Fu Wing Low
Over 40 years old, this Fountain Valley restaurant still serves old school Chinese-American dishes
When we were actively exploring Chinese-American dining options in Orange County – a fading category thanks to the increasing number of authentic regional Chinese restaurants – we were tipped off to Fu Wing Low in Fountain Valley. It’s decidedly old school, opened in the same year (1982) as Westminster’s Peking Restaurant, and predating Irvine’s since-closed Sam Woo by more than ten years.
Where Sam Woo evolved at least a little during its nearly three-decade run, visiting Fu Wing Low feels like stepping back into the 1980’s. The menu appears to have been typeset on an early Macintosh computer, updated mostly to reflect modern pricing ($14-20 entrees, $6-15 appetizers) while leaving practically everything else intact.
We sampled many Chinese-American classics, starting with the bo bo combination – a mostly fried appetizer sampler known elsewhere as a pu pu platter – and ending of course with fortune cookies. Along the way, we mostly enjoyed soups and entrees such as three-flavor sizzling rice soup, treasure delight (menu: “Just imagine a combination of shrimp, scallop, chicken and beef cooked with a variety of vegetable. WHAT AN ADVENTURE! DON’T MISS IT!”), moo shu pork (here arriving pre-wrapped in crepe-like pancakes), and hot sauteed dry beef.
Everything was just okay – not good, great, or bad. We tasted the oil in every fried item, the flat beef marinade, and the blandness of pre-wrapped moo shu pork. The treasure delight was honestly pretty missable, tossed in a plain white sauce; the foil-wrapped chicken, charred. We found ourselves wondering whether the issue was us or the food: were these dishes objectively less delicious than they were years ago, or did they just taste less amazing to us because we’ve become so accustomed to better Chinese cooking over time? (Given that we enjoyed Peking Restaurant more, our suspicion is that it might be a combination of both factors.)
Regardless, we realized we had been experiencing nostalgia for a time that feels increasingly distant. So after that meal, we decided to focus our energy on the wonderful assortment of authentic Chinese options that now surround us – the Sichuan noodle experts, BBQ houses, dumpling makers, and duck specialists. Your mileage may vary, so if you’re one of the many people who are still looking for a classic Chinese-American lunch or dinner, Fu Wing Low remains here for you.
Stats
Price: $$
Service: Table
Open Since: 1982
Addresses
16545 Brookhurst St.
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
714.839.4481
Instagram: #fuwinglow