perhaps mai szechuan would make an appropriate response to hu’s szechwan.
It’s a bucolic Sichuan joint run by a curmudgeonly old-timer from prelapsarian days of yore.
1 Like
Thanks man.
At one time it was the best Chinese option on the entire Westside.
2 Likes
Thank you chandavkl.
While the SGV need not worry, the food is still good at Hu’s, nice spicy wontons, better than average KPC and twice-cooked pork.
1 Like
I have a chef friend who loves that place. Only been once myself. Small family owned place that has been around forever. Don’t know enough to comment on the food myself
love that!
1 Like
Going back maybe 40 years ago I had a Chinese client who lived in Malibu and every time he came into our Century City office he’d drop by there and also rave about the food. Prior to 1970 there wasn’t any non-Cantonese Chinese food on the Westside (or for that matter, anywhere in LA) except for Twin Dragon. Then in the 1970s with the change in immigration laws, the faux Szechuan/Hunan craze radiated out of New York and swept across the country, and I presume Hu’s Szechuan was part of this movement. It was strictly geared to non-Chinese diners as Chinese diners were few on the Westside, but the cook had a nice touch and we even used them to cater some of our meetings over the years.
3 Likes
Your historical perspectives are much appreciated! Speaking of non-Cantonese: For how many years did Hunan Tasty (or was it Hunan Taste?) operate on the corner of Olympic & San Vicente?
And how do you like the food from Hu’s these days? Strictly for nostalgia’s sake, or chow-worthy?
Do they do a good sweet and sour pork?
I’m thinking maybe 35 years, including the 2012 flip from Hunan Taste to Hunan Tasty, ending with the Fortune House replacement in 2017. Haven’t been to Hu’s in probably 15 years, nor do I have any interest in going back. First of all we had the 1990s openings of really good Westside Chinese restaurants starting with places like Royal Star, J R Seafood and VIP Harbor Seafood and going on from there. But on top of that, the way Chinese food evolves there’s little sense in going back to the past, best demonstrated by my experience with a restaurant called Kam Lok in SF Chinatown. It opened up in the late1970s at a time where SF Chinese food was way ahead of LA and Angelinos would make regular Chinese food runs to the Bay Area. My wife and I flew up one Saturday morning, ate lunch and dinner there, and then flew back that night, that’s how good the food was. Never went back again, though, because every subsequent visit to SF we’d hear about a new and better place opening up. But out of curiosity we went back 2 years ago. Walked into the restaurant and it was like walking into a time warp. Same setup, same menu, and as we found out, same owner/cook. Full of older diners which made me wonder if some of them were in the dining room my last visit 40 years previously. But the food wasn’t very good (and Mrs. Chandavkl scolded me for going back there). I’m sure it’s not that the cook lost his touch, but rather he just didn’t improve. And that’s also why I never went back to Hu’s.
5 Likes
Exactly @chandavkl
I grew up in NY in the 60’s and 70’s and we LOVED what we (naively) thought was Hunan and Szechuan food (from places like Hunan Balcony, Empire Szechuan West/East etc).
It wasn’t Mom and Dad’s Chinese food and it had some heat (unlike egg rolls, chop suey, chow mein, fried rice, shrimp w/ lobster sauce). Even though what we thought was heat really had nothing to do with real Hunan/Sichuan heat, it was all the rage.
Hu’s in Palms and Hunan Taste (not Tasty @J_L) on San Vicente were both very much in the same vein of those places.
2 Likes
Century Dragon is a Chinese “restaurant” on Pico near Overland. Passed it many times but never had any of its food. Also further west is Cheng Du.
Don’t even get me started on Hu’s. Back when I worked at the studios, my coworkers loved coming here. Needless to say, they were not Chinese. I would begrudgingly go, eager to escape from the office. It’s definitely like NY-style Chinese food, but if you want authentic Chinese, there are so many better options.
Thanks @chandavkl for mentioning Twin Dragon! My parents would bring me there when I was a little girl. There really weren’t very many options for Chinese back in those days.
1 Like
Thanks but I don’t think Century Dragon was there in the ‘60s and’70s (the timeframe I’m talking about).
Century Dragon (and I still don’t know why a Burbank Chinese restaurant would open up in WLA) is the sixth Chinese restaurant at that location, but the first one didn’t show up until the late 1980s. Cheng Du, however, was preceded by Chung King restaurant which I believe opened up in the early 1970s. And then further down on Pico was Viking’s Table, which might have been a smorgasboard restaurant in the 1970s, but which was definitely a Chinese buffet in the 1980s.
2 Likes
When I was in high school (1978~1981) we lived in Glendale and my family would often go to South Florida to visit my grandmother. We’d often take red eye flights and would stop at “Lotus West” at 10974 W. Pico Bl. for dinner on the way to the airport. Lotus West was the first place I’d ever had Kung Pao Chicken and to this day the best I’ve ever had. The place seemed, at least to a high school student, elegant with nice linen tablecloths. I remember being so disappointed when it closed. The same location reopened later as “Hop Li” and it seems to still be there. I’ve never eaten there, though (I haven’t lived in LA since 2007.)
8 Likes
Welcome to FTC!
2 Likes
Chandavki’s IG post today shows the entrance to Twin Dragon and tells me that IS what I was trying to recall back then. My experience there would have been in the mid-60s, so it was new then. I don’t remember the menu being much different from other places, but I do remember extremely attentive service…… like one time a server refilling water glasses every time we took a sip. Funny the things you recall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc-tX6CL6bt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
1 Like