The Chinese Foooood Drive-Through from “Dude, Where’s My Car?”

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One location that I have been begging fellow stalker Chas to find for what seems like months now is the “Chinese Foooood” restaurant from the 2000 movie Dude, Where’s My Car?  As I’ve mentioned in the past, Dude is one of my very favorite comedies and a few years back my best friend Robin and I pretty much spent every night of an entire two week period doing nothing but watching and re-watching the flick over and over again.  We simply could not get enough of it!   Our absolute favorite scene, hands down, had to be the scene in which bonehead best friends Jesse Montgomery III (aka Ashton Kutcher) and Chester Greenburg (aka Seann William Scott) visit the drive-though window of a Chinese food restaurant only to find that the woman working there cannot stop saying the words, “And then?  And then?   And then?”  LOL  LOVE IT!  So, last week, when Chas told me that he was finally going to put his proverbial nose to the grindstone to try to track down the restaurant for me, I just about died of excitement.  I had actually spent quite a bit of time looking for this location in the Pasadena area, as I was convinced it was located somewhere along the famous Colorado Boulevard.  Turns out, I was searching a few miles too far to the east, though, as Chas later informed me.   Thankfully, early on in Chas’ quest, fellow stalker Gary, from fave website Seeing Stars, pointed him in the direction of this website written by an actor named Geoffrey Gould, who had actually worked as an extra in the Dude, Where’s My Car? Chinese food scene!  Talk about serendipity!  On his website, Geoffrey mentioned that the restaurant was located “at Victory near Hollywood Way” in Burbank.  Well, Chas got to googling and found the drive-through almost immediately.  YAY!  So, this past weekend I dragged my fiancé out to finally, finally do some Chinese Foooood stalking!

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In real life, the Chinese Foooood place is not actually a drive-through at all, but a tiny little restaurant named Steve’s Burgers. 

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And because Steve’s is a burger joint and not a Chinese food restaurant, it looks quite a bit different in person than how it was portrayed in the movie.  Missing in real life, of course, is the Asian-inspired decor and Oriental-style flared roof that appeared in Dude, Where’s My Car?, all of which I am fairly certain were just decorations that were added for the filming.  Despite the lack of Asian decor and a slight change in paint color, though, the restaurant is still VERY recognizable from the movie.  And let me tell you, while it may sound silly, I could NOT have been more excited to be seeing the place in person!  

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And I was absolutely floored to discover that while Steve’s serves up mostly All-American fare, there were a few Chinese food items featured on the menu, as well!  LOVE IT!  For the record, Steve’s also serves a bit of Mexican food.  It’s a whole smorgasbord of options!

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And, as you can see in the above photograph and screen captures, the painted-on window signs that were featured in Dude are still there to this day – over an entire decade later – and still look pretty much exactly the same as they did in the movie!  LOVE IT!

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Unfortunately, Steve’s was already closed by the time we showed up to stalk the place so we couldn’t sample any of their food.  🙁  But I guess that just means I’ll have to re-stalk the place again sometime soon!  🙂  

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The Dude, Where’s My Car? restaurant scenes were filmed both on the west side and in the back of Steve’s Burgers, the latter being where the fake drive-through menu and speaker box were added for the filming.  As you can see in the above photographs, that drive-through area doesn’t actually exist.  🙁

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Steve’s Burgers first shows up in the very beginning of Dude, Where’s My Car, in the scene in which Jesse and Chester visit a restaurant called “Chinese Foooood” for lunch.  While Jesse is ordering, the woman working the drive-through window continually asks him, “And then?  And then?  And then?” to which he finally says, “AND THEN . . . I’m gonna come in there and I’m gonna put my foot in your a** if you say ‘and then’ again!”  The Chinese Foooood lady of course responds with, “And then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then, and then?”  LOL   

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Jesse then proceeds to absolutely destroy the drive-through box.

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The restaurant later shows up towards the end of the flick in the scene in which Jesse and Chester drop the “Nordic Dudes” off at the Chinese Foooood place after telling them that the drive-through lady knows where the “Continuum Transfunctioner” can be found.  I know, I know, the whole thing sounds pretty darn stupid, but trust me, it’s hilarious!  You can watch the Chinese Foooood restaurant scene here.

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A big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Steve’s Burgers, aka the Chinese Foooood drive-through from Dude, Where’s My Car?, is located at 2320 West Victory Boulevard in Burbank.  Steve’s is open Monday through Saturday, but is closed on Sundays.

The “Dude, Where’s My Car?” Houses

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About six or seven years ago, my best friend Robin came to visit me from Switzerland for a few weeks and one night we found ourselves renting the 2000 cult comedy Dude, Where’s My Car? Being that the entire premise of the flick centers around two guys who lose their car, I honestly didn’t have very high expectations for the movie, but, let me tell you, Robin and I were pretty much dying laughing throughout the entire thing.  And if I’m not mistaken, I believe we even re-watched it again the following evening.  🙂  What can I say – I’m a big fan of lowbrow humor.  🙂  Robin and my catch phrase for a good year or two after that was “And then?  And then?  And then?”  LOL  I should admit here that I’ve also always had a special place in my heart for Ashton Kutcher (even though it’s truly difficult to like anyone who Twitters as much as he does) thanks to a story told to me by an acquaintance who spent an evening with him about a decade ago.  According to my friend, who worked in PR at the time, back in the late 90s before Ashton had become a household name, she attended some sort of showbiz party with the rising star and a group of his friends.  After the party, the entire group ended up crashing at Ashton’s house.  The following morning, my friend awoke when Ashton Kutcher entered the room she had been sleeping in, pounced on her bed, grabbed her pillow out from under her head and proceeded to smack her in the face with it while screaming “PILLOW FIGHT!”  Well, let me tell you, my friend was NOT happy about her unexpected wake-up call.  Of the incident, she later said to me – and I quote – “All I could think was, did Ashton Kutcher honestly just pillow fight me????”  LOL LOL LOL  Needless to say, she and Ashton didn’t speak much after that, but once I heard the story I couldn’t help but love the guy.  If someone had woken me up with a pillow to the face like that, I can honestly say that they would have become my new best friend!  🙂  What can I say, I love childish antics!  Anyway, every time I see Ashton Kutcher onscreen now, I can’t help but think of my friend’s story and smile.  So, when fellow stalker Chas texted me to let me know that Robert Patterson – not to be confused with actor Robert Pattinson 🙂 – from the website Movie Locations and More had tracked down two of the main houses used in Dude, Where’s My Car?, I just about died of excitement and immediately ran right out to stalk both of them.  Thank you, Robert!   🙂

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The first Dude, Where’s My Car? location Robert tracked down was the house belonging to Chester and Jesse (aka Seann William Scott and Ashton Kutcher) in the flick. And as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, the residence has been cleaned up quite a bit since filming took place there ten years ago.  I am not sure if the house was in a state of disarray prior to the filming and that’s why it was chosen or if producers had the place dressed down for the production, but either way it looks quite different today than it did when Dude, Where’s My Car? was filmed.   And while I would normally be upset over someone altering a movie house, being that the dudes’ home was pretty much in shambles in the movie, this is one case where I really can’t fault the owner for changing things around.   I am pretty sure I would do the very same thing.  😉  But even with a new walkway, new windows, a new paintjob, and new landscaping, I am happy to report that the Dude, Where’s My Car? house is still recognizable from the movie.  The porch steps, porch light, porch awning, and address plaque all still look exactly the same today as they did in the flick.  🙂   YAY!  (On a side note – I really have to apologize for the photos that appear in this post – they were taken right at dusk after a long day of stalking and unfortunately, due to the poor lighting, did not come out very well.)

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The second house that Robert located was the residence belonging to the Twins (aka Marla Sokoloff and a very young Jennifer Garner) in the flick. The Twin’s house also looks quite a bit different today than how it appeared in the movie.  And I have to say that I actually prefer the home’s movie appearance to the way it looks in real life, because, like all girls, I am a fan of Tiffany Blue and I just love that it was used as the house’s trim color in Dude, Where’s My Car? So darn cute!  Also missing in real life is the circular popped out window that is located above the home’s front porch in the movie – a feature that I am assuming was added solely for the filming and then later removed.  I am happy to report, though, that the white picket fence that got destroyed in Dude, Where’s My Car? is in fact a real feature of the house.  In real life, though, it’s in a bit better shape than how it was portrayed in the movie.  😉

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And a little bit of movie trivia for you – a pre-Bachelor Charlie O’Connell, brother of actor Jerry O’Connell, had a fairly large role in Dude, Where’s My Car? playing Kristy Swanson’s jerk boyfriend, Tommy.

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On a side note – For some odd reason, for the past few months I have been having a hard time responding to the comments on my blog and neither my fiancé nor I can figure out what the problem is.  So, if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t responded to comments lately, that’s why.  Hopefully we can get the problem worked out soon, but in the meantime keep commenting and I will try to respond when I can.  Thanks for your patience with this and thank you to everyone who has been responding to the comments for me.  I really appreciate it.  🙂

Big THANK YOU to Robert from Movie Locations and More for finding these locations!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Jesse and Chester’s house from Dude, Where’s My Car? is located at 4177 Bakman Drive in North Hollywood.  Wanda and Wilma’s house from the movie is located just around the corner at 4160 Klump Avenue, also in North Hollywood.