I mean, in defense of the north hills (food scene, not necessarily the people depending on the suburb), it's sparsely populated compared to the city and the other hills. Tough to support a great food scene when you're light on people and they all live fairly far apart.

That said, the north hills still has two of the areas best Indian/Pakistani restaurants (Taj Mahal, Kabab King), a great Burmese restaurant (Royal Myanmar), at least one exceptional Japanese restaurant (Sushi Tomo), several good Asian fusion spots (K Asian Bistro) a couple of serviceable Thai spots (Kanlaya for sure), California Taco Shop which seems to be well regarded in its lane, a couple of really good pizza places (Milano's and now the new Angelo's location), some decent Italian American spots (Silvioni's, Sprezzatura, Severina) and a number of good to great American food places, both pub style (Blue Goose, Rear End) and higher end (Hartwood, Brick and Barrel, Off the Hook, Napa Prime).

This is without touching any kind real local chain (ie Aladdins, Nicky's Thai). I don't think that it's really fair to say that the area lacks diversity, especially since it's so comparatively sparsely populated. I think that the real problem is that most people find a handful of meals or types of cuisines that they like and never even bother to look for a new restaurant or style of food. There's a lot more going on here than a lot of people notice and I think that's a shame.

All that said, I welcome Chengdu Gourmet and am pumped to make it over there.