Andy's Kitchen Asian Express is worth a risky left on Federal

By Mark Antonation Wed., Jan. 9 2013 at 2:50 PM

Categories: A Federal Case

Continued from page 1

Twice-cooked pork is somewhere under that cabbage.

Dishes are prepared to order (rather than served by the scoop from steam tables), as evidenced by the oddly timed delivery of my food as well as by the shatteringly crisp fried coating in the otherwise typically sweet sesame chicken. The fried items on the pu pu platter (the last dish to arrive at my table) were also hot out of the fryer, if otherwise bland. While I had a hard time finding the pork buried under an avalanche of cabbage in the twice-cooked pork, the Thai panang curry was a soupy but flavorful surprise.

The sesame chicken arrived with a crisp coating.

Admittedly, I seldom eat at Chinese-American restaurants. My sweet tooth, when it comes to savory sauces, faded with adulthood, and I've just never been much of a fan of rice. I don't get cravings for General Tao's chicken or Szechuan beef. If I were a student across the street at Lincoln High, though, I'd probably risk the dash across Federal on a regular basis.

Last but not least, the pu pu platter.

As it stands, the thrill and adrenaline rush of attempting the Federal left might be enough to draw me back, if I'm not lured there just by the temptation of something a little bizarre and unusual that I overlooked the first time.

No, the kitchen doesn't have a secret menu for its Chinese regulars touting preserved eggs or pork intestine. But how did I ever miss the stir-fried Buffalo chicken on the "Andy's Recommendations" page of the menu? Definitely...next time.

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