CNN article today

[jonesstonehaven]

I got an article today on the best 50 chinese restaurants in the US. The are organized by state and there are about eight in the Los Angeles are and environs. Below if the list. Wondered if you agreed on the LA area ones. I just the whole list as there pictures and comments why.
http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/eat...

[TonyC]

Written by a Jr. in NYU, from Arcadia.
http://www.usatodayeducate.com/staging/index.php/usa-today-collegiate-correspondents-spring-2012/clarissa-wei , who considers herself "American": http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/am... who's really into writing for free just to stack bylines on her CV.

CNNGo is a great place to look for some hip bites when you're traveling in Asia. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of teenybopper interns culling Yelp for traffic generating pieces.

What's the best part about this list? Hilarious commenters so upset by this sensationist fluff piece.

[MonsieurKnowItAll]

Dubious or not, I noticed this list is dotted with dirt-cheap restaurants that cost less than Olive Garden. You’d think “the best” restaurants are always more expensive (Le Bern, Providence, Urasawa), but this rule never applies when it comes to Chinese restaurants. In fact, the pricier the Chinese food, the crappier it tastes (Mr. Chow, WP24). Can someone please explain this paradox?

Why is there no Lung King Heen (Hong Kong) or Shang Palace (Paris) equivalent in LA?

[Johnny L]

Because LKH wouldn't make the money they do over there here simply because its fine dining and caters to the rich. Though San Marino and Arcadia have a high concentration of rich Asians it's too much of a risk whereas Hong Kong is a highly concentrated city with a continuous flow of international businessmen.

Maybe it could work but maybe it couldn't it'd be nice to see.

[J.L.]

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village, just opened, aims to fill that exact void, Monsieur...

[Servorg]

http://www.laweekly.com/2012-02-02/ea...

[ipsedixit]

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood isn't that much more expensive than Elite or Sea Harbour, and in many instances, less so.

Now, I'm just talking food. If you're talking interior decorations and garish waitstaff uniforms, then, yes, you're absolutely right.

[Servorg]

The photo I saw of the Abalone sticky rice with lotus leaf was certainly drool worthy...

[ipsedixit]

There are similar dishes at Mission 261 and Elite.

[Chandavkl]

Well, this listing is much better than, say, ABC7 Eyewitness News' Top 10 Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles, in that all the restaurants are authentically good. But to say these are top 50 and others not is ridiculous. I mean all four New York restaurants listed are in Manhattan Chinatown, which is not a hotbed of outstanding Chinese food. There's probably 50 places in Flushing better than the four places listed for New York (though Xi'an is also in Flushing and is not a bad choice). Likewise, in the Bay Area, Enjoy Vegetarian yes, but not Koi Palace or Yank Sing? Preposterous. Similarly in LA, Beijing Pie House and Class 302 in, but Elite out? All of the restaurants listed are worth eating at (with perhaps the exception of Joe's Shanghai in New York), but they're not the top 50 by any stretch.

[rasputina]

Ahhh, Joyful House in Vegas. That my husbands favorite place when we lived there.

[J.L.]

For those of you unfamiliar with cnngo.com, their recs are legit. In addition to Chowhound of course, I actually use cnngo.com as a trustaworthy source of info and go with their recs when I visit Asia and want to gorge.

cnngo.com led me to the original Jesse (JiShi) in Shanghai - A meal I will never forget.

[Sgee]

Any recs for JiShi? Off to Shanghai in a few weeks.

[J.L.]

(1) Ignore the newer JiShi locations - The original location is the only one I'd go to...

(2) Hope you have a reservation. Seriously. If not, you may not be able to get in. I made mine at least a month in advance. There's only like 8 tables in the entire joint.

(3) Quick-fried river shrimp (gotta get this), anything braised in brown sauce ("Old Grandmother's" pork with cuttlefish), tofu skin with spicy oil, yellow fish, Shanghai vegetable rice (instead of white rice). There was a soft-shell turtle at the next table which smelled incredible, but I did not reserve it ahead of time (Chowfail on my part). Hope you speak a bit of Mandarin or Shanghaiese (not critical but it certainly helps)...

(4) Any preparation of Shanghai hairy crab (not sure if it's still in season at this point). Yes, the crabs they serve come from Yangcheng Lake.

[Sgee]

Thanks for the rec. J.L, will try to see if I can get a reservation

[Johnny L]

Surprised at the lack of Americanized Chinese joints. It's actually a decent list for CA.

[A5 KOBE]

A Chinese list without Mr. Chow. Blasphemy!!!

[Peripatetic]

To their credit, the selections range from decent (Savoy, DTF) to excellent (Can Tang, Sea Harbour). No Chef Chow or anything else west of the 110 for that matter.

[matikin9]

I'd say all the LA area ones are definitely solid for good Chinese food, and it's a nice mix of different types of establishments too.

[ns1]

Seems decent - like they actually had someone do research on real chinese