3.26.2006

Restaurant Review #120: Joie Luck Kitchen, North Hollywood


Orange peel chicken

In Van Nuys, there are really only two kinds of food you can get delivered: Chinese and pizza. Given these two options, I'll generally choose Chinese. The grocery store can supply me with cheap, decent pizza, but the same doesn't hold true for Chinese.

Joie Luck Kitchen is not the best Chinese food I've ever had, but I still like it.

The orange chicken is a bit on the gooey side, but that's how orange chicken seems to be pretty much everywhere except at Siam Chan.


Fried wontons

I didn't like the fried wontons, which were skimpy on the meat filling. I wasn't big on the meat filling, either. The wontons came with the standard neon red sweet and sour sauce--also not my favorite, but I didn't have higher expectations than that.


Chicken Hunan-Style

The chicken Hunan-style was kind of like kung pao chicken minus the peanuts. It had lots chicken, and enough peppers to make me feel like I was eating a somewhat healthy meal. The peppers were cooked, but still crispy enough to convince me that they had retained their nutrients. The meat was of good quality, with no tough or fatty pieces.


Hot and Sour Soup

The hot and sour soup was the best I'd had in a long time. With plenty of tofu and egg, I could have made a light meal out of the soup alone. My long love affair with this dish dates back to the days when I worked at a store in the mall and hot and sour soup was one of the few things I could buy in the food court without blowing an entire hour's pay (the others were warm flour tortillas for 25 cents each, and McDonald's ice cream cones and apple pies--the only things from that chain that ever pass my lips).

It took close to an hour for our food to arrive, but we placed our order around 6:45 on Saturday evening, so I don't really hold that against them. On less hectic days, they are a lot faster (if they say 30 minutes, your food will be there in 30 minutes). My friend has ordered from here numerous times, and says his order has never been wrong, and both the delivery people and the people who answer the phone are always friendly and polite.

Joie Luck Kitchen
12510 Burbank Blvd
North Hollywood, CA 91607
(818) 508-4702

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