Short Essay #3

Dayuan Zhao

WRIT-1133-27 12-2 MWF

Prof. Eric Leake

04/18/12

My Favorite Restaurant in Denver: Jason’s Thai

       If you want to ask me which restaurant in Denver is my favorite one, the answer is absolutely Jason’s Thai. Jason’s Thai is a restaurant which mainly provide Chinese food and sushi, the consumer group of this restaurant is DU’s students and local American families, it is located in University Blvd, it is very close to DU. And that restaurant is the one of the restaurant I go to most frequently, I think one of the reasons is I don’t have a car and I cannot go to somewhere very far from DU.

       First thing I want to introduce about this restaurant is the considerate serves. Because Jason’s Thai’s staffs is almost Chinese and the main consumers are Chinese students, so they specially prepared Chinese menus for us and that give us lots of conveniences. When I came to that place for the first time, the Chinese stewardesses are very enthusiasm, if you are an American, they will give you an English menu, if you are a Chinese, and they will give you a Chinese menu. Because DU’s Chinese population is limited, almost Chinese people can be recognized in this place.

       The cuisines in Jason’s Thai are not good enough in my opinion. I think maybe because this restaurant is located in the U.S., and all cooks are Americans, so the Chinese food cannot be cooked very traditional. Another reason is American residents like this “Chinese food” more than traditional ones, so this “fake” Chinese food can be so popular in the U.S., and Chinese people can also accept it. I found a very interest thing in that place. Almost local persons like to order sushi, and Chinese persons like to order Chinese dishes.

        Another element about Jason’s Thai I want to say something is the layout and furniture. The furniture in this restaurant is kind of like Chinese and Japanese style, there are some woodiness chairs with cotton bottoms, and the glass square tables, all of them have some bamboo patterns in the furniture. This is really like Chinese little restaurant’s style. The most interest thing in that place is the sushi bar’s counter. There is a long table in front of the sushi maker’s big chopping board, you can sit on the chair and watch and choose the materials in the glass cover, and tell the chief which one you’d like to put in your sushi. That is really similar to the real Japanese style. And this part is my favorite part of this restaurant.

       The relationship between servers and consumers is very friendly in this restaurant. When I came into the restaurant, a waitress went to me and greeted to me, then she found me a seat and gave me a Chinese menu, asked me “Will you order now or need some more time?” I said more time. Then she nodded and left. When I was ready to order, I just recalled her and ordered. The whole process is very kind, like a conversation between friends. The meals from restaurant are not real Chinese food; I think maybe the reason is their cooks are all American. I think American people cannot cook the real Chinese food, even though they came to china before.

My favorite two Jason’s Thai’s dishes are “Gan Guo Fei Chang” and “Tie Ban Hai Xian”. Those meals are hard to describe in English. “Gan Guo Fei Chang” is a soup dish, it is a little pot is put on a solid alcohol fire seat; the foods in the pot are some vegetables like mushrooms, cabbages, flammunlina velutipes and silk noodles. The main stuff is maybe an astonishing thing in Americans’ mind -- Pig intestine. In my opinion, American cannot accept it. Those things be putted in the pot, then the cook put some water in the pot, add some condiments then a very delicious meal is ready to go. “Tie Ban Hai Xian” is “Hot Plate Seafood”, he cook bake some fresh seafood on a hot plate, with some fresh vegetables like peppers. Then he doesn’t do anything about that, when waitress gives us this dish, some oil are still boiling.

All in all, Jason’s Thai is a really satisfying restaurant to me. Although the foods they provide are not good enough, but they really doing very good serves. I think this fact can reflect the difference between American culture and Chinese culture, American people always proud of serve, but in China, we don’t give waitress any tips, the only way a restaurant to solicit customers is provide better foods. I think that is why Chinese food is so exquisite.