That’s a great roundup of the Hunan places.
One of my favorite places is the relative newcomer Easterly 眷湘 in Santa Clara, which is slated to open 2 more branches in Cupertino and Fremont. One of the dishes “meatball soup” is done excellently as the pork meatball is soft and without any bad pork smell. It is one of the best versions I’ve tried.
The other favorites are the original “Shao Mountain 韶山” related restaurants Hunan Impression and Ping’s Bistro. One other place in N. SJ called Bai Xing Jia 百姓家 is also pretty good.
Love My Buns is so-so on the dumplings but good on the Gobuli 狗不理 baozi. It is also one of the very few Chinese restaurant that actually servers breakfast and opens at 9am.
As far as the dry pots 乾鍋，my favorite is the Sizzling Gourmet 九味鍋王 in Cupertino。But one of the first dry pot places in bay area, Fremont’s General Pot 郭將軍 is still good.
