You know that often repeated statistic that 90 percent of restaurants fail in their first year? There's been some research that debunks it as a myth (the rate is more like 57-61 percent for a three year period).
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But if I were judging by the turnover that seems to befall the location where up until a few weeks ago there was a Chinese restaurant known as Royal Kitchen in Irvine, I'd say the myth is all too real. Royal Kitchen barely lasted a year. And before that, the location saw another failed Chinese joint named Phoenix that specialized in jelly desserts (other locations of it in SGV still thrive).
Yet another restaurant is quick to take its place. The latest incarnation opened recently. And yep, it's another Chinese restaurant named Spicy City. From the looks of the place and a quick glance of the menu, it's Yunnan-style food and frog plays a prominent role as protein.
There's a respected restaurant by the same name in San Diego's Convoy Street and the two seem to be related. Hopefully some of its success rubs off and allows it to break that statistic for once.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.