The area of downtown near 7th and Liberty now has a third Chinese restaurant. (Well, if you want to count the China Chef, there are four of them.) The Chan An joins the China Fan and the Dynasty. It's located at 824 Liberty Avenue, near the entrace to the Gimbel's parking garage. (I, of course, date myself by calling it the Gimbel's garage; it's actually now called something like the Smithfield/Liberty Garage.) The Chan An is probably the best of the three, esepcially if you like hot and spicy dishes. Their dishes have somewhat more spice than the those at the China Fan or the Dynasty. They are also quite tasty (or at least the two I've tried in my trips were). Unlike the other two restaurants, they also give you hot and sour or wonton soup with lunch. I've tried two dishes: General Tso's chicken (my standard barometer for how good a Chinese restaurant is) and Hot & Spicy beef. The General Tso's was somewhat less gingery than the China Fan on a good day (China Fan is rather inconsistent here), but it was well done and tasty. The Hot & Spicy beef was quite a bit tastier than any similar dish I've tried at the other two. The portions are somewhat smaller than those at the China Fan (which gives huge portions), but this is made up for by the soup. The hot and sour soup is OK; not as good as what you'd get at a good, sit-down restaurant, but a nice addition to the meal. The price for most meals, including soup or a can of pop, is $4.50. Overall, it's worth giving a try for a quick lunch. Most of the fast food Chinese places in this end of town are a far better choice than McDonald's, Subway, or Wendy's for a good lunch. (The exception is the China Chef, though to be fair I haven't been there in over a decade. I've heard it hasn't changed, though.) ****************************************************************** Jim Mann [email removed] Transarc Corporation The Gulf Tower, 707 Grant Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 338-4442 More good baseball books appear in a single year than have been written about football in the past fifty years. The best football writers, like Dan Jenkins, have the good sense to write about something else most of the time. -- Tom Boswell, "99 Reasons Why Baseball Is Better than Football"
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