P.F. Chang's Dissappointment

I have recently been cooking a lot of Chinese food, and will be posting some videos and recipes in the near future. I have learned a lot about Chinese cooking recently, but in large part to the excellent instructions and recipes on Tigersandstrawberries.com. I have made some really good stir fries recently that are better than what I get at the local Chinese takeouts.

Tonight was my first time to go to P.F. Chang's, and I was expecting--given its somewhat upscale reputation and prices--a very good meal from which I might learn a few things. Perhaps it was my choice of dishes, but I was very disappointed. I had the chicken with black bean sauce. The chicken was described as stir fried, but the chicken in my meal might as well have been poached or steamed. The chicken was white, and lacked any of the wonderful seared, caramelized flavors that are characteristic of the high heat cooking that normally characterizes a stir fry. I am not sure if this is the way the dish is intended to be or if my local (Wauwatosa, WI) P.F. Chang's just failed to make the dish properly, but it was certainly not anything I would want to pay $12 for again, or even $2 for that matter.