PF Chang's isn't really a restaurant that is written about with great frequency. The last time I read about Chang's was in Time or Newsweek and the article was about how the Americanized-Chinese restaurant chain is weathering the recession. Chang's, for the first time in it's history, implemented a happy hour a couple years ago. It's 3-6pm Monday thru Friday with deals on drinks and food.
When I started going to Chang's there was no such happy hour. It was quite a fancy place to go to on a college student's budget, but it was worth it. Chang's has weathered the storm and has even raised its prices significantly in the last four years, demanding even more loyalty from its customers than in years passed. And, as far as I can tell, people keep coming back.
Chang's is a place where I feel people get one to three regular dishes and don't stray far from those picks, if they do at all. For years now, my picks have been the Salt and Pepper Calamari for an appetizer and Mongolian Beef and Orange Peeled Shrimp for entrees. I rarely indulge in dessert there, but when there's a group big enough to consume the Great Wall of Chocolate we take the plunge.
The first meal out in 2012 was at PF Chang's at Park Meadows in Lone Tree, CO. There aren't really any drastic differences from one of these joints to the next, but at least at Park Meadows you have one of the better views a Chang's could have. The large patio and northwestern-facing windows give the diner a great panorama of the Rockies. I was there for a very early dinner, happy hour really, and I ordered a Mai Tai, a bowl of Hot and Sour Soup, some calamari, and the pan-fried dumplings, which are less healthy than the steamed dumplings, but there's a trade-off. The pan-fried are crispier and just all around more fattening and better tasting. On this occasion, we didn't do dessert.
My aim is to do these reviews or snippets about all the restaurants we eat at in a year in order, but since I have gotten off to a late start, I will say something about another visit to Chang's, just a few days ago. This time we went to the Chang's in Downtown Denver. This location doesn't have the view of Park Meadows, but it's closer to the nightlife, that is, if nightlife for you isn't going to shop at Park Meadows. We tried the prix fixe menu for two at $40. This is also a new addition to the menu as of the recession. Each person gets to pick a soup (between the Hot and Sour or the Egg Drop), then the two of you pick an appetizer, then each an entree (some of them more expensive), and then two mini desserts or you can upgrade to one big dessert for an extra charge. I would recommend upgrading, since Chang's mini desserts are quite the rip-off and just nothing like their big, highly caloric siblings.
You may wonder, why Chang's in the midst of a big city? There are so many other places to eat at and many more Chinese restaurants that are more authentic or even more Americanized. It's true, but like every diner out there, we have our favorite places or guilty pleasures or we just want to eat where we know exactly what we are going to get. That's what Chang's is for this diner. It's not authentic, I know. It's not necessarily healthy and it's definitely not low sodium, but damn, if you know what to get, it's good.
Dined January 6, 2012.
B.
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