We have a tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas and New Year's. Since moving to Mira Mesa, we've been wanting to try the restaurant closest to us for a while, but they were closed on Christmas, so e ended up going to an old standby, Chin's Kitchen.



Heather had the peppery Lin Kao Beef:



I had the Beef and Scallops, in basically the same sauce:



The deep fried bananas are way too rich to eat, but the sugar crusted peanuts were a great addition:



For New Year's Eve, I made sure to call ahead to make sure Mandarin Garden wasn't closing early. In NY, these would be spring rolls, but here they're considered egg rolls:



They do make some fun, and very strong, girly umbrella drinks. Mine was the Chi Chi with Vodka:




Heather had the Shrimp Foo Young, and was not impressed at all. The egg has as hard as a hockey puck:



My Beef with Black Mushrooms and Bamboo Shoots was good, but once again, it was in the same gloopy sauce as Heather's:





If anybody knows of a good NY-style chinese restaurant, I'm all ears.