As I've mentioned in the past, when I go out to eat, more often than not it's at a fast-casual place with counter service. Sure, I see the value in going to a nice restaurant, sitting down, and enjoying a nice, long meal with good service and pleasant conversation. But I don't always have the time or money for that, and neither do you. And so I find myself at a Chipotle, or a Panera, or a Noodles, or, from time to time, a Pei Wei.

For a few years, my preferred joint in this ecological niche was Chin's Asia Fresh. Despite bearing the dreaded name of Leeann Chin, words which I will forever associate with horrible steam-table food-court Chinese at sit-down restaurant prices, I actually quite like Chin's Asia Fresh. It's got the requisite pan-Asian menu of noodle dishes, stir-fries, and appetizers, it's fairly inexpensive, and the food actually tastes good. This was a bit of a shock to me at first, since those are three distinct things you will never find in a Leeann Chin's.

Unfortunately, they shut down the one in Knollwood, which means the closest one to me is down 394 toward Ridgedale, and is thus a somewhat inconvenient location. And then, using Urbanspoon on my iPod, I found that there was a Pei Wei sitting slmost under my freaking nose, near my Costco, that I'd been completely unaware of. Pei Wei is exactly like Chin's Asia Fresh, except with dark wood instead of light wood, good brown rice, and no chicken wings.

The menu has a lot of Chinese-inspired and Thaii=inspired dishes, with a sprinkling of Korean and Japanese. All of it fits the fast-casual standard of dishes you would be annoyed with in a proper sit-down restaurant, but not bad for the price and convenience. It takes full advantage of the mainstreaming and commoditization of ethnic cuisines and once-exotic flavors. My go-to dish there is probably the Thai Dynamite CHicken, which is essentially the Buffalo chicken nuggets of fake Asian cuisine. First, it has those fried chicken chunks which are evil and wrong and beloved by all carnivores everywhere. Then it has a one-dimentional spicy sauce, all chili and vinegar with no subtlety whatsoever, but also none of that harshness you find in cheap hot sauce. And then it's got a bit of red bell pepper and scallion to trick you into thinking it's a balanced, complete meal. 

Most of the other stuff on the menu is a bit lighter and has more vegetables. They serve tofu, although it's the very firm, baked-style in strips, so if you're expecting the jmore traditional tofu chunks, you'll be in for a bit of a surprise. They have vegetarian "spring rolls" that are deep-fried, with a nice crunch and a relatively low grease factor, and crab/cream cheese wontons that I eat despite having once declared the cream-cheese wonton a Midwestern crime against culinary humanity. Prices are on the upper end of fast-casual - we're talking the $12-$13 range per person - but there's a pretty good chance lighter eaters will walk away with a carton of leftovers for later.

Now if they'd just stop calling themselves a "diner", stop asking how many people are in the party, and in general feel less compelled to hassle people looking at the menu boards, it'd be even better.