The trouble is, these days, it’s very hard to find a good Italian restaurant. With everything being fast food today, most of your Italian places are either pizzerias, Pizza Huts, or fast food chains like Sbarros. Finding a classic Italian restaurant in the states, like they used to have back in the 60s and 70s is like looking for the missing link. But when you do find one, this is what you can expect to get there.

For starters, a good Italian restaurant will have a wine list of just about every Italian wine you could possibly want. The list reads like a who’s who of Italian wineries. Don’t even think of asking the waiter for a mixed drink as he’s likely to deck you. Oh and by the way, the waiters are all Italians.

The appetizers are absolutely to die for. You’ve got your usual fair which includes fried zucchini, roasted garlic, stuffed portabello, mushrooms stuffed with crab meat and fried provolone, just to name a few. The appetizers alone are enough to fill you up so you won’t even need the main course.

And the salads. Italian restaurant salads can be a meal in themselves. You don’t just get a dish with a little lettuce and some carrots. You get a salad the size of Manhattan Island. And don’t ask for any kind of dressing other than Italian or oil and vinegar. Yeah, the waiter will deck you for that too.

As for the main dishes, just about every Italian main dish has something to do with pasta, whether it be spaghetti, linguini, ziti or whatever. Most of the dish, as it is with Chinese food, is made up of the pasta. However, you do get quite a bit of meat with your meal too. Italians love to eat and they love to feed you. Without a doubt there is no type of restaurant that gives you more food than an Italian restaurant. It would take three Chinese restaurant meals to make up one Italian restaurant meal. Some of the more famous Italian dishes are chicken catchatori, veil parmesan and spaghetti and meatballs. However, there are literally over 100 Italian dishes you could choose from in a good Italian restaurant.

So, what kind of food DO you find at a Chinese American restaurant? Most Chinese American dishes fall into what they call categories of food. Their are your chow mien dishes which feature the classic chicken chow mien. But you can get a lot more than just chicken chow mien. You can also get shrimp chow mien, beef chow mien, roast pork chow mien and just about any other kind of beef, pork, chicken or fish that you can think of. Just a quick tip. If you’re going to get the chicken chow mien, get the white meat chicken chow mien. It costs about a buck more but they give you more chicken and the pieces are bigger.

Aside from your chow mien dishes you have your lo mien dishes. The only difference between these two are the kinds of noodles they use. Other than that, they are pretty much the same, at least at most restaurants in the states. The whole key to a Chinese dish is the vegetables that they put in it. Most of a Chinese dish is pretty much vegetables. There is relatively a lot less meat than there is vegetable. That’s why the dishes are relatively inexpensive and also why you’re hungry two hours later.

Then there are some specialty dishes. You can usually tell what these are because they have names like Moo Goo Gai Pan. You have absolutely NO idea what’s in this stuff by reading the name of it. Fortunately, there is usually a description of the menu item underneath the title so you can get some idea of what you’re eating.