What is THE best Chinese restaurant in America? With “Jade Gardens” and “Szechuan Palaces” as common as Starbucks in many cities and towns, this is a difficult call to make. Well, the Chinese Restaurant News (CRN) is taking on the challenge. Since 2004 they’ve been ranking the 100 best Chinese restaurants across the country and on Jan 8 – 11, 2011, they’ll be holding the competition in San Francisco, which will definitely have several key contenders on the list.

According to the event’s web site:

* The Chinese Restaurant industry has over $20 billion annual sales with over 46,700 Chinese restaurants in the U.S. There are more Chinese restaurants in the US than McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s combined!

and

* The first Chinese restaurant that was reported to open in San Francisco had a grand opening on Dec. 10, 1849, located on Jackson Street in San Francisco. It was called “Canton.”

For more info on the competition, go here.

Photo credit: http://top100.chinesemenu.com

• Tag: Best of, chinese cuisine, competition