most opulent, over-the-top chinese food - possibly in the sg valley?

[chosungalbi]

i'm looking for something reminiscent of what they serve for chinese "whales"...the venetian's piaza club, the private dining room at the mansion at mgm grand...or the more high-end cantonese seafood places in hong kong...my personal favorite is yan toh heen at the kowloon intercontinental, formally the regent hotel.

i was wondering if such a place exists in the greater LA area. i've been to the san gabriel valley a number of times, and while some of its better-rated restaurants are quite authentic, they lack refinement. yes, you can a plethora of interesting dishes that aren't watered down to a western palette, but a lot of them are greasy. i also feel like the consistency in quality of those places varies because most of them are gigantic and service is poor.

so for the kind of place i'm looking for, not only does the cuisine have to be super authentic, but the food must taste clean, so to speak. freshness and attention to detail are a must. a laughably ornate atmosphere would be fun too (the way places in vegas and hong kong are superfluously gilded), but food is the most important.

basically, i want to go where the chinese equivalent of bill gates would go...if he were visiting los angeles.

[ipsedixit]

Unfortunately there is no Chinese equivalent of Urasawa in the SGV, or really anywhere else in the greater LA area.

As to where Bill Gates might go if he were in LA? Perhaps In-N-Out, based on this 60 Minutes interview ... http://cnettv.cnet.com/60-minutes-bil...

[monku]

Thought Gates and Buffett had McDonalds Gold cards.

[Sgee]

I think Sea Harbor probably most closely fits your description locally.

Although you really can't compare it to places in HK. I refused to eat dim sum after returning from a trip to HK, quality here pales in comparison, I eventually caved in after a few months of abstinence.

[chosungalbi]

i suppose i was being a tad silly...no, i'm not actually wondering where gates dines or where a chinese billionaire would go - it was a shitty analogy. i just meant, please direct me to an upscale place, but like, laughably upscale...the way the standard seems to be for good chinese food in hk, vegas, and to a lesser extent, shanghai and beijing. if anyone's been there, they know what i'm talking about.

the user who talked about urasawa gets it...i'm looking for that kind of place, but chinese. i realize that that's not gonna happen, but the closer to that, the better. again, i'm looking for authenticity but also high quality ingredients, freshness, and lack of grease.

of the sg valley places, i've been to ocean star, empress harbor, mission 261, sea harbour, and lake spring. sea harbour was good but some of the food seemed carelessly prepared and over-sauced. ocean star, in my opinion, is a joke. lukewarm food, and some of the vegetables taste genuinely canned.

so with that...please, suggest away! :)

[Ernie]

I've never been there, but how about Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills?

[kevin]

there was a place that had a $500 bowl of soup, can't remember what restaurant it was though.

[Chandavkl]

That may have been the old Harbor Village. I imagine there are a number of places that would charge you $500 for a bowl of soup if you asked.

[kevin]

Ch-ch-ch-changes
Jonathan Gold
Published on June 22, 2006

Judging from its menu, 12 Dishes of Basho — yet another mini-mall storefront in San Gabriel — was probably the most ambitious Sichuan restaurant ever to open in the Los Angeles area, a refined kitchen specializing in the haute cuisine of the region. But as wonderful as it may well have been, there are apparently a finite number of locals willing to pay $600 for a bowl of shark’s fin–turtle soup, no matter how exquisite. By the time I finally made it to the restaurant last week, the owner had changed it into a hot-pot joint — all-you-can-eat, $12 a head — called Tan Yu Tou. If you’ve ever been to a hot-pot restaurant, you know the drill. You tick off the meats and vegetables you’d like from a long checklist, a waitress sets a bifurcated boiling pot in the middle of the table, and you dunk chrysanthemum leaves and shaved lamb and mushrooms and beef tendon into either a fiery, complexly herbal red broth or a somewhat milder white broth until you are full. Tan Yu Tou’s red broth is a mean little animal, hotter than sin, resisting even the healing powers of cold Taiwan beer. An hour with the broth will have you sweating as if you have just finished a marathon. Tan Yu Tou, 529 E. Valley Blvd., No. 168, San Gabriel, (626) 280- 8909.

—Jonathan Gold

[mc michael]

Haven't been to Mission 261 but it looks interesting.

[Chandavkl]

Mission 261 closed for remodeling and expansion this past spring. Then they got in a fight with local preservationists over the character of the redevelopment, so the restaurant hasn't been able to reopen. One of the Hounds reported, however, that they temporarily relocated their kitchen to Empress Harbor.

[mc michael]

Thanks for the word.

[J.L.]

Most larger Chinese restaurants offering set banquet menus have different grades of food options.

For example, when we went to Elite in Monterey Park for dim sum last time, I noticed they also offered 7 different set dinner banquet menus, priced at (per table) $398, $488, $588, $688, $888 (most auspicious), $1688, and the "Gold Medal Winner" menu: $2288...

What does $2288 per table buy you? Here is the menu:

1. Roasted suckling pig with pate foie gras
2. Mixed supreme mushroom & bamboo pitch with special sauce
3. Elite pan fried lobster two style
4. pan fried king's clams & sea cucumber
5. House special shark's fin with crab meat
6. House abalone with special sauce
7. Steam fish with ginseng rice soup
8. Mixed vegetable with fish soup
9. Fried rice with crab meat & minced vegetables
10. Golden cream bird's nest
11. House pastries

Assuming a table of 10, each person eats for a price of $228.80 (I assume tip is included, given a party that large).

Hope this helps.