Several more really epic Longo meals have been rolled into this mega post.
Several more really epic Longo meals have been rolled into this mega post.
Another rollup post assimilating 4 different meals at the awesome Henry’s Cuisine.
Curry Beef Stew. This is one of the best yellow curries I’ve had. The sauce itself, probably coconut milk based, was extremely delicious and a straightforward version of the English/Hong Kong yellow curry. The meat is tender put packed with collagen and/or tendon.
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Restaurant: Wagyu House by The X Pot
Location: 18558 Gale Ave Suite 122-128, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (866) 610-0609
Date: October 20, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese Hot Pot
Rating: A bit of style over substance, but solid
This was actually just a “Lunch Quest” where we set out to the far SGV to check out this “fancy hot pot” I’d seen online. Turned out it was mobbed! Chinese food in the SGV is never crowded for weekday lunch!
We had to wait about 50 minutes. The wait was weird because the place is huge and was only about 25% full, although tons of people were waiting.
Build out is pretty extensive. Sure, the build quality is “sloppy” and it won’t hold up, but it looks pretty cool right now.
Private rooms.
Sauce Bar. The sauce bar is excellent. Not quite as good as Shancheng Lameizi but very good. There weren’t very many snacks though (like cucumbers etc).
My usual pair of sauces. I tried not to make them very spicy today.
The menu.
And the special “expensive” package menu.
House Special Wagyu Pot (right) and Coconut Chicken Pot (left). Neither of these imparted to obvious a flavor onto the stuff — or at least not enough to survive dipping int he sauces.
Instead of the coconut chicken I really wanted the golden one, which is a specialty of theirs — but alas it was “out.”
House Crispy Pork. Quite yummy, like pork clam strips.
Wagyu Tartare. You mix it up and eat. Pretty good, but the sauce flavor was a little odd.
Braised Lotus Root. I really enjoyed these as I like the texture of lotus roots.
Grilled Wagyu Bone Marrow. Most of the group thought this was the best dish. Just seemed like greasy beef nibblets to me.
Fish Tofu. The usual slight fishiness which I kind of like.
Assorted “meat” balls (beef, pork, and shrimp). The meatballs were good here.
House Special Pork Balls.
House Signature Ham (spam). I love “luncheon meat” at hot pots. This one tasted good, but it became a bit soft in the pot.
Kurabuta Pork Jowl. These were quite good.
Mini Pork Sausage. Not the usual “brand” of sausage and not quite as flavorful.
Each A5 has it’s own presentation. The rib cap (we didn’t order it because Yarom was fighting the A5) comes in a bull!
Japanese Miyazaki A5 Wagyu Silver Side. This was very good but it’s hard to know that one can tell it’s A5 after it’s been boiled and soaked in sauce. I’m a little skeptical if it’s really A5. It might be some more domestic wagyu. Hard to know for sure.
Wagyu Short Rib. Meat was good.
Wagyu Top Blade.
Squid Rolls. Interesting texture.
Imitation Crab Sticks. These almost disolved in the broth, which gave them a slightly offputting mushy texture.
Assorted Vegetables. The cabbage rocked.
Bamboo Shoot. Fiber!
Robo waiters.
This is so SGV.
Overall, Wagyu X was interesting. It was pretty good hot pot, and the decor is great, but we had the annoying wait and a problem with the broth choices/availability. If we got that sorted and were there at dinner and ordered crazy stuff I think it might be a lot of fun.
Fundamentally, if like me, you make your sauce pretty zesty/spicy, then there isn’t that much taste difference between this and any of the other higher end “regular” hot pot chains. Wagyu X is prettier, however, and they do have more wagyu. They also have a lot of expensive live seafood, which I do think would be good with milder broths like the mysteriously unavailable golden broth. After this meal, but before the long delayed write up, I’ve had a couple of delicate seafood hot pots with fabulous non-spicy broths and they were really good. As much as I love a good Chengdu style spicy ox fat broth, it pretty much nukes out seafood subtlety.
This place apparently has the same owners as Niku X — which we shall come to in time on All Things.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.
After we went over to a friend’s restaurant to say high.
Got some free Chinese buttered buns which had carbs I didn’t want. They tasted good however.
Restaurant: Blooming VIP Restaurant
Location: 8118 Garvey Ave A, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 280-2288
Date: October 7, 2022
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese Dim Sum
Rating: Solid
This was sort of the first of a new series we called DimSumQuest, in which a bunch of us actively hit some of Southern California’s vast array of Dim Sum places in short order (1-2 a week over several months) in order to suss out their relative merits. Technically speaking, at the time of this visit we hadn’t yet conceived the nefarious plan, but it was the same crew and in the same timeframe so this was pretty much visit (ground) zero.
Blooming VIP, horrible name aside, is a recent opening of a typical Cantonese palace. It’s even helmed by our friend Ben who used to be at Grand Harbor.
I’m not sure if it’s brand new or took over a previous Cantonese Palace but it has some serious (overwrought) build-out.
Who doesn’t love a dragon medallion.
And the main room has to be seen to be believed.
The highlight are these video screen Chinese columns! Animated seafood scenes roll around them continuously!
The manager, Ben and Yarom.
Le menu.
Honey BBQ Pork.
Five Spices Beef Shank.
Imperial Cold Chicken.
Roasted Duck Hong Kong Style.
Seafood Pan Fried Noodle.
Chicken Feet with XO Sauce.
Short Rib with Black Pepper Sauce.
Bean Curd Skin Wrap.
Steamed Beef Balls.
Shrimp and Mushroom Sui Mai.
Beef Rice Noodle with Green Onion.
XLB.
Shrimp Chives Dumpling.
Har Gow.
Pan Fried Chives Pastry. I love these when I see them.
Tofu with Thai Sauce. I love these too, kind of a guilty pleasure.
Shrimp Egg Roll.
Deep Fried Shrimp Ball.
BBQ Pork Bun.
Salty Meat Sticky Rice Wrap. A bit of an unusual look to it, with lots of filling.
Overall, I remember that this was solid but not amazing Dim Sum. Now don’t get me wrong, if you aren’t jaded like I am with SGV Dim Sum, it might be the best you ever had, but in that rarified world, it’s just “doing a good job.” They have a great classic “Palace” setting, they have a full menu of all the usuals and a few less usuals, they have the BBQ meats, they allow you to order off the bigger “dinner” Cantonese menu if you like (not so recommended during the day), and they have awesome service. So, yeah, it checks all the boxes. Specific Dim Sum execution was just good, not amazing. Unfortunately, not only was this the zero’th DimSumQuest visit but I didn’t take the ultra-detailed notes that I did on later visits, so not much (almost no) commentary on which dishes were specifically great.
When the rest of the DimSumQuest crew returned (without me) in Jan 2023 (due to their incessant zeal) they thought “Blooming VIP in Rosemead was solid. Everything was good… but nothing stood out as excellent EXCEPT… the fresh live steamed Norwegian Langoustine/Scampi….so sweet & delicious! But off course, fresh Norwegian Scampi is not really considered DimSum!” — for me the biggest standout was the giant column TV screens, never seen that before.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234
Date: July 29, 2022
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Great again
Sometimes (particularly during a week day) people don’t want to drive all the way to the SGV — and when that happens there is always Capital Seafood Beverly Hills. Tonight a bunch of us gathered for a big wine night.
Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.
The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.
Coves. Gotta have the coves!
Candied Walnuts.
Peanuts.
It’s alive!
Jellyfish. Nice texture and a good slightly tangy sauce.
Shrimp Egg Rolls. Nice and crunchy.
Har Gow. Well made with a great filling, although they had sat on this plate for a bit too long and so were starting to sag.
Live prawns.
Boiled Live Spot Prawns. Normally I don’t love these sea bugs, but with the sauce they were quite nicely cooked, sweet and delicious.
Sauce for the prawns.
Live lobster!
Typhoon Style Lobster. Great with a nice garlic flavor.
Live crab!
King Crab Body with Basil. Lovely basil flavor and well cooked crab.
King Crab legs steamed with garlic. Juicy, fresh, and delicious.
Pseudo Peking Duck. Not bad, but no pancakes, which makes it more or less Pseudo Peking Duck (see my Ultimate Peking Duck Guild for details).
Buns instead of pancakes.
Wines chilling!
Duck bones with cumin. Actually one of the best duck bone preps I’ve had. Really nice “cumin lamb” style prep. Lots of meat and a bit crunchy.
French style Filet Mignon. Sweet and a bit of black pepper. Boring dish but this was a nice version of it.
Salt and pepper Pork Ribs. Excellent version of this dish. Very fried but not too salty.
Beef rib with Garlic XO sauce. Very savory garlic/MSG sauce. Meat was a touch over cooked, but it was delicious.
King Crab Shell Fried Rice.
Pea Tendrils steamed with Garlic. Nice for a green.
Stir fried fungus with fresh lily and asparagus. Not bad at all for straight vegetables.
Macau Tarts.
Peach shaped buns with bean paste.
Raspberry Lemon Curd Gelato — an awesome dairy Raspberry base swirled with house-made Lemon Curd — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — tangy and sweet! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #raspberry #jam #lemoncurd #curd
Gift from the kitchen: pork buns.
Overall, this was one of our best Capital Seafood (BH) meals ever — and I’ve been a lot! Really fabulous food — partially as we had some really regular customers. Wines were incredible too.
For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.
sharethis_button(); ?>Peking Duck (also more correctly known as Beijing Duck) is one of those sublime foods that’s full of contrasts. It’s always good, but rarely perfect. Seemingly common, proper versions are hard to find. And it’s poorly understood and equally poorly distinguished from it’s ducky cousins. I’ve loved it for nearly half a century, enjoyed it in America and China, and recently made an exhaustive study of the offerings in the greater Los Angeles area. Myself and my good friend and infamous fellow-glutton Jeffrey (a.k.a. @xtremefoodies_) co-organized DuQuest, the search for the best in LA. But before we get to the rankings (click here to skip to them) we need to discuss the basics.
Fundamentally, Peking Duck is a kind of Chinese roast duck. But as far as I can tell there are at least 4 broad categories of roast duck COMMONLY available in LA’s vast bounty of Chinese restaurants (and a few fusion places). They are:
For the purposes of this article, I’m focusing on this: A dish from Beijing (Peking) that has been prepared since the Imperial era. The meat is characterized by its thin, crispy skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and breast/thigh meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook. Ducks bred especially for the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is often eaten with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings.
There are two major sub-variants (cutting styles) we will discuss later but for the purpose of distinguishing “real” Peking duck from other types of duck the main marker is spring pancakes. When served with pancakes it’s “real” and without them it’s usually one of the following:
Because Peking Duck is a popular premium dish most restaurants in LA’s amazing Cantonese scene offer it on the menu. However, the vast majority of these, nay, perhaps all, offer what I am calling “Pseudo” Peking Duck. This dish, somewhat beyond the already bloated scope of this article, is a variant of Cantonese Roast Duck, typically cooked in the Cantonese BBQ manner and served with steamed buns, hoisin, cucumbers, and spring onions. It’s a close cousin, and often delicious, but the duck itself is prepared differently, cut differently, and served differently. The buns do not offer the sublime minimalist carbohydrate balance of the pancake. The hoisin is usually sweeter, the duck is generally plated with shrimp chips, and most importantly the skin is never quite so crispy. Pseudo Duck can be delicious, but it’s just not the same thing.
This delicious dish is offered at nearly every Cantonese, dim sum, and Chinese BBQ joint in the city. It’s great, but it’s not Peking Duck. This duck is usually rough chopped with a cleaver (Chinese knife) and soaking in jus. It’s very moist and at it’s best has a very satisfying fatty skin. If it has any condiment it’s just some sweet (orange) plum-based sauce.
I’m not sure if smoking counts as roasting, but many central Chinese restaurants, particularly from Sichuan, Hunan or Yunnan will offer a tea-smoked duck. As you can tell, I like duck, so I also find this a fabulous dish. The skin is not as crispy and the whole thing is dry with a smoked pastrami-like quality.
Nanjing Duck is salt cured and also dry, often cold, and has a lovely flavor. It’s not crispy at all.
I’ve been to Beijing several times but on my most recent visit in 2018 I enjoyed several high end Peking Ducks, most notably at Dadong and Country Kitchen. On previous trips I also ate at a different Dadong, Made in China, and some old school spots. I’ve had high end duck at various places in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other various other Chinese cities.
Proper Beijing duck in Beijing is never quite replicated here in the states, although we have a few that come close. Over there, the duck is always dry-aged, seasoned, inflated with some kind of compressed or pumped air, often filled with a special broth, then slow roasted for 1-1.5 hours in a wood-fire oven. Here in LA they always use gas ovens. Wood-fire is just too complicated or expensive, probably because of annoying regulations. In China, a duck pit master tends the ducks, moving them around to cook them evenly. After roasting, some special bits of the belly skin are served by themselves with sugar. This is enjoyed as a crunchy snack with a sweet/salty/fatty contrast. The legs and wings are removed, and the breast meat is sliced into little ovals that contain both juicy meat and crispy/fatty skin. The meat skin pieces are combined with hoisin, cucumber, and spring onion inside a spring pancake and enjoyed rolled up. Remaining meat is often (optionally) stir-fried and the carcass is made into duck soup. Realistically, they don’t make YOUR particular duck into duck soup. Previous carcasses, probably from previous days are cooked into big batches of the soup and served on demand.
Peking Duck consists of several different components, each of which is worthy of separate evaluation:
The skin should ideally be super crispy/crunchy with just a bit of (mostly rendered) fat. It’s traditionally served by itself and often on parts of the meat. The solo skin can be eaten plain, with a bit of sugar, or dipped lightly in hoisin. It can also be placed inside the pancake roll (which I’ll call a “bing” as explained below).
The “meat” of a peking duck consists of three main sub-parts. The most important is the breast, which is served typically in one of two styles in LA (see below) with or without skin. Then there is thigh meat, and at many places the legs and occasionally the wings. The legs (and wings) are eaten mostly by themselves but the breast and thigh bits are generally designed to go inside the rolled pancake (“bing”). Ideally the meat should be juicy and delicious with a distinct duck taste but not an overwhelming gamey or barnyard quality.
A proper Peking Duck comes with ultra-thin delicate warm spring pancakes. In Chinese these are known as Chun Bing 春饼. They should be almost translucent, durable enough to wrap, and add just that touch of carbohydrate goodness to their task of binding together the contents. A “Pseudo” Peking Duck will often be served with steamed buns instead of pancakes. It’s not a Peking Duck. Even worse, some Chinese American places will attempt to serve “Pseudo” Peking Duck (it’s not roasted like a real Peking Duck either) with (store bought) Mexican Tortillas. Not only does this taste terrible, but it’s sacrilegious and offends the food gods.
Peking duck sauce isn’t a true hoisin, but we will call it that nonetheless. Peking duck sauce is a thick, fragrant sauce commonly used in as a glaze for meat, an addition to stir fry, or as dipping sauce. It is dark-coloured in appearance and sweet and salty in taste. Although regional variants exist, peking duck hoisin sauce is not exactly the same as the Cantonese hoisin, but instead is usually made from Tian Mian Jian (甜面酱), a chef specific blend of fermented yellow soybean paste, fermented wheat, sometimes fruit (like plums), and the oil from roasted ducks in additional to aromatic ingredients. Tian Mian Jian translates to sweet flour sauce and despite it often having the work “bean” in the description is not primary made from beans. It should be salty, savory, a bit sweet, medium thick, and have a hint of medicinal/herbal quality. It should not be too jammy, watery, or too sweet. Interestingly, it’s actually one of the most important elements of the pancake roll (“bing”) even though it should be used sparingly. One of the reasons “Pseudo” Peking Duck is often inferior is the use of Cantonese hoisin, which while good, is not the same. Peking duck sauce (hoisin) is used — sparingly — to flavor the rolled up pancake (bing) and and to flavor meat eaten on its own.
Accoutrements are anything else potentially added to the pancake roll (“bing”). Minimally it’s julienned cucumber and spring onion but pickles, melon, and other ingredients are frequently found in China. They make interesting and important combinations of flavor.
Since the rolled up pancake containing duck meat etc is such an important part of Peking Duck I’m going to give it a name, “bing.” Really, bing just flat cake in Chinese, and chun bing is a spring pancake, but I had to call it something. But regardless, the “bing” is the main event of any Peking Duck. It consists of the spring pancake, lightly coated in hoisin, meat, skin, and accoutrements then rolled up into a thin cigar-like shape, possibly folded over a bit at the ends. All of the above elements are required for a proper “bing” and it is very sensitive to flaws in any of them, particularly the pancake itself or hoisin. The score for this category is about the overall experience of the “bing,” not the individual components themselves. Hoisin should be used sparingly as it can overwhelm other flavors.
It’s long been possible to get a plate of the “bones” of your duck. This is the hacked up remains of the carcass. Depending on the technique and skill of the carver these can be merely a pile of roasted bones or contain quite a lot of tasty meat. More recently, LA Peking Duck restaurants will stir-fry these bones either with “spicy salt” or cumin. This last seems to be new and non traditional but it is delicious. These stir-fried versions are almost always better than the plate of hacked roasted bones, which is often inedible. One place even stir-fries the duck tails, which are fatty and delicious.
For decades it’s been an option to get parts of the meat that aren’t served on the main plates for the “bing” stir-fried or prepped in some manner. The most common are stir-fried with bean sprouts or lettuce cups. I’ve never liked the bean sprout version. The lettuce cups can be fine. Both have very minimal meat and I rarely order them. This is sometimes called “2 ways.”
Duck soup is often sold in a “3 ways” package with the main event duck, a stir-fry, and the soup. At best it’s a mild chicken-like (but duck) soup with tofu and cabbage. At best it can be pleasant and soothing. At worst the soup is very gamey and kinda nasty.
An overall score takes all the relevant above elements into account, presenting a score of Peking Duck quality at a particular restaurant.
In LA, there are three basic methods of presentation, which end up in two “on the table” styles:
In this presentation, only really performed at Chang’An in Tustin and Meizhou Dongpo, the whole duck is brought out and carved up table-side to the amusement of the guests. The breast skin is pulled off and the breast is sliced into ovals with some skin attached. It’s generally served on little white duck plates. The table-side presentation is not just for show — although it certainly is fun — but has material impact on the overall Peking Duck experience. Sliced duck meat, and particularly skin, has a lot of surface area and it cools rapidly. Ducks sliced in the kitchen often linger there for a few minutes and come to the table luke warm.
This is pretty much the same as the table-side style, but the carving is all done in the kitchen and the meat and skin are brought out on plates. It should be noted that one appears to get a lot more meat via the Beijing style carve, regardless of it being table-side or not. Generally there are two full plates of skin and meat as opposed to the bowl cut which seems to be closer to half a duck. Kitchen sliced duck will generally be cooler in temperature than table-side duck, and therefore will be drier and seem fattier (hot fat is always better).
Many “classic” LA Peking Duck restaurants bring the duck meat and skin out from the kitchen together on a single large plate. The skinless meat is packed into a soup bowl and then inverted in the center forming a dry packed meat dome. The best skin is cut into rectangular “petals” and arrayed around this dome to form a floral pattern. This system has an efficiency for the kitchen, and does seem to provide some of the crispiest skin in the city (as it’s separate) but the plate is sometimes cool by the time it arrives and the meat is usually lean and dry. Overall, I find it an inferior technique but it does have it’s advocates — namely those who prize the crispy skin above all. There is certainly less meat available via the bowl cut method as it seems to be reserved for the other dishes (that you also have to pay extra for). An additional problem with the bowl method is that there is frequently some delay between carving the duck, arranging the platter, and serving it. The net result is that bowl cut duck is usually not very warm, sometimes room temperature. Hot duck means hot duck fat and is much superior.
Overall ranking is just an order but all of the other categories are rated 1-10. Currently included are only Peking Duck specialty restaurants serving “Real” Peking Duck that I have visited recently and reviewed in detail.
Restaurant | Overall (of 7) | Bing | Skin | Meat | Pancake | Hoisin | Accoutrements |
Chang’an | 1 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 |
Bistro Na | 2 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 9 |
Array36 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 |
Meizhou Dongpo Arcadia | 4 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
Ray’s Duck House | 5 | 8.5 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 3 |
Duck House | 6 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
JiRong | 7 | 8 | 7.5 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
NC Peking Duck | 8 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 7 |
Happy Duck | 9 | 4 | 8.5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 |
Tasty Duck | 10 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
Location: 13051 Newport Ave, Tustin, CA 92780. (949) 324-5558
Last visited: December 10, 2022
Meat was served 2 ways, both with some skin on the white meat, straight up = 10 where it was really juicy and full of flavor.
A second half of the meat was served smoked which was very different, a bit more like ham, and quite lovely = 9.
Location: 9055 E Las Tunas Dr #105, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 286-1999
Last visited: March 24, 2024
Bistro Na briefly (first half of 2024) was offering some of the best duck around, almost certainly the best in the SGV. For some mysterious reason in the second half of 2024 the duck is on “pause” — they claim due to sourcing — but I don’t get it.
They carve table-side. We ordered 2!
Extensive condiments for the duck.
Really nice thin spring pancakes.
The breast and skin, served by itself with sugar. Really crispy and nice.
Sugar for the skin. And great hoisin.
The main meat. The duck was great. 2nd best duck I’ve had in Southern California. All the elements were really good.
The bones return salt and pepper. Heads split in half. A bit too much of the bone and head thing but tasty.
Location: 5449 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91776. (626) 866-0623
Last visited: July 21, 2024
Finally, about an hour late, our Peking duck arrived. They do it like Chang’an, lighting it on fire with Baiju.
Just the skin. It was good, but not quite as crispy as it should have been.
Meat itself was delicious and juicy.
Some of the meat was smoked, which is very enjoyable.
This added more (smoky) flavor, of course.
We brought oodles of caviar for the duck.
The condiments were solid.
A full review can be found here, but Array36 is a very solid place.
Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave #2045, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 538-4136
Last visited: December 4, 2022
Location: 4721 Chino Hills Pkwy, Chino Hills, CA 91709. (909) 606-9046
Last visited: January 26, 2022
The overall spread at Ray’s. They used the modern Beijing cut (in the kitchen) and brought it out on the usual two white duck plates. Ray’s serves a really first rate Peking Duck (even if the leg’s and wings were missing). All of the top three places (Ray’s included) are very good and slightly different. Here the skin is the best of any of the modern cut places being delightfully thick and crispy.
In addition, at lunch they have a really excellent dim sum service. Really excellent. The only problem is that the restaurant is located very far east, about 50 miles from Santa Monica! It’s a shame that 2 of the top 3 places are extremely far from LA proper. I have to come back and try the Cantonese banquet dishes and seafood.
Skin was thick, crunchy, airy, and quite spectacular, both the separate parts and the bits on the meat — it was all crunchy! = 9. I actually think this skin was even slightly better than the Happy Duck skin. The fact that the skin on the meat bits was also crunchy was incredible.
Meat was served mostly moon cut with the skin, some dark meat by itself. The wings and legs were missing. And while the meat wasn’t as juicy as MDP it was very very tasty with great duck flavor. Probably the third best meat = 7.
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual. This was the weakest element as they had been cut the previous day (most likely) and were dry = 3. However, in the bing it was hard to tell.
Hoisin was great. It wasn’t goopy thick, nor too sweet, and had fabulous on-point flavor = 9.
Pancake was thin and translucent and there were plenty of them = 10.
The bing pancake together was excellent largely due to all the ingredients other than the scallions being first rate = 8.5/10.
Duck Soup was bland although at least not unpleasant = 4.
Bones were on the menu, but they didn’t think we needed them = N/A.
A full review of Ray’s is in the works.
Location: 501 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 284-3227
Last visited: September 30, 2024
Duck House is one of the SGV’s classic… well you guessed it… duck houses. Hostess and owner Catherine used to operate Tasty Duck but moved years ago to this location and she’s one of the best hostesses in town. Not only do they serve great Peking Duck but they have a wonderful all around menu. The decor is excellent in the height of 2000ish Monterey Park style and they have nice private rooms. They prepare the duck in the kitchen with a gas oven and then serve it using the SGV “bowl cut” style. Bones and even duck tails are available a number of ways as I’m sure are stir-fries and duck soup.
Skin was very thick and crispy, really delicious = 9.
Meat was dry without the skin, but fairly pleasant flavor = 6.
Pancake was thin and translucent, but a bit sticky = 8.
Hoisin was very good. Not too thick, sweet and savory, with a hint of medicinal tone but not off-putting = 8.
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual plus a spread of pickles, mustard sauce, corn flakes, and raw garlic = 9. These extra four condiments were specially prepared for us by the owner, they aren’t always available, but is totally worth asking about!
The bing together was a 8/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component.
Bones are very good both salty and cumin style.
The duck tails are to die for. Little bits of super crispy fat!
Duck wings are another option.
Extra bonus incredible service!
A full review of Duck House is available here.
Location: 8450 Valley Blvd Suite 115, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 280-8600
Last visited: July, 2022
In recent years, Ji Rong has risen to be one of Alhambra’s “go to” places for Peking Duck. You must order ahead here and they serve using the “bowl cut” method, but it’s very dependable and they offer a vast array of modern Beijing food that is quite excellent. This includes a variety of western and Sichuan influenced dishes. It’s very popular and feels very 2010s SGV. The “private rooms” are merely separated areas to the side of the main dining room and it can be quite loud. Service is very efficient but young employees sometimes seem at the mercy of the kitchen staff. They have three ways and all that.
Ji Rong skin was very crispy and some of the pieces that were thick were about as good as Happy Duck, however there was a slight funk to it so -1. point for that = 7. Thick pieces maybe an 8.
Meat was packed in a bowl, no skin. White meat was medium dry, also with a slight funk = 4, but the dark meat was better = 7. They do offer the legs with the main dish.
Pancake was thin and resilient = 9.
Hoisin was very good with really nice balance, not perfect, but extremely good = 8.
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual = 7.
The bing together was a 8/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that.
A full review of Ji Rong can be found here.
Location: 17515 Colima Rd Unit A, City of Industry, CA 91748. (626) 839-0000
Last visited: October 27, 2022
In just the last few years there have been more and more great Chinese restaurant openings in the “far SGV” (Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, City of Industry). NC Peking Duck isn’t the fanciest, but it is a Peking Duck specialty place with a broad menu of Northern Chinese Cuisine and very modern Beijing Style duck. They have a couple of minimalist private rooms and excellent service as well as many great dishes. The duck itself is served in the Beijing Style, but carved in the kitchen. Ducks should be pre-ordered.
NC skin was ultra-thin and crispy, and gets an extra point for some of the pieces having some meat/fat on them = 9 for fatty pieces and 7 for regular ones.
Meat was juicy and flavorful with skin on = 8. On some occasions they plate in the really “classic” double duck dish style.
Pancake was thin and resilient = 9.
Hoisin was tasty but “goopy”, extra thick, and with a bit too much medicinal tone = 5.
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual = 7. Before the pandemic they offered this incredible 9 way deluxe accoutrement spread, which would have earned a 10! Hopefully they bring it back.
The bing together was a 6/10, dinged mostly by the hoisin.
They offer cumin bones.
Or very meaty “chopped” bones.
A full review of NC Peking Duck is available here.
Location: 18210 Gale Ave, City of Industry, CA 91748. (626) 581-4747
Last visited: October 27, 2022
Happy Duck is also located out in the far SGV. As a restaurant I’m not that much of a fan. It’s just a little mom and pop place with no atmosphere and a fairly boring mixed “duck house” and Cantonese menu. Others like it better. It’s not bad at all, just not exciting to me (no spicy dishes). However they do offer “Real” Peking Duck and it’s pretty decent. Service is very friendly. Ducks should be preordered.
Happy Duck skin is unusually crispy and delicious, almost spongy = 8.5 (some people in our group think a 9). This skin has its devotees and some people thing it’s the best skin in the city — certainly it’s very good skin. They have a special “torching” technique here that crisps up the skin.
Meat was dry and served packed into a rice bowl and served as a dome (no skin) = 5.
Pancake was house-made but chewy and uneven, really disappointing = 5.
Hoisin was very sweet but tasty, with a strong medicinal taste = 6.
Accoutrements featured fresh spring onions but flabby cucumbers = 4.
Bing with everything rolled up was a 4/10, dinged hugely for the pancake and hoisin.
Like most duck places they have duck soup.
And duck and bean-sprout stir-fry, which is pretty bland and dry.
A lot of duck houses also have eel sticky rice and this is actually the best version of this dish I’ve ever had. Eel was perfectly cooked and the rice was great too.
A full review of Happy Duck is available here.
Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885
Last visited: November 16, 2022
Tasty Duck was one of our “go to” duck places for around a decade and it’s located in a small, crowded, not-particularly-attractive space in the center of Alhambra. Ducks should be preordered and they traditionally served in the “bowl cut” style. The last time we went they had new owners and tried to cut table-side in the Beijing Style and made a real hack job of the duck. They offer 3 ways and we did “up the ante” by bringing half a pound of fresh caviar.
Skin was very thin, oily, and not very crispy. And there wasn’t that much of it = 4.
Meat was juicy, but was gamey, luke warm, and not particularly appealing. Attached skin was soggy = 5.
Pancake was thin and translucent = 9.
Hoisin was absolutely first rate. Not too thick, sweet and savory, with a hint of medicinal tone but not off-putting = 9.
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual, but extra point for sugar and melon = 8.
The bing together was a 6/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that. Caviar was BYOC so not normally available.
Duck soup was terrible with a barn-like flavor = 2.
Duck stir-fry. Bleh. I don’t get this dish.
Extra bonus for table side carving — although it was a duck massacre!
A full review of Tasty Duck is available here.
As the Southern California duck situation evolves I will continue to update this page. In addition I may list places with “Pseudo” Peking Duck and revisit fusion restaurants with Peking Duck like Merois, Mr. Chow, and Chinois. There are also a couple places I haven’t been in a long time, like Shin Beijing, which serve a Peking Duck somewhere between “real” and “pseudo” or just some places like Moon House that serve passable (real) Peking Duck but are of a lesser status so I haven’t rolled into the grid.
Last Updated: January 3, 2023.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: Shanghai #1 Seafood Village [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-1777
Date: April 17 & July 9, 2022
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. Here in 2022 we returned for a pair of dinners to see how it was doing post pandemic.
The decor is Stark meets Chinatown. Interestingly, as cheesy as it is, it’s fairly authentic. It is however, some 7 years after I first went here, looking a bit “shabby.” This is typical of Chinese establishments as they don’t seem to do a lot of maintenance. We had the private dining room tonight. Mysteriously, even though it was a Sunday night and the place was EMPTY, at first they gave us a table in the main area. We had to ask for the private room. It’s much better though.
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.
Smashed Cucumbers with Garlic. Good with some of the other sauces.
Jellyfish Heads. In a nice sweet and tangy sauce.
Pickled Turnips. Sweet and a tiny bit spicy. I like them a lot but some people don’t.
Black Fungus (cloud ear mushroom). I always like this.
Pork Jelly. Very clean version of this dish.
Cold Chicken. Fine, but a bit boring as always. Simple “hainan-like” chicken. Pretty good except for he bones. The sauce was good.
Oil Poached Crab. Very lovely with clean crab flavor. Not so large though (we ordered 2).
Tofu with shrimp and salty egg yolk. Very strong salty egg flavor, but quite nice.
Two Flavor Shrimp. The one with the shell is sweet.
Yellow Croaker with Green Onion. Brown savory sauce and a very nice oniony flavor.
Fried yellow croaker with tea leaves. Very fried but delicious with the sweet vinegar.
Yellow Croaker with Green Onion. Brown savory sauce and a very nice oniony flavor.
Jiggly Pork Hock. Delicious.
Tea Smoked Duck. Crispy and delicious.
Beef with Scallions. Okay but a bit bland and the beef was chewy.
Cumin lamb. They pretty much forgot the cumin and the peppers.
Peppers with pork. Good, although not that much pork.
XLB. Very good.
Vinegar for the dumplings.
Tofu with pork. Great flavor.
Shanghai Style Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings. Heavy, but yummy.
Shanghai Noodles with pork and cabbage. Fabulous noodles actually.
Crispy noodles with seafood. Delicious. Great texture and nice flavor.
Caramel Double Chip Gelato — Base is Salted Caramel made by replacing the sugar with house-made Water Caramel. Laced with Valrhona Chocolate Chunks and Toffee Chunks — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #caramel #SaltedCaramel #valrhona #toffee
Overall, these were both really great meals, but the April one was spectacular and the July one just great. Shanghai #1 severs (on a good night) first rate Chinese and quite authentic and typical of high end banquet meals in China. I’ve been here many times and finally enjoyed getting some “tricked out” dishes like sea cucumber. They were great. Service was good. The place is QUIET these days. Maybe they subsist on daytime dimsum, but it’s a shame as this Shanghai banquet food is delicious.
For more LA Chinese reviews click here.
They have a Karaoke setup in the private room!
Restaurant: Duck House [1, 2, 3]
Location: 501 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 284-3227
Date: April 3, 2022 and December 22, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: Good duck
Duck House is a staple SGV restaurant for my gang. The food is good, it’s on the closer side, and the owner is incredibly nice. I’ve even housed a birthday dinner here. But this is my personal first return after the pandemic.
The logistics of this dinner were a bit odd as we had two tables and about 14-15 people so there were like 7 at each. Yarom had organized and preset the menu but his plane returning to LA was severely delayed/canceled and so Yarom wasn’t at his own dinner! This has never happened before, not in the approximately 400-500 dinners I’ve eaten with him! He never cancels or misses for anything. He’d show up with a freshly amputated leg if he had to. Also there was a full copy of each dish ordered for each table so there was way too much of most stuff.
Peanuts. They always have these on the table. I swear I buy this same brand on a regular basis for home snacking — pretty tasty with a nice medium Chinese heat and numbing quality.
Bang Bang Chicken. A bit of numbing. This was one of my favorite dishes actually, all owing to the “crack” sauce. The chicken was incredibly moist and juicy and the bang bang sauce is to die for. Really really great dish. I could drink the slightly numbing sauce.
Squirrel Fish with the super goopy super sweet sauce. Too sweet. Too heavy.
Lobster with ginger and scallions. Very succulent. Totally solid Cantonese lobster.
Lobster “Typhoon Style”. Very meh. Meat was overcooked and dry. There were way too many breadcrumbs here as well. Garlic flavor was nice.
Eel Sticky Rice. Tastes very Japanese somehow.
Peking Duck. Duck House has very good duck. The skin is nice and crispy. They serve it in this old school manner which has the advantage of lots of skin but the disadvantage of being a bit cool (it was carved back in the kitchen) and the meat being a touch dry.
Duck House Peking duck spread:
Skin was very thick and crispy, really delicious = 9
Meat was dry without the skin, but fairly pleasant flavor = 6
Pancake was thin and translucent, but a bit sticky = 8
The burrito/bing together was a 8/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that.
Extra bonus incredible service!
More details on duck and in comparison to others in my Ultimate LA Peking Duck Guide.
Condiments. They have proper thin spring pancakes and good hoisin.
Hoisin was very good. Not too thick, sweet and savory, with a hint of medicinal tone but not off-putting = 8
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual plus a spread of pickles, mustard sauce, corn flakes, and raw garlic = 9
Duck Bones. The regular version just roasted. I didn’t really like these.
Duck Bones stir fried with cumin. Much better flavor but not a whole lot of accessible meat.
Duck Tails. Insanely good, insanely fatty, insanely salty bits of yumminess. VERY salty.
Cabbage with Chinese Sausage. Delicious, although the cabbage was a bit mushier than I like. It should have some crunch.
French Style Beef. Very sweet. Tender, but still very sweet. Boring.
Buddha’s Chicken. Whole Boneless Chicken Stuffed With Mixed Seafood and Taro. Very soft and interesting, if a bit cloyingly sweet.
Salt and Pepper Pork Nuggets. Very tasty but quite salty.
Mu Shu Pork. Classic American Chinese (and a Beijing traditional dish) but very nice texture and flavor.
Cumin Lamb. Not your typical version of the dish as it didn’t have much spice, much wok hei, or any cilantro. It was more a sweet slightly cumin brown sauce. Still, pretty tasty.
Kung Pao Chicken. The brown sauce version, with only a little heat, but still very pleasant.
Sweet Sesame Mochi Soup. These weird sweet Chinese soups are never good.
Cherry Ginger Limonade Sorbetto – Fresh squeezed Lemons, Limes, and Avignon Cherries were blended with house-made Ginger to make this delightfully tart and tingly frozen treat — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #lemon #lime #cherry #lemonade #ginger
An old Ramen Roll classic — Matcha White Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea base mixed with White Chocolate Chunks — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #WhiteChocolate #matcha #GreenTea
The April 2022 dinner wasn’t the greatest dinner. Sure, the duck and lobster were excellent, but we had too much of each dish and a super tame boring order with too many sweet “crowd pleaser” dishes I’ve had many times before. I could totally do without squirrel fish, french beef, or salt and pepper pork chop. But they do have a very good kitchen and a big menu so there are plenty of different options for the more creative orderer. I’ve gotten some of them before.
The December 2022 dinner was a bit better, but we still could have ordered far more interesting stuff.
And it was so weird being at a Yarom dinner with no Yarom. Haha. (in April)
But still, service was absolutely first rate as always. Our big private room was nice and we were spoiled. So fun as always and I’d definitely say that Duck House is a great SGV gateway drug place for those who need to baby into the more extreme and different stuff.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: Paradise Dynasty
Location: 3333 Bristol Street, BLM, 1 Bloomingdale’s, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. (714) 617-4630
Date: February 17, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese XLB
Rating: Way better than DTF
I went twice to branches of Paradise Dynasty in Shanghai and really enjoyed it. This chain is like a much more interesting Din Tai Fung. Frankly, I don’t exactly get why DTF is so popular except perhaps that it’s a “gateway drug” to more modern Chinese food and is just “easy” for Americans.
Somewhat annoyingly Paradise Dynasty’s first US branch is in Costa Mesa. Well it could be worse, at least it’s in driving distance but I don’t go down there that often. In fact, it’s in the South Coast Plaza mall. I hate malls.
Build out is nice but it’s spoiled by that whole mall atmosphere.
The menu is epic with quite a bit of variety.
Spinach and Vermicelli tossed with Vinaigrette. A “salad” of sorts. Pleasant.
Specialty Dynasty Xiao Long Bao. These are why one comes to PD: the 8 flavored XLB.
Here is the “key” to the flavors.
White is “signature” (classic pork). Delicate and excellent. The skins on all of these are very thin and lovely.
Red is Szechuan Hot Pot and it actually tastes like hot pot broth!
Grey is Garlic pork, and it’s pretty garlicky.
Yellow is Cheese. Interesting.
Green is Luffa Gourd with Chinese Wine (and pork of course). Mellow.
Orange is Crab Roe (and pork). Lovely briney flavor.
Tan is Foie Gras (and pork). Tastes like foie.
Black is Black Truffle (and pork). Probably my least favorite actually, but not truffle oil.
Ginger for the XLB. One adds soy sauce and vinegar to the dish for dipping.
Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp. Top notch.
Radish Pastry. Lovely flakey (probably from lard) texture.
Prawn and Kurobuta Pork Wonton in Chili Vinaigrette. Classic, light, and delicious.
Noodle with Prawn and Kurobuta Pork Wonton in Signature Pork Bone Soup.
A single portion. The broth was basically like Chinese Tonkotsu.
Stir-fried Shredded Pork in Black Bean Sauce served with Chinese Crepe.
This is the “Crepe” (Spring Pancake). This was an excellent version of this very salty/savory dish.
Ma Po Tofu with Pork. First rate version actually. Not super numbing, but very good.
Scrambled Egg White with Fish and Dried Scallop.
Breaking the egg. I really liked the soft texture and mild but very savory flavor of this dish.
Stir-fried French Bean with Minced Pork and Preserved Olive Vegetable. Nice version of this classic too.
Kung Pao Chicken.
Overall, Paradise Dynasty is very good. I wouldn’t really consider it a dinner restaurant where one would go to get hearty wok classics. Yeah, they have a few, but that’s not their strong point. However, the flavored XLB are unique and absolutely first rate and the noodles and other dimsum like dishes are really good. Only downside is having to walk in a mall. Blech. I haven’t walked inside a mall in years (probably over a decade) to actually shop.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: One One Dumplings
Location: 704 W Las Tunas Dr #4, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 282-8695
Date: December 17, 2021
Cuisine: Northern Chinese
Rating: Solid boiled and fried dumplings
AFF and another Friday trip to the SGV to check out some Asian goodness. We actually intended to go to Hui Tou Xiang next door but they were only open for takeout — and since daddy don’t do takeout, we hit up one one.
Small interior.
Very casual sauce containers.
The menu is smaller than the interior and doubles as an order form. And a third of it is crossed out.
Flavors stewed bean curd. Tastes pretty normal actually. Flavors is mostly soy sauce (and maybe some sugar) and a couple of spices like star anise.
Fried pork dumplings. Great crispy bottom.
Stewed pork noodle in soup.
Flavors stewed beef. Presumably this meat is braised in the same liquid as the tofu.
Cabbage, pork, and shrimp. Straight up delicious boiled dumplings.
Pork with soup, steamed. What they mean here is soup dumplings, ie. that frozen or solidified broth was included in the filling before steaming. Delicious of course.
Chive, pork, egg, and shrimp boiled dumplings.
Fried chive, pork, egg dumplings. These had the most perfect pan fried bottom!
The mess.
One one is a simple place, but if you crave straight up boiled and fried jiaozi dumplings, it’s certainly got ’em.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
This is where we intended to go. When they reopen for sit down, I’ll try again.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: China Gourmet [1, 2]
Location: 2842 St Vincent St, Philadelphia, PA 19149. (215) 941-1898
Date: November 26, 2021
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Pretty decent Cantonese
As part of the traditional ThanksGavin progression of meals we often have a second home feast on Friday Night, but this year because my cousin Matt and his wife were justifiably out of steam from the big event the night before, we quested around for tasty place that could take nearly 20 people.
Much to my pleasure we selected this local Cantonese banquet hall.
Fairly typical interior that is pretty much straight out of the SGV.
The menu. Clearly they do a lot of takeout.
This meal involved some really complex ordering. This is the main adult table. This had a mix of adventurous and cautious eaters and even a couple with restrictions.
And then the extra challenging kids table, which due to size restrictions also ended up as the overflow for really picky eaters and those with highly specific dietary needs.
Peanuts.
Fish maw and crab soup. Mild MSG delivery vehicle.
Because some people thought “fish maw” was too weird, we also got Hot and sour soup (which is always delicious).
Lobster with minced pork. Not sure I’ve had it with the pork. Extra yum.
Clams with black bean sauce.
Peppers stuffed with shrimp paste.
Steamed striped bass.
Quail.
Garlic fried chicken. Very tender and moist.
Salt and pepper pork chop.
Snow pea leaf.
String beans.
Beef on crispy noodles.
Salt and pepper tofu.
Seafood fried rice with salty roe. I didn’t tell everyone about the “roe”.
Oranges.
Really a pretty good place, on par with a medium level SGV Cantonese. Not the best ever, but not Chinese American either (at least the way I ordered). Everyone enjoyed it too so my “something for everyone” ordering seemed to have worked out.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234
Date: November 12, 2021
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Not their best meal
Sauvages has been on a fantastic (and “sold out”) tear since resuming in 2021. This lunch is a return to Capital Seafood in Beverly Hills with a (fake, AKA American) Chardonnay and Pinot Noir theme.
Capital is the latest SGV place to move west, occupying the Newport Seafood Beverly Hills location that failed to work out. Not that I love even the original Newport, but Capital is fairly straight up banquet / dimsum Cantonese.
The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.
Coves. Gotta have the coves!
This particular lunch had the annoying 2 table and double wine format. We were set up in the bar area.
Champs to begin:
These were (in my mind) the “real wines” before all that buttery chard came in.
Candied walnuts.
Peanuts.
Our special menu.
The double table wine menu.
Some various sauces.
Smashed garlic cucumbers.
Pickled jellyfish.
Stuffed scallop with shrimp.
Tony, who organized the menu, had them individually plate everything. This looks great and is a bit easier but it just doesn’t work well at Chinese restaurants. They aren’t used to it, and the time it takes them to do it means that everything is a bit cold by the time it hits the table. Plus, I’m a glutton and then I can’t take seconds :-).
Steamed egg and lobster.
Steamed live fish.
Plated.
Dum sum platter. A bun, a little rabbit dumpling (cute!) and a (single) hargow.
So cute!
Whole suckling pig.
Plated. Notice how they have to stick some random vegetables on the plate so it doesn’t look empty. Fortunately, they didn’t plate the whole thing so there were fairly unlimited seconds of it available.
French style filet mignon and String Beans. Tony just can’t resist ordering this dish. It’s tender but boring.
Braised Tofu & Pea Leaves with Garlic.
Fried Rice with Red Chicken Sauce and Shrimp Cream. This is the “classic” yin yang rice.
Macau style egg tart.
Baked Crispy Pastry with Almond milk. Cool but a bit odd.
Fresh fruit.
Overall, Capital Seafood is quite solid SGV-style Cantonese banquet (as well as dimsum). I’d say that the food quality is about on par with middle of the road SGV Cantonese. Price is higher, but still not bad. They lean heavily on the MSG too. But today’s lunch was probably one of my least favorite meals here. The two table and individual plating thing meant that portions were small and the food was a bit cold.
Also, the whole two table thing is just not as fun as a single (even large) table. Having half the wines at one and half at the other is very chaotic.
I didn’t really like the white wine. There were a couple that were decent, but they are so heavy. I’d happily drink $20 2019 Fevre Chablis Villages over almost any of these, so I’m not even gonna bother to write them up. Some of the Pinots are pretty nice. Not like a great red burg, but at least like an enjoyable young red burg.
For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.
Restaurant: Chengdu Impression
Location: 21 E Huntington Dr, Arcadia, CA 91006. (626) 462-9999
Date: November 7, 2021 and May 1, 2022
Cuisine: Sichuan Chinese
Rating: Great kitchen, terrible service
I wanted to go here for years but a combination of distance, the pandemic, and the challenge of getting Sichuan groups together made it a bit hard. Finally I got here in late 2021 and the kitchen was so good we swore to go again.
It’s located in the North SGV, more Arcadia, on a busy street.
The interior is modern and deserted. Both times almost no other customers. They have 2 privates rooms as well.
This is the upstairs. The first time we ate up here.
The second time we had the large private room.
This is the menu — however, both times, despite my attempts in advance to pre-order stuff, they were “out” of a mysterious range of items. I think it’s staff shortages in the kitchen honestly.
Cold Tossed Cucumber. The second time we tried to order this (on the second visit) they were “out” supposedly because the chef declared that the sauce was “too complicated.” This has to be some kind of staff shortage.
Hot and Sour Jelly Noodle. Good, but could have used a bit more sour to my taste. Texture was on point. Notice the take out container. They really wanted to service us everything in these crap containers with plastic forks and spoons. I went and had a talk with the manager and only by playing up the blog card managed to get them to use real plates. I think they have returned their rental dishwasher or something.
Sliced Pork Belly with Spicy Garlic Sauce. The sauce in particular was incredible. Really awesome and on the second visit when we tried to reorder, again the chef declared the sauce “too complicated” and wouldn’t serve it. Weird!
Boiled Pork Dumplings. Because they were out of the wontons on the first visit. These were basic.
But on the second visit we managed to get wontons! Numbing Spicy Wonton. Nice soft wrapper, very intense numbing sauce (almost a soup).
Couples Sliced Beef and Tripe. Good sauce, beef was a bit tough.
Chinese bread for the beef.
Pungent and Spicy Chicken. Sauce was full of chilis and quite excellent. I particularly liked the bamboo shoots in here.
Chicken in Chili Sauce. Different, less “oily” variant than I usually find.
Cold Chicken Noodles. Really excellent noodle dish with that sweet and tangy quality.
Pickled garlic!
Sliced Sole Filet and Tofu in Sichuan Peppercorn Sauce. Delicious and perfect rendition of the dish. Super moist and soft fish with lots of numbing. Not as spicy as Sichuan Impression.
Kung Pao Shrimp. Delicate and almost floral. Incredible version. There might be some lychee in here for sweetness.
Spicy Lobster (preorder). Nice tender meat and good flavor. They did charge a LOT for this, however. Pre-ordered and brought too early because they can’t resist bringing the pre-order stuff.
Bullfrog Dry Pot with Sichuan Vegetables. Awesome version of this dish, particularly the crunchy lotus root and soft potato.
Braised Sea Cucumber with Minced Pork. The pork was awesome. The cucumber was a bit chewy (and not so strong on flavor).
Bullfrog Stewed with Spicy Ginger Broth. One of the classic Sichuan Bullfrog variants. Quite nice meat.
Beef Tendon. Very jiggly, but nice.
Shredded Beef with Sour Sauce. Interesting.
Chengdu Style Beef Jerky. Very dry but a lot of flavor.
Honey Roasted Duck (Pre-order). Really excellent, super jucy sweet duck. Polarizing as Yarom and David didn’t like the sweet. The rest of us loved it.
Country Style Sliced Pork with Shisito Peppers. Excellent meat with great salty flavor.
Angus Beef Ribs. Interesting. Very fatty, but quite a lot of flavor.
Crispy Spciy Diced Chicken. Fabulous version of this dish with plenty of aromatic chili vibe and a very darkly 2-3 time fried chicken.
Wok Fried Cabbage with Garlic and Minced Pork. Super delicious with a nice crunch and good pork flavor.
Twice Cooked Pork. Perfect. Leeks were great.
Dan Dan Mein.
Mixed up. The flavor was quite good, if a touch sweet.
Mapo Tofu. Very good version of the dish. Not that hot, but lots of numbing and deep flavor.
Raspberry Sorbetto — French Raspberries, a touch of lime juice, and a splash of Amaro — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I had to add a bit of Amaro for my “art” otherwise it would have been too simple — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #raspberry #amaro
Hazelnut at the Ritz Gelato — Nocciola (hazelnut) custard base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste then mixed with house-made caramel and crushed Ritz Crackers (for that salty offset) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #nocciola #caramel #caramello #ritz #crackers
My son’s favorite — Triple Chocolate Cloud Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Oreos! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #oreos #ganache #icing #NestléCrunch
So in summary:
I think the actual Sichuan kitchen here is great, maybe the best I’ve had in the greater LA area. But there are serious problems with the operation.
They are clearly “barely in business.” The restaurant is empty and given how crowded most SGV restaurants are this is hardly a good sign. They tried both times to serve on plastic wares. The front of house staff, while friendly, lounged around a good deal of the time. They didn’t replace plates, clear stuff very often, or bring napkins etc. We had to constantly go out to find them to get things and to order — only to discover them chatting with each other in the hall. The kitchen was out of items both times. Oddly out of stuff. We also had a third “failed” dinner between these two where they canceled it on us because they were “doing renovations.” I suspect they were just short staffed or had some permitting issue. The unavailability of basic dishes like cold cucumbers because the sauce was “too complicated” was laughable. Even in the private room where they will give you real plates they gave us mostly plastic silverware.
Additionally, the second visit was oddly expensive. It seems they priced the pre-order dishes (like the lobster and duck) really high. Maybe $200-300+ for just the lobster!
Anyway, it’s really a shame that they have these logistical issues because the subtlety of the cooking is for the most part very good and they do have a lot of interesting items on the menu (when they are in “stock”).
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: Happy Harbor
Location: 1015 Nogales St, West Covina, CA 91792. 626-965-2020
Date: October 30, 2021
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Great cantonese
Yarom discovered this place during the day (for dim sum) not too long ago and as it was really great in that mode we decided to hit it for Sunday dinner.
Happy Harbor is a medium sized Cantonese located right next to Mandarin plaza, a “far east” (Hacienda Heights ish) area we have eaten at again and again.
The interior is classic Cantonese.
With the tanks.
And the over-decorated private room which was where we set up shop.
On table to start, cucumbers. A bit sweet.
Peanuts.
The show off the live “creatures.”
Cold plate. Roast Pork, Roast Duck or Chicken, Jellyfish, Macau style pork belly.
Tofu with preserved egg. Oddly sweet and not one of my favorite versions.
Lobster with garlic and ginger. Very tender.
“Spot prawns” in a crunchy very fried Typhoon style. Not immensely garlicky but the prawns themselves were very well cooked.
Quail. Excellent version.
Peking duck skin. Not enough, but good. Buns unfortunately instead of pancakes.
Peking duck meat/bones. Lots of meat here, more should have been cut onto the other plate.
Duck letuce cups (from same duck). Good but no hoison at the time. Radically insufficient hoison.
The actual lettuce.
Chicken “Knees.” Great flavor!
Beef ribs and egg plant. Nice.
Vermicelli pancake with beef and eggy sauce. Delicious “pizza.”
Pork chops. Very friend. Ok.
Tripe.
XLB. A little under-seasoned.
Free custard buns. Nice.
Pistachio Cardamom Gelato — Sicilian Pistachio di Bronte with Cardamom infused milk — pretty awesome new flavor! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #cardamom #sicily
Happy Harbor was quite seriously good, definitely in the top tier of Cantonese kitchens (of the many) in the SGV. A bit further than most, but excellent.
For more LA dining reviews click here.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: GV Yummy
Location: 203 W Valley Blvd Alhambra, CA 91801. 626-872-6677
Date: May 26 & July 3, 2021
Cuisine: Qing Dao Chinese
Rating: Really good kitchen, albeit sketchy service
I’ve eaten at this location as at least 4 restaurants. Because of this Yarom and I went out on one of our reconnaissance missions nad tried it ourselves and determined that it was worthy of a real dinner later.
It’s the familiar spot that once housed Sham Tsem (Alahambra), New Bay, and Happy Table.
Then after that it was “New Qing Dao” and the sign still lingers, but now it’s “GV Yummy.” It’s still Qing Dao style though.
The interior looks the same.
Big menu, poorly printed.
For our real dinner we grouped in the private room.
Jellyfish heads with cucumbers and aged vinegar. These were some of the best jellyfish I’ve had. The heads were most definitely heads, not tentacles, and the sauce was sweet and tangy.
Special Qing Dao “tossed clear noodles” made out of some kind of starch. These had a jelly-like texture that was pleasing, but basically no flavor. The sauce was a bit sweet and savory at the same time. Not my favorite. Not bad in any way, just bland.
Pigs feet in brown sauce.
Special scallops with glass noodles. These were superb. Very garlicky too. Unusual with great texture and flavor.
Stir-fried shrimp with Chinese cabbage. Amazing dish. The shells and head juice are cooked down into the sauce and both the shrimp and the cabbage had tons of flavor.
Walnut shrimp. Yeah, a guilty pleasure, but very enjoyable.
Golden lobster. This was the heavy egg yolk fry which isn’t my favorite. I prefer more garlic.
Seafood with tofu. This is a Qing Dao dish and while very interesting, it was fairly bland. Cottage cheese like texture.
Spicy fried chicken. Superb version of this dish.
Eggplant with pork (and potatoes). Another fabulous dish. Succulent pork and a really great flavor. We ordered 2-3 times.
Hot Chili Oil Beef. The classic Sichuan boiled chili beef. Good version with some mala.
Stewed Beef Brisket with Tomato. Another great homestyle dish.
Cumin Lamb. Excellent version.
Grilled chili lamb chop. Very succulent with a strong lamb flavor.
Fruit.
Overall, the food was very good here. Most of the dishes were very on point with a lot of flavor and great texture. I really think the kitchen is quite excellent and the Qing Dao style is relatively new to me and tasty. There are some Sichuan dishes as well.
Service was mixed. At our lunch we had a really nice young English speaking server who was very friendly and helpful. But for our larger dinner we experienced a pretty steep language barrier and very confused and sluggish service. There was definitely some “self serve” with regard to napkins, plates etc (where I go up and loot their supplies from the main room). Still, I only really care about the food.
sharethis_button(); ?>Location: 855 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 445-3700
Date: January 23, 2020
Cuisine: Chinese
Rating: A- dim sum
Continuing our Lunch Quest series of random lunch visits we decide to check in on the China Red dim sum.
For some reason I’ve been on a run of places on the slightly more “Eastern” half of the main SGV. Slightly more annoying drive too as it’s 10-15 minutes further.
The interior is typical midsized Cantonese. There is some DM (deferred maintenance). This is very Chinese, but the place is only a couple years old and is showing some wear and tear.
Zoom.
Sauces.
Har Gow (shrimp dumplings) – large, but hot and good.
Chicken feet in XO sauce.
Pork ribs — ugly but tasty.
Shu Mai (pork and shrimp dumplings) — large but tasty version of the classic.
Shrimp and Leek Dumplings — quite nice. One of the better dumplings.
Sticky rice in lotus leaf — good.
Crunchy baked BBQ pork bun — slightly mushy interior.
Pork Rib Chow Fun — I didn’t realize that this was just the ribs on top of some chow fun. I would have ordered a different one had I known.
Dumplings with an interesting peanut and meat paste inside. I didn’t adore.
XLB (Xao Lao Bao) – juicy pork dumplings. Very nice version.
Shrimp paste with almonds – Basically a shrimp spring roll covered in almonds. Interesting texture.
Another dumpling type with a brown spinach mush inside — not my favorite at all.
Beef balls — ok.
Crispy fried squab — very dense and meaty. Not my favorite squab.
Spicy cabbage — I love this dish as always.
Double Shot Gelato — Hot brewed espresso gelato with house-made dark chocolate hazelnut ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — this will keep you up! — #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #chocolate #valrhona #espresso #coffee #hazelnut #ganache
Peppered Lemongrass Ginger Creme Brûlée Gelato — A blended milk and Thai coconut cream base steeped with lemongrass and ginger and then juiced up with yuzu and black pepper. For sugar, I used coconut palm sugar and even torched the top! — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #lemongrass #ginger #CremeBrûlée #BlackPepper #coconut #yuzu
China Red is a solid “made to order” dimsum place. It’s better than pretty much all the cart places, but it’s not the best ever, and the menu is pretty small and straightforward. Which place is the best in the SGV is always changing, but generally 2-3 are A+ and a whole bunch are good but not quite as good — that’s where China Red falls.
For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: Ho Kee Cafe
Location: 558 Las Tunas Dr, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 822-3399
Date: December 29, 2019
Cuisine: Hong Kong Chinese
Rating: Quite good
The last Sunday of 2019, the last trip to the SGV, the last (restaurant) Chinese meal of the year…
Skylar arranged this banquet at Ho Kee Cafe in Arcadia, ordering a bunch of off menu dishes.
The decor is fairly modern.
Our menu was all in Chinese.
And we had this cute private room all to ourselves.
Salty peanuts on the table.
Pork belly with tangy jellyfish — first rate jellyfish, snappy with a great marinated flavor.
Hoisin and sugar to use on the pork.
Causeway style crab — salty and garlicky. Had to crunch thru shells but they were soft enough.
The house collected the garlic afterward so we could snack on it.
House special lobster — excellent — on tasty garlic noodles.
Succulent shrimp with celery — very delicate and nice with good textural contrast.
Vegetables featuring lily roots, mushrooms, greens, and oyster mushrooms — very nice actually.
Lily Snails — but I think was actually conch — crunchy. Attractive plating.
Ginger steamed turbot — very delicate.
Sesame 100 flower chicken — layered with shrimp paste — nice.
Sliced Peking duck — served with buns.
Duck meat and sweet sauce — nice meat, not as boney as some and very moist.
French Style Beef — one of the most succulent and tender I’ve had.
A-choy with garlic — good.
Typhoon Fried rice — a touch dry. Used the same seasonings as the lobster (in theory).
I was winding down gelato production for the year and so the freezers were already off but I did have this large bowl of fresh Sweet Milk Gelato Chocolate Mousse that Jerome and I made a day or so before. This is serious chocolate mousse made with classic French technique and Valrhona chocolate.
The gang.
Overall, Ho Kee Cafe was very good. Pretty similar to Cantonese. Plating was very attractive, service great, and kitchen execution excellent. A fitting way to finish out a year filled with lots of great Chinese food!
For more LA dining reviews click here.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: 海珍大酒樓 888 seafood restaurant [1, 2]
Location: 8450 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 573-1888
Date: December 8, 2019
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Amazing whole pig
Sunday night is always the night for full on SGV adventures and December was a banner month. Tonight’s dinner starts off a run of four back to back Sunday Asian dinners.
First up is at 888 Seafood which is one of those “grand dames” of the SGV, being an old Cantonese Banquet hall serving dimsum during the day and Cantonese Banquet at night. It’s got some serious 1980s Hong Kong style decor. Ron was here recently and wanted us to return because he said the pig was amazing (which it is, as you shall see).
Check out our ginormous private room and its Trompe-l’œil marble style — plus really grungy Vegas carpet. But the room was great. Tons of space and a HUGE round table!
Yarom, Jerome, and I dropped by a few days in advance and planned the menu personally with the manager, Lucy.
Boiled peanuts.
XO sauce.
A bevy of other sauces.
Cold appetizer plate.
Zoom on the plate with cold cuts, jellyfish, pickled seaweed, vegetables, preserved egg etc. The meats were good and interesting. This wasn’t my favorite jellyfish — it was fine — but it wasn’t as tangy or “snappy” as I like it.
Spicy beef tendon. This wasn’t super spicy, and it had a chewy gelatinous texture, but it was really really good. Nice flavor and really fun to chew.
Spicy hot and sour soup. Full of tripe. Super spicy. Actually, too spicy even for me. I could eat it, but it had this INTENSE green pepper heat that made your throat burn, your eyes water, and you want to cough. Seriously spicy even for a spice addict.
Curry lobster. We meant to order Causeway Style Lobster but they goofed — glad they did because this “Singapore-style” curry lobster was very interesting.
Here comes piggy!
Suckling pig. Maybe full grown pig. haha. This giant pig was amazing. Super crunchy skin, super hot and succulent meat.
He’s propped up on some kind of canister.
And was served with buns.
Plus hoisin and scallions.
Afterward, the face came back to haunt us. Jeffery munched on it.
Salt and pepper shrimp. Eat whole. Quite nice.
Bacon wrapped scallop. Interesting.
100 flower chicken. Pressed boneless chicken with layers of shrimp paste. I love this dish, although this particular version was a bit mild — it was hard to even taste the shrimp.
Roast pigeon. Nice and livery.
Meat balls with leeks. Very dense texture to the meat, chewy, almost rubbery. I liked the leeks though. A lot. Most people did not love this dish. I think they had a hard time with the black hole dense balls.
Peking duck, buns, and condiments. A solid peking duck. One of these Cantonese style peking ducks — not incredibly crispy.
Peking duck meat as lettuce cups. Served stir fried with water chestnuts.
Lettuce cups.
Lotus root, walnuts, snow peas and various other veggies. Plain, but nice crunch.
Seafood over crispy noodle — great! I love this dish and this was a nice one.
Mango pudding — a bit bland. I do love mango pudding, but this one didn’t have an intense mango flavor like it should.
Toasted Almond Truffle Gelato (upper left) — My new egg yolk based nut formulation with Toasted Sicilian Noto Romano Almond makes a sublime base stacked with layers of house-made Valrhona Almond Amaretti Ganache — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #almond #amaretti #cookie #ganache #ChocolateTruffle
Root Beer Float Gelato (lower left) — Sarsaparilla flavored gelato base with house-made vanilla cream cheese layers — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #RootBeer #RootBeerFlaot #Sarsaparilla #vanilla #creamcheese
True Tiramisu Gelato (upper right) — after long hiatus, one of my best flavors remerges for a holiday party — This is a genuine tiramisu in gelato form, with a Marsala Egg Yolk Zabaione, fresh Mascarpone Cheese, and real Espresso. Then it’s layered with Valrhona Cocoa and Lady Finger’s soaked in house-made Espresso Rum Syrup — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Tiramisu #Espresso #coffee #chocolate #marsala #Zabaione #Eggyolk #Rum #Mascarpone
Mint Meringue Strawberry Sorbetto (lower right) — An intense dairy-free base made from Avignon Strawberries and layered with house-made Spearmint Meringue — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #sorbetto #mint #Meringue
Overall, this was a great meal. Execution was a bit mixed, with dishes varying from good to great. Pig was amazing. One of the best pigs we’ve had. Service was good. Room is amazing, being huge, with a table fit for like 20. Portion sizes were great too, as was pacing.
We decided to return for dimsum too and try it out.
sharethis_button(); ?>Restaurant: Nanjing Duck House
Location: 9961 East Valley Blvd
Date: December 5, 2019
Cuisine: Nanjing Chinese
Rating: Looks funny — tastes great
Lately, Yarom and I have been doing more lunch excursions — particularly to Chinese places that aren’t really going to cut it for wine dinners. I’ve named this series Lunch Quest.
Anyway, today it carried us to Najing Duck House which specializes in Nanjing style cured duck.
And we met up with Tony Lau, Kirk, and some others.
This is one of those tiny SGV places with no decor — although they don’t have a drop ceiling — and exactly one employee. She was taking orders AND prepping the food. Tony had to help her out by busing!
Much of the food is cold and cured and on display in this takeout deli cabinet.
Oh yes, Nanjing style cured Turkey Gizzard!
The very short menu.
Boiled peanuts.
Shredded seaweed. Pretty much as described.
Pickled cabbage with soybeans and mustard greens. I loved these. I love cabbage. I love fermented. What’s not to love?
Nanjing style beancurd. What’s brown, rich, savory, slightly sweet and has a texture like a mop sponge? All true but it was actually great. Loved it.
Turkey gizzard, Nanjing style. Sounds extreme, but once you slice this dense cured muscle with the deli-slicer it’s quite delicious with a nice firm chew and a lovely cured flavor.
Turkey liver. Foie gras it ain’t. Decent enough though, if livery.
Sliced turkey leg, Nanjing style. More deli-slicer action. This was actually a very lovely cold sliced turkey leg. Salty, but tasty.
Boiled dumplings stuffed with pork and shepherd’s purse. Great. I love these home-style dumplings.
Boiled pork dumplings. More goodness.
Wonton soup with pork wontons and egg strips. Also lovely. Reminded me a bit of a better version of the classic wonton soup I’d get in my youth.
Nanjing style meatballs. Meaty good.
Half a Nanjing style duck. Much like the turkey, but duckier. A bit of a salted ham flavor.
Beef shank noodles with bok choy. The meat was great. The soup was simple.
Pork rib noodle soup. Again the meat was great. Rich. Soup was exactly the same.
Overall, I was surprised how interesting (and good) this place was. Service was a bit slow as there was only the one lady doing EVERYTHING. And most of the food was grey, cold, and kinda sketchy looking — but it tasted pretty good. Small menu though. We had almost everything except for the seasonal corn noodles (have to try these).
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