In his book, "Wonton Lust: Adventures in the Search of the World's Best Chinese Restaurant," (Kodansha Int'l, 1997) John Krich recommends Chef Chu's in Los Altos as being one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants in the world. Is this restaurant worthy of this high praise? Or more to the point, is it worth driving from Berkeley to eat there? I know that it features Northern style cooking. How expensive is it?
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Opinions on Chef Chu's in Los Altos?
Janet writes: >In his book, "Wonton Lust: Adventures in the Search of the World's Best >Chinese Restaurant," (Kodansha Int'l, 1997) John Krich recommends Chef Chu's >in Los Altos as being one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants in the world. >Is this restaurant worthy of this high praise? Or more to the point, is it >worth driving from Berkeley to eat there? I know that it features Northern >style cooking. How expensive is it? NOT worth a trip from Berzerkely, no way. It's better than most of its local competition -- the tea-smoked duck is mighty tasty -- and its prices are only a bit higher than other joints', but it *ain't* a top-40 place. Just my cranky opinion. Rage away, meg
Tak N. wrote: >In his book, "Wonton Lust: Adventures in the Search of the World's Best >Chinese Restaurant," (Kodansha Int'l, 1997) John Krich recommends Chef Chu's >in Los Altos as being one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants in the world. > >Is this restaurant worthy of this high praise? Or more to the point, is it >worth driving from Berkeley to eat there? I know that it features Northern >style cooking. How expensive is it? It's not even worth driving from Mountain View to Chef Chu's. The restaurant is horrible. I'm constantly embarrassed when our salespeople take customers there.
Only worth it if you have a banquet, it's like two restaurants wrapped in one. The English menu is for English-speaking people and reflects a mediocre-average lineup of competent dishes but far from noteworthy. But, if you're ordering a banquet, especially if Larry Chu is involved in the order, you will be exceedingly pleased with the meal. I'm not sure I would rank it in the top 40 in the world, perhaps in the top-40 outside of Asia, it's pretty good but I haven't experienced enough high-end Chinese restaurants, most of them of the moderately priced range. If you have a party to plan, this is the place to go, give Larry a per/person price and he will take care of the rest. You will not be disappointed. Tak N. wrote: > In his book, "Wonton Lust: Adventures in the Search of the World's Best > Chinese Restaurant," (Kodansha Int'l, 1997) John Krich recommends Chef Chu's > in Los Altos as being one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants in the world. > Is this restaurant worthy of this high praise? Or more to the point, is it > worth driving from Berkeley to eat there? I know that it features Northern > style cooking. How expensive is it?
Tak N. wrote: > In his book, "Wonton Lust: Adventures in the Search of the World's > Best Chinese Restaurant," (Kodansha Int'l, 1997) John Krich recommends > Chef Chu's in Los Altos as being one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants > in the world. > > Is this restaurant worthy of this high praise? No way. Thirty of the "top 40 Chinese restaurants in the world" are in the Pacific Rim (I'm thinking Japan and Taipei). Chef Chu's is in no way anywhere near to filling one of the other ten slots. I will take the time to very bluntly point out that no reservations are required at Chef Chu's and that it is actually quite easy to walk in without a reservation and be seated almost immediately. This is an impossibility at many popular restaurants that aren't even amongst the top 40 of the world. John Krich is a moron, conforming to the guidelines set forth in Umberto Eco's book "Foucault's Pendulum". > Or more to the point, is it worth driving from Berkeley to eat there? {Meaning: you are already skeptical of Mr. Krich's review}. Naahh. It might be worth it driving from Mountain View or Menlo Park, but definitely not Berkeley. It's not worth traveling more than 15-20 minutes to go to a restaurant of this caliber. S.
Mitch writes: >Have you ever been to a banquet at Chef Chu's? It's quite a different >experience, like eating at a different restaurant. Eating off the >English menu is pretty mundane. As a matter of fact, yes (I know, you were addressing Sean, not me, but you threw down the glove and I'm grabbing it up). I have eaten a fancy-schmancy banquet at Chef Chu's. Some of us were Chinese. And the Chinese were even more underwhelmed than the gwailo among us. Having been banquetized there, I *still* say that the tea-smoked duck is good but it ain't worth a trip from Berkeley, no how, no way. Rage away, meg
Someone wrote: > It's not even worth driving from Mountain View to Chef Chu's. > The restaurant is horrible. I'm constantly embarrassed when our > salespeople take customers there. THere seem to me to be two kinds of Chinese Restaurants in the US. One is the little hole in the wall with really great food, that you drag all your foody friends to, and the other is the fancy place that pays more to the decorator than the chef. Chef Chu's (and Ming's on Embarcadero in PA) seem to lean toward the latter. For all that, when I left Xerox PARC last fall my going away lunch was a banquet upstairs at Chef Chu's and it was pretty decent. I've heard that whatever Chef Chu's failings, they were one of the first restaurants in the bay area to start serving more-or-less authentic chinese food and helped pioneer the trend away from chop-suey/sweet&sour pork/fried rice houses and toward a widespread appreciation of the richness of Chinese regional cuisines. --berry
If you don't care about atmosphere and want some pretty good Cantonese food, go across the street to Treasure Pot (Behind Longs) in the motel complex. Much better for the price, especially the prix fix Chinese banquets. - Meg W. wrote: >Janet writes: >>In his book, "Wonton Lust: Adventures in the Search of the World's Best >>Chinese Restaurant," (Kodansha Int'l, 1997) John Krich recommends Chef Chu's >>in Los Altos as being one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants in the world. >>Is this restaurant worthy of this high praise? Or more to the point, is it >>worth driving from Berkeley to eat there? I know that it features Northern >>style cooking. How expensive is it? >NOT worth a trip from Berzerkely, no way. It's better >than most of its local competition -- the tea-smoked >duck is mighty tasty -- and its prices are only a bit >higher than other joints', but it *ain't* a top-40 place. >Just my cranky opinion. >Rage away, >meg >-- >[email removed] Comparatively Literate
Tak N. wrote: >In his book, "Wonton Lust: Adventures in the Search of the World's Best >Chinese Restaurant," (Kodansha Int'l, 1997) John Krich recommends Chef Chu's >in Los Altos as being one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants in the world. > >Is this restaurant worthy of this high praise? Or more to the point, is it >worth driving from Berkeley to eat there? I know that it features Northern >style cooking. How expensive is it? I'd consider it to be one of the top 40 Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area. Faint praise but then again, there are a LOT of chinese restaurants. Definitely not worth the trip from Berkeley. Chef Chu's was a leader and innovator in it's heyday (about 10-15 years duration, ending roughly 10 years ago?) and I still consider their food to be good chinese -- even the standard menu. It's 20-50% more expensive than your typical hole-in-the-wall place. I've never had the banquet but have heard from some non-ba.foodies that it can be good. The poster who considers it "horrible" must be on crack. This is a respectable, classy restaurant with fairly typical but tasty chinese food -- not at all adventurous (these days) -- but its quality & preparation are fine. So, I'd suggest you check out the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae instead. Or if you're just in the mood to explore some south bay & peninsula restaurants, start in Palo Alto -- both Evvia (greek) and Spago's (umm.. california continental?) are great. Allan
On Sat, 7 Mar 1998, Mitch S. wrote: > I have never been disappointed with the Hong Kong Flower Lounge > but I have heard massive numbers of complaints about the service, > which can be a bit poor. But then, poor service is a mark of a > good restaurant in Hong Kong according to some of my friends > who came from there. Poor service has never bothered me, perhaps > because I was a busboy when I was in High School and I know > how hard it is working in restaurants. Aw, Mitch, did you have to bring up the Flower Lounge? I feel the same way about it as you feel about Chef Chu's. I've had a half-dozen meals there over the years because friends have dragged me there. The Millbrae Hong Kong Flower Lounge sucks big white balls of plumber's putty. I just can't figure what anyone likes about it. But then, according to you _no_ Japanese food here can begin to compare with the most pedestrian fare in a greasy-spoon in Japan.... Oh, well. Hunan Homes, down the street from Chef Chu's Kaimuki or Suzu-you in San Mateo. Ganko for sushi in San Carlos (but you said you weren't impressed. Oh, please...) Ex-Kyotoite --------------------------------------------------- If you're not outraged, you aren't paying attention. ---------------------------------------------------