Lin BBQ and Grill

If you love mu shu pork, you probably already know hoisin sauce is a common accompaniment for this classic dish. Hoisin sauce has a sweet flavor as well as a spicy aftertaste. It is almost as popular and versatile in Chinese cooking as soy sauce.

You may have heard that you can actually see the Great Wall of China from space, but that isn't really true. It's still a spectacular architectural accomplishment, though. It's over 4,000 miles long and took hundreds of years to build.

Did you know that the sweet potato is so popular in China that over 20 percent of the country's population consumes it as a major carbohydrate? Interestingly, next to the sweet potato, the tomato is the most popular vegetable eaten, especially in the urban centers of the country.

Chinese restaurants are not likely to serve any food containing dairy. Traditional Chinese food contains almost no dairy products.

Have you ever wondered why so many Chinese recipes use finely chopped ingredients? That would be to conserve fuel. Smaller ingredients cook more rapidly. Think of it as naturally green cuisine.

Did you know that in traditional Chinese culture cold drinks are thought to be harmful or disruptive to digestion, especially when served with a hot meal? The most popular beverage served is hot tea, which is thought to aid in digestion.

Did you know that the fortune cookie is not a traditional Chinese food but is an American invention? In fact, it was invented in California in the 1900s. Not long after it was first served as a post-meal treat it became popularized and the tradition has continued to this day. Fortune cookies are almost unknown in China.

Chinese cuisine can run the gamut from the subtle and sublime to the explosive and exciting, depending on the region where the dish originated. We offer something for everyone, whether bold and adventurous or content and traditional.

Chinese do not dine with knives and forks because they believe that these utensils are weapons. Instead, they use chopsticks to shuffle solid foods into their mouths. With soups and other liquids, they prefer to use a wide, flat-bottomed spoon.

Soy sauce is made from fermented soy beans. Food historians believe it was originally used as a convenient fish sauce. Why convenient? Because it was a natural fish preservative and didn't need refrigeration. Soy sauce was probably first developed over 3,500 years ago.

Visual appeal is just as important as aroma and flavor in Chinese cooking, and steaming and stir-frying are the best techniques to achieve consistency in color, texture, and taste with every dish we prepare.