Poll of the Day > Am I crazy for driving 2 hours for mongolian BBQ?

(+) Yeah! (+)

There are some mongolian BBQ places within about an hour of where I live, but they are not that good.

Meanwhile Golden Tent in Vanvoucer WA which is 2 hours away, is delicious.

I am contemplating driving down there either today or in the next few days, just for the food. I may even move there eventually lol.

Last time I did it, I came back the same day, but I am thinking of staying over night and maybe hanging out in portland a day or 2, and that way I can eat there a couple times.

Still, I really go waaay out of my way for food sometimes. I think i may be slightly insane.
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You're crazy in general
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EvilMegas posted...

You're crazy in general

Thank you:)
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never heard of Mongolian bbq before this

but if that's the type of bbq you like, and want to spend the time driving to get it, then do so. you should also get some extra food to bring back home with you, and staying overnight sounds fun and interesting
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If you dont mind long drives, it's not that crazy. I hate driving anywhere that takes more than an hour though

You can't do mongolian BBQ to go, and it doesn't reheat well, your better off just making your own at home with fresh ingredients.

Look for one around you though, they are quite good, the basic template is:

Fill two bowls, one with your meats, veggies, onions, bell peppers etc. The other with your noodles. Add your sauces/spices to both bowls.

Finally place your bowls on a counter and a guy will stir fry them for you on a huge flat inverted wok (kinda).

Good places have excellent meat (lamb/beef/pork etc), and a good selection and good quality spices and sauces.

They can range drastically in quality and taste. The one in Vancouver is up there, maybe a 9/10 or so. The ones closer are more like a 4 or 5 out of 10.

So i'm driving an extra hour each way, for a bit more quality....but seems worth it to me. Just wish I had a good book on tape right now. I have 2 on hold from the library but no ETA on getting them.

Anyway I could just make my own, it only takes about 20 minutes and i can ensure good quality that way, but.....it just tastes better when someone else prepares it for you.
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Not as bad as my sister driving 90 minutes for wings. Wings. Just ordinary (albeit tasty) freakin' wings...
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Gunsandredroses posted...

Not as bad as my sister driving 90 minutes for wings. Wings. Just ordinary (albeit tasty) freakin' wings...

Is your sister dating someone, and is she older then 25?:)
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Yo, let's meet up sometime.

Just promise me you won't murder me and stuff me in a truck
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I am strongly considering doing a tour of the US (and eventually Europe) so it's totally possible I could be in your area eventually. Planning on making a post on here before I finally set my plans and seeing if anyone wants to get together along the way:)

My tour is going to be primarily food oriented lol.

Currently living in Lacey Washington though if your near here, and have plans in the near future to hit portland (obviously from the post hehe).
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Oh and no worries, I don't have a truck:)
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I only tried it once, but u really liked it. My sister became sick after she tried it, so with that and her natural picky nature, she's never doing it again.
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keyblader1985 posted...

I only tried it once, but u really liked it. My sister became sick after she tried it, so with that and her natural picky nature, she's never doing it again.

Yeah, there are sketchy mongolian places. It's really important to have good meat especially. I won't even think about eating at a 1-3 rating out of 10 (and if you eat at alot you'll know them when you see them).

4-6 is ok...in a pinch, but I won't go out of my way. Anything 7 and up means low fat, high quality meats and a good selection of sauces (including teryaki), garlic, ginger, oils etc.

I like my mongolian fairly spicey, with alot of sauce. I make good stir fry but without that large wok like thing (not even sure what it's called), you just can't make it as good.

My stir fry is at least made with really good ingrediants though, and I use a seschuan sauce + teriyaki + garlic + onions + bell peppers, along with the meat (usually beef) and mushrooms.

But yeah, if it was even close to golden tent, I wouldn't be planning on driving 4 hours to eat it heh.
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I've gone to places like that. But it was a little different. We only got one bowl and filled it up with whatever. And when you got to the counter, you would pick you noodles and they would add you stuff to it. But it was basically the same. It is good, though. I like places like that, but they are none really close to where I live. I could go to one of the big cities around and possibly find one, but I would have to have another reason to go other than one food place. Maybe when my BF moves, I can go to whatever city is close and see if they have one.
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Yeah, trying to come up with a reason to go to portland besides the food lol.....and then make it a few day trip or something.

But it's mainly for the food:)

There is usually a place within 30-60 minutes, but it may not be high quality, pretty much any major city would have quite a few choices.

They often also have Brazillian BBQs...which are mega expensive, but soooo good. There is a bunch of them in portland, so I have to decide if I wanna blow the $50 and maybe go there as well (the next day), would be getting up there in cost though, if I use a hotel at least, but it would be super yummy.
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wolfy42 posted...

There is usually a place within 30-60 minutes

One could hope, but probably not for me. We use to have one here, but it wasn't that high quality. Which is why it got shut down. I mean, I went a couple of times and it was fine. But I've had better. The big cities would most likely have one, but they are all pretty far. The closest one being about 90-120 minutes away. With like nothing in between... But once you get there, you have access to all kinds of stuff. But I'm not that big on driving...
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Yeah, I'm not generally a big fan of driving either, but.....food motivates me lol.
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wolfy42 posted...

Yeah, I'm not generally a big fan of driving either, but.....food motivates me lol.

On long drives, I try to convince whoever I'm with to do the driving. If we're going to take turns(one person there, one on the way back), then I will drive first to get it out of the way...
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I love Mongolian bbq places, I always joke to my wife that they put way too much ginger in the food and she rolls her eyes at me
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Mead posted...

I love Mongolian bbq places, I always joke to my wife that they put way too much ginger in the food and she rolls her eyes at me

Heheh:)

I usually put too much garlic....but then I realize, you can't put too much garlic!!
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Zangulus posted...

I've driven 4 hours for Jack in the Box. We occasionally drive an hour for Arby's.

I'm tempted to do a 6-8 hour drive for White Castle...

While I hate driving, I would drive an hour, maybe two, for food... But 3+, count me out. Though... If I didn't have to drive and would definitely be hungry by the time we got there, then I would go along for the ride...
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Zangulus posted...

I've driven 4 hours for Jack in the Box. We occasionally drive an hour for Arby's.

I'm tempted to do a 6-8 hour drive for White Castle...

You rock:)
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wolfy42 posted...

Currently living in Lacey Washington

That's probably about a 4 hour drive from me.
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AllstarSniper32 posted...

wolfy42 posted...

Currently living in Lacey Washington

That's probably about a 4 hour drive from me.

Yeah, we still have to do our meet up hahaha
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Is it a barbecue made of raw horse ?

green dragon posted...

AllstarSniper32 posted...

wolfy42 posted...

Currently living in Lacey Washington

That's probably about a 4 hour drive from me.

Yeah, we still have to do our meet up hahaha

My wonky hours.
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Zangulus posted...

I've driven 4 hours for Jack in the Box. We occasionally drive an hour for Arby's.

I'm tempted to do a 6-8 hour drive for White Castle...

Jebus Rice! Where do you live, if you don't mind me asking. Not that any food is bad depending on your palate/preferences, but I think you're a dumb and strong willed person to drive out for fast food that distance. I'm impressed. Godspeed on your future runs, sir.

And to the OP, if you've not been to NYC yet, I highly recommend it for the food. There is a plethora of options to satiate any type of palate. it's incredible. I missed my hometown of Queens. Some of the best Korean BBQ, Chinese (Dim sum, Szechuan), Italian, and other great options. Only thing I still can't even consider similar in taste (although the demographics of the people, based on their region of origin, may have an effect on the result; there are more Southern Mexicans in NYC, compared to Northern Mexicans in SoCal) is Mexican food in Southern California, compared to NYC. From Tacos to more traditional dishes, the Mexican food reigns supreme in SoCal (for obvious reasons too)

Anyways, the traveling across the USA sounds like a great idea. an expensive and time consuming, but definitely take it if you get the chance. good luck, sir.
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Yeah I was just in NYC last April in fact, and I do love the food there. In fact, I have tossed the idea around of moving there, but I want to do the tour of the US thing first and make sure there isn't somewhere else I will fall in love with.

I do miss the food in Cali, especially the mexican food, Washington has VERY inferior mexican food in comparison and almost no Chinese food at all (tons of Thai though).

The lack of good food choices is the main reason I'm considering moving in fact (hence the driving 2 hours each way just for decent mongolian bbq).

Tons of places to eat in Portland and Seattle of course, but it's 2 hours to get to either of em from Olympia and while i'll do that sometimes, it's just too much effort usually, I'll just make my own food instead.

I'm good at pretty much everything except chineese food (orange Chicken etc). My stir fry is good but not bbq good.

As long as I can get good skirt steak (which is not always easy), I can make extremely good tacos and burritos so I have that covered. My pasta sauce is....really good....so itallian is set as well. I make great steaks and beef ribs etc.

Just can't do most chineese dishes well though sigh. Need to work at a good one sometime (if I could find one sigh). I'd freaking work there for free just so I could learn how to make the dishes at home.
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