Fried rice — the gateway dish to Asian food — tastes good, it’s hard to mess up, it’s cheap, it’s fairly consistent from restaurant to restaurant. It’s also, um, unexciting. Can fried rice even be exciting?

While it’s now a staple of most Asian restaurants, I first knew it as Chinese food. Fried rice did originate in China during the Sui Dynasty (589-618 AD), which is pretty specific as far as food history goes.

We did not set out this week to find fried rice that wowed us. Why should it suddenly happen now? Instead, I wanted to pay close attention and see if I could detect subtle differences between two restaurants, neither of which turned out to be specifically Chinese: Moonlight Boba in Pinellas Park; and Pin on Grand in St. Pete’s Grand Central district.

MOONLIGHT BOBA

The little eatery with the romantic name is tucked away in a modernish building on US 19 just north of 62nd Avenue. We were the only customers at 6:45 on Monday.

Moonlight Boba’s interior is sparsely furnished with little in the way of overtly Asian design elements. The well-lit place has a service counter in the middle, with high-tops on one side and low-tops on the other. Our smiling, quick-witted counter person, Ella, a college student, called herself a “bobarista.” We spent most of our meal chatting with her.

I wanted to try three protein options — chicken, beef and pork — in my Hibachi Fried Rice. Because there was no combo price, this led to some tricky (and improvised) math — for a total of $19.98. Bonnie got Vegetable Fried Rice ($9). I also got a Mango-Strawberry Milktea with Honey Boba ($9.23). I’ll write a few words about my first boba drink at the end of the column.

Appearance

It never came up that we planned to dine in, so Ella brought out a stack of styrofoam to-go boxes in a bag. Bonnie grabbed a big spoon and crafted a photogenic bowl of fried rice. The above photo does not include large helpings of beef, pork and (especially) chicken that we portioned from the takeout box. The meal came with a container of creamy yum-yum sauce.

Taste and Texture

The rice clung together appropriately, not in clumps. The veggies — green beans, peas and carrots — were cut small. I wondered whether they’d been chopped up in-house or came from a frozen bag. (I didn’t ask.)

Of the meats, I liked the pork, while Bonnie preferred the beef, which reminded her of the type in Philly cheesesteaks. The chicken was chalky, and we ate little of it. The sauce was, in fact, pretty yummy, adding a subtle sweetness. The protein-to-rice ratio was far too tilted toward the meats, and we left quite a bit in the box.

In all, this was a solid portion of fried rice that I ate a good deal of. Bonnie easily finished her veggie version.

PIN ON GRAND

Thursday’s all-day rain had abated when we arrived at 6:30 under a dull white sky. The storefront’s only signage consisted of small, pink paper signs on the windows, and one on a tree out front, announcing “We’re Now Open.” Pin on Grand moved from a place farther east on Central to its new location in November.

Inside, the place was busier than we’d expected, with many of the tables in the two rooms occupied, mostly with young folks. We sat at a four-top next to the window in the east room with a low ceiling that had an ornate chrome design that somehow wasn’t distracting. Pin on Grand’s vast pan-Asian menu ranges from sushi to ramen to Pad Thai. I ordered Thai Fried Rice with beef, chicken and pork ($23).

Appearance

For starters, this fried rice arrived on a plate. The meats were interspersed with the rice and large pieces of carrot, cucumber, broccoli, onion and tomato. The peas were smaller, as one would expect. In all, a more attractive presentation than most.

Taste and Texture

The rice was nice. It had a slightly more pronounced flavor than other versions I’ve had, although I’m at a loss how to describe it. Basil, maybe?

In a reversal from Moonlight Boba, the chicken was clearly the star protein here — thinly sliced but still moist. The pork was okay, and the beef was rubbery. I added a few sprinkles of soy sauce to to punch up the flavors.

And the Winner of the Fried Rice Fracas Is …

Pin on Grand.

This week’s fried rice lived up to its reputation, the one I outlined at the top of this column, although I wouldn’t consider our dishes cheap. That’s probably because I (ill-advisedly) ordered three proteins in each.

I’ll most likely continue to get the dish from time to time, but going forward I’m ordering vegetable fried rice.

About the Boba aka Bubble Tea:

It came in a tall plastic sippy cup with a wide straw. Dark round globules gathered at the bottom — pieces of tapioca. When I sipped, the pearls rushed into my mouth along with the fruity, creamy liquid. It made me smile and actually blurt, “tapioca!” in momentary delight.

These tapioca (there is no plural form, FYI) were bigger and chewier than the ones I’ve had in pudding, and after a bit I got a little weary of the jaw work, especialy seeing as I was consuming a beverage. At a certain point, I raised the straw above the pearls and concentrated on sucking in the sweet liquid, leaving leftovers piled on the bottom.

I’ve no doubt that our bobarista Ella concocted a fine bubble tea.

Will I return to boba-land? The jury’s out.