Lucky Chinese Dishes in Los Angeles

Literally meaning "hair vegetable," fat choy (aka black moss) is a terrestrial algae used in celebratory dishes for its lucky-sounding name, as in the traditional New Year greeting, "Gung Hay Fat Choy." Chinatown stalwart Hop Woo is featuring several Year of the Dragon specials, including two with fat choy: Braised Pig Feet with arrowhead root, fat choy and lettuce; and Braised Pig Feet with dried oyster, fat choy and lettuce.

In Chinese, the word for fish (yu) sounds like the phrase for “may the new year bring prosperity” ("nian nian you yu"). A whole fish is required, as it symbolizes unity within the family. Preparation methods differ depending on regions - the most common one is steamed fish garnished with ginger and infused with a light soy sauce.

Perennially busy during its weekend dim sum service, NBC Seafood serves up auspicious dishes year-round, including Steamed Whole Live Fish, Sweet & Sour Whole Fish and Pan Fried Whole Sole Fish.

Mustard greens (jie cai) are a standard vegetable dish for the Lunar New Year celebration. They’re also known as chang nian cai, which translates to "perennial vegetables." This vegetable is a symbolic proponent for longevity - the associated phrase is chang chang jiu jiu, which means "long life." They can be found at any Chinese restaurant around town. Tofu King in Arcadia has a simple version, topped with a bit of minced pork for extra flavor.

Noodles are a symbol of longevity, the longer the better. They’re usually served uncut to symbolize a long life.

Instagram darling Bang Bang Noodles was founded by chef Robert Lee in 2019. The hand-pulled noodle pop-up opened at Citizen Public Market in Culver City in February 2023. Lee's specialty is Shaanxi-style biang biang noodles, hand-pulled to order for "the freshest and tingliest bowl of noodles possible." Favorites include the signature Tingling Cumin Noodle (available dry or with noodle soup), Szechuan Garlic Noodles and Xi'an Tomato Dry Noodle. Vegan options available.

A whole poultry is symbolic of unity and a harmonious marriage between families. Chicken or duck is usually served whole with the head and feet attached. Sam Woo sells whole duck by the dozens. The carcass is air-dried for hours until the skin is like paper and then glazed with a maltose sugar coating. This is the Cantonese method of preparation. You can order a whole duck for the family, or if you dine in, get it served cut-up accompanied with a wonderfully tasty sweet and sour sauce on the side.

Rice cakes (nian gao) come in both sweet or savory forms. The savory versions are more common; they’re usually shaped into thin disks and then stir-fried. The sweet ones, baked and stuffed often times with red bean, start appearing in local Chinese supermarkets exclusively around the holiday time. "Nian gao" correlates to the phrase “increasing prosperity year after year (nian nian gao sheng).”

Most Shanghainese restaurants offer savory renditions. Options at Tasty Noodle House include Shanghai Vegetable Pork Rice Cake and Black Pepper Seafood Rice Cake.

Shrimp is pronounced "xia" in Mandarin and "ha" in Cantonese. The words sound like laughter, so shrimp is consumed during the Lunar New Year in hopes of year-long happiness.

At locations in Alhambra and West LA, Sichuan Impression serves Spicy Fried Shrimp Dry Pot - boiled whole shrimp with potatoes, lotus root, and baby bamboo shoots. “Dry pot” comes from the northern area of Sichuan province and contains many of the same ingredients and spices as hot pot, but without the soup base.

The Chinese word for spring roll (chun juan) literally mean "spring" and "roll." The golden color of the fried spring rolls represent gold bars, which of course symbolize wealth. Most Cantonese dim sum restaurants have these favorites on their menu.

At Lunasia in Alhambra, the portion sizes are massive and the spring rolls are deep-fried and stuffed with a generous helping of shrimp.

Turnip cakes are embraced in Taiwan because the Taiwanese pronunciation for turnip cake ("cai tao gui") is a homonym for a Taiwanese phrase of good luck, "hao cai tao." These cakes are made from daikon radishes, steamed, and then pan-fried on the sides. They’re typically found at your local dim sum eatery or at Taiwanese breakfast establishments.

Four Sea Restaurant has one of the largest selections of Taiwanese breakfast items in LA. Locations in Hacienda Heights, San Gabriel and Arcadia open at 6:30am. Their turnip cake is made crispy on all sides and topped with a fried egg.