Candy Land at the Eggroll Cafe

We were in the Lowell area around dinner time and decided to check out the Eggroll cafe. Our friends are the owners and we are rarely in the area so we decided it would be a good time to order from there. We've never really been there before except the opening, when stuff was free.. we were expecting egg rolls of course, and maybe chicken wings, that sort of thing. The owners are Cambodian but the food is really Asian American in general. If Ming Tsai's Asian mixed with French and other western styles is fusion (btw isn't Vietnamese food already highly influenced by French cuisine? just saying fusion isn't new.) then this would be fusion for the masses. And fused well. They had bento boxes. And I thought, "What a great way to make an Asian meal accessible to Americans, but at the same time, it can still have that Asian flavor. The bento box is a Japanese idea but it's not like bento boxes go back to feudal times. It's a product of the modern world. Also the place looks pretty classy. I've been two Lowell about twice and most of what the name Lowell bring sto mind is scenes from "The Fighter". So let me just say too that the Eggroll Cafe looks pretty classy for fusion for the masses. We ordered and then Noah ran around and we started playing Candyland.

Oh did I mention they have board games you can play? Yeah so it was either that or battle ship, and I've never actually played a board game with Noah before so i tried Candy land first. 

The truth is, I've never played Candyland before, so I kept wondering where the dice were. Then I figured out it goes by color or something. We didn't play a real game because I didn't really know what I was doing and I wasn't going to try the whole taking turns thing. Basically, I drew a card, Noah moved his piece, I drew and other card, Noah moved his piece again. Noah has a guaranteed win. It's more like Alice in Candy Land where his goal is to just finish, not before anyone else, just pretend your little man is moving along  the path and your moves are dictated by cards. Plus you sort of learn about colors. He liked it. He was distracted, we got to play three games. Then it was time to leave and he wasn't having that. Somehow we got home. 

Life with kids is often like Candy Land. We aren't racing anyone home. It's just enough of a challenge to move along our little board, our moves dictated by stop lights or train stops, and our adventures and be tantrums, pooing, crazy people, or what have you. Then we get home and we all win. Sometimes in this cold weather, it s nice to go out, just to go to a doctor's appointment or the store, just to go through the process of getting dressed, going out coming back, getting undressed. It's something to do. A little adventure around the block. It makes getting home seem that much better.

So when we finally did get home and  bit into one of those fajita egg rolls, I thought, "this is such an awesome American Asian idea." Stuff eggrolls with a bunch of steak or hamburger or other American tasting things. 

It was being marketed as something to eat during the Superbowl. I'm not a big football fan, but I can totally see that. Eggrolls and beer, (I'm not a bid beer drinker either) but the taste matches. It's the new Nachos, the new buffalo wings (at a time by the way, when there is a shortage of wings. Did you hear about that? It was on the news.) 

This Eggroll Cafe thing could be big money. If only you could deliver to a wider range of consumers. Like maybe how P.F. Changs has their own frozen foods. (I had P.F. Chang's once. I think it was someone's leftovers, and as I recall I didn't finish it)

There's nothing wrong with American Asian food. Just because you make something more Americanized doesn't mean it has to suck. There's a way to do it. And one of the ways to do it, is at the Eggroll Cafe.

Just saying, of you're near Lowell, check it out.