Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3]

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777

Date: February 16, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

The San Gabriel Valley is a veritable treasure trove of Asian dining, particularly regional Chinese. Shanghai #1 Seafood Village is the LA branch of a high end Shanghai chain specializing in banquet dining.

The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic.

As this is a Hedonist/Foodie Club wine diner, we prearranged a banquet and reserved the usual giant table.

The menu is like a giant full color fashion catalog for food, but I thought I’d show a couple pages by way of example.

NV Peter Paul Wines Champagne. A nice, nutty mature champagne.

Marinated legumes (lima beans?). A very mellow sophisticated taste, and some of the best lima beans I’ve had.

NV Jean-Pierre Brouchard Champagne In florescence. 92 points. A brilliant Blanc de Noirs exhibiting a dense, yet crisp mouthfeel with subtle elegant mousse. The nose has a lot of mature red apples, lime zest and newly made French toast. The length on the finish is very nice. The wine is crisp and clean, still it shows all the best sides of the Pinot Noir varietal. Overall impression is that of a very good Champagne which drinks terrifically tonight but would not mind resting another couple of years.

This was much fruiter than the Peter Paul, but I liked the nuttier drier one better myself.

Roast duck in a heavy sweet soy. Bony, but very tasty.

Marinated cucumbers (pickles) in a sweet soy vinegar.

Squid with a sauce not unlike eel BBQ sauce. Very tender and tasty.

1998 Monbousquet Blanc. Parker 91-93. Earthy, mineral nose; earthy, mineral palate; medium finish.

Some kind of meat enchilada. Well, not exactly, but meat and vegetables in a cold thin crepe.

Meat and gelatin (aspic?). This had a very pleasant texture (like jello) and a subtle flavor.

Lotus root stuffed with sweet rice in a tea marinate. Very interesting texture and a lovely tea flavor.

2008 Ken Brown Syrah Rosie’s Rosé. Not bad, lot’s of strawberry.

Old Shanghai baked spareribs. Amazing Chinese-style ribs.

Chicken with scallions and soy sauce. It looked a little scary, but it tasted great (except for the requisite bone).

From my cellar: 1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Santenots. 94 points. Wonderfull intense colour, complex nose and pure Volnay fruit. Dark cherry fruits, wet forrest and just a little animal characters. Just right to drink now, no decline at all.

My favorite wine of the night, but I’m a Burgundy troll.

Crab dry cooked with coconut? Hard to say, but it tasted great. A dry, slightly spicy crab that emphasized the flavor of the crab itself.

2010 Westerly Vineyards Pinot Noir. 90 points. full bodied pinot with nice fruit, full mouth feel.

Roasted pig leg. This had to be the ham part, the rear? femur.

The sever just slices through the skin and fat to reveal…

All sorts of goodie tender pork. Really melts off the bone.

2012 Bread & Butter pinot noir. I actually liked this better than most American Pinots, as it wasn’t really oaked at all. Very fruity, with berries. A young fresh wine, like a pleasant Villages.

Pepper steak. This was lovely chunks of juicy steak with a black pepper and soy sauce.

2011 Pierre Gonon St Joseph. Parker 93. The 2011 Saint Joseph offers lots of olive tapenade, black currants, blackberry, tobacco and spice in a medium to full-bodied, supple and beautifully fruited profile. Filling in nicely with time in the glass, this chewy, rich effort has ripe tannin, excellent freshness and a big finish. Enjoy it over the coming decade or so.

Lots of rich fruit, but not at all overbearing.

Shrimp two ways. On the left, salt and pepper fried shrimp (extremely tasty) and on the right, white sauce popcorn shrimp (pleasant but mild).

2005 Radio-Coteau Syrah Las Colinas. Parker 91. The 2005 Syrah Las Colinas reveals floral, blackberry, and peppery notes, medium to full body, and loads of meatiness in a pure, richly fruity style.

Shanghai style sweet and sour fried fish. This was one of those goopy straight up orange sweet and sour sauces, but it was awesome. Particularly dripped over rice. And the method of flaying the meat out and frying it created a much crisper effect, even if the appearance is a bit horror movie.

1994 Stonestreet Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 91-93. I have been a fan of this winery’s Pinot Noir, but I have not seen the newest offerings. However, I do have enthusiastic tasting notes on Stonestreet’s other red wines. The 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon appears to be even more intense and powerful than the 1993, with an opaque purple color, and gobs of lavishly oaked, smoky, cassis fruit intertwined with aromas of roasted herbs and high quality toasty oak. This powerful Cabernet reveals plenty of tannin, low acidity, and outstanding concentration and purity. This large-scaled, remarkably well-balanced wine should drink well young yet last for two decades.

Our bottle was corked.

Special Shanghai BBQ red pork. Oh so fatty and oh so tasty!

Mushrooms and bock choy.

Shanghai noodles. These are pan fried rice cake with scallions and sweet soy. Odd soft texture, but delicious.

2004 Colgin IX Syrah Estate. Parker 96. Aubert demonstrates a superb know-how with Syrah. These wines are macerated for 35-45 days, and given frequent pump-overs as well as punch-downs. They are aged completely in French oak. The floral-filled 2004 IX Syrah Estate (486 cases) offers super-pure blue and blackberries intermixed with hints of new saddle leather and meat. High but sweet tannins, powerful flavors, and an overall sense of poise characterize this stunning effort.

A strange Shanghai take on Ma Po tofu. It has peanuts, and a bit of spice, but the tofu is the firm kind instead of the silken tofu, and there is no yummy pork and mighty numbing Schezuan heat like here or here.

Crispy meat buns. A really great film skinned take on the soup dumpling.

On the right is a hard boiled egg that was underneath all that red pork belly. It’s saturated with sweetness and pork fat!

Fruit for dessert.

Overall, this was a really great meal. First rate Chinese and quite authentic and typical of high end banquet meals in China. We didn’t have the totally tricked out menu with all the sea cucumber, shark fin, and the like, but I don’t love that stuff anyway. Nearly every dish was wonderful. Service was fine (for Chinese). They brought things a little rapidly, but it was fine. Great experience.

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