Actually as we all know, New York Chinese food has trailed ours badly for a couple of decades. However, now New York can’t even say they’re ahead of us with regard to this regional style. But they’re still ahead of us for Fujianese food, 25 cent dumplings and some of the old style Cantonese (not referring to New York style Americanized food.)
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Manhattan is still ahead in terms of higher end fine dining, with places like Hao Noodle and Tea by Madame Zhu or La Chine.
They have bigger expense accounts. They can support Hakkasan. We can’t.
“We” continue to support Mr. Chow.
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Mr. Chow is a celebrity hangout, so we can support him. But with no major corporate headquarters in LA and nothing like Wall Street, that’s about it for us.
coincidence: thinking of trying shaanxi garden tomorrow for lunch.
The interesting thing about Hao Noodle is that it’s not really geared towards the Wall St / 5th ave / UES crowd but more towards the folks that have graduated from places like Fung-Tu and are now looking for something a bit more sophisticated and even more innovative.
I really enjoyed Xian Tasty’s wide handmade noodles.
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For those familiar w/ the restaurants Jim mentions (and perhaps @JThur01 himself will see this), are the lines long? When I’m in the SGV, I normally eat w/ my parents, and having them wait a long time (i.e., > 30 min) can be a bad idea for all sorts of reasons…
The biang biang looks and sounds awfully good…
No, even on a weekend night.
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FWIW i was at laoxi noodle house for lunch on a friday last month and every table was taken over the course of our meal. no one had to wait long for a table though. but i can’t say that’s indicative of their business at dinner.
I concur with ipse, it shouldn’t be a problem, unless I’ve suddenly been endowed with the Gold-effect 
Shaanxi Garden was busy, but not full for a Saturday dinner and Xi An Tasty was moderately busy but nowhere near full for lunch. Though, I usually eat more often during off-hours, so I have a chance to talk with someone from the restaurant.
Well, I don’t write the headlines, but that was the point, on how New Yorkers citing Xi’An Famous Foods are clueless. The comments on Facebook point out exactly how clueless, much like the comments you got when you wrote similarly of L.A.'s better Chinese scene.
Then again, when seeing the level of comments to the NY Times video piece: “Chop Suey’s Next Wave”, how can one expect anything other than more of the same, only more so? The real questions someone should ask them is: “Exactly why is it that you find it impossible to believe or give credit to Los Angeles for anything positive? …and what does that say about you?”
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I’ve had rou jia mo and biang biang mein as a kid here in Southern California. Waaayyyy before Bourdain/Xian Famous. SGV has always had a variety of Mainland food even when it was dominated by HK/Taiwan/Taiwan style Mainland cuisines.
Kinda weird article because the SGV I grew up in always had a variety
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I know that and you know that, but do they know that? Sigh! Many of the complaints are from clueless New Yorkers based on things like L.A. not having the proper “duck sauce” and the rest are from 626ers complaining that it’s nothing new. Again, I have to point out that writers rarely write their own headlines and there were some further edits too.
Another glimpse at the sausage making: Shaanxi Garden and Xi An Tasty were worth writing about as they are worthy additions to the SGV scene. However, there’s little new or different about their menus, which are standard, though well executed, Shaanxi-style fare. I didn’t want to portray that itself as new to the SGV, because it isn’t. I also didn’t want to duplicate Euno Lee’s piece for Eater LA. So, a different angle or approach was required. And, in this case, it’s one many New Yorkers and folks from the 626 were displeased with for completely opposite reasons.
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