May Wah & a Memory Returned of Many Drunken Nights a Quarter-Century Ago

I was planning to get pizza after drinking for hours at the Dark Horse but someone sitting nearby mentioned that May Wah, a couple of blocks away, was the best Chinese food in Boulder. 

As you well know, I can't find good Chinese in Santa Fe (unless I make it myself), so I decided to walk there. 

It took me past this liquor store. I had not thought of this place in many years. 

25 years ago, there was a movie theater in town that held $2 movie nights one night of the week. (I think it was Tuesday but do not remember.) This liquor store would discount some of their flasks and tiny bottles of liquor that same night. 

This was not a coincidence. 

I think the flasks were $5 and the nips were 25 cents. 

Not surprisingly for a college town, there was usually a line out the door on those nights. 

And I would be willing to bet at least 90% of the people in the theater had alcohol in their pockets. 

(There was really no other reason to attend that theater. Or the liquor store, for that matter.) 

I almost went in, just for old times sake. But did not. 

(Unlike most of my debaucherous memories in Boulder, there are no fun ones from either the theater or this liquor store. It was just something I did because cute girls I liked were doing it, too.) 

Absolutely nothing exciting about this menu. 

And they don't serve beer. 

I started thinking maybe this was a mistake. 

The hot & sour soup was okay. 

And probably the best part of the meal. 

The crab & cream cheese wontons contained no crab. So they were cheese wontons. Which are good. But not worth 9 bucks. Not worth 3 bucks. 

I ordered the Szechuan shrimp, which I hoped would be fried. They were not. They were still decent, but nothing I couldn't make three times better. (And, as you can see, not very much shrimp.)

I was seriously bummed by the end of the meal. I fucking hate wasting meals like this on vacation. There are so many great restaurants in Boulder to which I could have gone. This was worse than most Asian restaurants in Santa Fe. 

But then something happened that brightened my day: 

This woman reached into her bag and pulled out a nip and then - without any discretion at all - threw it back. 

Now, I love this place.