Mom's is walking distance from campus, a few blocks down College St. (that's Route 9 going away from Northampton) next to the Dunkin' Donuts. It's a takeout establishment at the front of a surprisingly well-stocked Asian grocery, whose shelves are lined with teas, hot sauces and wonton wrappers.
Curiously enough, Mom is white. Actually, a fellow customer referred to the friendly-gregarious, even-woman behind the counter as "Mom," so we're taking our cue from him. "Mom" readily identified the 12 "side items" on display in heated trays, which in fact are not sides but main dishes that accompany either lo mein noodles, white rice, fried rice or rice noodles in the combo ($4.95; $5.50 with soup). There are 12 sides offered; the combo includes a choice of three in addition to one of the rice or noodle dishes. Also available are homemade steamed and fried pork dumplings, egg rolls, spring rolls, chicken wings and a few other dishes made to order in addition to a variety of Asian pastries; all of these are reasonably priced. Soups include egg drop, egg drop wonton, wonton, miso and hot and sour.
Nick; Sarah; Eaton, Ohio native (and beloved roommate) Andy; and ever-trusted Emily, who recommended Mom's, ordered a variety of dishes as usual-they came in Styrofoam containers piled to bursting. We tried all of the noodle/rice dishes except the white rice and sampled General Tso's chicken, curry chicken, beef with carrots and celery, green beans, bamboo with beef, eggplant and tofu and a vegetable that Mom identified but whose name escapes us (we think it was a member of the choy family).
As far as quality is concerned, we hate to resort to the old cliché "you get what you pay for"
-so we'll use another: There's no such thing as a free lunch. At the same time, we did get a lot of bang for our buck. Ha ha, we crack ourselves up.
Highlights included Emily's egg roll, which we would describe if she had let us try it before scarfing it down, as well as Sarah's chicken and broccoli, an old standby done right (no soggy broccoli or dry stir-fried chicken for us). Nick prefers the steamed dumplings at Mom's to Panda East's thick-skinned, meatball-like version. Andy called his curry chicken "delightfully tender," while Nick said the same about his beef, which Sarah labeled a "glorified pot roast."
We had some criticisms as well. The consensus on the General Tso's was that the sauce was tangy and a step up from, say, Panda Express or Wok 'n Roll, but that the chicken itself was a little soggier than we would like (that's what happens when chicken sits under a convection lamp for X hours). The soups we sampled were only mediocre: The egg drop was creamy but bland, and the hot and sour lacked substance, though we couldn't fault the broth itself. No one liked the fried rice, which was dry and devoid of flavor, but the lo mein and rice noodles fared better (despite the latter's resemblance to ramen).
We will be returning to Mom's (hopefully high), but next week, look for our Parents' Weekend special, in which we'll tell you where to go and where to avoid like a Friday afternoon lab.