Around the holiday season—more specifically, Christmas—many people who don’t have family or friends to celebrate with often turn to Chinese food for the holiest meal of the day. Silent night, lonely night!
Growing up, my family didn’t celebrate Christmas. We were the working poor and rarely went out for dinner. Instead, we made do with permanently dented cans of La Choy Beef Chow Mein, complete with vegetables and sauce, a canister of crispy chow mein noodles, and—joy of joys—a broken fortune cookie with no fortune.
But, nowadays, I can totally eat Chinese food—or really any food I want—alone for Christmas. And when I do, I “church it up” with the nominally stable Grand House China Bistro, Oklahoma City’s long-running and most celebrated restaurant of any cultural genre.