3 Great Chinese Meat Pies in Los Angeles

Meat pies are delicious. They're the ultimate comfort dish -- juicy discs of hot, ground meat enclosed in crisp, pan-fried shell. It's a wonder they haven't spread beyond the mom-and-pop Chinese restaurants of Los Angeles. They can be terribly addicting.

Here are three amazing places in the greater Los Angeles area to get your fix.

1. Beijing Pie House
Beijing Pie House is the prime destination to get a hold of the best meat pies in town. The Chinese name for them is xianbing. Pan-fried and bursting at the seams with hot, fragrant oil, these discs are the crack pies of Los Angeles. Pair them with sambal sauce if needed, but they're perfectly fine by themselves. 846 E Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91755; (626) 288-3818.

2. Da Qing Hua
Da Qing Hua is a dumpling specialist but on their menu, they have an entire section dedicated to xianbing. There are eight different varieties available. We recommend the beef and green onion version. Dip it with a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, and chili sauce and be cautious of popping the entire thing in your mouth. Take it one bite at a time. These things are hot. Each order comes with eight pies. 706 W Las Tunas Dr., Ste B2-B4, San Gabriel, CA 91776; (626) 293-8098.

3. Silk Road Garden
Silk Road Garden is a Uyghur specialist with massive portion sizes. A single meat pie, served with a braided crust and stuffed with marinated ground beef, will easily amount to one full meal. The pie at Silk Road is anatomically different from the ones at Beijing Pie House and Da Qing Hua. It's one large pie, cut into pizza-like triangles. 18920 Gale Ave., Rowland Heights, CA 91748; (626) 999-6165.