"chinese restaurants" news and stories

Over the weekend, I begged for some advice about dim sum in the Bay Area, with only Yank Sing and Ton Kiang as names that I had from Michael Bauer's List of the Top 100 Bay Area restaurants. Thank you to all for your suggestions! However, I ended up at Yank Sing anyway because our host couldn't stop singing its praises. He warned me that there would be some of the traditional dim sum like shiu mai and chicken's feet, but there would also be what he called "gringo dim sum." I was worried, but the new-fangled "gringo dim sum" was just as good as the OG. The photo tour is after the jump...

I'm in San Francisco this weekend, and am having a serious dim sum craving. When I'm in LA, my dim sum options are very obvious to me: I can go for "pseudo" dim sum at VIP Harbor Seafood if I feel lazy and want to stay on the Westside, I can brave the one way streets of downtown and go to Empress Pavilion in Chinatown, or I can make the long haul along the I-10 freeway and go to any of the extraordinarily crowded, but always-worth-it, places in the San Gabriel Valley.

But here in the Bay Area, I am at a bit of a loss. While in school at Berkeley, I went to Yank Sing once or twice, but don't recall (it was a very long time ago). I've also heard/read that Ton Kiang is a popular place.

Are there some raves out there for dim sum in the Bay Area?

With LA's official Chinatown in downtown, and large Chinese populations in the San Gabriel Valley, Torrance, and the Rowland Heights area, there are options for Chinese food north, south, east, west, and central. Though Sunday, January 29, 2006 is the first day of the lunar new year, the celebration actually lasts for 15 days. What a great reason to have your fill of some dim sum all over LA!

Westside

• VIP Harbor Seafood, 11701 Wilshire Blvd (2nd floor), Los Angeles, CA
• (Both Royal Star Seafood and JR Seafood do not have dim sum)

South Bay

• Sea Empress, 1636 W Redondo Beach Blvd, Gardena, CA

Downtown

• ABC Seafood, 708 New High St, Los Angeles, CA
• Empress Pavilion, 988 N Hill St Ste 201, Los Angeles, CA
• Ocean Seafood, 747 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA

San Gabriel Valley

• 888 Seafood Restaurant 8450 Valley Blvd Ste 121, Rosemead, CA
• Capital Seafood , 8823 Garvey Ave, Rosemead, CA, (626) 572-8918
• Empress Harbor 111 N Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA
• Mission 261 261 S Mission Dr, San Gabriel, CA
• NBC Seafood 404 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA
• New Concept, 700 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA, (626) 282-6800
• Ocean Star 145 N Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA
• Sea Harbor 3939 Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead, Ca
• Triumphal Palace, 500 W Main St, Alhambra, CA (626) 308-3222

Eastside

• Hong Kong Palace, 19101 Colima Road, Rowland Heights, CA (626) 854-9829
• Sam Woo, 18922 Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA, (626) 913-9933
• New Capital, 1330 Fullerton Rd, Rowland Heights, CA (626) 581-9813