Good Chinese Restaurants on the Wane?

[John in Covina]

Hi All!

Well, it seems to me that here in the LA area there is an invasion of mediocre to bad Chinese restaurants and the good neighborhood Chinese Restaurant is being pushed out.

While the vintage Chinese Restaurant tended to be a local "Chop Suey" or Chow Mein joint, everything was cooked to order and they had some really good stuff to pick from. If you were lucky it was a fairly authentic presentation well made with great flavor, aroma and textures.

First off, Chinese food seems to be best when prepared to order but so many steam table joints have opened so you just don't know when the dish was made and how long it's been stewing in it's own juices. Crisp flavors are gone, soggy egrolls prevail and the freshness has suffered.

Secondly, when did it become fashionable to make everything with some type of overly SWEET sauce? I've have really great Mongolian beef but over time this dish has mutaded to a diabetic nightmare. It seems that the inital wow over Orange Chicken has made some places to believe that every dish had to be sweeter than the syrups at IHOP!

Poor cooking and bad steam table food is on the increase!

What do you think? Also if there is a local place that you think is really good please list it here.

While a Fusion place, I have been very happy with most dishes I have tried at PF Chang's.

http://www.pfchangs.com/location.shtml

 

[J.J. Gittes]

I can relate to you on the quality of Chinese food, it does seem that everything is comparable to Panda Express, the sauces on food are sweet enough to be desserts! I do know of a great place in Chinatown on Hill Street called Empress Pavillion, (988 N Hill St, Bamboo Plaza, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012). Excellent food, Authentic, not "American Chinese" food. No syrups either! *yucky*

 

[Carlisle Blues]

John the only way I can help is to tell you I cook and stir fry my own. That was only after getting fed up with the standard fare[huh]

 

[Red Diabla]

I'm a big fan of dim sum. I was first introduced to it by my husband at a dump called the Grandview Gardens in L.A.'s Chinatown. The owners torched the place, so we moved on to the aforementioned Empress Pavilion, was generally unsatisfied with that, and then found a hole-in-the-wall joint called ABC Seafood on Spring St. The ownership changed about seven years ago, and most of the staff moved down the block to CBS Seafood. I still go there.

When in Monterey Park, I'd go to NBC Seafood. However, the last time I was there a couple of months ago, the food wasn't as good as it used to be. I chalk it up to the mall it was in being totally torn down and redone, so I think they're losing money and therefore cutting costs on food.

For "regular" chinese food, I'll tolerate PF Chang's, but prefer the local L.A. chain Chin Chin. They have the BEST chicken salad EVER. Most other places I've liked in the past have changed their menus to the point where I don't like them anymore. Very frustrating.

RD

 

[Esme]

I am really cranky tonight.
Before you turn that paper in, it is "wane" as in waxing and waning, not wain, as in - hmmmm, wainscoting?

 

[BinkieBaumont]

Take a seat and Tell Binkie, your problems

Please dont sit on "Hunni"

 

[LizzieMaine]

The best Asian food I've ever had in my life was a place called the "Mongolian Bar-B-Q" on upper State Street in Santa Barbara, when I was living out there in the early eighties. You pick the meat, vegetables and sauce and hand your bowl over to the chef, who stir-fries it with a long sword on a big round sizzling-hot griddle. Fresh, hot, delicious, and very inexpensive.

I've never seen anyplace like this in the East, and I dearly miss it. It was the one thing I really liked about California.

On the other hand, the absolute worst Chinese food I've ever had in my life was in Los Angeles, at a place I've blessedly forgotten. Bland, flavorless, and insipid. I gave the container of leftovers to a bum on the sidewalk, and he sniffed it and threw it away.

 

[St.Ignatz]

We've been pretty lucky in the Philadelphia area. "Chinatown" in downtown philly Has a few Dim Sum restaurant that are worth the trip but a restaurant migration occurred that followed their clients to the burbs. Center city has Foo's (great) and a lot of corner glop on rice places. The burbs range from Yang Ming (fantastic), Margaret Quo's and her three clones, all great to glop on rice. The bigger the market the more room for mediocrity.

Reference to Quo's and Glop on rice should not be lumped together. Quo's are always outstanding.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

We have an overabundance of the lousy buffet Chinese restaurants, but there is still the China Garden on Peach Street in Erie, PA (right off of I-90). The owner, James Wu, is an artist. He doesnt put money into the decor but all of the ingredients are top notch. James hand makes everything...no sauce sitting around all day. The rest of the places get health dept citations all of the time but never James. He came from Taiwan and studied with the personal chef of Chang Kie-check. Man, I am making myself hungry.

 

[Feraud]

King Yum, Flushing NY.

 

[Wil Tam]

couple of places

The best Asian food I've ever had in my life was a place called the "Mongolian Bar-B-Q" on upper State Street in Santa Barbara, when I was living out there in the early eighties. You pick the meat, vegetables and sauce and hand your bowl over to the chef, who stir-fries it with a long sword on a big round sizzling-hot griddle. Fresh, hot, delicious, and very inexpensive.

I've never seen anyplace like this in the East, and I dearly miss it. It was the one thing I really liked about California.

On the other hand, the absolute worst Chinese food I've ever had in my life was in Los Angeles, at a place I've blessedly forgotten. Bland, flavorless, and insipid. I gave the container of leftovers to a bum on the sidewalk, and he sniffed it and threw it away.

A couple of places here in downtown NY has a set up like that but they serve the lunch crowd only -- buffet style fresh/raw food bar -- take what you want & add some par boiled noodles & the chef will cook it for you on a 5x5 round cooking surface or you can do it yourself, I think they charge by the pound.

There are some really good places here ... but my favorite joint is a Korean BBQ joint on Waverly Place with the Hibachi Tables, where you can cook whatever you order from the menu -- shrimp, strip steak, pork, chicken or lamb plus veggies.

Delish!

 

[pigeon toe]

John, you should try yelp.com! I am not a big Chinese food fan, so I don't know of any good restaurants, but I know some of my friends are big fans, so there has to be some good Chinese in LA!

Are you into other types of Asian cuisine? Some of my friends live in Koreatown and some of the restaurants there are to die for. It would definitely be worth the trek for you if you dig Korean!

One Chinese place I know of is Hop Louie in Chinatown! Don't go there for the food, though! Go there for the drinks and the crank bartender.

 

[John in Covina]

Yelped Out

John, you should try yelp.com!

***********
Funny you should say that, yesterday I did a little search and the Yelp list came up with this:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/din-tai-fung-dumpling-house-arcadia

I got to swing by in the mid afternoon and had some of the pork-shrimp dumplings as a late lunch. It was excellent. The maitre'de came and made a sauce with the fresh ginger, the vinegar and chili paste/oil to which I added some soy sauce.

 

[John in Covina]

As to other Asian cuisine: I have had good Korean BBQ, a variety of ok to great Thai, good Malaysian and I love Vietnamese Pho Soup!

Also if your down in Orange County there is a chain of sandwich shope names Lee's and those are in a Vietnamese style by using their version of really great French bread.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

As a general rule, I stay out of any sort of buffet service. I don't need to go to a restaurant to stand in line with my plate in my hand. How can that food possibly be up to par, especially from a cuisine that is designed to be served hot from the pan?

Also, any chain like P. F. Chang, I avoid like the plague. If the chef isn't sourcing his ingredients locally, then I am not interested in the restaurant. Also, I believe in supporting local establishments.

As for Chinese in Boston, the best place I have found, is Bernard's in the Chestnut Hill Mall. The food is outstanding because the ingredients are top-notch. There are some obsessive compulsive sous chefs in the kitchen! Also, Bernard is a very nice guy and an amazing host.

Golden Temple in Brookline has a wonderful reputation and it is deserved, but they are not up to Bernard's standards.

There are also some hidden gems, if you're interested in the real thing, and these are very foreign and very rustic. Victoria's on Comm Ave will serve you what the owners and wait staff are eating, which as you notice, is never what the western diners are eating. Also, in the food court of the Super 88 in Packard's Corner are some take-out places that serve the asian ex-pat and student communities at BU. This makes sense considering that the Super 88 is the go-to local grocery for this community.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

As a general rule, I stay out of any sort of buffet service. I don't need to go to a restaurant to stand in line with my plate in my hand. How can that food possibly be up to par, especially from a cuisine that is designed to be served hot from the pan?

Also, any chain like P. F. Chang, I avoid like the plague. If the chef isn't sourcing his ingredients locally, then I am not interested in the restaurant. Also, I believe in supporting local establishments.

As for Chinese in Boston, the best place I have found, is Bernard's in the Chestnut Hill Mall. The food is outstanding because the ingredients are top-notch. There are some obsessive compulsive sous chefs in the kitchen! Also, Bernard is a very nice guy and an amazing host.

Golden Temple in Brookline has a wonderful reputation and it is deserved, but they are not up to Bernard's standards.

There are also some hidden gems, if you're interested in the real thing, and these are very foreign and very rustic. Victoria's on Comm Ave will serve you what the owners and wait staff are eating, which as you notice, is never what the western diners are eating. Also, in the food court of the Super 88 in Packard's Corner are some take-out places that serve the asian ex-pat and student communities at BU. This makes sense considering that the Super 88 is the go-to local grocery for this community.

Try "Tom Can Cook" in Waltham. I like my cooking better, but, this place is fresh.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I have trouble finding "good" Chinese restaurants, too, but my situation's different. I don't like vegetables, and most Chinese food is chock full of them, so I don't eat Chinese food very often. I don't care for the battered and fried chicken most restaurants serve. I'd rather it was breaded and fried. Most people will be horrified to know that my favorite Chinese food is a regional variety only found in southwest Missouri.lol There is one restaurant here in town that serves something quite similar, though, and it's my go to place.

Brad

 

[Lefty]

Brad,
I've got a friend who's anti-veggie. When my wife and I, both vegetarian, go out to eat with him, waiters tend to get confused. lol

 

[DerMann]

There's a really great Chinese restaurant in town. It's rather small, and family run (as in the children bring you the food).

Great prices and amazing food.

I don't think that I could ever see American Chinese food as cuisine worthy of the descriptor 'gourmet,' but I thoroughly enjoy most of the Chinese restaurants, and it's usually pretty hard to find one that is bad.

Big chains like PF Changs and Pei Wei are great. Local places are usually better and offer a wider choice of foods.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Try "Tom Can Cook" in Waltham. I like my cooking better, but, this place is fresh.

I have an office in Waltham. I am going to have to find this place. Thanks.