Barstool Chicago Chinese Food Draft Grades

The Chicago crew is back drafting Chinese food. They are joined by resident Asian, Steven Cheah and noted Chinese food enjoyer Nick Turani. This was a pretty good draft, and it is tough to grade.

Round 1 Pick 1: Chicken Fried Rice, Dave

Little surprised this counted as a side order, but I don't know. Chicken Fried Rice is ok, it's a little boring. It's like drafting a center with your first overall pick. Not great, but not the worst.

Grade: B

Round 1 Pick 2: General Tso's Chicken, Steven

Strong pick for Cheah. General Tso's is a pretty good dish. I get it every so often. It isn't my favorite dish, but it has very strong brand value. Good pick from Cheah. 

Grade: A+

Round 1 Pick 3: Sesame Chicken, Eddie

I don't love sesame chicken tbh. It's ok, but I'm just not a big fan of the seeds. I also feel like there were stronger picks available, but I don't think this was a bad pick necessarily.

Grade: A-

Round 1 Pick 4: Pointing at a picture on the menu, Chief

I actually like this pick. It's pretty funny and everyone has done this at some restaurant before. However, I don't know if it will get a ton of votes.

Grade: B

Round 1 Pick 5: Opening fortune cookies, Nick

I think fortune cookies are so overrated. They don't give you real fortunes and the cookies aren't that good. However, I still like to open them and I think this will get votes because of the brand recognition. 

Grade: A-

Round 2 Pick 1: Rangoons, Nick

I've never had a Rangoon, but they look pretty good. I know they have good name recognition, so I like the pick.

Grade: A-

Round 2 Pick 2: Potstickers, Chief

This is an awesome pick from Chief. They are one of my favorite appetizers overall, not just out of Chinese food. I think most people enjoy potstickers. 

Grade: A

Round 2 Pick 3: Egg Roll, Eddie

Great pick from Eddie. This is probably the most famous Chinese food overall. Great value in the second round, quality pickup.

Grade: A+

Round 2 Pick 4: Using Chopsticks, Steve

Great pick. Absolutely great pick. Everyone has struggled to learn how to use chopsticks. It's always a great part of the Chinese food experience.

Grade: A

Round 2 Pick 5: Kung Pao Chicken, Dave

I think Kung Pao chicken is the most overrated Chinese food on any menu across the globe. It's just not that good in my opinion. I won't grade it too poorly because I know people like it, but I think it's just not very good.

Grade: B

Round 3 Pick 1: Leftovers, Dave

Great pick from Dave, who has had a very lackluster draft so far. Chinese take-out places give you like eight pounds of food. So getting leftovers are great. They also are just much better than your average restaurant leftovers. Good pick.

Grades: A+

Round 3 Pick 2: Lo Mein, Steven

Again, I think this should be considered an entree but I digress. I like Lo Mein. My most common order is Beef Lo Mein, so I'll have to give it a good grade.

Grade: A

Round 3 Pick 3: Mongolian Beef, Eddie

Mongolian beef is the epitome of average to me. It's not great and it's not bad. It's just there. I don't think this is gonna be a big vote-getter. Decent pick, not great.

Grade: C+

Round 3 Pick 4: Shrimp Fried Rice, Chief

I like Shrimp fried rice. It's my personal favorite of the fried rice dishes. Great value in the third round. 

Grade: A

Round 3 Pick 5: Orange Chicken, Nick

They said this is the "basic" pick, but it's just so good. Orange Chicken is a steal and it has great value in the third round. Crazy good pick by Nick.

Grade: A

Round 4 Pick 1: Beef and Broccoli, Nick

Beef and Broccoli is a solid miscellaneous entree. It's good, not great. But the value is good in the fourth round and it will get a lot of votes. 

Grade: A-

Round 4 Pick 2: Crispy Chicken, Chief

I've never even heard of this entree to be quite honest. I think this will hurt Chief since it isn't a popular item. 

Grade: D

Round 4 Pick 3: White Rice, Eddie

Honestly, I like white rice better than fried rice. I like the taste of it better than fried rice and it's also easier to eat with chopsticks than fried rice. 

Round 4 Pick 4: Boneless Spare Ribs, Steven

Truthfully, I think spare ribs kind of stink. Maybe I've never had them made correctly, but I've always thought

Round 4 Pick 5: Chinese Chicken Wings, Dave

This is such a meh pick. The wings are just so average. They aren't good and I would much rather have regular wings given the chance. 

Grade: D+

Round 5 Pick 1: Sichuan Pork, Dave

I mean what even is this? I've never heard of this. He's also never even eaten it, the worst attempt at a pander I've ever seen. An awful pick.

Grade: F

Round 5 Pick 2: Peking Duck, Steven

This pick kind of stinks. Fortunate for Cheah, it was in the fifth round. Most people don't eat this, so it won't help to get votes. A very meh pick.

Grade: C+

Round 5 Pick 3: Being in awe of the size of the menu, Eddie

Meh, there are a lot of places with big menus. This doesn't really doesn't get it going for me.

Grade: C

Round 5 Pick 4: Seared Pork Belly, Chief

Again, another just odd pick. It's not a popular pick, but since it is in the fifth round, I don't really think it matters.

Grade: C

Round 5 Pick 5: Wonton Soup, Nick

A very strong Mr. Irrelevant selection. The best soup in the draft and a very popular menu item. A very strong finish to the draft.

Grade: A

A tough draft to grade right now. Everyone had bad picks in this draft. The only one not in the running is Dave, who had an all-time bad draft. I think Nick and Eddie have the best chance to win, but I really don't know.

My predicted winner: Nick

My predicted loser: Dave (not really a prediction though, he's going to lose)