If you remember the thread on the predecessor board discussing the eastward movement over time of Chinese restaurants from the San Gabriel Valley, Chandavkl has now turned it into an article!
https://www.menuism.com/blog/40-year-eastward-march-chinese-food-los-angeles/
I really hope this expansion starts to go South from Chino Hills/Diamond Bar into North OC. There has been a huge influx of Asian (mostly Chinese) into Brea/Yorba Linda over the past 5 years.
Recent openings in Brea include Capital Noodle and Super Juicy Dumplings. Both are ok for a quick fix but I would generally rather drive an extra 15-30 minutes to Earthen, Elite, Chungdu Taste, etc…
I do think eventually there will be enough demand for other good Chinese places to open up in North OC. If anybody on the board knows an owner of a good Chinese restaurant looking for possible expansion tell them to look at North OC.
A corollary rule though is that areas immediately outside a dense Chinese community are overlooked because they are “close enough” to the large community. That explains historical voids of Chinese food in places like Glendale, Los Feliz and Silver Lake because they were close enough to Chinatown. Diamond Bar took the longest time to establish a critical mass of Chinese restaurants because it was close enough to Rowland Heights. And I think north OC is close enough to Diamond Bar that you may have the same effect.
You’ve probably forgotten more about Chinese food than I’ll ever know in 10 lifetimes…but I really hope you are wrong. Getting up the 57 and across the 60 on Mon through Fri rush hour for dinner is never happening.
Unfortunately you are probably right. We may get a few more come our way but I can’t imagine anything resembling Chino Hills unless they build a whole new plaza with 99 Ranch or H-Mart as an anchor.
Take Harbor or cut thru La Habra Heights
Still a nightmare to get West on Lambert or Imperial between 5 and 6:30. We’ve tried a few times and it took us like ~45 mins to get to Earthen. An hour + to anything in West SGV.
Based on the number of Asian faces in both my kids pre-K and pre-school classes I’m just going to continue wishfully hoping for Brea to open up 3-5 very solid Chinese places before 2020.
informative article.
my job was transferred from MP to brea. i hated the commute. it’s been 15 years (really?) but how about taking lambert to harbor up to the 60? it was probably 10 minutes longer but fairly reliable even on fridays.
I was on Lambert going west on Friday and it was packed. All of the roads in the area seem to be getting more crowded by the month.
ack. still better than 1.5 hours from lambert up the 57 to the 60 hopefully.
i tried brea canyon to fairway, to pathfinder, etc. it was nasty then, shouldn’t be surprised that it’s nastier now.
Talk to your city council person. The viability of establishing a restaurant scene has as much to do with demographics as it does with zoning and permitting, maybe more.