Christmas and Chinese food.
Ever since we first saw the holiday classic, A Christmas Story—in theaters, don’t do the math!—we embraced a new yuletide tradition.
Our family always enjoys Mexican food on Thanksgiving Eve, whether at a restaurant or making enchiladas ourselves. But at Christmas, we dine out Ralphie-style with a good old spread of Chinese dishes.
During years we stay home for the holidays, the problem for us has always been not having a great Chinese restaurant in our East Dallas neighborhood.
Until now.
Less than a month ago, MiYa Chinese made its debut in the Casa Linda neighborhood near White Rock Lake, and immediately our Nextdoor feed was flooded with commentary.
Instead of the usual complaints about porch pirates, discourteous dog owners who leave brown gifts in people’s yards and the mass destruction of majestic trees by greedy developers, the social media site took a turn toward the positive.
All thanks to MiYa Chinese.
Our neighbors had nothing but wonderful things to say about the restaurant.
The concept replaces a Pei Wei outpost, so without even sampling a single egg roll, we knew the food would be far superior to the very average chain-restaurant fare.
When we finally went last week with friends, our high expectations were rewarded.
Four of us settled in at a large round table with a lazy susan in the center, an invitation to order a ton of stuff to share with a single spin of the wheel.
We started with fun and creative cocktails, which lean to the sweeter side, so consider sake, beer or wine if you’re not a fan of sugary sips. The signature frozen hibiscus margarita makes a great opening act while browsing the menu.
Of the dozen or so dishes we tried, everything burst with flavor and spice in perfect balance, whether it was an iconic Americanized Chinese dish such as orange chicken or something more authentic like the MiYa Combo Hand-Pulled Noodles, which feature flat noodles, chicken, beef, shrimp, cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot, scallion.
Other favorite dishes included the truffle veggie fried rice and the tenderloin pepper steak.
But truly, we would order every dish again when we return.
Now, of course we realize not everyone reading this lives in East Dallas, but if you’re headed to Holiday at the Arboretum or a day at the lake, add MiYa Chinese to your itinerary.
Or make it a destination all its own. Between the friendly service and the excellent food, MiYa Chinese makes us feel very fortunate to have it as an option for Christmas Eve this year.
Because now one of our favorite holiday traditions has a brand new home.
(Pro tip: They’re open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day if you want to start your own new holiday habit!)
MiYa Chinese
9540 Garland Road, Suite 383, Dallas
miyachinese.com
