On my way home from class today I stopped at Panda Express, which is oh-so-conveniently located directly on the route to the apartment back from campus, to get some dinner to take back home with me since I didn't feel like cooking. There was one man in front of me in line.
Man: How many kinds of chicken do you have?
(Employee motions to the 7 different kinds of chicken sitting right before his eyes.)
Man: Is that white meat?
(Employee, a Hispanic woman who apparently doesn't speak great English, narrows her eyes in confusion. She's tired and obviously doesn't like this unwelcome disruption to the well-oiled serving routine she's built here)
Employee: What?
Man (in a loud voice, as he leans over the counter): IS THAT WHITE MEAT?
Employee (looks even more confused): I don't know.
Man: It looks like it might be dark meat. (Man leans closer into the counter until his wrinkled nose is merely centimeters from the glass and inspects the chicken more closely).
Employee: We have Kung Pao, Orange Chicken, Yaki -
Man: I know, I know! I just want to know if it's WHITE meat! (Man scoffs as if this is a perfectly reasonable request as normal as ordering a "medium" drink instead of a "large").
Employee: I don't know if it's white meat.
Man: It looks pretty dark to me.
Employee: That's the sauce it's covered in.
(At this point, I can't take it anymore and decide to intervene)
Me: I think it's ALL white meat.
Man: You think so?
Me: I'm pretty sure.
Man (pointing to Kung Pao chicken): Have you ever had that?
Me: No, but I'd imagine it's white.
(Man leans into counter again, inspecting Kung Pao chicken more closely. Employee looks at me in desperation.)
Man: What about that back there, the stuff with the zucchini?
Employee: That's lemon chicken.
Man: Hmmmmm. I guess I'll take that. That looks like it'd be white. Looks flatter, not quite so bumpy. Yeah, I'll take that.
And so ended the ordeal. Now, for those of you food buffs, I'm dying to know: does "dark" chicken meat even EXIST?? Because I for one have NEVER seen such a thing in all my life. Turkey, yes. Chicken, no.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
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6 comments:
yes, Chicken has dark meat, especially in the thigh. So I guess the guy had a valid question and some people really don't like dark meat. I'm curious to the race of the man asking the question, too.
he was just an old white guy. i was totally weirded out that he was so big on whether it was white meat or not.
This scene is simply hilarious!! It's those random events in each day that just really give me a good laugh! Thanks for sharing.
I'm glad you finally decided to say something. That poor woman probably deals with crazies on a daily basis. That's what it's like when you work in a service industry and you have to work with the public: as if having to be nice to every customer wasn't enough to wear you out, you have to also deal with the occasional nut. I feel bad for her, but at least she's got a job.
haha. i love it when you type out little stories like that. and dark meat chicken exists. i don't like the dark meat.
the thigh and the drumsticks are dark meat, the breast and tenderloin are dark. A lot of Chinese places use dark meat which is fattier and chunkier or a mix of dark and light.
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