642864 Fri Aug 07 13:48:05 -0700 2009 27 2 Los Angeles Area 0 4926764 With all the new restaurants opening up in Culver City you'd think that at least one would serve decent Chinese food. Perhaps there is one but I've missed it. Does anybody know of one? Fri Aug 07 13:48:05 -0700 2009 177468 Baron 1 4926805 Finding one anywhere west of La Cienega has been talked and written so much about on this board, yet the consistent answer is not only no, but.... Fri Aug 07 13:56:18 -0700 2009 4926764 10359 carter 2 4926854 Believe me, the day an unqualifiably good Chinese restaurant hits anywhere near the Westside, everyone and their mother will be writing/blogging about it. So no, no decent Chinese in Culver. Fri Aug 07 14:14:40 -0700 2009 4926805 110491 odub 1 4926897 What about the place on Venice, east of Centinella, that is old school Chinese/American, take out only. I have heard that is very good, for what it is, not uber authentic but 50's Chinese/American. Fri Aug 07 14:30:42 -0700 2009 4926764 11279 Burger Boy 2 4926976 Hu Szechuan is good for byob orange chicken and the likes. Being from NorCal, I really can't say that there is any good Chinese west of the 5...When there is, it is bound to be a success. Fri Aug 07 14:59:37 -0700 2009 4926897 125536 luhkee 3 4927023 And anyone using orange chicken as a basis for judgment is automatically thrown out of court, and the discussion. Fri Aug 07 15:12:41 -0700 2009 4926976 10359 carter 2 4927144 Hu's Szechwan is indeed the best Chinese in the W.L.A. area, and it is just north of Culver City where National takes a 90 degree turn, just west of Motor. Good lunch special combos, that include a Chinese chicken salad as an intermediate course. Among the better kung pao chicken or shrimp I've had, and the eggplant, greenbeans, or twice-cooked pork are also tasty. It isn't SGV, but it is also 45 minutes closer to many of us. Fri Aug 07 16:02:47 -0700 2009 4926897 10855 nosh 3 4927615 Again - if we're using orange chicken, Chinese chicken salad and kung pao as baselines then I'd reiterate: no, there's still no good Chinese on the Westside. Personally, I like Hop Li for what it is - it's like the Chinese restaurants I grew up with in the 1970s and the food is decent...for what it is. But there is nothing on the WS that's the equivalent of what would be merely average in the SGV. And until we reach that basic level of parity... Fri Aug 07 19:24:44 -0700 2009 4927144 110491 odub 3 4927830 I have tried to like Hu's! I live real close to Hu's and have given it many tries but I think it is horrible. The only thing that I have found edible there is the sauteed asparagus. When I want decent chinese, I order take out from Fu's Palace. Fri Aug 07 21:38:54 -0700 2009 4927144 12521 Tari 4 4928815 Hu's is an insult to Szechwan Province, China, and Humanity itself Sat Aug 08 11:54:48 -0700 2009 4927830 17898 echoparkdirt 5 4928819 But how do you REALLY feel? Sat Aug 08 11:55:30 -0700 2009 4928815 110491 odub 1 4927622 Hop Woo on Olympic, just west of Sepulveda. Fri Aug 07 19:27:32 -0700 2009 4926764 64003 bulavinaka 2 4928817 That was where I went. Sat Aug 08 11:55:03 -0700 2009 4927622 17898 echoparkdirt 3 4928830 And...? Sat Aug 08 12:01:41 -0700 2009 4928817 64003 bulavinaka 4 4930699 And it satisfied the urge for food from China! The most acceptable choice on the Westside for Chinese, in my humble opinion. Unless there was a Hop Li right around there! Sun Aug 09 10:21:09 -0700 2009 4928830 17898 echoparkdirt 5 4930726 I've been to both and I find Hop Woo to be a better choice for me. However, I did notice a slip into the direction of mediocrity at Hop Woo on our last visit (about 1 1/2 months ago). Their "Chinese Only" specials are now included on their spiffyed-up lamintated menu that is full of pics. I noticed some of their items seemed a little dumbed down now as well. However, the dining room was full of Chinese - I'm assuming local - our table and one other were occupied by non-Chinese. The family directly next to us was enjoying some sharkfin soup - unheard of in the Westside. Sun Aug 09 10:33:12 -0700 2009 4930699 64003 bulavinaka 1 4927835 Yes, it's at the corner of Never and Fuhgeddaboudit, where Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, a rude New Yorker and a polite New Yorker are all at a four-way stop worrying about who goes first Sorry dude. BBQ Unlimited on Melrose and the 101 is really the only thing I could recommend west of the 101 between the 105 and the 101. Fri Aug 07 21:46:12 -0700 2009 4926764 10811 Das Ubergeek 2 4927840 True. The Chinese food is so far superior in the San Gabriel Valley that eating Chinese food in Los Angeles is like eating Mexican at Taco Bell. Fri Aug 07 21:48:54 -0700 2009 4927835 105839 aventinus 2 4928624 I tried to be good and do a site search and google before asking but can't find it. . Can you give me the actual address of corner of Never and Fuhgeddaboudit? I need to send many people to that corner. Sat Aug 08 10:15:33 -0700 2009 4927835 10746 Jase 1 4928330 Does anyone know if Gene Sing's still exists? Gene and his wife used to own and operate the Jefferson Bowl Coffee shop in the 70s and early 80s which had the best old school Cantonese dishes in Culver City especially his lo mein. They demolished the bowling alley and he opened his own Chinese restaurant somewhere on either Sawtelle or Centinela. I was just wondering if it's still there? Sat Aug 08 07:41:05 -0700 2009 4926764 116037 Clinton 2 4928342 I think Gene Sing used to be on Centinela just south of Washington, next to Paco's. It's now called now New Flavors. Sat Aug 08 07:49:16 -0700 2009 4928330 64003 bulavinaka 3 4928806 Yes, and New Flavors is a combination Chinese and Hawaiian restaurant, so you can probably pass on that one. Sat Aug 08 11:50:21 -0700 2009 4928342 10131 Chandavkl 4 4928855 I dont get it. Everyone on the Westside, including myself, would like to have a good Chinese restaurant nearby. Yet, as you point out, they open up but soon fail. I can remember Madam Wu's which was a real treat. We don't need a place that fancy, just a comfortable, clean restaurant with good service with a basic menu, maybe som dim sum. The Drunken Crab prabably wont last too long, so someone could pick up their lease for a song and a fortune cookie. There used to be a Chinese retaurant in that location that was fairly good. Plenty of parking. Sat Aug 08 12:19:15 -0700 2009 4928806 177468 Baron 5 4928900 I think the answer is that in actuality there aren't enough people on the Westside to support more than whatever already exists in Chinese food, i.e. the people on this board do not create the sufficient critical mass. It's not unusual to find that a favorite restaurant on the Chowhound board has gone out of business due to insufficient patronage, so support from Chowhounds isn't enough. For an authentic Chinese restaurant to survive on the Westside requires the patronage of the people on this board, plus enough local Chinese who live in the general area. (Note the wide swaths of geographic areas around Los Angeles which have zero in the way of authentic Chinese food due to the lack of Chinese residents, e.g., Hollywood, Los Feliz, mid-Wilshire, much of the San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita, etc.), . For many years I thought Royal Star in Santa Monica had that combination--good business at lunch and dinner, half Asian, half non-Asian clientele. But apparently they never made any money Sat Aug 08 12:35:11 -0700 2009 4928855 10131 Chandavkl 6 4929339 In that case, I think you'd need to open up some place like J&J south of Westwood and get a flock of UCLA students to give it a go + CH love + a J. Gold endorsement. Sat Aug 08 16:16:33 -0700 2009 4928900 110491 odub 6 4931147 Chandavkl has good points here, but added to them are the lack of chinese employees within a reasonable commuting distance and the much higher cost of occupancy, meaning rent, lack of good parking, much more expensive parking meters (can be a significant increase in total cost of a meal), etc. Sun Aug 09 14:05:03 -0700 2009 4928900 10359 carter 5 4932161 As Chandavkl mentioned above, part of the problem with maintaining an authentic Chinese restaurant on the Westside is the lack of critical mass of diners. The Chowhound community that appreciates and desires authentic Chinese cuisines represents probably 1% of 1% of the diners that go out for "Chinese food" -- whatever that term means. And as a friend of a Chinese restaurant in Culver City has often reminded me, it is very hard to recruit and keep Chinese employees -- most do not want to live on the Westside where a foot massage is few and far between and a good fried pork rice plate is no where to be found. Sun Aug 09 22:47:08 -0700 2009 4928855 11583 ipsedixit 1 4932212 Nope. Not gonna happen. I work in Culver and over the last 6 years have tried ALL of them as we are a big take-out office. I could not even find a decent won ton soup that does not taste like canned chicken soup with dehydrated pork fat. For Asian, stick with Japanese, Thai, Indian, or Pho. Mon Aug 10 00:07:58 -0700 2009 4926764 68093 wasabica