Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

I admit it: I am an addict for Chinese take-out.

For a while, I thought that there were three Chinese restaurants in town that were owned by the same person. After all, they had the same menu — with the red typeface — and the exact same listings. The prices varied, but not by much more than a few cents on certain items.

Then, I learned these menus were something that Chinese restaurants can choose to purchase, and the restaurateur can opt to align his culinary choices around what has already been listed. It makes sense; a printing company someplace offers these hole-in-the-wall Chinese joints ready-made menus and four walls later, a place like No. 1 Wok is born.

Sometimes my friends and I try to expand our horizons beyond the usual haunts, downtown bars and fine dining options. Sometimes we’re delighted by our experimenting, and other times, regretful.

Twice in the last few weeks I’ve visited Farren’s, an ever-so-slightly upscale restaurant and pub behind Nitaya Thai at Church and Hill streets. People love Farren’s for the burgers, including The Russell, which comes loaded with mushrooms, bacon, blue cheese sauce and jalapeno cheese. The Green Chili Cheeseburger, which is topped with jalapeno cheese and green chili sauce is just as highly regarded. Even those who avoid red meat can do just fine subbing a black bean burger, which comes with a side of Cajun remoulade. The fries, which cost extra, aren’t anything to write home about, but they do the job.

After tasting all the wonderful flavors of Indonesian food, we couldn't possibly leave Bali without taking a cooking class. Several restaurants in Bali offer cooking classes, but we didn't want to learn about Indonesian cuisine from a German or Aussie chef, so we chose Warung Enak ("delicious restaurant") whose kitchen was run by Chef Rai Adnyani.

Warung Enak also had a great logo and a fun web site, so we thought that they would be a class act — and we were right. As it turned out, Chef Rai was not only Indonesian, she was an amazingly creative chef — and her sparkling stainless steel kitchen was an all-woman operation.

We decided to stay in Ubud for a while since the eating was good and cheap. But as we looked around the dining rooms of Monkey Forest Road restaurants, we noticed that there were no Indonesians eating with us (just a lot of happy Europeans, Japanese and even a few Aussies). So we wondered, where do Indonesians go when they're hungry?

Our home away from home in Jimbaran is the Villa Balquisse, a boutique hotel near the beach.

The pictures on the Internet didn't do justice to this hotel. From the curtains to the furniture, the attention to detail was astounding. Everything was perfect including the food and the service provided by the staff. Most hotels in Bali provide a free breakfast for guests and Villa Balquisse is no exception.

We're in Jimbaran, a seafood town. So we have no choice but to eat seafood.

The Jimbaran beach is lined with probably 50 or more seafood warungs (the local name for a small family-owned outdoor restaurant). Divided into three sections, each part of the beach has a row of warungs that serves pretty much exactly the same thing, freshly caught fish from the local fish market, lobsters, prawns and squid. Even the preparation is exactly the same: the seafood is grilled over dried coconut shells instead of charcoal and then served as is or sauced to your liking. The prices are listed as "per 100 grams" and you even get to pick your own fish right out of the ice bins.

So how does one choose which restaurant to try?

Growing up in Oregon, my first grown-up food was a bean burrito. My peers and I studied Spanish in elementary school and, as teenagers, enjoyed fine tequilas with mariachi musicians as often as we chugged cheap beer to blaring hard rock.

Like many west coast transplants, I was a bit disoriented my first few times at local Mexican chains Dos Reales and El Toro. Never before had I experienced so much cheese and sauce and such bland flavors with my Mexican food. Certainly not anywhere I had traveled throughout the various regions of Mexico.

Yesterday, we arrived in Denpasar (Bali's major city) just after lunch. Our hotel picked us up at the airport and within half an hour, we were checked in and in the pool. We chose to stay in Jimbaran because it was close to the beach. Although Jimbaran was once a small fishing village, today it is a beach resort town with grand hotels and boutique villas.

Surprisingly, some of that old fishing village charm still exists.

Editor's Note: Our roving food writer, Paul Young, reports from his spring break excursion to Bali. Watch for a new column every day this week.

After a fairly uneventful 13-hour flight, we landed in Taipei for a two-hour layover.

As soon as we got off the plane, we headed directly to the airport's food court to see what we could scrounge up. The first food stall we came to looked promising, so we dove right in. This being an airport food court, they had planned for language barriers – so the food was on display. All we had to do was point and say "one" (with one finger pointing up, course).

Editor's Note: Our roving food writer, Paul Young, reports from his spring break excursion to Bali. Watch for a new column every morning this week.

One of the privileges of teaching is being able to take off during spring break.

This year, we decided to go to Bali for some fun and good eats. Since Bali is halfway around the world (literally), we decided to break up the trip with a stopover in San Francisco. Armed with a rental car and the Bay Area Guardian's Best of Guide, we zeroed in on a little neighborhood Japanese joint near the renowned Castro district called Eiji (317 Sanchez, San Francisco). We chose Eiji because we've never had oboro (handmade tofu) before.

Spring is here?

You wouldn't know it by looking outside, but not only does the time change this Sunday at 2 a.m., the cities of Champaign and Urbana both let out a collective "Yeah!" by the news that beloved frozen treat makers Jarling's Custard Cup re-opened for business today.

Originally started in Danville 1949, the company expanded to open its Champaign location in 1983 and the crowds have been flocking ever since.

Some may remember the days when Am-Ko was the only Asian grocery store in town. Today, one can choose from perhaps more than half-a-dozen Asian grocers, all of them locally-owned and run as family businesses. Each grocery store has an ethnic focus – Chang's is Chinese, Lee's is Korean, Annapoorna is Indian, Am-Ko is Korean and Japanese, and so on. Of these choices, my favorite place to shop is Far East, hidden on Fifth Street just south of University Avenue. Until recently, you probably wouldn't notice it was there because the only identifying mark was a few hand-painted words on their building. The colorful new sign that just went up may make the shop slightly easier to find.