13 responses to “vegan chinese grub at kung pao bistro”

• 

  Foodeater March 4th, 2009 at 20:35

  I hate getting butt raped by broccoli.

• 

  miss anthrope March 4th, 2009 at 21:38

  foodeater: bwahahahahha. happens far too often, doesn’t it?!?!

• 

  Melisser March 5th, 2009 at 03:11

  Sounds good to me.. minus the broccorape.

• 

  Marygrace March 5th, 2009 at 05:20

  Have you ever been to Happy Family III? I think its somewhere near Alhambra. I went there while vacationing in LA and it was amazing. If you’ve been there, does Kung Pao Bistro top it?

• 

  miss anthrope March 5th, 2009 at 07:48

  marygrace: i haven’t been to happy family. i really want to check it out but it’s so farrrrrrr away. i hear it’s great though. i am sure it’s better than kung pao bistro…because isn’t it all vegan?

• 

  veganbrat March 5th, 2009 at 08:27

  This place is nasty!We ate hear 3 years ago & like you said, the staff is clueless, we also saw the host BLOW HIS NOSE INTO HIS HAND & the handle silverware & menus after we ate!The food was gross IMHO.

• 

  Mytch March 5th, 2009 at 11:53

  Always had good food at Kung Pao in WeHo and Studio City. There’s another one in Sherman Oaks near the galleria on Ventura Blvd. (close to the 101/405 interchange.)

• 

  Adriana March 5th, 2009 at 16:13

  Dude! Sauteed broccoli for $7.50? I saw it for $.97 at the super. I probably would have fell victim to though =|

• 

  Will March 5th, 2009 at 17:30

  I went to the West Hollywood Kung Pao Bistro once a number of years ago and wasn’t particularly impressed.

  BTW, re: the comments about Happy Family, I wouldn’t assume that any vegetarian asian place in the LA area is all vegan, even the ones that insist their fake meat is vegan. Esp. those Thai places that have sprung up like roaches…

  Happy Family, as well as a number of other Chinese vegetarian places in LA are buddhist vegetarian. This means that pure vegetarian dishes won’t contain egg, cilantro, onion, (Chinese) leek, garlic, green onion, and in some cases, chili. Some places will serve these items in certain dishes, but usually egg at least will be indicated in an obvious way. Even though Chinese people don’t traditionally eat (much) dairy, and are frequently lactose intolerant, there’s no specific buddhist proscription against dairy, and the fake meat products will often contain small amounts of whey protein, casein or other dairy products. The people in these restaurants usually don’t know what these ingredients are, and / or they think they don’t matter because it’s “just a little”.

  Once in a while I just don’t worry about it, especially if it’s something someone else ordered, but usually I order only certain types of dishes, but if you’re a strict vegan, I would be wary about eating most soy meat that’s not obviously TVP, tofu skin, or plain seitan / wheat gluten. Veggie shrimp can go either way; I’d say most peppersteak, the soft / stringy kind of veggie chicken, etc. have small amounts of dairy in them. Chewy stuff like veg squid / veg kidney is often, but not always, non-dairy.

  Visit one of the vegetarian supply stores like Bhodi Vegetarian on Valley, or the other one in that area, or any asian market, and you can read the ingredients on this type of product. Some of the (wholesale) places are now getting a little better about at least clearly indicating which products have dairy in them.

  Honestly, even if it’s vegan, eating too much soy meat is really not a good thing IMO. Tofu, tempeh, and seitan have been produced for thousands of years, and are usually produced in a more or less traditional way. However, other soy based mock meats are often (as I understand it) made from the byproducts of industrial food production, which often uses weird chemicals and stuff. I’m not saying I never eat the stuff, but I personally try to avoid it when I can.

  I put an incomplete, and possibly somewhat outdated list at:
  http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/350963#2118708
  (a couple third party lists – these might have some restaurants that aren’t around anymore)
  http://www.chinesedaily.com/yp/custlist.asp?catid=593&alph=&cat=&bihua=%EF%BF%BD%EE%A9%96%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%E8%B2%9Etrok=10&strok=&catname=%E5%9A%99%E8%B8%90%EF%BF%BD%E7%9A%9B%E8%B8%B9%EF%BF%BD%E9%9E%88%EF%BF%BD%E8%95%AD%EF%BF%BD%EE%A9%95%E6%A5%8Aortby=bh&sortby=city
  http://www.chineseypage.com/rest/rest-Vegetarian.htm

  There’s a new one that’s pretty Westerner-friendly and not bad on the second floor of the big shopping center at Valley and Del Mar. I believe its English name is “Gourmet Vegetarian Restaurant” at 140 W. Valley Blvd., #222. However, they have a lot of fake meat stuff and it’s going to be difficult to get them to show you ingredients. With the possible exception of Bean Sprouts in Arcadia (which is not amazing, but at least different from the rest of the places), most vegetarian Chinese places have a similar style / menu, and you’re not going to get a lot of regional variation.

  There are a couple (completely vegetarian) places in the SFV (one in Chatsworth, one in Resda, owned by sisters), which aren’t as authentic as the SGV ones (i.e., the food is pretty similar to western “Chinese” restaurants, and most of their clientele were born in the US), but are still way better than Kung Pao Bistro.

  Readers who are adventurous and willing to take risks might also read this thread:
  http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/516879

  You’re going to get better vegetarian Chinese food at a non-vegetarian restaurant (IMO), but you’re also more apt to get something non-vegetarian by mistake.

• 

  lisa (show me vegan) March 5th, 2009 at 18:39

  vegan fortune cookie? You hit the jackpot.

• 

  Scott March 6th, 2009 at 09:57

  i’ve been a number of times to the one in sherman oaks and the weho location. i generally stick to the tofu dishes. the last time i went to the weho location i ordered the homestyle tofu, after a couple of bites i bit into a giant piece of something. so i gave it to my meat eating friend and he confirmed it was chicken. i sifted through the rest of the plate and found no less than 4 more chunks. the waitress came over and denied it was chicken. i havent been back yet.

  i love chinese food, but i’m pretty much dead set on going to any place that isn’t vegetarian. if i have to go some place that’s more accomodating i like Mandarette on Beverly, just east of LaCienega. The salt and pepper tofu is incredible.

• 

  Johnny PP July 13th, 2009 at 01:24

  FYI the panfried noodles have egg in them 9at least the Sherman Oaks location says they do)and I kinda got freaked out about the veg meat a while back. Also, a lot of the “master sauces” used in Chinese cooking have chicken in them….

• 

  Fritz January 7th, 2011 at 08:02

  We will never call Kung Pao Bistro for delivery again. Last time we did, which was back before I began avoiding gluten, the faux chicken I ordered seemed to be animal meat chicken. I had my partner taste it and he agreed with me that it was animal meat chicken.