I think it’s a matter of recruitment. USC began aggressively courting international students years ago because that group pays full price. Originally, the largest group came from India, so large that a block of Indian businesses sprang up near the USC campus. With the coming of the Chinese students there were whispers that for additional amounts, you can hire somebody to take your classes for you, giving you more time to tool around town in your Lamborghini or Maserati. Similar charges relating to Chinese students at the University of Iowa were ultimately determined to be true.
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Having been an undergrad at both, I’d submit that Cal is more competitive than U of I, and it takes more than mere money to get into either.
FWIW when I went there it was Champaign-Urbana, not Urbana-Champaign. 
I wonder if they have libertarian propaganda on the walls at Mac Dog like at the place it is imitating. I’m guessing probably not.
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No. And it really wasn’t as much a ripoff of Top Dog as The Noble Frankfurter in SF was.
I frequented the northside Top Dog regularly in 1968-69. No propoganda on the walls then.
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And its replaced by Dumpling Garden. I haven’t been but I think they are related to the Kingdom of Dumpling and Dumpling Depot people.
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Have you been to Davis recently? There’s definitely more variety in Chinese cuisine though I really haven’t tried most of the places. They’re opening up a SweetHoney dessert last I saw around 3rd street…
Confirmed Dumpling Garden on Central/ Rengstoff is owned by the same dumpling empire.
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I haven’t been since 2015, and hadn’t seen any need to eat Chinese there since I moved to the SFBA years earlier. But I will change my priorities next time I stop in, probably this summer! I used to frequent Shanghai Town and Davis Noodle City.
Have any of the newer places appealed? If so, I’d be interested I hear on the Davis Chinese thread.
I’ve tried Chengdu Style 2 or 3 times. The last time I didn’t think it was that great and I thought the Berkeley place was better. Nevertheless I thought it was great that Davis was finally getting this kind of Chinese food.
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Yum Noodles and its Changsha food took over the Zen Taste space in Fremont
Jiangnan Delight opens in Fremont.
The Three Sheep serves sheep and Northern Chinese in Newark.
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HK Home Kitchen, a Hong Kong cafe, is now open in the former L&L Seafood place on San Pablo in El Cerrito. It’s run by the same people who previously ran Mac’s Wok and Jak’s Wok. The menu is eclectic, almost goofy, with Hong Kong Chinese dishes along with those that were probably developed during the British rule (pork chop with meat sauce over spaghetti, for example. Hyperbowler will be pleased to see that they have the pan-fried crisp noodles with seafood. All the dishes are under $12, most of them under $10, and all prices end with “.88”. Menu here: https://www.zmenu.com/hk-home-kitchen-el-cerrito-3-online-menu/
ETA: the online menu is truncated, and the fusion-y dishes are on the next pages.
ETA again: Here’s the menu from their former place, Mac’s Wok. HK’s is a few pages shorter.
https://www.zomato.com/el-cerrito-ca/new-macs-wok-el-cerrito/menu#tabtops
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Interesting story behind the 575 name. I don’t know how they found that story.
The Cloudland Rice Noodle people in Fremont will probably roll their eyes on the ingredients and the price, however.
Oh wow, they’re back in the bay area. Last time I had their food before Mac’s/Jak’s was actually in Old Sacramento (where the iShanghai currently resides).
Unfortunately, the story is untrue. The Flying Tigers were crack American fighter pilots who formed a voluntary unit of the Chinese Air Force. They never were involved in transport, which was handled by regular Army Air Force units.
My favorite food-related Flying Tigers story (which may even be true) is that they flew Hami melons from Xinjiang to Shanghai, to be served at the legendary Sun Ya Restaurant.
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I was a bit surprised when I read that story that if thousands died, why it wasn’t better known, like we hear about Pearl Harbor and the casualties.
There was a Herculean effort with cobbled-together resources, but it didn’t include the Flying Tigers. According to Wikipedia, 594 aircraft and 1,659 personnel were lost in the Burma airlift over a 3-1/2 year period.
The Flying Tigers knocked out 296 Japanese aircraft and only lost 14 pilots.
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Incidentally, I puzzled over the “575” as it isn’t mentioned in the story. It seems to refer to the menu, “Five Yunnan Signatures”, “Seven Appetizers & Small Dishes” and “Five Wheat Noodles.”
I’m a few weeks behind in updating the original post. Will get to it sometime…
- Aceking BBQ presumably related to the one in Newark, sets up shop on Clement, in the former location of SF-MLT
- Liang’s Kitchen (Milpitas) has closed. What’s replaced it?
- Dainty Dumpling (Cupertino) has closed.
- Fusion Pot (San Leandro) hot pot
- Dim Sum USA (Foster City) northern wheat treats
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This piece from Elena Kadvany suggests Dumpling Garden is operated by a first time restaurant owner, however…
On one of her high profile customers Tyra Banks:
“She was specifically looking for dumplings,” said owner Kenny Qiu.
Banks, wearing a grey sweatshirt and a leopard headscarf, ordered pork and shrimp dumplings, soup dumplings, popcorn chicken, sautéed pea shoots with garlic and cucumber salad, Qiu said. (She was with her family and young son.) She also bought frozen dumplings to take home with her.
Tyra Banks lives here? I’d say she ordered well.
