5th Annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA Awards Show

By Lia Chang

Over 500 Chinese restaurateurs from all over the nation gathered in Las Vegas on January 5 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino to attend the 5th Annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the USA Awards Show & Conference.

Organized by Chinese Restaurant News, the Top 100 award show was hosted by Master Chef Martin Yan and Co-Emceed by Theresa Lin and Derek Uehara. The event was supported by National Restaurant Association and the Healthydiningfinder.com. Key sponsors included Lee Kum Kee, U.S. Bankcard Services, Inc., and the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. Notable Asian chefs such as Larry Chu, Chef Chu’s and Khai Duong, Executive Chef, Ana Mandara came out to celebrate the winners. Event highlights include an appearance by Mayor Oscar Goodman who welcomed the winners to Vegas and performed a culinary demo with Chef Martin Yan, Chinese zodiac food carving display by Award winning Food sculptor, Jimmy Zhang, the Community Award of Excellence presented to the Asian Chefs Association, and the Lifetime Achievement of Excellence Award to Martin Yan presented by Bob Ansara, Director Emeritus, National Restaurants Association.

The Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA Award is a national event that strives to recognize, cultivate and preserve the best in Chinese cuisine standards and excellence. This special event awarded the Top 100 restaurants in ten categories. Recognition was awarded for excellence in the categories of Regional Cuisine, Local Favorites, Take-Out, Buffets, Asian Fusion, Best Décor, Signature Dish, Rising Stars, Healthy Menus, and the most prestigious category, Overall Excellence. This year’s top ranked 100 Overall Excellence winners including No.1, Koi Palace (Daly City, CA) can be viewed at http://www.Top100ChineseRestaurants.com.

The Top 100 competition is open to all Chinese restaurants in the U.S., included more than 45,000 from all 50 states. Participating restaurants included newly established restaurants, seasoned restaurants, chain restaurants and past award-winners. For a list of the 2008-9 winners, please visit http://www.top100chineserestaurants.com.

About Chinese Restaurant News
Chinese Restaurant News (c-r-n.com) was founded in 1995 to inform the Chinese speaking owners and operators of over 45,000 Chinese restaurants in USA of industry news and trends. CRN is published by parent company, Smart Business Services, Inc. (s-b-s.net).