Hop Lee

Along with spots like Wo Hop and Hop Kee, Hop Lee is a Cantonese-American Chinatown classic. Of the three, Hop Lee has the least destination-worthy food, but there’s plenty to love about this cash-only place. The complimentary fried wonton strips, for example, and candy-apple-red blazers on the no-nonsense servers. Open since 1973, Hop Lee works for anything from a casual group dinner to a birthday celebration that involves a huge round table covered in bowls of wonton soup and plates of steaming honey walnut shrimp. Avoid the Sichuan dishes—the mapo tofu doesn't taste like much—and focus on seafood, like the whole steamed bass in salty, oily black bean sauce.

Food Rundown

Walnut Shrimp

You love mayo, right? Good. There’s lots of it here. These plump fried shrimp are doused in a thick, sweet mayo-heavy sauce. Always a solid choice.

photo credit: Bryan Kim

Roast Duck

The roast pork at Hop Lee is not our favorite. It’s a little too dry and chewy. The duck, on the other hand, is great. Gnaw on the bones until you get all the tender, juicy meat.