Good Chinese Food in San Diego? Village Kitchen Has Promise

Eater readers who bemoan the lack of great Chinese in San Diego, despite our proximity to the authentic Asian food enclaves of Orange County, are cautiously raving about Village Kitchen.

Recently opened in Clairemont Mesa, the newly-remodeled eatery specializes in dishes from the Hunan province in Southern China (see some of the restaurant's more popular plates on the mmm-yoso blog). It's spicy, employing fresh, dried and pickled chilies without the numbing heat of signature peppercorns from the Szechuan region. This kind of food begs for beer; thankfully a beer and wine license is forthcoming.

Village Kitchen's owners also run a Hunan restaurant in San Gabriel, called Dong Ting Chun; might we see more established Asian restaurants in Orange County looking to San Diego for expansion? Let's hope so.