OC’s Very best Spots to Consume 2020

Chinese food items in Orange County arrives in many guises, from the Beijing-motivated cooking at Peking in Westminster to the tongue-numbing, chili and peppercorn-laced scorching pots of Sichuan Impression in Tustin or Meizhou Dongpo in Irvine. In the meantime, there is a purveyor of American-fashion kung pao rooster and sweet-and-sour pork in just about each individual neighborhood. And even though Irvine is the epicenter of OC’s numerous Chinese food items universe, there are fantastic selections all about. These are the 10 finest Chinese restaurants of 2020. And fittingly for the pandemic era, all of these places also offer takeout or shipping.

1. Peking Restaurant

Anticipate the service to be bossy but sweet. Chef Jerry Chen’s Beijing-encouraged meals will come out quickly and very hot: beef-and-scallion pancakes, honey walnut shrimp, country rooster, pan-fried dumplings, and environmentally friendly beans with minced pork. 8566 Westminster Blvd., Westminster, 714-893-3020.

2. Din Tai Fung

Despite the fact that it was established in Taiwan in the 1950s, Californians have very long deemed this chain to be a person of our personal, and the locale at South Coast Plaza is conveniently a single of the brand’s swankiest outposts. Men and women cannot get plenty of of DTF’s Shanghai-style soup dumplings named xiao very long bao. The shumai dumplings are fantastic, also, as is the chicken noodle soup. South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, 714-549-3388, dintaifungusa.com

3. Meizhou Dongpo

Sichuan has grow to be the dominant theme in the neighborhood Chinese food items scene, and there is no better trafficker of mouth-numbing peppercorn and throat-searing chilies than Meizhou Dongpo. If you like it extremely-spicy, get the royal very hot pot — a boiling cauldron of shrimp, beef, mushrooms, quail eggs, lotus root and Spam. On the tamer aspect, the dan dan noodles are the most effective case in point of Sichuan street-style noodles in Orange County. 15363 Culver Travel, Irvine, 949-433-5686, meizhoudongpoca.com

4. J Zhou

Lunchtime here is wherever you’ll locate the greatest dim sum in O.C. The beef cheung entertaining (steamed rice paper roll) is outstanding. And you will not obtain far better sesame noodles than this big heap. Appear dinnertime, the menu shifts toward family-design and style feasts with choices this sort of as entire Peking duck, total soy-sauce chickens, roasted suckling pigs and additional. The District, 2601 Park Ave., Tustin, 714-258-8833, jzhouorientalcuisine.net

5. Sichuan Impact

Start off with the cumin toothpick lamb. Then move on to the “finger-licking spicy crab,” which comes with plastic gloves. The tea-smoked pork ribs are excellent, much too, buried beneath a flurry of fried garlic and dried pink chilies. And there’s nearly nothing a major bowl of Leshan-fashion beef soup will not overcome. 13816 Purple Hill Ave., Tustin, 714-505-9070, sichuanimpressions.com

6. Yang Ming Yard

The entrepreneurs shut their authentic cafe in Orange last year and moved to a more compact room (substantially considerably less extravagant) in Villa Park, opening suitable in advance of the pandemic hit. The menu nonetheless focuses on vintage California-style Chinese. The crispy Sichuan beef with broccoli is superb, as is the beef chow enjoyable. 17853 Santiago Blvd., Villa Park, 714-998-9500, yangminggarden.com

7. Ta Chen

The signal in the window promotion “Szechuan and Mandarin cuisine” predates the current Sichuan craze by 30 or 40 a long time, so do not appear here hunting for mouth-numbing heat. As a substitute, concentration on the property specialty “dry braised beef,” a sultry mix of sweet and savory with a skinny, practically-brittle texture in contrast to nearly anything you are going to obtain elsewhere. The mu shu pork rolls are as massive as burritos. 6082 Chapman Ave., Backyard garden Grove, 714-892-6994, tachenrestaurant.com

8. China Moon

No a person else arrives close to China Moon when it arrives to genuine, heartfelt hospitality, which is what actually sets this area aside. The kitchen area serves classic Taiwanese American delicacies – sesame rooster, salt-and-pepper calamari, crispy egg rolls with spicy mustard — that is far better than most. 30001 Town Middle Generate, Laguna Niguel, 949-249-6868, chinamoonrestaurant.com

9. A&J

Most people today know A&J as the position that would make the ideal Taiwanese beef noodle soup in Orange County. Pre-pandemic, people would stand in line for hours for this soup, even in summer months. Also, just as fantastic as the beef soup: Taiwanese dan dan noodles with peanut sauce and minced pork. 14805 Jeffrey Road, Irvine, 949-786-3585, aj-restaurant.com