Springfield's best sweet & sour chicken

The Search for Springfield's best sweet and sour chicken

Crunchy and juicy, tangy and sugary -- sweet and sour chicken is truly a savory treat. Often overshadowed by Springfield's "Chinese food" raison d'etre, cashew chicken, I thought ol' sweet and sour deserved a day in the sun. Well, more because I was craving it. Anyway, although some may discount S&SC as glorified Chinese chicken nuggets, I love it. I think living in China and working at a Chinese restaurant qualifies me to discuss the Far East's (or at least the distant, mutated Americanized version) culinary delights. Traditionally, the predominant sweet and sour dish in China is made with pork. But we're in the Midwest, so chicken it is.

The mission -- Try as many orders of sweet and sour chicken (before I find it repulsive) and crown the ultimate version that meets the requirements of the ideal dish: a tasty thick sauce, juicy, fried bite-sized chicken pieces, and perfectly married flavors of, well, sweet and sour. We here at Metromix have done some extensive taste-testing at local eateries in the hopes of discovering the tastiest takeaway in town. And to test our chopstick skills and metabolic rate.