*****  Panda Express, 970 North Congress Avenue, Boynton Beach, Florida 33426 (561) 375-8637.

Unless you have been living under a rock…you know what a Panda Express is…For you rock-dwellers, Panda is a national chain of fast-food Chinese joints. If you check Panda’s website at www.pandaexpress.com you will find that most of its locations are in Mall-Food-Courts…the website will also provide you with menu/prices/and other assorted details.

Now…I am going to let you in on a little secret. One of Jeff Eats’ favorite “Sunday Afternoon South Florida Outings” is to drive 26 miles from my home to Sawgrass Mills and kill 3 hours while Mrs. Jeff Eats and family shop. Before I snuggle into a Books A- Million armchair to read, I religiously “sample” all of the free food-passings in the food-court before I mosey over to Panda’s outlet and order Orange Chicken, White Rice, Egg Roll and a Large Coke…you get a ton of food for under 7 bucks. For some reason, I find that Chinese food drenched in MSG tastes absolutely great when you eat it in a food-court setting.

Now…for the really great news. Panda Express has recently “evolved” from being just a mall-food-court outlet into being a fast-food joint with in-line- locations in strip centers and free standing buildings.

The other day, I tried an in-line Panda Express which recently opened in Boynton Beach…same menu and prices as the Sawgrass Mills’ joint…same MSG…by the way, there is a Barnes & Nobles right across the street from the Boynton location, so if I had wanted to do some after-eating reading I could have done so.

Panda Express has locations all over South Florida…just off the top of my head, I know that in addition to the Boynton and Sawgrass joints there are outlets in Coral Gables, Davie, Homestead, Miami, Miami Gardens, Pembroke Pines, Sunrise…

Like I said before, I really enjoy Panda’s mall-food-court quality food…some people say that I am a reincarnated truck driver ( no insult intended to the truck drivers of the world).

If you are like me and “go” for this kind of food, I guarantee that there is a Panda Express near your home or office.

In a future writeup I will discuss my fanatical obsession with Auntie Anne’s Pretzels…but for now, that’s a story for another day.