Twin Cities Elites get a sneak peek at Yelp's Far East Feast!

This week, Twin Cities yelpers were treated to one of the most exciting Elite events yet. Yelp's Far East Feast proved not only to be a veritable feast, but it was also a sneak peek at the (very) new Little Szechuan at the West End before they open their doors to the public!


The owners, husband and wife team Jin and Rong, could not have been more generous in setting up a huge spread of choice picks from their menu. Elites piled their plates with sauteed squid, Szechuan green beans, steamed mini buns, quick fried fish, Galeshan Ma La Chicken, green onion pie and chicken wings. Even with Buddha bellies filled with delicious Chinese cuisine, guests found room for custom fortune cookies with yelpy fortunes like... The fortune you seek is in another cookie at another Yelp Elite event. Or Confucious says: "So, like, how can I become Elite?" How indeed!

For anyone who is drooling already, Little Szechuan West's official grand opening is this Thursday!

The new location showed off its full bar as well... and really, what's a yelper without a cocktail in hand? Courtesy of Johnson Brothers, Elites sipped on of Little Szechuan's signature martinis, the Prickly Pear (made with Il Tramonto Limoncello and Opulent Vodka), along with wines from Le Grand Pinot Noir and William Hill Chardonnay.

Toward the end of the evening, the surprise sponsor reared its lion head! Southwest Minneapolis' Golden Leopard Kung Fu stopped by for a kid-powered Chinese lion dance which was inarguably the cutest thing in the whole wide world. Some of the older students and the sifu himself, Eric M., then stepped out to demonstrate some killer kung fu moves!

Congratulations to Kimberly T. and Christopher G. on their raffle wins, taking home an eco-friendly wok and the Yelp lion headdress, respectively. Not sure which prize is better...

A huge, dragon-sized thank you to everyone who attended and to all of the amazing sponsors who helped make this evening possible, as well as Alanna Olson Photography for snapping party pics and Intern Hannah C. for her hard work!

Check out more photos from Alanna on Flickr and the rave reviews on Yelp. If you were there, you can even write one yourself!

Until the next big bash,
Annie D.
Twin Cities Yelp Community Manager

P.S. Don't forget that Yelp MSP is on Twitter and Facebook. We know you like us, so "like" us, already. :)