Jimmy Chen and his wife, Rul Zhen Jiang, take a break in their restaurant, Hunan Chinese Restaurant. The restaurant was honored recently by Chinese Restaurant News as a top 100 restaurant in the Rising Star category.

Hunan receives national honor

Hunan Chinese Restaurant owner Jimmy Chen traveled to Los Angeles recently to collect an award many Chinese restaurant owners would be proud to hang on their walls.

The restaurant was placed among the top 100 Chinese restaurants in the Rising Star category by the magazine Chinese Restaurant News.

Chen,who entered the competition on the urging of representatives from the magazine, said he hadn’t originally thought he had a chance, since many of the restaurants voted in the top 100 are in large cities.

The 2006 top 100 Chinese restaurants were decided by patrons who voted online at the Chinese Restaurant News Web site and by a panel of judges, Chen said. Judges included master chef Martin Yan and celebrity chef Theresa Lin. Restaurant were judged according to a set of criteria, such as service, appearance and food.

Chen said he was “very excited” when he received a call notifying him that his restaurant would be receiving the honor. The restaurant owner said that it may have been the good food and service and the restaurant’s decor that impressed any judge who might have visited the restaurant.

“We have good food here, Also the service,” he said:” They think we are special.”

In recent months, Chen has been reintroducing traditional Chinese dishes. Another unique aspect of the restaurant are the sauces that are made in-house and the elaborate vegetables sculptures that Chen himself carves.