The last time I ate Chinese food in San Clemente was in the last century, and I don’t think at that time I would have believed that San Clemente would ever have edible Chinese food. However the world has changed, particularly in the past ten years and the improbable has now become commonplace. And San Clemente is one of these places. Long's Noodle in San Clemente serves a host of previously unthinkable dishes. How about pigs ears?
Beef bing? (Can't get either of these dishes anywhere near my house in Los Angeles.)
Beef rolls?
Spicy shrimp wonton?
Of course anytime you find authentic Chinese food you have to ask about the demographics, for few authentic Chinese restaurants can survive without geographically close Chinese diners, and San Clemente doesn't seem to fill the bill. However this question was eventually answered by looking at the restaurant ownership itself. As I have mentioned before, a significant (and wealthy) Chinese community has developed in Irvine, which has developed as a magnet for more new Chinese residents. In the past year, Irvine has had the greatest housing price appreciation of any city in the United States. As a result, many potential residents have been priced out of Irvine, and have spilled into neighboring communities. In view of this, the owners of Long's Noodles in San Clemente have started their own little regional empire. For about 10 years they have operated Long's Kitchen, a nondescript Hunan leaning restaurant located in the heart of Irvine. Then a couple of years ago they opened up Long's Noodles in the nearby city of Foothill Ranch, and now just a few months ago in San Clemente. Noteworthy is that this San Clemente location is in the northern part of San Clemente, proximate to some of the Irvine overflow areas, as opposed to the coastal downtown area of San Clemente (who remembers President Nixon's Western White House? Not around there.)
