China Café Reopens: Free Wonton Soup

The classic Grand Central Market eatery recently underwent a renovation.

Los Angeles, downtown, 1959. 

City Hall was there, an already iconic tower over the surrounding area, while the decades-old movie palaces of Broadway lined the busy thoroughfare, names like the Palace, the Los Angeles, and United Artists, now The Theatre at Ace. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was still a few years away from construction, and all of our ubiquitous skyscrapers were also, at that time, a little ways away.

Inside Grand Central Market, a new eatery serving chow mein, won ton soup, and other fill-the-tum delectables debuted in 1959, and soon became known not only for the tasty noshing but those famous neon signs: China Café.

The restaurant is a long-runner, in short, with its 60th anniversary coming in a couple of years, and a recent refurbishment gave that bright neon some new life. The neon's once again glowing, and the stoves and lights are on, too, as China Café has its grand re-unveiling on Friday, April 28.

So how does a restaurant that's been shuttered for a bit celebrate its big "hello, again, everyone"? Why with a giveaway, of course. The first 100 customers will receive a free bowl of wonton soup, a staple of the spot.

The soup isn't the only spectacular element to the day, however: Lion dancers "will weave their way through the Market" in honor of the 11 a.m. kick-off, and a roasted pig will give the auspicious moment a bit of traditional luck.

If you can't make the opening but find yourself at the 100-year-old public market, hankering for a quick and classic meal, look to the boiled noodles and egg fo yeung, two other savory staples on the China Café menu.

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By the by, that's the significance of the "100" in the 100 bowls wonton soup giveaway on April 28: Grand Central Market is celebrating its centennial in 2017.

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