Little Hong Kong in El Cerrito rocks.  Who knew?  Certainly not we two.  Little Hong Kong (10443 San Pablo Avenue) sits on a stretch of San Pablo in El Cerrito with some terrible Chinese restaurants and we assumed the worst.   When I say “terrible” I mean dinosaur American-Cantonese terrible.  And, no, I did not steal the expression “dinosaur X” from Anthony Bourdain.  I have been saying and writing this for years.  Anyhoo, LHK was packed, and we were crammed into a nice little corner and brought a menu.  The lunch special here is listed at three friggin’ ninety five!  While they have some Americanized selections, they have lots of the real deal.  This is not one of those bad places like the monstrosity up the avenue with all the dragons outside — where the Albany bowling league ladies eat.  Forgive me for ragging on my mother’s bowling companions, but know that I held back so many times I deserve to use them as a negative example just once.  What turned the tide for me was one woman recently telling my Mom that Matthew would have a hard time finding anything good to eat in Hong Kong.  Sorry, but that took me over the top.  Oh, yes, Little Hong Kong, sorry.  This is a solid place to have a meal, though the service could have been a little better, but then again they deserved a pass because of the lunchaday throngs.  We got more than enough food for $3.95 and $4.95, respectively, and it was hot and fresh.  I had the curry chicken, but should not have because I never like any curry chicken as much as I do at Macau Cafe or even Daimo, but I felt like something hot.  It was tasty but had no potatoes, and I like potatoes.  Matt had the beef chow fun, which was excellent.  I am sorry it took us so long to figure this place out.  It’s solid for lunch.

We finally made it to Hunan Villa in Pinole for lunch.  We figured it should be good since it’s owned by the same people who own the Pear Street Bistro.  It’s in one of those yucky strip malls and looks kind of dead from the outside, but once you step in you know right away it’s connected to Pear Street what with the stained concrete with circular design and funky loft ceiling.  The menu is not overly long and we quickly selected one chicken with black bean sauce lunch special, one lettuce wraps with chicken and the sampler plate.  The served us tea in an iron tea pot, which was a nice touch.  The sampler plate had some chicken skewers, cigar shrimp, BBQ pork and spring rolls.  I find that this kind of appetizer plate is usually a blight upon the earth, but it was very, very good at Hunan Villa.  What a pleasant surprise!  The chicken skewers had large, moist chicken chunks that were crispy on the outside.  The shrimp were wrapped in a bit of phyllo and deep fried, and the roast pork was the kind with the red edges — but moist and flavorful and not dry and gray like it often is.  The spring rolls were tasty little suckers, too.  The sampler was served with a quartet of sauces:  hot mustard, sweet sauce, hot sauce, hot and sweet sauce.  Sweet.  My lettuce wraps dish was a mixture of chicken, mushrooms and other veggies served with a stack of romaine lettuce leaves and a dipping sauce akin to hoisin.  The chicken mixture was moist, which I liked because it stayed in the lettuce, though my guess is that most people would prefer it to be a little dryer.  My eating companion, Matthew, said the black bean sauce chicken was good and that he was able to detect the pungency of the beans.  Service was friendly and prompt.  We will return, even if it means driving miles up San Pablo Avenue.  $31 before tip.

Tried Great Szechwan in Pacific East Mall and it was good.  Great Szechwan (3288 Pierce Street, Richmond)  took over the space that was formerly Shanghai Gourmet, thank God, since that place had gone downhill the last year or so.  To be totally honest with you, Great Szechwan has to be good to compete with China Village in Albany, which is seriously kick-ass.  It does seem to be, from the meal we had.  In fact, a couple of the items we ordered were dead ringers for dishes served at China Village.  I’ll have to look into this.  If anyone knows of a connection, like a stolen chef, please let me know.  For example, we ordered the ‘bacon cut’ pork (read:  pork belly) with spicy garlic sauce appetizer at Great Szechwan.  It arrived in a ring pattern loaded with sauce just like the other guys serve it.  This is a great little starter but it’s not for everyone, since it is more or less cold, uncooked, unsmoked sliced bacon served with a heavy garlic-chili sauce with significant heat.  If you eat this with hot rice, like I do, the fat in the pork will soften and render a nice mouthful.  The dry cooked pork intestines came next.  Again with the deja vu.  Blisteringly hot and complex in flavor, but you have to appreciate the texture of innards to like the dish.  Great Szechwan is clearly very good and they have a large menu with offerings from other regions, so if you don’t like heat, you’ll be OK.  Take care with your order, though, since the staff do not speak much English and we did not get exactly what we wanted even though it seemed like they understood.  Use the numbers on the menu!  Matthew ordered the fish fillet with Szechwan wine sauce (#90) but received the minced fish with pine nuts (#90).  Not a big deal.  It might be a big deal if you ordered sweet and sour pork and received flaming stir-fried pork kidney, however.