While admittedly featuring nothing particularly groundbreaking on its menu, the flat-out excellent execution of the Chinese dishes at Canaan Restaurant in Artesia (near the border of Cerritos) is what makes the place a standout in an area riddled with Chinese and Taiwanese eateries.
The taste of the dishes (from varied regions of China) are sharp when they need to be, and clean when the dish demands it.
Spot on. This was our 4th visit to Canaan, and though we asked for pea tendrils on each prior visit, the server said the starting materials didn’t meet the chef’s standards in terms of freshness (much respect). Fourth time’s the charm apparently, and the dish certainly did not disappoint.
pardon my stupidtude, but is “canaan” a chinese word of some kind? or is there some relationship
between the biblical “canaan” and china i’m ignorant of?
i find the name of the restaurant interesting.
thanks.
M&T Flushing is gone (funny since that was the original location) as is the Flushing Liang’s Kitchen. A&J has a couple of DC area branches. Little Sheep is in NY and NJ. P.F. Chang would qualify if they served Chinese food.
Ate here last night, visiting from Oakland. We had a good meal. Nothing really stood out, but nothing was bad either. We used some of the pictures from this post to order.
Tea smoked duck was salty and smoky, almost like smoked BBQ ribs. I liked it. Served cold.
Xiao long bao were good but didn’t contain much (if any) broth
Crispy tofu was not on the main menu, but we were able to order it, and it was good. Tofu wasn’t super hot but outer shell was nice and crispy
Stir fried watercress was fine. Salt and pepper squid was decent. Stir fried rice cakes Shanghai style were very good.
Fried sesame bread was literally just deep fried bread. Didn’t see or taste any sesame.
I probably wouldn’t rush back, but it was a decent place and service was fast and friendly.
Pine and Crane has the best pea tendrils. Her parents grow them on their family farm, and they’re picked very young and tender. Same for the rest of the veg.
