Is the Chinese food in LA better than the Chinese food in the Bay Area?

In a word, yes.

There is no happy medium for Chinese eateries in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In the "authentic" restaurants, the ingredients are cheap and not-so-fresh and the hygiene level (filthy kitchens, leaking cardboard boxes stacked in the dining area) is unbelievably low. And shockingly, I've been served stale, almost crunchy, steamed rice on three of my last five visits to random "authentic" restaurants.

In the nicer restaurants, it is clean. Sure, the ingredients may be of higher quality. But I've got to put up with flaky (read: not sticky) steamed rice, or worse, brown rice. I don't need an egg roll with fluorescent red and tangy dipping sauce. I don't need a fortune cookie. I just want a tasty, inexpensive, quick meal that won't send me to the hospital.

I am generalizing, of course.

I grabbed lunch at Sam Woo in LA. It is one of a dozen in a chain (I know, I know). I got the satay shrimp lunch meal for about $7. It didn't come with soup, egg rolls, a fortune cookie, or a slice or two of orange. No, it was all I needed. The shrimp, onions, and green onions were all fresh and of the highest quality. The satay sauce was mild but distinct. The steamed rice was fluffy and sticky. What more could you ask for?

Satay beef picture source.