Tejal Rao's core memory of Chinese cuisine was the sweet and sour pork she would order as a child at Peking Inn in suburban London. As critic-at-large for the Food section of the New York Times, Rao recently visited Panda Inn in Pasadena, which underwent a multimillionaire-dollar renovation.
After immigrating from China, Ming-Tsai Cherng opened the Panda Inn in 1973 with his son. It was a neighborhood restaurant serving American Chinese cuisine with a nostalgic taste of home. When the Glendale Galleria Mall was in development, the family was asked to open a fast-casual concept, which was a defining moment for Chinese food in America and the beginning of Panda Express.
In the 1970s and '80s, the menu at Panda Inn featured Chinese pastas, an offering that would appeal to an American audience of eaters. Orange chicken, arguably the most popular dish at Panda Express, may have been born out of the tangerine peel chicken served at the restaurant. The fast-casual version didn't find its way to menus until the '80s. Panda Inn serves a spruced up version, topped with spring onion and whole dried chiles, in a ceramic bowl. Spin the Lazy Susan for other dishes including sushi and Taiwanese popcorn chicken, in a dining room that Rao says is, "a little clubby looking almost. It's very luxurious. It's hard to believe that it's connected to Panda Express."