With booming Chinese populations for over 50 years triggered by the end of the United States' restrictions on Chinese operations, one might expect many Chinese restaurants to have operations in both cities. But indeed, independently operated Chinese eateries with locations in both San Francisco and Los Angeles have been a real rarity over the years.
As a result, as the locus of better Chinese food has shifted over the years from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the directional travel of citizens of one city seeking better Chinese food in their home areas has shifted. Not surprisingly, with San Francisco being the initial and dominant port of entry for Chinese migrants for over a century, was the unchallenged center of Chinese dining in America for almost 150 years. Indeed, many people still presume that San Francisco is still the Chinese food capital of the United States. Whereas Los Angeles residents used to fly or drive north to the Bay Area for the better food in the last century, like my wife and I did in 1980 when we flew to San Francisco one morning and had lunch and dinner at the Chinese restaurant du jour Kam Wah in Chinatown and then flew back, it's now NorCal folks now flying or driving south on Chinese culinary expeditions.
Kam Lok, San Francisco
My first recollection of a dual Chinatown operation was 40 years ago, when Chiu Chow Restaurant had locations in both Los Angeles and San Francisco Chinatown. But that didn't last for long. And 25 years ago, Pacific Heights’ Gourmet Carousel also had a large Los Angeles Chinatown location for a short while. I also remember both Chinatowns having a Kim Tar Restaurant, as well as more recently suburban branches and I vaguely remember San Francisco’s Golden Dragon having an affiliate down in Los Angeles with a different name. (It could have been Golden Palace, but at this stage my memory has failed me.)
In the 1990s, there was a restaurant called Silver Wing in Alhambra which shut down and moved to Cupertino. More recently Liang’s Kitchen opened up in Cupertino after operating a number of branches throughout the Los Angeles area (and even Flushing, New York) but all of those branches have closed--except the one in Cupertino. And Michelle’s Pancake House operated in Cupertino, San Gabriel and Industry, of which have also since faded into the night.
Currently there is a new crop of dual metro Chinese eateries. In 2017, Alhambra's Little Swan Cafe opened up a branch on Stockton Street in San Francisco Chinatown, with both still in operation. Meanwhile, San Francisco Chinatown's Fancy Wheat Field opened up its Green Wheat Field branch in 2018. Industry's Xian Kitchen opened up a branch in Milpitas in 2017 and another one in San Jose in 2021, though the latter has shut down. (There is also a Xian Kitchen in Louisville, but it serves Filipino food!!)
And just a few months ago, Rowland Ping's Bistro Together opened up in Hacienda Heights as the new San Gabriel Valley branch of the Ping's Bistro chain with locations in San Mateo, Cupertino and Fremont. (Rowland refers to the fact that they call this their Rowland Heights branch, even though it is not actually located in Rowland Heights. But what do you expect from NorCal folks?)
In the past few years though, with the advent of Chinese restaurant chains, operated by large overseas owned companies, there is a lot more shared dining operations between Northern and Southern California. But with probably over a thousand authentic Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, and perhaps a comparable number in the Bay Area, the commonality of Chinese restaurant operations in the two regions do not overlap in any meaningful degree, making the Chinese restaurant maps quite distinctive. And because of this, it makes prospects of living in San Francisco or Los Angeles and visiting the other more intriguing.
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