Let Us Tour China

[Paliman]

When I was a kid my parents took us around the world by trying every ethnic restaurant they would find in Los Angeles. Now I am trying to do something similar by putting together a list of select references for a tour of the Chinese regions. I know I could search the board, but with the rate that restaurants close, and chefs move, that may not be too accurate. I would appreciate a list of the best restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley for each of the following regions:

Guangdong

Fujian

Hakka

Shandong

Islamic

Sichuan

Hunan

Yunnan

Shanghai

Jiangzhi

Thanks.

[Das Ubergeek]

You can have very good Sichuan AND Yunnan at Hacienda Heights' Yunnan Garden.

Islamic: China Islamic (though I prefer Mas Islamic Chinese in Anaheim)

Guangdong: Oh god take your pick of any of the seafood extravaganzas. Sea Harbour, for instance.

Fujian: No native Fujian as far as I know, but Temple City has Seafood Village which is Chaozhou (technically Guangdong province but adjacent to Fujian's Zhangzhou district). Occasionally you'll find a place that makes fotiaoqiang but there's a distinct lack of wine-cooked dishes and yeast-rice and suchlike.

Shanghai -- I'm not sure these days. I'd have said Green Village but it's closed. Maybe Mei Long?

[Professor Salt]

Anyone been to Lake Spring lately? It's been years since I"ve been, and I wonder how the Shanghai dowager is holding up.

[J.L.]

Mei Long Village is your best Shanghai bet.

[Ciao Bob]

I tend to agree, but I also like Chang's Garden for Shanghai cuisine.
I haven't been to lake Spring in years and I have heard great things about (but not been to) Gian Nan.

[Das Ubergeek]

I love Giang Nan but it is Jiangsu, which is akin but not twin to Shanghai cuisine. If you do go to Giang Nan, which is an excellent suggestion, I suggest hong-shao anything and their amazing chicken with chestnuts.

[Ciao Bob]

Thanks, DU...it is on my (rather long) SGV-to-do list!

[odub]

DUG: Isn't Green Village in Rowland Heights still open?

[Das Ubergeek]

I don't know. It was closed the last two times I went past but both times were on a Monday and it could just be that they're dark. They don't answer the phone but again most Chinese places in the SGV can't be bothered to answer the phone.

[ipsedixit]

Paliman,

Instead of listing the different regions, I think your idea might be better served by listing notable dishes of each region -- e.g. XLB (Shanghai), dumplings (Beijing), lamb (Islamic), etc.

It's really difficult to say that one restaurant is indicative of one regional type of cuisine. Take for example what you have listed as Guangdon (or Cantonese), lots and lots of restaurants in SGV will serve Cantonese type cuisine, but I wouldn't necessarily pigeon-hole them as purely a Cantonese restaurant.

And many aspects of Guandong food encompass Fujianese flavors and cooking techniques, so it's really rather hard to draw carefully delineated labels for Chinese restaurants.

[Chandavkl]

I know of no Hakka restaurants in the L.A. area. Despite the fact that Fujianese dominate New York Chinatown, and indeed probably run a large portion of the Chinese restaurants east of the Mississippi, all I can think of here is Foo Chow in Chinatown. (Many Fujianese are not documented and would have to bus their way here from New York, which is probably not worth the effort.) A few places do serve Fujianese fish balls, such as the restaurant upstairs from the Monterey Park Hong Kong Supermarket.