Back to the SGV for some more delicious and authentic Beijing-style food…
Archive for Chinese cuisine – Page 9
Restaurant: New Port Seafood
Location: 50 N la Cienaga Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA
Date: August 28, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese / Southeast Asian
Rating: almost the SGV in Beverly Hills
My Hedonist group has been out several times to the classic New Port Seafood in the SGV. Always a trek, but worth it. Well this hugely popular east side place has just opened a branch in Beverly Hills (actually, it’s on Restaurant Row in what I think of as West Hollywood).
It will be interesting to see how they do here in the land of overpriced theme restaurants. The menu has been trimmed down from the usual gigantic SGV scale.
The decor is certainly amped up from the SGV. Tonight, they aren’t really open yet but they agreed to let us in for a soft opening of sorts. We were the only real customers, with our giant party of 25! Plus all our wines.
I should note that with this giant (25 person?) group there is a really wide range of wine. I didn’t drink 2/3 of them and I’m not necessarily going to dig up reviews on all that stuff.
2004 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. IWC 94. Vivid yellow. High-pitched, mineral-accented aromas of pear, Meyer lemon, quince and jasmine, with smoke and toasted grain qualities adding bass notes. Spicy, penetrating and pure, boasting impressive vivacity to its fresh orchard and citrus fruit flavors. Gains weight and breadth with air while maintaining vivacity, picking up a gingery nuance that carries through a long, smoky finish. I’d bet on this taut, youthful Champagne rewarding many more years of patience.
The hardcore crew was in the lovely private room (which is actually open to the main dining room). My narrow 50mm lens couldn’t quite get it into frame.
From my cellar: 1994 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 91 points. Nicely aged white Burgundy with notes of butterscotch and citrus. It started promisingly but faltered pretty quickly in the mouth, dissolving into a dry, pithy finish.
2002 Remoissenet Père et Fils Corton-Charlemagne Diamond Jubilee. 89 points. A bit premoxed. Drinking ok now, but already too advanced.
Tofu and pig ear with five spices. A traditional Chinese thing. I wonder how the Beverly Hills crowd does with pig ear?
2012 Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc Dry Sauvignon Blanc.
2013 Kim Crawford Pinot Noir Marlborough.
2011 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. IWC 90. the 40th chardonnay vintage at this historic Calistoga winery): Bright, pale lemon-yellow. Crisp aromas of apple, citrus peel and white peppery, along with a light metallic quality. The palate offers bracing lemon zest and grapefruit pith flavors and strong acidity yet comes across as silky and tactile at the same time. Cool and spicy, but with a surprisingly glyceral quality for the year. The youthfully edgy finish suggests that this wine will need serious patience.
Chicken satay. The owners are actually Cambodian and there is a lot of Southeast Asian influence on the menu.
2010 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Narvaux. Burghound 90-92. A well-layered and distinctly cool nose of citrus rind, acacia blossom and spiced pear aromas gives way to intensely mineral-inflected, rich and vibrant medium-bodied flavors that culminate in an impressively long, complex and bone dry finish. This is a classic Narvaux of refinement and a taut muscularity.
2011 Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Narvaux. Lower acidity than the 2010. Still good though.
Fish bladder soup. I don’t know what they really call it, but the spongy texture thing in here (besides the egg whites) is the part of the fish that keeps it floating (so my Chinese friend told me).
This is one of those pleasant mild Chinese soups. A little vinegar (no, that isn’t blood) spices it up.
1995 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rotenberg Vendange Tardive. 94 points. Sweet, syrupy, thick sticky wine, tasting of apricots and honey. Very good. One of my favorite wines with the food.
1999 Weingut Robert Weil Riesling Kabinett. 91 points. Very nice. Possibly a little more sweet than expected for a kabinett.
Shrimp satay. Quite tasty.
From my cellar: 1989 Domaine Daniel Rion et Fils Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Beaux Monts. 91 points. Youthful appearance with an initial nose of sweet red fruits. Balanced and smooth on the palate. The remaing fruit is fresh and elegant, but a little thin on the finish. Nice, mature VR not over the hill.
2005 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Gevrey-Chambertin Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 86-89. A moderately toasty dark berry fruit nose reveals hints of Gevrey earth and leads to rich, full and attractively sweet flavors that deliver good punch if not much complexity on the tangy and dusty finish. This was clearly at an awkward stage in its evolution so my rating may be conservative.
Newport special lobster. This is the signature dish and we had about 8-10 of these (not kidding). A huge lobster with a really tasty black pepper and green onion sauce.
1996 Château Smith Haut Lafitte. IWC 89. Medium red. Warm aromas of redcurrant, hot gravel and tobacco. Supple and graceful in the mouth; not especially sweet but boasts rather penetrating flavor and firm framing acidity. Not quite as suave as this estate ’95; finishes with slightly tough tannins.
2004 Shafer Relentless. Parker 91. Celebrating 30 years of consistent quality and both critical and commercial success, this family run winery remains one of the most admirable operations in California. The Shafers have had tremendous success with their Relentless, which was first released in 1999. A blend of 80% Syrah and 20% Petite Sirah that spends 32 months in 100% new French oak, it is a remarkably consistent offering that rarely displays much oak. The Syrah is from Napa’s cool-climate Oak Knoll sector. One of the world’s most prodigious Cabernet Sauvignons is Shafer’s 2,000-case cuvee called Hillside Select. Always 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 100% new French oak for a whopping 32 months, it boasts a gorgeous track record dating back to the early nineties, and just about every recent vintage has flirted with perfection.
1996 Vineyard 29 Cabernet Sauvignon Grace Family Vineyard. IWC 87-89. Good deep red-ruby. Pretty aromas of black raspberry, flowers and spices. Juicy and a bit tight in the mouth, with pungent cedary oak and lively acids. Finishes with very good length and a note of coffee. This should put on more weight during its last months in barrel.
French style beef. Really this is a Vietnamese dish. Succulent filet in a black pepper sauce. Quite excellent.
2007 Newton The Puzzle. IWC 90+. Good bright ruby. Aromas of plum, dried cherry, leather, dark chocolate, coffee and mocha. Sweet and broad, showing a strong oakiness to the flavors of cassis, leather, licorice, espresso and German chocolate cake. Offers a fine-grained texture but slightly edgy acidity and strong dusty, building tannins will require several years to harmonize. Today the $25 Claret is a lot more fun to drink. (A second sample of equal quality showed stronger oak spices but a somewhat mellower finish.)
2006 Hundred Acre Vineyard Shiraz Ancient Way. 95 points. Great bottle of wine! go balance. had everything you can expect from a great australien shiraz!
agavin: I never know which vineyard these are with their new world “stylish” labels that are missing crucial information. I forgot to photo the back. They need some French wine law to require they actually stick the vineyard on the front.
Fried rice. Never a bad thing.
2000 Brothers in Arms Shiraz. 91 points.
2009 Bibi Graetz di Testamatta Toscana IGT. Young Sangiovese.
Manilla clams. With a kind of flavorful garlic sauce.
2009 Domaine Tollot-Beaut Chorey-Côte-de-Beaune.
Fried squid. Crispy, but a hair plain.
1999 Chapoutier Cote Rotie la Mordoree. Parker 95. Chapoutier’s La Mordoree cuvee is produced from 75-80-year old Syrah vines planted in both the Cote Blonde and Cote Brune, aged in 100% new oak casks, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration. The 1999 Cote Rotie La Mordoree is the finest he has produced since the 1991 (two bottles drunk over the last six months confirm this fabulous wine’s potential as it is just now beginning to emerge from a cloak of tannin). The 1999 has closed down since its pre-bottling tasting. The color is an inky purple, and the wine is dense and powerful, with notes of smoky blackberries, creosote, and espresso. Concentrated flavors reveal high levels of tannin (surprising in view of last year’s report), and a rich, long, 45-second finish. This impressive 1999 will take longer to reach its plateau of drinkability than I thought last year. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2023.
Walnut shrimp. The typical mayo sweet shrimp. I’ve had better, I’ve had worse of this dish.
1999 Torbreck The Factor. Parker 93. Deep garnet in color, the 1999 The Factor shows an earthy, meaty and gamey nose that is a little musky. Full-bodied and rich, it has medium levels of velvety tannins that hold up the concentrated and long, spicy finish. It is mature now and ready to drink.
Sweet and sour fish. It was nice and crispy, but the sauce was too sweet and mild.
2009 Margerum Syrah Black Oak Vineyard. 92 points.
Mustard greens and preserved meat. I think some kind of pork sausage which was great.
1970 Château Filhot Comtesse Durieu de Lacarelle. agavin 86 points. This was pleasant, but far over the hill. Sherry like notes.
Mango sticky rice. Thai, but still good.
This was the “kid’s table” where the dozen or so people who bring the “lesser wines” (or are very late) are banished too. We had about 15 at the other table.
Overall, New Port Seafood did a great job, particularly considering they weren’t even open yet. Several of the dishes were pretty much exactly the same as the original branch (lobster, beef, maybe the walnut shrimp). A few others felt a hair more mild and Westernized. I haven’t studied the menu to see how the prices compare. Our total tonight was reasonable and we pigged out. Seriously pigged out. They don’t yet have the giant crab, but promise they will. Still, it’s a LOT closer. I hope they do great!
For more LA dining reviews click here.
or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!
Yarom w/ the owner, Wendy Lam
Yarom with the manager
Restaurant: Sea Harbor Seafood Restaurant
Location: 3939 Rosemead Blvd. Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 288-3939
Date: June 11, 2014 & January 2, 2015 & May 17, 2021
Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum
Rating: In the top 5 SGV Dim Sum
This is a compilation of both a birthday trip my brother and I made to Sea Harbor Dim Sum, the latest in our crusade to visit all the best Dim Sum joints in the San Gabriel Valley, and a in force 20 person assault on the place later with my hedonist group.
I think Sea Harbor has been around for a long time and is one of the mainstays.
The interior is pretty typical.
On 5/17/21, not long after the lockdowns, they were also serving outside on the patio.
One of these nice color photo menus. The paper “checklist” you order with is only in Chinese, but we just use the numbers. This is made to order dim sum, which is much fresher than the cart style.
The sauce plate (like everything else, on request).
Paul Bara Champagne Grand Cru Brut Grand Rosé. AG 92. The Brut Rosé Grand Cru is bold, richly textured wine that literally bursts from the glass with impressive concentration. This shows gorgeous inner perfume yet remains a decidedly extroverted, singular wine. The weight of the Pinot comes through in spades. Readers who want to understand why the Grand Cru vineyards of Bouzy are so famous for Pinot and Rosé should start here.
Cucumber with garlic and spicy sauce.
Jellyfish with GongCai. Apparently the green stuff is “tribute vegetable.” I thought it was bits of asparagus or something. Jellyfish was good.
2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill. 93 points. No real sign of oak although it is fermented in mostly neutral oak with a bit of stainless steal. Wonderfully balanced, I want oysters with my next bottle! Great alternative to so many oaky Cali chards out there.
Chicken feet with Angelica in Meat Broth.
Spareribs in black bean sauce. Hideous, but they taste great.
From my cellar: 2012 Tenute Sella Coste della Sesia Majoli. 90 points. Deep red in the glass. This is a rosé with some weight, quite different from some of the nimble, mineral driven rosés from France. Dominant cherry tones, with a touch of Luden’s cherry drop. Clean finish. Potentially this could stand up to a more medium bodied dish, outside of the typical realm for other rosés. This is an unusual bottle, not often encountered – I’ve never seen Tenute Sella rosé for sale, anywhere.
Har Gow. A top version of the classic.
Siu Mai. Pork and shrimp dumpling. Also classic. These are the “normal” (non jumbo size) and tasted great.
Siu Mai with Truffle. I think the truffle is actually a negative.
196x August E. Anheuser Riesling Spätlese Kreuznacher. 78 points. Fallen in cork. A color light like muddy oily rainwater, but surprisingly still sweet and vaguely drinkable.
Bean curd skin roll with seafood. These always look ugly, and they have a funny texture, but I tend to like them.
Ginger chicken & pork bun. These are stuffed with a meat ball that has a very pronounced ginger flavor. Interesting and quite good.
1979 Morandell Grüner Veltliner Trockenbeerenauslese Ruster. 98 points. Not totally sure of the year, certainly from the 70s, but this amber bit of syrup knocked our socks off. Spectacular nectar.
Fish roe with scallop dumpling. A very elegant seafood dumpling.
Steamed shrimp paste with corn and pea dumpling. The two of us were split on this fellow. I liked them, as they had a dense texture and a nice corn/pea taste. My brother wasn’t a fan.
2002 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett. 89 points. Delicate scents of fresh strawberry, lemon, honey and vanilla. Bright and tingling in the mouth, with the sensation of fresh strawberries right down to their tiny whiskers. Quite refreshing yet adamantly slatey in the finish.
Pork, peanut & celery dumpling. Interesting. A little mild, with steamed peanuts.
Juicy pork bun (XLB). A nice version of this most awesome food.
2011 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. IWC 90. Elegant aromas of cherry, acacia blossom and pine nut. Succulent and creamy on the palate, tinged with nuances of herbs, nuts and vanilla. With fine balance, this spatlese finishes with an underlying sense of slate.
France style baked BBQ pork bun. I have no idea what is “France style” about these, but they had a delightful, light, and crispy outside (slightly sweet) and were filled with a yummy sweet BBQ pork mix flavored with cilantro. Very unusual and very good.
Thai Style Tofu with Chicken Broth. Awesome soft fried tofu with a sweet and tangy sauce.
2009 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Kabinett. IWC 90. Delicate aromas of peach, candied lemon and nut oil. Glossy and quite full-bodied but elegant, this riesling tastes crisp and pure. The clean finish features lime and discreet slate. A textbook kabinett and one of the finest of the vintage.
Beef ball in superior soup. These reconstituted beef balls had a spongey texture that I liked, and a very nice beefy flavor.
Deep fried pork dumpling. Tasty, but as usual for this type, too little filling.
2012 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brulees Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 91-93. A strikingly complex nose features notes of Vosne spice, black cherry, plum and sandalwood. There is first-rate intensity and verve to the beautifully well-detailed medium weight flavors that display plenty of minerality and dry extract on the firm and austere finish that delivers marvelous length. This is also an exercise in harmony allied with finesse.
Ginger Chicken & Pork Bun.
Classic steamed pork bun.
Pan grilled spinach pork bun.
Never seen this one before, but it was pleasant.
Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce.
2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard. Burghound 92. An attractively layered and fresh ripe red berry fruit and overtly floral nose offers excellent complexity that continues onto the rich but elegantly rendered medium-bodied flavors that possess a seductive texture and perfect balance on the lingering finish. This should age extremely well as everything is in perfect proportion.
Sautéed sichuan runner beans with minced pork. A decent version of this classic. The beans were crunchy and the pork tasty, but it was hard to get on the chopsticks!
Steamed rice noodle with BBQ pork (aka “pork slime”). Almost certainly the best pork slime I’ve had — and I’ve had a lot.
Steamed rice noodle with shrimp.
2006 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Precious Mountain. Burghound 90. The nose possesses very impressive aromatic complexity with a lovely mix of both red and blue berry fruit notes, spice hints and a gentle touch of wood toast that does not continue onto the supple, round and vibrant flavors that display good mid-palate density on the slightly dry and tangy finish that does not really detract significantly from the overall sense of balance. We’ll see how this turns out but it appears to have the dry extract to round out the finish in time.
Crystal noodle with fresh shrimp. The shrimp were tasty. This dish was fine, although not outstanding. The noodles had this worm-like slippery quality.
Sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf. An okay (but not spectacular) version of this. The rice additives could have used more flavor.
Sticky rice with preserved meats. Awesome salty and complex flavor.
Fried rice with dry scallop and egg white. A nice salty rice.
2013 Opolo Vineyards Zinfandel Mountain Zinfandel.
Assorted seafood fried crispy noodle. I love this dish, and this version didn’t disappoint. It was probably a 8 to Elite’s 9, but still great.
Deep fried durian puff. Not for everyone, but interesting all the same. Inside, lots of durian with the texture of rotten banana and the flavor of… petrol? Seriously long and complex finish. Weird!
Steamed Preserved Salty Egg Yolk Bun.
A house specialty. Eggy goodness inside. More sweet and sticky than salty. Mostly. Very tasty.
Overall, Sea Harbor was very satisfying, but perhaps a tiny notch below some of the others we have been trying recently like Elite or King Hua. Except for a couple stellar dishes like the pork slime or france style bun are so good, it makes you wonder. Certainly this place is great and you can’t lose.
An update from May of 2021 shows that Sea Harbor, even post pandemic, still has a top notch dim sum kitchen. The interior is in a bit of disarray, and they were out of a few things, but the food quality was still excellent.
They also might have laid on the MSG because I got an outsized dim sum coma that lasted for hours. Granted, dim sum always gives me a head buzz, but this was a little more than usual.
Location: 500 West Main Street Suite A, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 308-3222
Date: April 29, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum
Rating: Excellent
My brother and I continue our epic quest to sample all the top San Gabriel Valley dim sum restaurants. I’ve actually been to Lunasia before, for a big Cantonese Banquet, but this is my first trip here for dim sum (which is really their specialty).
Pictures are helpful, even for a dim sum veteran.
Jumbo shrimp har gow. As good a version as I’ve had.
Jumbo pork siu mai. Perhaps more succulent and tender than many.
Spinach shrimp dumplings. I’d swear these also had scallops in them. Interesting (and tasty). A different mealier texture to the skin.
Baked chicken bun. Full of meat and flavor, probably a bit better than at King Hua.
BBQ pork buns. Excellent rendition. Shanghai #1 might have the best of these.
Pork dumplings. This is the sticky fried mochi variety. They are slightly sweeter and have a wonderful texture.
Shrimp rice noodles. Great sauce and a nice version of this dish too.
Crispy Shrimp Roll. These have a lovely light crunchy texture. They came with a mayo! But I thought they went better with the sweet duck sauce.
Shanghai pork dumplings (XLB). The inside of these favorites (and we got 3 tins) were filled with really solid little pork balls. They tasted great, but Elite’s were certainly better (with a lighter thinner skin).
Hong Kong Roasted Duck. Tasty, but a little boney.
Duck sauce for the duck.
Sticky rice wrap. The classic lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice.
Here is the inside. I know it’s not the loveliest, but it was good.
Pan-fried vermicelli Singapore Style. My brother and I got this dish as kids — and it’s still just as good.
Egg yolk buns. Like Chinese Cadbury Eggs!
Sweet yolk inside! Kinda different, and very sweet.
Macao Egg Custard. This version was a little eggy.
Overall, another fabulous dim sum place. It’s hard to say which is best among Shanghai #1, Elite, King Hua, and this, as each has certain dishes they do better. Really just an embarrassment of riches.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
Restaurant: King Hua
Location: 2000 W Main St, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 282-8833
Date: April 14, May 15, and August 2, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum
Rating: Maybe the best yet in town
My brother and I continue our epic quest to find the best dimsum in Southern California. King Hua was one of our top picks so I also brought my Hedonist friends by. This post combines several meals for an epic review of the cuisine. Wines are from the August 2 Hedonist lunch.
The menu (with photos!)
2002 Delamotte Champagne Blanc de Blancs Millésimé. Burghound 91. A relatively high-toned nose of green apple, baker’s yeast, floral and citrus peel hints precedes the distinctly effervescent, even slightly foamy flavors that possess good depth on the bone dry finish. This is clearly still on its way up as the focused finish is still compact and while this is certainly refreshing and there is enough depth present to make for an interesting drink, it will be better in due course. In sum, there is good development potential and will especially please those who prefer very dry vintage Champagne.
BBQ pork. I like this kind with the sweet soy sauce.
Roast chicken. Moist and succulent.
Jelly fish. Crunchy texture and a bit of a kick. What isn’t to love. Check out the jiggle below.
Chicken salad bun. One might wonder what’s in here exactly:
Chopped up chicken and stuff. Tasted good though. The outside was sweet.
From my cellar: 2011 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Saint-Aubin 1er Cru en Remilly Cuvée Nicholas et Mathis. 93 points. I’ve been drinking a lot of this wine. Really fabulous young 1re cru. Lots of acid and strong vanilla notes.
Baked BBQ pork pastry. Pretty much flaky bun stuffed with sweet BBQ pork!
Steamed shrimp and scallop dumpling.
Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf.
Poached mustard green. Good thing Foodie Club co-founder Erick’s wife was there to order a vegetable.
2012 Gilbert Picq Chablis 1er Cru Vosgros. Burghound 90-92. A beautifully well-layered nose features notes of mineral reduction, green fruit and ocean breeze nuances. There is impressive scale to the concentrated and powerful medium weight flavors that are both intense saline and mineral-inflected on the mouth coating and lingering finish. As is usually the case this is less refined than the Vaucoupin but there’s better underlying material.
Shrimp and Pork Dumpling (Shu Mai). Erick’s 4th grade daughter dubbed these “meat popsicle” (she eats them impaled on a chopstick).
Chicken feet in black bean sauce.
Pork dumpling supreme. With a title like that, who could refuse. Both the dumplings and the broth were delicious.
Here is a bowl of it.
Pan Grilled Pork Bun w/ dried scallop.
Mixed filling in here.
2004 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. IWC 89. Apricot, lemon oil and a hint of flint on the nose. The succulent tropical fruit flavors are nicely balanced and framed by mineral salts. More appealing than complex on the finish, but makes for excellent drinking.
Shrimp dumpling (har gow). Excellent classic.
Steamed dumplings with pork, peanuts, and veggies. Yummy.
Another dumpling, not sure what was inside, but it was good.
Steamed dumplings with chestnut and shrimp. Really awesome, with a nice crunch.
Steamed shrimp and pea tips dumplings.
Lobster and shrimp dumpling. Really tasty.
Pork & Shrimp dumpling in broth. Very tasty, but hard to split.
Interesting seafood and mushroom inside.
2003 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. 90 points. Apricot preserves, gardenia, quince and honey in the nose. On the palate, quince and honey are accented by brown spices. Fat and creamy but buoyant and elegant. Long and refined on the finish, with its high residual sugar admirably buffered.
Steamed pork dumpling (XLB). Add vinegar and happily burn one’s mouth. These are the bomb, although perhaps the ones at elite are a hair better.
Deep fried durian puff. Hmmm.
Steamed Chinese sausage bun. Like Chinese pig in a blanket.
Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Awesome classic.
Shrimp rice noodles. Good version.
Rice Crepes with Steamed Spareribs. This was different than I expected. The meat is pretty hideous, and quite fatty, but boy, did it taste good. Really succulent. The rice crepes rolled this way feel a bit thick, and not as soft and pleasant as the enchilada style.
Deep fried shrimp roll w/ seaweed. Pretty awesome, like a fried shrimp California roll.
1976 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive. 94 points. A testament to what a great vintage 1976 was for the top alsacians. This wine has kept all the fruit flavours but is now no longer sweet, more off dry. Super complex and just perfectly balanced. Really hard to put the glass down as the fantastic nose lures you back. Notes of honey, nuts and exotic fruit.
Deep fried pork dumpling. Delicious almost sweet interior with a chewy outside.
Here you can see the porky inside.
Sticky rice on lotus leaf with shrimp and XO sauce. Pretty awesome actually.
Bean curd with vegetables. Delicious.
Fried tofu. Hot, soft, and tasty.
Deep fried tofu in abalone sauce. I like the sauce. This was a bit heavier, but tasty.
Deep fried dumplings with shrimp. Sort of an amazing shrimp empanada!
1996 Champalou Vouvray Trie de Vendange. 93 points. Rich gold and really nice.
Fish balls in curry sauce. The squid-like things are noodles. The sauce was very strong.
Fried Noodle & Vermicelli with XO sauce. An excellent version of this Singaporean classic.
Fried Spareribs. Really, really amazing. Gross looking, yeah, but tasted oh so good. The fried balls on the left were some kind of fried custard. Bizarre but yummy.
Roast pork belly with jellyfish. Odd combo, but the jellyfish are good and the pork nice and moist.
Mango pudding. Weird thick texture, but very mild and refreshing.
Coconut and almond jelly. I like this stuff, kind of like cookies and cream jello.
Custard egg tart. Yum again.
King hua coconut roll. Like a sweet roll stuffed with coconut custard. Awesome.
I have to say, King Hua was awesome, even by the competitive standards of the SGV. I’ve tried lots of good places, but on average, this might be one of the best so far. There is real variety here, and everything is very fresh. If you like dimsum, don’t fear the drive. What we have in LA proper just can’t compare.
Restaurant: Elite Restaurant [1, 2, 3]
Location: 700 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-9998
Date: April 8, September 22, October 29, 2014, April 18, 2015, August 22, 2015, February 21, 2022, and many other times
Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum
Rating: 31337
This post is a composite of several trips to Elite (necessary to get a true handle on its greatness). These include two 2015 Hedonist blowout brunches (with wine) and several with my brother (who is also a dimsum fiend).
Elite is clearly one of the top 2-3 dimsum places in the SGV (and hence all of Southern California). Many of our group think it’s the best one. Everything is made to order.
Elite is at the top of many people’s list.
The interior is upscale, but hardly the most modern. There are tanks hidden in the corner and they serve upscale Cantonese banquet in the evening.
Yay pictures!
A controversial thing about Elite is that they charge for sauce. $0.75 for the mustard on the left and $3 for the XO. The restaurant is so cheap, it hardly matters.
Spicy jellyfish. Not bad at all.
Chicken feet in house sauce. Not my thing, but some like it.
Har Gow (Crystal shrimp). Excellent versions of the standard.
Pork Shui-Mai. Also great versions of the classic.
Dumpling. Not sure which dumpling this was, but it had a blend of shrimp and veggies and other yummies all fried together inside.
Scallop Dumpling. This was one of the best scallop dumplings I’ve had. There are all sorts of trefy goodies in there.
Meat and Mushroom dumpling. Another cool shape. Delicious too.
Shark’s fin and red clam dumpling. Hopefully no actual sharkfin (feel bad for those finless sharks). However, this was a delightfully clammy dumpling.
Dumpling. This one had peanuts and some other seafood bits inside.
Fried shrimp dumpling. There is a mild white sauce behind. This dumpling had an interesting coconut flavor to the interior.
Shanghai Style Steamed Bun. We love XLB, and these particular examples were awesome. My brother and I snarfed a tin each on at least 2 trips.
“Free” Sauces. A sweet one on the left (for duck and the like) and the XLB sauce on the right.
Tofu wrap. Mostly vegetables wrapped in bean curd. Hot and soft and delicious.
Shrimp with chow fun roll. Basically one of the chow fun “slimes” cut into a cut roll.
Spinach pancake?
Golden Corn BBQ Pork Rice Noodle. Historically in our family we called these “slime.” This was some excellent slime.
Shrimp Rice Noodle. One of the most classic of the “slimes.” An excellent one too.
Crispy Shrimp Rice Noodle. I’ve never had a “slime” like this before. There was a big shrimp in here sort of Chinese tempura fried. Delicious.
Shredded Pork Rice Noodle. Not the best of the set.
Elite BBQ Pork Bun. Like a jelly donut, just filled instead with porky goodness!
The bun interiors.
Baked chicken bun. Delicious slightly sweet crunchy exterior top filled with chopped seasoned chicken meat.
Fried Meat Stuff Dumpling. With a title like that, I had to order. This was the chewy fried rice coating with sweet ground meat paste inside. Kinda delicious except it was fairly hollow (not enough filling).
Baked BBQ pork dumpling. Little flakey. pastry triangles stuffed with the usual red BBQ pork.
Fried shrimp ball with almond. This is the usual shrimp cake but coated in almond. It really added a nice texture. Quite fun.
Beef ball.
Macau style pork belly. What it looks like!
Chicken wings.
House Roasted Duck. The duck does not suck. In fact, it was great. There was that usual authentic Chinese bone factor, but the taste was first rate.
Spare Ribs. The fatty creepy-looking spare ribs.
Beef short rib in pepper sauce. Like a bulgolgi pepper-steak.
Pork “leg” with lotus root and peanuts. “leg” turned out to mean feet. Ick.
Soy sauce chicken. The usual mild and tender chicken.
Chinese Broccoli.
Some other slightly different green.
Buddhas delight.
Spicy mushroom caps. Just mushrooms in brown sauce. Didn’t seem spicy.
Sticky Rice Lotus Leaf Wrap. Also excellent. Full of goodies.
The rice interior.
Salty Fish Fried Rice. Not for everyone, but quite delicious to my taste (very umami).
Elite fried rice. A bit of everything.
Seafood Chow Mein. Those crispy little noodles I love soaked in a seafood sauce. Great noodle dish.
Beef chow mein. Excellent, although I liked the seafood a bit better.
Salt and pepper prawns. Eat them shell and all giant prawns. Yum.
The Lobster Noodle was only $16. Unfortunately, it was the weakest dish. The meat itself was okay, but the sauce was bland and the noodles over cooked. We barely ate the noodles (although we did finish the lobster).
Durian bun. One of the best Durian buns I’ve had. With a really creamy mushy (banana texture) interior with that weird but yummy Durian flavor (rotten bananas with pineapple and petrol?)
Macau Egg Tart. Nice custard pies. Just a smidgen inferior to Shanghai #1’s version, but still fabulous.
Milk Buns. Filled with almond creme filling. Scrumptious.
A custard filled bun.
Almond milk pastry. Under that pastry shell is a sweet almond soup.
All in all, Elite really lives up to the name, serving some seriously tasty classic Cantonese Dimsum. They also have a great banquet menu for evenings. Some of the set banquets even go up to $2800 (a table?) and involve all sorts of epic dishes like suckling pig with foie gras!
A large percentage of my fiends who go to dimsum think it’s the best in the SGV. I personally think it’s about tied with King Hua. Certainly Elite, King Hua, and Lunasia are at the top, and there is a tier slightly below including Sea Harbor and maybe Shi Hai.
For more Chinese dining reviews click here.
On our April 18, 2015 brunch we had three tables in a private room and a lot of wine. Since it’s pointless to “pair” it, I’ll just list the bottles.
NV Angéline Godel Champagne.
1998 Deutz Champagne Blanc de Blancs. JG 92+. Tart and crisp. Clean and refreshing but not a lot of subtle aged champagne flavors poking out.
NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve. VM 90. Light, bright gold. Fresh red berries, orange zest and white flowers on the perfumed nose. Juicy and precise, offering energetic redcurrant and blood orange flavors that show good concentration and a supple texture. A mineral nuance adds bite to the finish, with the floral note echoing.
NV Taittinger Champagne La Française Brut. Burghound 88. An overtly yeasty nose speaks of apple and a hint of petrol. There is good verve to the delicious if only moderately complex flavors that are underpinned by a medium level of effervescence on the clean and reasonably dry finish. This is one of those wines that has no faults but no major attributes either.
1996 Kistler Chardonnay Dutton Ranch. VM 94. Green-gold. Extraordinarily penetrating, musky, Burgundian aromas are a cross between Chassagne truffle and herbs and Meursault roasted grain and toasted nuts (and the structure is akin to that of a Puligny). Great purity and intensity of fruit in the mouth; sharply focused and restrained today, with near-perfect fruit/acid balance. Finishes with terrific grip and palate-staining persistence.
2013 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Chardonnay Karia. 87 points. Aromatic nose with barrel notes and lemon. Medium weight textured palate emulates the bouquet, fairly pure fruit leads to a medium plus finish. Very toasty but fruit has some elegance.
2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Heritage Compagni Portis. VM 91. Melon, white pears, green pears, mint and jasmine lift out of the glass in the 2012 White Compagni Portis Heritage, which emerges from a site planted in 1954. This crisp, beautifully aromatic white field blend is an excellent choice for drinking over the next few years.
2011 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Golden Slope. VM 92. Light yellow-gold. Heady, complex scents of poached pear, lemon curd, toasty lees and iodine, with a bright floral quality gaining strength with air. Sappy, penetrating orchard fruit and candied ginger flavors stain the palate, with notes of anise, honey and smoky minerals contributing complexity. Powerful yet lithe chardonnay with superb finishing focus and spicy persistence. I’d bet on this wine as a cellar candidate.
2012 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill. VM 92. The 2012 Chardonnay White Hill is bright, focused and tightly wound. Lemon peel, crushed rocks, pear and smoke jump from the glass as the 2012 shows off its energetic personality. The style is focused and taut, especially with the style of the Sta. Rita Hills. Imagine a Chablis like sense of energy with the depth and radiance of California. If that sounds like an appealing combination, well, it is! the 2012 was done mostly in neutral oak, with some of the wine seeing only stainless steel.
2012 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet. Burghound 89. Here too there is enough reduction to push what appears to be ripe fruit to the background. The pure and well-detailed middle weight flavors possess a highly seductive mouth feel along with lovely balance and excellent persistence for a villages level wine. The class of a fine Puligny is very much in evidence and this is worth your attention.
2010 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc. VM 91-4. Pale straw-yellow. Lemon, chamomile, vanilla, ginger and a faint lactic nuance on the restrained, minerally nose. Pliant and sweet in the mouth, offering good concentration and fat to the vinous lemon, guava and grapefruit flavors. Very minerally on the long finish, showing lingering notes of peach, vanilla and coconut. This should age splendidly and will probably be at its best between 2020 and 2035.
From my cellar: 2010 Domaine de Saint-Just Saumur Chateau Brézé – Clos David. 90 points. A geeky dry Chenin I wanted to try with dimsum. Turned out to work well, bright and floral at the same time. Peach and pear.
1999 Bert Simon Serriger Herrenberg Riesling Auslese. 93 points. Medium yellow in color. Lovely aromas of sweet summer orchard pit fruit compote, lemon-grass, flint, hint of petrol and honeysuckle. A thick, viscous palate shows good depth to the quite cooked yellow fruits, creamy vanilla poached pears and minerals on a long and sweet finish.
2009 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. VM 93. Exotic bouquet of passion fruit and mango, lifted by fine floral nuances. The wine’s luscious peach pit flavor and velvety texture are given shape and verve by a finely chiseled minerality. Dense yet airy, this spatlese boasts great refinement and stunning length. One of the stars of the vintage.
2013 Dönnhoff Norheimer Kirschheck Riesling Spätlese. VM 91. Brilliant aromas and flavors of apple, cherry blossom and oyster shell enlivened by herbal spices. At once dense and juicy, with finely chiseled acidity refreshing the palate. This delicate, well-balanced Riesling finishes in its own pure and invigorating style. While this is often my favorite Spätlese at this estate, my nod this year goes to the Hermannshöhle.
2006 Louis Guntrum Niersteiner Rehbach Riesling Spätlese. 85 points.
2010 Domaine Joseph Roty Marsannay. Burghound 88. Moderate wood still allows the ripe aromas of black cherry, cassis and a hint of underbrush to show through. There is a lovely vibrancy to the cool and delicious flavors that possess solid depth and length in the context of the appellation. This should drink well early on if desired yet reward mid-term cellaring as well.
1976 Bonneau du Martray Corton. 93 points. Very mature, but with a good bit of fruit and all sorts of secondary and tertiary complexity.
2012 Freestone (Joseph Phelps) Pinot Noir Freestone Vineyards. Burghound 89. There is a trace of menthol to the notably ripe aromas of essence of black cherry and plum scents. The medium-bodied and solidly well-concentrated flavors possess a lush and very round mouth feel before terminating in a dusty and generously proportioned finish. The supporting tannins are well-integrated and while there isn’t great depth at present the underlying material is such that more should develop with a few years of bottle age.
2012 Bedrock Wine Co. Zinfandel Old Vine. VM 90. Vivid ruby. Pungent, high-pitched aromas of cherry skin, raspberry, licorice and lavender, with a bright mineral topnote. Juicy and incisive, with sappy dark berry and bitter cherry flavors. Supple tannins add grip to the spicy, floral finish.
Supervising the remains. The two of us ate EVERYTHING pictured above!
A sign of of the authentic Chinese kitchen
Restaurant: Beijing Resteraunt
Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. Ste B2. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 570-8598
Date: April 20 & Sept 7, 2014 & May 30, 2015 & March 3, 2019
Cuisine: Beijing Style Chinese
Rating: Really tasty
Ah, the riches of the SGV (San Gabriel Valley), so many delicious Chinese regional cuisines to chose from. Tonight’s entry is Beijing Restaurant, in the very same minimall as Shanghai #1.
Boiled peanuts are a traditional opener all across China.
From my cellar: 1994 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese. 92 points. Tons of petrol, still sweet, but not too sweet. A great wine with this food.
Cold cabbage salad (3/3/19). Like Chinese coleslaw, quite delicious actually and very refreshing.
Cold cucumber salad (3/3/19). Not quite as good as the cabbage salad, but very good, with a cucumber cilantro taste.
Cold garlic pork (3/3/19). Slices of roast pork and a garlic sauce.
Shredded potato. Cold. The “mild” version of this dish. Like vinegar potato sticks.
Squirrel fish (3/3/19). Fried whole fish with tangy sweet and sour sauce. Nice.
Fried sweet garlic fish. I used to get this dish as a kid at a restaurant called Szechuan in DC. I don’t think it’s actually a Schezuan dish, but it Beijing’s version was delicious. Like fish and chips in goopy sweet sauce. Doesn’t sound so great, but it is.
Lobster (3/3/19). Lobster with garlic in a light breading. Tasty.
2005 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. 92 points. This was beautiful and in a great spot. An expressive nose that struck a fine balance between expressive floral notes, vibrant fruit, and chalk. On the palate the wine exploded in the mid-palate with a melange of stone & tropical fruits with a long mineral driven finish. Outstanding, my favorite Riesling of the night.
Meat pancakes. Sort of like a scallion pancake (and there are scallions inside).
But also one of those delicious Chinese meat patties (pork or beef?). Oily and scrumptious.
Leek pie. The vegetarian variant.
1990 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Vieilles Vignes. 90 points. Medium yellow in color this seems to be an off bottle. Very earthy on the nose, maybe too much so. Very dry. Not a terrible wine but not what this wine should be.
Peking duck (3/3/19). The meat carved in that style with a bit of skin on each piece. Pancakes and the usual scallions, cucumber, and hoisin. A very solid duck. Not as good as in Beijing, but very good.
Duck meat in soy sauce (3/3/19). Also with the duck came this Shanghai-esque dish with various duck meat in a sweet soy sauce. Lots of gamey duck taste. Delicious.
Eggs and pork. This has to be a homestyle dish. Scrambled eggs, pork, in a sweet and sour sauce. In fact, it tasted like great hot and soul soup. Really, really fabulous. Not fancy, just fabulous.
Eggs and tomato. Again, the vegetarian variant.
2012 Loosen Bros. Riesling. 84 points. Too sweet for me. Nose is full of flowery notes and little bit of honey. Short finish.
Cumin lamb. A fine version of this typical Western Chinese dish.
2012 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spätlese. IWC 94. Seductive aromas of mango, banana, sweet herbs and honey. Rich, spicy tropical fruit flavors show a vague hint of botrytis and creamy depth. Certainly a touch on the sweet side, but nicely balanced and intriguingly long, this is one of the best spatleses of the vintage.
Lamb blintzes. I don’t know what else to call them. Inside the panfried crepe was a lamb version of that ground meat yummy stuff.
Meat pies. A different shaped take on the same basic ingredients, in this case pork and leeks, like in a potsticker. This has a higher meat to dough ratio and the thick skin holds in the yummy juices, so is one of the best.
Dry hot pot. This wasn’t actually ours, they just put it on our table by accident for a second.
Dry hot pot (3/3/19). You can pick what goes in here. I added bean curd, luncheon meat, wood ear mushroom, lotus root, etc. It had a great flavor and nice crisp textures.
2012 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Kabinett. IWC 89. Fresh bouquet of pear, apple blossom and lemon zest. Delicately sweet on the palate, with a nice interplay of apricot and luscious citricity. Lip-smacking elegance on an appealing finish. A textbook kabinett.
Schezuan chicken. A drier peanut free kung pao. Might sometimes be called twice cooked. This had a LOT of taste, and both red Schezuan peppers (heaven facing?) and Schezuan peppercorns — for that tongue numbing effect.
Kung Pao Chicken. A more straight up version with softer meat chunks and the peanuts.
Cumin Lamb. With cilantro and onion. Really tasty dish.
Meat balls and cabbage (3/3/19). Not sure I’ve had this exact variant before. Meatballs were slightly sweet. I enjoyed it, as I usually like Chinese cabbage dishes and this was even better with the meat balls.
Soy sauce fried rice. Very tasty, with shrimp, egg, and bits of a spam like stuff in there.
Pork dumplings. These aren’t the lightest or most elegant dumpling I’ve ever had, but with a little vinegar they were pretty delicious.
Crystal shrimp. This hot pot contained all sorts of Schezuan pepper goodness, cabbage, and…
These flavorful little shrimp. The sauce was awesome over rice too.
2006 Clarendon Hills Grenache Old Vines Romas. IWC 94. Vivid ruby. Exotic Asian spices and smoky minerals accent fresh raspberry and boysenberry on the nose; shows more perfumed anise, patchouli and vanilla notes with aeration. Sweet black raspberry and cherry-vanilla flavors are sharpened by tangy minerals but betray no rough edges. This really stains the palate, leaving deep dark berry liqueur and candied floral notes behind, eventually. This is irresistible now.
Lamb burger. Roast lamb on a weird Western Chinese bread. The meat was tasty, the bread kinda heavy.
Shrimp and Spam. The same shrimp, and the yummy spam-like stuff in a dry hot pot.
Spareribs. Tasty hot cumin laced fried pork ribs.
Pork Noodles. The noodles were a little heavy and pan fried, but it was certainly tasty. Green beans, garlic, and pork round it out.
Cabbage and egg? Another homestyle dish of cabbage, egg, pork, mushrooms, and maybe even some spam. Really tasty tough.
Toothpick lamb. Another lamb dish, very similar to the skewers.
Cabbage. I have to say, this was probably the best cabbage dish I’ve ever had. How can a vegetable this humble be so tasty? Maybe it was the porky soy sauce.
Broccoli with garlic. Pretty straight up.
Eggplant in garlic sauce (3/3/19). A nice version of this dish. Not the spicy kind, which I prefer slightly, but still good.
String beans (3/3/19). Always like this dish. Solid version, some crunch on the beans.
Ma Po Tofu. Always one of my favorite dishes. This version had that numbing delicious schezuan flavor. It wasn’t super hot though.
Xia Xia Noodles. You mix all the stuff together and…
This savory concoction emerges. The sauce is a sort of sweet and tangy meat sauce.
Roast Mutton. Delicious fatty cuts of BBQ lamb (mutton being older sheep) with a spicy powder. Quite rich and flavorful.
Crispy beef. The pure form of this classic beef and celery dish.
Crispy potatoes. Like chinese potato sticks! Nice and very crispy.
Vermicelli. This was a nice savory dish with bits of pork and a silken texture to the noodles.
Some gelato by me on 3/3/19:
Noce e Heath Gelato – trying out my new Northern Italian Walnut I decided it needed something else, and something sweet, so Heath bar seemed to fit the bill — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #walnut #noce #HeathBar #heath #toffee
Danish Lakrids Licorice Gelato – I haven’t made this in 2 years and wanted to update the recipe. Polarizing, but surprisingly addictive — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #lakrids licorice #LoveItOrHateIt
Apricot Aperol Sorbetto – This is an old RnR favorite but I haven’t made it a while. Apricots from Avignon — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #sorbetto #apricot #aperol
Overall, I was very impressed with Beijing Restaurant. My first two feasts here ran $27 and $24 each with tax and a huge tip. The third was $38, but we ordered 12 dishes for 4 people! It wasn’t fancy, but nearly every dish was incredibly tasty. Really good fun. The cuisine has a western feel, lots of Schezuan elements and dishes. I love that stuff. It’s also breadier, or doughier than many other areas of China.
Restaurant: Mandarin
Location: Saigon
Date: March 23, 2014
Cuisine: Vietnamese / Cantonese
Rating: solid
Our second night in Saigon lead us to this upscale Vietnamese / Cantonese placed called “Mandarin” (like the lame fake villain in Iron Man III).
The dining room is lovely. And another menu the size of Texas:
Fresh spring rolls with shrimp and pork. Not as good as some, these had a slight medicinal taste (some herb?).
Or maybe it was the slightly strange plum sauce.
Pan fried rice pancakes with shrimp mouse. The mouse was the standard Chinese (and Vietnamese shrimp ball material). Fairly mild.
Slightly spicy fish sauce.
Fried soft-shell crabs with da lat lemon sauce. Good and crunchy.
Special king prawn. This guy was huge, and pretty, but a bit of a disappointment as the meat was bland.
Tea to clean the fingers.
Salty beef in bamboo. It was on fire, which is always cool.
And tasted pretty good.
Sticky rice in lotus leaf. Certainly lovely presentation. The rice itself was good, pretty typical.
Roasted duck Mandarin style. We had thought this might be Peking duck, but no, it was this boneless duck in a sweet lemony sauce. Like lemon chicken but duck. Still tasty.
Grilled eggplant with onion.
Mandarin was solid, but nothing amazing. And it was considerably more expensive than most Vietnamese places. Certainly it was interesting, offering a lovely setting and serving up a hybrid Vietnamese and Cantonese cuisine.
For more Vietnam dining reviews, click here.
Restaurant: Air China First Class
Location: somewhere over Alaska
Date: March 20, 2014
Cuisine: Chinese?
Rating: not bad for a plane
So to open up the first meal of my 2014 Asia trip what better than some plane food, in this case, Air China First Class (yay miles) on the way over Alaska.
‘nuf said.
Our menu this afternoon.
2011 Hospices de Beaune Volnay 1er Cru Cuvée Blondeau. 88 points. The nose was dominated by oak, which continued to distract on the palate. But to find a 1re cru Burg on a plane? Way too young, but nice pinot notes.
A number of small appetizers.
Shrimp with prosciutto.
A number of cured meats, mayo, cheese, etc things which tasted decent but are a bit odd to the modern American palette. The left might be pastrami!
And a tuna and salmon one.
Then round two, more Chinese style.
Baby octopus. Quite tasty, but not for the squeamish.
Cured duck (tasted like ham).
Fungus salad.
Double boiled winter melon soup.
I don’t know what is melon about this, but it has ham and mushrooms in the unami broth.
Sea bass with black bean sauce and Mongolian beef. The beef was good, but the sea bass was too mushy (not so surprising on a plane).
Rice.
A coconut cake.
Fruit.
And a gorgeous view of Mount McKinley (on the right of the two peaks). Tallest mountain from base to top in the world!
As we approached Beijing, a light snack.
Smoked salmon with salad.
Roasted duck noodle soup. Good stuff!
More fruit.
And a view of the Beijing smog! Kinda pretty when you can’t smell it.
Overall, a great start to the trip! Air China gets an A+, as that was a great first class. Now, I wouldn’t stack it up against a great restaurant, but it was solidly pleasant and compared to most plane food…
Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3]
Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777
Date: February 16, 2013
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style
The San Gabriel Valley is a veritable treasure trove of Asian dining, particularly regional Chinese. Shanghai #1 Seafood Village is the LA branch of a high end Shanghai chain specializing in banquet dining.
The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic.
As this is a Hedonist/Foodie Club wine diner, we prearranged a banquet and reserved the usual giant table.
The menu is like a giant full color fashion catalog for food, but I thought I’d show a couple pages by way of example.
NV Peter Paul Wines Champagne. A nice, nutty mature champagne.
Marinated legumes (lima beans?). A very mellow sophisticated taste, and some of the best lima beans I’ve had.
NV Jean-Pierre Brouchard Champagne In florescence. 92 points. A brilliant Blanc de Noirs exhibiting a dense, yet crisp mouthfeel with subtle elegant mousse. The nose has a lot of mature red apples, lime zest and newly made French toast. The length on the finish is very nice. The wine is crisp and clean, still it shows all the best sides of the Pinot Noir varietal. Overall impression is that of a very good Champagne which drinks terrifically tonight but would not mind resting another couple of years.
This was much fruiter than the Peter Paul, but I liked the nuttier drier one better myself.
Roast duck in a heavy sweet soy. Bony, but very tasty.
Marinated cucumbers (pickles) in a sweet soy vinegar.
Squid with a sauce not unlike eel BBQ sauce. Very tender and tasty.
1998 Monbousquet Blanc. Parker 91-93. Earthy, mineral nose; earthy, mineral palate; medium finish.
Some kind of meat enchilada. Well, not exactly, but meat and vegetables in a cold thin crepe.
Meat and gelatin (aspic?). This had a very pleasant texture (like jello) and a subtle flavor.
Lotus root stuffed with sweet rice in a tea marinate. Very interesting texture and a lovely tea flavor.
2008 Ken Brown Syrah Rosie’s Rosé. Not bad, lot’s of strawberry.
Old Shanghai baked spareribs. Amazing Chinese-style ribs.
Chicken with scallions and soy sauce. It looked a little scary, but it tasted great (except for the requisite bone).
From my cellar: 1990 Robert Ampeau & Fils Volnay 1er Cru Santenots. 94 points. Wonderfull intense colour, complex nose and pure Volnay fruit. Dark cherry fruits, wet forrest and just a little animal characters. Just right to drink now, no decline at all.
My favorite wine of the night, but I’m a Burgundy troll.
Crab dry cooked with coconut? Hard to say, but it tasted great. A dry, slightly spicy crab that emphasized the flavor of the crab itself.
2010 Westerly Vineyards Pinot Noir. 90 points. full bodied pinot with nice fruit, full mouth feel.
Roasted pig leg. This had to be the ham part, the rear? femur.
The sever just slices through the skin and fat to reveal…
All sorts of goodie tender pork. Really melts off the bone.
2012 Bread & Butter pinot noir. I actually liked this better than most American Pinots, as it wasn’t really oaked at all. Very fruity, with berries. A young fresh wine, like a pleasant Villages.
Pepper steak. This was lovely chunks of juicy steak with a black pepper and soy sauce.
2011 Pierre Gonon St Joseph. Parker 93. The 2011 Saint Joseph offers lots of olive tapenade, black currants, blackberry, tobacco and spice in a medium to full-bodied, supple and beautifully fruited profile. Filling in nicely with time in the glass, this chewy, rich effort has ripe tannin, excellent freshness and a big finish. Enjoy it over the coming decade or so.
Lots of rich fruit, but not at all overbearing.
Shrimp two ways. On the left, salt and pepper fried shrimp (extremely tasty) and on the right, white sauce popcorn shrimp (pleasant but mild).
2005 Radio-Coteau Syrah Las Colinas. Parker 91. The 2005 Syrah Las Colinas reveals floral, blackberry, and peppery notes, medium to full body, and loads of meatiness in a pure, richly fruity style.
Shanghai style sweet and sour fried fish. This was one of those goopy straight up orange sweet and sour sauces, but it was awesome. Particularly dripped over rice. And the method of flaying the meat out and frying it created a much crisper effect, even if the appearance is a bit horror movie.
1994 Stonestreet Cabernet Sauvignon. Parker 91-93. I have been a fan of this winery’s Pinot Noir, but I have not seen the newest offerings. However, I do have enthusiastic tasting notes on Stonestreet’s other red wines. The 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon appears to be even more intense and powerful than the 1993, with an opaque purple color, and gobs of lavishly oaked, smoky, cassis fruit intertwined with aromas of roasted herbs and high quality toasty oak. This powerful Cabernet reveals plenty of tannin, low acidity, and outstanding concentration and purity. This large-scaled, remarkably well-balanced wine should drink well young yet last for two decades.
Our bottle was corked.
Special Shanghai BBQ red pork. Oh so fatty and oh so tasty!
Mushrooms and bock choy.
Shanghai noodles. These are pan fried rice cake with scallions and sweet soy. Odd soft texture, but delicious.
2004 Colgin IX Syrah Estate. Parker 96. Aubert demonstrates a superb know-how with Syrah. These wines are macerated for 35-45 days, and given frequent pump-overs as well as punch-downs. They are aged completely in French oak. The floral-filled 2004 IX Syrah Estate (486 cases) offers super-pure blue and blackberries intermixed with hints of new saddle leather and meat. High but sweet tannins, powerful flavors, and an overall sense of poise characterize this stunning effort.
A strange Shanghai take on Ma Po tofu. It has peanuts, and a bit of spice, but the tofu is the firm kind instead of the silken tofu, and there is no yummy pork and mighty numbing Schezuan heat like here or here.
Crispy meat buns. A really great film skinned take on the soup dumpling.
On the right is a hard boiled egg that was underneath all that red pork belly. It’s saturated with sweetness and pork fat!
Fruit for dessert.
Overall, this was a really great meal. First rate Chinese and quite authentic and typical of high end banquet meals in China. We didn’t have the totally tricked out menu with all the sea cucumber, shark fin, and the like, but I don’t love that stuff anyway. Nearly every dish was wonderful. Service was fine (for Chinese). They brought things a little rapidly, but it was fine. Great experience.
For more LA Chinese reviews click here.
Location: 500 West Main Street Suite A, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 308-3222
Date: February 9, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Fine Banquet Cantonese
Another week, another Hedonist Chinese extravaganza in the SGV. Up this time, Lunasia, usually known for its all day dimsum. But tonight we’re here for Cantonese banquet.
In a lovely private room. Lunasia is definitely much better looking than many of the local places.
2011 Hatzidakis Winery Assyrtiko. 89 points. Fantastic minerality, great acidity, just a touch of florality on the nose, and just a touch of salinity. The one trick is that you must follow: You must serve this wine between 45 and 52 degrees. At 56 degrees, you lose the minerality, and it seems flabby and unbalanced. But serve it at the right temperature, and wow!
Candied walnuts on the table.
From my cellar: 1990 Mommessin Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. 93 points. Lovely nose of sweet cherry fruit, barnyard, and spice, more of the same on the palate, tasted young, rich with great complexity, medium body, medium/long finish.
Our bottle was quite nice.
Yarom brought in both boar and venison that he personally killed, and the chef prepared it in various forms. There are two kinds of BBQ chops, some sliced (boar?) meat, and ground boar balls deep fried. This was one of the best preps we’ve yet had from these animals, and we’ve had several (here and here).
2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit. 90 points. Very nice blueberry/strawberry nose. not hot on the nose. really nice full palate and mouthfeel with a nice mix of red and blue fruits, and integrated earthiness. did not noticably detect any heat or wood on this. certainly a bigger and different type of rose, but this bottle was nicely restrained and seemed in good balance tonight.
This is a very expensive, but very nice rose.
Stir-fried lobster w/ black pepper sauce.
2008 Lucien Le Moine Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains. Burghound 89-92. A background hint of wood does not compromise the clear reading of the equally pungent and complex nose that is much more animale in character and this character also suffuses the textured, powerful and precise big-bodied flavors that, like the Les Cailles, also lean out somewhat on the otherwise linear and exceptionally long finish. Also like the Les Cailles, my predicted range assumes with this will flesh out with more time in barrel.
Young, but very good.
Various kinds of pork. An almost ham like roast pork in the back (Macau Roasted Pig’s feet?) and a sliced brown sauce version in the front — both delicious. It’s possible the foreground was actually abalone. I’m not sure (it was very tender though).
Some hot chili oil and an unusual (to me) seafood based “fish or scallop” sauce with an extremely unami flavor.
From my cellar: 1994 Bollig-Lehnert Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese. 92 points. The sweetness had pleasantly faded, but it had extremely nice petrol notes.
Bullfrog with chilies. Good for frog, although one of the more mild dishes tonight.
2005 Hans Wirsching Iphöfer Kronsberg Riesling Spätlese trocken. 90 points. Dry. Green-tinged, straw yellow –maturing. High extract/alcohol (14%). Expressive nose, peach and citrus fruit plus a touch of classic ‘Petrol’ Riesling character. (Small tartrate crystals in this bottle). Very concentrated, rich, spicy, peach and ripe apples, taught minerality and very fine acidity. Very attractive, maturing wine that is great to drink now or in 2-3 years.
Some steamed vegetables with fish cake.
Crab in a special (curry?) fermented sauce. Very tasty, although hard to break into.
1999 Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Cuvée Agustina Hyde Vineyard. IWC 85. Medium-full ruby. Extractive, oaky aromas of roasted black fruits, tar, bourbon, meat and eucalyptus oil. Fat and full, but the bitter cherry, tar and menthol flavors come across as roasted and tired. Finishes with smooth tannins, but I don’t find much pinot perfume or charm here.
1999 Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Cuvée Agustina Hyde Vineyard. Parker 94. Paul Hobbs fashioned a potentially monumental 1999 Pinot Noir Cuvee Agustina. An opaque ruby/purple color is followed by a sweet nose of blackberries, cherry liqueur, smoke, forest floor, and toast scents. The wine is terrific on the palate, with multiple layers, great purity, and a prodigious finish. It is made from the Calera clone (the crop size was 0.2 tons per acre), this expensive but blockbuster Pinot was aged 16 months in 100% new French oak, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration. This powerful, intense effort, will require 2-3 years to display its varietal character. This is a Pinot Noir for gluttons.
For a new world pinot, this was a nice wine, certainly way better than Tanzer’s 85, although I think Parker with his new world bias is too generous. I’d probably rate it around 92 points, like a decent premier cru. Spectator gives it a 92.
French style beef. Tender filet mignon.
Stringbeans with pork. A very good example of this type.
2005 Sine Qua Non Pinot Noir Over & Out. IWC 92. Ruby-red. Exotically perfumed nose features energetic raspberry and blackberry scents complicated by cinnamon, mace and fresh rose. Plush and sweet, offering powerful red and dark berry flavors, suave tannins and impressively chewy finishing grip. Less a pinot than a Sine Qua Non wine, and that’s not a bad thing.
Well made, but way way too much oak (as usual for new world pinots).
Peking duck with the soft buns. This was a pretty awesome meaty example.
And the hoison and scallions.
2001 Shirvington Shiraz. Parker 98. The 2001 Shiraz may be even more momentous than the Cabernet Sauvignon. There are nearly 1,000 cases of this blockbuster, opulently-styled, black beauty. Its inky/purple color is followed by an exceptional bouquet of black fruits, espresso roast, charcoal, and smoke. With great ripeness, intensity, purity, that fabulous seamless texture the Marquis team routinely obtains, and a finish that lasts more than a minute, it should offer profound drinking for at least a decade.
I really don’t see what Parker sees in these massive New World Shiraz. It’s fine, but just searing grape.
Chinese Broccoli with bean curd or bamboo shoots?
2000 Domaine Weinbach Tokay Pinot Gris Altenbourg Cuvée Laurence. 93 points. Color: Light golden yellow. Smell: Stone fruits, mineral, and roasted apples/pears. Taste: A melange of stone and tropical fruits with an underpinning of minerals that ebb and flow over a long finish. Overall: Outstanding!! Words won’t do this wine justice…several of us got stuck tasting, and re-tasting this wine through out the evening. Medium body, med+ fruit, med-high acidity, and a long glorious finish.
Someone brought this chocolate filled with poprocks!
A mango soup, very refreshing.
Red bean “soup.” Not my thing.
Of course we headed over to Salju Dessert for some awesome. Above banana peanut-butter Nutella crepe.
A super fruity one with coconut snow and various tropicals.
Almonds and berries.
An unexpected nightcap:
1986 Lafaurie-Peyraguey. Parker 92. A wonderful bouquet of pineapples, smoky nuts, honeysuckle, and other flowers soars from the glass. In the mouth, the wine is rich, with the essence of apricots, pineapples, and other tropical fruits. The acidity is crisp, giving the wine great definition and clarity. The finish is sweet, honeyed, and long. This beautifully made Sauternes is one of my favorites from the 1986 vintage.
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Restaurant: Roc
Location: 2049 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025. (310) 235-2089
Date: January 24, 2014
Cuisine: Taiwanese Chinese
Rating: Awesome XLB
Among lovers of Chinese food the Xia Long Bao, or XLB for short, is a particular favorite. These little thin skinned dumplings stuffed with (usually) pork and a hot broth are quite delicious. So when a friend told me than one of the managers from Din Tai Fung (an SGV Taiwanese XLB palace) had opened a place on the Westside I waited all of about 24 hours before trying it.
Sleek space is nothing to write home about, but that’s not why we came.
Here is the menu. The top left corner in the red are all variants on the XLB.
Dumplings need their sauces. Here soy sauce, vinegar, chili oil, and ginger are available at all times.
Scallion pancake with ginger soy dipping sauce. Fried and tasty.
Beef roll. Cucumbers, green onions & cilantro. These monster burritos were filled with sweet BBQ beef and quite delicious.
Garlic dungeness crab fried rice. garlic, egg, & green onions. This was a fabulous fried rice. There were real chunks of sweet dungeness crab in here, making it a bit like certain rice dishes I would get in Japan.
Shrimp and pork spicy dumplings. I expected a more traditional wonton in chili oil (the Schezuan classic often called “numb taste wonton.”) These were more like potstickers with sirachi. Not my favorite dish of the day, although certainly fine.
Pan-fried dumplings, Shrimp and pork. These are the more fried, less spicy version of above. They were superior, pretty much classed fried potstickers.
Crispy balls. I can’t even remember what was inside.
Steamed bun. Same pork center, thicker coating.
Lobster & pork XLB. An interesting blend of the traditional savory pork with a bit of lobster sweetness.
Lobster, crab & fish XLB. Much more seafoody, with a sweet and briny taste.
Classic pork XLB. There is a reason these are classic. All the XLB were scrumptious, but these in particular are amazing.
You load one of these babies on a spoon and add some sauce (usually through a small hole). This helps cool down the boiling broth inside. Then pop in your mouth for an explosion of flavor. Don’t ever bite them, you’ll just make a mess — rookie mistake.
Pepper beef. Cubed filet mignon, red onions & bell peppers. The beef was tasty, but this is a pretty straight up, almost American Chinese style dish.
Pork chop. Great with the fried rice.
Shrimp and peppers. Light shrimp with shisito peppers.
Kale. Greens.
Chinese mustard greens sautéed with ginger. I think they mean steamed with ginger, because these were close to just steamed greens. They are what they are, but being a fat is flavor man, they didn’t do it for me.
Baby bok choy. Sauteed with garlic & shitake mushrooms. Better than the Chinese greens for sure, these had some actual flavor.
Overall, the XLB (all 3) and the fried rice made this meal. I want to try some of the other things on the menu, and next time I will, but my brother and I polished off all this just the two of us — that’s 15 dumplings each! I’d be perfectly happy to come in myself and order some rice and a steamer (or two) of XLB. Yum yum!
The menu is a little smaller than Din Tai Fung. The dumplings were just as good, but I miss a few of the other dishes at DTF: like the noodles, hot & sour, and chili wontons — but Roc is about 40 minutes closer, right in my hood, so I’ll be going a lot!
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or, for my index of Chinese Food, here.
Restaurant: Cui Hua Lou [1, 2, 3]
Location: 920 E Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91755. 626-288-2218
Date: January 26, 2014
Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Rating: Awesome!
Chinese food is incredible regional, and we are blessed in SoCal with a lot of very specific restaurants (mostly in the San Gabriel Valley). My Hedonist group has returned to this little known spicy Szechuan in the corner of an undiscovered Monterey Park strip mall. We love Szechuan for its spicy/smoky flavors. This is a cuisine that packs a real punch and is one of my favorites in China.
The storefront, as usual, isn’t much to look at.
A menu with fairly literal translations.
And the usual minimalist decor.
From my cellar: 2001 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. 90 points. Quite ripe – more Auslese in style – with a typical Mosel flavor profile. Enjoyable, and a good value for an ’01 Spatlese.
This warrants opening what I might call the “great foodie wine pairing debate” as I find people at my dinners fall into two camps: the “a good wine is a good wine” camp and the “food and wine complement” crew (of which I’m the later). Chinese in general, and Szechuan in particular, is a tricky match as it’s full of vinegar, soy and fermented flavors, and bracing heat. I happen to think Riesling generally pairs well with Chinese, but spicy foot demands a certain sweetness — the more spice the more sugar. However, those in the first group often “don’t like sweet wines.” Interestingly, I’ve noticed that my camp tends to line up with the Burgundy drinkers and the first group with the fans of massive (over) extracted wines.
Bean curd tofu with scallion. Soft silken tofu with scallions and salt (MSG?). Being a lover of this kind of tofu I very much enjoyed this dish — although it was a little salty.
Cucumber with Jelly Fish. Not bad for jellyfish. The cucumber had a nice marinated crunch.
2003 Zilliken (Forstmeister Geltz) Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spätlese. 89-94 points. Beautiful, lush Mosel Riesling. Light straw-brilliant in the glass. Nose of an integrated bouquet of stone, ripe pineapple, mandarin orange, young leather (fleshiness), and light metallic petrol (light). The attack is not tart: it has enough acid to be propped up, but not an awful lot more. A little fatness to the palate even. Yet, it seems a balanced, delicious wine that is in a good spot. Yum, yum. Nice length too. Thumbs up!
BBQ Mushroom. Lots of cumin, chewy mushrooms, and some gradual but significant heat. Pretty delicious.
Beef Tendon in Xiang Ziang style. Lots of cumin. The idea of tendon is a little disturbing, and this has an unusual (for westerners) texture, like a root vegetable (almost), but more chewy. Still, it’s pretty good considering.
BBQ Lamb. Others might call this cumin lamb. A bit dry, but very flavorful.
2009 Bodegas Vinicola Real Rioja Vina Los Valles Crianza. 86 points. Nothing really wrong with this value Rioja (at the price point), except it’s a total fail as far as pairing with Szechuan cuisine. It would be nice at a Madrid Tapas joint.
Potato with Chili. Looks and tastes a bit like al dente noodles. A nice subtle flavor too.
Stewed Lamb in Casserole. This is one of the house special dishes. It comes like this and then heats to a boiling (and spicy) temp.
Below the mutton (the meat is incredibly tender, although on the bone) is a seething pit of chili sauce, cabbage, soft tofu, and glass noodles.
The sauce has an incredible flavor with a good bit of numbing Szechuan peppercorn. It’s incredibly delicious and unique to Szechuan cooking.
2003 Tenuta San Guido Bolgheri Sassicaia Sassicaia. IWC 93. 80% cabernet sauvignon and 20% cabernet franc) Dark ruby-red. Appealing smoky, minerally aromas of red cherry, blackcurrant and plum, with a hint of truffle. Quite suave on entry, then smooth and fine-grained, with good mineral lift to the decidedly sweet red fruit flavors. This broad, rich and supple wine boasts tremendous length and silky-sweet tannins. A great Sassicaia that falls roughly between the ’88 and the ’85 in style at the similar stage of development, although I’m not sure the new vintage will attain the heights reached by those earlier wines.
This was a gorgeous wine… between courses… because as soon as that Szechuan heat kicked in, particularly the numbing effect of the peppercorn, all the fruit was stripped out left only tannins on the palette. Now the pacing of the meal allowed me to enjoy it, just not exactly with the food.
BBQ Chicken Heart. This is a lot of chicken hearts. They taste like chewy liver. I could have done without.
Chung King twice cooked pork. Very tender and flavorful, and not as spicy as most of the dishes here.
Tilapia with Bean Sauce. Not my favorite this time around. The fish might have been a hair overcooked and the goopy gelatinous bean sauce is a hair off-putting.
1997 Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard. Rhone Report 96. Immediately identifiable as syrah, the nose was bursting with blueberries, blackberries, and a hint of eucalyptus. The blue and black berries continue on the palate, adding a little bit of leather/tobacco on the mildly tannic, medium to long finish.
The bigger is better camp loved this wine. It’s not really my cup of tea though, and certainly not with Chinese. With some lamb chops, sure. And we had lots of lamb, but it was covered in cumin and Szechuan pepper!
Scallion Noodles. A boring version of the noodles (those black things are charred scallions) for the vegetarians.
Kung Pao Shrimp. As good a version of the classic as you can find.
Szechuan style bean curd. This is known as Mapo Doufu. It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) set in a spicy chili- and bean-based sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, and often cooked with fermented black beans and minced meat, usually pork or beef. Ma stands for “mazi” (Pinyin: mázi Traditional Chinese 麻子) which means a person disfigured by pockmarks or leprosy, the latter is also called 痲 má or 麻風 máfēng. Po (Chinese 婆) translates as “old woman, grandmother, crone”. Hence, Ma Po is an old woman whose face was pockmarked. It is thus sometimes translated as “Pockmarked-Face Lady’s Tofu”.
It’s one of my favorite dishes and features a wonderful texture, bright taste, and a searing numbing heat.
2002 Sean Thackrey Orion Rossi Vineyard. IWC 92. Red berries, Grand Marnier, Thai basil, geranium, eucalyptus, bitter lime, quinine and resiny oak on the nose. Then thick and dense but penetrating in the mouth, with primary raspberry and strawberry flavors complicated by an exotic apricot note and framed by lively acids. A fascinating, firmly built wine that showed a compelling sweetness as it opened in the glass. Finishes with very sweet tannins and impressive persistence. My score is intended for the initiated: you know who you are.
Same big wine, but younger, and from a somewhat inferior year.
Fried corn. Slightly sweet and could have almost passed for a dessert (certainly in Chinese terms). It blended great on the plate with other items like the above tofu, adding a bit of crunch, salt, and sweetness.
Dan Dan Noodles.
You mix it up. One of the biggest challenge is getting only part of the noodles and an even distribution of the chopped meat at the bottom. Clearly, when Marco Polo brought noodles back to Italy this became the seed for Bolognese sauce, as aside from this being quite spicy, there is a definite similarity. This particular version wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, and doesn’t have the nutty sesame quality the dish sometimes does, but it was certainly enjoyable.
2009 Domaine des Sabines. 90 points. Ruby color with just a slight tinge of blue remaining, surprisingly almost opaque. Nose has peat moss, dirt, wild mushrooms, roasted coffee beans. A hint of licorice with savory notes, plus some dried tobacco. Something sweet here too on the nose – perhaps a touch of bret? On the palate – black cherry, blackberry, roasted or grilled plums. Truly though, this wine is all about the earthy notes and the wood – roasted espresso, caramel, hazelnut, dried leaves and a bit of burnt toast. A minerally, gravel note pops up on the finish too. Chewy mid-palate texture. Tannins are moderate for Bordeaux, and nicely ripe. I know it is 2009, but for LdP, the density is impressive. Medium body. Give it an hour of air and the tight tannins round out and shows off a lovely soft supple quality. Heat shows up a bit on the finish, weight of fruit almost carries it off. I can see this wine with slow roasted braised beef short ribs and caramelized onions. Or a wild mushroom risotto – thinking chantrelles.
About 10 years too young.
Chung King Spicy chicken? I’m not sure which dish this was, but there are little DEEP fried and very dry chicken nuggets in there dry-tossed with long red peppers. It was actually quite tasty.
Hot braised eggplant with garlic sauce. Awesome garlicky flavor, with some significant heat (of both sorts).
Boiled beef and fish. Along with the Mapo tofu, this was my favorite dish of the night. The “broth” is very similar to the lamb casserole and features a tremendous heat born of both red chilies and Szechwan peppercorn. The meat and the fish were both tender and full of flavor. Really quite wonderful (if intense).
BBQ Garlic. Another fabulous dish. Now, eating a whole skewer of this might get one kicked out of bed, but it’s worth it!
Boiled peanuts. These are cold and a bit slimey. I have read that eating lots of boiled peanuts (instead of roasted) avoids peanut allergies for some reason. The roasted ones taste better, but there is nothing really wrong with these.
Kung Pao Chicken. Pretty much the same as the shrimp, but a wonderful version of this Chinese American classic that has real heat and puts PF Changs to shame.
Our table was so overloaded with dishes that we had to stack them!
In conclusion, Cui Hua Lou, while apparently totally undiscovered, offers up some fabulous traditional Szechuan fare. For this second visit we went crazy overboard and ordered up about 50% more food than we needed, still this feast, including tax and tip, only set us back $31 a person! If you like spicy, you should try this place. Just don’t tell too many people!
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We had about 18 people in our party alone!
Restaurant: New Bay Seafood [1, 2]
Location: 203 West Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA. (626) 872-6677
Date: January 20, 2014
Cuisine: Cantonese / Chiu Chow Chinese
Rating: Really on point!
New Bay Seafood is a fairly elaborate (big with multiple private rooms) Hong Kong and Chiu Chow palace that took over the late Sham Tseng space in 2013.
The interior is typical of Inland Empire Chinese restaurants. We had a private room (there are several).
On the table to start were the traditional peanuts.
And some marinated pickles.
2006 Schafer-Frohlich Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spatlese. Parker 92. The Frohlichs- 2006 Schlossbockelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spatlese came from significantly botrytized grapes and was yeasted to assure a reliable fermentation. Licorice, honey, black currant, and pineapple dominate the nose and palate, where an almost buttery texture and high residual sugar do not prevent juiciness and vivacity, thanks in part to the acidity having gone ever higher here than in the Felseneck. Irresistibly luscious, subtly honeyed and saline, smoky, and tingling mineral in its finish, this, too, should be a long (15+ year) keeper, although Frohlich is convinced that the Felsenberg will have an edge in complexity thanks to the effect of spontaneous fermentation.
This roast BBQ pork was tremendous. It’s that red skinned variety that I used to get growing up in Cantonese dimsum houses, but was tender, not too fatty, and delicious.
Next up was a roast BBQ duck served with a sweet orange colored sauce. No one does duck as well as the Chinese and this was a delectable example.
From my cellar: 1994 Bollig-Lehnert Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese. 92 points. The sweetness had pleasantly faded, but it had extremely nice petrol notes.
We called this the cheese lobster, because there is actually a bit of cheese mixed in with all that fry. And, yeah, it’s pretty darned fried, but it was really tasty. The lobster itself was succulent and not over done and it was easy to access big chunks of it.
2003 Louis Latour Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 92. This too is quite aromatically expressive and while this is no model of finesse either, both the aromatic and flavor profiles possess stunning complexity and in contrast to most big, sappy and muscular white, this manages to retain an unusually fine sense of balance and delivers a palate staining finish. It’s dramatic but there’s substance behind the size and weight.
Our bottle was a little closed and tired, although it opened as the evening progressed.
Some of our party had dietary restrictions and they asked for this steamed tilapia with pepper. They seemed to love it, although for me, the whole thing sort of ignores the point of Chinese food.
House special lobster. This version of the lobster was even better. The sauce had quite a bit of black pepper and scallions in it. Lots of flavor and very tender.
From my cellar: 1995 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Clos St. Jacques. 94 points. Smells of creamy blue and black fruit, and earth. It’s powerful on the palate, the fruit tastes young, and deep. There are layers to the palate that reveal bramble, minerals, and a seemingly weightless power. Finishes with a tarry, meaty, wild side. Excellent wine that is beginning to show.
Chinese chicken salad. Haha. I have no idea how authentic this is, but the flavor profile was actually more Vietnamese (which really isn’t that far from Chiu Chow). There was a sweet/savory thing, a little bit of zing, and cilantro.
Salt and pepper shrimp. Nice tender version of this too with a lot of salty garlic flavor.
2006 Marcassin Pinot Noir Three Sisters Vineyard. Parker 94+. The 2006 Pinot Noirs that are just being released include the 2006 Pinot Noir Three Sisters Vineyard. While it has closed down since I tasted it last year, it does reveal a dark plum/ruby color as well as a smoky bouquet of Asian plum sauce, soy, forest floor and sweet black cherries. Like many Marcassin Pinots, it possesses a Morey St.-Denis-like character. The Three Sisters cuvee will benefit from another 1-2 years of bottle age and drink well for a decade or more.
In my opinion, this was a nice new world pinot, but as usual, too oaked and young. I’m certainly not drinking 1re cru Burgundy (which would be the analog here) from ’06, more like the late 90s.
Roast BBQ chicken. I’m not that much of a chicken fan, but this was a darn tasty one. The meat was moist and perfectly cooked.
Chiu Chow crab. Super tasty again, and sleeping on a bed of giant garlic cloves. The owner warned us that this baby might gift us with a bit of a surprise in the middle of the night — in the form of excess gas! LOL.
Sautéed greens (pea tendrils?). A top flight version of the Southern Chinese style greens. Lots of garlicky goodness.
2001 Noon Shiraz Reserve. Parker 99. The 2001 Shiraz Reserve is a riveting example of what is so exciting about old vine Shiraz. Produced from a 35-40-year old McLaren Vale vineyard, it possesses amazing aromatics, purity, texture, and richness. This 2001, which tips the scales at a lofty 15.8% alcohol, is intense and full-bodied as well as remarkably elegant for a wine of such mass and intensity. Its impenetrable inky/black/purple color is accompanied by explosive aromatics, and is bursting with deep, rich, well-balanced flavors revealing seamlessly integrated wood, alcohol, acidity, and tannin. Profoundly deep, rich, and intense, it will hit its peak in 3-4 years, and should last for 15+. This is truly compelling old vine Shiraz!
Eggplant with pork. A slightly spicy eggplant with bamboo shoots and pork. Really really tasty and I love that kind of stringy sweet pork.
Sweet and sour pork. Sort of the real version of those Panda Express fried pork balls in red sauce. Quite good as this dish goes.
Fried fish. Tender salty fish and chips without the chips — Chinese style.
Shrimp over crispy noodles. I love this kind of mild dish. The white sauce soaks into the noodles and makes for a sort of comfort food.
Overall, New Bay Seafood was really good. Being Southern Chinese, it’s not the most exotic of the Chinese sub-regions (foodwise, since so much American Chinese is Cantonese derived) but their execution is really very very good. Every dish was tasty and more than half of them fabulous. If you want an approachable entree into the wonderful world of San Gabriel Valley Chinese, you can’t go wrong with New Bay. And, besides, the owner treated us like kings. They served the dishes one by one, hung out, and we’re generally fabulous.
Afterward, we walked next door to the awesome Sabu Dessert and get some light fluffy “snow.” If you haven’t tried Taiwanese style snow, you are really missing out. This one above was coconut snow, passionfruit sauce, with egg pudding, almond jelly, and blackberries. Yum!
Someone else’s slightly different snow.
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Rocking the SGV shirt!
Restaurant: Newport Seafood
Location: 518 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776-1073. (626) 289-5998
Date: December 19, 2013 and January 24 & September 11, 2016 and May 22, 2022 (and many other times between)
Cuisine: Cambodian Chinese
Rating: I used to like it, but now I’m jaded and think it’s perhaps the most overrated place in the SGV
Many people consider Newport Seafood one of the best Chinese restaurants in SoCal. Essentially, it’s Southern Chinese, with some Cambodian and Vietnamese influences (the owners are Cambodian). I’ve been a couple of times, but this post is a composite of a December ’13 and a January ’16 meal (click those links for the specific by night pictures and wines) and another September ’16 meal. The wines below are all from the ’13 meal as the latter time there wasn’t anything particularly exciting except for a pile of leftovers I brought from an epic dinner the night before. People somehow think that giant New World Syrah goes with Chinese food — not! Except for a dish or two, total wine pairing fail. This cuisine would be best served by Burgs (both colors), dry Riesling, Gruner, and the like.
This is a big place, and moderately “fancy” as San Gabriel Chinese joints go. Even on a Thursday night, it was mobbed, and people were waiting for a good long while. The weekend is crazy busy.
No Newport visit is complete without shots of the ladies with the giant crustaceans.
The menu 5/22/22.
Boiled peanuts. Helpful in avoiding peanut allergies.
Cold spicy cucumbers. A nice version of this Szechuan classic.
Chinese savory cruller. I’ve always liked these puffy donut-like (without the sugar) breads.
Sea Cucumber Salad. Actually pretty good if you don’t mind the gummy texture.
Vietnamese shrimp salad. Those strong vinegar/sugar flavors and the peanuts are very Vietnamese. The standard lettuce, a little less so. Really, a lousy salad — pretty much ruined by the generic lettuce.
Cold duck. I thought we ordered “crispy duck” — this wasn’t — but it wasn’t bad either.
Green chicken. This was pretty good for straight up boiled/steamed whole chicken. Unusual chili paste too, which I now recognize as fairly typical Cambodian.
Basically a pork larb with some curry and heat and Thai basil. Pretty good. A touch of funk too (fish sauce or shrimp paste).
Many of the waiting guests amused themselves with the “wildlife,” like this toddler (conveniently in the picture for scale). We’ll get back to this big ugly crustacean, as he was part of our dinner.
As were these red fish (red cod? rock fish?).
Tricia got the honor of grabbing the crab!
2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit. 90 points. Very nice blueberry/strawberry nose. not hot on the nose. really nice full palate and mouthfeel with a nice mix of red and blue fruits, and integrated earthiness. did not noticably detect any heat or wood on this. certainly a bigger and different type of rose, but this bottle was nicely restrained and seemed in good balance tonight.
Newport Special Crab. Our entire giant crab was steamed in a mild and pleasant sauce the emphasized the sweet and delicate flavor of the VERY fresh crab. In fact, he was alive and kicking in Tricia’s hands about 15 minutes prior. This was perfectly cooked and moist.
2005 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc. Parker 96. The 2005 Hermitage blanc is an amazing effort that defines the classic style of white Hermitage. It offers hints of marzipan, roasted hazelnuts, quince, licorice, honeysuckle, citrus oil, and wet stones. It is a superbly concentrated and powerful wine. It should drink well for 30+ years.
Westlake Soup. It was mild and pleasant with a lot of various stuff in it. A splash of vinegar jazzed it up.
Crab and asparagus soup. Very mild and pleasant. Not that much crab but a lot of white asparagus.
2000 Aubert Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard. Parker 91. The 2000 Chardonnay Ritchie Vineyard is a rich, full-bodied, textured, powerful, smoky effort that tastes like a Meursault premier cru on steroids. It possesses ample layers, excellent underlying acidity for balance, and plenty of leesy, hazelnut, and tropical fruit notes.
Newport Special Lobster. In a delicious green onion, garlic, and slightly spicy sauce. The sauce was amazing. The lobster was perhaps a tiny bit overcooked, but was great. It’s mostly about the sauce.
Giant steamed prawns. These were too much plain crustacean for my taste. Lots of work to pry out the meat, and it was just steamed shrimp. I think of them as giant steamed sea bugs.
Salt and pepper crab. Interesting. Like a fossilized salty crab. The meat itself was tasty, but I preferred the sauced version below.
Curry crab. Crab drowned in a super yummy Singapore curry sauce. Awesome!
2011 Wagner-Stempel Riesling Trocken. Parker 89. Fresh apple and lime garlanded with narcissus, apple blossom and basil characterize the aromatic and palate performance of Wagner-Stempel’s 2011 Riesling trocken, whose combination of caressingly silken texture with bright, infectiously juicy citricity displays the family resemblance to its Scheurebe counterpart. At 12.5% alcohol, this manages to convey a sense of buoyancy through its delightful, apple pip- and herb-tinged finish. Look for it to prove deliciously versatile over the next 2-3 years. There is now, incidentally, just a single large bottling of generic Riesling at this address and it is 100% estate-bottled.
Shrimp with walnut. This was one of the best versions of this classic slightly fried and slightly sweet dish I’ve had in a while.
2007 Hermann Donnhoff Riesling Spatlese Niederhauser Hermannshohle. Parker 96. Gardenia, peony, and resinous herbs in the nose of Donnhoff’s 2007 Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling Spatlese give way to a palpably extract-rich palate of vibratory intensity, suffused with stony, saline, and tactile suggestions of mineral matter, yet at the same time rich orchard fruits. If the Krotenpfuhl was painted with water colors, the medium here is definitely oil, exhibiting both dynamic and intricate brush work as well as dense layering. This masterpiece – picked simultaneously with the corresponding Grosses Gewachs – was only beginning to show its depth in the spring and needed almost six months in bottle to really shine forth. Take as long as fate permits you to savor this; I can’t imagine it disappointing a quarter century or more from now.
Steamed Whole Fish. With soy, ginger, etc. Delicate and lovely, although not a ton of meat. Too “clean” for my taste.
1984 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. 95 points. This is a great wine (good location in the vineyard and top winemakers) from a very off year — and it’s 29 year-old pinot noir. But somehow (and I’ve had 3 bottles) it’s still in great shape. Really quite lovely with a complex tar and cherry thing going on. I happen to find it fabulous.
Sole Fish with Salt and Pepper? In any case, some VERY fried fish nuggets. It tasted a tad oily.
Sweet and sour fish filets. I liked these better than the dry salt and pepper version. Soft, fried, and vaguely sweet.
Fish Filet with Basil. These were super tender and succulent and a bit fried. Incredible savory (MSG) flavor. LOTS of msg. Definitely one of their best fried fish dishes.
2008 DuMOL Pinot Noir Aidan. Parker 93. The 2008 Pinot Noirs are led by The 2008 Pinot Noir Aidan, which is made from the modern Dijon clones of 115 and 777. Yields in 2008 were a minuscule 1.75 tons of fruit per acre, hence production is down considerably. Aromas of forest floor, plum sauce, black currants, blueberries and a complex rose petal-like character emerge from this dark ruby-colored 2008. With medium to full body and good acidity, this beauty can be drunk over the next 10-12 years.
Sizzling Beef. Had lots of flavor. But these days I find this kind of dish boring.
Vietnamese Beef Stew. Yummy stuff. Very soft fatty meat, tons of flavor, and odd asian textures. Great over rice. Very interesting slightly curry and fish sauce flavor. Meat had a lot of tendon. I liked it a lot as it was intresting.
2001 St. Francis Anthem. 90 points. Nice blend with some earthy tones.
Beef Loc Lac (French Style). Kind of like Chinese Salsbury steak. Lots of flavor, but mostly one tasted the sauce.
Our private room.
Sauteed Peasprout. A nice garlicky vegetable. Kind of like a broom for the intestines.
Another mysterious green, or maybe just different looking peasprouts.
Green beans with pork. Classic dish. These were slippery fellows and hard to scoop up. Delicious with nice crunchy beans but oh so salty (lots of MSG).
1997 Turley Wine Cellars Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard. Parker 96-98. I do not believe I have ever tasted a more concentrated, essence-like wine than Turley’s 1997 Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard. Made from 55-year old vines that yielded only 9.8 tons of fruit for five acres, this opaque black-colored wine is the biggest, richest, most concentrated, tannic wine I have ever tasted. It will need at least a decade to shed some of its ferocious tannin, and will undoubtedly last for 40-50 years. Even more remarkable is its purity and overall equilibrium. Despite its Godzilla-like size, this is an astonishingly concentrated, gorgeously made wine. I have never, ever, seen a wine like this!
Kung Pao Pork Chop. It wasn’t very spicy, and it was seriously double fried, but it was darn tasty.
Sweet and sour pork chop. Tasty, but certainly not tender!
Fried Pork Chop with Salt and Pepper. Very salty and fried, but delicious.
Crispy duck. Sixth months later, we get the duck. This was a fairly contentious dish, some thought it dry. I kinda liked it once you soaked a meaty piece in the sauce.
2002 Sean Thackrey Orion Syrah. Parker 96-100. A riveting example of Syrah is the 2002 Orion. It boasts a black/purple color with more mint and blackberry notes intermixed with exotic floral characteristics. With great intensity, full body, multiple dimensions, and superb purity as well as length, this blockbuster is incredibly well-balanced/harmonious. It should drink reasonably well young, yet keep for 12-15 years.
Parker sure (over) loves these new world syrahs.
Fried Noodle with Chicken. I happen to love these thin fried noodles drenched in the white Chinese sauce.
Fried noodle with seafood. More or less the same great taste.
Vegetable fried rice. Not as exciting as the meat version, but certainly good.
Pork fried rice. A nice tasty rice.
A rare photo of me.
Shrimp with Garlic Sauce? This was mildly spicy with a lot of flavor.
Lana and Tricia duel.
Oranges for dessert.
We brought in these cakes for a birthday.
Mascarpone with Strawberry and Oat Milk Matcha Almond.
Overall, honestly it’s tough to review Newport Seafood. When I first came here in 2013, I was only a year or so into my frequent SGV journeys and I loved it — more or less in the way that I have always loved all Chinese food. Hell, I even used to like PF Changs and Panda Express. But now, several hundred real Chinese meals later, I feel that Newport is just oddly overrated. It’s like the expensive gateway drug to the SGV. Sure it’s enjoyable. They have good dishes. Even some great dishes (nothing wrong with the lobster at all other than the price). But little is interesting, it’s way overpriced, and they lean very heavily on the “flavor” (MSG). I’m not a monster fan of this Chinese Cambodian hybrid style either. It’s 90% Chinese, but fairly close to Chaozhou style. Still, I like either Tai Sui (Cambodian) or Seafood Palace (Chaozhou) MUCH better. And I also like straight Cantonese a lot more (of which there are many better examples) and particularly Sichuan or any kind of regional Chinese.
So no, I’m just not really impressed with Newport at this point.
Or check out Newport’s Beverly Hills location.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here,
or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!
Some more wines from September 11, 2016:
Shanghai #1 Seafood Village has some of the best, freshest dimsum in SoCal, after 5+ visits I’ve compiled an ever growing catalog of this copious and delicious bounty…
Restaurant: King Kho Bo
Location: 1621 South San Gabriel Blvd. San Gabriel Ca, 91776. 626-573-8000
Cuisine: Dried Chinese Snacks
Rating: So addictive, we call it crack
One of the perils of driving 30 miles for your Chinese food in LA traffic is that in order to arrive on time, you have to risk being 30 minutes early. But fortunately, the San Gabriel Valley is host to all sorts of interesting culinary stops that can kill a few minutes.
One of these is known among us Hedonists as the “Crack House” for its addictive dried Chinese snacks.
Row after row of dried stuff. Some savory.
Some sweet.
Dried okra. This stuff is so dried (do they use a freeze drying machine? Who knows) that it’s incredibly crunchy. These veggies are pretty salted with a bit of Asian style flavoring.
The quintessential “crack” is dried mushrooms. They are incredibly addictive.
Some dried sour plums.
Or more familiar mango.
I don’t even know what these are!
Sesame fish!
Or even better: mini chili crabs!
Nuts and seeds.
And more sweets.
Various beef and pork jerkys. I tried some awesome sweet pork and really spicy Asian beef.
The friendly owners.
Restaurant: Shin Beijing [1, 2, 3]
Location: 3101 W Olympic Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90006. 213-381-3003
Date: October 17, 2013
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: very solid electric Chinese
The Hedonists return to one of our regular haunts, Korean Chinese Shin Beijing for some reliable (and somewhat closer than the SGV) Chinese eats.
NV Billecart-Salmon Rose. Parker 90. 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.
Cold appetizer plates are traditional at real Chinese restaurants.
1999 Domaine Ramonet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Champs Canet. Burghound 90. I’m always curious to taste this wine because in the past, it has been completely and utterly different from the Chassagne 1ers, both in terms of the flavor profile, which is to be expected but also because it has always been much softer, more forward with less obvious acidic structure and decidedly less cut. However, in 99, the Champ Canet appears to have joined the Ramonet camp, stylistically speaking with its bright acidity framing the white flower fruit and rich, generous, sophisticated flavors and finely detailed finish. Very classy juice.
Aromatic braised beef in black bean jelly.
From my cellar, the 2000 Domaine / Maison Vincent Girardin Chevalier-Montrachet. IWC 92+. Complex, subtly perfumed aromas of apple, pear, minerals and nutmeg. Dry, steely and penetrating, with brisk acidity giving the wine an almost painful firmness today. Extremely closed, even dry-edged, but very long on the back end.
Cold jellyfish with wasabi sauce.
1994 Penfolds Chardonnay Reserve Bin 94A. unfortunately, our bottle was gone.
Shrimp with mustard sauce.
Radish kimchi.
Cabage kimchi.
From my cellar, 1990 Faiveley Latricières-Chambertin. 90 points. A little reserved, but still plenty of fruit and balance.
Beef w/ black mushroom, bamboo shoots.
Our live lobsters.
2009 Gros Frère et Sœur Clos Vougeot Musigni. Burghound 93. Here a gently oaked nose runs more toward the red side of the fruit spectrum before merging into rich and seductively textured broad-shouldered flavors that are also blessed with ample amounts of dry extract that renders the supporting tannins almost invisible on the detailed, youthfully austere and solidly persistent finish.
Way too young, but an extremely fine wine hiding in there under a bit of oak.
Beef patties. Sort of Chinese hamburger. Actually pretty great.
From my cellar, 1996 Domaine des Perdrix Echezeaux. 90 points. A rich but high extracted nose that seems more like a northern Rhone wine that pinot leads to robust, moderately rustic flavors that are very firmly structured and culminate in a mouth coating finish of good if not exceptional length.
Mixed egg fried rice. Really delicious carby goodness.
1990 Marc Sorrel Hermitage. Parker 87. The 1990 Hermitage-Le Vignon is an opaque, black/purple color, with a promising nose of gamey Syrah fruit and some noticeable herbaceousness. While there can be little doubt concerning the wine’s exceptional richness and full body, its acids are alarmingly high, even shrill, and the tannins sear the palate because of their astringency and ferocity. My experience suggests that astringent, hard wines such as this rarely come into balance. If the fruit does not fade before the tannins, my score may look conservative. This should prove to be an uncommonly long-lived wine, even by the standards of Hermitage.
Peking duck, artfully reassembled after cutting.
The pancakes for the duck.
The hoison sauce, which in this case, and tonight in particular, was oddly salty.
Cucumbers and spring onions.
An assembled pancake. While the duck itself was great, these pancakes were a bit underwhelming because there was too little sauce and it was too salty. The usual yummy cloying (in a good way) sweetness was missing.
Which still didn’t stop me from saucing a drumstick.
Optional buns to accompany the duck. These have a spongy texture and are slightly sweet.
1995 Domaine Zind Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Rotenberg Vendange Tardive. Parker 92. I tasted six dry Tokay-Pinot Gris offerings from Zind-Humbrecht and one Vendange Tardive. As the enthusiastic notes that follow reveal, it is a toss up as to whether Riesling or Pinot Gris was the more successful varietal in 1995. The only Vendange Tardive Tokay-Pinot Gris I tasted was the 1995 Rotenberg, a wine with 9.5% total acidity, and 14.5% alcohol. It is nearly too intense, yet who could not admire its amazing display of powerful, highly-extracted, buttery, slightly botrytised flavors, remarkably high acidity for such intensity, and marvelous purity of flavor and length. The wine coats the palate with viscous fruit, yet the acidity gives it vibrancy and freshness. It possesses a remarkable sweet/sour flavor combination. The wine should drink well for 20+ years.
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Lobster prepared two ways (this is the first). This one is in a mild flavorful sauce.
And this one “Hunan style” with mixed green and red chilies. Both were excellent.
2008 Gainey Riesling Limited Selection.
Chicken stir fry. Pretty typical.
2002 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. 92 points. Ripe apple and vanilla on the nose are joined by salty, resinous, and sweet herbal accents on the palate that one doesn’t particularly associate with the site. While the palate is undeniably rich, and the finish promising, this is a bit covered over by its sweetness right now and needs time to really show what it’s got.
Spicy chicken wings. Pretty hot and pretty good. Way better than your usual western hotwings.
Spicy eggplant, extremely tasty and extremely temperature hot.
A fine sweet Monbazillac. Slightly funky, but very good.
Noodle with black bean jelly.
These look pretty icky, but they taste great. These is a general sweet and savory flavor. It’s not like the more tangy bean noodles at Chengdu Taste.
Fried shrimp (mild).
And the spicy hot wing version.
Iced leechee for dessert. Chinese restaurants aren’t known for their desserts.
Overall, this was a great evening. Shin Beijing turned out to be a great find with a nice ambiance (as far as Chinese restaurants go) and terrific food. They really treated us well too. It’s not so easy to handle a boisterous group of this size and they managed perfectly. The price was very reasonable too, $41 a person all inclusive of tip and tax, considering the number of dishes and the fact that we had several lobsters, lots of shrimp, and two peking ducks.
Service was as good as it gets for Chinese. They provided us with plenty of wine glasses, brought the dishes slowly, and were extremely friendly.
Discover more crazy Hedonists adventures on my Hedonist page or
Restaurant: Chengdu Taste
Location: 828 W Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 588-2284
Date: October 2, 2013 and October 17, 2016, April 21, 2017 and August 31, 2018
Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Rating: Face Numbing!
Chengdu Taste, is a Chengdu style Szechuan restaurant, it’s the first to feature this regional cuisine that Jonathan Gold recently raved about and still one of the best.
Obviously, i’m not the only one that feels this way…
Because even on a Wednesday night there are about 20-30 people waiting for tables. Our big party even had a reservation, but they still made us wait for 45 minutes. Plus — the horrors — they wouldn’t allow us to open our wines. They don’t have a liquor license and they succumbed to the common misconception that us opening our own could get them in trouble — which it won’t.
Anyway, after much debate about the ordering the food began to pour out (in rapid succession unfortunately, often multiple dishes at once):
Mung bean jelly noodle. Very interesting. An unusual sweet and sour taste with a little bit of heat. Refreshing and spicy at the same time.
Cold garlic noodle. You mix it up yourself, to give:
These were delicious. A nice vinegar tang and a considerable amount of heat, but a lot of flavor.
Look at all that chili oil!
Diced Rabbit with younger sister’s secret recipe. The tangy spicy flavor on this was nice, but the rabbit has been diced (as promised) into tiny morsels bone and all. Each bit is sharp and requires nibbling at to get fragments of meat out of the spiky little bones.
Fish and tofu pudding in spicy sauce. There are mild boiled filets of fish and generous cubes of soft tofu under all that pepper. The “sauce” is nearly liquid, almost solid chili oil with a sea of peanuts, heavy facing pepper, and tons of little Szechwan peppercorns. They included the real deal Szechwan Peppercorn which has only been allowed in the US for about 7-8 years (for strange political or environmental reasons). Wow did it have an “impressive” breath and depth of hotness. I mean serious existential hotness of a new type. Not an inedible heat (which I’ve had in China), but this weird numbing effect that is a feature of the genuine Szechwan peppercorn (the little brown black pepper-like balls floating in the dish). Woah!
Every table had several bowls like this. Look at all that chili oil. There must be 57 gallon drums of it in the back.
The contents in a bowl.
Vegetable hot pot. This was a similar dish, but without all the peppercorns it was hot, but not as numbing. It also had a surprisingly nice array of vegetables in there, particularly the potato and lotus root. It was many people’s favorite dish.
Fish boiled in chili oil (8/31/18). Pretty much the same as the one with “tofu pudding” but without the tofu. Feel the garlic!
Boiled beef in chili sauce. Sauce red sauce, different protein.
Toothpick lamb. These little bits of lamb are covered in cumin and skewered. It was a nice break from the heat, but the lamb bordered on mutton. It could have been far more tender.
NOTE: In October 2016 I had this dish again and it was fabulous with very tender and flavorful lamb bits.
Boiled Fish with green peppers. This is the house signature dish, and it was on nearly every table. It’s similar filets of white fish boiled in a “broth” of oil and peppercorns. This has an interesting vegetable herbaceous heat. In some ways a mild and pleasant flavor, but with a broad numbing quality.
Numb taste wontons. Tasty little pork wontons in a searing chili oil. My first one, looking as it did like above was very tasty. But after they soaked up the chili oil they lost their flavor behind all that spice.
Chicken in mother’s preserved chilies. By far the worst dish of the night. The chicken was mostly chicken necks and the sauce was hot and not so tasty.
Ma Po Tofu (aka Pocked Faced Old Lady Tofu). This was a wonderful dish, probably my favorite. The soft tofu was embraced with really serious heat, a nice vinegary flavor, and a bit of porky goodness.
Pork shank. This huge hunk of pig leg was braised and covered with chilies. Comparatively, it was actually a very mild dish. The meat was juicy and tender. There was a lot of fat around it too. Yum.
Duck tongues. This still fry with onions and peppers consists entirely of duck tongues. Yes, every one of those little meaty things is an individual bird tongue. Pretty tasty actually, although the texture was very rubbery (as I’m sure duck tongue always is).
Eggplant in garlic sauce. An excellent, and very garlicky, version of this dish. The intense sauce was amazing.
Kung Pao shrimp. Classic.
Griddle (dry hot pot) chicken (8/31/18). Really nice flavor and spice. Had the bones, but of course.
Grandmother’s beef with preserved chilies (8/31/18). This was the first time I’ve had this style of dish. It had a tangy/spicy thing, quite sour actually. Very soft generous slices of beef and crunchy cucumber. Really interesting and delicious, although the sour quality might be weird to some westerners.
Tan Tan Noodles. This classic of Szechwan cuisine features noodles, pork, sesame, peanuts, green onion.
You mix it up. And while it doesn’t look lovely, it tasted great, with a really wonderful sesame nut flavor, some noodles, and a bit of sweetness (some spice too — of course). One of our favorites.
Overall, Chengu Taste offered up great authentic fare. The above feast was a mere $30 per person with tax and tip. The service was nice, but there were several practical issues: 1) long wait 2) no wine allowed 3) they brought everything out too fast. This significantly marred the experience (particularly the wine and rapid delivery). We had brought some great sweet wines and they would have calmed the inferno. Plus, by delivering 4-5 dishes at once, the enormous heat of some of them (fish and tofu hot pot!) swamped out the flavors of others (the peppercorn fish). So I’d like to go back if we can arrange for them to deal with those problems.
Still, a delicious and unusual meal, and it was interesting and fantastic to get such a bracing introduction to real Szechwan pepper (I’ve had it before, but not in this quantity). The face numbing effect was dramatic and the flavor complex. The only problem is that the spice kept me up half the night!
October 2016 recap. 3 years and a LOT of Szechuan later I still think Chengdu is a great place. If anything the ingredients seemed to improve. It didn’t feel nearly as hot — I mean it was still hot — but not mind warping. I think that’s just me having “acclimated” to Szechuan food. I have it a lot. I cook it at home! But the flavors were great. Maybe not quite as complex as Szechuan Impressions, but I didn’t get CRS afterward (with SI gives me). The menu is improved and has pictures. There was no wait at lunch although it was reasonably crowded. If you want serious Szechuan classically and well executed you could do far far worse that Chengdu Taste. In fact, it’s pretty darn great.
Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3]
Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885
Date: September 28, 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 and Tasty Duck is one of our regular spots. Even though its intensely crowded, we shoe horned 23 people in on a busy Saturday night. Of course this meant 11-12 people at tables meant for 8-10, but what’s a little elbow in your pancake among friends?
NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. Burghound 93. A stunningly elegant nose of pure floral, Granny Smith apples, spice and freshly sliced lemon complements to perfection the intense and equally pure flavors that possess excellent punch like remain delicate and ultra-refined on the balanced and persistent finish. The supporting mousse displays a very find bead and the overall impression is one of subtlety and grace. Not only is this a wonderful effort but the value it offers it beyond stunning.
Cold appetizers: Jellyfish (top left), wine chicken (top), and beef (bottom). This kind of plate is very traditional in China. The beef was my favorite, marinated, a bit salty, and smoky.
Some white Bordeaux that was beyond gone. Too bad!
The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged. We had two plates of these per table and it was a feeding frenzy!
Here are the traditional accompaniments. Excellent pancakes, hoison sauce, and scallions and apple/pear. One mystery question I must ask: why do Chinese restaurants insist on putting far too few pancakes and too little hoison sauce on the table? We had to ask for refills about four times (which they happily brought).
2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit. 90 points. Very nice blueberry/strawberry nose. not hot on the nose. really nice full palate and mouthfeel with a nice mix of red and blue fruits, and integrated earthiness. did not noticably detect any heat or wood on this. certainly a bigger and different type of rose, but this bottle was nicely restrained and seemed in good balance tonight.
The best American rose I’ve yet had. Rather wonderful.
Cumin lamb. A typical specimen, but with tender flavorful lamb. Some places border on mouton.
2010 Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 92. While there is a trace of exotic fruit to the otherwise very pure aromas of white flower, citrus, wet stone and seaweed, this offers ample Chablis character. There is an attractive succulence to the fleshy middle weight flavors that exude a fine minerality on the clean, dry, linear and overtly saline-infused finish. Like the straight Chablis, this too evidences a hint of bitterness though it should pass in time.
French style Beef. Extremely tender and delicious, almost sweet, morsels of filet.
1971 Weingut Paul Ayl Ayler Kupp Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. Unfortunately a bit over the hill.
Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings. Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth.
1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. Parker 99! These wines are made in frightfully tiny quantities, and are so rich that they make Chateau d’Yquem look like an under-nourished wine. Truly the stuff of legends, these possess 15%-18% residual sugar. All three will age for 40-50 years, but will anyone wait that long? They are “off the charts” in terms of flavor extraction, balance, quality, and the lavish quantity of extract and intensity they possess.
Wine of the night for sure!
Look who’s coming to dinner!
Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, similar to a couple weeks ago at the Shanghai place.
Bok chow and I think mushrooms, hard to tell. Mild but very pleasant.
1990 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux. Burghound 90. Still deeply colored. An expressive, dense, indeed huge nose of roasted, ever-so-slightly stewed fruit that is already showing a great deal of secondary and even tertiary development while the muscular, rich, extracted and solidly complex flavors are underpinned by a tough, firm and very prominent tannic backbone. This is a dramatic bruiser of a wine but it’s not clear that it’s ever going to harmonize as the finish is completely dominated by the structure and given that the fruit is presently much more advanced than the evolution of the tannins, it’s a tough call to say whether the fruit will be able to stand the test of time and this most recent bottle gave no cause for optimism in this regard, indeed it seemed to confirm that this is probably a lost cause. Optimists will continue to hold the ’90 Epeneaux in the cellar as it will certainly be around 30 years from now though whether it will be any more balanced than it is now is the essential question.
Some kind of crazy pork cut. Some serious fat here and the skin was a bit mushy, but the meat fell off the bone and was incredibly tender and delicious.
1970 Bodegas El Coto Rioja Coto de Imaz. Surprisingly good for such an old non-riserva Rioja.
The proverbial, “duck soup” that is the last part of “duck three ways.” Mild and pleasant with some tofu and cabbage. I can also vouch that it was served hot, as a ladleful was poured across my hand and I had to soak my thumb in ice water all night.
Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple!
Part of “duck three ways”: sprouts with bits of duck meat.
Yarom chomps on the pig bone.
Scallion pancakes.
A very nice mixed fried rice.
Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho.
Sweet egg drop soup.
Eye ball surprise anyone? Actually a very unusual dish. Like egg drop soup but sweet with these big tapioca balls. Pleasant, although continuing the general trend in which Chinese desserts bat about 50.
Overall, another fantastic meal. The total damage, including tax and a whopping 30% tip was $35 a person! “Inflated” because of our multiple ducks. The service was great (for Chinese). They were very friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over a long period . 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.
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Yarom with the owner
