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Spice Up Your Life Szechuan Style

Sep23

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

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

Date: September 20, 2013

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). Yarom (the leader of my Hedonist group) invited me out to try some spicy Szechuan and a totally undiscovered place he found while wandering around. 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.

1999 Joseph Phelps Sauvignon Blanc. IWC 87. Expressive, floral aroma combines melon, grapefruit, mint, licorice and fresh herbs. Supple yet tangy and firm, with nicely focused flavors of lemon, grapefruit, licorice and fresh herbs. Slightly elevated alcohol leavened by brisk acidity. Nice combination of texture and brightness.

Seaweed with chilies. Very pleasant, with a firmness and just a bit of heat.

Jellyfish heads and cucumber. More a texture dish, but it had a bit of a vinegary tang.

2011 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett. IWC88. Aromas of passion fruit and nut oil. The creamy tropical fruits flavors are light, well-balanced and elegant. Certainly fun to drink.

Cured beef shank. Like Chinese pastrami, with a bit of a smokey flavor.

Shredded stomach with scallion. Pork stomach really. I’m not an offal fan, but this was as good as stomach gets.

2007 Lamborghini (La Fiorita) Era Umbria IGT. 88 points. Good dark fruit and cherries on the nose. Significant fruit in the taste along with some herbal notes and good acidity. Medium length with some good tannins at the later part. May need more time to develop.

Stewed lamb in casserole (house special #1).

Inside the hot pot. This stuff was awesome. Probably the best dish (of many). Tasty tender lamb and this amazing hot chili sauce that really had a nice flavor.

Skewers of lamb on the left and Chinese hot dog on the right. Both were rubbed with cumin, making the lamb classic cumin lamb. The sausages were amazing, like sweetish hotdogs rubbed in cumin.

Some more skewers, lamb and chicken wing.

2009 Kongsgaard Syrah. Parker 97. The 2009 Syrah Hudson Vineyard is simply breathtaking. White flowers, spices, savory herbs, licorice, graphite and new leather are some of the many nuances that add complexity to a core of deeply expressive dark fruit. The 2009 impresses for its stunning textural elegance and sheer brilliance.

Cured beef shank in sesame bun. Basically Chinese pastrami sandwich!

Sweet and sour fish. Nice tender Tilapia with a flavorful sweet sauce.

1996 Lanessan. Parker 88. A sleeper of the vintage, Lanessan’s 1996 boasts an impressively saturated dark ruby/purple color, and knock-out aromatics of melted chocolate, asphalt, and cassis. Deep, rich, and medium-bodied, with excellent concentration and purity, this impressively-endowed, flavorful, well-structured wine should be at its finest between 2004-2016.

Beef tendon Xing Ziang Style. Unusual but pleasant texture in a tasty spicy sauce.

Potato with chili. Basically shredded potato with a slight vinegar and oil tang.

2011 Joh Jos Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. Parker 94. A yeasty, smoky prickle as well as the effect of dissolved CO2 causes the nose to wrinkle from a glass of Prum’s 2011 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese A.P. #18, but behind that are heliotrope and lily-of-the-valley along with ripe apple, pear and melons that in turn inform a delicate, subtly creamy palate of striking transparency to stony, crystalline, alkaline and smoky black tea and liquid floral nuances. This shimmers and excites even as it soothes in a lingering, uplifting, glowing finish. It will certainly merit attention for the better part of a half century.

Kung Pao Chicken. One of the best versions of this classic dish I’ve ever had. Lots of very flavorful Szechuan peppers.

1999 Guiraud. Parker 90. Tasted as part of a vertical held at the chateau. There is a sense of conservatism to the Guiraud 1999, but it still retains attractive scents of dried honey, marmalade and a touch of chlorine. The palate is actually better than the nose, with a lovely seam of acidity and effervescent marmalade and quince-tinged fruit that is very precise toward the long finish. The ’99 should be looked back on as a success in an oft-forgotten vintage.

Pork XO sauce fried noodle.

You mix it up like this and there is lots of pleasant heat to go with the al dente noodles.

Check out that chili oil left in the bowl!

Twice cooked pork. Another fabulous dish. The pork had some heat and sweetness, with a whole lot of flavor.

Ma Po Tofu. One of my favorite dishes. This classic Szechuan dish was the spiciest of the night. The pleasant soft tofu is just on fire. The name literally translated as “Pocked Marked Old Lady Face Tofu” which is quite amusing.

Fried corn. Slightly sweet and passed for a dessert. But afterward, we went down the street to a shaved ice place, which I’ll blog about seperately.

In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. If you like spicy, this place was really very good. Cheap too as this feast, including tax and tip, set us back $21 a person!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
Comments (6)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Cui Hua Lou, hedonists, Hot Sauce, Joh. Jos. Prüm, lamb, Ma Po Tofu, Monterey Park, san Gabriel valley, Sichuan, Szechuan, Szechuan Chinese, Szechuan Pepper

Tasty Duck Lives up to its Name

May07

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: May 4, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

My Hedonist food and wine club loves the SGV. This community 20 minutes East of Downtown LA boasts a staggering array of good Chinese restaurants.

NV Pierre Peters Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvee de Reserve. Parker 92. The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvee de Reserve is a gorgeous wine that captures the essence of Chardonnay in the Cote des Blancs. Pure, wiry and wonderfully expressive, the Cuvee de Reserve flows gracefully with layers of varietal fruit from start to finish. This shows superb clarity, depth and polish, particularly at the NV level. The current release is 65% 2007 and 35% reserve wines from a solera cuvee that contains 15 vintages. Roughly 2/3rds of the fruit comes from Mesnil, while the rest is from Cramant, Avize, Oger and Chouilly.

Cold appetizers: Jellyfish (top), wine chicken (right), and beef (left).

1971 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. Rated 93. On the nose, lots of petrol and cotton candy. On the palate, still some good acidity and sweetness, with lots of tangerine and apricot and a long finish. May be a bit past its prime (storage was not the best according to the person who brought it) but still a lovely wine.

The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged.

Here are the traditional accompaniments. Excellent pancakes, hoison sauce, and scallions and apple/pear.

1989 Joseph Drouhin Clos Vougeot.Rated 91. Nice. Spice box nose with decent fruit and silky tannins. Defenite develpemnt. Classy finesse with earthy tones and soft red berries. It took a good hour or two for the fruit to come out, but once it did it was very nice.

Eggplant.

2010 Van Volxem Kanzemer Altenberg Riesling Alte Reben. Parker 93. The stony mineral and piquantly nutty elements present in so many of this year’s Van Volxem offerings are only enhanced when it comes to the ancient-vines 2010 Kanzemer Altenberg Riesling Alte Reben, but so is citricity, to the point where this seems electrically-charged. Mint and green tea remind me a bit of the herbal side that comes out in so many Scharzhofberger of this vintage, while iris and hedge flowers add allure. A satin-textured and rich though vivacious palate impression leads to a clarion, vibratory finishing flavor interaction of floral, herbal, citrus, nut oil, and mineral notes. I would anticipate at least 12-15 years of excitement. Interestingly, at 11.8%, this is slightly lower in alcohol than the other non-sweet wines in the present collection, which are in the lower 12s.

Part of “duck three ways”: sprouts with bits of duck meat.

1996 Domaine Chauvenet-Chopin Nuits St Georges les Murgers. Parker 90-92. This medium-to-dark ruby-colored wine has an expressive nose of cassis, cherries, Asian spices, and minerals. This massive, chewy-textured, full-bodied, and plump wine is rich, concentrated, muscular, and crammed with super-ripe blackberries awash in toasty oak.

Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings. Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth.

2005 Camille Giroud Latricieres Chambertin. Parker 93-94. The 2005 Latricieres-Chambertin (purchased partly as grapes and partly as wine) offers a clear, enticing nose of tiny purple plums, blueberries, lilies, beef marrow, and hints of caramel and vanilla. Polished and bright, it exudes the refinement that the Chapelle lacked, leading to a real rush of lingering sweet, caramel- and vanilla-tinged fruit in the finish. The tannins are abundant but ultra-refined. Sock this away for at least a decade and figure on at least an additional decade to hold.

Great wine, although a little young. After 30-60 minutes it opened up and drank very nicely.

Shanghai style BBQ pork ribs. Twice fried (deep and stir) in a sweet and sour sauce. Very good for this dish, with relatively little bone.

1997 Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie. Parker 86-88. The dark ruby-colored 1997 Cote Rotie Cuvee Classique is an evolved, forward, fat wine with cassis and raspberry fruit flavors, medium body, and an easy-going, succulent, luscious, straightforward appeal.

Nice pairing with the lamb below.

Cumin lamb. A typical specimen, but with tender flavorful lamb. Some places border on mouton.

The proverbial, “duck soup” that is the last part of “duck three ways.” Mild and pleasant with some tofu and cabbage.

Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple!

Scallion pancakes.

2006 Bressan Schioppettino. Rated 92. Clear ruby in color, with medium plus intensity and moderate consistency. The nose is clean, with medium plus intensity. The nose is quite complex, with aromas of red fruit, orange rind, sage, thyme, menthol, rhubarb, angostura bitters, black pepper, anise, violet and pine forest floor. The nose is developing, of fine quality and constantly evolving in the glass. The palate is dry, with medium plus to pronounced acidity, and flavors generally consistent with the nose. Showing red fruit, peppery spice, herbs and bitter lemon. The alcohol is moderate (-) at 13%. Thee polyalcohols are smooth (-). The tannins are medium to medium plus. The minerality is moderate +. The body is medium +. The flavors are moderately intense +. The finish is moderately persistent +. The wine is moderately balanced; it is skewed slightly towards hardness. The acidity is quite high. It’s almost as a little bit of white wine had been blended in, but the tannins are defintely still there. The palate is fine overall. This wine is ready to drink and approaching maturity, but is likely to have a long drinking window thanks to its structure. It is moderately harmonious + and extremely food friendly.

Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, similar to a couple weeks ago at the Shanghai place.

Fried rice with pineapple, which felt more Thai.

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Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho.

NV Minardi Vini Passito di Pantelleria. Rated 88. Not the most balanced Pantelleria I’ve ever had, and medium sweet, like a vin santo, but very pleasant and an excellent pairing with the mild but sweet Chinese desserts.

Red bean or black sesame (I wasn’t sure) pancakes. Tasty (for a Chinese dessert).

A gooey mochi and nut thingy.

Overall, another fantastic meal. The total damage, including tax and a whopping 30% tip was $32 a person! The service was great (for Chinese). They were very friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over three hours. This is actually fairly unusual as a lot of Chinese restaurants like to slam you out in 45 minutes by dropping everything on the table at once. The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. The other dishes were good too, with almost all of them being very well executed and not greasy.

For more Hedonist adventures or

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Champagne, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Peking Duck, San Gabriel California, Tasty Duck

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.

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.

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.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

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

Tasty Dining – Wuhan Dry Hot Pot

Feb13

Restaurant: Tasty Dining

Location: 301 W Valley Blvd, Ste 101. San Gabriel, CA 91776

Date: February 10, 2013

Cuisine: Wuhan Chinese

Rating: One Note

We Hedonists venture out again into the San Gabriel Valley for some more regional Chinese, this time to the heartland province of Wuhan. Like nearby Szechuan and Hunan this area of China is known for its chile-dominated heat. This particular place specializes in “dry pot” which is like a stir fry / hot pot hybrid that is sizzled table-side.

The usual unassuming San Gabriel storefront.

This page shows the dry pots.

And the things here aren’t really sides, but are options you can add to the dry pots. There is very little on the menu that isn’t a dry pot.

This last page are the few non dry pot options.

A dry white went well with the sesame noodles below. This was the only dish before the heat set in.

Dry noodles in sesame sauce. These tasted as they look, like noodles in sesame sauce. They aren’t spicy, and are VERY sesame.

A very old (1962) Spatlese riesling that had actually been open for 3-4 days. Considering, it was impressive that it was still drinkable, if considerably oxidized.

Wuhan sui mai, stuffed with rice, meat, and with a bit of a vinegar tang.

1969 Coteaux du Layon illustrates the striking combination of mineral and nobly sweet characteristics that were possible, though its notoriously high acidity is scarcely noticeable thanks to the balance lent by high sugar and the harmony conveyed by time in bottle. Alkaline and wet stone aromas here approach the effect of sticking one’s head down a moss- and algae-covered cistern, accompanied by scents of lily, narcissus, quince preserves, stale bread, musk, and sweat. The rich quince character is carried and complimented by a juicy and not at all heavy palate impression, and this finishes with remarkable refreshment and pronouncedly alkaline and stony minerality, as well as snuffed candle wick smokiness and bitterness of quinine. Mature nobly sweet Chenin, although it had also been open for a couple days and was beginning to oxidize.

Our first Wuhan dry pot (this will soon look familiar). This one was chicken wings, yep, the central Chinese equivalent of hot wings. They’re in there with mountain potatoes (french fries), celery, hot peppers of several type, cauliflower, garlic, and lots of chili oil.

Displaying an expressive, candied green apple-scented nose, the profound 1992 Quarts de Chaume is intense and massively ripe. Citrus fruit and apricot-flavored, this wine is powerful, thick, and yet focused and delineated.

Dry pot number two, shrimp and we threw in some “lobster balls” (those vaguely round things).

Parker 94, “Quince preserves, baked apple, lily, gardenia, and hints of caramel and vanilla mark the nose of the Prum 2007 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. With richness yet delicacy and lift it saturates the palate with rich fruit, liquid flowers, vanilla cream, and savory, saline, shrimp shell reduction-like mineral essences. This intense, pure, subtly and truly nobly botrytized Auslese has umami with a capital “U.””

And number three, with squid. You’re starting to get the picture! The sauce/flavor is basically identical on all of these.

Schonleber’s 2002 Monzinger Fruhlingsplatzchen Riesling Kabinett smells alluringly of ripe red raspberries and strawberries. Quite honeyed and creamy for a Kabinett, yet both juicy and delicate, this is a bit superficially sweet in the finish, even though undeniably delicious.

Number four was duck, bone in. Lots of bone in. Meat was fairly tasty, if you didn’t break a tooth on it.

The Schonleber 2001 Monzinger Halenberg Riesling Spatlese features honey-glazed nectarine and red berries in a seductively creamy, subtly caramelized and bitter-sweet melange. Rich nut oil and saline and wet stone mineral notes emerge in the long, refined finish. There is no significant sacrifice of clarity or purity to the wine’s evident botrytis.

And number five was mutton, also very bone (and gristle) in. The meat was fairly tasty, but there was very little of it. But this time were were pretty sick of potatoes and cauliflower.

Soft buns, like the white fluffy stuff surrounding bork buns, but without the pork. The sauce in the center is sweetened condensed milk. Nicely cooling after all that Wuhan heat.

And the exact same buns straight out of the deep frier!

For “dessert” we have some unique (but somehow typically Chinese) mild flavors like these pumpkin buns covered in sesame and pan fried.

And these fried bean paste buns.

Tasty Dining was interesting because I’ve never had Wuhan dry pot before (actually I think I have once, but I didn’t know it). And presumably, it’s well executed. However, this is very much a one trick pony restaurant. There isn’t much but dry pot and every dry pot essentially tastes the same, dominated as it is by pepper, garlic, and oil! The noodles were interesting too, but I’ve had better of this type. The Szechuan meal I had in November in Philly was about 100x better with much more variety.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, hedonists, san Gabriel valley, Szechuan Chinese, Tasty Dining, Wuhan, Wuhan Chinese

Hunan Chili Madness

Dec26

Restaurant: Hunan Chili King

Location: 534 E Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776

Date: December 23, 2012 & August 9, 2015 & September 1, 2017 & August 19, 2018 & June 13, 2021 & February 26, 2023

Cuisine: Hunan Chinese

Rating: Great, spicy, cheap

Way back in the day, Hunan Chili King was only the SECOND time I went to the SGV for Chinese food with the Hedonists! And twice in one week, I was invited to head back east into the San Gabriel Valley for some more Chinese (my earlier adventure can be found here).

This time we tackled the hot and spicy cuisine of the Chinese heartland, the Hunan province.

Here is just a sampling of the pickled chillies and vegetables they make here for use in this smokey, earthy, inferno hot style of Chinese cooking.

The menu on June 13, 2021.

Cold Cucumber Salad. Really great cucumber salad variant enchanced with garlic, chili and cilantro. This was cool and crunchy with quite a bit of heat and a ton of flavor.

Hunan style cold cucumber salad with marinated cucumber, Wood Ear/Black Fungus, shredded Broccoli stems, Cilantro, and chilies (everything has chilies). This was really tasty, and one of the least spicy dishes. The marinate lent it a slight cool quality.

Preserved Eggs, Eggplant, Pepper. This is mashed up before being eaten. Quite nice with excellent garlicky flavor eggplant. I would have liked a little more preserved egg to add even more of that umami flavor.

Hunan spicy chicken. This roast then chopped chicken was served cold. Super tasty and enjoyable, except, perhaps, for that oh so Chinese need to chew around all the bone bits.

This particular dinner was sort of 25% hedonist in that it had some members of my hedonist wine club. There were a lot less bottles than at a full fledged event, and because of the spicy food we went mostly with sweet whites like:

From my cellar: Incorporating fruit principally from Wehlener Nonnenberg, Graacher Himmelreich, and Bernkasteler Johannisbrunnchen, the generic Prum 2011 Riesling Kabinett displays an archetypal Mosel Riesling nose of fresh apple, lemon, and clover allied to faintly cheesy, leesy youthful “stink”; and comes to the palate bright and zippy, with hints of wet stone, and prominent cyanic piquancy of apple pit invigoratingly extending its mouthwateringly juicy, if tart and relatively simple finish.

Lobster head, tofu, meat, and noodle soup. Really yummy, with noodles underneath the broth. After the chillies and the heat of the soup my head was really sweating.

Fried lobster with chilies. A superb lobster preparation, like a spicy version of Lobster Causeway Style.

From my cellar: A fine combination of textural creaminess with refreshment and lift characterizes the Weins-Prum 2009 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese, which combines lusciously ripe, fresh pear and apple with vanilla and marzipan and finishes with both soothing and stimulating length. This impeccably-balanced, textbook example of its site and style ought to retain its allure for at least two decades.

Flavor intestine. Not my favorite conceptually.

Hunan steamed fish head. This is a Hunan classic. The fish is very soft and full of all sorts of weird cartilage texture.

Fish Filet with Hot Sauce. Easier (and maybe tastier) to eat than the head. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

Braised Whole Fish. I wanted the classic fish head but was convinced to go for a whole fish instead. I’m not sure what kind of fish they used. It was very tender with a sort of earthy tone and maybe a flavor that just hinted of “old bay.” Quite unusual and delicious.

Sautéed frog. Tasty, lots of bone bits. The Christmas theme to all the food isn’t seasonal, it’s just all the chillies!

A chardonnay someone else brought.

Shredded squid with bamboo shoot. Tasty.

Sautéed whole “crystal prawns,” Hunan style. These were great and an expensive specialty shrimp.

Sauteed Spicy Shrimp. Wonderful juicy whole shrimp with chilis, crunchy green beans, and a lovely “softer” flavored Hunan sauce. Despite having that same Hunan “Christmas” (green and red) look, it did taste different than the other dishes.

Hunan chicken (8/19/18). Chicken in a similar mix of red and green peppers. Very tasty.

To go with the meat we step up the intensity a bit.

Parker 91-93, “The extraordinary 2007 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Rasteau offers up aromas of chocolate, black cherries, dusty, loamy soil, scorched earth, garrigue, and spice. This full-bodied, powerfully concentrated, meaty, expansive, substantial wine should age well for a decade.”

Chiliking Crispy Egg. Many people had never had this dish. I’ve actually made it. These eggs, sometimes called “dragon eggs” are deep fried (without a breading) and then wokked. It was very spicy with the classic hunan garlic, ginger, and pickled chili combo. Absolutely delicious.

Chicken with potato. Also very good with a nice soft texture and mercifully no bones.

Sauteed Chicken Feet with Peppers. Yarom wanted this of course, subbing out a more “regular” chicken dish. It had the totally typical HCK flavor profile but given that chicken feet are sort of a useless “protein” was kinda neither here nor there.

House Special Stew Duck. Braised duck really, long cooked in a complex broth that whose spices included star anise and black cardamon. Very moist and soft with a nice complex flavor. I really enjoyed because of the “brown spice” vibe.

Cumin beef with snow peas. Some though the beef itself was too tough, but it did have a lot of flavor.

Cumin lamb. A nice version of this classic dish.

Braised fatty pork with mountain yam and preserved vegetables (9/1/17). Super tender and really interesting complex pickled flavor.

Steamed Pork with Taro (2023 version). This is the super fatty pork belly and it’s usually served this way (with thinly sliced chunks of taro) or with salty preserved vegetables. This was a nice version, very soft and the taro added a bit of firmness and of course some starchy counter to the fat.

Sauteed Pig Kidney with Pepper. I don’t normally order kidney but newcommer Erin wanted this dish. It turned out to be one of the best kidney’s I’ve had — not that I have it that often. They did a fabulous job removing the “offtaste pissy” that is the kidney halmark and instead it was a nicely chewy and deeply flavored meat with a slight variation on the HCK classic blend. Delicious actually.

Preserved Pork with Radish (2023). This turned out to be one of my favorites. The pork is incredidibly smoky (and fatty) and leant a smoky pork fat taste to the entire dish. But the crunchy “radish” (was it really a radish) was some kind of preserved vegetable and I absolutely loved it. I ate all of it out of the dish. It felt very fiberous and satisfying. Loved both the texture and the smoke flavor.

Snails with preserved vegetables (8/19/18). This dish was amazing! Sure it’s an “advanced” dish, and incredibly spicy. Hottest dish we had that night by far. Super deep potent heap. The combo of the chewy snails and the unusual pickled green beans (with their crunch) was stunning.

Sauteed Snails with Preserved Vegetable (2023 edition). I’ve long loved this dish at HCK and some previous incarnations have been painfully hot. This was hotter than most of the dishes but not crazy hot. Besides the usual pickled chilies, garlic, and ginger, it had nice crunchy radish and a lot of these preserved green beans. The snail itself was just snail meat and has a clam-like chew. Very different texture and flavor than most people are used to and very enjoyable.

Sautéed long beans with Pork. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

Sautéed cauliflower. Had a very nice crunch. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

Sautéed Cauliflower (when back in a real vessel in 2023). Really nice crunchy and slightly spicy cauliflower.

Sautéed Bean Curd with Leek. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

Special fish in brown chili sauce. Looks almost like a sweet and sour but it was salty and spicy.

Extra chilies, just in case. Fire in the hole!

Chicken fried rice. Really yummy and served nicely to cool stuff off at the end.

Fried banana and fried pumpkin. Really hot (temperature and yummy). Sometimes called “toffee banana” or similar.

But wait, you thought we were done? Let’s start all over with an entirely different array of pepper dishes 2.5 years later (August 2015):

Pickled turnip or potato and peanuts.

One of the few repeats: Hunan style cold cucumber salad with marinated cucumber, Wood Ear/Black Fungus, shredded Broccoli stems, Cilantro, and chilies (everything has chilies). A welcome relief to the heat.

Skewered frog legs with chilis (15 and 9/1/17). Delicious. Really delicious, but lots of little bones. The “sauce” is crunchy chili garlic.

Hunan chicken. The “classic” combo of red, green, and orange with boney bits of chicken. Flavor was fabulous though.

Hunan bacon. Slices of cured pork belly — delicious smoky bacon — with peppers!

Chili-King Crispy Pork Fat. Like little mini chicharrónes. Great texture. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

Giant Hunan fish head. Again.

Hunan frog. More frog, which brings up one of the better quotes of the night, “How many frogs had to die for this dinner?”

Glass noodles with garlic and gizzards. Sounds scary, but this was a delicious dish with a good bit of Szechuan peppercorn heat.

Hunan hotwings. Not much meat, but a lot of taste.

House Special Duck. Came a bit cold so we had to send it back for some more heating. Tasty, but a touch off-putting. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

House special lamb (12? 15, and 9/1/17). A repeat, but a good one. This is one of the better cumin lambs I’ve had. I like how the cilantro is used as a green, almost like a salad.

Braised Lamb (2023). This had more cilantro than the other red and green dishes. Soft lamb meat with some cumin flavor.

Beef with celery. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

Sautéed Beef with Celery (2023 real plate version). The beef itself wasn’t the star of this very nice dish but the amazing crunchy celery. I just kept eating all the celery out of here after everyone else was done.

Cabbage. I loved this, particularly with the sauce from some of the other dishes. Really nice crunchy texture.

Braised eggplant with garlic (15 and 9/1/17 and 8/19/18). A delicious eggplant with the texture I like, soft but not slimly. Great flavor to the sauce with lots of garlic. Very nice version of this spicy dish. The Hunan version of eggplant. A bit less chili oil than the Szechuan version (which I guess is usually fish flavored eggplant). There was a version with 1000 year-old eggs that would have been even better.

Pork belly and tofu. Thick fatty pork belly and bag like tofu. Not everyone liked the soft mushy type of bean curd — but I loved it.

Mapo Tofu. A bit of numbing, no obvious meat. Note that this 6/13/21 version was served in that annoying post pandemic era when many restaurants seem to be using take out containers instead of actual plates.

Crab. A little hard to get into, but the body meat on the end could be eaten like a lolipop and had a delightful flavor.

Egg fried rice. Straightforward but cut the heat.

Shredded potato. Nice crunch. I loved this covered in the eggplant sauce.

Lobster. More peppers! Actually we didn’t have this dish, but I saw it and had to photo it.

Glass noodles with ground pork (8/19/18). Tasty dish with nice textural contrast between the crumbly meat and silky noodles.

Beef in chili sauce. Sort of a Szechuan dish, but the Hunan variant.

Noodle soup with fish balls, mushrooms, and meats of an indeterminate nature.

Spicy pickled eggs (8/19/18). Interesting. Event eggs can get the Hunan treatment! Quite good actually.

Scrambled eggs with peppers (8/19/18). Usually in China this dish is with tomatoes. Hunan people can’t resist the pepper.

Cauliflower (8/19/18). Very nice. Not really spicy.

Vegetable buns. Interesting source green flavor, but nice.

Sweet egg drop soup. A sweet soup with goji berries and balls of tapioca. Not bad, for a weird sweet soup.

Sweet bean buns. Chinese desserts. Know them. Don’t love them.

A variant on a house favorite: Triple Milk Chocolate Cloud (8/19/18) – the base made with Valrhona 40% Jivara Chocolate (usually I use 63%) and then layered with Dark Chocolate Creamcheese Ganache and Belgian Chocolate Thins (3 flavors, for triple on triple action) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato.

And some house made butterscotch in case the above wasn’t rich enough.

Together it’s amazing.

Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto (6/13/21) — Cold pressed Fresh Grapefruit juice from my garden, Aperol and fresh Tarragon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unique and bracing — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #grapefruit #aperol #tarragon

My son’s bday favorite — Quad Chocolate Cloud Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache, chopped Oreos, and Nestle’s Buncha Crunch! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #oreos #ganache #icing #Nestle #crunch

Citron au Courant Sorbetto – Fresh squeezed Lemons blended with French Currants (Cassis) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #lemon #cassis #currents #lemonade #citron

Here is the smoked pork “at the ready.”

This was an awesome pair of meals and very different than your typical Cantonese American. Traffic isn’t bad on Sunday night, but during the week it took me almost two hours to get to this area. Hunan Chili King isn’t where I’d take Chinese food novices. EVERYTHING is spicy. In fact, a few people obviously didn’t read the warnings on the meetup because they couldn’t handle the heat. Someone said of the heat, “I feel like I’m going into menopause.”

The flavors and proteins are a bit weird by American standards. But this is my favorite SGV Hunan so far, and I really like it for the variety compared to some other regional cuisines. At the restaurant itself you have to take some care to end up with different flavors, as there are a lot of dishes with the “usual” tri-color pepper melange (tasty as it is). But great stuff.

And as usual, we even went next door afterward and got a Chinese massage for $15 an hour! Just the perfect thing to work out the hedonistic over-indulgence!

Adding in a note based on 6/13/21, Hunan Chili King was (as of then) still operating in a half “take out” mode with very few people in the restaurant, and using only takeout containers and styrofoam plates with plastic silverware. The kitchen seemed about 90% back up to snuff, but the disposable plating really reduces the enjoyment (and appeal).

Speaking in 2023: The owners can be seen here behind the counter. We’ve been coming to HCK for over a decade, in fact it was the SECOND SGV Chinese place I ever went with Yarom back in December of 2012. They suffered a bit during the pandemic with a period of serving only on plastic take out containers with styrofoam and plastic wares — something that always ruins the food, but they’ve come back to be as good as ever. I don’t know of any other currently operating full Hunan Restaurants as I think both Hunan Mao and Hunan Restaurant are out of business. So HCK is both unique and delicious. You gotta love it spicy though as everything has those pickled chilis.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

On our August 2015 visit, Totoraku chef and sometime Hedonist joined us. He was not prepared for the heat!

By: agavin
Comments (5)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chili pepper, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Hunan, Hunan Chili King, Kabinett, Mosel Riesling, Riesling, san Gabriel valley, Wine tasting descriptors

Hedonists Cook the Goose

Dec19

Restaurant: Sham Tseng BBQ

Location: 203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA. 626-289-4858

Date: December 17, 2012

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Awesome goose!

It’s time for the next Hedonist adventure, this time out into the San Gabriel Valley for some really serious Cantonese.

The interior is typical of Inland Empire Chinese restaurants.

We had a private room and (for a Chinese restaurant) excellent service.

The menu. Haha. You can find one in English here.

Parker 90. “This 100% Semillon made from relatively young vines in the Haut-Brion vineyard is crisp, steely, with plenty of grapefruit, lemon zest, and white currants in a medium-bodied, fresh, lively style.” Very youthful for a 15 year-old white, it had plenty of mineralogy and floral components.

These peppers were on the table in case things grew too bland.

The NV Brut Rose is a pretty, gracious wine. Freshly cut roses, red berries and spices take shape nicely in the glass as the wine shows off its understated, timeless personality. Billecart-Salmon’s NV Brut Rose is a reliably tasty wine.

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A bonus wine from my cellar, “Incorporating fruit principally from Wehlener Nonnenberg, Graacher Himmelreich, and Bernkasteler Johannisbrunnchen, the generic Prum 2010 Riesling Kabinett displays an archetypal Mosel Riesling nose of fresh apple, lemon, and clover allied to faintly cheesy, leesy youthful “stink”; and comes to the palate bright and zippy, with hints of wet stone, and prominent cyanic piquancy of apple pit invigoratingly extending its mouthwateringly juicy, if tart and relatively simple finish.”

And another lovely Riesling, this one with more age and sweetness. As I’ve said before, Riesling pairs very nicely with Asian food.

Sliced suckling pig. The layer of fat notwithstanding, this was some delectable stuff. It had the plum based duck sauce on the side too which I love.

Another white, in the Sancerre style more or less.

A vegetarian dish combining mixed Chinese vegetables and this kind of spongy stuff I’ve had lots of times but have no idea what it is. It’s one of those textural Asian ingredients that is a bit weird to the American palette.

Some more whites.

Crispy roast goose with sweet sauce. This stuff was awesome, like Peking duck, minus the pancakes, but even darker and richer. It went perfectly with the sweet sauce too.

Parker 92, “The 2002 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard offers wonderful sweet raspberry and cherry fruit with a hint of framboise, a deep plum/ruby/purple color, medium body, and good vibrancy in a medium to full-bodied, feminine style.”

Not bad for a new world pinot, and in the Burgundy style. Of course it’s no Burgundy.

Parker 91-93, “Following the brilliant success of Kistler’s 2007s, Steve Kistler and his sidekick, Mark Bixler, deserve kudos for what they have achieved in the more challenging 2008 vintage. This is the first vintage in which 100% of the fermentations were indigenous, and, fortunately, all their Sonoma Coast vineyards were far enough south that they were not tainted by any of the smoke from the ferocious fires that spread through Mendocino. The 2008s appear to be slightly more fruit-forward, with a touch less minerality than the 2007s.”

Duck tongue in spicy oil. These looked disgusting. The idea is repulsive, but hey, they tasted pretty damn good. Sweet and very fried.

The last of the new world pinots.

Soy sauce crispy quail. Also very good, although there is that high bone to meat ratio that is always the case with small birds.

From my cellar, the first of the “real” pinots. Burghound 95, “A perfumed, complex and mostly still primary nose offers up earthy red berry fruit, underbrush and a touch of animale that can also be found on the generous and quite fleshy flavors that possess excellent volume as well as buckets of dry extract that almost render the firm and ripe tannins invisible on the massively long finish. Wow, this is a stunner of a wine with still plenty of upside potential remaining.”

Shredded potato with dried chili. It is what it is.

This Burg was my favorite wine of the night and, alas, I didn’t bring it. It had mellowed into that wonderful brick colored secondary flavor vibe that older Burgundy gets. Lovely.

Green Mustard greens with garlic in supreme broth.

From my cellar. This puppy was still a bit closed and the fruit was hiding. Nice, but it should have been better.

Deep Fried Crispy Intestine with Fruit Nectar. Okay, this stuff LOOKS nasty. It tasted so fried that you couldn’t really tell what it was. I’m still feeling a little queazy.

Another grand cru. Parker 91-93, “The Bocquenet 2005 Echezeaux – from high up in the Rouges du Bas section, adjoining Les Beaux Monts – exhibits abundant, nose- and palate-filling black fruits, prominent sweet spiciness, formidable though fine tannins, and a long, sweet, smoky, very lightly cooked and caramelized finish that is sumptuous even with the tannins. It will take years for them to round out, but some progress may well be made in tank prior to bottling.”

Goose intestine stir fried with green onions.

Parker 93, “Based on the strength of his 1994s, proprietor Roman Bratasiuk was named one of my “Wine Producers of the Year” in issue #108. His skill in turning old head-pruned vines into majestic wines of extraordinary richness and purity has been confirmed with the release of the 1995s. These wines are massive and rich as well as extraordinarily well-balanced and pure. I have never tasted an Australian Merlot that was more concentrated than Penfold’s Grange, a Shiraz-based wine. Clarendon Hills’ 1995 Merlot (250 cases available for America) is an opaque purple-colored wine with a knock-out nose of raspberry liqueur, chocolate, smoke, and spice. The wine is enormously extracted with a density and texture reminiscent of pre-1976 vintages of Petrus. Sumptuous, and almost over the top in its richness and density, this unctuously thick, full-bodied wine is fabulous to smell, taste, and consume. This is great stuff! As youthful as this Merlot is, I have no doubt it will last for 15 or more years. These are amazing wines.”

Crispy tofu with 3 ingredient. This stuff was pretty good. Very soft and fluffy, like tofu marshmallows.

Parker 90,”The 1999 Altagracia, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon cuvee from estate vineyards, is the debut vintage. The wine is medium to full-bodied, with low acidity, and plump, sweet, pure, black currant fruit intermixed with mineral and licorice notes. This delicious Cabernet is on a faster revolutionary track than its more profound sibling, the celebrated Eisele Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon.”

Crispy fried frogs. They tasted like fry but had all sorts of little bones inside.

Parker 91, “Smoke, cedar, tobacco and earthiness are among the nuances that come to life in the estate’s 1999 Barbera d’Asti Vigna del Noce. Some of the primary fruit has melted away, resulting in a highly complex, engaging Barbera that is very rewarding to drink now.”

Honey BBQ Ribs with Black pepper. Good stuff. Another of my favorite dishes. A tad chewy, but very tasty (and fried).

Parker 93, “This is unquestionably a profound Grand-Puy-Lacoste, but it is excruciatingly backward. It reveals an essence of creme de cassis character which sets it apart from other Pauillacs. The wine is displaying plenty of tannin, huge body, and sweet black currant fruit intermixed with minerals and subtle oak. Massive, extremely structured, and with 25-30 or more years of longevity, this immensely-styled Grand-Puy-Lacoste will require 7-8 years of patience, perhaps longer. A superb, classic Pauillac.”

Goose webs (feet) in brown sauce. Ick!

Another new world red I don’t know much about.

Crispy fried fish. Good, and again, very fried.

One of those Rhone style new non-AOC French wines. Not unlike their Spanish counterparts, these are big, bold, grapey beasts.

Sweet and sour pork. Also really tasty, because of all that fry. There were little bones and gristle bits in here, so you kind of gnaw pleasantly on them.

A big, bold classic Saint-Joseph. A bit rustic, but full of flavor.

Black cod with Ginger, Green Onion & Dry Bean Stick.

This was way, way too young, but it is a raison/grape monster and actually fairly enjoyable. Imagine mixing Welches Grape Concentrate with a 1/4 the water you should.

Parker 94, “The 2009 Bone Rock is a round, enticing red laced with sweet, succulent dark cherries, plums, flowers and spices. It shows remarkable intensity and fabulous balance. Bone Rock is made from the first blocks planted in the James Berry vineyard and is predominantly Syrah, while the James Berry Vineyard (the wine) is Grenache focused. In 2009 the blend was 57% Syrah, 31% Mourvedre and 12% Grenache. The Syrah component was vinified with 100% stems and saw a maceration lasting 50 days. The wine was aged in 60% new oak. Smith bottled the 2009 in May 2011, earlier than the norm (around 30 months), as he wanted to preserve the freshness he had in the tannins.”

Red cod with soy sauce and green onion. Another fish. I think half of this one was actually our fried fish! Pretty typical Chinese whole fish in this prep.

Mango pudding. These were tasty little mango cups. There was some sweetened condensed milk on the side too one could add on top. A nice finish.

Overall, this was fabulous fun, food, and wine. There were a number of really outstanding dishes (like the goose, roast pig, etc) and everything was well executed — even if a few were a little squirmy for my taste (intestines!). Things were very fried, but that’s this cuisine. I actually like many other regional cuisines in China better than Cantonese. Szechuan for example, but that didn’t stop this from being a wonderful meal.

Umm, that goose was so good!

For more crazy Hedonist and Foodie Club meals.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Yes, he’s chomping down on a goose foot!

By: agavin
Comments (10)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Barbecue, bbq, Chinese cuisine, Foodie Club, Goose, hedonists, Riesling, Roast Goose, Sham Tseng, suckling pig, Wine tasting descriptors

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!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: A-1 Chinese BBQ, Asia, Barbecue, bbq, Beijing, China, Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Hoisin sauce, Lomita, Peking Duck

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

Dec21

Restaurant: Din Tai Fung

Location: 1108 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia,California 91007. (626)574-7068

Date: December 8, 2011 & February 28, 2012

Cuisine: Chinese Dumpling House

Rating: Amazing Taipei spinoff

I love dimsum so much I was willing to drive 45 minutes out into the wilds of Arcadia to try this place. And it was well worth the journey. The “juicy pork dumplings” alone were worth the price of admission.

Classical Arcadia was a place of legendary beauty, filled with bucolic green hills, lazy shepherds, and nubile nymphs. Arcadia Ca features strip malls.

The chefs hard at work in their little glass tank.

Din Tai Fung is so popular we had to wait 30 minutes on a random thursday at 1pm. But they are nothing if not organized. The staff all wear secret service ear pieces and our order was taken before we even sat.

The huge menu. And it has pictures!

Some stuff appears to be take out friendly.

The setup of chopsticks, tea cup, and ginger.

Marinated cucumber in a sort of garlic ponzu type sauce. Nice and crunchy, but I was saving room.

“Hot and Sour Soup (pork).” A well implemented version of the classic.

“Seaweed and Bean Curd in Vinegar dressing.” Interesting “salad”.

Chicken and veggie bits over noodles. Looks bland enough but it tasted great.

“Juicy pork dumplings.” These are sometimes called Shanghai style “soup” dumplings. I’ve had lots of them but these were easily the best ever. These succulent little mouthfuls were superbly balanced.

“Shrimp and Pork Wonton with Spicy Sauce.” This was absolutely delicious. The dumpling could have been almost anything as the sauce made it more about texture than flavor, but they would have been good plain too.

“Pork sticky rice .”

This sticky log of rice contained bonus roast pork. Yum yum. You’ll notice the DTF food is heavy on both the carbs AND the pork.

“Noodle with mince pork sauce.” This was yummy too, although I have had better of this dish — in Xian China.

“Noode with spicy sauce.” This was actually tastier than the pork ones as the sauce had this nice spicy vinegar tang.

“Braised beef soup.” You can’t see them, but the soup is filled with more of the spaghetti-like noodles. The beef tasted like short rib.

“Vegetarian dumplings.” These were some of the better veggie dumplings I’ve had. Still, they don’t hold a candle to the meaty ones.

“Shrimp Fried Noodle.”

“Pork and Shrimp Shu-mai.” Not only did these look great, but they tasted fantastic. These were my second favorite after the straight pork ones.

“Shanghai rice cake with chicken.” This tasted fine (like soy sauce, in a good way). The rice cake has a weird chewy texture, not unlike jellyfish. It was actually kind of fun.

“Pork buns.”

Unlike the typical BBQ pork buns, these just had the slightly spiced (buy yummy) pork balls inside, not the sweet red BBQ pork. Still good.

“Juicy Pork & Crab dumplings.” Like the pork ones, but with a slightly weird crab aftertaste. We all preferred the plain pork ones, but I still happily kicked back about 5 of these.

“Sautéed mustard cabbage with garlic.” Fine for what it was. Boring!

“Sauteed Bok Choy with Garlic.” You’d swear it was the same as the mustard greens, and you’d be wrong!

“Pork Chop Fried Rice.” Pretty much exactly what you’d expect.

Yum yum, drown that baby!

“Fish dumplings.” I haven’t had a lot of fish dumplings, but these were superb! Almost as good as the pork. Well not quite, but they were really good.

Now the dessert buns. First the “black sesame.”

This were really good, with a sweet nutty taste. The bun itself is identical to the pork bun.

Then two other experimental types: “sweet taro” and “red bean.” All were pleasant, but the taro was like a bun stuffed with whipped sweet mash potato and the red bean — well like red bean.

Some kind of specialty “sweet rice” with bits of fruit and red bean paste.

I actually enjoyed this dessert. It’s sickly sweet with a peculiar Chinese flavor and very sticky.

Overall, Din Tai Fun was awesome. I’m so hungry just writing up this post and I want to go back right away. I don’t want to drive the better part of an hour just this second, but I want the “juicy pork dumplings.” It’s also a good deal. Four of us completely polished off the above. And yeah we pigged out. And it cost like $65!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (7)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: China, Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, dimsum, Din Tai Fung, Din Tai Fung Dumpling House, dumpling, Dumpling House, Hot and Sour Soup, Noodle, pork, Restaraunt, Restaurant Review, Shanghai, Taipei

Mark’s Duck House

Apr29

Restaurant: Mark’s Duck House [1, 2]

Location: 6184 Arlington Blvd # A, Falls Church, VA 22044 703-532-2125

Date: April 23, 2011

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Very very good cantonese.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

This seeming hole in the wall in Falls Church Virginia features some of the best Cantonese food I’ve had in the states. So much so that wine guru (and foodie) Robert Parker is constantly eating (and tasting) here.

You can spot an authentic Chinese restaurant by the unassuming facade.

The minimalist decor.

The menu of sketchy meat cuts unsuited to white-bread American taste.

And the rack of roast ducks!

This was a late night family dinner, so Chinese beer seemed to suite the mood.

I’ve loved hot and sour soup since I was a kid, and this is an exemplary example. Basically perfect.

Classic Har Gow, little shrimp dumplings wrapped in rice pastry. Delectable too, as good as at various Dim Sum joints like Ping Pong, The Palace, or Xino.

They even have their own special sweet and vinegary soy for them.

And the deadly hot chili oil.

But there is one real reason why one goes to a restaurant named “Mark’s Duck House.” The pecking duck! Crispy roast whole duck is carved off the bone and brought to the table.

With the traditional scallions.

And my all time favorite, the plum sauce. This stuff has a sweet and tangy quality typical of Chinese cuisine that I just can’t get enough of.

All of the ingredients are combined in a pancake.

And then rolled into a burrito like shape. This is a delectable mix of textures and flavors. The rich duck meat, the crispy skin, the hot dripping fat off the duck, the tangy sauce, the scallions, the dry texture of the pancake. Yum! And this is as good a duck as I’ve had in the states. We wen’t to a place in Bejing a couple years back where we had three whole ducks each done a slightly different way and flayed at the table by a master carver who could have had a part in Kill Bill. That was some serious duck, and slightly better. Still, you don’t have to go all the way to China for great duck like this.

Lobster, causeway style, in crispy garlic, chillies, and chives. I’d never had this exact dish before, but it was wonderful. The closest I’ve had was at a Chinese friends 20-some course wedding banquet where the lobster was sauteed in a ginger garlic sauce. This version is dry (more or less), a little bit hot, and vary garlicky. But damn good!

Sauteed chive blossoms in oil and garlic. We asked the waiter for a vegetable recommend and out came this seasonal dish. Chive blossoms. I didn’t even know there was such a thing, and it looks like a big pile of chives. It turned out to be one of my favorite Chinese vegetable dishes in the states. Again in China I had some crazy good stuff, including one or two great all vegetable meals, but these were nice and garlicky again, piping hot.

Mark’s Duck House never fails to disappoint, but the menu is gigantic and potentially perilous. There are like 12 pages of densely packed dishes. Abalone, sea cucumbers, shark fin, you name it. One time a couple years ago we ordered oysters in garlic and ginger sauce and got this plate with three monstrous oyster beasts we nicknamed the “Grenades.” Each was about the size of a World War II weapon of the same name. Just the meat of the oyster, the size of a grenade!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Cooking, Dim sum, Falls Church, Falls Church Virginia, Har Gow, Home, Hot and Sour Soup, Lobster, Mark's Duck House, Peking Duck, Restaurant, Restaurant Review, side dishes, vegetarian

Christmas is for Dim Sum

Dec26

Restaurant: The Palace

Location: 11701 Wilshire Blvd, Second Floor, Los Angeles, CA. 310-979-3377.

Date: Dec 25, 2010

Cuisine: Chinese Dimsum

As we don’t celebrate Christmas, and very few restaurants are open, Chinese is a long standing tradition. These days we go to Dim Sum. For those of you who have lived in a culinary hole for the last couple decades, Dim Sum is a Cantonese brunch tradition in which tasty little delectables are served on carts. Dim Sum is hard to find on the westside, and this particular place recently changed owners and names. It’s actually slightly better in its current incarnation, although they may offer less items at current. This is a pretty traditional or classic implementation of the cuisine. Last month I reviewed Ping Pong in Washington DC which offered a more expensive but updated variant.

This, for example, is the “fried stuff” cart.

And this young lady is organizing some of the “steamed stuff” carts.

There are condiments too. Vinegar, Chinese mustard, hot sauce, soy sauce, and tea — which isn’t really a condiment but is certainly present at every Chinese meal I’ve ever had.

We don’t go in so much for the fried, but these are shrimp and scallop rolls with sesame seeds.

Shrimp and scallop dumplings (pounded rice batter) with cilantro.

Vegetarian dumplings shaped like Hamantash.

One of my favorites — and readily available. Pork shumai.

Another classic, Har Gow. These are shrimp pockets. They are very light. Dim Sum is also often VERY hot in a physical sense. Seared oral tissue is a significant hazard.

Shrimp, scallop, and some other green.

Shrimp and scallop. You may notice a trend.

Curried shrimp balls. This is shrimp chopped up, reconstituted, and covered in curry sauce.

Tofo stuffed with vegetables. Surprisingly tasty.

Another classic, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf.

Inside is a blob of rice filled with various bits of meat, vegetable, and egg.

These are pork “crepes” (ripe noodles). As I’ve been eating Dim Sum for over 30 years, as kids we used to call this “slime” (we meant it as a compliment). It has a jiggly consistency. I still love it. They come in various “flavors,” this one being “pork slime.” “Shrimp slime” is also ver popular. The sauce is a somewhat sweet soy.

Steamed pork buns. These fluffy rice flower buns are stuffed with a red tinted BBQ pork. Essentially they are BBQ pork sandwiches.

For desert pineapple bun. These buttery pastries are stuffed with a very yolky egg custard.

Same place, new sign. This is solid Dim Sum. I’ve certainly had better, but in LA you have to travel pretty far east for amazing Dim Sum. The current chef also makes some really really good “soup dumplings,” but they ran out on Christmas eve and none were available. We were crushed. Four of us also pigged out (or maybe shrimped out) for $67.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese, Chinese cuisine, Christmas, Dessert, Dim sum, dumplings, Food, Hamantash, Har Gow, Restaurant, scallop, shrimp, side dishes, Tofo, vegetarian

Food as Art: Ping Pong

Dec04

Restaurant: Ping Pong

Location: 900 7th Street NW. District of Columbia 20001. 202-506-3740

Date: Dec 01, 2010

Cuisine: Chinese Dim Sum

I’ve been going to Dim Sum for thirty-odd years, and it’s long been one of my favorite cuisines. Basically, this follows from the “law of appetizers,” which reads: “appetizers are always better than the main course.” Dim Sum is all “appetizers.” Ping Pong represents a modernization of the traditional Dim Sum concept. There are no carts, everything is made fresh to order, and there are modern variants on traditional favorites. Most of this is good, and they did a great job. The only downside is that it’s about twice as expensive as a hole-in-the-wall traditional place. However, particularly if you have a vegetarian in the party (traditional Dim Sim is nigh on impossible to appreciate as a vegetarian), it can be worth it.

The menu and our order. I like this “check your order” type menu, like an old school sushi menu.

Jasmine tea, the way they do it in China. The ball expands.

Into a pretty flower. Ping Pong has a very extensive drink menu, alchoholic and non.

Sauces are essential at Dim Sum. These are two kind of chilies. They had good soy, vinegar, etc. The odd missing one, which we asked for, but they didn’t have, was Chinese mustard. I love Chinese mustard.

Baked pork puff. This is a standard, and they did a great job of it. The pastry was buttery, and the pork sweet.

Here is an example of a welcome “modernization.” A vegetable puff. Same dough, but inside was honey-roasted vegetables. These did a pretty good approximation.

Vegetarian spring rolls, with a very nice sweet and sour sauce.

Spare ribs. Ultra soft (and fatty), with a very nice sweet flavor.

Asian leaf and three mushroom salad.

Crispy hoisin duck rolls. Tasty. Who could tell what was inside, but it had a nice meatiness to it. Like a duck taquito.

The tower of steamers begin to arrive. I personally love the steamed dumplings best of all. In China I had a 64 course Tang Dynasty style Dim Sum meal that was one of the best meals of my life.

Classic lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice. An excellent example of the species. The rice is mixed with pork, chicken etc.

Crabmeat and prawn, what’s not to like. Also very hot! They are steamed after all.

Classic Pork Shu Mai. I made the mistake of getting greedy on these and could barely taste them as I seared off my tongue. What I did taste seemed good.

This is a bunch of seafood and vegetable cooked on a griddle. A sort of Chinese seafood sausage. They call it a seafood cake. My father and I ordered these at random from an entirely non-English speaking greasy griddle at a rooftop restaurant in Shaimen China. These were better.

“Crab, shrimp, and scallop, carrot pastry.” These were great too, with the shell almost like a fresh ravioli.

Jumbo shrimp and coriander dumplings. Light and succulent. The coriander mixed it up a little.

Spicy pork dumplings. I loved these, and they have a significant kick. Basically ground pork spiced with Schezuan peppers. In Western China we would get these at hotel breakfasts.

Classic “Har Gau,” or shrimp in a light translucent pastry. Yum, but I missed the mustard.

Vegetable and beans in black bean sauce over coconut rice. Kinda light a high end weight watchers dinner.

Another example of a modernized lightened classic. Vegetable steamed bun, with sauteed vegetables and fresh baby corn. Really good. Almost as good as the pork version.

Spinach and mushroom pan fried dumpling, in crispy wheat flour pastry. Almost like meat.

Spicy Basil, rice noodles and chili. Interesting flavors.

My favorite of the meal, “black prawn, garlic and shrimp, black squid ink pastry.” There was a succulent sweetness that complimented the shrimp brilliantly.

The decor too is modernized as compared to your traditional place.

I was impressed with Ping Pong. On average the dishes were fresher than you get in the typical cart driven place, and the introduction of new flavors was very subtly but nicely done. I particularly appreciated having really well done vegetarian versions of classics. Bravo!