Sorry, this is an incredibly old post I wish I’d seen earlier. Before COVID, particularly around '17-'19, there were a couple services that delivered food from SGV to both USC and UCLA at campus drop-off points at specific times. They were able to do so at an inexpensive price based on sheer quantity from bulk orders. Chef Town was one of the bigger names/apps. (Just looked at it on my phone for the first time in years, and the app was removed from the store.) You had to be able to speak Mandarin, or fake it, to order. A lot of coordination was done over WeChat.
Qin in Westwood operated (still operates?) a completely separate menu from their usual offerings strictly for drop-off at UCLA. FAR better and varying options (i.e., non-noodle) than what they served at their brick-and-mortar. I talked to a few people behind the counter and, while they were impressed I found out about it, I couldn’t get on that list because I didn’t speak the language. (If I recall correctly, Kato originally started out as that service before Yao took the space over from his parents?)
Only way I found out was seeing long lines of exchange students lined up on campus and working up the nerve to ask strangers what they were waiting for. Fantuan seems like the obvious answer these days, even from SGV to West LA, but I’m sure those semi-underground services still operate if you’re in the community. It is very much a word of mouth thing, and I am 100% disconnected since I’m work-from-home and rarely on campus these days.
Thanks for the update. I know one of the delivery services was called ToGo626, but they operated on an a la carte basis and affiliated with San Gabriel Valley restaurants such as Beijing Pie House to deliver anywhere, including USC, UCLA and UCI, for a delivery fee of about $1 per mile.
What you describe sounds like the same arrangement as developed on Wall Street In Manhattan called Yunbanbao, which started around 2018 and was written up by the Wall Street journal and has since expanded to the entire New York metro area. Even the same puzzling lines of people!
Best laid plans huh? I went down to Santa Ana for work and then had to RACE back to the office because… #broadcastlyfe So I never got to Little Pan. UNTIL… I heard the news that open was opening up right by USC!!
As we have seen on this Post, USC has a fair amount of Chinese Offerings now, the Truck, Northern Cafe, Qin West. It’s super easy to get to from Campus to Pine and Crane in DTLA, I’ve often gone there to pick up lunch to follow a student back on the train… But this one is super close to campus and right across from Exposition Park. For me it’s a short walk from the train as well. Could not wait to hit it up!
It’s a very small restaurant with a menu dedicated to dumplings/buns and snacks. It’s neat and tidy with plenty of condiments to add whether you are getting bao or beef rolls.
For me, I got Bao combo with smashed cucumber salad. I love cucumber salad and the portion was hefty!. I didn’t realize that you had a choice of regular size and mini bao. I assumed they were all Mini, so when I got my order home… I was suprised at how big they were!
I look forward to trying their actual Mini Bao and other items like Congee and Beef bowls. They seemed to be doing a good business the time I was there (despite the school being on break and it being almost 90 that day) so I hope they do well and attract other awesome Chinese spots!
