FWIW i’m not crazy about china tasty, but the noodles (recommended by the waitress) just didn’t do it for me.
but i did read a recent yelp review that knocked a star off a chinese restaurant because they didn’t offer diet coke.
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Yep. I get it. PorkyBelly drove 140 miles r/t to eat a meal. There should be a badge for that.
I’m a home girl. I mostly like cooking it, reading about it and discussing it. When I’m venturing out, I ask my FTC friends where to go. I am getting ready to travel 1,700 miles just to eat some good food (with a little help from my friends). Go big or go home.
[quote=“JThur01, post:40, topic:4606”]
Back in the food blogger heyday, it was mentioned how many bloggers were "Asian "that seemed to lead to a lot of folks knowledgeable in regional Chinese cuisines posting to Yelp
[/quote]I’m slow. Could you clarify? What blogs?
[quote=“JThur01, post:40, topic:4606”]
I saw Yelp reviews complaining that the broth of the beef noodle soup at China Tasty was “bland” “almost flavorless” and that it had no soy sauce or five spice flavor at all. So, they were basing their review of Lanzhou-style beef noodle soup on the flavors of Taiwanese niu rou mian.
[/quote]Yes! This is figuratively speaking. But to me, at one time there may have been a knowledgeable Asian contingent reviewing restaurants. But now it seems to be five “mean girls” who don’t realize how much they cost a business with their careless reviews.
With that said, I do still feel like an outsider on FTC when I try to join a conversation to learn something, and someone responds to me about “niu rou mian”, when I clearly don’t know what it is.
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pretty much every mainstream food blog in the early 2010’s was run by some asian person. Yelp elites were the same (at least in Los Angeles/SF)
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Thanks!
Omg, I heart 
you. I remember that manifesto!
But I’m pretty sure it was post-dial up when I stumbled across the site. I can’t believe it’s from so long ago!
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For Yelp, not seekers of food.
I don’t know much about what people are talking about half the time either, but I don’t care. I like to learn from the masters, even if I sound dumb. And people like being smarter than other people, so we are actually doing a good deed by being so ignorant. 
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cut & paste/google is your friend. it’s what i do when i see an unfamiliar term.
IIRC we started a minor glossary of sorts for the SGV.
for example, all things XLB (xiao long bao) or SJB (shen jian bao or shui jian bao) related including but not limited to:
DSW dean sin world
DTF din tai fung
J&J is not an abbreviation - though i’m not sure if they’re still there anymore.
As with anything food related, YMMV. But, you certainly don’t confuse it or compare it to niu rou mian, do you? They did.
It’s one thing to have a place not be to your taste or liking, that’s quite fair. But, to judge them based on lack of knowledge about the food served - as some Yelp reviewers did - is the epitome of what we’re talking about here,
He’s not the only one. Some do it on a routine, regular basis
Even though it’s been answered, to add to it…I don’t recall where it was online exactly, but there was a very good article c. 2009-2010 that covered the extremely high percentage of Asian food bloggers.
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Oh yeah, that’s what I was referring to. Shame, because at one time there was a lot of useful information to be gleaned from Yelp reviews. It was always hit or miss, but now it’s more like the proverbial needle in a haystack.
[quote=“secretasianman, post:47, topic:4606”]
cut & paste/google is your friend. it’s what i do when i see an unfamiliar term.
[/quote]Thank you. That’s what I normally do. But in this case, a poster was talking (writing) down to me, knowing I didn’t understand. That’s the way I took it anyway. I don’t find condescension cool. Kind of like “Google is your friend.” Although I don’t think you meant it that way. I don’t think 
.
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[quote=“Bookwich, post:46, topic:4606”]
I don’t know much about what people are talking about half the time either, but I don’t care. I like to learn from the masters, even if I sound dumb. And people like being smarter than other people, so we are actually doing a good deed by being so ignorant. 
[/quote]
Yes. I get that.
Yes. There are masters on FTC. Talk about knowledgeable. That’s why I’m on FTC and rarely look at Yelp (which is what I referred to as “the 5 mean girls”). But I’m a fish out water half the time. Usually people are super helpful. It kinda’ sucks when others show off at your expense. It’s funny, it’s usually someone out of nowhere that I’ve never conversed with before.
Or maybe I’m just in a bad mood today.
no, i did not mean it to apply when someone is replying directly to you. if you suspect i’m displaying condescension or any other attitude suggesting a lack of respect (that isn’t intentional snark) in any reply i make to you, by all means call me on it.
going back to the original thought, i probably shouldn’t admit this, but there are times when i may not know a term that someone else thinks i should know - and sometimes based on how i’ve discussed or opined on some topic in the past, i can’t fault them for the assumption and they’ve done me a favor by showing me a hole in my understanding of something i want to understand more fully; when i’m curious about something, i tend to go full out.
maybe they’ve followed your posts and attributed to you (out of respect) a greater understanding of a subject than you possess?
i tend to disparage provincialism in all forms - except perhaps my own.
My personal best is 300 miles.
https://www.menuism.com/blog/how-far-would-you-drive-for-a-great-meal/
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You took it wrong. No condescension intended at all. The first part, about the long drives, was a reply directed to you. The rest was a general thread reply. I wasn’t writing down to you, because I wasn’t writing to you. I’m just used to italicizing non-English dishes and using their specific names from what I do Niu rou mian is the beef noodle soup found at Taiwanese diners. Its broth is dark, with a soy sauce and five spice flavor, Quite the opposite of the broth in Lanzhou-style beef noodle soup, which is meant to be light and almost clear. The perfect example that recent Chinese and Taiwanese Yelp reviewers can’t even get it right, so Yelp is lost 
Hope that explains it and, again, no condescension meant.
Yep, the mean girls club. “Why that b**** be lookin at my boyfren?” or “They were out of the tea I wanted, this place sucks.” 
(that first one is a verbatim quote from a Yelp review)
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You’ve got me beat by a long distance, though my 140-150 mile regular round trips add up. 185-190 miles if I’m out to Rowland Heights and the ESGV. I think I know every grain of pavement on certain freeways.
Let me also mention how much I like that photo used with your article 
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You got me beat too. My best was 220 miles from philly to new york and back for dinner. And 245 miles to tomales bay for oysters. This sounds like the start of a new thread.
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Elite’s version is very good. Jim’s Bakery also has them. Fresh ones usually come out of the oven after 12 PM on Saturdays.
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