Hot & Sour Soup in the San Jose area?

[tshuma]

I've got the mother of all classic nasty colds, starting with the traditional sore throat with implications of more to come, followed by congestion, sinus headaches, coughing, etc. I desperately want a good hot & sour soup in the Chinese Restaurant sense, and I've never yet found a restaurant that could scratch that itch since I've moved to the Bay Area. (I don't go to many Chinese restaurants, and when I do, I've always been varyingly disappointed by the hot and sour soups.)

I WANTS it, I does. Thus, I appeal to friend internets. Where in the San Jose area (including Campbell and even Santa Clara....Sunnyvale if that's the only one you know) can I get a good hot and sour soup? One with a decent pinch of white pepper and a decent glug of vinegar?

I must summon hot and sour soup. I must.

Comments

[chalepa-ta-kala.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Vegetarian House in San Jose? We used to get it there all the time.

[miss-emelia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was the only one I could think of right off myself as well. They're right on Santa Clara at 11th.

[tshuma]

I love that restaurant, but I've never tried their hot and sour soup. B's not partial to it, so we rarely order it when we're out.

Maybe I can make a field trip there tonight. I wonder if they're open on Mondays....

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

I wish I could help, but I've always had better luck making it on my own, haphazardly. Boil water. Add cabbage. Add thickener (if you have it) for that greasy feel. Add random vegetables. Add vinegar, add pepper (red, white, black). Be gentle with the vinegar, but if you add too much, just add more stuff.

Just the act of making the soup has helped me in the past, much less eating it.

[tshuma]

That much energy I do not have, also none of the basic ingredients. I've made it before, and it was decent, but too sick to have the energy to do any of that.

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

Ah. Good luck on the illness thing, then.

[miss-emelia.livejournal.com]

Why is it that Chinese in the bay area is so much more disappointing that Chinese food in Sac? That's just weird to me. But in Sac, I know several good places to go, and here it's always just kinda meh.

Oh, you might try Mandarin Gourmet. There's one in Cupertino off DeAnza and there's one in San Jose down near Oakridge Mall.

[tshuma]

Thanks, I might be up for a field trip tonight. I can't believe I've lived here this long and still haven't found this basic need.

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

The Chinese migration never really seemed to get a foothold in San Jose, at least not to the degree it did in SF or Sac. Mostly the Chinese immigrants were brought in to do manual labor jobs, and the associated areas, including restaurants, grew up out of a need to support them. San Jose was an agricultural community for a very long time, and depended more on a migratory exploitable class than on a permanent one. So while there's not really a lack of Chinese people in the area, most of them are recent transplants, without the same underlying infrastructure you find in SF.

That said, if you want Vietnamese food, you're in the right city... :-)

(And, I've never had their hot and sour soup, but I like Wonton House, in Santa Clara, on El Camino (just past Lafayette, before City Hall). The best part about them is that they're open until midnight, and they have menus in Chinese on the walls - always a good sign.)

[plantgirl.livejournal.com]

I hope you get more answers to this, because I have a cold, too, and as soon as I read this, the cravings hit hard.

Szechwan Cafe, on California in Palo Alto, has pretty good hot & sour, and there a few places in Mountain View that are okay, but that's out of your geographical range.
:(

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

I don't know any Chinese restaurants in the South Bay, so I can't be of help unless you want to drive up to Oakland (Hunan Village on Grand, just down from the Grand Lake Theatre, get the vegetarian H&S soup). It might be easier for people to recommend restaurants if you can describe how you've been disappointed by other hot&sour soups.

Pretty good and they aren't afraid to do spicy

[jd5p.livejournal.com]

Hunan Taste on 4 just south of the 880 overpass on the east side of the road.
We go there from time to time for lunch and their hot and sour isn't bad.
And here was a recommendation from a friend.
Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant
1001 Story Rd
San Jose, CA 95122

[euneeblic.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of China Stix, in the Mervyn's shopping center in Santa Clara, on El Camino.

[lotusstone.livejournal.com]

I have tried several in the greater San Jose area, and best so far I would have to agree with euneeblic with ChinaStix in Santa Clara. Not close to the best I have had, and I am still looking for a good sub. But if you are ever up in Arcata/Eureka area, Hunan Village in Arcata has a Hot-n-Sour that I would consider paying a few thousand dollars for the recipe.

Hope you find your fix.

[ianhess.livejournal.com]

By way of plantgirl...

There is a Mandarin Gourmet on De Anza 1 block north of Stevens Creek, in Cupertino. They have great hot and sour. Then again, I haven't had a thing on their menu that wasn't impeccable.

Their website ( http://www.themandaringourmet.com/OtherLocations.htm ) also mentions a location on Santa Teresa in San Jose.