Veg Out: Cheap but delicious Chinese food at Happy All

By Abigail Dock     9/16/10 7:00pm

The vegetarian appetizers include the usual egg and spring rolls but also tasty little vegetable dumplings that can be served steamed, fried or both - they are more than happy to split an order. There are seven vegetarian dinner comªbos on the menu, such as string beans in spicy pepper sauce or broccoli and mushrooms in garlic sauce. Each combo comes with soup, an egg roll and your choice of fried rice or rice noodles. And the best part is that this feast rings in at a mere $8. If you're not in a combo mood, I would highly recªommend the clay pot dishes. The tofu, vegetable and black mushroom clay pot was so incredibly tasty that I literally couldn't stop eating it, even though I was already full from all of the appetizers. The flavors were perfectly blended, each taste melding into the others to create foodie heaven.

Happy All also has a small, intriguªing section on their menu specifically for people on a diet. It features steamed vegetables and meat with the sauces served on the side, so you can decide just how decadent you want to be. And if no vegetarian options on the menu float your boat, or if you see a meat dish that just sounds too good to pass up, they will gladly make any meat dish with tofu or vegetables. So, in effect, Happy All is a vegetarian restaurant in that you can order practically anything on the menu, and they will make it vegªetarian for you.

Each dish is also a huge portion, so be prepared to bring home doggie bags. Also, if you visit Happy All with friends and order more than $20 worth of food, you get a free side order - just check the back of the menu for your options.

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One minor word of warning: Don't go to Happy All for their Vietnamese food, at least not if you want it to be auªthentic. Happy All is, first and foremost, a Chinese restaurant. Just consider the Vietnamese section of the menu to be an extension of the Chinese menu, as the textures and flavors are all of Chinese food. If you want real Vietnamese, find a restaurant that does just that, as the Chinese tastes at Happy All invariably seem to dominate. But even though it wasn't 100 percent authentic, their pho was pretty amazªing, and the $7 price tag means I'm very likely to order it again.

Happy All has a roaring lunch business, with $6 specials and a $7 all-you-can-eat buffet. The resªtaurant also has both take-out and delivery, which means that on long study nights you don't even have to leave your college for great food. Happy All may not be the best place to take your date or your parents when they visit, but for delicious Chinese on a budget, it can't be beaten.

Abigail Dock is a Jones College sophoªmore. Veg Out is a column reviewing resªtaurants and their vegetarian offerings.

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