You don’t go to Yue Kee because you’re in a rush. You don’t go if you want a casual conversation with the person at the window, either. You go to Yue Kee because you’re hungry, plain and simple.
Cheap Chinese food is at its best at this 38th and Locust lunch spot. The menu is just as extensive as your everyday Chinese restaurant; you can even pick one up as you would a take-out menu. Classic beef, pork, seafood, poultry and vegetarian options are served in generous portions with plenty of sticky white rice — all of them $4.50 and under. The most expensive thing you’ll find on the menu is a quart of subgum lo mein, a mere $6.50 and big enough to share.
Favorites on the menu include the classic chicken lo mein ($3.50/pt) — all of their chicken dishes are exceptional — the eggplant with garlic sauce ($3.75) and a sticky sweet and delicious vegetarian General Tso’s chicken ($3.75). The eggplant is cooked to death and soaked in the garlic sauce; the large amount of rice helps balance out the dish. The vegetarian General Tso’s chicken is tough and chewy, served with broccoli and mushrooms, but the sauce is so tasty you’ll be willing to put up with the strange texture of the fake meat.
To not mention the lunch special would be to ignore the reason many turn to Yue Kee for their midday cravings. For $5 you choose from 12 different entrees — all in that absurdly large size mentioned earlier — and along with it you get an egg roll and your choice of soup or a can of soda. While the greasy egg roll is decent at best and the soup barely a cut above chicken broth, the entrée choices are just as solid as the remainder of the menu. Favorites include the broccoli with chicken or beef, the Szechuan chicken and the chicken lo mein. For those of us with normal sized stomachs and a high tolerance for cheap Chinese, $5 basically buys you two meals.
Experts know that the only true way to order at Yue Kee is over the phone; the motor on the cart is loud and obnoxious enough to convince you to avoid the long wait times. However you get it though, it’s guaranteed to come out hot and steamy. It’s true, you can go wrong with Chinese food. But not at Yue Kee.
Yue Kee Food Cart 238 South 38th St. (610) 812-7189 Don’t Miss: Vegetarian General Tso's chicken (even if you're a red-blooded meat eater) Skip: Not calling ahead Bottom Line: The best Chinese food cart on campus, hands down.
