Phoenix Restaurant

I went to Phoenix Restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown today for dim sum. Bottom line: HIGHLY DISAPPOINTING.

I've been there for dinner before. The food was wonderful, and so was the service. I've never done dim sum there before, and at this point, I never will. It is just not worth it.

First of all, we probably arrived at the wrong time. Got there around 11:30 am, and there's a long wait. Typically, this means that it is good. We certainly had high expectation because the place was recommended by someone. So we didn't mind waiting. After all, it was Sunday, and it is around Noon. A restaurant in Chinatown that isn't packed at that time isn't worth going to. So we got our number, and was told it will be about 40 minutes. Fine. We went walking around Chinatown a bit to pass the time.

When our number was called, we were all excited (and hungry). The restaurant is on the 2nd floor, so we walked up. Guess what? There's ANOTHER waiting area! This makes no sense. If they have called us, shouldn't they have made sure a table is ready? But no, this is like a Disney attraction. There's another waiting/holding area, which is in an even less convenient location than the one downstairs. We, and everyone else in this area felt like we are always in the way of everyone else, especially the staff, that have to go though this area. OK, so far it sucks. But still, if it is this busy, the place must be good, right?

We waiting another 15 minutes before our number was called again and we finally get to sit at our table. This is when things really become disappointing.

The food was SCARCE! There were very few dim sum carts going around! Some of them even missed us because the persons pushing the carts were busy either yapping away or simply didn't look at our table, and we were next to an aisle! But the disappointing part is the very, VERY limited selection of dumplings and offerings. The chicken feet cart came by at least 3 times, but where were the shumai? The shrimp dumplings? I'd be surprised if we saw more than 15 different offerings.

I've been to many dim sums before. The one I like the most is on Broadway near the New Chinatown near Argyle street - Furama. Now THAT'S a place to have dim sum. Again, it is crowded, and sometime you get the cart pusher that can't speak English. But that's never a problem. The selection of dumplings is always plentiful.

What was disappointing about Phoenix was that, I expected more. One would think that with the large crowd and long wait, there's something remarkable about it. Not only did not it fill that expectation, it also produced significantly LESS than what I expected to be the norm for a dim sum place.

I will not go back there for dim sum. It has also soured me a little bit on going back there for regular dinners, even though I had good food and service there last time. The whole experience simply made me want to go back to Furama next week for good dim sum.

Zz.

Stinky Passenger Kicked Off Flight

A passenger on Jazz Air was kicked off the plane for having a really bad body odor.

A man on Jazz Air, a regional airline in Canada that also serves U.S. cities, was reportedly kicked off a plane earlier this month because of his strong body odor.

"People were just mumbling and staring at him," said a woman who sat near the man, according to The Guardian, a newspaper in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where the flight originated on February 6. It was a very uncomfortable situation, she added.

Another passenger described the smell as "brutal."

Just imagine if you have to sit right next to him!

One really has to smell really, really, BAD to get kicked off a plane. I'm surprised he didn't get stopped while going through security! What? We don't have odor detectors? What do you call those damn police dogs? Oh, I get it, those dogs ran the other way when this guy walked through security.

Smart dogs!

Zz.

Smoke Level At California's Indian Casinos

An undercover investigation and research from Stanford.

Synopsis: Smoke levels at California's Indian casinos can exceed health benchmark levels during peak attendance hours and many non-smoking areas offer incomplete protection, a Stanford study finds.



And you thought only TV news do undercover investigation! :)

Zz.