New Big Daddy's Chinese - 3700 Telegraph Ave

New Big Daddy's is an interesting, fluorescent-lit cafeteria-feeling takeout Chinese hole-in-the-wall.

Good Chinese food is hard to find, so we had low expectations of this place and figured it was just a proverbial notch in the Telegraph belt.

And it was. EXCEPT for one big happy surprise, and that was the "dry fry ribs" which are, I believe, actually called "dry fried ribs." I don't remember, but the first is more fun to say.

I don't know what animal spawned these ribs, but they taste vaguely like Kentucky Fried Chicken - oddly, in a good way. (This is the second establishment in this project to offer us something that tasted like KFC - odd.) They're bizarrely tasty, and the Partner in Chow ate so many that we feared that she might contract a coronary of some kind.

It seems that the dry fried ribs are in fact the specialty here, as they're called out on the menu, on the wall, and some neighborhood dudes pulled up in a hoopdie and rolled in clamoring about dry fried ribs. They were loud and boisterous, and they really wanted some ribs. On the plus side, they didn't ask me for money.


We had two standout dishes from New Big Daddy's: the ribs and the green beans with chicken. Both were unique to this establishment, and both were bizarrely good.

What we ordered: Dry fried ribs, Hot and Sour Soup, Spicy Green Beans with Chicken, Mu Shu Pork, Broccoli Beef and steamed rice. (This is way too much food for 2 people, but for the purposes of a review and PIC's taste for leftover Chinese we splurged).
Atmo: fluorescent Chinese takeout
Crowd: the 'hood
Spent: About $30
Dry fry rib rating: 5 sporks (though we don't have a baseline)
Chicken and green bean rating: 4 sporks
Everything else: 2.5 sporks
Atmo: 1.5 sporks
Overall rating: 3 sporks

The Broccoli Beef had slightly too much fish sauce, but it was still pretty good. I fear weird fluffy Chinese food beef, and this beef wasn't the usual weird rubbery/fluffy beef. It was thin and still slightly scary for me; PIC didn't mind it.

The Hot 'n Sour Soup was OK; thinner than usual, and nothing to write home about. This is one thing I order nearly every time I eat Chinese food, and this one was forgettable.

So: go for the ribs or the green beans, or don't bother.