Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.
June is busting out all over. The weather went directly from a freeze warning to a heat warning. The flowers are in full bloom which means those orange cones are also in full bloom along all of our roadways. You can’t escape construction, not even in restaurants. This is the case with Jiang’s Mongolian Grill in Algonquin.
Jiang’s Mongolian Grill
1740 S. Randall Road
Algonquin 60102
(847)458-9888
www.jmgrill.com
Directions: Take Rte. 47 North to Algonquin East to Randall Road South to restaurant.
Travel Time: 20 Minutes
As with all construction, your meal has to be built in phases.
Phase One: “Consultation.” When you are seated, each person gets a bowl and two laminated numbered cards. At this point you will have to decide whether you want one bowl ($15.99) or a bottomless bowl ($5 more). The wise diner chooses the single bowl option and relies on his construction skills to fill it to twice its normal capacity.
Phase Two: “The All You Can Eat Soup and Salad Bar.” You are confronted with a saucer sized plate upon which to build your salad. Construct this carefully so that your vegetable skyscraper won’t self-destruct as you carry it back to your table. Here’s the Dining Duo’s recommended steps. Start with lettuce first, flat items next (onions and cucumbers), followed by chunky items (olives, hard boiled eggs, and carrots). Top off your salad with shredded cheese and then pour your choice of salad dressing on top to glue it all together.
Phase Three: “The Meat, Seafood and Vegetable Section.” Bring your bowl and one of the numbered cards with you up to the buffet. Grab a tray, place the number on it, and proceed with caution. Grab sliced onions from the salad bar (this is your underlayment). Build your foundation with your choice of meats and seafood. Your bowl should now be about half to three quarters full. Now, fill the bowl to the top with your favorite veggies layering your choices from 19 different vegetables until it is almost overflowing. Then take both of your hands and start pressing on the bowl with all of your might as if you were performing CPR. You should now be back down to about three quarters full. What comes next is a subject of great controversy. Nancy prefers to construct a retaining wall around the side of her bowl with broccoli florets. Her friend Debby prefers to ring the bowl with vertical peapods. Either way, you should now have a bowl that holds twice as much. Then start stacking the bulky items to your heart’s content, topping it off with a bean sprout cap.
Phase Four: “Sauce Section.” There are 15 sauces to choose from. These will be added to your food as it is being cooked. We generally use four sauces for our meal, but we advise you to sample them first with the little tasting spoons before you make a commitment, no double dipping. At the end of the sauces is a container of minced garlic which is usually empty after Nancy goes through the line.
Phase Five: “Starch Section.” Again, the Dining Duo recommended way is to grab a plate and put the peanuts on first so they don’t roll off. Then you choose from either white rice, Chinese noodles, or rice noodles for your starch and pile it high, and don’t be shy. Then sprinkle generously with sesame seeds so they go into all the nooks and crannies. If you follow these phases correctly, there should be no empty spaces on your tray and it should be almost too heavy to lift.
Phase Six: “Cooking.” The construction is finished. Make your way carefully to their chefs who will cook your food on a giant round grill using ginormous chop sticks. Now you can go back to your table, relax, and let the waitress bring you your cooked food by matching the numbered cards.
FYI: If you choose the bottomless option, doggie bags are not allowed. This restaurant is handicap accessible and closed on Tuesday.
Total construction cost $39.94, cramming twice the amount of food into a small bowl, priceless…
Jim’s take: My recipe is beef with these sauces: house spicy garlic, Korean sweet chili, spicy Szechuan, and Teriyaki. I like rice noodles with peanuts and sesame seeds.
Nancy’s take: My recipe is all shrimp with these sauces: house spicy garlic, spicy Szechuan, Teriyaki, and a whole heaping bowl of the minced garlic. I enjoy the combination of rice noodles and Chinese noodles with peanuts and sesame seeds.
Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at: thediningduo@gmail.com
