Click here for the full detailed review.
Pork Belly
Archive for Chinese cuisine – Page 3
Restaurant: Guan Dong Da Yuan
Location: 639 W Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 545-5555
Date: June 24 and August 1, 2021
Cuisine: North Eastern Chinese
Rating: Tasty!
On 6/24/21 Yarom and I ventured into the SGV to try out some experimental places on our vast list, the #3 spot was here. It was good enough that we came back in August with a big 2 table group to try out more dishes.
Guan Dong Da Yuan specializes in regional Chinese cuisine from the area across the bay from Korea.
The interior is fairly cute and they have a private room (not shown).
The extensive menu.
Kimchee. It is near Korea, after all.
Baloon Flower. A different kimchee-like marinated veggie. Excellent.
Hot Stone Eggs with Tofu. Very Korean and good stuff.
3 Types of Dumpling. Ron didn’t like. It thought they were workable Jaozi (boiled dumplings).
Guandong Smoked Chicken Bone.
Yanji Sweet and Sour Pork – mochi-like chewy batter that was actually pretty enjoyable.
Stir-Fried Silk Worm!
Hot Stone Beef with Vegetable.
Spicy Crunchy Chicken Cartilage. It was a boney meal!
Spicy Crispy Chicken Cartilage (different day) — pretty much Kung Pao Cartilage and tasty for it.
Eggplant with Green Pppers and Potato. Excellent as well as colorful.
Sautéed Cabbage. I love this dish.
Stone Fried Pork Slices – like a savory/salty version of Panda Express pork.
Mapo Tofu — pretty close to Sichuan style
Stone Beef with Enoki Mushroom — soft and succulent.
Korean Style Cold Noodle Dish.
Guandong Stewed Spare Ribs with Green Peppers and Rice Noodles. Interesting polenta-like cakes.
Guandong Stewed Pork Belly with Rice Noodles. Great textures.
Guandong Pork Bone. More bones (delicious).
Fried Rice.
Caramelized Sugar on Sweet Potato.
Mascarpone Coffee Crunch Gelato — A base infused with Mascarpone Cheese then blended with house-made Coffee Crunch — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mascarpone #cheese #coffee #CoffeeCrunch #candy
Blood Orange Campari Sorbetto — Blood Oranges from Avignon with a bit of Campari — 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 #BloodOrange #Campari
I really liked this place as it was interesting and regional. A few of our crew who like their Chinese more boring (aka Southern Chinese only) didn’t like it at all, but they were offended by all the bones and silk worms and whatnot — for me that was part of the charm (and flavor).
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Right across the street is Sham Tsem and the famous “Hooker Motel Ballroom.”
Restaurant: ACC Chinese Fast Food
Location: 38 S Palm Ave, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 281-8577
Date: June 24, 2021
Cuisine: Cantonese BBQ
Rating: Tasty!
On this particular lovely June day Yarom and I ventured into the SGV to try out some experimental places on our vast list.
Stop #2 was this old school Chinese BBQ joint, which has been going strong since the 80s with the same owner/managers.
Small interior, but cute in its own way.
Menu of BBQ specials. They will even do goose with some notice.
The big takeout menu.
BBQ Pork w/ Honey Sauce — excellent.
Roast Duck with Plum Sauce — very succulent and tasty.
The aforementioned Plum Sauce.
Stir Fried Chinese Broccoli with Garlic — very solid classic veg. The extremely nice “boss lady” (aka the owner) insisted that we get some greens to help with our digestion — I think she was taking us under her wing.
ACC was surprisingly excellent. I suspect that their regular Cantonese dishes are decent but very Chinese American style, but their BBQ was first rate. We are thinking to go back with a big group, take over the whole place, and get a whole bunch of roast meats.
Restaurant: Nature Pagoda
Location: 312 W Valley Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 570-8333
Date: June 24, 2021
Cuisine: Herbal Chinese
Rating: Hmmm
On this particular lovely June day Yarom and I ventured into the SGV to try out some experimental places on our vast list.
First up was Nature Pagoda which specializes in a sort of “herbal” Chinese medicine focused “healthy” food.
The interior is, shall we say, minimalst.
There are a few pictures behind the counter.
And the menu.
Flamed Quails — pretty good, if slightly dry.
Stick Combo — okay satay. Nothing great.
Claypot Ribs with Preserved Sausage — interesting. Kinda mild, but tasty.
The jus.
Brown sauce is dumped over it. Not as sweet as I would expect.
Not exactly expensive, but overall I thought that Nature Pagoda was bland. Maybe Chinese health food is just like American!
Restaurant: J Zhou
Location: 2601 Park Ave, Tustin, CA 92782. (714) 258-8833
Date: June 17, 2021
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Amazing (if pricey) crab
Today is the third day of our epic Foodie Club June mega week, and tonight is a special La Tâche dinner deep in the OC, so we wanted to “warm up” (sans wine) with a bit of Orange County Chinese food.
J Zhou is the fanciest of the OC’s big Cantonese palaces and I’ve heard good things about it for a long time.
There were 3 of us, but we had our own private room as Fred is friends with the manager.
The daytime dim sum menu.
Seafood dumpling in egg wrapper. These were delicate and delicious!
XLB. A decent, but not amazing version of this classic.
Roast Squabs or Quail. I thought these were some of the crispiest and meatiest little roast birds I’ve had in a long time. Delicious!
We pre-ordered a huge king crab and they prepared it 3 days. This first way was just simply steamed with a bit of vermicelli underneath soaked in crab juices and soy. Incredibly fresh and sweet — hey they did bring in the live crab a few minutes before!
King crab typhoon style. Crispy and amazing.
King Crab Brûlée. Egg custard in the crab shell was also silky smooth.
We didn’t sample that many dishes because we had an epic wine dinner just a few hours later, but what I had was all excellent. The crab in particular was amazing, but it was full premium price per pound — no super steal discount at all. I would like to come back and try a full dim sum spread.
Restaurant: Rice Yummy
Location: 8801 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 872-0491
Date: April 25, 2021
Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese
Rating: Solid Shanghai Cuisine
Shanghai #1 Seafood Village opened roughly 10 years ago to great fanfare and was for years a solid SGV Shanghai style place. It closed recently with the pandemic but the owners have this smaller more casual Shanghai place.
The facade isn’t too fancy. The menu has most of the Shanghai classics, although at the time we went even the limited menu wasn’t all “in stock.” They didn’t even have the classic pan seared dumplings.
Spicy cold chicken. This is generally a Sichuan style dish, and generally has more sauce, but it was tasty here.
Sweet and sour jellyfish — very crunchy, sweet tangy sauce. This was a bit polarizing. I liked it, but not everyone loves jellyfish.
Smashed cucumbers. Always a favorite.
Shrimp two ways. Left hand ones were very nice. Very delicate and paired nicely with the vinegar sauce.
Sweet and sour cabbage with pork. Excellent with lots of porky flavor.
Tea Smoked Duck.
XLB. Since they didn’t have the pan fried Shanghai dumplings we had to make due with the steamed version.
Pork Hock. Super juicy and tender. Not a lean cut.
Pork Belly with Tofu – very soft and flavorful. This was even “leaner” than the previous pork, but packed with porcine flavor. The different soft textures of the meat and tofu were wonderful together.
Ginger chicken. Very succulent.
Grandmother’s Pork with egg. All bound together in that classic Shanghai sweet soy sauce. Notice the fatty pork theme going on.
French Style Beef — very tender. I’m not even sure where in China this dish is from. Certainly down south near Vietnam. Or maybe it’s just Vietnamese Chinese.
Steamed rice (yummy). Very light steamed rice with nice vegetal and porky notes.
Rice Yummy didn’t have a massive menu, and the interior was a bit small and not much to look at, but the Shanghai cuisine was well made and delicious. As this was my first trip back to the SGV since before the pandemic it was a very enjoyable and delicious dinner.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Hunan Restaurant [1, 2]
Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 964-8458
Date: August 3, 2019 & March 1, 2020
Cuisine: Hunan Chinese
Rating: check: Solid
We visited this Hunan place both during or Mandarin Plaza Crawl and as part of a 2 part dinner (after Spicy Moment V2.0).
Located in between the Mandarin Bay and Spicy Moment.
Hunan has a vast menu with pictures and funny translations:
Vast menu.
Peanuts.
Shredded minced pork with corn and pickled vegetable (8/3/19). Super tasty — pork really helps a veggie. Sure to make things really move along later.
Sautéed lamb (8/3/19). Tasty.
Crispy pork ribs with garlic and chilies (8/3/19). Lots of flavor, not so much meat.
Fish filet with fire cracker salt (8/3/19). Very delicious boiled fish with garlic and chilies.
Spicy pickled cucumbers (8/3/19). Also delicious. Generally a fan fave.
The gang on our 3/1/20 dinner visit.
Bacon with garlic (3/1/20). Basically smoked Hunan pork with leeks and garlic. Nice smokey flavor.
Doughy buns (3/1/20) with white chili-garlic sauce. Dipped in the sauce these were pretty awesome (if carby).
White garlic chili oil.
Ginger chicken (3/1/20). Lots of little bone bits in the cleavered chicken. Nice ginger and garlic flavor.
Spicy steamed fish (3/1/20). Whole fish with Hunan chilis. Nice and light. Hunan classic.
Mountain mushrooms and bacon. Great fibrous texture and nice flavor.
Jeremiah was a Spicy bullfrog hot pot (3/1/20). Very tender frog and nice Hunan frog.
Pork with preserved green beans (3/1/20). Nice crunchy “pickled” beans with chopped pork.
Spicy lamb (3/1/20). Soft and fairly tasty.
Grandmother’s pork (3/1/20). With its own buns. Very soft, salty, Hunan pork belly. Melts in your mouth.
Gizzard with celery (3/1/20). Gizzard is a bit chewy and surprisingly delicious.
Sliced beef boiled with chilies (3/1/20). Very mild and very soft beef. Not everyone’s favorite dish.
Overall, Hunan was also very good. Sort of a blend of (more old school) Szechuan AND Hunan, but who cares when it’s tasty. This place isn’t nearly as spicy as Hunan Chili King (or as good) — and there is a bit of a uniformity to the dishes. But it’s certainly pretty good and distinctly Hunan.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
More sweet wine.
And a rhone blend.
Restaurant: Chef Tony
Location: 2 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105. (626) 803-0028
Date: February 26, 2020
Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum
Rating: Dumplings good, but portions tiny
The Lunch Quest gang is always keen to try a new Chinese spot.
So we trekked out to Pasadena once we heard that the original chef from Sea Harbor was opening up a new “fancy” dim sum spot in Pasadena.
This is in the old 800 degrees space and nicely built out… up stairs at least.
There is an attractive bar.
But our six person party was banished to the “dungeon.” The basement was claustrophobic and smelled of “potty.” Ick. It was pretty off-putting.
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The Menu.
Sauces in the usual microscopic dishes.
XO sauce.
Lobster Salad. This is a “whole” order ($28.80). It was tasty, but very small.
Steamed chicken feet in brown sauce.
Shrimp dumpling with gold leaf. These are basically har gow (below) but with a black dough and gold leaf. They don’t taste too different. One of the nice things about Chef Tony is that almost all the dumplings can be ordered by the piece as well as by the order. This really helps when you have a person count that isn’t divisible by 3 or 4.
Har Gow. Very nice classic shrimp dumplings — except they are $2 each and at many places they are $2-3 an order!
Shrimp and Pork dumpling with Black Truffle. Pretty much your usual shu mai but with truffle. They were good, but I’m not sure the truffle actually improves anything.
Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Excellent version with the usual sweet interior.
Shrimp wonton with house spicy sauce. Very nice and delicate with quite a bit of salty flavor.
Shrimp, crab meat, and matsutake dumplings. Nice delicate dumplings.
Juicy Pork dumplings (XLB). Very good example of the Cantonese variant of these.
Pan-fried shrimp & pork pandan bun. Doughy, but with a very nice flavor. Quite tasty.
Deep fried pork dumpling. Just an ok version of this chewy fried type.
Deep fried tofu in Thai sauce. Nice tender tofu. Quite good.
Pan-fried radish cake with XO sauce. I really liked this dish. It had the soft/starchy daikon texture with lots of umami XO flavor.
Squid ink pasta with crab meat and gold leaf. This was a total disappointment. It was just vaguely fishy with a strong red pepper flavor. Not terribly good at all.
Stir-fried rice noodle with beef. This was much better. Like Chinese beef Pad Thai.
Deep fried crispy king prawn. Tasty and super crispy but also super fried.
BBQ Pork. Delicious and pretty much coated in syrup.
Braised eggplant with minced pork on rice noodle casserole. Not a ton of eggplant but I enjoyed the chewy “rice noodle” with the sauce.
Sliced Chinese broccoli with black truffle sauce. Now this was only $6.80, but it was embarrassingly tiny. We are talking 2 inches across!
Sautéed string beans with minced pork. Decent tasting but also about 1/3 the size of a typical version of this dish. It was hard to split 6 ways.
Coconut pudding. These were super cute, but very bland. Basically nearly flavorless coconut jelly (vaguely sweet) pressed into bunny moulds.
Overall, Chef Tony is not a phenomenal experience. The dumplings were actually pretty good, being a bit fancier and smaller and more delicate like they are in Hong Kong. But many of the other dishes were a bit limp. It’s still in soft opening and a few things on the menu (like Chow Fun) weren’t available. Service was fine. QPR isn’t great. Some dishes are laughably small. Some are way more expensive than at a larger “Cantonese Palace.” Some are both. I’d certainly rather go to a place like World Seafood, Elite, or Grand Harbor. For me, Pasadena is also further away than the SGV and more difficult to park in.
Restaurant: MaLu Bian Bian Hot Pot
Location: 18194 Colima Rd Ste A, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 820-9206
Date: February 23, 2020
Cuisine: Chengdu Szechuan Chinese Hot Pot
Rating: 12/10 for experience
I’ve been on a bit of a Szechuan style hot pot kick for the last year. For those of you know don’t know, “hot pot” is the classic Chinese homestyle food which is super popular as a restaurant type in recent years. The most “classic” form is “Mongolian” like Hot Pot Hot Pot or Little Sheep. Then there are hybrid more modern joints like Hai Di Lao. And even the cheap student pre-prepped version like Boiling Point or Flaming Pot. But my favorite is the ultra spicy Chengdu or Chongqing style. I’ve had this in Chengdu and last year several opened in the SGV including Chun La Hao and Shancheng Lameizi.
So bringing us to tonight, Malubianbian represents a new style of skewer oriented Chengdu street hot pot. This is one crazy experience so I’ll detail it.
This is in the “Yes Plaza” in Rowland Heights. It’s like teleporting to China because everyone here is Chinese and at the restaurant everyone is about 23.
If you can see, there are about 20-30 people waiting outside.
Inside it’s sort of industrial new Chinese style. Small tables. Uncomfortable chairs. Ineffective hoods. As part of the “experience” a few minutes after we entered I started to cough uncontrollably. Something was just making my throat and eyes itch. I thought something was wrong with me until I noticed everyone else doing it. The server came by to apologize as the chef had just fried up a new batch of chili oil. Lol. I should have known. The place already smelled like chilis, so you couldn’t really smell it, but when you make Szechuan style chili oil (which I do myself) you have to dump 350deg oil over chilies and it releases a ton of pepper compounds into the air which are very “irritating.”
In any case, we didn’t have to wait too long (only 20 minutes) as we had a “reservation” for the “private room” which was this super cute painted closet with a two burner little table. Supposedly it sat up to 12 — but really 8 max. I mean max.
Very cute though.
Wine was a whole saga too. Only Jefferey brought some, but no one, including the restaurant had a corkscrew. He wandered the mall but no restaurant was willing to help him open his bottle (and walk out with it). Eventually we managed.
Like many new hot pot places Malu has a “sauce bar.” This isn’t as extensive as at Chun La Hao or Shancheng Lameizi but was sufficient. It was, however, pretty messy.
This was one of the main sauces I made. They didn’t have the sesame paste or all the fermented stuff I really love at Shancheng Lameizi.
They do have these traditional dry “powdered” sauces. You grab one and then add some broth from your pot to make up a sauce. It congealed very easily and didn’t really work for me, but the sauce bar version was decent.
We got all the broths. On top here is the lame tomato broth and below is the series traditional super-spicy ox fat (those big rectangles that haven’t melted yet) and blend of peppers and 18 spices.
Below is the other lame broth, the “mild” mushroom broth. Above that is the “classic” spicy Szechuan broth that doesn’t use the heavy ox fat.
I exclusively used the fully leaded traditional gut cleansing medicinal purgative spicy ox fat broth — as should anyone who isn’t a wuss.
But what, you say, does one do with these punishing broths? You cook stuff in them. But the format at Malu is interesting. Out in the dining room are about 10 refrigerators filled with skewers and boxes of food. You just wander over and grab the stuff (which seems a touch “unsanitary” but never mind). The staff count your skewers and containers at the end to calculate your bill.
Malu’s particularly unique bit is the whole skewer thing. These cost about $0.35 each and you just shove them in your pot and easily withdraw them. But for some reason I found this a bit awkward and preferred the plates of stuff.
There are a lot of skewer types including nearly all the vegetables, tons of marinated meats, the usual meat/fish etc balls and whatnot. Each bit on a skewer is pretty tiny. Often even half a meatball or the like.
They also have a bunch of plates with more meats and various other “exotic” stuff like duck blood or duck intestine (anyone want a whole bowl of raw duck intestine? we did!). I mostly ate off these because I found it easier.
Fried pork. This is a menu order item. It was just okay.
Spicy beef stomach. This was quite delicious — and chewy.
Special house spicy beef. This was amazing. Tons of flavor (and heat).
Spicy glass noodle. Really mung bean jelly. It was actually warm, which is unusual for this type of typical Szechuan street food.
Crab sticks. Imitation crab. Tasty, but they come apart in the pot.
Luncheon meat. This is always one of my hotpot favorites. Pure pork and fatty goodness. We went through at least 3 orders of this!
Beef. A Staple.
Lamb.
Weird spongy shrimp rolls. I don’t know what to call these, but they actually cooked up as delicious things.
Shrimp balls with actual shrimp and row. These also cooked up great.
Skinned frog. This was just too sad.
Noodles, lotus root, and strange veggie cake.
Pig ear on a stick.
Plus tons of things I forgot to photo.
Odd rice jelly. This was like water jelly. It had a jello texture and was totally clear and absolutely zero flavor. The brown stuff was some kind of syrup and very mildly sweet. You could barely taste it. I suppose it was meant to cool the palette after the inferno.
Fried rice cakes. Another typical Szechuan dessert.
Overall, this was a great experience and TONS OF FUN. The broth is awesome. The format is weird, but fun and flexible because you can get your own stuff. The problem is that the ingredient quality isn’t quite as good as at Hai Di Lao, Chun La Hao and Shancheng Lameizi. Also the sauce bar is only adequate.
Service was fabulous though. Usually hot pot service isn’t the greatest, but it was here. They kept checking on us and the owner came over and was super nice, the manager was super nice. Really friendly and helpful.
It’s very inexpensive too. A skewer is only $0.35!
So I highly recommend if you are adventurous and into new things. Mind your bottom.
Restaurant: NC Peking Duck 老北方烤鸭店
Location: 17515 Colima Rd A, City of Industry, CA 91748. (626) 839-0000
Date: February 16, 2020 & May 2, 2021 and April 24 & October 27, 2022 & January 14, 2024
Cuisine: Northern / Beijing Chinese
Rating: Awesome duck and great flavors
Tonight is “Double Duck” night and while we had a “Peking Duck Appetizer” at Happy Duck, afterward the main event was at:
NC Peking Duck — which is a Northern and Beijing style place that is quite new and seemed a bit closer in style to real Beijing offerings.
In case you wondered if they have duck.
The Menu 4/24/22 (reduced from how it was before the pandemic).
Cold plater with Pig Ears, Cloud Ear Mushroom, Peanuts, and Seaweed. Mostly nice and spicy with good crunch, mala, and heat.
Smashed Garlic Cucumber (older & 10/27/22). Nice version of the garlic cucumber. Extra good with the spicy sauce from the other dishes.
Tofu with Century Egg. Awesome dish. Nice firm silky tofu with the incredible umami and jelly-like texture of the Century Egg. All doused in spicy sauce. Totally to die for.
Century Egg with Chilis (4/24/22 & 10/27/22). Fabulous savory egg with very strong pickled Hunan style chilis.
Szechuan Glass Noodles (2020 and 4/24/22 and 10/27/22). Actually a kind of mung bean noodle, here with a spicy sauce, peanuts, and a super umami mushroom paste or sauce. Nice, but I prefer them in the tangy/spicy sauce.
Cold Spicy Chicken. Awesome tender chicken in this fabulous hot, spicy, and a touch sweet sauce. Tons of flavor.
Child Chili Chicken (4/24/22). Great bang bang sauce with a bit of peanut butter in it.
Garlic Pork. Fatty delicious.
Fried fish with seaweed (5/2/21). Pretty much a Shanghai dish, but still good here.
Chili Fish with Glass Noodles. Now these were actual glass noodles. Nice tender fish too and lots of flavor.
Turbot, simple prep. Solid. Lots of meat (and bones).
Spicy Garlic Shrimp. A bit mushy.
Peking Duck with pancakes (everytime). This is just one duck (we ordered 2 for 8 people). This meat had the skin more integrated and was very juicy and full of flavor. It was some of the best Peking Duck I’ve had in LA.
Close up on the duck meat.
Duck presentation on 5/2/21.
Duck presentation (4/24/22).
Duck presentation (10/27/22).
The typical duck toppings, scallions, cucumber, and really really good thick hoisin.
Ultimate Condiment Box. Tons of interesting things to put in the duck pancake, including sweet and spicy sauces, sugar, candied fruits, melon, etc. They haven’t had this since the first time I went in 2020.
Pancake all done up.
The full DuQuest duck analysis (based on 10/27/22) is:
NC skin was ultra-thin and crispy, and gets an extra point for some of the pieces having some meat/fat on them = 9 for fatty pieces and 7 for regular ones.
Meat was juicy and flavorful with skin on = 8
Pancake was thin and resilient = 9
Hoisin was tasty but “goopy”, extra thick, and with a bit too much medicinal tone = 5
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual = 7
The “burrito” together was a 6/10, dinged mostly by the hoisin.
Duck Bones. Pretty juicy.
Stir fried duck bones (5/2/21 and looked similar 4/24/22 and 10/27/22). Very nice version of “duck #2.”
Cumin fried duck bones. Good, although not nearly as good as the Duck House variant.
Duck Soup (4/24/22). Very mild.
Crispy chicken (5/2/21). Great version.
Fragrant Spiced Lamb. Not their best dish. Sauce/soup was very watery and tasted mostly of mala. Not bad or anything, just the weakest dish out of a lot of great dishes.
Delicious “bacon” (aka preserved pork) with garlic and leeks (5/2/21 and 4/24/22).
Beijing Style Pork (5/2/21). With the fermented bean sauce, slightly sweet.
Big Pot Cauliflower (2020 and 4/24/22). With a bit of pork. Nice and crunchy.
Garlic Shoots and Smoked Pork — awesome!
Smashed garlic eggplant (5/2/21 and 4/24/21).
Bok choy (5/2/21). Simple but delicious.
Jiggly Pork Elbow (4/24/22). Certainly not a lean cut!
Seasoned Rack of Lamb (4/24/22). Nice lamby flavor and good “hot fat” factor. Serious fat later. Seasoned western style with cumin.
Sauces for the lamb.
Scallion Pancake. Nice and flakey.
XLB (5/2/21). Always a favorite.
Pork and Chive Dumplings. Tons of chive, delicious with vinegar.
House Tianjin Pork Baos. Awesome. Really nice thick skins with a huge lump of very flavorful pork.
Lo-mein. I didn’t order this, one of the people who weren’t expecting interesting food did. Annoying as it filled people up with empty carbs.
Chinese Sweet Bean Roll with peanut dust.
Chinese pounded Rice dessert.
My wife’s Valentine’s Day pick: Dulcey Chocolate Cloud – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and the rotating ingredient is house-made Vanilla Dulce de Leche — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #DulceDeLeche #caramel
Last gelato of the year! — Eggnog Gelato — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — pure traditional eggnog made as a gelato with a real rum/sugar/egg zabaglione core — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #eggnog #rum #nutmeg #cinnamon #egg #zabaglione
Overall, I really liked NC Peking Duck. First of all, the duck was some of the best I’ve had in the states, and even beyond that, they had a really interesting menu with lots of standout dishes. Almost everything we had tonight was great, particularly the tofu with century egg, cold chicken, fish, and the pork baos.
Returning here on 5/2/21 the food was still very good but the restaurant was suffering from immediate post pandemic operational changes. They had clearly been doing takeout for the previous year (good for them and I even had it once and it was very good), but hadn’t yet switched back over to normal service. I think we were the only dine in party and the menu had been pared back substantially. Hopefully soon they’ll be back to 100%.
Returning again on 4/24/22 the food was pretty much back up to the level of 2020 although the menu was still a bit reduced and they were missing some “fancier” items like the 9 condiment container.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Tong Tak House Seafood Restaurant
Location: 1265 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 638-3388
Date: February 9, 2020
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Really great execution
Our friend Tony Lau organizes the best Cantonese banquets.
He always manages to find new places that surprise. Tong Tak isn’t exactly new, but it’s new to most of us.
Classic “palace” interior. It was pretty empty too. Sure it was Academy Awards night, but hard to say.
After an initial foray into a private room that was way too small they set us up downstairs at this huge table with the awesome blue thrones.
The whole gang.
Salted peanuts.
Spicy cold marinated cucumbers. Pretty good version of this typical Chinese starter. Nice crunch, garlic, and a bit of spice.
I ate a lot of these because oddly, they didn’t serve any real dishes for 45 minutes despite the place being deserted! Then the dishes came on like a storm.
Chinese Mountain Yams with Raspberry Sauce. Crunchy yam, not slimey (sometimes it is). The yam itself doesn’t have a lot of flavor. Raspberry sauce is a bit odd..
Beancurd wrapped mushroom rolls. Interesting texture.
Marinated wood ear mushrooms. I love the rubbery texture.
Beans. Not sure what kind. Very mild and I don’t love the pastey bean thing.
Hot sauce.
XO sauce.
Spicy clam with vegetables. Very interesting spongy/chewy texture on the clam and very nice crunchy vegetables.
Fried oysters typhoon style. Really delicious. Probably the best fried oyster’s I’ve ever had with the crispy fry and lots of garlic.
Cheesy lobster. Nice tender lobster with a cheesy sauce. Very interesting combo.
Condiments for the duck and pig.
Suckling pig with buns. Nice small pig, actually a suckling. Nice crunchy skin and good flavor.
The pig head returns after a discombobulating encounter with the cleaver.
Beef with asparagus. Tony always orders a straight up beef dish like this. It was fatty and pretty tender with nicely cut asparagus.
Crispy roast pigeon. Very nice hot juicy pigeon. Not too dark, not overcooked at all.
Peking Duck (Cantonese style) with buns. Very tasty as always, but is of course much better with pancakes and cut a bit differently.
Duck part 2: Lettuce cup duck. The meat from the duck mixed with water chestnuts and celery.
Lettuce cups to go with the duck.
Packed lettuce cup ready to eat. These were good.
100 Flower Chicken. 2 ways. Pressed chicken with shrimp paste. This version was mostly shrimp paste. Almost no chicken meat under the skin. Still it was delicious.
Wok cooked vegetables and oyster mushrooms. I like the double texture thing.
Yin Yang Fried Rice. Two types of sauce covering fried rice. The lighter one was asparagus stalks and shrimp in a light sauce. Very savory and delicious. The red one was with chicken and a tomato based sweet sauce. A bit too sweet for my taste.
Dessert Buns. The yellow topped ones were filled with pineapple and egg custard.
Crackerjack Gelato – Smooth Peanut Base with homemade Dulce de Leche Ribbon, Toffee Peanuts, and Caramel Popcorn! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #caramel #DulceDeLeche #Popcorn #CaramelCorn
Raspberry Sorbetto — French Raspberries and a touch of lime juice — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unusual for me to go so “straight” with my flavors but I wanted a complement to a complex flavor — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #raspberry
Overall, another great night. Really, these Tony Lau dinners are always great. Despite the slow start to the food, service was very good and the execution of the dishes was excellent. Very nice plating and on point flavors. The kitchen’s command of vegetables was particularly impressive. They know how to cut them into the proper shapes and to wok them quickly so they are still crunchy and tender.
It just goes to show that just because a Cantonese place has that “dated” palace look, doesn’t mean the kitchen isn’t first rate. Somehow they have 3 stars on Yelp. I wonder if we just got the royal treatment of if it’s just Yelp haters.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Coming back to Meizhou Dongpo for a 6-7 person dinner on 3/8/20 I had a vastly improved experience. Almost every dish was very good, some great. The peking duck was first rate. Really really good. Many of the appetizers were awesome too like the green chili chicken and cold mung bean noodles. Flavors were far less salty and much more balanced. Service was fairly good too and we had a nice large table outside on the terrace. On this particular night at least, this was as good as many SGV places (but certainly not as good as the best). Really a great option.
Check out all the details here.
Restaurant: Ho Kee Cafe
Location: 558 Las Tunas Dr, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 822-3399
Date: December 29, 2019
Cuisine: Hong Kong Chinese
Rating: Quite good
The last Sunday of 2019, the last trip to the SGV, the last (restaurant) Chinese meal of the year…
Skylar arranged this banquet at Ho Kee Cafe in Arcadia, ordering a bunch of off menu dishes.
The decor is fairly modern.
Our menu was all in Chinese.
And we had this cute private room all to ourselves.
Salty peanuts on the table.
Pork belly with tangy jellyfish — first rate jellyfish, snappy with a great marinated flavor.
Hoisin and sugar to use on the pork.
Causeway style crab — salty and garlicky. Had to crunch thru shells but they were soft enough.
The house collected the garlic afterward so we could snack on it.
House special lobster — excellent — on tasty garlic noodles.
Succulent shrimp with celery — very delicate and nice with good textural contrast.
Vegetables featuring lily roots, mushrooms, greens, and oyster mushrooms — very nice actually.
Lily Snails — but I think was actually conch — crunchy. Attractive plating.
Ginger steamed turbot — very delicate.
Sesame 100 flower chicken — layered with shrimp paste — nice.
Sliced Peking duck — served with buns.
Duck meat and sweet sauce — nice meat, not as boney as some and very moist.
French Style Beef — one of the most succulent and tender I’ve had.
A-choy with garlic — good.
Typhoon Fried rice — a touch dry. Used the same seasonings as the lobster (in theory).
I was winding down gelato production for the year and so the freezers were already off but I did have this large bowl of fresh Sweet Milk Gelato Chocolate Mousse that Jerome and I made a day or so before. This is serious chocolate mousse made with classic French technique and Valrhona chocolate.
The gang.
Overall, Ho Kee Cafe was very good. Pretty similar to Cantonese. Plating was very attractive, service great, and kitchen execution excellent. A fitting way to finish out a year filled with lots of great Chinese food!
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3]
Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234
Date: November 22, 2019
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Good for this far west
Finding great Chinese west of the SGV has long been a problem, but the “great wall” between east and west has been cracking with lots and lots of new openings closer to (my) home. Today I visit with the Sauvages Friday lunch group for another one of our epic lunches — guaranteed to finish off your week in style — and a nap. This lunch was coordinated by Tony Lau and John Gordon.
Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.
The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.
Coves. Gotta have the coves!
Our special menu for today.
We were in the private room.
Some intro champ.
Peanuts on the table.
And addictive candied walnuts.
Plus XO sauce — fermented spicy umami.
From my cellar: 2007 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut. VM 96. Taittinger’s 2007 Comtes de Champagne will be nearly impossible to resist upon release. Soaring aromatics, mid-weight structure and soft contours give the 2007 its alluring personality. Lemon oil, white flowers, mint, chamomile and green pear add brightness and freshness throughout, with a persistent, clean finish that makes it impossible to resist a second taste. Today, the 2007 comes across as a slightly more open version of the 2004, with freshness that makes that wine so appealing, and a touch of textural richness that recalls the 2002. Although the 2007 does not have the explosive energy or verticality of the profound 2006, it will drink better earlier. The 2007 has been positively brilliant on the three occasions I have tasted it so far.
2007 Ruinart Champagne Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. VM 97+. The 2007 Dom Ruinart is the first vintage made entirely by Chef de Caves Frédéric Panaïotis, which shows just how long the production cycle is in Champagne. A striking, tightly-coiled wine, the 2007 Dom Ruinart will leave readers week at the knees. In this vintage, Panaïotis took Dom Ruinart, which has traditionally relied on a relatively high percentage of Chardonnay from the Montagne de Reims and tilted the balance to 75% Côtes des Blancs and 25% Montagne de Reims fruit. As a result, the 2007 is much more chiseled and steely than is the norm. The citrus, slate, crushed rock, white pepper, mint and floral notes really sizzle in this powerful, dramatically rich Champagne, with bright saline notes that add freshness and vivacity to the striking finish. The 2007 is a stunning Champagne by any measure. Although it is very early, the 2007 has the potential to go down as one of the great Dom Ruinarts. It is every bit that special. Dosage is under 5 grams per liter, a pretty striking change from the 2006, which was closer to 10. Readers who can grab the 2007 won’t want to miss it.
Bonus goose web and bok choy. Whole steamed and sauced goose foot!
2008 Dom Pérignon Champagne. VM 98. The 2008 Dom Pérignon is once again stunning. More than anything else, I am surprised by how well the 2008 drinks given all the tension and energy it holds. Then again, that is precisely what makes 2008 such a unique vintage – namely that the best wines are so chiseled and yet not at all austere. Lemon peel, almond, mint, smoke and crushed rocks are all finely sculpted, but it is the wine’s textural feel, drive and persistence that elevate it into the realm of the sublime. The 2008 will be even better with time in the cellar, but it is absolutely phenomenal even today, in the early going. Three recent bottles have all been nothing short of magnificent.
2004 Philipponnat Champagne Brut Clos des Goisses. VM 96. Broad, ample and pure, the 2004 Clos des Goisses seems to be going through a closed period. The wine’s texture an tension are evident, but all of the wine’s energy is focused inward. The 2004 is without question a brilliant, striking Champagne, but it needs time in bottle. Disgorged December 2013.
Bonus seafood stuffed spring rolls.
2011 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile. VM 92+. Pale straw-green. Minty green apple, jasmine and minerals on the enticing nose. Bright flavors of green apple and ripe citrus fruits are joined by stone fruits and minerals on the long finish. Has enough acidity to maintain clarity and cut. According to Pierre Trimbach, this is on a par with other great recent vintages for this bottling.
2015 Weingut Schnaitmann Uhlbacher Götzenberg Riesling Großes Gewächs. 92 points. Apple, peach, pear, lemon zest with a hint of petrol. Long dry finish. Well balanced. This is an excellent German Riesling.
2014 Schoffit Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St.-Théobald. VM 92. Bright golden yellow. Musky, chalky aromas of ripe peach, flint, orange oil and lychee. Then more crushed rocks and orange oil nuances than peachy fruit on the dense palate. Finishes lively with well-integrated acidity and noteworthy length. Leaves a lingering impression of steeliness, heightened by the only 7g/L residual sugar and razor-sharp 8.1 g/L total acidity; but strikes me as rounder and more tactile than the Sommerberg, most likely thanks to higher pH (3.4 compared to the Sommerberg’s 3.1). At only 12.1 percent alcohol, this is very easy to drink already.
Stir fried conch with XO sauce. Tony loves conch. It did have a nice crunchy/chewy quality.
Steamed lobster with Fresh Garlic. Classic simple steamed lobster with garlic.
Alzinger Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Loibenberg (didn’t catch the vintage in my photo).
From my cellar: 2012 Weingut Knoll Grüner Veltliner Reserve Loibenberg. 93 points. Rich bouquet combines candied pineapple, dried apricot, flinty minerals and white pepper. The fleshy, unctuous palate is marked by acacia honey, herbs and smoke plus a touch of botrytis. Complex and certainly voluptuous at 14.5% alcohol, this Grüner Veltliner combines a supple sweetness –which is why it is labeled as a Reserve and not a Smaragd–and a salty tang on the finish. Excellent potential.
2013 Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner 1ÖTW Reserve Ried Renner. VM 95. From Renner’s geologically complex Urgestein mix characteristically emerges a Grüner Veltliner of comparable complexity that’s indescribable without resorting to mineral vocabulary, and that is certainly true of this 2013. But there is so much more going on that it nearly makes me dizzy. A heady nose of lilac and iris, radish and raw ginger, along with hints of citrus and roasted root vegetables, sets the tone for what follows, an explosively concentrated interaction of grippingly piquant, pungent, incisive and brightly juicy elements. Apple and lime, caramelized parsnip and golden beet are mingled with smoky nut oils and laced with ginger, radish, iris root and white pepper. The reverberating finish adds to a kaleidoscopic whirl of the aforementioned elements an otherwise ineffable ore-like depth and saliva-inducing salinity. I was holding my breath that what I first tasted would be captured in bottle with complete success, and that’s happened.
Filet of cod, Virginia Ham with Chinese vegetables. This is an unusual dish, but in looks and ingredients. Having the cod, mushrooms, vegetables, and Smithfield ham is really… interesting. The ham dominates with its strong salty flavor.
Lettuce cup with shrimp, Chinese sausage, jicama and pine nuts. Very tasty for this common dish. Nice presentation.
2001 J. Rochioli Pinot Noir East Block. BH 89. Quite deep and ripe on the nose with a distinct vegetal component and in contrast to some wines in this flight, this is very clean and pure. The palate reveals round, supple and sweet flavors that are relatively forward and deftly oaked, indeed the wood is almost invisible. There is good density and a succulent sweetness to the finish where the structure is buffered by good sap. I quite liked this.
2007 Bergström Pinot Noir Durant Vineyard. VM 90. Deep red. An exotically perfumed bouquet offers scents of red berries, cinnamon, clove and smoky minerals. Lithe, finely etched red berry flavors gain depth and power with air, taking a turn to bitter cherry. The spicy element expands on the taut, nervy finish. Pretty sexy now, but has the vibrancy and balance to reward patience.
2005 Radio-Coteau Pinot Noir La Neblina. VM 90. Medium red. Bright, spicy aromas of cherry and minerals, with a deeper note of cherry pit. Picks up a cocoa powder note on the palate and repeats the fresh cherry note. The spice notes return on the sweet, persistent finish, which features a dusting of fine tannins. This gained in brightness with air, suggesting that it will hold well in a cool cellar.
Crispy whole suckling pig. Excellent pig, nice crispy skin.
Kistler Pinot Noir Cuvée Catherine (can’t read vintage again).
2009 Marcassin Pinot Noir Blue-Slide Ridge Vineyard. 94 points. Great nose. Lots of wild black cherry there. But there is a bit of alcohol. Palate similar. A “big” Pinot. Loads of fruit. But again, some heat on the finish diminishes this for me.
Stir fried filet mignon with macadamia nuts. I’m not really a huge fan of these “French style” beef dishes, but this was unique with the macadamia nuts — and quite delicious.
2007 Domaine de la Mordorée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bois. VM 93-96. Inky ruby. The nose offers a highly complex, wild array of dark berry and floral scents, along with anise, herbs and smoky minerals. Utterly stains the palate with deep black and blue fruit flavors complemented by strong notes of lavender pastille and tobacco. Tannins come up with air but the fruit seems to suck them up. Finishes with a strong wallop of luscious blueberry and mocha and outstanding persistence. This looks to be one of the best wines of this superb vintage.
2000 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve. 96 points.
2000 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 91+. Very good deep red-ruby. Roasted plum and black fruit aromas, with notes of violet, dark chocolate, smoke and game. Fat, lush and superripe; shows more of a roasted character than the 2001, but also boasts solid acidity. A huge, full-blown wine with exotic notes of roasted herbs. Finishes with big, dusty tannins and excellent length.
Salt and pepper stuffed eggplant. Nice and garlicky!
Capital house stir fried special. This was a unique “crispy” stir fried veggie dish. Very interesting texture.
Braised abalone mushroom with snow pea sprouts. This classic vegetable dish is covered in the meaty abalone mushrooms.
Crispy pan fried egg noodles with chicken. I always love variants of this dish with its mix of saucy and crispy.
1994 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Vendange Tardive. 98 points. Absolutely glorious. A monumental bottle. Deep amber color. The nose is a kaleidoscope of goodness: honey, caramel, apricot. Viscous, layered, long. Perfect acidity on the back end. Truly exceptional.
Macau egg tarts.
Strawberries and Cream Gelato — A dairy strawberry base with Avignon Strawberries plus Strawberry Jam Ripples and Strawberry Wafer Cookies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #cream #jam #wafer #cookies
House favorite and my son’s birthday pick: Triple Chocolate Cloud – As usual the base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and the rotating ingredient is crushed Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #Oreos
Strange bonus: 2014 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon. 91 points. Solid napa cab without being exciting in anyway. On the nose a nice bouquet of pencil shavings, a hint of earth of red fruits. Sinewy chewy mouthfeel, with Cassis, deeper red fruits in the entry, shortish finish dominated with oak tannins was a bit of a disappointment. Overall, it felt like there was decent material here but a general feel of safety first wine making is a bit of a let down.
Fruit.
Overall, Capital Seafood is quite solid SGV-style Cantonese banquet (as well as dimsum). I’d say that the food quality is about on par with middle of the road SGV Cantonese. Price is higher, but still not bad. Tony and John worked with the manager, King to create this very interesting menu and we had a variety of nice wines. Service is excellent, particularly with a special party like this. We did all the wine service, and there wasn’t really enough space for more than 3 glasses (too few) but they did this interesting hybrid food service where they brought out the large dishes, then individually plated about 2/3 of the dish and served it to each person, but leaving enough for repeats for us gluttons. This worked out quite well and was less chaotic and much neater than the lazy-susan craziness across so many wine glasses.
As always, Sauvages is great fun.
For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.
Location: 111 N Atlantic Blvd #350, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 888-5188
Date: October 20, 2019
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Very solid banquet Chinese
Our friend Derek has been the manager variously at Elite Seafood, World Seafood, and China Red. Tonight we return for one of those awesome Tony Lau special Cantonese feasts.
Now he’s helping open up Monterey Park newcomer, Tang Gong.
Tang Gong is upstairs in the Northwest Corner of the busy Garvey/Atlantic intersection.
In an era when the Cantonese Palaces are closing, it’s rare to have a new one opening up — including all the glitzy Hong Kong style trappings. These places cater (haha) to big Chinese weddings.
We had a nice single table private room with lots of space.
On the table to start, candied walnuts (yummy) and peanuts.
Conch with shrimp paste. Nice chew, crunch from the celery, and a bit of yummy “shrimpy” flavor from the paste.
Cantonese hot sauce and mustard.
Scallop covered in shrimp paste. One of these pan fried dishes that is related to a dimsum dish. A whole scallop covered in shrimp “macnugget” material.
Salt and pepper prawns. Super delicious huge prawns so deeply fried that you eat the whole thing shell and all.
Whole suckling pig. Awesome and porcine.
Yarom (right) and Tony Lau (left) with their bones.
Cantonese style Peking duck. Served with buns, hoisin, etc. Not as good as real Peking duck — as it’s not so crispy — but still delicious.
Roast chicken. Super moist. Some of the best chicken I’ve had in a long time.
Black pepper beef with asparagus. Always wine friendly, if a touch “boring.” Very tender.
Roast quail. Always excellent.
Garlicky Greens. Great, perfect for the colon.
Chard with egg and mushrooms. Now I’ve never had this Chinese vegetable dish before. It had a slightly sweet and sour (more sour) taste. I preferred the classic garlicky greens but this was certainly interesting.
Crispy egg noodles.
Beef topping for the noodles.
The noodles with the topping.
More noodles with beef and bean sprouts. Carby, but delicious.
Mochi-type balls with red bean (the dark ones) and custard (the light one). I LOVED the custard flavored ones. Really nice jelly consistency and rich custard inside.
Red bean and coconut jelly. Loved these too. I always like these weird smooth jiggly Chinese desserts. Some of my favorite Chinese desserts.
Nocciola Caramello Budino Gelato — Nocciola custard base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste, infused with house-made caramel (instead of sugar) then mixed with toffee and topped with Toffifay — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — so good it’s an instant signature flavor –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #nocciola #caramel #caramello #toffee #toffifay
Key Lime Pie Gelato – base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made frozen graham cracker and covered with house-made meringue — 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 #KeyLime #lime #custard #meringue #GrahamCracker #cookie
The manager Derek posing with Yarom.
Overall, very solid new place. Service (thanks Derek) was of course perfect. We loved the private room. Tony always does a great job of planning the menu and tonight was no exception. Lots of classics and lots of interesting new dishes. Highlights were the crispy prawn, chicken, duck (of course), pig, scallop with shrimp and more.
For more LA dining reviews click here,
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Jiang Nan Spring
Location: 910 E Main St, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 766-1688
Date: September 11 & November 3, 2019
Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese
Rating: Very good, but probably not the best in the SGV
Yarom and I set out on another small party SGV adventure and chosen Jiang Nan Spring (which we hadn’t been too because of this review from the LA times which asked “Does Jiang Nan Spring have the SGV’s best Shanghainese food?”
After our reconnaissance lunch (9/11/19), we returned (11/3/19) for a big group dinner.
They have a newish storefront on Main in the heart of Alahambra.
Interior is clean and free of the usual wall menus, TV’s etc.
For our 11/3/19 dinner we dined in this private side room (2 tables). This made for one of those giant 2 table CF dinners — I do much prefer my Chinese dinners to keep to one table.
The menu.
Boiled peanuts on the table.
Shanghai Duck (9/11/19). This cold marinated duck is flavored a lot like pork.
Cold Drunken Chicken (11/3/19). Nice for this kind of cold bland chicken. It had some good flavor, very nice (if cold) texture, and was quite moist.
Cold Smoked Fish (11/3/19). Classic Shanghai style cold fried fish. Smokey flavor.
Pork belly slices in garlic chili oil (11/3/19). Very tasty pork as the spicy/garlic sauce was excellent.
Chili oil.
Scallion pancake (11/3/19). Fine for what it is, but I usually find this a boring dish.
XLB (11/3/19) pork soup dumplings. Decent version of the always fabulous pockets of steamed pork. Not amazing house-made versions like at Juicy Dumpling, but still good.
Beef Roll (11/3/19). Not usually my favorite dish either, but a pretty good version of it.
See the inside.
West Lake Beef Soup (9/11/19 and 11/3/19). A mild goopy soup with tofu and beef, it was actually delicious. I had several bowls. I’m not sure what was so good about it — certainly texture — but it was very addictive.
Spare Ribs in Lotus Leaf (9/11/19 and 11/3/19). I’ve only had this dish once before, at another West Lake / Shanghai style SGV place, Chang’s Garden.
Inside is a sticky-rice coated pork spare rib. Delicious. Succulent, and lotus flavored. Rich and delicious. Very soft.
Sautéed Shrimp (9/11/19). I asked them if they had the green tea version, and they said they did, but we got the more regular Shanghai version. The shrimp were super succulent and with the vinegar quite delicious. Still, I wanted to try the tea version again.
Shanghai Style Pork Hock (11/3/19). Classic Shanghai dish.
This was a controversial dish. Among those of us who love “real” Chinese food, we LOVED this dish. It was moist, fatty, jiggyly (yes), but had tons of fabulous porky flavor. The other table, with lots of lightweight Chinese eaters found it “too fatty.” Of course, it’s supposed to be fatty!
Peking Duck (11/3/19). Even though it’s not a Shanghai dish, they do offer peking duck. The meat itself was solid but not the best ever or anything. Good flavor, but the skin wasn’t the crispiest possible.
And with pancakes — which were good but a bit large.
Hoisin and green onions.
David L, as always, demanded the “bones” from the duck. Sometimes there is meat on the bones, not really here. But I won’t be critical, as that means it just went into other dishes.
Yarom gnaws on one anyway.
Vegetables, soy beans, and bean curd (11/3/19). Very interesting dish. Nice crunchy texture.
Salted Egg with Chinese Squash (9/11/19). Like Zucchini with salty egg. Ick. I didn’t like this dish at all. Yarom did, but I’m not a fan of this sort of vegetable.
Seaweed fried fish (11/3/19). Crispy moist “fish sticks.”
Walnut shrimp (11/3/19). The classic, tasty, but lots of mayo.
Fried Tofu & Ground Pork with hot sauce (9/11/19). Or maybe it was Hunan Tofu. Not sure. This was actually pretty hot. Not exactly MaPo or Szechuan in style, but quite good.
We special pre-ordered Beggar’s Chicken (11/3/19).
The chicken is inside this pastry and they wallop it open with the mallet!
Inside it’s very moist, with tender meat, sweet Shanghai-style sauce, chestnuts, and other fruits and vegetables. Very interesting, if a touch rich.
Shanghai Purple Rice. Starchy!
Chocolate Peppermint Gelato — Chocolate base made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and melted in peppermints, mixed with Mint Oreo Cookies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #oreos #peppermint #mint #ChocolateMint #MintOreos
Pistachio Lemon Cookie Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with a custom blend of two Pistacchio di Bronte DOGC sources to produce an intense pistachio base, with layers of Southern Italian Lemon Cookies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #nuts #LemonCookie
Overall, Jiang Nan Spring has a good kitchen and most dishes were really tasty. I think the chef (or the menu) leans toward Hangzhou (the old Southern Song capital just south of Shanghai). I don’t really agree with the Times — I think Shanghailander is slightly better, but this was certainly a very good place, in the top 3 LA Shanghai places I’ve tried no question.
Our big two table CF dinner was polarizing as all the people who like adventurous Chinese food (including myself, Yarom, and the AFF) all loved it and the people who like their Chinese more “American” found it a bit over some magic textural or fatty line. They can head back to PF Changs!
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: Ruby BBQ Food
Location: 9561 Garvey Ave Ste 1&2, South El Monte, CA 91733. (626) 279-6854
Date: September 20, 2019
Cuisine: Southern Chinese
Rating: Tasty, if a little “downscale”
Lately, because Yarom and I are diehard Chinese Food fanatics and it’s hard to find others willing to drive all the way to the SGV during the week for lunch, the two of us — with occasional extras — have been sampling some of the more casual eateries on our list of new places to try.
Enter Ruby BBQ Food — yes they actually include the word food in their name — just in case BBQ wasn’t clear enough. This is a very casual Southern Chinese place in a more Vietnamese section of the SGV.
It’s real casual, with a takeout counter and menu on the wall.
But it was crowded. We had to wait 15-20 minutes for a table.
They have roast ducks and the like to go too.
Now just to give you a bit of the flavor of the place, and these downscale SGV joints, ignoring Yarom’s protests I include this photo. This particular lady was at the counter ordering/waiting right in the middle of the lobby. This did not, however, stop her from clipping her nails and leaving them on the floor of the restaurant. Very local crowd. Still, bear in mind, I ate here right after and I’d happy eat here again. They actually have an “A” too.
The menu.
Free vegetable soup. Kinda boring.
Besides the soup, Yarom and I ordered 10 dishes for just the two of us — that’s just how we roll.
Eggplant Szechuan Style. Delicious. Soft eggplant dripping in tasty garlic sauce. Not particularly spicy.
Dry sautéed string beans. Also good. Nice crunchy beans.
Ruby BBQ Rib. Cold with great piggy flavor.
Golden pork. This and the next dish were pretty similar, both not too different than a panda express type dish. This one had less bone, I think, but the sauce was sweeter and a bit more overwhelming.
Pork chop. This one was more chew it off the bone and was very slightly better. But both were good.
Bamboo duck. Unusual heavy brown gravy with those rolled bean curds. The duck meat itself was dark and boney but the overall flavor was excellent.
Egg with shrimp. Surprisingly delicious shrimp omelet.
The owner of the restaurant just could not believe that we ordered so much so she gave us the last few dishes “to go.” She insisted. We opened them and ate them at our table anyway.
Ruby steamed chicken. My least favorite dish. Basically Hainan chicken. Fine for what it was, but it’s steamed chicken.
With a bit of garlic sauce.
Mapo tofu. Not spicy, but nice texture.
BBQ Duck. Quite good, particularly juicy and delicious dunked in the sauce below.
The duck sauce.
Apparently everything comes from “dept 01” but as you can see, it’s not an expensive department. Even the signature meaty BBQ dishes like the duck were barely $11!
Yarom with the owner and his leftovers.
Overall, while the atmosphere is “amusing” the food (particularly for the money) is pretty tasty. This is like working class real Cantonese/Chiuchow and while the Chinese equivalent of a greasy spoon, like many American greasy spoons, it’s also delicious. Service was gracious.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Now just to continue to paint the complete picture of this colorful little corner of Los Angeles — and part of what I think makes our great city great — I did photo the classic “old school Monterey Park bathroom.” It’s quite a looker. Again, not bashing Ruby BBQ. I like it and find it’s “unrefined” quality genuinely charming. Just painting the full unvarnished picture.
Restaurant: Yunnan Restaurant
Location: 301 N Garfield Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 571-8387
Date: August 25, 2019 & October 15, 2022 & February 4, 2024
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: Really interesting and delicious. Best cold bar in town.
I’ve been looking forward to this one, as I always love unusual regional Chinese.
It’s the usual SGV sort of frontage, including the B rating.
The huge menu.
The space is divided between a more formal back half with semi-private rooms and a more casual front.
Yunnan restaurant is well known for its extensive buffet of cold authentic Chinese appetizers.
All sorts of yummy cured and spiced meats.
Including the weird parts.
Like chicken feet.
Wood ear mushrooms, pigs ears, and some kind of fried treat.
Pickled vegetables and chicken.
Spiced tofu and garlic cucumbers.
Cold Appetizers (not so weird edition). Smashed cucumbers, pickled veggies, wood ear mushrooms, daikon, spicy chicken, and spicy beef and tendon. All of these were pretty good, especially the beef and tendon.
Cold Appetizers (weird edition). Smoked gizzard and sliced spicy pig head. These were both pretty awesome. The gizzard is salted and smoked then sliced like pastrami. The “head” has a weird but wonderful mixed texture and a fabulous chili oil flavor.
Peanuts, cucumbers, and preserved beans.
Gizzard, spicy tofu, and slice weird beef.
Spicy chicken and mushrooms.
Salted peanuts with anchovies. Better than normal peanuts.
Bean curd rice noodle. This was one of my less favorite dishes, although it was still tasty. Just soft and mild with the silken tofu.
Cold Sichuan Noodles. When mixed up these hearty noodles were quite spicy, a bit tangy, and rather delicious.
Local chicken with spicy sauce. Not a bad version of the cold spicy chicken in chilies.
Cold tofu with preserved egg. I really like this dish with the tofu tofu, pungent and salty egg with tangy sauce.
Chicken Gizzard with Wild Chili. Really delicious hot gizzard dish. Nice and tender, but with a chewy bite and lots of spicy/salty flavor.
Lamb with pickled pepper. Tasty and strong, with soft meat and lots of of flavor.
Fish with Szechuan special sauce. The classic boiled spicy fish. Hot with big chunks of fish.
Bean Curd Fish with Spicy Sauce. Very good version of this Szechuan classic.
Sichuan Fish Filet boiled with Green Chilies. This was a perfect version of this dish. The fish was soft and boneless and the broth intensely numbing and “green pepper” spicy with that semi-gelatinous fish bone thickness. Awesome.
Crispy Rice with Shrimp. The hot saucy dish was poured over the crispy rice which it slowly softens. I really liked the texture of this dish with the slightly chewy, slightly crunchy rice, the veggies and shrimp, and the light white pepper sauce.
Spicy Fried Chicken Wings. Really delicious. Juicy with a bit of numbing flavor.
Yunnan cured pork with leek and green pepper. This was an amazing dish. Salty, with tons of cured ham and leeky flavor.
Yunnan Style Pork with Leek and Red Pepper. This dish is awesome. The pork is a kind of smoked pork belly or bacon and pairs amazingly with the leeks, coating them in that night lardy flavor.
Cured Pork with Mushroom. I love this smokey pork.
Frog with Pickled Pepper. Tangy and hot. Lots of bones, but delicious.
Fried Squid with Chili Black Bean Sauce. Really nice flavor and chew.
Szechuan Special Cured Crispy Duck. Really tasty, pastrami like meat.
Yunann Style Dry Beef. Another great dish. Like a salty chipped beef. Crunchy and delicious. Some people didn’t love this dish, but I did. The beef is ultra thin, salted, and fried to crispy bacon-like texture. I really enjoyed it. It’s one of those dishes that starts off a little bland (or maybe purely salty) but grows addictive as you chew more of it.
Cumin Lamb. Nice rendition of the classic cumin lamb. Very spicey and the onions were chopped instead of sliced. This allowed them to pick up a lot of the cumin and chili sauce (not to mention the oil). Quite delicious.
Local Flavor Lamb. Just a bit different.
Sichuan Style Braised Pork with Preserved Vegetables and Crepes. The “crepes” are buns that I skipped. The super fatty pork belly, however, was salty, melt in your mouth soft, and rather amazing. As usual it paired well with the “flavor” laden salted greens underneath. Great dish.
Cauliflower with Cured Pork Dry Pot.
Pea Shoots with Garlic. Perfect version of this classic Chinese green dish.
Omelet with shrimp. A solid omelet with succulent shrimp. Extra delicious with the chipped beef.
Eggs with Green Pepper and Green Onions. Pretty much a soft Chinese omelet with a bunch of green onions. Surprisingly nice. This was supposed to be eggs with Chinese chives but they ran out of chives.
Eggplant in Garlic Sauce. Fairly salt, and unusual, but great flavor.
Mao’s Style Pork in Brown Sauce. A touch sweet but quite tasty.
Sour and Spicy Cabbage. Nice and crunchy.
Key Lime Pie Gelato — base is a key lime egg custard, layered with house-made Graham Cracker and covered with house-made Torched Meringue — 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 #KeyLime #lime #custard #meringue #GrahamCracker #cookie
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
Afterward off to Salju for a bit of sweet.
Service was very friendly at Yunnan and they recently got their liquor license and let us open our wines. But beyond that this is delicious and interesting cuisine. Quite salty, with a lot of cured meats and pickled vegetables. And they do have hands down the best cold appetizer “buffet” in the SGV. Super bargain prices too so overall a very fun and tasty place.
For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.
Restaurant: Chun La Hao Chong Qing Hot Pot
Location: 5701 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 766-1230
Date: August 5, 2019 & May 16, 2021
Cuisine: Chong Qing Hot Pot
Rating: Tied for best hot pot I’ve ever had
After Yarom and I met up in March at the awesome Shancheng Lameizi for some fiery hot pot (which blows the boring mild hot pot out of… something) we decided to drag some more people to a different new, higher end Szechuan Hot Pot place.
Chun La Hao is located in the same Temple City mall as Grand Harbor and right across the street from Bistro Na. It hails from Chong Qing, the largest city in Szechuan and well known for its brazen, no holds barred take on spice.
They have bar style munchies and tea in the waiting area.
And a modern Chinese decor much like the aforementioned Bistro Na or Shancheng. It’s more spacious than either of Shancheng’s branches.
Our table for size was still a bit tight — for us big westerners.
The menu is the usual check sheet and with an extensive list of favorites and freakish culinary bits one can boil up. Aka duck intestine, black tripe, pork aorta and the like.
The have the best “snack bar” I’ve yet seen at a hot pot. Extensive munchies.
The usual kind of peanuts and crisps.
A big assortment of pickled things like spicy cucumbers, kimchee like stuff, etc.
And more weird crispy stuff.
Here are some I got. The cucumbers were great. The kimchee was very hot, even by my standards.
And some different “snacks” on 5/16/21.
From my cellar: NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. JG 91+. As is customary with this bottling from Rodolphe Péters, the wine is a blend of fifty percent of its base year of 2014 and fifty percent from last year’s blend, which had gone into the family solera of reserve wines that dates back to 1988. The vins clairs here do not entirely go through malo as fifteen percent are non-malo wines, with the range raised in a variety of vessels, including barrels, stainless steel tanks and cement vats and the wine spend two years aging sur latte. The new release is very good indeed, offering up a youthful blend of apple, pear, hazelnut, chalky minerality, incipient pastry cream and spring flowers. On the palate the wine is crisp, focused and full-bodied, with a good core, still pretty brisk acidity, frothy mousse and very good backend mineral drive on the long and nascently complex finish. This is very good today and will be even better with a couple of years in the cellar.
We ordered the maximum spicy classic Chongqing ox fat broth and a light mushroom broth for the losers.
Here it is all fired up, at the end too when the spice has taken over some of the wuss side.
Chun La Hao also has a big sauce bar. Bigger perhaps than HDL but a bit smaller than SL.
A slightly better view. There are all the classics here and more, plenty to make a great sauce. They lack a few of the weird (and delicious) fermented options at SL, but otherwise it’s pretty complete. All the base components are here. Spices, sesame oil and paste, soy sauces, vinegars, etc.
This is my “mild” (not really) vegetable sauce with a soy vinegar garlic base.
And my fiery sesame flame garlic “meat” sauce.
The presentation is cute. A red army truck brings the Veggie Combo Platter of various greens.
Oddly, no cabbage in the combo, so we ordered some.
Lotus root provides a nice crunch.
Lately I’ve taken to Square Bamboo Shoot as a source of great texture and fiber.
Mushroom Combo Platter serves up even more fiber.
Wood Ear Mushrooms.
The tofu combo platter brings handmade tofu, black tofu (which was kinda gross), fried beancurd and others.
Fish Filet was marinated. It looked pretty, but was filled with bones.
Cuttlefish dumplings look like sticks of wax, but cook up to be delectable chewy sticks with a hint of seafood.
Crab sticks.
Dumplings with roe — actually pretty darn good.
Raw beef with egg (you coat it in the egg and cook it).
Pig butt. Yup.
Luncheon Pork is one of my favorites and I got two orders. Basically spam, this stuff is soft and delicious.
Mini Sausage are fun.
Pork Meatballs were clearly house-made and the best I’ve had. Really tasty.
Fatty Beef. Delicious.
Beef Brisket. Moderately leaner.
Beef belly is also fatty and delicious.
Lamb shoulder was delicious. Too bad under all that spice one can barely tell the meats apart :-).
Probably also lamb shoulder or some other lamb cut.
Beef Tendon isn’t a white boy favorite, and is very gelatinous when cooked up, but tastes amazing (if you can handle the texture).
Pork is good too and needs to be cooked a bit longer.
A leaner beef cut.
It’s a bit crowded at the table and the uncooked food is on shelves at the edge of our alcove, a bit hard to get at.
Sure makes a big mess.
Check out the congealing spicy ox fat after it’s had a chance to cool down!
They have a funny timing game you can play once per table to “earn” a discount too.
Overall, service was great. Decor is good. Snack bar is best in class. Sauce bar is an A-, but still great. Plating is the best I’ve seen at hot pot and the flavor was spectacular. If you can handle spicy hot pot, this is one of THE places to go. Seriously it’s as good as a similar place in Chengdu or Chongqing!
It should be noted that only 2 of the six of us (Yarom and I) were brave enough to eat from the spicy side. I ate entirely spicy, consequences be damned! It’s well worth it, but part of the experience is the catharsis and adrenaline rush. Expect coughing in reaction to the toxic fumes and insanely great heat. Some intestinal distress is nearly guaranteed.
Afterward, to cool down, we went across the street to Meet Fresh.
Counter order Asian Shave Ice place.
Very nice decor.
Shave ice with various beans and taro pudding and the like.
Super mango shave ice with sweetened milk and ice cream. Yum Yum! Plus some milk teas and the like.
Flan shave ice with ice cream, two kinds of flan, various jellies and jiggly bits, and all sorts of other cool stuff.
Earlier in the year, Yarom and I hatched and plotted this particular all afternoon mega crawl at the Rowland Heights Mandarin Plaza — partially at least while sucking down some serious hot pot in said plaza. This place is far from LA proper, way out 40+ miles to the east but is in the heart of the “new Chinatown”.
Restaurant: Leung Kee
Location: 18908 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748
Date: August 3, 2019
Cuisine: Chinese BBQ
Rating: check: roast pig before noon
We start at 11am, “meating” (haha) up at the former Sam Woo BBQ, now Leung Kee Chinese BBQ.
It’s right smack in the middle of this huge mall that contains tons of Asian restaurants, including Chinese, Korean, Thai and more.
They do a lot of takeout biz, pigs and ducks and the like.
The space is typical old school SGV.
Boba must be a new thing.
The menu.
Tea comes in a mug!
And there is free eggdrop soup — which was pretty darn good.
Macau style roast pork. Must have just been reheated as it landed on our table in 2 seconds, but pretty tasty.
Crispy beef. Very fried, but very delicious.
Peking Duck. It wasn’t the best peking duck, maybe a bit soggy, but peking duck is always pretty good.
Buns instead of pancakes.
And sketchy extra duck meat — that was actually pretty good.
Overall, just fair. Pretty much what you’d expect. But I like pretty much all (real) Chinese food at a good bit.
Restaurant: Mandarin Bay Seafood
Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 839-7738
Date: August 3, 2019
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: check: Just ok
Next up, we leave the actual mall and cross the street on foot to:
Meet up with more people at noon at:
Cantonese Mandarin Bay Seafood Restaurant.
The gang (minus yours truly).
The takeout menu.
It’s noon, by 1 minute or so, so time for wine.
From my cellar, a touch too dry — bone dry rose sparkling from France.
Nice.
Second free soup of the day, hot and sour — this was not good hot and sour. I saved the stomach space.
Marinated Jellyfish. Vinegary and chewy good.
Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Salty, crunchy, very tasty.
Salt and pepper squid — somehow we ended up with the same prep twice. These were good too.
Ginger and Green Onion frog. Kinda fried, but the sauce was great.
Overall, Mandarin was fine too, but nothing super exciting.
Restaurant: Spicy Moment
Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-4966
Date: August 3, 2019
Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Rating: check: Surprisingly good, big menu
Next up we walked 2 doors down.
To a new style Szechuan place.
This is what I mean by new style. They still have the ugly drop ceiling, but they have made a tiny effort at decorating.
The menu is gargantuan.
This is a great wine on any day, and particularly great on a hot day with Chinese.
Recycled from the Vietnamese crawl.
Grilled pork jowl with Yunnan sauce. Delicious.
Fish in pickle pepper soup. This wasn’t spicy, but it was amazing. Really, really delicious. Soft tender fish and very distinct and lovely sour flavor.
Dry pot pork rib and shrimp. Also filled with potatoes to sop up the sauce. I generally like dry pot and this was particularly delicious. Lots and lots of flavor.
Black pepper lamb shoulder. Not spicy, but very tasty with a strong onion flavor.
Eggplant with garlic sauce. Fine rendition.
Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by Spicy Moment and would totally go back for a full meal. Plus they let us drink our wine on the down low. Menu is huge and execution was good — and interesting. It should be noted, that as of Feb/March 2020 Spicy Moment “rebooted” into a totally different, more homestyle Szechuan place with the same name. I have, of course, already eaten there.
Restaurant: Hunan Restaurant
Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 964-8458
Date: August 3, 2019
Cuisine: Hunan Chinese
Rating: check: Solid
Then we popped back to this spot:
Located in between the Mandarin Bay and Spicy Moment.
Hunan is more old school than Spicy Moment, but it also has a vast menu:
Vast menu.
More sweet wine.
And a rhone blend.
Peanuts.
Shredded minced pork with corn and pickled vegetable. Super tasty — pork really helps a veggie. Sure to make things really move along later.
Sautéed lamb. Tasty.
Crispy pork ribs with garlic and chilies. Lots of flavor, not so much meat.
Fish filet with fire cracker salt. Very delicious boiled fish with garlic and chilies.
Spicy pickled cucumbers. Also delicious. Generally a fan fave.
Overall, Hunan was also very good. Sort of a blend of (more old school) Szechuan AND Hunan, but who cares. It was excellent. While the pictures above cover what we ate during the crawl, I’ve also been to this place my specifically, and a more detailed write up can be found here.
Restaurant: Happy Tree House BBQ
Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886
Date: August 3, 2019
Cuisine: Chinese Skewers
Rating: check: hmmm
When I was spotting during the hot pot night, this place seemed intriguing.
Happy Tree BBQ. It’s a new style skewered meats place.
Very snazzy new interior.
Real coals.
And this warmer thing on the table where they put your skewers.
Powders.
Seaweed salad. Tastes like it looks.
Spicy octopus salad. Ok, but the sauce tasted a lot like Sriracha.
Beef skewers. Not bad.
Shrimp skewers. You eat shell and all.
Hot dogs. Well they didn’t call them that, but they basically are.
Chicken skin skewers. Crispy!
Lamb skewers. Pretty good too.
Chicken wing skewers. Just so so.
Overall, we were kinda disappointed in Happy Tree. Chinese skewers aren’t nearly as good as good Yakatori. They’re fine, but not super exciting. This place looks good, and is probably packed with young people on dates in the evening, but it just doesn’t feel as “Chinese” somehow. I’m not really sure where in China this kind of food is actually from.
Restaurant: Silk Road Garden
Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886
Date: August 3, 2019
Cuisine: Uyghur Chinese
Rating: check: great
So our final place is all the way west.
And merely across the parking lot next to the first spot.
It’s Uyghur Chinese like Dolans and has the decor to match. Very cute and intimate.
Being Uyghur doesn’t mean their menu is any smaller! They have skewers here too — I bet they would be better.
Garlic pickles. Nice crunchy garlicky cucumbers.
Yellow noodle with cumin lamb. Delicious tender cumin lamb on top of spaghetti-like noodles.
Meat and Vegetables in Homemade pastry. A giant golden meat pie. Extremely hot on the mouth, but tasty.
Special homemade noodle with minced beef. A western Chinese bolognese — tons of flavor. Nice thick al dente noodles.
Manti, meat and onion filled dumplings. These were superb, with really delicate skins. They could have used a dipping sauce though.
They had a little freezer of ice cream macarons.
Overall, I was also very pleasantly surprised by Silk Road. First rate execution. Small, intimate, and clearly cooked with precision. The dishes are typical of the region — half way between Shaanxi and Afghan — focused on lamb, and delicious.
In Summary, we only hit 6 of the perhaps 20+ restaurants in Mandarin plaza, and we “only” had 8 people, but we dined like Emperors on a cross China trek! Seriously, so much variety of style. The far SGV (aka Rowland and Hacienda Heights, Dimond Bar, etc) is where a lot of exciting culinary growth is.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
Chevy and Mary may have skipped the first place (the BBQ) but they made up for it by getting shave ice and boba tea!
