365 Places to Eat

If I haven’t been to Mao’s Kitchen for a while, I crave it. Luckily, it’s so cheap that my addiction is easy to feed. I hesitate to call Chinese food healthy, but Mao’s does give the option to order most dishes vegan, vegetarian, or carnivore (shrimp/chicken/beef). I have been to Mao’s enough that I have sampled the entire menu and there are only one or two dishes that I wouldn’t rave about.

If two of you are dining start with a bowl of soup. I prefer the Hot and Sour Soup which varies in spiciness depending on the day. My partner in Mao’s dependency prefers the Peace Not War Wonton Soup which comes absolutely packed with goodies, including mushrooms, shrimp, chicken, zucchini, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, carrots & chicken wonton dumplings in a chicken or vegan broth. For the main dishes, especially the first time you go to Mao’s, sample the Orange Ginger Chicken (or beef), “lightly batter-fried slices of beef or chicken served in our renowned sauce of fresh oranges, fresh ginger, dried tangerine peel, green onions & Sichuan peppers, garnished with blanched broccoli” and order a side of Long Life Beans, which are succulent green beans braised with a black bean sauce.

If you are dining with three people, certainly add an appetizer and another entree. The Bamboo Steamer Dumplings are great for sharing and come with a delightfully tangy dipping sauce. If steamed dumplings aren’t your thing, the People’s Potstickers are a great alternative. Odds are that one of the three of you is into noodles. My favorite dish is the Bok Choy Over Chow Fun: “Wide rice-flour noodles, bok choy, bean sprouts, onion, tomato, green onion, shredded carrot & choice of protein - most popular street food in Canton Province.”

Don’t limit yourself to a party of three at Mao’s though, there are tables long enough to accommodate 10 or more (although your wait will increase, obviously). My absolute favorite dish at Mao’s is the Sichuan Eggplant, and while not everyone enjoys eggplant, most people I have introduced this dish to say the same thing. “I don’t normally like eggplant, but that is really good”.

As if the food wasn’t enough of a reason to go to Mao’s their drink policy is unbeatable. Basically, the rules are that there are no rules. You can bring in whatever you want; wine, beer, a group of Russians were sipping vodka next to me one time. There is no corkage fee and the servers have wine openers on hand.

Speaking of service, there was a time when we went to Mao’s specifically to be ignored. It was comical how long it took to get a server’s attention and dishes would come out at random times, rarely within five minutes of each other. That seems to have changed though. The last year or so has seen a marked improvement, so much so that I even commented to the owner as we were leaving that we had some great service.

Other reviews of Mao’s Kitchen:

• Eco-Vegan Gal
• Yo Venice
• Ann Merry’s Blog

Mao’s Kitchen
1512 PACIFIC AV
VENICE, CA 90291
310.581.8305
(Open until 3am)

Good, authentic Chinese food is not easy to come by on the Westside. When you don’t have time to make the drive all the way out to Alhambra though, you can find Hop Woo on the corner of Olympic and Sepulveda.

With whole roast ducks hanging in the window and crispy fried whole shrimp (shell and head on) on the menu, you know this isn’t a run of the mill Chinese takeout spot.

We eat in sometimes, we take out sometimes, and may have even done delivery. When you do go to Hop Woo be prepared for some parking challenges. The lot is impossibly small for the number of stores in the mini-mall and sometimes cars just double park. You can find street parking around the corner on Pontius, which is the street west of Sepulveda.

There are Hop Woo locations both in Chinatown and in Alhambra, but I haven’t been to them, so I don’t know how the Westside location compares.

Some of the hits on the menu are the soups, the Pepper Salted Shrimp, the Roast Duck, Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli), Snow Pea Leaves, Sesame Chicken, Braised String Beans (Hot!), or the Chow Fun noodles.

The first time we went with a couple of friends, we let the waiter do much of the ordering for us and it turned out great. Tried a couple dishes I wouldn’t normally have and learned about some of the food.

If you are having a party, you can also arrange to have Hop Woo fix you up with a whole suckling pig. They also have whole lobster specials which are really cheap.

Prices are pretty standard with most dishes between $8-$13 and portion sizes are generous.

Hop Woo
11110 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 575-3668

Big Wok used to be in Hermosa Beach, but they moved down the street a number of years ago and went from a one wok organization to two. The name stayed the same, however, it is not known as Big Woks.

If you have been to Mongolian BBQ before, nothing here will surprise you. There is a broad range of meats, including beef, chicken and lamb. All meat is frozen and thinly sliced, which helps it cook in concert with the other ingredients.

You move down the line, filling your bowl with the meats, veggies and noodles, then concocting your own sauce mixture from their different chili, garlic and lemon waters. I suggest making it hot!

The woks at Big Wok are in fact, big. Multiple chefs walk the ingredients around the Woks — flipping, moving and saucing the meat veggies and noodles with a watchful eye.

You can be sure that on a normal weekday, there will be many watchful eyes on the chefs. Big Wok is an economical way to grab a big lunch. It’s around $10 for all you can eat BBQ.

One of my favorite things about Big Wok is their sesame buns. They come out hot and somewhat chewy on the inside, with delicious flavor. Some people warn you about “filling up” on the bread, and to save room for the main event, but I think they are worth it.

Another entertaining aspect of Big Wok is to watch the seasoned customers. Some people have the bowl loading exercise down to a science. They eschew the normal order of ingredients and hit the meat first, to maximize, and finish with the noodles on top, using them as sort of a glue or weight to hold everything in the bowl. It’s a sight to see.

If you go during lunch, try to get there by 11:30 or after 1:30, otherwise you’re looking at a possible wait for both table and wok time.

Yelp Review

Big Wok
250 N Sepulveda Blvd
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
(310) 798-1155