I've lived in LA and visited San Francisco a few times. In both, we always went to "Chinatown" to eat. We had our favorite restaurants there and always had such wonderful, freshly cooked food. And this was over 30 years ago! I have no idea what it's like today in either city, but I miss what we had there as there is really only 1 good Chinese restaurant in my town today.

Chinatown in both SF and LA have the worst Chinese restaurants. In L.A., the best ones are in Monterey Park, and in SF the best ones are in the avenues.

I was born in Temple, Texas, which was started by the Santa Fe railroad in 1881 as a junction of the N/S line with an extension to the west, and there were a lot of Chinese workers who stayed there, and therefore there were some very good Chinese restaurants in Temple (and still are, I think) that I went to as a child. My favorite was The Golden Dragon. There were also Chinese-American students at my high school (Temple HS) (and church), and they had totally assimilated into the American culture, but the families kept the cuisines alive. It's very different now, but there are still good Chinese restaurants in Temple, as well as Thai and Japanese. Being close to Fort Hood helped, I think, but the Korean restaurants are pretty much only in Killeen, which is in the same county where I was born. There are a lot of Koreans in Killeen.

There are still three good restaurants in SF Chinatown*, but very few. The Chinese community that grew wealthy through education/RE moved outwards: first to the Avenues, then to the Peninsula, and are now also in the better parts of the EBay, both Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

In the 1980's due to the coming takeover of Hong Kong by Mainland China, there was an amazing renaissance of skilled chefs coming to SF to open restaurants. It not only revitalized the Cantonese food but was also the first time the regional cuisines began showing up: Sichuan, Shanghainese, and Hainan.

After two recessions those chefs sold out and/or retired. What little energy is left for moderate-priced restaurants in Northern CA/SFBA, is now mostly driven by SE Asians, Koreans, and the fusion mix; e.g., the ubiquitous "global cuisine" label.

Most of the Cantonese food in NorCA is cheap carp. I have to agree with Lars the dim sum scene is better now in SoCA than up here in NorCA.

* Those 3 good restaurants in SF Chinatown are:

- R&G Lounge, traditional moderate price

- Mr. Jiu's, upscale/expensive, updated Cantonese from owner/chef Brandon Jew

- Eight Tables, upscale/very expensive, prix fixe modernized Chinese from restaurateur George Chen

For me to go to a Chinese restaurant, I need to see two things:

1. There are many large fish tanks in the restaurant.

2. at least 65 % of the customers are Chinese.

dcarch

Ah, the Ratio. My kids know that one. When we go to a new Chinese place, they are counting heads and pronouncing on the Ratio. We count as 3:1 (three Chinese or part Chinese, one non - that'd be SWMBO who gets so irritated by Ratio talk that we have to give her another dumpling).

Fish tanks, depends on the cuisine.

Portland's Chinatown is almost dead. It was once the largest on the West Coast aside from San Francisco's. In the winter, when Chinese rail workers came to Portland as there was less railway work, the city was close to 25% Chinese. But like the other ethnic neighborhoods - the Little Italy, Germantown - the original Chinatown was targeted for urban renewal as property values rose. It moved once to another part of the downtown, then that area became run down and most of the Chinese businesses moved to the outskirts of the city. Today Chinatown is being targeted for more urban redevelopment while six miles east, in a long line of nondescript strip malls, the best Chinese food in Portland is found.

You all paint such a great picture of where you live/lived. Makes me want to come and visit again!

This too makes me want to try the restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. I've long heard about the growth of the restaurants down there. It unfortunately seems like the original locals may also be on the decline due to well-financed competition from well-known Chinese and Taiwanese chains that they cite (and in the related linked articles), but it sounds like new ones are always popping up as well.

In the Bay Area, I've noticed a small revival in the South and East Bay, as the latest wave of immigration growth has brought in more regional cuisines. And like LA, and as the author noted, there are overseas entrants opening branches (I do love the egg tarts at 85C), probably 5 years after LA. One of my former Shanghai-based colleagues, who was partially based in the US, however, would rate the food at R&G as good as anything in Shanghai. I proposed that quality of ingredients may be a contributing factor, and she agreed.

I would expect Chinese food in Australia to be good because of the proximity.

Video from the San Gabriel Valley. I need to go back there soon, but it's about an hour or so from where I live in west Los Angeles. I went there with a group a few years ago for dim sum, and we had to get there early (on a Sunday) as the restaurants get crowded. I think the menu was completely in Chinese, but mainly we just picked out dishes from rolling carts that passed by continuously. Fortunately, I went with a friend who could read Chinese.

As I said, my experience with "chinatowns" was over 30 years ago. I"m sure it's quite different now.

My favorite local Chinese restaurant is always filled with Chinese and has a separate menu for them - they want things that the American palate has little familiarity. Of course, anyone can order from either menu, I would not tackle the Chinese one without the guidance of a friend.

Here is one person's list of The 20 Essential San Gabriel Valley Restaurants with some good photos. This area is about 40 minutes from me, which is not too far, and I do visit some nurseries in that neighborhood for certain special plants.

There used to be a restaurant in Marina Del Rey called Oriental Seafood Restaurant that I liked a lot, and they did have a fish tank. I used to go there a lot when I lived in Venice, but it is no longer there. There was also a good Chinese restaurant down the street from me, where Abbot Kinney intersected Washington Blvd in Marina Del Rey, and we could walk to that, but it is also closed.

Fran Drescher (as The Nanny) would say that you can always tell how good a Chinese restaurant is by how many Jews are there, but their taste is different from authentic Chinese, I think. Marina Del Rey is more of a Jewish neighborhood than Chinese, and it has a Jewish community center on Washington close to where the Chinese restaurant used to be.

Here's another list that seems more expansive that just California. I didn't check but maybe some are on both lists. There are some amazing restaurants all around the country:

Best-Chinese-restaurants-in-America