Happy Chinese New Year!

In honor of Chinese New Years I thought a quick post would be appropriate. The Yardley's have always been connoissuers of great Chinese food, even though the small Nevada town where I grew up had very little to offer in terms of Asian cuisine (we had a lot of Basque restaurants where I grew up, if you believe it). I remember many Friday nights driving down to our little Chinese restaurant and grabbing a few cartons of ham fried rice, chow mein, sweet and sour chicken, and sesame chicken. Those were our staples; we very rarely branched out.

Today my love for Chinese food remains; whether it's the fairly "Americanized" cuisine of Pei Wei and PF Changs, or the more adventurous and nostalgic "hole in the wall" Chinese eateries like those from my childhood ("authentic" may be a more appropriate adjective).

Anyway, please enjoy a few of my favorite dishes. May these pictures inspire you to celebrate this Asian holiday at your favorite Chinese restaurant.

Crispy Spicy Beef 

Cafe Zen, Baltimore, MD

Honey Seared Chicken

PF Changs, Hoboken, NJ

Ham fried rice

Anywhere 

Johnny Kolache

Kolache- A sweet bun originating in Central Europe made from yeasted dough and usually having a fruit or poppy seed filling.  This week an office friend brought in a grip load of little pastries called Kolache. There's a place in Salt Lake City called Johnny Kolache that specializes in these tasty little guys. Typically Kolache are filled with sweet ingredients, but the ones that we had were of the breakfast variety. They had bacon, sausage, eggs, cheese, ham, jalapeño all stuffed inside of them. It was like eating a really delicious, not at all frozen-tasting, heavenly Hot Pocket. It was one of the most delicious breakfast items I've had in a while.

Johnny Kolache

248 West 9th South                                                                Salt Lake City, UT 84101-2941

Before....After

OWNED!

You deserve to eat this...