San Diego Reader

• Restaurant | Chinese | North Park

Peking Restaurant

• 2877 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92104 | Directions
• 619-295-2610

Talk about continuity: the same family has been running this eatery since Grandfather arrived from Canton at the age of 27, setting up business in 1931. Since then, pretty much nothing has changed. Auntie Anna and Auntie Maria still bring your food out on three-tier stainless-steel serving trolleys, along with the free pot of black tea and drinking bowls. The prices have stayed low, too. Order chop suey, just because it’s the traditional Chinese-American (but not Chinese) dish of meat and veggies on rice. Decor is part of the experience: circle-glass swing doors, big cushioned red booths, mother-of-pearl pictures of misty Ming palaces, red-tasseled black hanging lanterns with translucent pictures of songbirds, huge painted fans — five feet across — on the walls, the shouts in Chinese from the kitchen. Prices: $5–$13.