What Do the 50 Best Chinese Restaurants in the U.S. Have To Do with Beijing?

CNNGo's new list of the 50 best Chinese restaurants in the U.S. has been poking its way around the web this week. The rankings are based on "interviews with chefs and Chinese restaurant associations, surveys of local food writers and polls" and editors' own experience. As is to be expected, the report has elicited responses of "like anyone can even know that," a la Napoleon Dynamite.

The site doesn't exactly have the best track record with Chinese food, either. One of the publication's iReporters elicited an "overwhelming reaction" from Chinese readers last June by listing century eggs (pidan 皮蛋) as the most "revolting" food he had eaten.

Right about now, you're probably asking yourself, "What does this all have to do with me anyway? I live in Beijing."

An excellent question. We're so glad you asked.

Well, it's no surprise that the list skews heavily toward Cantonese and Sichuan cuisine, but our beloved Beijing was worthy of a couple nods, albeit mostly in fowl form. Let's take a gander, shall we?

Two of the restaurants that made it onto the list (Mongolian hot pot chain Little Sheep Hot Pot and xiaolongbao masters Din Tai Fung) are well-established here in Beijing. Now when you visit them, you'll earn some dubious bragging rights. DTF is no stranger to over-the-top "best restaurant" rankings. It's still coasting off being named one of the world's top 10 restaurants by The New York Times in 1993.

And since we're already on the topic of "best of" lists, I might as well point out that Little Sheep was voted "Outstanding Hot Pot" and Din Tai Fung was chosen as "Best Dim Sum" in the Beijinger's 2011 Reader Restaurant Awards. If you haven't voted yet for our 2012 awards, you've got until March 13th. We'll announce the results later this month and in the April issue.

Moving along, we've done you the favor of culling the CNN list for references to either Beijing or Peking:

One of the nominees was a Beijing Pie House in Monterey Park, Calif. For its part, Beijing does have its very own Pie House, but somehow I doubt the two are connected. However, if you're looking for Beijing's classic meat pies (roubing 肉饼) here in town, try Xiangsu Niurou Bing (香酥牛肉饼) near the Drum and Bell Tower.

Chef Chu's, also in California, made the list for his Peking Duck. Apparently Mr. Chu has made quite a name for himself and has served a number of celebrities, including Margaret Thatcher and Justin Bieber. Personally, I'm curious if the Iron Lady and the Biebs ate there on the same night. After all, who knows what kind of supernatural event (World Peace, ZOMG?) would occur if you got those two in the same room?

Ahem. Anyway, while diligently scouring the Internet for you, we also discovered that Chef Chu is leading a culinary tour through Beijing and more in October of this year, so if you've got any American friends with $4,500 to burn that you're dying to see this fall, you should definitely send them this flyer (PDF). And we do mean burn, because if you're going on a tour that takes you through a jade factory (as this one does), we're pretty sure it should cost about a tenth of that price.

R&G Lounge in San Francisco also got a nod for its Cantonese-style Peking duck. That might sound like a bit of an oxymoron, but I grew up eating the stuff and there's certainly a case to be made for putting duck down with a bun instead of a pancake.

If you ever end up in Chicago and find yourself waxing nostalgic for your expat days, apparently Lao Sze-Chuan has "perfectly cooked" bone-suckingly-good Peking duck. Or if you're on a bender in Vegas and want some high-class drake, Michelin-starred Wing Lei is known for its $88 Peking duck. That's like … two hands of blackjack.

And finally, Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church, Va. has made a name for itself as the Peking duck of choice for the Bush family. There's even a dish there nicknamed after the former First Lady: "Bush Beef." I'll leave you with that mental image.

Photo: The Beijinger.com