hot peppers. It's always been a pet peeve when a dish entitled Something-or-Other Chicken or Shrimp is strangely devoid of chicken or shrimp.
Though we've never "dined-in" at CaiE's, the place is clean, quiet and modestly decorated. Service, at the take-out counter, is quick and friendly. They also offer Dim Sum, lunch specials including Sweet and Sour and Mongolian options, beer and wine, as well as tea and fountain drinks, etc. For more information, call (775) 853-9668 or visit http://www.caiesorientalcafe.com/
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