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Eating Shanghai – Jade Mansion

Oct12

Restaurant: Jade Mansion

Location: No.8 Century Ave, IFC, 4/F, Room L4-13, near YIncheng Zhong Lu / 世纪大道8号国金中心4楼L4-13，近银城中路

Date: August 11, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Solid slightly modern Chinese

After another great day trip to Hangzhou, famous capital of the Southern Song Dynasty…

With its glorious Westlake and…

famous Lingyin temple we return to Pudong for our final dinner in China. Sigh.

Back by the hotel is Jade Mansion, a medium/high-end chain with several different branch styles.

Including the horse wearing a lamp style.

And the horses galloping on plates.

Anyway, for only the second time on this trip I ordered some wine. NV Torrevilla Oltrepò Pavese La Genisia Cruasé. An inexpensive (by Chinese standards) and decent Italian pink sparkler.

Vegetable spring rolls.

Mushrooms, beansprouts, and tiny little shrimp. Interesting.

Foie gras cups. Like a passing appetizer at a cocktail party.

Shrimp jellies. Totally savory, and actually quite enjoyable for the jello-like texture.

Spongey fungus. The sneaky meat is back, little ham bits or something floating in this vegetable dish.

Salt and pepper shrimp. Shells on.

Boiled chicken with garlic. Like Hainan chicken. Soy dipping sauce. Very nice straight up chicken. Delicate, but with a LOT of garlic.

Sea cucumber and pork belly. Not as good as the cucumber at Shanghai Tang, but still good, with a similar rich Chinese Bordelaise sauce. The pork was incredible too.

Crispy beef with aromatic peppers. As usual, I enjoyed this dish.

Pork belly with fire-exploded kidneys. And cute pig buns! The pork belly and the rich (kidney?) sauce were great. Kidney was good for kidney. Not my favorite meat.

We ordered this cute little fellow. I felt so sad looking at him in the bucket.

Red rock fish. Nice fish, just lots of bones.

Don’t kill me! Too late 🙁

Greens.

Shanghai style vegetable noodles. Classic soy sauce stir fried noodles. Very nice.

Weird tea/bean sweet soup. Yep, these are never any good.

Fruit. Much better.

Overall, Jade Mansion was interesting. They feature a lot of high end ingredients with very contemporary plating and Chinese sensibility. For the most part I maybe prefer slightly more traditional, but this was very tasty and the service was great too.

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

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Champagne, China, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, IFC, Jade Mansion, pork, pudong, sea cucumber, Shanghai

Eating Shanghai – Xie Wang Fu

Oct10

Restaurant: Cheng Long Xing Xie WangFu

Location: Pudong

Date: August 10, 2018

Cuisine: Hairy Crab

Rating: Amazing crab

We spent a hot day but fun day in Suzhou.
A city often called the “Venice of China” before returning to Shanghai and Pudong.

Our friend in Shanghai again offered to take us out, this time for some of the famed Shanghai Hairy Crab from Yangcheng Lake.

This lead us into the huge side lobby of an even huger Pudong tower.

And up to Cheng Long Xing Xie WangFu and…

It grandiose gates.

And even grander interior surrounded by semi-private and private dining rooms.

This is actually INSIDE the restaurant!

They had traditional musicians performing as well.

We had our own private room with a view of the atrium.

When we first sat, they showed us some of the bundled up crabs. For those not in the know, during the 9th and 10th months of the lunar calendar, autumn to you and I, Shanghai’s culinary scene is all about hairy crab. Hailing (supposedly, if not fake), only from Yangcheng Lake the crab has been famous for 2000 years!

But before that, we began with some cold appetizers like this wood ear mushroom and pearl onions.

This peanuts and other mushrooms.

A section of shrimp, pork, peanuts, and pickled vegetables.

Vegetarian abalone. Some kind of mushroom, but it was really delicious.

Crunchy pickled carrot. Sweet and absolutely delicious.

Nut cake. A bit like a peanut brittle.

Bean curd.

The simple Shanghai shrimp are everywhere! You pour a bit of vinegar over them.

Spicy crispy beef. Delicious. I really loved this dish.

Now the crab dishes invade. First some sesame buns that you stuff…

To make hairy crab stuffed buns.

Here is the meat from the hairy crab, mixed with “crab brains” (which is really crab liver).

The staff showed us the whole steamed crabs after cooking.

More smoked sweet fish.

And the crab main event. Steamed Shanghai Hairy Crab. The guts proudly in the shell, the meat to the right, and the legs carefully prepared so that you can get every morsel out without any work. Love it when it’s easy!

A close up of the crab itself.

Steamed crab meat.

Super crab cake. The meat and some kind of breading in a shell. Scrumptious.

Crab XLB. Best Crab XLB I’ve every had. Crab and crab guts inside the delicate wrapper.

A bit of lemon juice (slightly sweet) to cleanse the taste.

Crab noodles.

With more crab guts.

For topping. This was some awesome umami crabby pasta.

And fried rice cakes.

Then sweet sesame balls. Like cute little eyeballs.

Special tea.

And a kind of wonton soup to close.

Overall, a unique meal I’ve never had before. Really fabulous crab and like a fancy Chinese version of one of the crab shacks from my youth.

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

By: agavin
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Tagged as: China, crab, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Hairy Crab, Shanghai, Xie Wang Fu

Eating Shanghai – Xinrongji

Oct08

Restaurant: Xinrongji

Location: Location near the Bund

Date: August 9, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Excellent High end Chinese

Our Shanghai friend really spoiled us today, first with a lunch at Shanghai Tang and then heading (after lots of stops) to…

The Shanghai Bund with its classic older European buildings.

And it’s new hypermodern skyline across the river in Pudong.

Then upstairs to Xingrongji for a second epic meal of the day.

t
The space is extensive and beautiful.

With all sorts of cooking stations including a roast duck oven.

Fish station.

Open kitchen, etc.

Our table had a gorgeous view of Pudong and the Shanghai Tower (second tallest building in the world).

I ordered the only “real” bottle of wine we had on the trip. Price wasn’t bad either considering the setting.

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. VM 92. The Cuvée de Réserve (2013 base) is rich to the point of being almost tropical in profile. Then again, that is 2013, a vintage that produced wines with both elevated ripeness and acidity, especially in the Côte des Blancs. Sweet floral notes add to an impression of exoticism. The 2013 finishes with notable depth and definition.

Honey pumpkin. Again, for the second time today. This version was more pumpkin focused.

Foie gras with fruit sauce. Second time for this too today. Not quite as good as the Shanghai Tang version as the foie itself was drier.

Roast Pigeon. Excellent rendition of this classic Cantonese dish. Rich gamey bird and perfectly crispy skin.

Roast Pork. Amazing super fatty succulent pork. Like pig candy. Just awesome.

Fish and charcoal tofu boiled in chili oil. This Szechuan dish was not nearly as spicy as in Chengdu, although it did have some Szechuan peppercorns piled in. Fish and “tofu pudding” is very common in this dish, but the charcoal tofu was unique and had a very smoky quality.

Braised beef. Another meaty rich meat dish but extremely tender and delicious.

Kung Pao Chicken. The classic.

Mapo Tofu. I always love this dish, although again it wasn’t as spicy or numbing as in Szechuan.

Peking Roast Duck. Our last duck of the trip. Cry.

The slice it table-side as they should.

Served with pancakes.

Here is the meat itself. This was a very good roast duck. Not quite as good as in Beijing, but better than we get here in California by a touch.

The condiments were extensive.

Duck soup, which I never love.

Glass noodles.

Meat pies. Pork and scallion quesadilla sans cheese.

Rolled rice and red bean rolls for dessert.

Our table.

Overall, Xinrongji was another amazing high-end Shanghai restaurant. The kitchen didn’t feel quite as perfect at execution as Shanghai Tang, but the menu was larger, offering dishes from a broad area of China, and everything we had was very good. Service was top notch and the atmosphere was fabulous.

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

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Bund, Champagne, China, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Peking Duck, Shanghai, Xinrongji

Eating Shanghai – Shanghai Tang

Oct05

Restaurant: Shanghai Tang

Location: 373 Huangpi S Rd, XinTianDi, Huangpu Qu, Shanghai Shi, China, 200000. +86 21 6377 3333

Date: August 9, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Really fabulous and complex flavors

In Shanghai we met up with a friend who lives in the city and she took us around to all sorts of fabulous places — really showing us the best of the best in the city.

This included the trendy XinTianDi area and a stunning lunch at:

Shanghai Tang.

Which, while we didn’t drink at lunch has a huge cellar of first growth Bordeaux and other trophy wines.

And an elaborate build out, here showing the main room.

And the snazzy corridor to our…

private room.

Drunken shrimp. Fortunately for the kids, we didn’t have to drown or kill them ourselves, this happened out of view. These extremely fresh, pretty much raw shrimp have a touch of alcohol flavor from their “drowning.”

Bean curd with vegetables. Very delicate dish with thin bean curd.

Honey pumpkin. Shanghai cuisine is sweet for Chinese, and this pumpkin was crispy but covered in a light syrup. Delicious actually.

Foie gras with rice crackers.

They cut the foie cubes and put them on the toasts for us. The liver was covered in a red wine reduction jelly and was really quite superlative.

Salad. The rarest of Chinese creatures: the salad!

Shanghai style smoked fish. This kind of almost candied smoked fish is a delicious staple of Shanghai cuisine and this version was the best I’ve ever had. The texture was both crispy and sticky and the flavor complex, sweet, and smoky.

Sea cucumber noodle soup. Sea cucumber is a weird textured (and expensive creature) and really doesn’t have a lot of taste by itself but this dish was amazing.

You add the noodles, like a Tsukemen ramen. The cucumber itself was incredibly soft and tender and the broth was insanely delicious.

Steamed shrimp with vinegar. A simple dish and one of the weaker ones, partially because the small tails were annoying.

Grandmother style braised pork belly and egg. To die for cubes of succulent pork skin, fat, and meat perfectly braised in a very Shanghai-style sweet soy reduction.

Shanghai beef ribs. Another of these reduced sugar-soy dishes, but super tender meat.

Conch soup. In a light and flavorful broth.

Scallops and vegetables.

Shrimp noodles. It’s very Shanghai style to pan fry noodles with soy sauce like this.

Bean cakes. Lovely presentation and texture.

Pan fried Shanghai pork soup dumplings. This is the classic Shanghai pan fried “thick” bun. These were some of the best versions of this I’ve had.

Shanghai Tang was at another level. The decor was amazing, the service refined, the plating elegant, and the food delivered on (mostly) Shanghai classics with a level of depth and sophistication I hadn’t experienced before. Bravo!

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

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese cuisine, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Shanghai, Shanghai Tang

Eating Shanghai – Paradise Dynasty

Oct03

Restaurant: Paradise Dynasty

Location: 3/F, 8 Shiji Dadao, near Lujiazui Huan Lu 世纪大道8号3楼, 近陆家嘴环路

Date: August 8, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Great XLB, everything else is just ok

We got in late to Shanghai and so we just popped over from our hotel into the IFC mall…

Which is like a giant high end Beverly Center, in search of dumplings!

Fortunately for us, the mall’s many restaurants include Paradise Dynasty, which is like Din Tai Fung’s more colorful cousin.

See what I mean?

Big contemporary space.

And a glassed in kitchen.

Salad rolls. Yeah, some kind of spinach-like green rolled up — you dip it in the sesame dressing!

Plain noodles for Mr. Picky.

Steamed baby shrimp. The Shanghai classic, a bit bland.

Vinegar, ginger, and chili sauce for the dumplings.

Paradise special mixed flavor Xao Lao Bao (XLB). These were fabulous with very thin skins and eight different flavors.
You can see these listed below. My favorites were original, garlic, crab roe and Szechuan.

Steamed garlic greens.

Pork noodles. A lot like ramen.

Vegetable potstickers. Not the most exiting.

Steamed vegetable buns. Breadier versions.

Crispy vegetable spring rolls. Quite light and crispy. Delicious.

Pan fried Shanghai pork soup dumplings. Heavier than the XLB. Still delicious, but I prefer the light-weight classic XLB.

Wontons in chili sauce. Not particularly hot but delicious.

Pork pot stickers. Just fine. Not nearly as good as the XLB.

Crispy fried red bean pancakes.

Deep fried buns. Just Chinese buns, fried.

Mysterious light Asian fruity jelly. Loved it. I always like this stuff. Might have been like hyacinth and lychee.

Sesame mochi balls in syrup. A lot of the kids (and many of the adults) love this dessert.

Rolled mochi dough with red beans and peanut dust.

Overall, the XLB here at Paradise Dynasty were really good. I enjoyed the different flavors and the light wrappers were great. The other items, also pretty similar to Din Tai Fung were just fine.

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

By: agavin
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Tagged as: China, dumplings, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Paradise Dynasty, Shanghai, XLB

Eating Yangshuo – Amys on the Li

Oct01

Restaurant: Amys on the Li

Location: 1 Shuangtan Village, Guilin, Guangxi, China, 541900

Date: August 7 & 8, 2018

Cuisine: Mostly Chinese

Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian

Our stay in the Guilin area took us down the Li River to Yangshuo and the…

Li River Resort.

Which has this terrible view.

It’s restaurant is Amys on the Li and we had dinner and breakfast there. The owner is Australian and it hybridizes east and west.

Western style interior.

The menu.

Some Belgian beer that was too bitter to pair well.

A Mango Milkshake that was “meh” because of the wierd Chinese ultra pasteurized milk.

Simple pasta for my son.

A veggie burger and fries!

Veggie spring rolls.

Now here’s something real, snails stuffed with pork! Not bad, although there wasn’t much snail under the ground pig.

Beerfish again. Less spicy this time.

Sautéed vegetables.

Tofu stuffed with pork. I liked these.

Yangchow Fried Rice. Basically with the works.

Mushrooms and peppers.

The food at Amys was just okay, but the atmosphere was fun.

We also had breakfast the next morning.

Orange “juice.” More like Sunny Delight.

Banana crepe.

Boiled pork dumplings of a packed type feel.

Thin French toast.

Stir fried noodles.

They do a better dinner than breakfast.

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

We saw a show in Yangshuo on the water with this view!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Amys on the Li, China, Eating China, Eating Yangshuo, Yangshuo

Eating Guilin – Chunji

Sep28

Restaurant: Chunji Roasted Goose Restaurant

Location: No. 12, Jiangan Road, Qixing District, Guilin, China / No. 21, Qixing Road, Qixing District, Guilin, China / 1/F, Nanxi Square, Chongxin Road, Xiangshan District, Guilin, China / 2/F, Jinshuiwan International Restaurant, Jinshui Road, Lingui County, Guilin, China / No.2 Middle Zhongshan Road, Xiufeng District, Guilin, China / No.1, North Zhongshan Road, Diecai District, Guilin, China

Date: August 6 & 8, 2018

Cuisine: Guangzhou Chinese

Rating: Big menu, great service, good food

The Guangzhou province city of Guilin is famous for its unusual and beautiful mountains.

Like Elephant Trunk Hill (above).

While staying here, we went twice to Chunji Roast Goose, at two different locations — like most successful Chinese restaurants there are several locations in the same city.

This location’s spacious interior.

The kitchen was impressive to see.

Look at the army of wok cooks!

This is the second location frontage.

And here we had a private room.

Both shared the same Guangzhou style menu.

Chinese beer, local I think.

Chunji brings an hour glass to the table. If it runs out (30 min) before all your food has come your meal is free! I don’t think it ever happens with that army of cooks.

Egg pudding/custard, soy sauce, salted steamed pork. A delicious dish we ordered twice. The egg has a lovely soft texture and the pork adds savory flavor.

BBQ pork (char siu). This is the kind of sweet “candied” pork I really love. It was soft, rich, and delectably flavored.

Glass noodles with mushrooms and egg. Pleasant.

Beef of some sort with chilies.

Pork and green peppers.

Cauliflower. This was the second “version” of this dish they made. The first had bits of pork in it and was delicious. This was properly vegetarian but flavored mostly with soy sauce and was a bit salty.

Bamboo shoots with spring onions and pork. This wasn’t supposed to have meat either, but they included more of the “sneaky meat.” I do have to say, it improved the flavor.

Shredded potatoes and vinegar. I love the slightly sour quality of this dish.

Cabbage.

Stewed tofu (with sneaky pork). The kind of pan fried tofu in a light broth.

Bean curd. Not my favorite version of this dish as it was a bit dry, but I do like the texture of this scum from the soy bucket bean curd.

Beer fish. This is a local specialty. Fish braised in a sauce of tomatoes, beer, and chilies.

Steamed fish. Blander.

Vegetable fried rice. Always a favorite. Meat version is better, but any fried rice is good.

Toffee taro. Chunks of taro deep fried and coated in syrup. They tasted just like glazed donut balls. Delicious and rapidly stick together.

Toffee water chestnuts. Same think, different “filling.” I liked the crunch of the water chestnuts. Tasted very slightly less desserty.

Durian puffs. Flakey buttery dough filled with durian paste. These had a very strong durian (petrol) flavor. I find it really delicious at first but the aftertaste wears on me.

Fruit plate.

Chunji does a very good job. Service was solid and they have a big menu that seems well executed as most dishes were delicious. I don’t have that much experience with Guangzhou fare although certain dishes are familiar to me from Cantonese.

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

Observe the city’s iconic mountains

By: agavin
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Tagged as: China, Chinese Food, Eating China, Eating Guilin, Guangzhou cuisine, Guilin

Eating Chengdu – Fiery Hot Pot

Sep22

Restaurant: ? Hot Pot

Location: ? read the Chinese card below

Date: August 4, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Hot Pot

Rating: Stomach of Ox in Chili Oil says it all

A visit to Chengdu wouldn’t be right without some fiery Chengdu Hot Pot to cleanse the GI.

Nearby was another of those restored streets that looks like the China you wish was still around.

Replete with pole toting vendors.

And giant gates.

This is our hot pot. It was recommended to us because they have individual pots and actual vegetarian broth — something we needed with our diverse party.

Now the actual name remains a mystery to me. Maybe one of my Chinese reading friends will translate and tell me.

Inside.

And our private room equipped with individual inductive pots.

Some actual alcoholic beverage — almost a week into the trip!

Steamed buns with condensed milk — guilty pleasure.

Scallion pancake.

Meanwhile we have the hot pot sauces. I think there might have been a sauce bar downstairs which I would have liked, but I made due with the fixed sauces.

And some condiments to jazz them up like chilies, garlic (my favorite), and green onion.

Then the spicy hot pot. I forgot to photo the kid’s tomato broth, the non-spicy chicken broth, and the vegan mushroom broth.

The spicy one is an ass busting mix of rendered ox fat, chili oil, chilies, and Szechuan peppercorns!

All of the following stuff is intended to go into the pots, cook to your personal taste, then be sauced and eaten.

Homemade meat balls, not frozen like you usually find in the states.

Tomatoes.

Wontons.

Mixed mushrooms.

Sliced potatoes.

Fish (mackerel?).

Glass noodles.

Green colored wheat noodles.

Greens.

Beef slices.

Lamb slices.

Stomach of ox. Yep, ox tripe. Only for those with strong stomachs! This stuff was so chewy — with a texture exactly like a really thick water balloon — that I was chewing it for 3-4 minutes straight before I thought it was safe to swallow.

Fresh bamboo.

Fish balls stuffed with pork. Yummy!

Lotus root. I love this stuff for the nice crunch.

Tofu.

For those of you who dream of making this kind of Szechuan hot pot at home, I saw the above home starter kit in many Chengdu stores. You take this brick of chillies and ox fat and plop it into the chicken or pork broth of your choice and melt, therefore rendering it all into a fiery pit of stomach hell.

This was a fine hot pot place, and we had to do it — and definitely I prefer the spicy Chengdu style to any other. It’s just that hot pot isn’t my favorite Chinese meal as it’s sort of monotone. You only really have one “sauce” / style of prep for the night. Just lots of ingredients. We do have pretty good hot pot in LA — and it’s very popular.

All I can say is that it’s a good thing that the Chengdu Ritz Carlton bathrooms come equipped with state of the art Toto “auto washing” toilets!

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

Szechuan face changing at the Chengdu Opera

Acres of Lotus at a nearby public park

By: agavin
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Tagged as: beer, Chengdu, China, Eating Chengdu, Eating China, hot pot, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Eating Chengdu – Alley Noodles

Sep19

Restaurant: Somewhere near the Kuanxiangzi Alley

Location: ? Central Chengdu

Date: August 4, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Noodle House

Rating: OG dan dan

Chengdu has a couple areas now of older style buildings that have been restored and turned into pedestrian streets filled with different mixes of stores, restaurants, and vendors.

This one, apparently Kuanxiangzi Alley (someone who reads Chinese can confirm), is very popular and upscale.

And crowded!

Among other Szechuan delicacies they offer spicy fried rabbit heads!

And ear cleaning!

We asked our guide to bring us to the most authentic dan dan mein possible and he took us here. I have no idea what it’s called.

They double as a vendor out front. Or maybe there just is a vendor out front.

The food appears to be made right in the lobby.

And the decor is definitely not aimed at the western crowd.

We split into two tables and ordered everything on the menu.

Like non-spicy pork (spam?) and mushroom and bamboo noodles (thin).

Or the same thing with thick noodles.

And the main event, dan dan mein, one of the world’s greatest noodle dishes — which I even make at home.

This is Chengdu-style where it’s not very soupy, has less sesame/peanut and is spicer. You mix it up to experience the really complex savory/spicy/numbing flavor. There was a good bit of preserved mustard greens in here for that unusual umami crunch. Excellent!

And the spicy (beef?) and bamboo noodle.

Plus two kinds of dumplings. This numb taste dumpling which was awesome — not that you can really taste what’s inside under that chili sauce.

And the same non-spicy pork dumpling in the non-spicy broth (same as above with the non-spicy noodles).

Chopsticks you help yourself to.

Good place. Not a big menu, but I could certainly lunch off top notch Chengdu style dan dan mein and numb taste dumplings often enough!

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

New and old – east and west!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: China, Chinese Food, Dan Dan Mein, Dan Dan Noodles, Eating Chengdu, Eating China, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Eating Xi’an – De Fa Cheng

Sep10

Restaurant: De Fa Cheng

Location: 28 Pingan Market, Bell Tower Square, Xi’an, China. +86 29 8767 6615

Date: August 2, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese Dumpling House

Rating: Really interesting if a bit “big”

When I came to China in 2008 I ate at De Fa Cheng and enjoyed it tremendously. That trip, it was one of my favorite meals and I always regretted only taking a photo or two (it wasn’t until 2010 that I started photoing every meal I ate). It claims to offer “authentic” Tang Dynasty dumpling feasts. I have my doubts as to the historicity of the food, but it’s sure good.

The place is located right across from the central Ming Dynasty Bell Tower and is at least 3 stories!

I remember this golden dumpling from last time and used it to locate the restaurant again this trip (by some creative googling).

Last time we had a big group and therefore some private rooms upstairs but this time we were in the “grand hall” on the first floor.

They have plastic models of dumplings.

There is a sauce bar you can make up your dumpling sauces at — unfortunately I only noticed after the meal!

We got tea, plum juice (which I love), and some weird herbal/fruit dark brown juice with a highly intriguing and not entirely pleasant flavor.

Cold dishes to start, including the world’s largest dates.

Wood ear mushroom with onions. Loved it.

Spinach, egg, and garlic.

Pickled veggies and meats.

Shrimp and cucumbers.

And super spicy crawfish.

There are many levels of dumpling banquet, varying from about $10 a person to several hundred! We got level 2 or 3, it was about $15, and was a staggering amount of food. There was even a custom veggie version for my wife.

The normal course we ordered came with what seemed to be “all you can eat” boiled pork dumplings, a comfort food I always enjoy. Each time our plate got low they just brought another.

The veggie course likewise had a plate of boiled veggie dumplings. She level got it low but I’m sure they would have replaced it too.

Each person then got one of each type of specialty dumpling. I’m going to have to guess for most what was in them because I couldn’t read Chinese. The brown ones were walnut dumplings. I dunno about the other.

There were duck dumplings and something else here.

A whole selection of veggie dumplings here.

And a second round of different veggie dumplings here.

Then some veggie and some other type here for us.

The orange ones were a touch sweet and really good. Maybe pumpkin.

These dumplings were in a soup with Szechuan peppercorns and hence had a nice numbing bite.

Fried pork dumplings.

Baked dumplings.

More rounds. I can’t remember what they were but the ones with the green edge were really good. Like meatball dumplings.

The middle ones were a strong tomato dumpling and I can’t remember about the outside.

Finally there was a wonton soup.

We got this whole story about the Empress Cixi and how this was made for her. It contained little wontons and the random number in your bowl denotes your fortune somehow.

Watermelon.

This was a fun meal and a great deal at $15 a head for an epic gut bursting feast. Light eaters could split a course. In fact we ordered 4 for 3 adults and the kids. The dumplings were interesting and flavorful. My only complaint was that sometimes the skins were a bit chewy/thick. I wonder what the hell is in the expensive banquets? I think they go up to 100 dumpling types!

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

De Fa Cheng is right across the street from the iconic Bell Tower

By: agavin
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Tagged as: China, Chinese Food, De Fa Cheng, dumplings, Eating China, Eating Xi'an, plum juice, soup, Xi'an

Yanbian Nights

Oct17

Restaurant: Yanbian Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 4251 W 3rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90004. (213) 383-5959

Date: October 15, 2014

Cuisine: Yanbian Chinese

Rating: Great food, incredible deal!

Yanbian is an autonomous prefecture in the borderlands between China and Korea. But like any place, it has its own regional cuisine, and LA, being rich in Asian culture has at least one restaurant specializing in the area. My Hedonist group has been going here 1-2 times a year forever, but this is my second visit.

This Koreatown hole-in-the-wall might not look like much, but the food is excellent and they did a great job handling our oversized party.

2007 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Häuserer. 91 points. Nice dry riesling.

No restaurant with Korean influences would be without the Kimchee!

And this other spicy vegetable (left) and crunchy celery (right). Pretty tasty for celery.

Close up of the spicy stuff.

This mild crunchy marinated vegetable.

2012 Dönnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese. IWC 89. A subtle honeysuckle aroma blends with hyacinth and lime on the nose. Polished peachy fruit and a refined minerality drift across the palate. Delicate and eminently drinkable.

agavin: I thought this went very well with a lot of the spicy food.

Spicy chicken feet. Ick.

Walnut shrimp. With their light fluffy fry and a nice hint of mustard in the sauce these were some great walnut shrimp.

From my cellar: 1996 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. IWC 91-94. Very saturated red-ruby. Bright, sweet black raspberry and cassis nose. Very sweet and intensely flavored, but bracing acidity gives the wine great dynamism and cut. Really explosive in the mouth. Very long, vibrant finish. Grand cru quality.

Sweet and sour pork. Sticky sweet and very fried this looks hideous but tastes great.

Potstickers. These are typical Chinese dumplings.

The tasty spicy sauce for the dumplings.

Shoestring potatoes. Like fried shaved potato. Kinda delicious.

2012 Stonegate.

Pork hock. Tender porky goodness.

Mountain potatoes and eggplant. Hot and savory.

It’s autumn, so fried pumpkin is in order. This wads pretty scrumptious with this heavy but fluffy fry.

2006 Kendall-Jackson Cabernet Sauvignon Highland Estates Trace Ridge. 92 points. Fabulous nose.. Solid finish.. Great wine.

Duck. Heavy but oh so tasty.

Mushrooms. Yummy.

Greens and tofu. Colon sweeper, but with a nice earthy flavor.

2011 Double Diamond (Schrader) Cabernet Sauvignon Bomber X. 90 points. Big & bold, lots of fruit and a little tannin. This wine could wait awhile.

Cumin lamb. Spicy and tasty.

Spicy fried chicken. This is one of those dry Hunan/Szechuan style dishes. Hot and delicious.

Potato “pizza”. A kind of giant latke with a spicy sauce.

Cabbage and pork. This had a fermented vinegar flavor.

2006 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard. IWC 94+. Glass-staining purple. Blackberry, boysenberry and licorice pastille on the nose, with mounting spice and floral notes and a strong wallop of cracked pepper. Deeply pitched black and blue fruit flavors expand with air and pick up strong spicecake and candied flower notes, along with velvety tannins. More backward than the Lorraine today, and showing a darker profile. The finish completely stains the palate and lingers with intense floral and spicy persistence. This is still a baby.

Spicy pork. See those peppers? They are real Szechuan peppers and they left the mouth and face numb!

And the sauce was great for soaking this “purple rice.” What makes it purple, I’m not sure. Some kind of bean?

Glass noodles. There is pork and celery in here. These were delicious.

Egg with tomatoes. Slightly sweet, a kind of Chinese omelet.

2001 Pride Mountain Vineyards Petite Sirah. 85 points. Our bottle seemed corked.

Purple fried rice. Anyone want a wafer thin mint?

Overall, Yanbian was great fun, great food, and all of the above was $30 a person! Including tax and a 35% tip! Wow! It’s really really good, and we had so many dishes I was full for the next 12 hours. People carted home some of this stuff.

More crazy Hedonist adventures or
LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, hedonists, Korea, Koreatown, Los Angeles, Yanbian, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture

Elite Dim Sum

Apr29

Restaurant: Elite Restaurant [1, 2, 3]

Location: 700 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-9998

Date: April 8, September 22, October 29, 2014, April 18, 2015, August 22, 2015, February 21, 2022, and many other times

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum

Rating: 31337

This post is a composite of several trips to Elite (necessary to get a true handle on its greatness). These include two 2015 Hedonist blowout brunches (with wine) and several with my brother (who is also a dimsum fiend).

Elite is clearly one of the top 2-3 dimsum places in the SGV (and hence all of Southern California). Many of our group think it’s the best one. Everything is made to order.

Elite is at the top of many people’s list.

The interior is upscale, but hardly the most modern. There are tanks hidden in the corner and they serve upscale Cantonese banquet in the evening.

Yay pictures!

A controversial thing about Elite is that they charge for sauce. $0.75 for the mustard on the left and $3 for the XO. The restaurant is so cheap, it hardly matters.

Spicy jellyfish. Not bad at all.

Chicken feet in house sauce. Not my thing, but some like it.

Har Gow (Crystal shrimp). Excellent versions of the standard.

Pork Shui-Mai. Also great versions of the classic.

Dumpling. Not sure which dumpling this was, but it had a blend of shrimp and veggies and other yummies all fried together inside.

Scallop Dumpling. This was one of the best scallop dumplings I’ve had. There are all sorts of trefy goodies in there.

Meat and Mushroom dumpling. Another cool shape. Delicious too.

Shark’s fin and red clam dumpling. Hopefully no actual sharkfin (feel bad for those finless sharks). However, this was a delightfully clammy dumpling.

Dumpling. This one had peanuts and some other seafood bits inside.

Fried shrimp dumpling. There is a mild white sauce behind. This dumpling had an interesting coconut flavor to the interior.

Shanghai Style Steamed Bun. We love XLB, and these particular examples were awesome. My brother and I snarfed a tin each on at least 2 trips.

“Free” Sauces. A sweet one on the left (for duck and the like) and the XLB sauce on the right.

Tofu wrap. Mostly vegetables wrapped in bean curd. Hot and soft and delicious.

Shrimp with chow fun roll. Basically one of the chow fun “slimes” cut into a cut roll.

Spinach pancake?

Golden Corn BBQ Pork Rice Noodle. Historically in our family we called these “slime.” This was some excellent slime.

Shrimp Rice Noodle. One of the most classic of the “slimes.” An excellent one too.

Crispy Shrimp Rice Noodle. I’ve never had a “slime” like this before. There was a big shrimp in here sort of Chinese tempura fried. Delicious.

Shredded Pork Rice Noodle. Not the best of the set.

Elite BBQ Pork Bun. Like a jelly donut, just filled instead with porky goodness!

The bun interiors.

Baked chicken bun. Delicious slightly sweet crunchy exterior top filled with chopped seasoned chicken meat.

Fried Meat Stuff Dumpling. With a title like that, I had to order. This was the chewy fried rice coating with sweet ground meat paste inside. Kinda delicious except it was fairly hollow (not enough filling).

Baked BBQ pork dumpling. Little flakey. pastry triangles stuffed with the usual red BBQ pork.

Fried shrimp ball with almond. This is the usual shrimp cake but coated in almond. It really added a nice texture. Quite fun.

Beef ball.

Macau style pork belly. What it looks like!

Chicken wings.

House Roasted Duck. The duck does not suck. In fact, it was great. There was that usual authentic Chinese bone factor, but the taste was first rate.

Spare Ribs. The fatty creepy-looking spare ribs.

Beef short rib in pepper sauce. Like a bulgolgi pepper-steak.

Pork “leg” with lotus root and peanuts. “leg” turned out to mean feet. Ick.

Soy sauce chicken. The usual mild and tender chicken.

Chinese Broccoli.

Some other slightly different green.

Buddhas delight.

Spicy mushroom caps. Just mushrooms in brown sauce. Didn’t seem spicy.

Sticky Rice Lotus Leaf Wrap. Also excellent. Full of goodies.

The rice interior.

Salty Fish Fried Rice. Not for everyone, but quite delicious to my taste (very umami).

Elite fried rice. A bit of everything.

Seafood Chow Mein. Those crispy little noodles I love soaked in a seafood sauce. Great noodle dish.

Beef chow mein. Excellent, although I liked the seafood a bit better.

Salt and pepper prawns. Eat them shell and all giant prawns. Yum.

The Lobster Noodle was only $16. Unfortunately, it was the weakest dish. The meat itself was okay, but the sauce was bland and the noodles over cooked. We barely ate the noodles (although we did finish the lobster).

Durian bun. One of the best Durian buns I’ve had. With a really creamy mushy (banana texture) interior with that weird but yummy Durian flavor (rotten bananas with pineapple and petrol?)

Macau Egg Tart. Nice custard pies. Just a smidgen inferior to Shanghai #1’s version, but still fabulous.

Milk Buns. Filled with almond creme filling. Scrumptious.

A custard filled bun.

Almond milk pastry. Under that pastry shell is a sweet almond soup.

All in all, Elite really lives up to the name, serving some seriously tasty classic Cantonese Dimsum. They also have a great banquet menu for evenings. Some of the set banquets even go up to $2800 (a table?) and involve all sorts of epic dishes like suckling pig with foie gras!

A large percentage of my fiends who go to dimsum think it’s the best in the SGV. I personally think it’s about tied with King Hua. Certainly Elite, King Hua, and Lunasia are at the top, and there is a tier slightly below including Sea Harbor and maybe Shi Hai.

For more Chinese dining reviews click here.

On our April 18, 2015 brunch we had three tables in a private room and a lot of wine. Since it’s pointless to “pair” it, I’ll just list the bottles.

NV Angéline Godel Champagne.

1998 Deutz Champagne Blanc de Blancs. JG 92+. Tart and crisp. Clean and refreshing but not a lot of subtle aged champagne flavors poking out.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. VM 90. Light, bright gold. Fresh red berries, orange zest and white flowers on the perfumed nose. Juicy and precise, offering energetic redcurrant and blood orange flavors that show good concentration and a supple texture. A mineral nuance adds bite to the finish, with the floral note echoing.

NV Taittinger Champagne La Française Brut. Burghound 88. An overtly yeasty nose speaks of apple and a hint of petrol. There is good verve to the delicious if only moderately complex flavors that are underpinned by a medium level of effervescence on the clean and reasonably dry finish. This is one of those wines that has no faults but no major attributes either.

1996 Kistler Chardonnay Dutton Ranch. VM 94. Green-gold. Extraordinarily penetrating, musky, Burgundian aromas are a cross between Chassagne truffle and herbs and Meursault roasted grain and toasted nuts (and the structure is akin to that of a Puligny). Great purity and intensity of fruit in the mouth; sharply focused and restrained today, with near-perfect fruit/acid balance. Finishes with terrific grip and palate-staining persistence.

2013 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Chardonnay Karia. 87 points. Aromatic nose with barrel notes and lemon. Medium weight textured palate emulates the bouquet, fairly pure fruit leads to a medium plus finish. Very toasty but fruit has some elegance.

2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Compagni Portis. VM 91. Melon, white pears, green pears, mint and jasmine lift out of the glass in the 2012 White Compagni Portis Heritage, which emerges from a site planted in 1954. This crisp, beautifully aromatic white field blend is an excellent choice for drinking over the next few years.

2011 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Golden Slope. VM 92. Light yellow-gold. Heady, complex scents of poached pear, lemon curd, toasty lees and iodine, with a bright floral quality gaining strength with air. Sappy, penetrating orchard fruit and candied ginger flavors stain the palate, with notes of anise, honey and smoky minerals contributing complexity. Powerful yet lithe chardonnay with superb finishing focus and spicy persistence. I’d bet on this wine as a cellar candidate.

2012 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill. VM 92. The 2012 Chardonnay White Hill is bright, focused and tightly wound. Lemon peel, crushed rocks, pear and smoke jump from the glass as the 2012 shows off its energetic personality. The style is focused and taut, especially with the style of the Sta. Rita Hills. Imagine a Chablis like sense of energy with the depth and radiance of California. If that sounds like an appealing combination, well, it is! the 2012 was done mostly in neutral oak, with some of the wine seeing only stainless steel.

2012 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet. Burghound 89. Here too there is enough reduction to push what appears to be ripe fruit to the background. The pure and well-detailed middle weight flavors possess a highly seductive mouth feel along with lovely balance and excellent persistence for a villages level wine. The class of a fine Puligny is very much in evidence and this is worth your attention.

2010 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc. VM 91-4. Pale straw-yellow. Lemon, chamomile, vanilla, ginger and a faint lactic nuance on the restrained, minerally nose. Pliant and sweet in the mouth, offering good concentration and fat to the vinous lemon, guava and grapefruit flavors. Very minerally on the long finish, showing lingering notes of peach, vanilla and coconut. This should age splendidly and will probably be at its best between 2020 and 2035.

From my cellar: 2010 Domaine de Saint-Just Saumur Chateau Brézé – Clos David. 90 points. A geeky dry Chenin I wanted to try with dimsum. Turned out to work well, bright and floral at the same time. Peach and pear.

1999 Bert Simon Serriger Herrenberg Riesling Auslese. 93 points. Medium yellow in color. Lovely aromas of sweet summer orchard pit fruit compote, lemon-grass, flint, hint of petrol and honeysuckle. A thick, viscous palate shows good depth to the quite cooked yellow fruits, creamy vanilla poached pears and minerals on a long and sweet finish.

2009 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. VM 93. Exotic bouquet of passion fruit and mango, lifted by fine floral nuances. The wine’s luscious peach pit flavor and velvety texture are given shape and verve by a finely chiseled minerality. Dense yet airy, this spatlese boasts great refinement and stunning length. One of the stars of the vintage.

2013 Dönnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese. VM 91. Brilliant aromas and flavors of apple, cherry blossom and oyster shell enlivened by herbal spices. At once dense and juicy, with finely chiseled acidity refreshing the palate. This delicate, well-balanced Riesling finishes in its own pure and invigorating style. While this is often my favorite Spätlese at this estate, my nod this year goes to the Hermannshöhle.

2006 Louis Guntrum Niersteiner Rehbach Riesling Spätlese. 85 points.

2010 Domaine Joseph Roty Marsannay. Burghound 88. Moderate wood still allows the ripe aromas of black cherry, cassis and a hint of underbrush to show through. There is a lovely vibrancy to the cool and delicious flavors that possess solid depth and length in the context of the appellation. This should drink well early on if desired yet reward mid-term cellaring as well.

1976 Bonneau du Martray Corton. 93 points. Very mature, but with a good bit of fruit and all sorts of secondary and tertiary complexity.

2012 Freestone (Joseph Phelps) Pinot Noir Freestone Vineyards. Burghound 89. There is a trace of menthol to the notably ripe aromas of essence of black cherry and plum scents. The medium-bodied and solidly well-concentrated flavors possess a lush and very round mouth feel before terminating in a dusty and generously proportioned finish. The supporting tannins are well-integrated and while there isn’t great depth at present the underlying material is such that more should develop with a few years of bottle age.

2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Zinfandel Old Vine. VM 90. Vivid ruby. Pungent, high-pitched aromas of cherry skin, raspberry, licorice and lavender, with a bright mineral topnote. Juicy and incisive, with sappy dark berry and bitter cherry flavors. Supple tannins add grip to the spicy, floral finish.

Supervising the remains. The two of us ate EVERYTHING pictured above!

A sign of of the authentic Chinese kitchen

By: agavin
Comments (7)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, China, Chinese cuisine, dimsum, Elite Restaurant, Har Gow, hedonists, Hong Kong, Monterey Park, Monterey Park California, XO sauce

Serious Szechuan

Jan29

Restaurant: Cui Hua Lou [1, 2, 3]

Location: 920 E Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91755. 626-288-2218

Date: January 26, 2014

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Awesome!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Chinese food is incredible regional, and we are blessed in SoCal with a lot of very specific restaurants (mostly in the San Gabriel Valley). My Hedonist group has returned to this little known spicy Szechuan in the corner of an undiscovered Monterey Park strip mall. We love Szechuan for its spicy/smoky flavors. This is a cuisine that packs a real punch and is one of my favorites in China.

The storefront, as usual, isn’t much to look at.

A menu with fairly literal translations.

And the usual minimalist decor.

From my cellar: 2001 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. 90 points. Quite ripe – more Auslese in style – with a typical Mosel flavor profile. Enjoyable, and a good value for an ’01 Spatlese.

This warrants opening what I might call the “great foodie wine pairing debate” as I find people at my dinners fall into two camps: the “a good wine is a good wine” camp and the “food and wine complement” crew (of which I’m the later). Chinese in general, and Szechuan in particular, is a tricky match as it’s full of vinegar, soy and fermented flavors, and bracing heat. I happen to think Riesling generally pairs well with Chinese, but spicy foot demands a certain sweetness — the more spice the more sugar. However, those in the first group often “don’t like sweet wines.” Interestingly, I’ve noticed that my camp tends to line up with the Burgundy drinkers and the first group with the fans of massive (over) extracted wines.

Bean curd tofu with scallion. Soft silken tofu with scallions and salt (MSG?). Being a lover of this kind of tofu I very much enjoyed this dish — although it was a little salty.

Cucumber with Jelly Fish. Not bad for jellyfish. The cucumber had a nice marinated crunch.

2003 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese. 89-94 points. Beautiful, lush Mosel Riesling. Light straw-brilliant in the glass. Nose of an integrated bouquet of stone, ripe pineapple, mandarin orange, young leather (fleshiness), and light metallic petrol (light). The attack is not tart: it has enough acid to be propped up, but not an awful lot more. A little fatness to the palate even. Yet, it seems a balanced, delicious wine that is in a good spot. Yum, yum. Nice length too. Thumbs up!

BBQ Mushroom. Lots of cumin, chewy mushrooms, and some gradual but significant heat. Pretty delicious.

Beef Tendon in Xiang Ziang style. Lots of cumin. The idea of tendon is a little disturbing, and this has an unusual (for westerners) texture, like a root vegetable (almost), but more chewy. Still, it’s pretty good considering.

BBQ Lamb. Others might call this cumin lamb. A bit dry, but very flavorful.

2009 Bodegas Vinicola Real Rioja Vina Los Valles Crianza. 86 points. Nothing really wrong with this value Rioja (at the price point), except it’s a total fail as far as pairing with Szechuan cuisine. It would be nice at a Madrid Tapas joint.

Potato with Chili. Looks and tastes a bit like al dente noodles. A nice subtle flavor too.

Stewed Lamb in Casserole. This is one of the house special dishes. It comes like this and then heats to a boiling (and spicy) temp.

Below the mutton (the meat is incredibly tender, although on the bone) is a seething pit of chili sauce, cabbage, soft tofu, and glass noodles.

The sauce has an incredible flavor with a good bit of numbing Szechuan peppercorn. It’s incredibly delicious and unique to Szechuan cooking.

2003 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. IWC 93. 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% cabernet franc) Dark ruby-red. Appealing smoky, minerally aromas of red cherry, blackcurrant and plum, with a hint of truffle. Quite suave on entry, then smooth and fine-grained, with good mineral lift to the decidedly sweet red fruit flavors. This broad, rich and supple wine boasts tremendous length and silky-sweet tannins. A great Sassicaia that falls roughly between the ’88 and the ’85 in style at the similar stage of development, although I’m not sure the new vintage will attain the heights reached by those earlier wines.

This was a gorgeous wine… between courses… because as soon as that Szechuan heat kicked in, particularly the numbing effect of the peppercorn, all the fruit was stripped out left only tannins on the palette. Now the pacing of the meal allowed me to enjoy it, just not exactly with the food.

BBQ Chicken Heart. This is a lot of chicken hearts. They taste like chewy liver. I could have done without.

Chung King twice cooked pork. Very tender and flavorful, and not as spicy as most of the dishes here.

Tilapia with Bean Sauce. Not my favorite this time around. The fish might have been a hair overcooked and the goopy gelatinous bean sauce is a hair off-putting.

1997 Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard. Rhone Report 96. Immediately identifiable as syrah, the nose was bursting with blueberries, blackberries, and a hint of eucalyptus. The blue and black berries continue on the palate, adding a little bit of leather/tobacco on the mildly tannic, medium to long finish.

The bigger is better camp loved this wine. It’s not really my cup of tea though, and certainly not with Chinese. With some lamb chops, sure. And we had lots of lamb, but it was covered in cumin and Szechuan pepper!

Scallion Noodles. A boring version of the noodles (those black things are charred scallions) for the vegetarians.

Kung Pao Shrimp. As good a version of the classic as you can find.

Szechuan style bean curd. This is known as Mapo Doufu. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) set in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, and often cooked with fermented black beans and minced meat, usually pork or beef. Ma stands for “mazi” (Pinyin: mázi Traditional Chinese 麻子) which means a person disfigured by pockmarks or leprosy, the latter is also called 痲 má or 麻風 máfēng. Po (Chinese 婆) translates as “old woman, grandmother, crone”. Hence, Ma Po is an old woman whose face was pockmarked. It is thus sometimes translated as “Pockmarked-Face Lady’s Tofu”.

It’s one of my favorite dishes and features a wonderful texture, bright taste, and a searing numbing heat.

2002 Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard. IWC 92. Red berries, Grand Marnier, Thai basil, geranium, eucalyptus, bitter lime, quinine and resiny oak on the nose. Then thick and dense but penetrating in the mouth, with primary raspberry and strawberry flavors complicated by an exotic apricot note and framed by lively acids. A fascinating, firmly built wine that showed a compelling sweetness as it opened in the glass. Finishes with very sweet tannins and impressive persistence. My score is intended for the initiated: you know who you are.

Same big wine, but younger, and from a somewhat inferior year.

Fried corn. Slightly sweet and could have almost passed for a dessert (certainly in Chinese terms). It blended great on the plate with other items like the above tofu, adding a bit of crunch, salt, and sweetness.

Dan Dan Noodles.

You mix it up. One of the biggest challenge is getting only part of the noodles and an even distribution of the chopped meat at the bottom. Clearly, when Marco Polo brought noodles back to Italy this became the seed for Bolognese sauce, as aside from this being quite spicy, there is a definite similarity. This particular version wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, and doesn’t have the nutty sesame quality the dish sometimes does, but it was certainly enjoyable.

2009 Domaine des Sabines. 90 points. Ruby color with just a slight tinge of blue remaining, surprisingly almost opaque. Nose has peat moss, dirt, wild mushrooms, roasted coffee beans. A hint of licorice with savory notes, plus some dried tobacco. Something sweet here too on the nose – perhaps a touch of bret? On the palate – black cherry, blackberry, roasted or grilled plums. Truly though, this wine is all about the earthy notes and the wood – roasted espresso, caramel, hazelnut, dried leaves and a bit of burnt toast. A minerally, gravel note pops up on the finish too. Chewy mid-palate texture. Tannins are moderate for Bordeaux, and nicely ripe. I know it is 2009, but for LdP, the density is impressive. Medium body. Give it an hour of air and the tight tannins round out and shows off a lovely soft supple quality. Heat shows up a bit on the finish, weight of fruit almost carries it off. I can see this wine with slow roasted braised beef short ribs and caramelized onions. Or a wild mushroom risotto – thinking chantrelles.

About 10 years too young.

Chung King Spicy chicken? I’m not sure which dish this was, but there are little DEEP fried and very dry chicken nuggets in there dry-tossed with long red peppers. It was actually quite tasty.

Hot braised eggplant with garlic sauce. Awesome garlicky flavor, with some significant heat (of both sorts).

Boiled beef and fish. Along with the Mapo tofu, this was my favorite dish of the night. The “broth” is very similar to the lamb casserole and features a tremendous heat born of both red chilies and Szechwan peppercorn. The meat and the fish were both tender and full of flavor. Really quite wonderful (if intense).

BBQ Garlic. Another fabulous dish. Now, eating a whole skewer of this might get one kicked out of bed, but it’s worth it!

Boiled peanuts. These are cold and a bit slimey. I have read that eating lots of boiled peanuts (instead of roasted) avoids peanut allergies for some reason. The roasted ones taste better, but there is nothing really wrong with these.

Kung Pao Chicken. Pretty much the same as the shrimp, but a wonderful version of this Chinese American classic that has real heat and puts PF Changs to shame.

Our table was so overloaded with dishes that we had to stack them!

In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. For this second visit we went crazy overboard and ordered up about 50% more food than we needed, still this feast, including tax and tip, only set us back $31 a person! If you like spicy, you should try this place. Just don’t tell too many people!

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

We had about 18 people in our party alone!

By: agavin
Comments (7)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese cuisine, Cui Hua Lou, hedonists, san Gabriel valley, Sichuan, Szechuan, Szechuan cuisine

Newport Special Seafood

Dec23

Restaurant: Newport Seafood

Location: 518 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776-1073. (626) 289-5998

Date: December 19, 2013 and January 24 & September 11, 2016 and May 22, 2022 (and many other times between)

Cuisine: Cambodian Chinese

Rating: I used to like it, but now I’m jaded and think it’s perhaps the most overrated place in the SGV

Many people consider Newport Seafood one of the best Chinese restaurants in SoCal. Essentially, it’s Southern Chinese, with some Cambodian and Vietnamese influences (the owners are Cambodian). I’ve been a couple of times, but this post is a composite of a December ’13 and a January ’16 meal (click those links for the specific by night pictures and wines) and another September ’16 meal. The wines below are all from the ’13 meal as the latter time there wasn’t anything particularly exciting except for a pile of leftovers I brought from an epic dinner the night before. People somehow think that giant New World Syrah goes with Chinese food — not! Except for a dish or two, total wine pairing fail. This cuisine would be best served by Burgs (both colors), dry Riesling, Gruner, and the like.

This is a big place, and moderately “fancy” as San Gabriel Chinese joints go. Even on a Thursday night, it was mobbed, and people were waiting for a good long while. The weekend is crazy busy.

No Newport visit is complete without shots of the ladies with the giant crustaceans.

The menu 5/22/22.

Boiled peanuts. Helpful in avoiding peanut allergies.

Cold spicy cucumbers. A nice version of this Szechuan classic.

Chinese savory cruller. I’ve always liked these puffy donut-like (without the sugar) breads.

Sea Cucumber Salad. Actually pretty good if you don’t mind the gummy texture.

Vietnamese shrimp salad. Those strong vinegar/sugar flavors and the peanuts are very Vietnamese. The standard lettuce, a little less so. Really, a lousy salad — pretty much ruined by the generic lettuce.

Cold duck. I thought we ordered “crispy duck” — this wasn’t — but it wasn’t bad either.

Green chicken. This was pretty good for straight up boiled/steamed whole chicken. Unusual chili paste too, which I now recognize as fairly typical Cambodian.

Basically a pork larb with some curry and heat and Thai basil. Pretty good. A touch of funk too (fish sauce or shrimp paste).

Many of the waiting guests amused themselves with the “wildlife,” like this toddler (conveniently in the picture for scale). We’ll get back to this big ugly crustacean, as he was part of our dinner.

As were these red fish (red cod? rock fish?).

Tricia got the honor of grabbing the crab!

2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit. 90 points. Very nice blueberry/strawberry nose. not hot on the nose. really nice full palate and mouthfeel with a nice mix of red and blue fruits, and integrated earthiness. did not noticably detect any heat or wood on this. certainly a bigger and different type of rose, but this bottle was nicely restrained and seemed in good balance tonight.

Newport Special Crab. Our entire giant crab was steamed in a mild and pleasant sauce the emphasized the sweet and delicate flavor of the VERY fresh crab. In fact, he was alive and kicking in Tricia’s hands about 15 minutes prior. This was perfectly cooked and moist.

2005 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc. Parker 96. The 2005 Hermitage blanc is an amazing effort that defines the classic style of white Hermitage. It offers hints of marzipan, roasted hazelnuts, quince, licorice, honeysuckle, citrus oil, and wet stones. It is a superbly concentrated and powerful wine. It should drink well for 30+ years.

Westlake Soup. It was mild and pleasant with a lot of various stuff in it. A splash of vinegar jazzed it up.

Crab and asparagus soup. Very mild and pleasant. Not that much crab but a lot of white asparagus.

2000 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard. Parker 91. The 2000 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is a rich, full-bodied, textured, powerful, smoky effort that tastes like a Meursault premier cru on steroids. It possesses ample layers, excellent underlying acidity for balance, and plenty of leesy, hazelnut, and tropical fruit notes.

Newport Special Lobster. In a delicious green onion, garlic, and slightly spicy sauce. The sauce was amazing. The lobster was perhaps a tiny bit overcooked, but was great. It’s mostly about the sauce.

Giant steamed prawns. These were too much plain crustacean for my taste. Lots of work to pry out the meat, and it was just steamed shrimp. I think of them as giant steamed sea bugs.

Salt and pepper crab. Interesting. Like a fossilized salty crab. The meat itself was tasty, but I preferred the sauced version below.

Curry crab. Crab drowned in a super yummy Singapore curry sauce. Awesome!

2011 Wagner-Stempel Riesling Trocken. Parker 89. Fresh apple and lime garlanded with narcissus, apple blossom and basil characterize the aromatic and palate performance of Wagner-Stempel’s 2011 Riesling trocken, whose combination of caressingly silken texture with bright, infectiously juicy citricity displays the family resemblance to its Scheurebe counterpart. At 12.5% alcohol, this manages to convey a sense of buoyancy through its delightful, apple pip- and herb-tinged finish. Look for it to prove deliciously versatile over the next 2-3 years. There is now, incidentally, just a single large bottling of generic Riesling at this address and it is 100% estate-bottled.

Shrimp with walnut. This was one of the best versions of this classic slightly fried and slightly sweet dish I’ve had in a while.

2007 Hermann Donnhoff Riesling Spatlese Niederhauser Hermannshohle. Parker 96. Gardenia, peony, and resinous herbs in the nose of Donnhoff’s 2007 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese give way to a palpably extract-rich palate of vibratory intensity, suffused with stony, saline, and tactile suggestions of mineral matter, yet at the same time rich orchard fruits. If the Krotenpfuhl was painted with water colors, the medium here is definitely oil, exhibiting both dynamic and intricate brush work as well as dense layering. This masterpiece – picked simultaneously with the corresponding Grosses Gewachs – was only beginning to show its depth in the spring and needed almost six months in bottle to really shine forth. Take as long as fate permits you to savor this; I can’t imagine it disappointing a quarter century or more from now.

Steamed Whole Fish. With soy, ginger, etc. Delicate and lovely, although not a ton of meat. Too “clean” for my taste.

1984 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 95 points. This is a great wine (good location in the vineyard and top winemakers) from a very off year — and it’s 29 year-old pinot noir. But somehow (and I’ve had 3 bottles) it’s still in great shape. Really quite lovely with a complex tar and cherry thing going on. I happen to find it fabulous.

Sole Fish with Salt and Pepper? In any case, some VERY fried fish nuggets. It tasted a tad oily.

Sweet and sour fish filets. I liked these better than the dry salt and pepper version. Soft, fried, and vaguely sweet.

Fish Filet with Basil. These were super tender and succulent and a bit fried. Incredible savory (MSG) flavor. LOTS of msg. Definitely one of their best fried fish dishes.

2008 DuMOL Pinot Noir Aidan. Parker 93. The 2008 Pinot Noirs are led by The 2008 Pinot Noir Aidan, which is made from the modern Dijon clones of 115 and 777. Yields in 2008 were a minuscule 1.75 tons of fruit per acre, hence production is down considerably. Aromas of forest floor, plum sauce, black currants, blueberries and a complex rose petal-like character emerge from this dark ruby-colored 2008. With medium to full body and good acidity, this beauty can be drunk over the next 10-12 years.

Sizzling Beef. Had lots of flavor. But these days I find this kind of dish boring.

Vietnamese Beef Stew. Yummy stuff. Very soft fatty meat, tons of flavor, and odd asian textures. Great over rice. Very interesting slightly curry and fish sauce flavor. Meat had a lot of tendon. I liked it a lot as it was intresting.

2001 St. Francis Anthem. 90 points. Nice blend with some earthy tones.

Beef Loc Lac (French Style). Kind of like Chinese Salsbury steak. Lots of flavor, but mostly one tasted the sauce.

Our private room.

Sauteed Peasprout. A nice garlicky vegetable. Kind of like a broom for the intestines.

Another mysterious green, or maybe just different looking peasprouts.

Green beans with pork. Classic dish. These were slippery fellows and hard to scoop up. Delicious with nice crunchy beans but oh so salty (lots of MSG).

1997 Turley Wine Cellars Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard. Parker 96-98. I do not believe I have ever tasted a more concentrated, essence-like wine than Turley’s 1997 Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard. Made from 55-year old vines that yielded only 9.8 tons of fruit for five acres, this opaque black-colored wine is the biggest, richest, most concentrated, tannic wine I have ever tasted. It will need at least a decade to shed some of its ferocious tannin, and will undoubtedly last for 40-50 years. Even more remarkable is its purity and overall equilibrium. Despite its Godzilla-like size, this is an astonishingly concentrated, gorgeously made wine. I have never, ever, seen a wine like this!

Kung Pao Pork Chop. It wasn’t very spicy, and it was seriously double fried, but it was darn tasty.

Sweet and sour pork chop. Tasty, but certainly not tender!

Fried Pork Chop with Salt and Pepper. Very salty and fried, but delicious.

Crispy duck. Sixth months later, we get the duck. This was a fairly contentious dish, some thought it dry. I kinda liked it once you soaked a meaty piece in the sauce.

2002 Sean Thackrey Orion Syrah. Parker 96-100. A riveting example of Syrah is the 2002 Orion. It boasts a black/purple color with more mint and blackberry notes intermixed with exotic floral characteristics. With great intensity, full body, multiple dimensions, and superb purity as well as length, this blockbuster is incredibly well-balanced/harmonious. It should drink reasonably well young, yet keep for 12-15 years.

Parker sure (over) loves these new world syrahs.

Fried Noodle with Chicken. I happen to love these thin fried noodles drenched in the white Chinese sauce.

Fried noodle with seafood. More or less the same great taste.

Vegetable fried rice. Not as exciting as the meat version, but certainly good.

Pork fried rice. A nice tasty rice.

A rare photo of me.

Shrimp with Garlic Sauce? This was mildly spicy with a lot of flavor.

Lana and Tricia duel.

Oranges for dessert.

We brought in these cakes for a birthday.

Mascarpone with Strawberry and Oat Milk Matcha Almond.

Overall, honestly it’s tough to review Newport Seafood. When I first came here in 2013, I was only a year or so into my frequent SGV journeys and I loved it — more or less in the way that I have always loved all Chinese food. Hell, I even used to like PF Changs and Panda Express. But now, several hundred real Chinese meals later, I feel that Newport is just oddly overrated. It’s like the expensive gateway drug to the SGV. Sure it’s enjoyable. They have good dishes. Even some great dishes (nothing wrong with the lobster at all other than the price). But little is interesting, it’s way overpriced, and they lean very heavily on the “flavor” (MSG). I’m not a monster fan of this Chinese Cambodian hybrid style either. It’s 90% Chinese, but fairly close to Chaozhou style. Still, I like either Tai Sui (Cambodian) or Seafood Palace (Chaozhou) MUCH better. And I also like straight Cantonese a lot more (of which there are many better examples) and particularly Sichuan or any kind of regional Chinese.

So no, I’m just not really impressed with Newport at this point.

Or check out Newport’s Beverly Hills location.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Some more wines from September 11, 2016:

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese cuisine, crab, hedonists, Lobster, Monterey Park California, Newport Special Lobster, San Gabriel California

Surprise! More Shanghai #1 Dim Sum

Nov11

Shanghai #1 Seafood Village has some of the best, freshest dimsum in SoCal, after 5+ visits I’ve compiled an ever growing catalog of this copious and delicious bounty…

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, chinese c, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, dimsum, Shanghai

Chengdu Taste – Power of the Peppercorn

Oct07

Restaurant: Chengdu Taste

Location: 828 W Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 588-2284

Date: October 2, 2013 and October 17, 2016, April 21, 2017 and August 31, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Face Numbing!

Chengdu Taste, is a Chengdu style Szechuan restaurant, it’s the first to feature this regional cuisine that Jonathan Gold recently raved about and still one of the best.

Obviously, i’m not the only one that feels this way…

Because even on a Wednesday night there are about 20-30 people waiting for tables. Our big party even had a reservation, but they still made us wait for 45 minutes. Plus — the horrors — they wouldn’t allow us to open our wines. They don’t have a liquor license and they succumbed to the common misconception that us opening our own could get them in trouble — which it won’t.

Anyway, after much debate about the ordering the food began to pour out (in rapid succession unfortunately, often multiple dishes at once):

Mung bean jelly noodle. Very interesting. An unusual sweet and sour taste with a little bit of heat. Refreshing and spicy at the same time.

Cold garlic noodle. You mix it up yourself, to give:

These were delicious. A nice vinegar tang and a considerable amount of heat, but a lot of flavor.

Look at all that chili oil!

Diced Rabbit with younger sister’s secret recipe. The tangy spicy flavor on this was nice, but the rabbit has been diced (as promised) into tiny morsels bone and all. Each bit is sharp and requires nibbling at to get fragments of meat out of the spiky little bones.

Fish and tofu pudding in spicy sauce. There are mild boiled filets of fish and generous cubes of soft tofu under all that pepper. The “sauce” is nearly liquid, almost solid chili oil with a sea of peanuts, heavy facing pepper, and tons of little Szechwan peppercorns. They included the real deal Szechwan Peppercorn which has only been allowed in the US for about 7-8 years (for strange political or environmental reasons). Wow did it have an “impressive” breath and depth of hotness. I mean serious existential hotness of a new type. Not an inedible heat (which I’ve had in China), but this weird numbing effect that is a feature of the genuine Szechwan peppercorn (the little brown black pepper-like balls floating in the dish). Woah!

Every table had several bowls like this. Look at all that chili oil. There must be 57 gallon drums of it in the back.

The contents in a bowl.

Vegetable hot pot. This was a similar dish, but without all the peppercorns it was hot, but not as numbing. It also had a surprisingly nice array of vegetables in there, particularly the potato and lotus root. It was many people’s favorite dish.

Fish boiled in chili oil (8/31/18). Pretty much the same as the one with “tofu pudding” but without the tofu. Feel the garlic!

Boiled beef in chili sauce. Sauce red sauce, different protein.

Toothpick lamb. These little bits of lamb are covered in cumin and skewered. It was a nice break from the heat, but the lamb bordered on mutton. It could have been far more tender.

NOTE: In October 2016 I had this dish again and it was fabulous with very tender and flavorful lamb bits.

Boiled Fish with green peppers. This is the house signature dish, and it was on nearly every table. It’s similar filets of white fish boiled in a “broth” of oil and peppercorns. This has an interesting vegetable herbaceous heat. In some ways a mild and pleasant flavor, but with a broad numbing quality.

Numb taste wontons. Tasty little pork wontons in a searing chili oil. My first one, looking as it did like above was very tasty. But after they soaked up the chili oil they lost their flavor behind all that spice.

Chicken in mother’s preserved chilies. By far the worst dish of the night. The chicken was mostly chicken necks and the sauce was hot and not so tasty.

Ma Po Tofu (aka Pocked Faced Old Lady Tofu). This was a wonderful dish, probably my favorite. The soft tofu was embraced with really serious heat, a nice vinegary flavor, and a bit of porky goodness.

Pork shank. This huge hunk of pig leg was braised and covered with chilies. Comparatively, it was actually a very mild dish. The meat was juicy and tender. There was a lot of fat around it too. Yum.

Duck tongues. This still fry with onions and peppers consists entirely of duck tongues. Yes, every one of those little meaty things is an individual bird tongue. Pretty tasty actually, although the texture was very rubbery (as I’m sure duck tongue always is).

Eggplant in garlic sauce. An excellent, and very garlicky, version of this dish. The intense sauce was amazing.

Kung Pao shrimp. Classic.

Griddle (dry hot pot) chicken (8/31/18). Really nice flavor and spice. Had the bones, but of course.

Grandmother’s beef with preserved chilies (8/31/18). This was the first time I’ve had this style of dish. It had a tangy/spicy thing, quite sour actually. Very soft generous slices of beef and crunchy cucumber. Really interesting and delicious, although the sour quality might be weird to some westerners.

Tan Tan Noodles. This classic of Szechwan cuisine features noodles, pork, sesame, peanuts, green onion.

You mix it up. And while it doesn’t look lovely, it tasted great, with a really wonderful sesame nut flavor, some noodles, and a bit of sweetness (some spice too — of course). One of our favorites.

Overall, Chengu Taste offered up great authentic fare. The above feast was a mere $30 per person with tax and tip. The service was nice, but there were several practical issues: 1) long wait 2) no wine allowed 3) they brought everything out too fast. This significantly marred the experience (particularly the wine and rapid delivery). We had brought some great sweet wines and they would have calmed the inferno. Plus, by delivering 4-5 dishes at once, the enormous heat of some of them (fish and tofu hot pot!) swamped out the flavors of others (the peppercorn fish). So I’d like to go back if we can arrange for them to deal with those problems.

Still, a delicious and unusual meal, and it was interesting and fantastic to get such a bracing introduction to real Szechwan pepper (I’ve had it before, but not in this quantity). The face numbing effect was dramatic and the flavor complex. The only problem is that the spice kept me up half the night!

October 2016 recap. 3 years and a LOT of Szechuan later I still think Chengdu is a great place. If anything the ingredients seemed to improve. It didn’t feel nearly as hot — I mean it was still hot — but not mind warping. I think that’s just me having “acclimated” to Szechuan food. I have it a lot. I cook it at home! But the flavors were great. Maybe not quite as complex as Szechuan Impressions, but I didn’t get CRS afterward (with SI gives me). The menu is improved and has pictures. There was no wait at lunch although it was reasonably crowded. If you want serious Szechuan classically and well executed you could do far far worse that Chengdu Taste. In fact, it’s pretty darn great.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chengdu, Chengdu Taste, China, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Ma Po Tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Pepper

Sometimes You Want to Get Crabs

Sep18

Restaurant: Seafood Village

Location: 684 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 289-0088

Date: September 15, 2013

Cuisine: Chiu Chow Chinese

Rating: quite tasty!

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Chinese food is incredible regional, and we are blessed in SoCal with a lot of very specific resteraunts (mostly in the San Gabriel Valley). This time, my Hedonist group has head out for some Chiu Chow (also Chaozhou) which is a Southern Chinese style originating in Eastern Guangdong province. This is a fairly ingredient driven Chinese regional cuisine that often features seafood. It has a relationship to Cantonese and is often found in Singaporean cooking (as many Teochew people settled there).

Seafood Village is regarded as one of the best Chiu Chow places in California. It has the usual glamorous SGV exterior.

And interior. But hardly the PF Chang tourist crowd!

Starting off with a little champagne.

Peanuts are traditional on the table in China. I suppose that the allergic are just put out of their misery quickly.

1998 Château Monbousquet Blanc. 91 points. Straw, lemon grass, mineral nose; earthy, lemon grass, mineral palate; medium finish. A very pleasant white Bordeaux with mineral flavors.

A typical cold appetizer platter. In the center, jellyfish. Starting with the top and heading clockwise: roast duck, cuttlefish, pork gut, fried tofu (yummy), pork stomach, and pork knuckle.

In case you want to spice it up!

2008 Cold Heaven Viognier. 90 points.

And it’s worth noting this interesting feature of authentic Chinese restaurants. After you eat a lot of some dish, they will “replate” or “consolidate” it into a smaller dish to preserve premium table space.

2005 Wittmann Westhofener Morstein Riesling Trocken. This was a more or less dry riesling, and quite nice.

This is what most people come here for, the house special Chiu Chow Style Crab (Dungeness). This is basically battered crab, fried with chilies and lots of garlic. I’ve also heard this called “Causeway Style.” Good stuff with lots of flavor. You end up sucking out the meat mostly.

2012 Recuerdo Torrontés. 88 Points. A very floral light white made by Jose, one our very own Hedonists!

One of are party wasn’t into “weird stuff” and ordered themselves some orange chicken. Go figure. It was fine, but nothing special.

From my cellar, 1970 Gros Frère et Sœur Vosne-Romanée. 92 points. It was still very much alive and drinking quite beautifully. A veritable chameleon in the glass, the aromas kept changing every time I brought the glass to my nose. First sour cherries, then papaya, then raspberries, then red clay, then lemon rind, then caramel — it was intoxicating. The palate, on the other hand, was a bit simple and one-dimensional, but I thought the nose more than made up for it. A lovely wine! My favorite of the night — being a Burghound!

Special Turtle Soup. This is a very pleasant broth with lots of umani flavor.

And in case you wondered f it was authentic enough, check out the chicken foot!

2000 Araujo Estate Syrah Eisele Vineyard. IWC 89. Full ruby-red. Rich, smoky aromas of plum, blackberry, bitter chocolate, smoked meat, minerals, tobacco and licorice. Sweet, lush, chocolatey and seamless; a distinctly warm-climate syrah with exotic notes of roasted berries. But there’s also lovely lift from the blackberry and violet notes. Finishes firmly tannic, oaky and long, with notes of spice and bitter chocolate.

Chilies with ground pork. I’ve never seen Jalepenos per se in China, but they do have lots of peppers. Regardless, this was a fabulous dish as the pork was cooked in a great black bean sauce and the combination of the mild heat and the slightly sweet meat was wonderful.

2009 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave St. Joseph. IWC 93. Opaque ruby. Expansive, seductive aromas of blackberry and blueberry preserves, cherry pit and fresh flowers, plus a sexy incense note and a touch of licorice. Stains the palate with dark berry and spicecake flavors, with smoky minerality adding cut to the back end. Blends depth and vivacity smoothly, finishing with outstanding clarity and lingering sweetness.

Sautéed jellyfish heads with asparagus. Not bad — for jellyfish.

2011 Luisi Barbera d’Asti. 82 points. I didn’t try it, as I’m not much of a Barbera fan. Works occasionally with pizza.

Rock fish steamed with ginger and garlic. This was a lovely fish and the meat was perfectly done and very succulent.

2009 Orma Toscana IGT. IWC 92. Fully saturated ruby-purple. Sexy aromas of ripe dark plum, Asian spices, licorice and cocoa powder, with a floral quality adding lift and freshness. At once suave and penetrating, with very good energy and definition to the flavors of sweet red cherry, dark plum, mocha and fresh herbs. In a distinctly ripe style, but with a vibrant, long finish thanks to harmonious acidity. The sweet, broad tannins show a distinct chocolatey ripeness.

Duck with mushrooms. It’s hard to tell them apart (the duck has bones) as the heavy gravy gives it all a brown sheen. This dish might look a bit sketchy, but it tastes great with a rich heady earthiness to the sauce and a pleasant spongey texture to the woody mushrooms.

2011 Vigilance Petite Sirah. I didn’t try this either.

Special Chiu Chow Style “lettuce”. Evidently a classic. It head a bit of a porky taste so there must have been something in there with the veggies. Not bad.

2008 chin chin syrah. Another wine by Jose.

Beans, lotus root, and oxtail. Interesting mix of flavors and textures. The meat was fatty of course, but full of flavor.

Clearly someone had too much pork gut.

2007 Lillian Winery Syrah. IWC 94. Opaque purple. A kaleidoscopic bouquet evokes black raspberry, cola, incense and olive tapenade, with a sexy floral quality that gains power with aeration. Lush, palate-staining dark berry preserve flavors are complemented by exotic spice and violet pastille qualities and are lifted by zesty minerality. Gains weight with air but retains its energy, finishing spicy, smoky and with outstanding persistence. Readers should also seek out Maggie Harrison’s excellent Antica Terra pinot noirs from Oregon.

House Special Chiu Chow Style Pan Fried Noodles. There are also shrimp, pork, mushrooms, and sprouts in here.

This might not seem like the most sophisticated dish, but the sauce was really really good with the tender noodles. I used to get a similar dish as a kid and found not not only delicious, but deeply nostalgic.

This Vin Santo was a rather wonderful sticky of the passito/Sherry PX variety. Oddly, it’s from Greece (Santorini) — doesn’t matter, as it’s very good.

Taro with Ginko dessert. God only knows what the white stuff was. There were grapes and ginko nuts, blobs of taro, and a gelatinous mass that that was supposedly snow fungus. The net effect was sweet and vaguely chewy. I think it’s a Chiu Chow speciality.

Jose brought some (apparently) 19th century Madeira in this little flask. It was good. Caramelized, complex, and well… like good Maderia.

Almost mochi filled with red bean, mung bean, egg custard, and taro. Not as good as true ice cream mochi, but enjoyable the same.

Overall, an incredibly fun evening as usual. We even went next door afterward to overwhelm the minimall’s $15 an hour foot massage place, which is always great except that Yarom got screwed since we had one person more than they had masseuses. These Chinese outings are great fun with really interesting, tasty, and reasonable food.

The Seafood Village staff treated us great, bringing the dishes one at a time, and being extremely friendly and helpful — if occasionally confounded by our lack of Mandarin (or perhaps they spoke the Chiu Chow dialect, I wouldn’t know). Great fun.

We were also joined (see below) by Chef Kaz Oyama of the amazing Totoraku, who is now an honorary Hedonist, and he took it seriously by consuming his fair share of libations.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

This dinner included Chef Kaz from the the amazing beef joint, Totoraku! (right)

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chaozhou, China, Chui Chow, crab, hedonists, san Gabriel valley, Seafood, Shellfish, Singapore

Where in the world is Yanbian?

May30

Restaurant: Yanbian Restaurant

Location: 4251 W 3rd St. Los Angeles, CA 90004. (213) 383-5959

Date: May 21, 2013

Cuisine: Yanbian Chinese

Rating: Great food, incredible deal!

Until a few weeks ago I hadn’t heard of Yanbian, an autonomous prefecture in the borderlands between China and Korea. But like any place, it has its own regional cuisine, and LA, being rich in Asian culture has at least one restaurant specializing in the area. My Hedonist group has been here several times, but this is my first visit.

This Koreatown hole-in-the-wall might not look like much, but the food is excellent and they did a great job handling our oversized party.

Champagne to start.

Twice cooked pork. I’ve had the meat part of this dish numerous times at Chinese, but never coupled with these “spring roll” like sides. It was all very tasty.

2010 Karthauserhof Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Riesling. Parker 88. Honeysuckle, lime, and honeydew melon scent and generously inform the palate of Tyrell’s 2010 Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Riesling Spatlese, which however suffers from some of the same sense of opacity and diffusion as the corresponding Kabinett. A surprisingly soothing, glycerin-rich, and honeyed palate impression leads to a finish that would benefit from a bit more sheer juiciness and less overt sweetness, though there is just enough citrus to serve for some refreshment. Perhaps time will bring further complexity and clarity. I am more inclined to credit this with some serious bottle potential – surely at least a dozen years – than I am most of the wines that preceded it in the present Karthauserhof line-up.

I also brought a bottle of:

2011 Joh Jos Prum Riesling Kabinett Wehlener Sonnenuhr. Parker 93. Prum’s 2011 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett is a tad higher in residual sugar and correspondingly lower in alcohol than its immediate stable mates, but as one would expect from this great site, if anything the taste impression is drier. A ravishing nose of heliotrope and honeysuckle, Normandy cider and wet stone establishes the common themes for a palate performance that unites delicacy, juiciness and creaminess to an uncanny degree that only a few of the best Mosel vineyards and their prime caretakers can capture. Mouthwateringly lingering and compelling of the next sip, this rarified illustration of Mosel Kabinett virtue will reward you over the next quarter century.

No restaurant with Korean influences would be without the Kimchee!

And this other spicy vegetable.

2011 Chateau Ste. Michelle & Dr. Loosen Riesling Eroica. IWC 88. Pale yellow-straw. Sexy aromas of nectarine, ginger and nutmeg. Moderately sweet but not at all cloying, with nectarine, apple, pear and brown spice flavors complicated by a saline quality and perked up by white flowers and CO2. Not particularly gripping and very easy to drink. Finishes just off-dry, with a menthol nuance and a suggestion of crab apple that brought my score down.

And these greens.

And marinated bean sprouts.

2010 Patrick Piuze Chablis Fourchaume. Parker 90. Layers of dried pears, crushed flowers and licorice, all supported by fine, nuanced veins of minerality, emerge from the 2010 Chablis Fourchaume. This is a relatively approachable 2010 to drink over the next few years.

Fried duck. Really fried duck — but delicious, with a light “beer batter” style fry.

From my cellar: 1996 Domaine Joseph Drouhin Charmes Chambertin. Parker 92. This medium-to-dark ruby-colored wine has a fine nose of deeply ripe blackberry and cassis. On the palate, this well-concentrated, thick, complex, and harmonious wine is replete with loads of black cherries and spices. It has extremely ripe and supple tannins in its long finish.

Potstickers. These are typical Chinese dumplings, but with a particularly thick doughy shell. Maybe a little doughy for my taste.

The tasty spicy sauce for the dumplings.

And competing (not entirely successfully) with the grandeur of Burgundy is:

2009 Beaulieu Pinot Noir Reserve. Parker 89. The 2009 Pinot Noir Reserve Carneros is a bold, juicy wine bursting with candied red berries, flowers and mint. It comes across as fairly forward and quite fat. The 2009 is best suited to near-term drinking.

Walnut shrimp. With their light fluffy fry and a nice hint of mustard in the sauce these were some great walnut shrimp.

1988 D’Issan. Parker doesn’t like this wine, but it was a pleasant older Bordeaux.

Pork with quail egg. It doesn’t look like much but this was a great dish with soft pork and a nice flavor. The white balls are hard boiled quail eggs.

2007 Château Trocard. 88 points.

Spicy fried chicken. This is one of those dry Hunan/Szechuan style dishes.

2009 Jarvis Tomei Syrah Coloma “Meatgrinder”. 92 points. Cherry, cedar and floral notes on the nose. Very smooth and easy to drink, mouth-watering blackberry, violets, vanilla with a coffee finish.

Rice with eggplant and mushrooms. The consistency of the rice was very sticky, with a mellow comfort food vibe going on. Very pleasant.

2005 Mollydooker Enchanted Path. 93 points. Very surprised with how rich and pleasant this was, especially compared with my experience with Carnival of Love from the same vintage which runs toward heat and alcohol. In contrast, the enchanted path last night was showing a seamless combination of blue and red fruit and the creamy texturethat others have mentioned. Lovely stuff that could be appreciated by anyone who likes good wine.

Mountain potatoes and eggplant.

2000 Greenock Creek Shiraz Alices. Parker 90. Fashioned from low yields of 1.27 tons of fruit per acre, the 2000 Shiraz Alice’s is 100% Shiraz aged in American oak for 28 months prior to being bottled unfiltered. A strong effort for the vintage, it exhibits a deep ruby/purple color in addition to a sweet nose of blackberries, pepper, and licorice, medium body, and a fine finish.

Spicy pork. See those peppers? They are real Szechuan peppers and they left the mouth and face numb!

The pork was hiding underneath but was great — when the numbness allowed tasting it!

2003 Pax Cellars Syrah Lauterbach Hill. Parker 94. The 2003 Syrah Lauderbach Hill, from a vineyard farmed by Lee Martinelli, was cropped at two tons of fruit per acre, and spent time in 100% French oak, of which 40% was new. No shy Syrah at 15.9% alcohol, it exhibits great intensity as well as a tremendously sweet bouquet of crushed rocks, creme de cassis, blackberries, and flowers. A full-bodied, opulent, exotic effort, it should drink well for a decade or more.

Egg with tomatoes. Slightly sweet, a kind of Chinese omelet.

Overall, Yanbian was great fun, great food, and all of the above was $20 a person! Including tax and a 35% tip! Wow!

More crazy Hedonist adventures or
LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese cui, hedonists, Korean cuisine, Mosel, Rice, Riesling, Wine, Yanbian, Yanbian Restaurant

Shanghai #1 Seafood Village

Apr18

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

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

Date: April 13, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

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

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

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

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

2011 Domaine Collotte Bourgogne Rosé Marsannay. This is one of my go-to roses, as it’s all Pinot Noir from Burgundy. A wonderful sunny weather wine, it paired very nicely with the sweet and sour tones of the Chinese. There were a few rose-haters as usual, but this really is a great wine, bright and full of strawberry flavors.

Our “appetizer” spread.

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

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

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

Marinated cucumbers (pickles) in a sweet soy vinegar.

Marinated turnips in a tangy chili oil. Really nice crunch.

Some kind of marinated mushrooms. Very earthly and delicate.

Classic smoked Shanghai fish. Smokey and crunchy.

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

2004 Albert Mann Riesling Schlossberg. IWC 90. Very pale color. Highly aromatic nose offers underripe pineapple, flowers, mint, stone and flint, along with a leesy nuance that reminded me of Champagne. Juicy and moderately sweet (12.5 g/l. r.s.), with pure peach and nectarine flavors firmed by a stony underpinning. This is precise and detailed, and long on the finish-and not nearly as austere as some past vintages of this consistently excellent bottling. But it still calls for at least five years in the cellar.

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

Chili fried scallops, with a little heat.

2000 Denis Mugneret Père et Fils Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru. BH 88-91. Black fruit and spice just explode from the glass. This is Boudots at its best with abundant Vosne spice and solid Nuits character in a classy, medium weight package that offers good power, density and quality length. While it doesn’t offer the size of the grands crus and it’s not classically structured, it is deliciously complex and fine. I like this a lot.

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

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

1995 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja. IWC 90. Good full red. Deeply pitched aromas of smoke, minerals, leather and truffle. Supple and silky but nicely penetrating, with ripe, intense flavors of cherry, minerals and oak perfectly framed by harmonious acids. Subtle, textured Rioja finishing with good grip and thrust.

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

Chicken soup. Pretty much like moms’.

It came in this pot.

1985 Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Grésy Dolcetto d’Alba. I’ve never had an old Dolcetto, and wouldn’t have assumed they lasted, but this was brilliant. It tasted very much of Dolcetto, grapey and all, but had a real depth to it.

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

Fried rice. Simply one of the best fried rices I’ve ever had.

2007 Tenute Niccolai Rosso Di San Gimignano Uno di quattro. A very nice Italian Syrah. Yeah, odd, but it is.

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

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

The inside. These were great with vinegar poured in.

2010 Montirius Gigondas Terres des Aines. IWC 91-93. Bright ruby. Spicy cherry and blueberry aromas lifted by mineral cut and a floral overtone. Nicely focused and pure, with very good energy to its dark berry flavors and seductive lavender and spice accents. Finishes spicy and long, with a late note of anise hanging behind.

Beef ribs (short ribs?), with garlic, green and red peppers, etc. Tasty, but certainly not the best dish of the might.

2003 Maculan Acininobili. Parker 96. The 2003 Acininobili is utterly mind-blowing in its expression of candied apricots, orange peel and cinnamon. Constantly changing in the glass, it reveals superb intensity and a stunningly gorgeous purity, with superb length and phenomenal poise. Acininobili is a selection made from botrytised Torcolato fruit. It is aged for two years in new French oak.

Mango or some other fruit in a coconut yogurt like sauce. Nice and refreshing, and and absolotely brilliant pairing (not by any foresight) with the Passito above. Really first rate combo.

Our menu for the staff!

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

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By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Foodie Club, hedonists, Seafood, Shanghai #1 Seafood Village, Wine

Peking Duck at A-1 Chinese BBQ

Jun02

Restaurant: A-1 Chinese BBQ

Location: 2014 Pacific Coast Hwy. Lomita, CA 90717. (310) 325-6709

Date: May 19, 2012

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck

I recently joined a meetup.com foodie group and I noticed in the feed that people were talking about this place for great Peking Duck. I’ve long been a fan of the crispy foul, to the tune of eating it three nights in a row in Beijing, and it is scare represented on the Westside, so I thought a pilgrimage was in order.

If you decide to go you must call ahead to reserve/prep a duck. It takes too long for them to do to order.

This establishment is not about looks. It makes Din Tai Fung look like Cesar’s Palace.

Although, I do have to say the inside is one step up form Totoraku, and that is a high end joint!

Another great thing is: no liquor license, which means no corkage. Bring your own cork screw. This is a reliable (although not awesome) negotiant 1re cru. We had to drink it out of plastic “pizza hut style” glasses, so that didn’t help either.

NOTE: big menu, so keep scrolling for the food!

The menu is grungy and enormous.

We started with these “prawns with spicy salt, headless.” This is generally called “salt and pepper shrimp” and this particular version was one of the best I’ve had. I particularly appreciated the lack of head.

Then out rolled our feathered friend. He was carved back in the kitchen.

And served with the usual Hoisin sauce and the often seen in China but not as often here doughy buns instead of pancakes.

You put some sauce, some scallions, and some duck on the bun and enjoy. This was definitely some of the best duck I’ve had in California. The skin was perfectly crispy, and there was some, but not too much fat.

After this we switched it up to this awesome Rosso. “The 2009 Rosso di Montalcino is totally beautiful and elegant in its expressive bouquet, silky fruit and understated, harmonious personality. This is a wonderful, impeccable Rosso from Le Potazzine. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2017.”

This is “Chow Ma Mein” (I think). A spicy soup with noodles, shrimp, beef, chicken and various vegetables. It was good.

“Orange peel chicken.” Fairly typical of the type, but not bad.

“Dry braised string beans.” I like this dish when I usually have it, but this wasn’t the greatest version. It was too oily and lacking in garlicky punch.

“Sweet and sour pork.” The pork was a little tough, but flavorful. The sauce a bit goopy. Just so-so.

The check was awesome. $20 a person all in with tip.

Overall, the duck was fantastic, the shrimp and soup were very good, and the other dishes a bit mediocre. It was a very nice meal, and with a little more trial and error ordering probably could be totally first rate. I’m curious if any of you readers know any other places with great Peking Duck in LA. I’d love to find one that was 40 minutes from my house!

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