Cantonese cuisine :: All Things Andy Gavin

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DimSumQuest – Colette

Oct23

Restaurant: Colette

Location: 975 N Michillinda Ave, Pasadena, CA 91107. (626) 510-6286

Date: March 8, 2023

Cuisine: Contemporary Chinese

Rating: Solid, slightly experimental dim sum

There is a lot of buzz about Colette, which is part of the “next generation” of LA Chinese restaurants. They opened in a cafe-like space and are serving both Cantonese-esqe and dim sum. From their website:

Colette is a Cantonese-based creative Asian restaurant that welcomes people from all walks of life for all occasions. Our goal is to provide you with an inviting experience whether you’re joining us for a fine new Asian cuisine, after hiking, a friend or family gathering, a business meeting, a date, or other special occasions.

Whatever the occasion, our ambiance, and setting at Colette will serve your needs. Whether you are on the go or want to bring your pets to relax and hang out with friends, our indoor seating area and the outdoor patio are designed to offer you a cozy and comfortable space for you to enjoy your meal. In addition, our food is cooked to order and is prepared with quality in mind. Whenever it is possible, our food is prepared using ingredients from local farmers’ markets.

At Colette, we believe dining is an experience involving all senses, not just taste. Therefore, we try to ensure that our guests will enjoy the service provided by our staff and our decor, in addition to the excellent quality and taste of our menu items. We want to offer a memorable experience to each guest so that you will return with your friends and family.

Not your classic decor.

The lunch menu.

We decided not to throw down $79/lb for some geoduck. Did at a dinner a few months later, but more on that later.

Pretty tea service.

Abalone sauce chicken feet. Chicken feet braised in condensed seafood sauce. Those willing to try these nasty things thought they were bland and generally a poor showing.

Shrimp & Pork Siu Mai. Shrimp and pork filled in thin wonton wrap. Not a bad siu mai. One of the better dim sum.

Lotus Leaf Wrapped Sticky Rice. Sticky rice, chicken, salted egg yolk, mushroom, wrapped in lotus leaf. Torched mozzarella cheese. Nice presentation, but we weren’t sure the melted cheese added in any way to the rather bland classic sticky rice. It did have a good amount of filling, however.

Zoom!

Crispy Abalone Taro Tart. Fried taro tart topped with braised abalone. The abalone on top was great and the “body” of the dumpling was a giant ball of taro that was wrapped in a crispy shell and deep friend. While hugely carby, it was kinda delicious.

Sauces. We had to ask for these.

Shrimp Egg Roll. Not a bad spring roll and stuffed with shrimp.

Inside.

XLB. Very mediocre typical dim sum XLB. Not great but not bad.

Zoom.

Jumbo Shrimp Har Gow. Shrimp with rice noodle wrap. The filling was pretty good but the wrapper was sticky and tore easily.

Char Siu Bun. Bun stuffed with minced Char Siu. Pretty sweet but a solid (normal) version of the dish.

Cross section.

Lobster sticky rice. This whole lobster was stir friend and somehow blended with a fried Chinese sausage sticky rice. While an odd frankenstein of two dishes, this was actually pretty tasty.

Zoom!

Crispy stuffed chicken. Deboned air-dried chicken, shrimp paste. This is known as 100 flower chicken. It’s basically a pan fried shrimp paste cake sandwiched in chicken skin. This was a solid version of the dish, and it’s a great dish, so probably one of the best items we had.

More close ups.

Golden Pork Trots. Fried pork trots marinated with red bean sauce and garlic. These were terrible. Overcooked and with a nasty “ripe pig” taste. Yuck.

Overhead on the nasty things.

Black Pepper Diced Beef. Sauteed black angus beef dice. Fairly typical “shaking beef”, pretty sweet, but enjoyable enough.

Overall, this is a weird place. It feels like an American breakfast cafe, but it’s Chinese. The food is mildly fusion. It’s partially dim sum, partially other Chinese. Dishes were hit or miss but nothing really stood out as amazing and it’s not actually “better” in any way than most SGV restaurants. But that’s just the dim sum. A follow-up dinner here turned out an absolutely first class meal. So while I think Colette is nice enough at lunch, it really rocks for less dim sum oriented Cantonese — more on that in another post.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, DimSumQuest, Pasadena

More Monterey Palace

Oct19

Restaurant: Monterey Palace [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1001 E Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91755. (626) 571-0888

Date: March 5, 2023

Cuisine: Cantonese Banquet

Rating: Great dinner!

The DimSumQuest continues with Monterey Park classic Monterey Palace.

It’s right there on Garvey with that classic 90s look.

And the classic Monterey Park dining room.

Hanging roast meats.

Our private room.

Peanuts. Super salty but actually some of the best salted peanuts I can remember.

Suckling Pig. Perfect juicy pig with crispy skin and just that right amount of porcine funk.

Hoisin and Sugar for the pig.

Geoduck Sashimi. Very fishy, but in a really good “eating the sea” kind of way. Nice chewy texture.

Soy and faux wasabi for the geoduck.

Fried geoduck neck. Super great fry, as good as Longo’s.

Yarom mans the crab.

Steamed King Crab Legs with Garlic. Super moist, tender, sweet, and garlicky. Great.

Typhoon Style King Crab Body. Very nice fry with excellent garlic crunch.

Steamed King Crab Egg Custard. Enjoyable as always, although not as silken as the best of these.

Roast Pigeon. Nice A- version of the crispy pigeon.

Scallops and Mushrooms. They were coated in a sweet but delicious sauce.

Lamb Chops. Tasted like pork chops. Very tender and mild flavored.

Fried Egg Tofu and Mushrooms. Goopy but enjoyable dish with nice textures.

Beef with Mushrooms. A little sweet but pretty tasty.

Candied Walnuts and Peanuts. Yummy.

Hainan Chicken. The chicken was moist and the garlic/ginger sauce amazing.

Garlic Greens. Good version.

Egg Yolk Breast Buns. Hmm.

Sickly Sweet Tapioca Soup. Ick.

Experimenting with “ketoesque gelato” — NSA Vanilla White Gelato — a very simple and elegant Tahitian Vanilla Bean White Base but I’m working on new NSA formulations, this one uses Allulose — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #vanilla #nsa #allulose

Cremino al Siciliana Gelato — The base made with Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Acacia Honey laced with house-made Bronte Pistacchio DOCG “Fudge” — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #ricotta #honey #pistachio #pistacchio #fudge

Overall, a very solid top notch Cantonese meal with great service and great food. Dishes ranged from B+ to A with many great ones and no duds.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Gelato, hedonists, Monterey Palace, SGV

DimSumQuest – Lunasia

Sep08

Restaurant: Lunasia [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 500 West Main Street Suite A, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 308-3222

Date: February 23, 2023

Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum

Rating: Excellent

The DimSumQuest group continues to scour San Gabriel Valley dim sum restaurants. I’ve actually been to Lunasia many times before, but this is my first trip here for dim sum in a long time, so I figured that instead of updating the old post (it’s almost a decade old) I’d do an entirely new report.

Pretty menu.

House Special Stir Cucumber. The cucumbers themselves were fine, but they dumped packaged sweet and spicy dipping sauce on them. Kind of meh.

Seaweed Salad. This “seaweed” salad seemed like Jellyfish Salad. It was chewy, which was okay, but with a grainy mustardy dressing that lacked acidity — so not very pleasant.

Hangry brought some Beijing Lamb Buns from next door.

Steamed Chicken Feet. Bland.

Spare Ribs w/ Black Bean Sauce. Pretty good actually with lots of meat. Not much “black bean” but one of the better versions of this we have had — not the best but pretty good.

Jumbo Shrimp & Pork Siu-Mai. Huge but delicious with tons of pork meat and whole shrimp suspended inside.

Truffle Siu-Mai. The truffle version was identical but with canned truffle on top. Actually quite good but perhaps not legions better than the basic version.

Jumbo Shrimp Har-Gow. Great version, with fabulous shrimp inside and a good shell. Not the thinest shell ever but with first rate texture. After a few minutes the shell got a little sticky but that always happens.

Scallop Dumpling w/ Squid Ink. Sometimes the scallop dumpling falls a little short but not this one. The squid ink wrapper was nice and there was a lot of scallop inside, almost like a cooked “battleship” scallop sushi.

Spinach Shrimp Dumpling. Unusual, usually this is chive. It had both a green “spinach” wrapper and spinach inside with the shrimp — which surprisingly worked well.

XLB. Solid dim sum version. Not amazing or anything but better than many.

Pork Bean Curd Wrap w/ Broth. Really quite nice. This is the broth version, as opposed to the “flavor corn starch sauce” version, but the broth was pleasant and the rolls excellent.

Steamed BBQ Pork Char Siu Bao. There was plenty of filling but it was overly sweet and the bun itself was soggy and over-steamed. Not terrible but fairly meh.

Contents.

Baked BBQ Pork Char Siu Bao. The baked version had the same overly sweet pork. The bun was oddly small and just okay.

Inside.

Pan-Fried Pork Bun w/ Crab Meat. The buns seemed a bit soggy but the “crab” filling was interesting.

Inside again.

Stick Rice Wrap. This classic was great, probably second only to the 1968 version. Lots of stuff inside the rice and a great rice flavor. Excellent.

The guts.

Supreme Beef Ball. I’m the only one who liked these chewy beef balls.

Shrimp Egg Roll. Nice and crispy with a lot of shrimp inside. Quite good.

Deep Fried Taro Cake? Not sure exactly what this was but the texture was fabulously crispy. Quite lovely.

Mixed Puff with Pork. Just okay version. Not crispy enough and not enough flavor in the filling.

Live Lobster Chow-Fun. I’ve never had lobster chow fun, but now I have and this was awesome. One of the best regular chow fun I’ve had. The sauce cold have been a little strong/sweeter but the texture was very nice and there were lots of nice lobster chunks.

Crispy Seafood Noodle. Just fair version of this generally excellent dish. Seafood itself was pretty good but the MSG factor was very high.

Pan-Fried String-Beans. Woah — MSG string beans. Nicely crispy but they were also stir-fried with the same sweet chili sauce that were used on the cucumbers. Weird.

Assorted BBQ Combination Quartet with Hong Kong Roasted Duck, Lunasia Boiled Chicken, Macao Style Roasted Pork Belly, and BBQ Pork (char siu). Kinda excellent, particularly the char siu. But the duck and Macao pork were also great. Some great sauces for them too.

BBQ meat sauces.

Pineapple Bun and Macao Style Egg Custard. The Pineapple Bun was small but very good with a nice flavored custard and good texture. The egg tart was quite good, although still not in the same league as the Montery Palace one. Macao (caramelized) egg tarts are almost always better than the regular ones.

Pure and Concentrated Evil — Kentucky Mud Pie Gelato — Expresso Knob Creek Bourbon Custard Gelato base with layers of house-made Crushed Oreo Valrhona Fudge Ganache, and house-made Vanilla Coconut Cream Cheese Icing — The Plaid Mode of Gelati and includes a hefty Caffeine kick — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #coconut #valrhona #chocolate #ganache #expresso #bourbon #custard #oreos #icing

Overall Lunasia was much better than I expected. It’s always been quite good for dim sum, and there is some uneveness to the kitchen, but the steamed items were in general excellent, in the A tier. Fried items were good too. But baked savory items a bit meh, and some duds like the cucumbers and jellyfish. Desserts were excellent. The non dim sum dishes here generally aren’t great, but the BBQ was very solid. So overall maybe A-, slightly under 1968 and Tonys, but very close.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Dim sum, DimSumQuest, Lunch Quest, SGV

China Gourmet – Wednesday 2022

Jul02

Restaurant: China Gourmet [1, 2]

Location: 2842 St Vincent St, Philadelphia, PA 19149. (215) 941-1898

Date: November 23, 2022

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Pretty decent Cantonese

As part of the traditional ThanksGavin progression of meals we go out on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and this year we returned to China Gourmet, which we’d visited on Friday night the year before.

Cantonese banquet hall — Philly style.

Fairly typical interior that is pretty much straight out of the SGV. It sure was quiet on this wed night.

The menu. Clearly they do a lot of takeout.
Peanuts on the table.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls. Nice and crispy.

Hot and Sour Soup. Not a bad version with a good texture. A bit goopy (corn starch). Could have used slightly more white pepper and black vinegar. They had red vinegar on the table but that was too sweet.

Shrimp with lobster sauce. The goopy lobster sauce was actually pretty tasty and the shrimp texture was great. There weren’t ENOUGH shrimp, but hey.

Lobster with ginger and scallion. This was two tiny lobsters. The meat was succulent and the sauce very silky so a nice version of the wet lobster type.

Whole flounder steamed with soy and scallions. Very light moist fish with lots of meat. Quite nice.

See all that meat?

“Peking duck.” Cantonese Roast Duck with the buns but still quite nice (and quite fatty). Not that crispy but delicious.

Stir-fried snow pea leaves with garlic. Very solid garlic green.

Steamed broccoli.

Stir fried mushrooms with tofu and snap peas. The tofu was delectably soft and the veggies firm and delicious. Very nice dish.

Sliced Pork with Okra. I haven’t had this exact combo but this was a very nice pork dish with tender and flavorful meat and crunchy veggies.

Cumin lamb. This certainly wan’t the typical cumin lamb — in fact I could barely taste any cumin. The meat was very tender with some good “moutony” flavor.

Plain Lo Mein.

Veggie Fried Rice. A bit too charred for my taste.

Fruit.

Really a pretty good place, on par with a medium level SGV Cantonese. Not the best ever, but not Chinese American either (at least the way I ordered). Everyone enjoyed it too so my “something for everyone” ordering seemed to have worked out.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

To see more ThanksGavin meals check here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, China Gourmet, Chinese cuisine, ThanksGavin, ThanksGavin 2022

DimSumQuest – Blooming VIP

May20

Restaurant: Blooming VIP Restaurant

Location: 8118 Garvey Ave A, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 280-2288

Date: October 7, 2022

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese Dim Sum

Rating: Solid

This was sort of the first of a new series we called DimSumQuest, in which a bunch of us actively hit some of Southern California’s vast array of Dim Sum places in short order (1-2 a week over several months) in order to suss out their relative merits. Technically speaking, at the time of this visit we hadn’t yet conceived the nefarious plan, but it was the same crew and in the same timeframe so this was pretty much visit (ground) zero.

Blooming VIP, horrible name aside, is a recent opening of a typical Cantonese palace. It’s even helmed by our friend Ben who used to be at Grand Harbor.

I’m not sure if it’s brand new or took over a previous Cantonese Palace but it has some serious (overwrought) build-out.

Who doesn’t love a dragon medallion.

And the main room has to be seen to be believed.

The highlight are these video screen Chinese columns! Animated seafood scenes roll around them continuously!

The manager, Ben and Yarom.

Le menu.

Honey BBQ Pork.

Five Spices Beef Shank.

Imperial Cold Chicken.

Roasted Duck Hong Kong Style.

Seafood Pan Fried Noodle.

Chicken Feet with XO Sauce.

Short Rib with Black Pepper Sauce.

Bean Curd Skin Wrap.

Steamed Beef Balls.

Shrimp and Mushroom Sui Mai.

Beef Rice Noodle with Green Onion.

XLB.

Shrimp Chives Dumpling.

Har Gow.

Pan Fried Chives Pastry. I love these when I see them.

Tofu with Thai Sauce. I love these too, kind of a guilty pleasure.

Shrimp Egg Roll.

Deep Fried Shrimp Ball.

BBQ Pork Bun.

Salty Meat Sticky Rice Wrap. A bit of an unusual look to it, with lots of filling.

Overall, I remember that this was solid but not amazing Dim Sum. Now don’t get me wrong, if you aren’t jaded like I am with SGV Dim Sum, it might be the best you ever had, but in that rarified world, it’s just “doing a good job.” They have a great classic “Palace” setting, they have a full menu of all the usuals and a few less usuals, they have the BBQ meats, they allow you to order off the bigger “dinner” Cantonese menu if you like (not so recommended during the day), and they have awesome service. So, yeah, it checks all the boxes. Specific Dim Sum execution was just good, not amazing. Unfortunately, not only was this the zero’th DimSumQuest visit but I didn’t take the ultra-detailed notes that I did on later visits, so not much (almost no) commentary on which dishes were specifically great.

When the rest of the DimSumQuest crew returned (without me) in Jan 2023 (due to their incessant zeal) they thought “Blooming VIP in Rosemead was solid. Everything was good… but nothing stood out as excellent EXCEPT… the fresh live steamed Norwegian Langoustine/Scampi….so sweet & delicious! But off course, fresh Norwegian Scampi is not really considered DimSum!” — for me the biggest standout was the giant column TV screens, never seen that before.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Blooming VIP, Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese Palace, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Dim sum, DimSumQuest, Lunch Quest, SGV

Big Night at Capital

Feb25

Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234

Date: July 29, 2022

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great again

Sometimes (particularly during a week day) people don’t want to drive all the way to the SGV — and when that happens there is always Capital Seafood Beverly Hills. Tonight a bunch of us gathered for a big wine night.

Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.

The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.

Coves. Gotta have the coves!

Candied Walnuts.

Peanuts.

It’s alive!

Jellyfish. Nice texture and a good slightly tangy sauce.

Shrimp Egg Rolls. Nice and crunchy.

Har Gow. Well made with a great filling, although they had sat on this plate for a bit too long and so were starting to sag.

Live prawns.

Boiled Live Spot Prawns. Normally I don’t love these sea bugs, but with the sauce they were quite nicely cooked, sweet and delicious.

Sauce for the prawns.

Live lobster!

Typhoon Style Lobster. Great with a nice garlic flavor.

Live crab!

King Crab Body with Basil. Lovely basil flavor and well cooked crab.

King Crab legs steamed with garlic. Juicy, fresh, and delicious.

Pseudo Peking Duck. Not bad, but no pancakes, which makes it more or less Pseudo Peking Duck (see my Ultimate Peking Duck Guild for details).

Buns instead of pancakes.

Wines chilling!

Duck bones with cumin. Actually one of the best duck bone preps I’ve had. Really nice “cumin lamb” style prep. Lots of meat and a bit crunchy.

French style Filet Mignon. Sweet and a bit of black pepper. Boring dish but this was a nice version of it.

Salt and pepper Pork Ribs. Excellent version of this dish. Very fried but not too salty.

Beef rib with Garlic XO sauce. Very savory garlic/MSG sauce. Meat was a touch over cooked, but it was delicious.

King Crab Shell Fried Rice.

Pea Tendrils steamed with Garlic. Nice for a green.

Stir fried fungus with fresh lily and asparagus. Not bad at all for straight vegetables.

Macau Tarts.

Peach shaped buns with bean paste.

Raspberry Lemon Curd Gelato — an awesome dairy Raspberry base swirled with house-made Lemon Curd — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — tangy and sweet! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #raspberry #jam #lemoncurd #curd

Gift from the kitchen: pork buns.

Overall, this was one of our best Capital Seafood (BH) meals ever — and I’ve been a lot! Really fabulous food — partially as we had some really regular customers. Wines were incredible too.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Capital Seafood, Chinese Food, Gelato, hedonists

China Gourmet – East Coast Far East

Aug08

Restaurant: China Gourmet [1, 2]

Location: 2842 St Vincent St, Philadelphia, PA 19149. (215) 941-1898

Date: November 26, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Pretty decent Cantonese

As part of the traditional ThanksGavin progression of meals we often have a second home feast on Friday Night, but this year because my cousin Matt and his wife were justifiably out of steam from the big event the night before, we quested around for tasty place that could take nearly 20 people.

Much to my pleasure we selected this local Cantonese banquet hall.

Fairly typical interior that is pretty much straight out of the SGV.

The menu. Clearly they do a lot of takeout.

This meal involved some really complex ordering. This is the main adult table. This had a mix of adventurous and cautious eaters and even a couple with restrictions.

And then the extra challenging kids table, which due to size restrictions also ended up as the overflow for really picky eaters and those with highly specific dietary needs.

Peanuts.

Fish maw and crab soup. Mild MSG delivery vehicle.

Because some people thought “fish maw” was too weird, we also got Hot and sour soup (which is always delicious).

Lobster with minced pork. Not sure I’ve had it with the pork. Extra yum.

Clams with black bean sauce.

Peppers stuffed with shrimp paste.

Steamed striped bass.

Quail.

Garlic fried chicken. Very tender and moist.

Salt and pepper pork chop.

Snow pea leaf.

String beans.

Beef on crispy noodles.

Salt and pepper tofu.

Seafood fried rice with salty roe. I didn’t tell everyone about the “roe”.

Oranges.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

To see more ThanksGavin meals check here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese Food, Lobster, ThanksGavin 2021

Happy at Happy Harbor

Jul08

Restaurant: Happy Harbor

Location: 1015 Nogales St, West Covina, CA 91792. 626-965-2020

Date: October 30, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great cantonese

Yarom discovered this place during the day (for dim sum) not too long ago and as it was really great in that mode we decided to hit it for Sunday dinner.

Happy Harbor is a medium sized Cantonese located right next to Mandarin plaza, a “far east” (Hacienda Heights ish) area we have eaten at again and again.

The interior is classic Cantonese.

With the tanks.

And the over-decorated private room which was where we set up shop.

On table to start, cucumbers. A bit sweet.

Peanuts.

The show off the live “creatures.”

Cold plate. Roast Pork, Roast Duck or Chicken, Jellyfish, Macau style pork belly.

Tofu with preserved egg. Oddly sweet and not one of my favorite versions.

Lobster with garlic and ginger. Very tender.

“Spot prawns” in a crunchy very fried Typhoon style. Not immensely garlicky but the prawns themselves were very well cooked.

Quail. Excellent version.

Peking duck skin. Not enough, but good. Buns unfortunately instead of pancakes.

Peking duck meat/bones. Lots of meat here, more should have been cut onto the other plate.

Duck letuce cups (from same duck). Good but no hoison at the time. Radically insufficient hoison.

The actual lettuce.

Chicken “Knees.” Great flavor!

Beef ribs and egg plant. Nice.

Vermicelli pancake with beef and eggy sauce. Delicious “pizza.”

Pork chops. Very friend. Ok.

Tripe.

XLB. A little under-seasoned.

Free custard buns. Nice.

Pistachio Cardamom Gelato — Sicilian Pistachio di Bronte with Cardamom infused milk — pretty awesome new flavor! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #cardamom #sicily

Happy Harbor was quite seriously good, definitely in the top tier of Cantonese kitchens (of the many) in the SGV. A bit further than most, but excellent.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese Food, duck, Gelato, Happy Harbor, hedonists, SGV, squab, Wine

Embassy Kitchen Expedition

Mar29

Restaurant: Embassy Kitchen

Location: 218 S San Gabriel Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 286-8148

Date: August 28 & September 9, 2021

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very tasty, but lots of MSG

Over the years Embassy Kitchen has been on my radar. I missed a couple dinners there due to scheduling conflicts and we even showed up once years ago and when they declined to allow us to open our wine the group rebelled and moved to Beijing Tasty House. Anyway, I managed to go twice in 2021, both for a test lunch and then for a Tony Lau dinner.

It’s adjacent to an old 50s/60s billiards hall which I think is still actually open! This is just all so SGV.

Big menu.

Peanuts on the table.

Beef and anchovy patties. A bit salty and “fishy” in a good umami way.

Deep fried chicken cartilage. Garlicky. Delicious but very salty. Here you chew right through the “chicken knees” (chunks of chewy cartilage. This isn’t always easy for those of the Caucasian persuasion.

Rice stuffed chicken wings. Stuffing slightly bland.

100 flower chicken. Great. I love this dish.

Tilapia rolled up around ginger. Delicious but very salty. This is a polarizing dish. Not only is it salty fried fish but there is this tangy and bitey bit of fresh ginger inside. I loved it, but not everyone did.

Quail. Excellent.

House Special Lobster. Delicious.

Mushrooms with a salty yolk fry.

Beef with truffle. Heavy on the truffle oil.

Simple greens.

Veggies with dried shrimp and crispy taro. Delicious but again super salty.

Almond Chocolate Cloud Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Toasted Sicilian Almond Cream and Dark Chocolate Rocas! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #almond

Pinoli Gelato — Siberian Pinenut Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pinoli #pinenut

Portuguese Tarts.

Pineapple Buns.

Embassy Kitchen has a number of unique and interesting dishes and great flavors. It does however, use a lot of salt and MSG and I could really feel it both after both visits. Worth it. The ambiance is classic SGV with that unique blend of 50s/60s buildings with interesting “hybrid” Chinese American decor. Certainly our Tony Lau dinner made for a great night!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Embassy Kitchen, hedonists, Lunch Quest, SGV, Tony Lau

SGV Adventures – ACC Chinese Fast Food

Nov05

Restaurant: ACC Chinese Fast Food

Location: 38 S Palm Ave, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 281-8577

Date: June 24, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese BBQ

Rating: Tasty!

On this particular lovely June day Yarom and I ventured into the SGV to try out some experimental places on our vast list.

Stop #2 was this old school Chinese BBQ joint, which has been going strong since the 80s with the same owner/managers.

Small interior, but cute in its own way.

Menu of BBQ specials. They will even do goose with some notice.

The big takeout menu.

BBQ Pork w/ Honey Sauce — excellent.

Roast Duck with Plum Sauce — very succulent and tasty.

The aforementioned Plum Sauce.

Stir Fried Chinese Broccoli with Garlic — very solid classic veg. The extremely nice “boss lady” (aka the owner) insisted that we get some greens to help with our digestion — I think she was taking us under her wing.

ACC was surprisingly excellent. I suspect that their regular Cantonese dishes are decent but very Chinese American style, but their BBQ was first rate. We are thinking to go back with a big group, take over the whole place, and get a whole bunch of roast meats.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, duck, Lunch Quest, SGV

J Zhou Prequel

Oct22

Restaurant: J Zhou

Location: 2601 Park Ave, Tustin, CA 92782. (714) 258-8833

Date: June 17, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Amazing (if pricey) crab

Today is the third day of our epic Foodie Club June mega week, and tonight is a special La Tâche dinner deep in the OC, so we wanted to “warm up” (sans wine) with a bit of Orange County Chinese food.

J Zhou is the fanciest of the OC’s big Cantonese palaces and I’ve heard good things about it for a long time.

There were 3 of us, but we had our own private room as Fred is friends with the manager.

The daytime dim sum menu.

Seafood dumpling in egg wrapper. These were delicate and delicious!

XLB. A decent, but not amazing version of this classic.

Roast Squabs or Quail. I thought these were some of the crispiest and meatiest little roast birds I’ve had in a long time. Delicious!

We pre-ordered a huge king crab and they prepared it 3 days. This first way was just simply steamed with a bit of vermicelli underneath soaked in crab juices and soy. Incredibly fresh and sweet — hey they did bring in the live crab a few minutes before!

King crab typhoon style. Crispy and amazing.

King Crab Brûlée. Egg custard in the crab shell was also silky smooth.

We didn’t sample that many dishes because we had an epic wine dinner just a few hours later, but what I had was all excellent. The crab in particular was amazing, but it was full premium price per pound — no super steal discount at all. I would like to come back and try a full dim sum spread.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, Foodie Club, J Zhou, King Crab, Orange County, Tustin

Too Tony at Chef Tony

Apr13

Restaurant: Chef Tony

Location: 2 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105. (626) 803-0028

Date: February 26, 2020

Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum

Rating: Dumplings good, but portions tiny

The Lunch Quest gang is always keen to try a new Chinese spot.
So we trekked out to Pasadena once we heard that the original chef from Sea Harbor was opening up a new “fancy” dim sum spot in Pasadena.

This is in the old 800 degrees space and nicely built out… up stairs at least.

There is an attractive bar.

But our six person party was banished to the “dungeon.” The basement was claustrophobic and smelled of “potty.” Ick. It was pretty off-putting.

The Menu.

Sauces in the usual microscopic dishes.

XO sauce.

Lobster Salad. This is a “whole” order ($28.80). It was tasty, but very small.

Steamed chicken feet in brown sauce.

Shrimp dumpling with gold leaf. These are basically har gow (below) but with a black dough and gold leaf. They don’t taste too different. One of the nice things about Chef Tony is that almost all the dumplings can be ordered by the piece as well as by the order. This really helps when you have a person count that isn’t divisible by 3 or 4.

Har Gow. Very nice classic shrimp dumplings — except they are $2 each and at many places they are $2-3 an order!

Shrimp and Pork dumpling with Black Truffle. Pretty much your usual shu mai but with truffle. They were good, but I’m not sure the truffle actually improves anything.

Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Excellent version with the usual sweet interior.

Shrimp wonton with house spicy sauce. Very nice and delicate with quite a bit of salty flavor.

Shrimp, crab meat, and matsutake dumplings. Nice delicate dumplings.

Juicy Pork dumplings (XLB). Very good example of the Cantonese variant of these.

Pan-fried shrimp & pork pandan bun. Doughy, but with a very nice flavor. Quite tasty.

Deep fried pork dumpling. Just an ok version of this chewy fried type.

Deep fried tofu in Thai sauce. Nice tender tofu. Quite good.

Pan-fried radish cake with XO sauce. I really liked this dish. It had the soft/starchy daikon texture with lots of umami XO flavor.

Squid ink pasta with crab meat and gold leaf. This was a total disappointment. It was just vaguely fishy with a strong red pepper flavor. Not terribly good at all.

Stir-fried rice noodle with beef. This was much better. Like Chinese beef Pad Thai.

Deep fried crispy king prawn. Tasty and super crispy but also super fried.

BBQ Pork. Delicious and pretty much coated in syrup.

Braised eggplant with minced pork on rice noodle casserole. Not a ton of eggplant but I enjoyed the chewy “rice noodle” with the sauce.

Sliced Chinese broccoli with black truffle sauce. Now this was only $6.80, but it was embarrassingly tiny. We are talking 2 inches across!

Sautéed string beans with minced pork. Decent tasting but also about 1/3 the size of a typical version of this dish. It was hard to split 6 ways.

Coconut pudding. These were super cute, but very bland. Basically nearly flavorless coconut jelly (vaguely sweet) pressed into bunny moulds.

Overall, Chef Tony is not a phenomenal experience. The dumplings were actually pretty good, being a bit fancier and smaller and more delicate like they are in Hong Kong. But many of the other dishes were a bit limp. It’s still in soft opening and a few things on the menu (like Chow Fun) weren’t available. Service was fine. QPR isn’t great. Some dishes are laughably small. Some are way more expensive than at a larger “Cantonese Palace.” Some are both. I’d certainly rather go to a place like World Seafood, Elite, or Grand Harbor. For me, Pasadena is also further away than the SGV and more difficult to park in.

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chef Tony, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, dumplings, Lunch Quest, noodles, Pasadena, Truffle

Tong Tak – Epic Cantonese

Mar27

Restaurant: Tong Tak House Seafood Restaurant

Location: 1265 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 638-3388

Date: February 9, 2020

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Really great execution

Our friend Tony Lau organizes the best Cantonese banquets.

He always manages to find new places that surprise. Tong Tak isn’t exactly new, but it’s new to most of us.

Classic “palace” interior. It was pretty empty too. Sure it was Academy Awards night, but hard to say.

After an initial foray into a private room that was way too small they set us up downstairs at this huge table with the awesome blue thrones.

The whole gang.

Salted peanuts.

Spicy cold marinated cucumbers. Pretty good version of this typical Chinese starter. Nice crunch, garlic, and a bit of spice.

I ate a lot of these because oddly, they didn’t serve any real dishes for 45 minutes despite the place being deserted! Then the dishes came on like a storm.

Chinese Mountain Yams with Raspberry Sauce. Crunchy yam, not slimey (sometimes it is). The yam itself doesn’t have a lot of flavor. Raspberry sauce is a bit odd..

Beancurd wrapped mushroom rolls. Interesting texture.

Marinated wood ear mushrooms. I love the rubbery texture.

Beans. Not sure what kind. Very mild and I don’t love the pastey bean thing.

Hot sauce.

XO sauce.

Spicy clam with vegetables. Very interesting spongy/chewy texture on the clam and very nice crunchy vegetables.

Fried oysters typhoon style. Really delicious. Probably the best fried oyster’s I’ve ever had with the crispy fry and lots of garlic.

Cheesy lobster. Nice tender lobster with a cheesy sauce. Very interesting combo.

Condiments for the duck and pig.

Suckling pig with buns. Nice small pig, actually a suckling. Nice crunchy skin and good flavor.

The pig head returns after a discombobulating encounter with the cleaver.

Beef with asparagus. Tony always orders a straight up beef dish like this. It was fatty and pretty tender with nicely cut asparagus.

Crispy roast pigeon. Very nice hot juicy pigeon. Not too dark, not overcooked at all.

Peking Duck (Cantonese style) with buns. Very tasty as always, but is of course much better with pancakes and cut a bit differently.

Duck part 2: Lettuce cup duck. The meat from the duck mixed with water chestnuts and celery.

Lettuce cups to go with the duck.

Packed lettuce cup ready to eat. These were good.

100 Flower Chicken. 2 ways. Pressed chicken with shrimp paste. This version was mostly shrimp paste. Almost no chicken meat under the skin. Still it was delicious.

Wok cooked vegetables and oyster mushrooms. I like the double texture thing.

Yin Yang Fried Rice. Two types of sauce covering fried rice. The lighter one was asparagus stalks and shrimp in a light sauce. Very savory and delicious. The red one was with chicken and a tomato based sweet sauce. A bit too sweet for my taste.

Dessert Buns. The yellow topped ones were filled with pineapple and egg custard.

Crackerjack Gelato – Smooth Peanut Base with homemade Dulce de Leche Ribbon, Toffee Peanuts, and Caramel Popcorn! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #caramel #DulceDeLeche #Popcorn #CaramelCorn

Raspberry Sorbetto — French Raspberries and a touch of lime juice — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unusual for me to go so “straight” with my flavors but I wanted a complement to a complex flavor — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #raspberry

Overall, another great night. Really, these Tony Lau dinners are always great. Despite the slow start to the food, service was very good and the execution of the dishes was excellent. Very nice plating and on point flavors. The kitchen’s command of vegetables was particularly impressive. They know how to cut them into the proper shapes and to wok them quickly so they are still crunchy and tender.

It just goes to show that just because a Cantonese place has that “dated” palace look, doesn’t mean the kitchen isn’t first rate. Somehow they have 3 stars on Yelp. I wonder if we just got the royal treatment of if it’s just Yelp haters.

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By: agavin
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Tagged as: Arcadia, BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, hedonists, Peking Duck, Seafood, SGV, suckling pig, Tong Tak, Tony Lau, Wine

China Red by Day

Mar04

Restaurant: China Red [1, 2]

Location: 855 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 445-3700

Date: January 23, 2020

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: A- dim sum

Continuing our Lunch Quest series of random lunch visits we decide to check in on the China Red dim sum.

For some reason I’ve been on a run of places on the slightly more “Eastern” half of the main SGV. Slightly more annoying drive too as it’s 10-15 minutes further.

The outside.

The interior is typical midsized Cantonese. There is some DM (deferred maintenance). This is very Chinese, but the place is only a couple years old and is showing some wear and tear.

Zoom.

Sauces.

Har Gow (shrimp dumplings) – large, but hot and good.

Chicken feet in XO sauce.

Pork ribs — ugly but tasty.

Shu Mai (pork and shrimp dumplings) — large but tasty version of the classic.

Shrimp and Leek Dumplings — quite nice. One of the better dumplings.

Sticky rice in lotus leaf — good.

Crunchy baked BBQ pork bun — slightly mushy interior.

Pork Rib Chow Fun — I didn’t realize that this was just the ribs on top of some chow fun. I would have ordered a different one had I known.

Dumplings with an interesting peanut and meat paste inside. I didn’t adore.

XLB (Xao Lao Bao) – juicy pork dumplings. Very nice version.

Shrimp paste with almonds – Basically a shrimp spring roll covered in almonds. Interesting texture.

Another dumpling type with a brown spinach mush inside — not my favorite at all.

Beef balls — ok.

Crispy fried squab — very dense and meaty. Not my favorite squab.

Spicy cabbage — I love this dish as always.

Double Shot Gelato — Hot brewed espresso gelato with house-made dark chocolate hazelnut ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — this will keep you up! — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #chocolate #valrhona #espresso #coffee #hazelnut #ganache

Peppered Lemongrass Ginger Creme Brûlée Gelato — A blended milk and Thai coconut cream base steeped with lemongrass and ginger and then juiced up with yuzu and black pepper. For sugar, I used coconut palm sugar and even torched the top! — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #lemongrass #ginger #CremeBrûlée #BlackPepper #coconut #yuzu

China Red is a solid “made to order” dimsum place. It’s better than pretty much all the cart places, but it’s not the best ever, and the menu is pretty small and straightforward. Which place is the best in the SGV is always changing, but generally 2-3 are A+ and a whole bunch are good but not quite as good — that’s where China Red falls.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese Food, Dim sum, dimsum, Gelato, Har Gow, Lunch Quest, SGV, Yarom

Dirty Dozen at Capital Seafood

Jan13

Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3]

Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234

Date: November 25, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Good for this far west

For the second time in a single weekend, I return to the only really good Cantonese west of the SGV.

Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.

This event is the Dirty Dozen white, our blind tasting sub group of the Hedonists. Theme is Champagne tonight. I worked with the manager King to do this custom menu that has only one repeat dish from the Sauvages lunch a few days before.

The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.

Coves. Gotta have the coves!

We are back in the private room — same as 3 days before, and same as years ago when this place was Newport Seafood.

This time I photographed the giant nighttime menu.

Wines before the meal:

1982 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. VM 97. Both 1982 Champagnes are utterly spellbinding. It is amazing to taste these wines at 30 years of age and see that their signatures are all very much intact. Of course, the magnum format is so ideal for Champagne. The 1982 Krug Vintage is warm, toasty and totally expressive, with gorgeous exotic orange peel and white truffle overtones. This is one of my very favorite Krug vintages. Although fully mature, the 1982 is going to continue to develop at a glacial pace. The 1982 Dom Pérignon is just a little more focused and vibrant in style. Here it is the wine’s salivating minerality that really sings. It, too, is quite youthful and vibrant for its age.

1997 Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex. Peter 91. Caramel, roasted nuts, nectarine pit, sweet richness with elevated acidity, juicy and mouthwatering, complex and long. Really liked the age on this which turned slightly rich, ripe and tangy on the palate. Capital Seafood for DD.

2014 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Derrière Chez Edouard Vieilles Vignes. BH 89-91. An expressive and slightly more elegant nose offering up notes of red currant, wild flowers and spiced tea, leads to detailed, stony and energetic middle weight flavors that possess a relatively refined mouth feel before terminating in a moderately austere but well-balanced finish. This beautifully delineated effort will need at least 3 to 5 years of bottle age first. (Drink starting 2021)

Edamame.

Peanuts.

2002 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Nicolas-François Billecart. VM 94. The 2002 Cuvée Nicolas François Billecart comes across as rich, powerful and opulent. This latest release of the 2002 was disgorged in July 2015 and finished with a Chardonnay-based liqueur whereas the previous release, disgorged in May 2014, was finished with a Pinot Noir-based liqueur. This is a distinctly vinous, almost shockingly raw, visceral Champagne from Billecart-Salmon. There is no shortage of volume or intensity, that is for sure. Stylistically, this year’s release inhabits a whole other world relative to last year’s release. Dosage is 4 grams per liter. (Drink between 2018-2042)

2008 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année. VM 97. Bollinger’s 2008 Grande Année is rich, ample and full-bodied, with all of the pedigree of the vintage on display. Dried pear, dried flowers, chamomile, red plum and mint develop as the 2008 shows the breadth and creaminess that are such signatures of the Bollinger house style. A whole range of brighter, more floral and chalky notes appear later, adding translucence and energy. The 2008 is 71% Pinot Noir and 29% Chardonnay taken across 18 crus, and it is the Pinot that very much informs the wine in both flavor and texture. More importantly, the 2008 is one of the best Grande Années I can remember tasting. Bollinger fans won’t want to miss it. Disgorged November 2018. Dosage is 8 grams per liter. (Drink between 2020-2048)

2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far. (Drink between 2018-2047)

Deluxe Combination Cold Appetizer Platter: Roasted Pork Belly, Capital BBQ Pork, Jellyfish.

Jellyfish. Nice and tangy.

Roasted Pork Belly. Basically Macau style.

Capital BBQ Pork. Similar, but a bit less fatty.

Fish Maw Crabmeat Soup. Mild and delicious, but packed with MSG.

2004 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 97. Another stellar wine, the 2004 Dom Pérignon is just starting to show the first signs of aromatic development, as well as a bit of added weight it did not have as a young wine. The 2004 remains a bright, mid-weight DP built on persistence and length more than overt volume. I have always had a soft spot for the 2004. This tasting does nothing to dampen that enthusiasm. (Drink between 2019-2039)

2006 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 96. Powerful, dense and tightly wound, the 2006 Dom Pérignon is fabulous today. To be sure, the 2006 is a broad, virile Champagne, but I find it compelling because of its phenolic depth and overall intensity. Chef de Caves Richard Geoffroy adds that August was quite cold and wet, and that ripening only happened at the very end of the growing season. Although numbers alone can never explain a wine, I find it interesting that the 2006 has more phenolics than the 2003. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2006 is easily the most reticent Dom Pérignon in the years spanning 2002 and 2009. I am confident the 2006 will have its day, but in its youth, it is not especially charming or easy to drink. (Drink between 2026-2056)

From my cellar: 2006 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The bouquet is drop-dead gorgeous, lively and broad, and beautifully defined as always, offering scents of citrus fruit, toasted walnuts and a hint of brioche. The exquisitely balanced palate displays spine-tingling mineralité and real tension and grace. The long, quite deep finish makes me wonder whether this 2006 will meliorate with further bottle age. Should I care, when it is so delicious now? Just superb. (Drink between 2019-2032)

Lobster in Causeway Bay Style. Aka with TONS of great crunchy garlic.

Stuffed Bean Curd with Shrimp Paste. Interesting.

2008 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 98+. The 2008 Cristal is a wine that takes over all the senses and never lets up. The brilliance and cut of the Chardonnay finds an extra kick of resonance from the Pinot Noir to carry the mid palate and finish in this stunningly beautiful, chiseled Champagne. Lemon oil, almond, flowers, dried herbs and Mirabelle plum are some of the many aromas and flavors that develop as the 2008 shows off its pedigree. The 2008 is a regal, towering Champagne from Roederer. That’s all there is to it. (Drink between 2023-2058)

NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 160eme. JG 94. The Krug Grand Cuvée “160ème Édition” is from the base year of 2004 and is now starting to really drink well today. It was disgorged in the spring of 2014 and the oldest reserve wines used in this iteration being chardonnays from the villages of Avize and Oger dating back to the 1990 vintage. The final cépages ending up forty-four percent pinot noir, thirty-three percent chardonnay and twenty-three percent pinot meunier. I had not tasted this bottling in a year and it was every bit as beautiful at the estate as I remember it when it was paired with the 2004 vintage during its inaugural showing in New York last autumn. The wine offers up a classic and blossoming bouquet of apple, pear, almond, fresh-baked bread, a superb base of soil tones, a touch of upper register smokiness and an exotic topnote of fleur de sel. On the palate the wine is pure, focused and refined, with a full-bodied format, lovely focus and grip, elegant mousse, a lovely core and a long, vibrant and seamless finish. I love this version of Grande Cuvée and would love to have a case waiting in the cellar to start drinking ten years from now, as that is when it is really going to start firing on all cylinders! (Drink between 2018-2050)

2004 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 97+. Krug’s 2004 Vintage is absolutely mesmerizing. Layers of bright, chiseled fruit open up effortlessly as the wine fleshes out with time in the glass. Persistent and beautifully focused, with a translucent sense of energy, the 2004 captures all the best qualities of the year. Moreover, the 2004 is clearly superior to the consistently underwhelming 2002 and the best Krug Vintage since 1996. Readers who can find it should not hesitate, as it is a magical bottle. (Drink between 2017-2044)

Peking Duck.

Served with buns in the Cantonese style. Meat was good. Not amazing, but good. I wish there were pancakes.

Here is a bun ready to eat.

The “meat” or “bones” from the duck. Hard to eat this particular version.

Sautéed Sea-cucumber with Greens.

A zoom in. Sea cucumber is mixed in with some mushrooms and bok choy. I liked this dish — I generally like sea-cucumber — but a couple white boys complained slightly.

2002 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. BH 97. There is a distinctly phenolic character to the secondary-tinged yet super-fresh nose reflects notes of bread, yeast, pear, baked apple, spice and a hint of citrus. The bold and full-bodied flavors possess superb complexity while being underpinned by a notably fine but dense mousse, all wrapped in a gorgeously persistent finish. This is a seriously impressive effort and one of the best of the Krug Brut vintage series released in many years. Note that while this should continue to age effortlessly, it could certainly be enjoyed now. (Drink starting 2017)

some other fool didn’t declare and just brought the same wine I did: 2006 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut. VM 96. The bouquet is drop-dead gorgeous, lively and broad, and beautifully defined as always, offering scents of citrus fruit, toasted walnuts and a hint of brioche. The exquisitely balanced palate displays spine-tingling mineralité and real tension and grace. The long, quite deep finish makes me wonder whether this 2006 will meliorate with further bottle age. Should I care, when it is so delicious now? Just superb. (Drink between 2019-2032)

1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. VM 94. The 1995 Krug is gorgeous. I chose it because one of my guests loves Krug and I thought the 1995 would have the right amount of complexity to pair beautifully with the smokiness in Saison’s caviar. Although the 1995 Krug is not a truly epic wine, it is in a sweet spot right now. (Drink between 2018-2023)

The one repeat from the Sauvages lunch: Filet of cod, Virginia Ham with Chinese vegetables (Double Pleasure Rock Cod). This is an unusual dish, but in looks and ingredients. Having the cod, mushrooms, vegetables, and Smithfield ham is really… interesting. The ham dominates with its strong salty flavor.

Scallop with Snow Pea Leaf. Instead of just getting the plain snow pea leaf with garlic, this version was covered in scallops — two for one!

Random cab. Not part of the blind tasting. Some people wanted some reds.

1996 Domaine du Colombier Hermitage. 87 points. Fading, delicate, not much primary fruit, a little tannin left.

Crispy Sesame Chicken. Very nice mild chicken.

Lamb with scallions. I liked this. Some cumin flavor.

Prime Ribs in House Special Sauce. This is an odd “modern” Chinese dish. Not my favorite. Chinese don’t know how to cook “steak”.

Baked Seafood Fried Rice with Coconut Curry Sauce.

Never had this one before — King suggested it — a curry fried rice with seafood drowned in curry sauce and then baked crispy. Delicious — if a touch heavy after a long meal.

Fruit (aka Chinese dessert).

Strawberries and Cream Gelato — A dairy strawberry base with Avignon Strawberries plus Strawberry Jam Ripples and Strawberry Wafer Cookies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #cream #jam #wafer #cookies

The wine lineup.

Results.

And the gang.

Overall, Capital Seafood is quite solid SGV-style Cantonese banquet (as well as dimsum). I’d say that the food quality is about on par with middle of the road SGV Cantonese. Price is higher, but still not bad. I worked with the manager, King to create this very interesting menu and we had a variety of nice wines. Service is excellent, particularly with a special party like this. We did all the wine service, and there wasn’t really enough space for more than 3 glasses (too few) but they did this interesting hybrid food service where they brought out the large dishes, then individually plated about 2/3 of the dish and served it to each person, but leaving enough for repeats for us gluttons. This worked out quite well and was less chaotic and much neater than the lazy-susan craziness across so many wine glasses.

Great night. They did “bait and switch” up the price of the menu at the end of the evening, but it was still fairly cheap considering all the great stuff we had.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Capital Seafood, Champagne, Chinese Food, Dirty Dozen, Gelato, hedonists, Wine

Capital Sauvages

Jan10

Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3]

Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234

Date: November 22, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Good for this far west

Finding great Chinese west of the SGV has long been a problem, but the “great wall” between east and west has been cracking with lots and lots of new openings closer to (my) home. Today I visit with the Sauvages Friday lunch group for another one of our epic lunches — guaranteed to finish off your week in style — and a nap. This lunch was coordinated by Tony Lau and John Gordon.

Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.

The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.

Coves. Gotta have the coves!

Our special menu for today.

We were in the private room.

Some intro champ.

Peanuts on the table.

And addictive candied walnuts.

Plus XO sauce — fermented spicy umami.

From my cellar: 2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far.

2007 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. VM 97+. The 2007 Dom Ruinart is the first vintage made entirely by Chef de Caves Frédéric Panaïotis, which shows just how long the production cycle is in Champagne. A striking, tightly-coiled wine, the 2007 Dom Ruinart will leave readers week at the knees. In this vintage, Panaïotis took Dom Ruinart, which has traditionally relied on a relatively high percentage of Chardonnay from the Montagne de Reims and tilted the balance to 75% Côtes des Blancs and 25% Montagne de Reims fruit. As a result, the 2007 is much more chiseled and steely than is the norm. The citrus, slate, crushed rock, white pepper, mint and floral notes really sizzle in this powerful, dramatically rich Champagne, with bright saline notes that add freshness and vivacity to the striking finish. The 2007 is a stunning Champagne by any measure. Although it is very early, the 2007 has the potential to go down as one of the great Dom Ruinarts. It is every bit that special. Dosage is under 5 grams per liter, a pretty striking change from the 2006, which was closer to 10. Readers who can grab the 2007 won’t want to miss it.

Bonus goose web and bok choy. Whole steamed and sauced goose foot!

2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is once again stunning. More than anything else, I am surprised by how well the 2008 drinks given all the tension and energy it holds. Then again, that is precisely what makes 2008 such a unique vintage – namely that the best wines are so chiseled and yet not at all austere. Lemon peel, almond, mint, smoke and crushed rocks are all finely sculpted, but it is the wine’s textural feel, drive and persistence that elevate it into the realm of the sublime. The 2008 will be even better with time in the cellar, but it is absolutely phenomenal even today, in the early going. Three recent bottles have all been nothing short of magnificent.

2004 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. VM 96. Broad, ample and pure, the 2004 Clos des Goisses seems to be going through a closed period. The wine’s texture an tension are evident, but all of the wine’s energy is focused inward. The 2004 is without question a brilliant, striking Champagne, but it needs time in bottle. Disgorged December 2013.

Bonus seafood stuffed spring rolls.

2011 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile. VM 92+. Pale straw-green. Minty green apple, jasmine and minerals on the enticing nose. Bright flavors of green apple and ripe citrus fruits are joined by stone fruits and minerals on the long finish. Has enough acidity to maintain clarity and cut. According to Pierre Trimbach, this is on a par with other great recent vintages for this bottling.

2015 Weingut Schnaitmann Uhlbacher Götzenberg Riesling Großes Gewächs. 92 points. Apple, peach, pear, lemon zest with a hint of petrol. Long dry finish. Well balanced. This is an excellent German Riesling.

2014 Schoffit Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St.-Théobald. VM 92. Bright golden yellow. Musky, chalky aromas of ripe peach, flint, orange oil and lychee. Then more crushed rocks and orange oil nuances than peachy fruit on the dense palate. Finishes lively with well-integrated acidity and noteworthy length. Leaves a lingering impression of steeliness, heightened by the only 7g/L residual sugar and razor-sharp 8.1 g/L total acidity; but strikes me as rounder and more tactile than the Sommerberg, most likely thanks to higher pH (3.4 compared to the Sommerberg’s 3.1). At only 12.1 percent alcohol, this is very easy to drink already.

Stir fried conch with XO sauce. Tony loves conch. It did have a nice crunchy/chewy quality.

Steamed lobster with Fresh Garlic. Classic simple steamed lobster with garlic.

Alzinger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Loibenberg (didn’t catch the vintage in my photo).

From my cellar: 2012 Weingut Knoll Grüner Veltliner Reserve Loibenberg. 93 points. Rich bouquet combines candied pineapple, dried apricot, flinty minerals and white pepper. The fleshy, unctuous palate is marked by acacia honey, herbs and smoke plus a touch of botrytis. Complex and certainly voluptuous at 14.5% alcohol, this Grüner Veltliner combines a supple sweetness –which is why it is labeled as a Reserve and not a Smaragd–and a salty tang on the finish. Excellent potential.

2013 Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner 1ÖTW Reserve Ried Renner. VM 95. From Renner’s geologically complex Urgestein mix characteristically emerges a Grüner Veltliner of comparable complexity that’s indescribable without resorting to mineral vocabulary, and that is certainly true of this 2013. But there is so much more going on that it nearly makes me dizzy. A heady nose of lilac and iris, radish and raw ginger, along with hints of citrus and roasted root vegetables, sets the tone for what follows, an explosively concentrated interaction of grippingly piquant, pungent, incisive and brightly juicy elements. Apple and lime, caramelized parsnip and golden beet are mingled with smoky nut oils and laced with ginger, radish, iris root and white pepper. The reverberating finish adds to a kaleidoscopic whirl of the aforementioned elements an otherwise ineffable ore-like depth and saliva-inducing salinity. I was holding my breath that what I first tasted would be captured in bottle with complete success, and that’s happened.

Filet of cod, Virginia Ham with Chinese vegetables. This is an unusual dish, but in looks and ingredients. Having the cod, mushrooms, vegetables, and Smithfield ham is really… interesting. The ham dominates with its strong salty flavor.

Lettuce cup with shrimp, Chinese sausage, jicama and pine nuts. Very tasty for this common dish. Nice presentation.

2001 J. Rochioli Pinot Noir East Block. BH 89. Quite deep and ripe on the nose with a distinct vegetal component and in contrast to some wines in this flight, this is very clean and pure. The palate reveals round, supple and sweet flavors that are relatively forward and deftly oaked, indeed the wood is almost invisible. There is good density and a succulent sweetness to the finish where the structure is buffered by good sap. I quite liked this.

2007 Bergström Pinot Noir Durant Vineyard. VM 90. Deep red. An exotically perfumed bouquet offers scents of red berries, cinnamon, clove and smoky minerals. Lithe, finely etched red berry flavors gain depth and power with air, taking a turn to bitter cherry. The spicy element expands on the taut, nervy finish. Pretty sexy now, but has the vibrancy and balance to reward patience.

2005 Radio-Coteau Pinot Noir La Neblina. VM 90. Medium red. Bright, spicy aromas of cherry and minerals, with a deeper note of cherry pit. Picks up a cocoa powder note on the palate and repeats the fresh cherry note. The spice notes return on the sweet, persistent finish, which features a dusting of fine tannins. This gained in brightness with air, suggesting that it will hold well in a cool cellar.

Crispy whole suckling pig. Excellent pig, nice crispy skin.

Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Catherine (can’t read vintage again).

2009 Marcassin Pinot Noir Blue-Slide Ridge Vineyard. 94 points. Great nose. Lots of wild black cherry there. But there is a bit of alcohol. Palate similar. A “big” Pinot. Loads of fruit. But again, some heat on the finish diminishes this for me.

Stir fried filet mignon with macadamia nuts. I’m not really a huge fan of these “French style” beef dishes, but this was unique with the macadamia nuts — and quite delicious.

2007 Domaine de la Mordorée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bois. VM 93-96. Inky ruby. The nose offers a highly complex, wild array of dark berry and floral scents, along with anise, herbs and smoky minerals. Utterly stains the palate with deep black and blue fruit flavors complemented by strong notes of lavender pastille and tobacco. Tannins come up with air but the fruit seems to suck them up. Finishes with a strong wallop of luscious blueberry and mocha and outstanding persistence. This looks to be one of the best wines of this superb vintage.

2000 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. 96 points.

2000 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 91+. Very good deep red-ruby. Roasted plum and black fruit aromas, with notes of violet, dark chocolate, smoke and game. Fat, lush and superripe; shows more of a roasted character than the 2001, but also boasts solid acidity. A huge, full-blown wine with exotic notes of roasted herbs. Finishes with big, dusty tannins and excellent length.

Salt and pepper stuffed eggplant. Nice and garlicky!

Capital house stir fried special. This was a unique “crispy” stir fried veggie dish. Very interesting texture.

Braised abalone mushroom with snow pea sprouts. This classic vegetable dish is covered in the meaty abalone mushrooms.

Crispy pan fried egg noodles with chicken. I always love variants of this dish with its mix of saucy and crispy.

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive. 98 points. Absolutely glorious. A monumental bottle. Deep amber color. The nose is a kaleidoscope of goodness: honey, caramel, apricot. Viscous, layered, long. Perfect acidity on the back end. Truly exceptional.

Macau egg tarts.

Strawberries and Cream Gelato — A dairy strawberry base with Avignon Strawberries plus Strawberry Jam Ripples and Strawberry Wafer Cookies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #cream #jam #wafer #cookies

House favorite and my son’s birthday pick: Triple Chocolate Cloud – As usual the base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and the rotating ingredient is crushed Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #Oreos

Strange bonus: 2014 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon. 91 points. Solid napa cab without being exciting in anyway. On the nose a nice bouquet of pencil shavings, a hint of earth of red fruits. Sinewy chewy mouthfeel, with Cassis, deeper red fruits in the entry, shortish finish dominated with oak tannins was a bit of a disappointment. Overall, it felt like there was decent material here but a general feel of safety first wine making is a bit of a let down.

Fruit.

Overall, Capital Seafood is quite solid SGV-style Cantonese banquet (as well as dimsum). I’d say that the food quality is about on par with middle of the road SGV Cantonese. Price is higher, but still not bad. Tony and John worked with the manager, King to create this very interesting menu and we had a variety of nice wines. Service is excellent, particularly with a special party like this. We did all the wine service, and there wasn’t really enough space for more than 3 glasses (too few) but they did this interesting hybrid food service where they brought out the large dishes, then individually plated about 2/3 of the dish and served it to each person, but leaving enough for repeats for us gluttons. This worked out quite well and was less chaotic and much neater than the lazy-susan craziness across so many wine glasses.

As always, Sauvages is great fun.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Capital Seafood, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Gelato, Sauvages, Tony Lau

SGV Adventures – Ruby BBQ

Oct21

Restaurant: Ruby BBQ Food

Location: 9561 Garvey Ave Ste 1&2, South El Monte, CA 91733. (626) 279-6854

Date: September 20, 2019

Cuisine: Southern Chinese

Rating: Tasty, if a little “downscale”

Lately, because Yarom and I are diehard Chinese Food fanatics and it’s hard to find others willing to drive all the way to the SGV during the week for lunch, the two of us — with occasional extras — have been sampling some of the more casual eateries on our list of new places to try.

Enter Ruby BBQ Food — yes they actually include the word food in their name — just in case BBQ wasn’t clear enough. This is a very casual Southern Chinese place in a more Vietnamese section of the SGV.

It’s real casual, with a takeout counter and menu on the wall.

But it was crowded. We had to wait 15-20 minutes for a table.

They have roast ducks and the like to go too.

Now just to give you a bit of the flavor of the place, and these downscale SGV joints, ignoring Yarom’s protests I include this photo. This particular lady was at the counter ordering/waiting right in the middle of the lobby. This did not, however, stop her from clipping her nails and leaving them on the floor of the restaurant. Very local crowd. Still, bear in mind, I ate here right after and I’d happy eat here again. They actually have an “A” too.

The menu.

Free vegetable soup. Kinda boring.

Besides the soup, Yarom and I ordered 10 dishes for just the two of us — that’s just how we roll.

Eggplant Szechuan Style. Delicious. Soft eggplant dripping in tasty garlic sauce. Not particularly spicy.

Dry sautéed string beans. Also good. Nice crunchy beans.

Ruby BBQ Rib. Cold with great piggy flavor.

Golden pork. This and the next dish were pretty similar, both not too different than a panda express type dish. This one had less bone, I think, but the sauce was sweeter and a bit more overwhelming.

Pork chop. This one was more chew it off the bone and was very slightly better. But both were good.

Bamboo duck. Unusual heavy brown gravy with those rolled bean curds. The duck meat itself was dark and boney but the overall flavor was excellent.

Egg with shrimp. Surprisingly delicious shrimp omelet.

The owner of the restaurant just could not believe that we ordered so much so she gave us the last few dishes “to go.” She insisted. We opened them and ate them at our table anyway.

Ruby steamed chicken. My least favorite dish. Basically Hainan chicken. Fine for what it was, but it’s steamed chicken.

With a bit of garlic sauce.

Mapo tofu. Not spicy, but nice texture.

BBQ Duck. Quite good, particularly juicy and delicious dunked in the sauce below.

The duck sauce.

Apparently everything comes from “dept 01” but as you can see, it’s not an expensive department. Even the signature meaty BBQ dishes like the duck were barely $11!

Yarom with the owner and his leftovers.

Overall, while the atmosphere is “amusing” the food (particularly for the money) is pretty tasty. This is like working class real Cantonese/Chiuchow and while the Chinese equivalent of a greasy spoon, like many American greasy spoons, it’s also delicious. Service was gracious.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Now just to continue to paint the complete picture of this colorful little corner of Los Angeles — and part of what I think makes our great city great — I did photo the classic “old school Monterey Park bathroom.” It’s quite a looker. Again, not bashing Ruby BBQ. I like it and find it’s “unrefined” quality genuinely charming. Just painting the full unvarnished picture.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BBQ Pork, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, lunch, Lunch Quest, Ruby BBQ, SGV, Yarom

Dirty Dozen Grand

Dec07

Restaurant: Grand Harbor [1, 2, 3]

Location: 5733 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 280-2998

Date: October 14, 2018 and June 27, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Very good Cantonese

It has become traditional for the Dirty Dozen (our blind tasting group within a group) to do white wine lunches over dim sum — but this time we mixed it up slightly and combined with Sunday night dinner into a Cantonese banquet Dirty Dozen White dinner. I think this was originally white Burgundy themed, then opened up lightly to some “other” (aka lessor) Chardonnay. Mostly it was White Burg.

Grand Harbor is a relatively new Hong Kong place in Temple City from Jackie Zhou.

The dining room is huge and opulent in that chintzy Chinese way. I would have thought from all the overzealous cove lighting that the space was built out in the 80s, but apparently it’s only a year or two old!

Real marble blends non-so-seemlessly with faux-alabaster. They have wine too like many of the new high end places. Mostly big young red wine like Bordeaux which totally fails to pair with Cantonese Chinese, but it’s the thought that counts.

We had a private room — pretty much a necessity given the crowded main room.

From my cellar: NV Drappier Champagne Rosé Brut Nature Dosage Zero. BH 90. The color is paler than that of the regular brut rosé. A pretty and slightly more elegant nose features a similar aromatic profile but with more evident yeast character. There is fine intensity to the delicious and vibrant flavors that are supported by a firm and definitely finer mousse, all wrapped in a bone dry and youthfully austere finish where a hint of bitter cherry pit appears. This won’t be for everyone as the dryness is pronounced; I happen to like it but it would be fair to say that this is not a charmer. With that said, a few years of bottle age should serve to round off the austerity and add a bit of depth as well.

Crispy taro chips. Like crunchy French Fries.

Marinated cucumbers. Very good, nice crunch and a bit of heat. These were so good we ordered them again.

Peanuts.

2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. VM 95+. Pale yellow-green color. Manages to be both explosive and reduced on the nose, offering strong notes of lime peel, seashell, spices, mint oil, white flowers and smoky, flinty minerality. Extremely backward on the palate, showing hints of smoked ham and dusty stone. Less silky and tactile today than the C o te Bouguerots but this will ultimately be the more complex wine. The extraordinary palate-saturating finish is like chewing on rocks today.

2004 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos. BH 95. Stylistically, this closely resembles the Valmur with its ultra elegant and pure aromas featuring white flowers, oyster shell and subtle spice notes that perfectly complement the round, powerful, rich and full-bodied flavors that coating the mouth and culminate in a saliva-inducing, incredibly intense finish that reminded me more than a little of a great Corton-Charlemagne. This just oozes minerality and the texture is minerally to the point of this resembling a block of stone. A great Les Clos.

Suckling pig. Really nice one with crunchy skin and great piggy flavor.

Sandi, Stefano, and the manager.

Cantonese style peking duck (with the buns). We’ve had a rash lately of these Cantonese ducks. Good, although not as crispy and delightful as the real Beijing style.

Scallions and hoisin for the duck.

2014 Marc Colin et Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru La Garenne. BH 92. Discreet touches of reduction and wood still allow the ultra-fresh pear, white peach and lilac-inflected aromas to shine. There is both good volume and richness to the solidly well-concentrated medium-bodied flavors that possess a textured mouth feel before terminating in an energetic, balanced and mouth coating finish that exhibits a bit of youthful austerity. This chiseled and citrusy effort is definitely in need of at least a few years of bottle age first as it’s presently quite tight.

2002 Jean Boillot & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Clos de la Mouchère. VM 94+. Lemon, lime, spring flowers, nut oil and minerals on the vibrant nose. Dense and sweet, with penetrating flavors of peach, spice and minerals lifted by a captivating floral character. Broad, classy and extremely long on the back end. Already showing terrific personality, but this will be even better for five to seven years of cellaring.

Roast pigeon.

Duck, second way, chopped up with veggies.

With the lettuce cups.

And nestled inside one. Way better than PF Changs!

2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. VM 97. The 2011 Meursault Genevrieres is emotionally moving. Deep, layered and explosive, the Genevrieres bursts from the glass with an utterly beguiling combination of fruit, minerality and structure. Layers of rich, vivid fruit flow to an effortless, kaleidoscopic finish of exceptional grace. Pierre-Yves Colin makes a number of fabulous wines, but none goes straight to the heart like the Genevrieres does. The 2011 is another spectacular version. Readers who can find the 2011 should absolutely not hesitate.

From my cellar: 2011 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir. VM 92. A statuesque Burgundy, the 2011 Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir is all class. Nothing in particular stands out, so impeccable is the wine’s balance. The depth and intensity of the fruit is apparent, but readers will have to give the 2011 at least another year or two before the elements start to truly come together. The 2011 is impressive for its depth and stuffing.

agavin: a bit corked. sigh. Second time I’ve tried to use Roulot to just power through to the win and had a corked bottle. sigh.

Salt and pepper shrimp. Eat the shells!

Garlic lobster.

2014 Kongsgaard Chardonnay. VM 94. Kongsgaard’s 2014 Chardonnay is a crescendo of aromas, flavors and textures. Expansive, rich and super-expressive, the 2014 is surprisingly accessible at such a young age. I am not sure how well the 2014 will age, but it is exceptionally beautiful and inviting today. Slate, candied lemon, vanillin and a hint of reduction infuse the striking finish. This is a terrific vintage for the Napa Valley Chardonnay.

agavin: Grr. fake chard!

2015 Raymond Vineyard & Cellar Chardonnay Generations.

agavin: two of them in fact!

Chicken Knees — yeah little cartilage bombs. Really yummy.

Ultimately fried fish. All crispy and delicious.

Greens. Colon sweeper.

2008 Domaine Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Pruliers. VM 91. Good bright medium red. Enticing, very pure aromas of cherry, raspberry and flowers. Quite juicy and precise; not a fleshy wine but intensely fruity, taut and pure. Impressively long, rising finish. Gregory Gouges told me he finds most of the family’s 2008s to be agreeable now and probably best drunk early for their youthful fruit. He’s not convinced that the wines have enough dry extract for extended aging.

2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 93. Vivid ruby. Spicy, finely etched red berry and cherry aromas are complicated by fresh lavender, herbs and minerals. The palate offers tangy raspberry and cherry skin flavors, with gentle tannins adding shape. Impressively pure, even delicate, with outstanding finishing clarity and length. This beguiles rather than brutalizes; I underestimated it last year.

Fried sweet and sour pork chops. All sticky and chewy and delicious.

Shrimp fried rice. Bits of pork in there too.

Compressed noodles with beef — looks like barf but tasted great! Really interesting chewy texture to the noodles too.

Sweet mysterious Chinese dessert soup.

Sweet buns. From the dim sum collection and pretty good.

Pecan Pie Gelato – Tahitian Vanilla Bean Base with Mom’s recipe Pecan Pie Filling layered in — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato.

In the bowl.

My lousy notes.

Overall, Grand Harbor had really nice Cantonese banquet — color me impressed. Lots of fabulous dishes.

Service here was amazing too. This time we had the private room and they really took care of us. They kept trying to bring us more stuff, all of which was delicious.

Very fun night as always.

June 27, 2021, right after the lockdowns

So we came back to Grand Harbor again in June of 2021 and they were still — as many places are — in a weird transitional state after the disruptions of 2020 and 2021.

They have this much reduced menu which we had to order from, and even to get the live seafood we had to call way ahead.

Pork belly and Jellyfish — Jellyfish was spicy, pork salty but good.

Here’s our reserved live seafood, squirming in the bucket.

Live Crab Typhoon Style.

Lobster w/ Ginger and Scallion and noodles — noodles were fabulous.

“Flounder” Sichuan Hot Pot style — not really spicy, maybe not our flounder. Really wouldn’t matter what kind of fish you spiced up this way.

Roast Quails — good.

Scallops with Snow Peas — great texture.

Cantonese Roast Duck.

Walnut Shrimp — Delicious.

Stir Fried Beef with Egg and Tomato.

Salt and Spicy Pork Chop.

Yangchow Fried Rice.

Bok Choy with Garlic.

Buko Pandan Gelato — Infused the milk with fresh Pandan Leaves and then crafted it into a dairy coconut base as my take on the Filipino favorite. Unusual and soothing. — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #buko #pandan #coconut

Thai Red Curry Sorbetto — I made a version of this in 2017 and it was a dismal failure, but haunted me since and so this one is redemptive. Made a (no salt) red curry paste from scratch (chilies, lemongrass, galangal, cilantro roots, kaffir lime leaves, garlic, Asian shallots etc) and then cooked it into a pure Thai Coconut Milk base. Sweet and Spicy! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto#Thai #red #curry #spicy

Honey and Almond Sponge Cake.

Today’s meal was not Grand Harbor at its best. Although execution on the dishes they did have was pretty good, and service was excellent, the limited menu and near empty dining room was a touch sad. Still and great kitchen and hopefully they bounce back quickly.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese, Cantonese cuisine, Dirty Dozen, Gelato, Grand Harbor, GYOG, SGV, White Burgundy

Capital Dim Sum

Dec03

Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills

Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234

Date: October 10, 2018 and August 1, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese Dim Sum

Rating: Good for this far west

Finding great Chinese west of the SGV has long been a problem, but the “great wall” between east and west has been cracking with lots and lots of new openings closer to (my) home.

Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.

The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.

Coves. Gotta have the coves!

The made to order dimsum Menu.

Sauces were great. The chili sauce and XO both awesome.

Cold Spicy jellyfish (8/1/19). Nice chew and great Szechuan-style spice flavor.

Shrimp and pork shui mai. Classic, but well done versions.

Spinach Mix Veggie Dumplings. We had a vegetarian in the house.

Shrimp Har Gow. Very nice, not too sticky either and kept together.

Tofu Skin Roll with shrimp. I like these bean curd wrapped thingies. The goji berries were a different touch.

Beancurd stuffed with shrimp (8/1/19). Great spongy textural play.

XLB (steamed pork dumpling). Solid versions of this amazing dish. A touch pasty, but oh so good.

Shrimp, scallop, and peanut dumplings. Dumplings always rule.

Baked BBQ Pork Pastry. Super rich lovely pastry and sweet BBQ pork.

Baked Honey BBQ Pork Bun (8/1/19). This is my favorite of the pork bun styles with the sweet bread stuffed with delicious sweet BBQ pork.

Stuffed Shrimp and Scallop Ball (8/1/19). The inside of this fried fellow is a shrimp and scallop cake/paste. Delicious with the provided mayo.

Steamed Cilantro Rice Noodle (Chow fun). I’ve never had it with just cilantro. A little bland but the rice noodle texture was excellent.

Minced Beef Rice Noodle (8/1/19). Tastier than the cilantro version.

Taiwanese Shrimp Egg Roll. I really liked these super hot, ultra fried, mega crispy cigarette-like spring rolls.

Deep fried mushroom egg roll.

Rice Noodle with XO Sauce. I loved these chewy rice cakes smothered in spicy XO sauce. Very soothing texture and a lot of salty umami XO flavor.

Lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice (8/1/19). Classic and filling.

Dried Shrimp and Pork Dumpling. The chewy fried bomb shaped dumplings were excellent.

Shrimp and chives dumpling (pan fried). Also greasy fried flavor.

Steamed Chinese Broccoli (8/1/19). Pretty tasty.

Roasted half duck (on the house). Really succulent and moist. Delicious.

Salt and pepper eggplant. Fried and salty and very hot (temperature) but delicious.

Seafood with Pan Fried Egg noodles (8/1/19). I’ve loved this dish for over 40 years!

On my 8/1/19 visit I brought these home-made (by me) gelati:

Strawberry Margarita Sorbetto! — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Strawberries from Avignon, blended with fresh lime, Reposado Tequila and Cointreau –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #strawberry #Margarita #cocktail #Tequila #Cointreau

Cioccolato Fondente Torrone Gelato — I’ve been working to squeeze the most chocolate humanly possible into a dairy gelato. This is 70% cocoa Valrhona and 100% Callebaut Chocolates — a total of 22.5% cocoa by weight — extremely intense — offset slightly by Italian soft nougat (torrone) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #torrone

Overall, Capital Seafood is middling level dimsum for the SGV but excellent for Beverly Hills. Almost certainly the best west of the SGV. One of the only rivals is The Palace, which is good, but still the cart format. The manager/owner was awesome. Service was very attentive, but a little weird in that a few of the girls hovered uncomfortably close. They were trying though.

On our second visit service was clean and unobtrusive. Food was fresh and tasty. Really quite good. Not the BEST dimsum in the known world but still first rate.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Brunch, Cantonese cuisine, Capital Seafood, Dim sum, dimsum, dumplings, hedonists, lunch, XLB

Derek moved to China Red

Nov20

Restaurant: China Red

Location: 855 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 445-3700

Date: September 30, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very good Cantonese, has some DM though

Another Sunday, another Chinese. In this case we came to China Red because our friend Derek, former manager of Elite and World Seafood has moved here.

For some reason I’ve been on a run of places on the slightly more “Eastern” half of the main SGV. Slightly more annoying drive too as it’s 10-15 minutes further.

The interior is typical midsized Cantonese. There is some DM (deferred maintenance). This is very Chinese, but the place is only a couple years old and is showing some wear and tear.

Here is Derek on the left with Yarom.

We were in the private room — which is eclectic to say the least.

Peanuts to start.

We started with a few classic bits of dimsum, even though it was evening.

Har Gow. Pretty solid shrimp dumplings.

Shu Mai. Pork and shrimp. I always love these meat bombs.

Roast Pigeon. Finger licking good.

Garlic fried fish. Or maybe it was frog, I can’t remember. It was crunchy, garlicky, salty, and pretty good.

Peking duck. Can never go wrong with that and this was a fairly juicy version.

Even if they only had the buns (I prefer the pancakes).

Roast pork. Nice crispy skin.

Mixed seafood chow mein. Carby goodness.

And the next noodle, because we needed a LOT of them. This was some sort of meat and black bean and black pepper wok fried noodle – it was delicious.

String beans with eggplant.

Pea tendrils or whichever type of colon sweeper with garlic.

Everything fried rice.

Lobster. A solid lobster. I’ve had better sauces but the meat was good.

Sweet and sour squirrel fish. Very fried, which makes it extra tasty.

More noodles, chicken noodles I think. Not quite as good as the beef pepper noodles.

Custard buns. Tasty.

I can’t even remember if I brought gelato this night. Lol.

Food was quite good at China Red and Derek really takes care of us. We have so many Cantonese feasts that it’s hard to remember which ones are the best, but this was quite solid, although not super “unique.” China Red was oddly quiet, and the place looks a touch shabby, but it’s certainly better than most (but not all) SGV Cantonese by a good bit.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.