A New Yorker's DC question: Full Kee versus Jackey?

[adorno]

I'm doing a business trip to DC and have narrowed down my dining choice to Full Kee versus Jackey (those seem best in terms of the specific dishes I'm looking for).

Decor, service, ambience, are irrelevant to me. So -- which will be better food-wise if one brackets out all other considerations?

[Steve]

Full Kee has more to offer you. It is a longtime Chowhound favorite, so we have explored the menu more. Jackey Cafe may be just as good, but I don't know if anyone here has explored the menu enough to know.

Just in case you haven't seen this thread before, below is a link to an offal-only lunch from a while back at Full Kee. If you have any interest at all in getting a small group together, then you could send me a PM and at least a couple of other Chowhounds could meet you there.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1671...

[Ericandblueboy]

For intestines and tripe, you really should find a sichuan restaurants. The only decent one in DC that I've heard of is Great Wall but I've never been. I believe they have a Chinese menu that offers these things. If you can get out of DC, then Hong Kong Palace at 7 Corners is where you should go.

[hamster]

Great Wall is nothing special. I've never tried any tripe or intestines there, but have gone several times since it's in the neighborhood and sampled most of the "ma la" items. It's consistently "eh". Certainly not a destination place.
Hong Kong Palace is on a totally different plane. My one visit there was very memorable.

[Steve]

I didn't see any offal on the menu at Great Wall. Great Wall has a few great items, and it is possible to have a tremendous meal there, but after those few dishes, you have exhausted the good stuff. Easily the best ma po tofu in the area plus the wontons in red hot oil are stellar.

[Ericandblueboy]

I was going by a former post. Sichuan recipes offer many offal dishes and I'm surprised that Great Wall doesn't offer them. Too bad.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/375333

[dpan]

The offal and other exotic meats (e.g., pig or duck blood) I've seen at Sicuanese restaurants are all in the category of the meats mixed with vegetables, some dry and some with sauce. In a Cantonese restaurant, you can get them stir fried or in a noodle soup or in congee, or just plain with some gravy over rice.

[Ericandblueboy]

I'm not going to get into an argument as to which Chinese cuisine makes better offal. That's subjective. We're from Shanghai (via Taiwan) and some of the best offal dishes I've had were Sichuan dishes.

[dining with doc]

I like EatFirst and Chinatown Express both in chinatown and better than Full Kee

[chowsearch]

So Adorno, what were those dishes you were looking for?

[adorno]

Tripe or intestine. It looks like C-town Express has only one dish of that sort. I am now inclining to go back to Full Kee -- which I went to on a previous DC trip and had lots of different preparations of offal.

[chowsearch]

As with many others, at Full Kee, the good stuff's on the wall, not in English, so have a consultation with the boss lady.

[Bigcitywine]

Neither of these two choices are really service or ambience oriented However Full Kee is much better food, but still kinda a whole in the wall.

[chowsearch]

Both are great for us but coming from NYC, you're going to be used to much better. They're like Wo Hop.

[dpan]

No, Full Key isn't Wo Hop, which is only known because it's the only place to eat at 4am when you're dead drunk. It's more like Big Wong on Mott Street, basically a noodle and congee joint with a full menu.

[chowsearch]

I agree. Now that I think of it, my memories of Wo Hop were clouded. And Big Wong was pretty good. But I think the main thing interesting to a New Yorker about these two decent places are their proximity to the NYC Chinatown buses. But short of sending him all the way to eat Viet at Eden Center, where should he go? If picking one, I think Jackey is nowhere near as good or hygienic as FK, at least on the one terminal visit to Jackey.

[hill food]

THAT is a loaded question.

[Steve]

The OP has been to Full Kee before.