Green Bamboo Earns Another Visit From The Experienced Eater

Key Takeaways

• Britten and Michele McDowell went back to Green Bamboo in Elizabethtown for a date night, no kids and no dogs along
• The spread covered wonton soup, egg rolls cut open "canoe" style, house lo mein, sweet and sour pork, a Mongolian chicken, Michele's orange chicken, and fried rice
• Britten's standout was the house lo mein, judged by whether you can taste the garlic in the sesame oil
• Green Bamboo has been around for decades and is one of the longest-running restaurants in Elizabethtown
• The segment sparked a table-manners debate among the hosts about whose plate is whose

Summary

Britten McDowell brought the Experienced Eater back to a familiar table this week: Green Bamboo in Elizabethtown, revisited on a date night with his wife Michele. No kids, no dogs, just the two of them and a craving for Chinese food.

It matters because Britten treats a return visit as its own kind of review. He says one of his favorite things about eating out is going back somewhere to see if it has kept getting better, and Green Bamboo, one of the county's longest-running restaurants, passed the test again.

Full Article

Rachel opened the segment the way you open a segment about somebody's date night: "Britten, I heard you went on a date. Can you tell us everything?" Britten kept most of it close, but the restaurant he was happy to talk about.

Going back to a place is the whole appeal for him. He said he loves finding somewhere good and then returning to see whether it has improved, crediting a line from one of his mentors, Jim Rohn: who can get better? Anybody. So when Green Bamboo keeps getting better, he wants to keep checking in.

He and Michele went on what he described as a quiet night out, no kids, no dogs, just the two of them, in the mood for Chinese food. He was not entirely sure they were alone; he mentioned his brother-in-law may have joined them, guessing from the fact that three entrees came out rather than the two you'd expect for a couple.

Whoever was at the table, the order told the story. It started with the wonton soup, a Britten favorite, and egg rolls he calls "egg roll canoes," cut open so they cool a little faster. From there came a house lo mein, which he rates by whether you can taste the garlic working through the sesame oil, and a fried rice he says is simply not beatable. Britten had the sweet and sour pork that night, something he had not ordered in a while, and called the table's Mongolian chicken fantastic. Michele went with her usual, an orange chicken.

Britten was candid that Green Bamboo is not always his first stop, even though he rates it highly. He described himself as a creature of habit, someone who can be slow to try something new when he already knows a favorite spot will deliver. Grafton Sizemore, sitting in on the conversation, said he is the same way, and that it is hard to be adventurous when you know exactly where to get something good.

Rachel guessed Green Bamboo has been part of some of her own earliest memories of going out to eat in Elizabethtown, and Britten agreed it is one of the longest-running restaurants in town, up there among the oldest in Hardin County. Exactly how long neither of them could pin down, but the years clearly have not slowed the kitchen down.

The visit also kicked off a lighter round the table: is everybody's plate their own, or fair game once the food lands? Rachel remembered her dad reaching across the table for a bite of anything he wanted, calling it the dad tax. Nate Bryan said his plate stays his, unless his wife Courtney reaches over first. However the plates get divided at your own table, Britten's takeaway on Green Bamboo stands: it is worth going back to.

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