You had me at the name Chubby Rice.

How cute is this restaurant name? Chubby Rice is a small and cute 😉 restaurant located in Hawthorne, California. They specialize in Chinese food “made with integrity and passion.”

Not only is their restaurant name cute, their menu is cute as well. They have a “Bite Me” section for their appetizers, a “Superstars” section for their salads, sandwiches, chow mein and soup and a “Greatest Hits” for their entrees.

It is actually not surprising that Chubby Rice has quite a delicious variety on their menu. The chef behind Chubby Rice is no other than Chef Linda Lau. Prior to Chubby Rice she was the sous chef at Fishing with Dynamite. Great food minds run in the family because her parents, Jason and Helen Lau, once ran a large Chinese restaurant in Mountain Home, Idaho for three decades. Now the Lau family has come together to bring us some amazing Chinese food here in the South Bay.

The “Bite Me” section has some delicious treats like pan fried dumplings, crab rangoon, Chubby Egg Roll and Chubby Wings.

The “Chubby Egg” roll is a very popular item for many.

It is filled with ground pork, cabbage, bok choy and comes with a side of soy vinegar and chili oil. The crispy outer wrapping in this egg roll is delicious and I love how it is packed with lots of ingredients!

My favorite of all the items from the “Bite Me ” is their Chubby Wings.

I instantly had a chubby crush at first bite of these delightful wings. They’re perfectly crispy butterflied chicken drumettes. The batter that they use is simply amazing. It’s truly a deep fried delight. It even comes with sweet and sour sauce for dipping.

Speaking of sauces, they make all of their sauces here in house. They actually have an amazing line up of sauces for your dipping pleasure.

Among the housemade sauces are cola, hot mustard, sriracha, chili oil, nam pla, bbq and ahi sauce. The ahi sauce was my favorite. It’s not typical that you find the Peruvian green sauce at a Chinese restaurant but wow I’m so glad they have it here. It was really good and perfect the Chubby Wings.

From the “Superstars,” I found their Noodle Soup with Pork and Shrimp Wontons to truly be a superstar.

This is the perfect soup for some chilly weather with it’s warm, delicious chicken bone north, long egg noodles and flavorful pork and shrimp wontons. I love their wontons! It is filled with so much flavorful pork and chicken.

For the main courses, err the “Greatest Hits” ;), I got to try their famous General Tso’s Chicken.

The General Tso’s chicken here is truly a greatest hit. It comes with crispy chicken thigh fried with mushrooms,and onions in sweet, chili pepper and garlic sauce. I love that it has that unique add of mushrooms and onions. It’s a different  kinda of touch to this traditional Chinese dish.

The other Greatest Hits dish that I got to try was their  Chop Suey and Chicken.

This one was a very flavorful dish with chicken breast stir fried with celery, cabbage, bean sprouts and onions.

One of their most popular “Greatest Hits” is their Salt & Pepper Pork Chop.

The salt and pork and pepper pork chop here is so tender and flavorful. It’s fried with spices, bell green peppers and onions and there is a bit of a spicy kick to it too!

All of the Greatest Hits comes with choice of 2 sides: sausage fried rice, white rice, brown rice, chow mean, salad, steamed veggies, egg roll or hot and sour soup. The sausage fried rice was my favorite. Once again, I liked the creativity they had. It’s neat to see sausage added into the fried rice. I also liked their hot and soup soup.

I like hohw it has pork, tofu, wood ear and button mushrooms and zucchini! This is available as a side or as a separate “Superstars” item.

Overall Chubby Rice is more than just a cute name with a cute menu. They are a delicious Chinese restaurant that has traditional Chinese cuisine with a special uniqueness. You had me at the name Chubby Rice but you truly won me over with your food 🙂

For more smiles, please check out my Yelp review on Chubby Rice.