David Chang Said The BEST CHINESE FOOD Is...WHERE?

David Chang just said that Las Vegas is the best food city in the world. Not only that, he said the best Chinese food in the country is in Las Vegas, and that was a controversial statement. Let's talk about it. Let's run the clip. Vegas has everything, man. And I am going to say this. I think Vegas is the best eating city in America. What does it not have? Off the strip, on the strip, it's got everything. It's got every fast food. Pizza's gotten better. It's got great seafood. I would say the Chinese food in America, the best Chinese food in America is in Las Vegas. It's got all the steak houses. Over the SUV? I would say yes. Oh my goodness. What a hot take. We're going to talk about what could be true about this. Obviously, we probably disagree with him, but make sure you like, subscribe, and turn on your notifications, Andrew, because we are about to get into some deep cut regional Chinese food talk. Also, check out Small La Sauce. This is not Chinese food from Las Vegas, but hopefully you can buy it in Las Vegas soon. Well, you can order it if you live in Las Vegas. But anyways, go on with the video. How can David Chang, as somebody who's respected in the food world, make a statement like this? Because he was violating on two ends, right? Saying that Las Vegas, which was, you know, up until the past 10 years, known as one of the worst food cities in America. I'm not saying, you know, they- Like big cities. You know what I mean? It was just about like buffets and stuff like that. I'm not saying over the past 10 years, there hasn't been a renaissance in Las Vegas. It's true. Like a lot of people are moving there. A lot of chefs are moving there. It's on a upward trajectory, but there's no way that it's better than places that have had Chinese people for like hundreds of years, right? Whether we're talking about Queens or like specifically the 626SGV, the entire Bay Area. I mean, you know, David, you know what the number one key ingredient is to having great Chinese restaurants, to having a lot of great Chinese restaurants? Do you know what it is? You have to have a lot of Chinese people. Now Vegas has an increasing Chinese population. That's true. And there's a lot of Chinese gamblers. But they don't have the amount of Chinese people that SGV has, which is multiple cities. Queens has Queens, New York or the Bay Area. So it doesn't really make sense to me. But, but David Chang is a renowned chef. So let's dive into what he might mean by it and our own opinions because we've spent time in Vegas, New York and LA. It is true that Las Vegas is the only city in America with a Ma 32. Ma 32 is a very expensive Hong Kong restaurant. What is it by like $200, $300 per person for fried rice? It's a pretty good Chinese restaurant. I don't even know if it's the greatest one in the world, but it's pretty good. Is it true that Vegas does cater to a higher end consumer though? Like, you know what I mean? Obviously people coming in to spend money, they might want good food. So I guess any new restaurant they do open up, there's probably like one Shanxi noodle spot. There's probably like barely even one of each region, but it's probably a good version of it. Yeah. But I think a lot of, I'm not saying food in Vegas isn't good. I'm just saying, I think it's overpriced. And if you're paying $250 for a Peking duck, it better be good. If I'm in anywhere in the world, if I'm in London, you paying $200 for a Peking duck, it better be good. Right. You're saying that there is good top end Chinese food in Las Vegas. Because I think Vegas, and here's my opinion, I think Vegas does attract a lot of the top chefs to open up a restaurant there. So you are going to get very high end food. I think the ceiling for food, I mean, listen, if the top Italian chef comes to Vegas and opens up a restaurant, you can bet the Italian food is pretty good. Does that count as good Italian food? If you're paying like $70 for a pasta dish? I don't know. I guess that still counts. But that doesn't mean that has the breadth of food, you know? Right, right, right. Anyway, I did some research, Andrew, into the Chinese restaurant scene in Las Vegas. Because at first I was just like, yo, David Chang is just talking crazy. And I had to see, is there anything to what he's saying? Okay, okay. So here we have the 16 essential Chinese restaurants in Las Vegas. Pop up that list. I did some Yelp searching. So it looks like they got a few high end spots, especially that opened up in the past five years. So here's the only thing I'll give David Chang, Andrew. Theoretically, if this arc that Las Vegas has been on improving its Asian food, or specifically Chinese food over the past five years, were to continue, then Las Vegas, theoretically, if they continued that arc and extrapolated it out, could be one of the best Chinese food cities in America. It could. And I think it will take some time. But because so many Chinese like to go to Las Vegas, more Chinese are moving to Las Vegas. Yeah, then you will have the populations and the desire for high end or really good Chinese food. But to say it's the best Chinese food, you can't just judge it off the top end restaurant. And first of all, you know, I mean, yeah, these restaurants are all really good. But obviously a lot of these other restaurants, like, man, you can find that in SGV. And also, come on, Andrew, Ping Pang Pong? You're saying Ping Pang Pong? That's not that good of a restaurant, guys. I ate there. I literally eaten at Mott 32 too. So anyway, let's just get into the comments section. Some people were mad at David Chang because he got famous in New York City. So a lot of people were like, bro, it's New York City and it's no competition. That is the best food city in the world. I mean, you're just like way off base here. And somebody said, this guy has really lost his way, man. He has become the Kanye of food opinions. Yeah, no, honestly, when it comes to SGV, guys, SGV might have the best Chinese food. I think it wins. I think it wins even over Queens, just Queens in general, but not by a lot. But I think it does beat it out. No, the food in 626 SGV, from Monterey Park to Roland Heights, the density is incredible. And we're just not even talking about Chinese food. We're talking about Chinese diasporic foods and all these other things. We're talking about an area that spans across, what, maybe like nine miles, 10 miles, 15 miles? I would say 20. I think it's 20 miles long. Especially if it ends at Diamond Bar and they're starting to be good restaurants in like Chino Hills and stuff. I mean, you're talking about Valley Boulevard. You can just keep driving on Valley or Las Tunas. Las Tunas will take you to the other end of SGV. Well, that's why you had to leave a comment, right? Yeah, so I said, there's no way that Vegas, there's absolutely no way that Vegas has the depth and diversity and the amount and the value of Chinese dishes as SGV or Queens or even the Bay area. But right, some of the top chefs, you're gonna get some good Chinese chefs. So there's gonna be certain dishes that are really good. But like I said, if you're paying $300 for Peking duck, I don't care if I'm in Dubai, if I'm in London, if I'm in Vegas or Nebraska, if you're paying $300 for Peking duck in Nebraska, it better be good. Right, somebody said, are you sure Las Vegas is the best food city in America? It's like the food court of America. And other people were like, yeah, I'm actually born and raised in Las Vegas. It's only 2.2 million people and pretty much all the good restaurants are three miles within the strip. So there's just no way this could possibly be true. Well, David, by calling it the food court of America, that's actually really funny because all the buffets that they have are kind of like food courts of the world too, right? Right, like even, what's it called? The raffle world? You know, the Asian one. It's the Asian hotel. Metropolitan? Oh, no, you're talking about the Malaysian, the hawker stall, yeah, the hawker stall. But I guess what I'm saying is like, does it count if it's like a Dubai type situation or a Vegas type situation where they open up the most popular chain from almost any state or any country and they open it up there? Does that count as it being a great food city or are you just taking on the best restaurants as a food court type thing? I don't know. Like, does that count? I don't know. It's like, I guess it's like, maybe that question is kind of hard to understand. Some people actually agreed with him. Davis remained consistent on his opinion for years. Love it. And the argument is solid. Someone said it's the best because they don't tolerate filth and crime and every chef is moving there. And then of course, other people were throwing their names in the hat. You know, New Orleans, people were chiming in being like, New Orleans is the best food city. I'll say this. New Orleans is a very good food city. But somebody said, yeah, you just have 5,000 restaurants with the same menu there though. I don't know how to judge the best food city, but I just, that's why we got to focus on the Chinese food because I understand how to judge people on the best Chinese food. And to me, David, the best Chinese food city has to have like a lot of Chinese restaurants. It has to have high and has to have low, like high end, low end Chinese food. And it has to have a diverse regional Chinese food. And that even has to have high end and low end of those regions. Like in 626, you can go to a cheap Dongbei spot, a medium tier one and an expensive Dongbei spot. Exactly, yeah. Somebody just said, man, this guy is just making hot takes to drive engagement. It's literally all marketing. And then somebody's saying, man, it's just because David Chang moved to Las Vegas and has a bunch of businesses there. Do you think he was trolling? Like, cause he knew that this was going to go viral, right? You know, I just think he figures that if he feels it and it's going to benefit him, it's not like the, he could have said worse things about Chinese food, I guess. Like, you know, it's not that bad, but I just think it did spark a debate. And I don't know what his argument is though. Like what's the rest of his argument? Why does it last? Other than like, I guess a lot of chefs are moving there. I guess if there is a Chongqing noodle spot like Mian in Las Vegas, it'll be like one of the higher end Chongqing noodle spot. Sure, David Chang also eats at a lot of nice restaurants. So I think like, to me, if you have to spend like a hundred dollars a person for Chinese food for these top end chefs, I guess, does that mean it's the best Chinese food? Like, I mean, really? Like if you have to overpay for stuff. Right, right, right. I don't know. Anyway, let's just a shout out to some of the spots in the 626, Andrew Boston Lobster or Newport Seafood. This Chew Chow style, it's a part Cambodian. It's part Vietnamese. It's part Chew Chow Chinese. Delicious. Bistro Naz, Andrew. Based off Beijing Imperial, like Emperor food, right? Savoy, Savoy is like the OG, probably like the best cheap spot in America, right? Yeah, really good. Uh, Lou's Garden. This is actually our mom's favorite spot. I love Lou's Garden, man. A lot of Joe, Chifan. I bet they don't have a Lou's Garden in Vegas. They don't? I don't think so. Because if you guys know about Lou's Garden, you basically get these hot dishes and then they give you a bunch of congee. Yeah. Ji Rong. Ji Rong is actually a high-end Dongbei spot in 626, Andrew. Mama Lou's is really like the best deal you can get. Right, right, right. In terms of just value per dollar, right? Roland Heights has a ton of Wagyu restaurants. I just don't know why there's so many Wagyu restaurants in Roland Heights. And then here's just a bunch of other spots that we threw in there because we can't get to everything. They don't got Chew Chow noodles in Vegas, man. Huay Tou Shang is incredible. Anyway, guys. Andrew, ultimately, you've commented on this post. I think Vegas Chinese food is getting better if that's what he's trying to say. Right. I think it's fair to say. Clearly, it's probably improving very quickly, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that in time, you're going to have more diverse Chinese restaurants there, Chinese products there. But it's just not there yet. Come on, man. How can it be? Like, it just doesn't make any sense. I don't... The math is not mathing, as they would say. Right. David, you were pretty mad about this statement. I mean, I guess in a way, if he was just trolling, then I guess it makes sense. But yeah, obviously, I just thought it was such a wrong statement. But like, you know, he is trying to get clicks on his podcast. And he got us talking. I'll be... I'll say this. Probably anything that opens up in Las Vegas now probably is like fairly clean and kind of expensive. Right. And it's less cheesy than it used to be, right? Because Las Vegas used to have this reputation that it was very much like, you know, like dreamland for like middle America. But now it's almost like America's Dubai. I could see in 15 or 10 to 15 years, this statement being more true. If all the top chefs continue to move and you happen to be rich yourself and you have all the money to spend, then there's probably going to be a lot of really good Chinese restaurants just all over. Right, right, right. Of different... Well, yeah, Ma's 32 is probably one of the best Chinese restaurants in America, in a way. Especially it's kind of like got that party, Hakkasan, Nobu vibe, but better food. Anyway, guys, let us know what you think in the comment section below. Do you agree, disagree? What was David Chang thinking? And let us know out of the three spots that have the best Chinese food, whether we're talking about the Bay Area, 626SGV or Queens, New York, how do you rank those three? I think Seattle is kind of a sleeper pick too. Houston as well. Anyway, let us know what you think. We encourage the debate. Until next time, we're the Hot Paw Boys. We out. Peace.