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Day of the Dumplings

May21

Restaurant: Long Xing Juicy Dumpling

Location: 140 W Valley Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 307-1188

Date: April 14 and June 22, 2018 and January 27 & March 30, 2019 and July 15, 2023

Cuisine: Northern Chinese Dumplings

Rating: Great dumplings and tons of variety

As any loyal reader knows, the SGV is my favorite dining zone. It’s amazing how many Los Angelenos aren’t aware of the mecca for Chinese Food and culture. The SGV has a feel and style that is entirely unique, entirely Southern California, but very different and quite Chinese. Today we head out for a multi-stop lunch extravaganza. Many of the participants were doing a 48 hour “staycation” out here. I just went out for a couple hours.

Welcome to the Maxi-Mall. The California Mini-Mall’s GIANT SGV cousin.

Entering the 2 level maxi.

A view of part of it from upstairs.

Juicy Dumpling is upstairs. You could spend all day in this mall, there are so many restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and massage places.

Juicy is home to the jumbo dumpling with a straw, which is a bit of a gimmick.

The big menu.

You order by sheet. I filled out 4 sheets for waves of orders in advance, as I am a pro Chinese Food orderer.

The nice but typical room.

Our big table.

And the glassed in dumpling workshop!

Just like the pasta room at Felix!

We had to sneak the wine under the table — literally.

Smashed Cucumber Salad. Very tasty version. Tons of garlic and an almost sunomono-like sweet vinegar marinate.

Cold Beef Shank. Pretty much as you’d expect.

Deep Fried Crispy Eel. I liked this dish a lot, but it was many people’s least favorite as it was oily, fishy, very crispy, and sweet. Unusual combos for “white folk.” An advanced dish.

As was Preserved Egg with Tofu. But the pros like Yarom and I agreed this was a great dish. Really interesting and fabulous combination of soft cool tofu with salty umami 1000 year-old egg and what’s probably taro powder. Sort of a salty/sweet and smooth/dry soft/firm poles of taste experience.

Smoked Fish. Sweet, crispy, dry/wet, and delicious. Like the Shanghai version.

House Cold Spare Ribs. The delicious sweet red Chinese pork.

Giant Crabmeat Juicy Dumpling (6/22/18). You eat this with a straw! People said this was a gimmick, but the slurry of crab and pork inside this thing was to die for. And after you burn your tongue slurping it out you can cut it up and eat the shell like pasta.

Straw baby!

Me slurping!

Sweet Pork XLB (xao lao bao). Also known as Juicy Pork Dumpling. Really nice version of the classic. Soft skin. Juicy. Good filling. Maybe not as good as a Din Tai Fun, but great still. We actually ordered two types — savory and sweet. Never had the sweet before (pictured above).

Savory pork XLB. The classic every other place with XLB has.

Pork and Crab Dumpling. Great version of the pork and crab, with delicate but pronounced flavors. I think better than the DTF version.

Pork and Shrimp Dumpling. Whole good sized shrimp in each — delicious!

Fish Dumpling. Surprisingly excellent. Maybe even my favorite of the set.

Vegetable Dumpling.

XLB in the bath.

Boiled Pork Dumplings. I love these homestyle variants.

Crispy Onion Pancake. Not the most exciting dish, but people wanted it.

Fried meat wonton. Very nice texture and flavor. Who doesn’t love dumplings.

Fried fish wonton. Again I was surprised how good the fish ones were.

Beef rolls. Good version of this.

Salt and Pepper Crispy Cake. Buttery dough stuffed with pork and rolled in sesames.

Rich but delicious.

House Golden Crispy Cake.

Fried chewy mochi with amazing pork. Too bad I was getting very full. I still ate a couple.

Giant vegetable buns ordered by a vegetarian.

Hot and Sour Shredded Potatoes. I always love these as they are hardly a vegetable, more like Chinese French Fries.

Stir Fried Bean Seedlings with Garlic. Not bad for greens.

String beans. Good.

Garlic Eggplant. One of those perfect sweet, slightly spicy, and very garlicky eggplants.

A kind of boring noodle dish ordered by a lightweight.

Shanghai Shrimp in “supreme” sauce. Very succulent.

Hot Spare Ribs. Delicious sweet red ribs — hot.

Cumin Beef. Nice. Tender too.

Yangchow fried rice. The classic everything fried rice.

Kung Pao Chicken. Not your typical Szechuan prep, but more a pretty spicy brown sauce prep. Good though.

Shrimp with crab roe and peas. Scrumptious. Loved this dish.

Fish filets boiled in chili. Lots of mala surprisingly — very good. Hot hot.

Garlic Shredded pork. Fish flavor pork. A bit of heat. Pretty nice actually.

Red Bean Puff Pastry. What passes for dessert in China — not bad actually, I like the texture.

Chinese sesame ball soup. Eye balls in goo! Actually kind of enjoyable.

Since red bean isn’t my thing, I brought gelato on 6/22/18 when I returned. Made by me, of course: Almond Boba Tea Gelato — Oolong tea steeped milk, Romano Almonds from Noto Sicily, and topped with Boba! Here I discovered that boba get really really hard in the freezer. Next time I will have to keep them separate and add them.

On 3/30/19 I brought these:

Nocciola, Espresso e Bacio Gelato – using my new egg yolk based nut formulation with Piedmontese hazelnut to produce a stunning hazelnut base, then adding in house-made espresso caramel and chopped up bacio — 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 #Espresso #coffee #cafe #hazelnut #Nocciola #caramel #bacio

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Gelato – the base is a Fior di Latte but I made it with brown sugar instead of white so it matched the cookies better. Inclusions are cubes of house-made gluten-free (almond flour) artisinal chocolate chip cookie dough with Valrhona chocolate chunks! — 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 #CookieDough #ChocolateChipCookie #Cookie #chocolate #valrhona #BrownSugar #GlutenFree

Overall, I loved Juicy Dumpling, every time I’ve come, and will certainly return many more times in the future. I even chose this place to bring my friend Brent for our crawl. Sometimes I like this kind of northern more casual dumpling style over the more ornate Cantonese Dimsum. Just a different vibe. They also had a huge menu of other dishes. On my March 30, 2019 visit we finally ordered a bunch of the other dishes and they were quite good. They allowed us to open and drink our wines too.

Because we are hedonists, and despite being full (on 4/14/18), we had to go next door for “lunch 2.0” at Spicy City — just had to be done.

Lucky they have a red interior.

The dishes bar. Despite being super full, Yarom and I both ordered for a crazy over-eating-fest.

Cold dishes of soy beans and more pickled cucumbers.

And more cold dishes of smoked chicken and spicy pig ear.

Had to get some MaPo Tofu (pocked marked old lady face tofu). One of my favorite dishes and this version was at least a 9.

Best eaten over rice.

Then dan dan mein. Another of my favorite dishes. The spicy city version tastes great but is a little too soupy without as much nutty flavor as I like.

You mix it up.

This version has no pork — boring!

Tea Smoked Duck. Another great Szechuan dish. Like duck pastrami chunks.

Outside you can check out the size difference between a Hedonist and the typical youthful SGV denizen. And observe the whacky Chinese youth fashion. The photo doesn’t really do the outfits justice.

For part 3.0, had to get some Boba Tea.

Almond Milk Boba Tea. Good tea, but unfortunately hidden by the opaque glass.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Boba Tea, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, dumplings, Gelato, hedonists, Maxi-Mall, Northern Chinese, SGV, Spicy City

Chang’s Garden

Jan19

Restaurant: Chang’s Garden

Location: 627 W Duarte Rd. Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 445-0707

Date: December 8, 2017

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Solid place

Friday lunch is the perfect excuse to head out to the SGV for Chinese — actually being alive is a perfect excuse for Chinese food!

My friend George has a list of top regional restaurants in the SGV and this one came up, so we decided to try.

Typical SGV interior from years ago.

Takeout counter. And look, they even have wine!

The usual large menu.

Lunch comes with free hot and sour soup. The typical (yummy) kind.

Lotus wrapped pork spareribs.

Inside is a sticky-rice coated pork spare rib. Delicious. Succulent, and lotus flavored.

Long Jing shrimp. Delicate shrimp with famous green tea. They had a nice green tea flavor.

Three ingredient lo-mein. The server pushed this on us. It was fine, but nothing special.

XLB (pork soup dumplings). Delicious!
West Lake Style Fish. A whole fish in a goopy sweet and sour sauce. Delicious, although tons of bones.

This was a nice place and all the dishes except for the lomein were great (noodles were just fine). I think this place is actually Zhejiang Cuisine (i.e. the Hangzhou lake district south of Shanghai).

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chang's Garden, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, SGV, Shanghai Cuisine

Fancy Feast – Bistro Na

Jan10

Restaurant: Bistro Na

Location: 9055 E Las Tunas Dr #105, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 286-1999

Date: November 29, 2017 & March 3, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Upscale Chinese, solid kitchen

Chinese Restaurants in the SGV are slowly going more upscale in a way that’s different than the Cantonese palaces of Monterey Park of yesterday.

And one of the latest is Bistro Na’s located on Las Tunas near this cool:

Teapot fountain!

The interior is very elegant Chinese, almost traditional but in a new way typical in China today. Ornate wood carvings, lanterns and antique music instruments abound.

The menu is a hardcover thick paged photo tome!

Here I am with it.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this <em>cuvée</em>, but with no lack of vivacity.

Pork trotter jelly. Yes, a vinegary jelly of pig’s feet. Actually pretty tasty.

Spicy marinated pork (3/4/18). Not really spicy but very delicious cold marinated pork. A bit pastrami-like.

Traditional Beijing Noodles (3/4/18). Served with noodles, radish/soy bean/cucumber and the sauce. You mix it all together.Lovely complex flavor. Not super strong or anything, but very nice.

Smoked pork ribs. Very nice soft roast ribs. Very aromatic.

From my cellar: 2014 Domaine Sylvain Pataille Bourgogne Blanc Chardonnay Rose.

Crispy shrimp. You can eat the shells.

Grandmother’s pork belly. The super fatty red pork belly. A nice version.

Lobster in salty egg batter. This very salty egg-yolk batter is usually used for shrimp. Here it was lobster. Pretty good, although rich and salty.

Lobster steamed with garlic (3/4/18). Having learned from the salty lobster we went with this simple steamed with garlic version — over thin egg noodles. Great. Really nice sweet preparation.

House special scallops (3/4/18). Usually I’m not a fan of the brown sauce but this was a great one, with some sugar, but complemented nicely with the tender scallops.

Spicy Fried Whole Fish (3/4/18). Very tasty Szechuan style fish. The sauce was very similar to the Ma Po (below) and also had that slightly bitter tinge.

Chevy brought: 2015 Tablas Creek Côtes de Tablas. VM 90-92. Inky ruby. Ripe cherry, floral pastilles, black pepper and allspice on the perfumed nose. Densely packed, sweet and focused in the mouth, offering intense dark berry and bitter cherry flavors that slowly become sweeter with aeration. Shows very good energy and strong lift on the clinging, spicy finish, which is framed by youthfully chewy tannins.

Lamb chops in pepper sauce. Nice, although certainly not traditional. Even the onions were good.

Scallion pancakes. Very doughty, which I didn’t like because it was bland. A Chinese friend who is there said they were nicely home style though.

Beef pies. These I liked a lot. Very hot and full of juice. We had a couple incidents with them spraying out and splattering on others!

Chevy brought: 2013 O’Shaughnessy Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain. VM 95+. Deep, inky and powerful, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain is a classic wine endowed with tons of regional character and personality to burn. The inclusion of all seven Bordeaux varieties in the blend adds layers of nuance and complexity. Hints of game, smoke, licorice and dark spices add nuance to a somber, brooding Cabernet Sauvignon that is going to need at least a few years to fully open up.

Kung Pao Chicken (3/4/18). A slightly unusual variant with candied walnuts. But had a really nice and interesting balance of hot, sour, sweet, and numbing. Slightly different, but excellent.

Beef in chili sauce. The classic Szechuan dish. There was some mala and a lot of garlic. Not a bad version of the dish for a non-Szechuan restaurant. It didn’t have the depth of flavor a great one has though.

Crispy Lamb (3/4/18). Tender lamb with a very flakey but thick crispy fry. Super delicious. This dish was a 10.

Chinese Mustard Greens. The usual Chinese green prep, but with mushrooms and a slightly less usual green. Nice and crunchy.

Broccoli and pork shoulder (3/4/18). Fabulous vegetable dish with nice crunchy texture and good porky flavor.

Cabbage. I always like these cabbage dishes.

Fried tofu. Very interesting texture. I liked it.

Ma Po Tofu (3/4/18). Good amount of heat and mala (numbing). A touch bitter, maybe becuse of the particular Szechuan peppercorn or maybe because of the chili oil. Tofu was a touch firmer and less silken than I like. Still good though.

Purple Rice (3/4/18). Numerous Prince jokes ensued, but we had to take the purple rice because mysteriously, and amazingly, they we “out” of white rice — how is a Chinese restaurant out of white rice? It was 9:30ish and they had turned off the rice cookers to clean them.

Shrimp fried rice. Nice.

Cheese fish. It was a kind of cheese jelly/custard with a mild caramel sauce. The overall effect was very mild. Not even super sweet but not a lot of flavor. Nice texture though and looked cool.

Free fruit.

On 3/4/18, I brought 3 flavors of Sweet Milk Gelato that I made as well. Gelato al Cioccolato di Modica – This weekend’s treat heads to the deep south (Sicily) for some ultra local/traditional fun. A medium super smooth chocolate base with chunks of of Modica Chocolate (a classic crumbly Sicilian chocolate made in the old style).

And I had a bit left of:

Turmeric Latte Gelato – milk base steeped in turmeric with a touch of cinnamon, cardamon, and ginger! And yep, that yellow is all natural.

Blueberry Cheesecake Gelato – a cheesecake base with French blueberries layered with graham cracker crumble and topped with house-made blueberry coulis.

The gang poses in the room on 11/29/17. We finished the place out since Chinese rarely stay past 8:30. Look at the table carefully as it’s small for a Chinese round table and they consider it 6-8 people but it’s barely 6 for us.

Our 3/4/18 table. They consider this 8-10 people. We were a little tight with 7.

It didn’t include space for all the wine baggage either!
Overall, a nice place. The allowed corkage and service was very pleasant — however it was a touch confused as is often the case at Chinese places. They had all these managers and the like but couldn’t quite coordinate. But they were extremely nice!

Food was good. A tiny bit pricey for the SGV, but the atmosphere was lovely and the plating much more elegant. Some dishes were excellent and some just pretty good. I’m not really sure what regionality of Chinese it is. Sort of Beijing/Shanghai maybe? It does feel very contemporary Chinese and is certainly not aimed at white folk.

On the second visit the food was even better — really very good — and slightly different than many SGV places. There was a brief wait at the beginning, and they don’t have large enough tables except in the private rooms (booked). However, service was excellent and very attentive. They modified dishes a bit, gave us 7 pieces of things that were 6 by default, and were accommodating to our pacing needs. I really like Bistro Na and will return again.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

A few of the wines from the 3/4/18 dinner:

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bistro Na's, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Gelato, SGV, Wine

Lincoln Seafood Restaurant

Dec22

Restaurant: Lincoln Seafood Restaurant

Location: Lincoln Plaza Hotel, 123 S Lincoln Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91755. Phone number (626) 571-0018

Date: November 19, 2017

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Very good

I’m always up for a new SGV Chinese restaurant and even more so when it’s a dinner organized by Tony Lau — a friend of mine who really knows how to get the best out of Cantonese restaurants.

From my cellar: 2015 Jacques Perritaz Cidrerie du Vulcain Apple Transparente. Very nice fresh 4.5% alcohol French cider.

The habitual peanuts.

2011 Michel Gonet Champagne Grand Cru Le Mesnil sur Oger Blanc de blancs. 90 points. huge mousse with lots of persistent fine bubbles. sweet nose of sweet rolls and perfume flowers. youthful, fresh, acidic palate. flavors of pistachio, lime, and mineral. long finish. needs to rest a couple of years but should be good as it puts on weight.

Steamed crab. Pretty much straight up but delicious fresh crab.

Vinegar/garlic sauce for the crab.

2009 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Cote de Bouguerots. BH 95. This is a big step up in refinement, particularly aromatically with an abundance of oyster shell and tidal pool nuances that add breadth to the white flower, citrus and Chablis-style green fruit. The rich, powerful and mouth coating flavors possess real drive but also beautiful detail on the intensely mineral-driven finish that possesses outstanding length. This is really quite dry, at least within the context of the 2009 vintage. In a word, terrific.

Whole crispy salt and pepper prawns. With roe, and cooked perfectly so that you could eat the shell too.

2014 Veyder-Malberg Grüner Veltliner Maischegarung Hochrain.

The heads of the prawns return with chilis. Not as good as the bodies, but great still.

From my cellar: 1995 Domaine Anne Gros Clos Vougeot Le Grand Maupertui. AG 92. Deep red-ruby. Extravagantly rich aromas of blackcurrant, pepper, smoke and tar. Large-scaled, deep and very sweet; explosively fruity and impressively tactile. Chewy tannins are buried under a wave of finishing fruit. A knockout Clos Vougeot truly worthy of its grand cru status.

Whole suckling pig. A great version of the cantonese classic. Super crispy skin, awesome meat.

Azienda Bricco Asili (Ceretto) Barbaresco Bricco Asili. Great wine, can’t remember the year.

French style beef. Also a classic, but very nice. Lots of flavor and very tender.

2006 Marcassin Pinot Noir Three Sisters Vineyard. BH 76. An advanced and overtly funky nose of strong reduction is nuanced by that same bothersome note of melted vinyl that I seem to consistently find with the Marcassin wines. On the plus side, the round, supple and impressively-scaled flavors possess very solid mid-palate concentration yet the finish is edgy, short, bitter and noticeably warm. Bottom line: Given the description, suffice it to say that this wine is singularly unpersuasive. Caveat emptor.

agavin: our bottle was better than that.

Roast goose. Like peking duck — only goose! Dark and rich.

And served with the hoisin and green onions.

And the squishy buns.

1997 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl. VM 89+. Very unforthcoming nose hints at lime blossom, spearmint and citrus oil. Structured and quite dry in the mouth; distinctly austere for a riesling from this vintage. Combines just 4 g/l r.s. with 8.5 g/l acidity, the highest of these ’97 rieslings. Will go petrolly with bottle age. This plot, which ripens slowly and stubbornly retains acidity, was the last of Humbrecht riesling vineyards to be harvested in ’97.

100 flower chicken. Now this was a new dish and absolutely spectacular — as Yarom puts it, an 11. Prawn meat and the chicken were spread into a patty and pan fried with crispy skin on top. Totally boneless with a dimsum like taste. Amazing!

2006 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection. 92 points.

2012 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino. VM 91. Bright red with a pale rim. Sweet spices, red cherry and camphor are immediately obvious on the nose, while an herbal note clears wth aeration. The red cherry note repeats on the palate, where it’s complicated by hints of tobacco and sweet chocolate. Long and vibrant but very suave, this really improved in the glqss so decant about four hours ahead at least (in fact, Giacomo Neri told me he believes this would have tasted better eight hours after opening, and even more so if tasted the next day). Lovely brunello.

Greens. Not my favorite greens. Very stalky with a slightly bitter taste.

1999 M. Chapoutier Côte-Rôtie. 92 points. Very nicely put together Cote-Rotie. Nose showed meat and some leather along with sweet morello cherry, blueberry and violets.

Secret soup.

Turtle stew! This one was thicker and richer than the last 2 we had. You can see the thick turtle meat and there was a lot of garlic and some crunchy vegetable (lotus?).

Mixed up.

They also brought it with these crispy pan fried noodles.

You poured over the noodles. Amazing!

Soup in the bowl (in case you missed it).

Weird Chinese Tapioca dessert.

And I brought strawberry gelato and white chocolate gelato with milk chocolate stripes.

Overall, I was actually surprised given the dated look of the place (in an ancient Monterey Park hotel) how great the food was. Tony Lau really knows how to get the best dishes out of places and they also really treated us great. I’d certainly go back as this was a great Cantonese meal from a kitchen that is on point.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese Food, Gelato, hedonists, Lincoln Garden, Monterey Park, SGV, Tony Lau, Wine

Chicken Crawl – Savoy Kitchen

Dec13

Restaurant: Savoy Kitchen

Location: 138 E Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801. Phone number (626) 308-9535

Date: November 04, 2017

Cuisine: Hainan Chicken

Rating: Decent curry

Occasionally those of us Hedonists who are really serious about our Chinese food do a food crawl of some sort. Today’s was 5 stops, all for Hainan Chicken Rice. This is a traditional dish of Hainan Provence in southern China and is one of the national dishes of Singapore. Poached at low temp with garlic and ginger. The broth is supposed to be used to cook the rice. It is served with a variety of sauces.

This is part 5. The full set is: [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5]

Savoy is a corner on the main drag of Valley Blvd right in Alhambra, close to dozens of places I’ve eaten at.

The menu.

Hainan Chicken of course. This was my least favorite chicken. It was pretty straight up. Soy, ginger, and spicy sauce. The rice was totally normal white rice — fail!

“famous” beef curry. It wasn’t bad. Typical Indonesian brown curry with potatoes and beef. Here is a closer aproximation of the garlic rice.

This was my least favorite place, or at least my least favorite Hainan Chicken. The menu was really odd, Hong Kong cafe style in that it has curry, chicken, lots of sloppy looking weird pasta, and pizza! Woah.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Hainan Chicken, hedonists, Savoy Kitchen, SGV

Chicken Crawl – Dong Nguyen

Dec11

Restaurant: Dong Nguyen

Location: 1433 E Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 300-8618

Date: November 04, 2017

Cuisine: Hainan Chicken

Rating: Good sauce

This is part 4. The full set is: [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5]

Somewhere, somewhen, someone decided to build a mall in the SGV and decorate it with Old West meets New Orleans style! Then it was occupied entirely by Asian businesses.

Yeah, even the tower.

Now there is a tough name to say.

The inside is “casual.”

With an intriguing east/west blend of decor. Notice those 19th century French portraits.

House soup. Everyone gets one. It was very mild and basically spinach soup or something but was actually surprisingly good.

Hainan Chicken. Dark meat. Rice was just regular rice as far as I could tell. The sauce, which can only be described as garlic fish sweet and sour sauce was delicious. Best sauce maybe of the day. The closest rival was at Red Chicken.

They also have a good sized mixed Chinese and Vietnamese menu. We didn’t try any of it though.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Dong Nguyen, food crawl, Hainan Chicken, hedonists, SGV

Chicken Crawl – Tasty Food

Dec09

Restaurant: Tasty Food

Location: 8150 Garvey Ave, Ste 117C, Rosemead, CA 91770. Phone number (626) 569-1867

Date: November 04, 2017

Cuisine: Hainan Chicken

Rating: Very succulent

This is part 3. The full set is: [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5]

Inside this mall food court is another world.

A place straight out of early 80s Singapore or something. It’s incredibly “old school” and “value oriented.”
Tasty Food has a reputation for having great Hainan Chicken.

As a food mall kiosk, the menu hangs on the wall.

They also have both poached and friend.

Alas, they ran out of rice and wouldn’t serve us any chicken without it! So we had to move on with no chicken!!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, food crawl, Hainan Chicken, hedonists, Mall Food, SGV, Tasty Food

Chicken Crawl – Red Chicken

Dec08

Restaurant: Red Chicken

Location: 1001 E Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 872-0620

Date: November 04, 2017

Cuisine: Hainan Chicken

Rating: Fried chicken was amazing

This is part 2. The full set is: [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5]

Red Chicken is a Singapore/Thai place on Las Tunas.

Small and casual.

Limited menu, but a few things besides Hainan Chicken — plus it comes in 2 main varieties (fried and poached).

Hainan Chicken. The poached variety. A bit stronger than Side Chick, with milder broth. Might be dark meat. The rice wasn’t as good.

Fried chicken. This was incredible. Perfectly crispy delicious chicken strips. The tangy/spicy sauce was good too.

Here the straight spicy and a slightly sweet spicy one that was awesome.

Chicken curry. The noodles were just meh but the curry itself, while a touch sweet, was delicious and the flakey pita-like bread incredible in the curry.

Pad Thai omelet. Pad Thai under all that. We mixed it up and it was delicious.

Overall, Red Chicken had the most interesting food and the best non-Hainan food of our little crawl. It’s a limited place, but quite tasty.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, food crawl, Hainan Chicken, hedonists, Red Chicken, SGV

Chicken Crawl – Side Chick

Dec06

Restaurant: Side Chick

Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 688-3879

Date: November 04, 2017

Cuisine: Hainan Chicken

Rating: Very succulent

This is part 1. The full set is: [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5]

I’ve been to the Santa Anita Westfield mall (on Baldwin) a couple times for Hai Di Lao, but didn’t notice the little food court area. This mall is incredibly Asian oriented (haha).

Googling Side Chick’s name taught me a new slang word, Side Chick, meaning the girlfriend on the side. Lol. But it’s also this kiosk restaurant.

They pretty much only have Hainan Chicken.

As you can see on the short menu.

Hainan Chicken. Side Chick uses mostly (all?) breast meat. The meat was the most tender, moist, and chickeny of all the places we went. I liked the rice too. There was soy sauce, spicy sauce, ginger sauce, and…

Chicken jus. Which made it even more moist. A whole lotta chicken flavor.

Boba tea from next door.

Side Chick is a one trick pony, and it’s in the mall which means the parking is spectacularly annoying. That being said, if you want a mild, moist, but very flavorful Hainan Chicken, it’s a good spot. Probably actually my favorite of the Hainan Chickens per se.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, food crawl, Hainan Chicken, hedonists, SGV, Side Chick

SGV Nights – Seafood Palace

Oct27

Restaurant: Seafood Palace

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

Date: September 24, 2017, July 14, 2019, and October 24, 2021

Cuisine: Chaozhou Chinese

Rating: One of LA’s best (and most authentic) Chaozhou places

My Hedonist group has been coming here for years, same location, same food, different name – formerly Seafood Village.

It’s actually in the mini-mall with Sham Tsem and the “hooker motel secret room” (see the post I linked in this sentence). Mysteriously, even thought he “construction” period transforming Seafood Village into Seafood Palace was like a year there is no apparent update. It’s still the same over-lit drop ceiling “palace” as before.

Pickled onions and boiled peanuts on the table.

Jellyfish (7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Nice crunchy texture.

Sliced cold pig’s feet (7/14/19). A bit gelatinous, but surprisingly delicious. Better sliced like this than whole!

Special order turtle soup. Since we had turtle soup at World Seafood Yarom has been determined to try it again.

The broth is delicate and savory, with an almost tea-like taste.

And all the crud that made the broth is as follows: bits of turtle, turtle fat, chicken feet, ginger, organs, god only knows. We actually picked at this repulsive looking plate and the meat was quite tasty.

We also selected two large lobsters.

Chaozhou style duck (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Sort of like the duck version of Hainan chicken.

A vinegar sweet sauce for the duck.

Roast pigeon (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Tasty little fellows.

Causeway style shrimp (7/14/19). Whole prawns crusted in garlic. Super delicious and so well cooked they could be munched whole.

This is what most people come here for, the house special Chiu Chow Style Crab (Dungeness) – (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). This is basically battered crab, fried with chilies and lots of garlic. I’ve also heard this called “Causeway Style.” Good stuff with lots of flavor. You end up sucking out the meat or just chewing on through.

House special garlic lobster. Not causeway style, but very tasty.

Roast pork (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Cured like a pastrami and very flavorful — also quite fatty as you would expect.

Scallion omelet (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Eggs and green onions.

Special fried fish (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Lots of garlic flavor. Simple, but extremely tasty.

Mutton curry. Very strong flavored (but delicious) meat in a nice mild curry sauce.

Bean curd with duck in Chui Chow brown sauce (10/24/21).

Oxtail and lilly bulb with brown sauce (10/24/21). Star anise and black cardamon.

Lettuce Cup Chicken (7/14/19). Yeah, PF Chang’s didn’t invent it wholesale!

The lettuce cups and hoisin sauce.

Frog with chives (10/24/21). Delicious.

Chilies with ground pork (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). I’ve never seen Jalepenos per se in China, but they do have lots of peppers. Regardless, this was a fabulous dish as the pork was cooked in a great black bean sauce and the combination of the mild heat and the slightly sweet meat was wonderful.

Special Chiu Chow Style “lettuce” (2017 and 7/14/19). Evidently a classic. It head a bit of a porky taste so there must have been something in there with the veggies. Not bad.

Rice porridge soup (7/14/19). A sort of congee-like concoction.

Special glass noodles with meat (earlier and 10/24/21).

Salty garlic fried rice. Excellent fried rice with a salty fishy taste.

White guy shrimp (aka walnut shrimp). Very heavy mayo’d version.

Scallion beef (7/14/19). Slightly different, very succulent.

Cumin lamb or beef. Really tasty full flavored nuggets. Pretty tender too.

Sweet and source pork nibblets (10/24/21).

Sweet and sour pork ribs (7/14/19). Someone ordered the sauce on the side. Salty crunchy pork slabs (with some bone) with the sweet sticky stuff.

Chili sauce.

As usual now-a-days I brought some home made gelati from Sweet Milk, my private gelato label. Green Apple Moscato Sorbetto.

Rosemary Chocolate Gelato. Valrhona chocolate and milk infused with rosemary from my own garden.

The 7/14/19 gelati:

Chocolate Peanut Pretzel Gelato — testing a new 80% chocolate fondant base made with Valrhona and Callebaut Chocolates — then layered that with a house made salty peanut pretzel ganache — you can’t see the base, it’s under the 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 #peanut #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #ganache #pretzel

Testing out two variants on a theme, first one: Bellini Sorbetto! — French White Peaches and Prosecco — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I love the Pozzetti (round tubs), but I do need to figure out how to decorate the small batches in an attractive way — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Bellini #peach #Prosecco

Testing out two variants on a theme, second one: Dark Mimosa Sorbetto! — Blood Orange and Valencia Orange juice mixed with Prosecco — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I love the Pozzetti (round tubs), but I do need to figure out how to decorate the small batches in an attractive way — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Mimosa #orange #bloodorange #Prosecco

The 10/24/21 gelati:

Strawberries & Mascar-Creamy Gelato — A base infused with Mascarpone Cheese then blended with house-made Strawberry Curd — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — my vain attempts to pipe a pretty decoration on top were uttery foiled by timing –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mascarpone #cheese #strawberry #cream

Overall, Seafood Palace is just like Seafood Village and there is nothing wrong with that because it’s still great. Last time we had a few “more interesting” dishes and in 2017 there was a LOT of fried. Still, awesome meal!

Back again on 7/14/19 I thought execution was even better. This is probably my favorite Chaozhou place — a bit like Cantonese but not exactly the same, slightly more “unusual”. Lots of garlic!

Our return visit on 10/24/21 was also spectacular. Just a really great place.

It’s not really worth writing up the “motley cru” of wines that come to Chinese, so I’ll just list the photos here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chaozhou Chinese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Gelato, hedonists, Lobster, san Gabriel valley, seafood palace, SGV, Sweet Milk, turtle soup, Wine

Lucky Noodle King is the Dan Dan Emperor

May13

Restaurant: Lucky Noodle King

Location: 534 E Valley Blvd #10, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 573-5668

Date: March 11 & May 6, 2015

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Amazing Dan Dan

I had a craving for Chinese noodles so strong I drove 60 miles round trip by myself for them! Well, not just for any noodles, but for what Jonathan Gold describes as “the best Dan Dan in LA.”

Located in the same mini-mall as Hunan Chili King, the location isn’t much to look at.

Although I find this kind of “authentic” SGV homey and comfortable. Oh, and see those dishes on the wall? That’s about a quarter of the “decorations.” We ordered by saying, “bring us the wall.” (i.e. every pictured dish)!

Everyone gets this starter, spicy pickled cabbage with peanuts. You might say, ick, but it was actually delicious. There was Szechuan peppercorn in there and it had this delight interplay of crunch and numbing spice.

NV Camille Savès Champagne Brut Grand Cru Rosé. Burghound 93. Savès typically makes a relatively deeply colored rosé by the standards of the genre and this latest version is no exception. The cool and distinctly pinot nose also reflects notes of various red berry fruit aromas though notes of yeast are discernible. The delicious, intense and very crisp flavors are underpinned by a fine effervescence that is perfect for the mouth feel of a rosé that is actually much more vinous than most examples, in particular because there is a wonderfully savory quality to the long finish that practically begs for another sip. Lovely stuff that could be enjoyed now or aged, though it is so good presently that I doubt that a case would make it much past a year or so in my cellar

Pork potstickers. Fairly typical versions.

2003 Joh. Jos. Prüm Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Spätlese. 90 points. Some spritz in the initial glass — nose of honey and peach with some sulfur. very nice palate — medium acidity — not quite enough, but almost there. honeydew melon with a sprinkle of sugar, other melon flavors, tropical fruit, peach, and red apple. i really liked the taste of this, even if the nose wasn’t anything special. shortish finish leaves you wanting another sip — at 8% alcohol.

Numb taste wontons. Nice soft pork wontons coated in…

Chili oil. There was some Szechuan peppercorn action here.

2007 Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. JG 93. 85 grams per liter residual sugar. Haart reports that the grapes were picked two weeks after the Kabinett and showed higher-than-average must weight. Fine petrol and mineral aromas open into a dazzling purity of concentrated stone fruit and green-gage plum, with notes of earth and mushroom appearing on the long, refined finish.

Beef, beef tendons, tofu. This cold dish was dominated by chile and cilantro.

Stir fried shredded pork with dried bean curd. I thought I’d like this dish, and I was right. A slightly sweet savory pork with that stiff tofu, night textural counter point. Even the crunch of the celery and the chew of the greens went nicely.

2003 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese. 90 points. The best parcel of Schlossberg was harvested November 19 in a single pass as an experiment in block picking, which was standard practice until recent times. “We gambled and we were lucky,” says Selbach. The varied condition of the bunches-“without any skimming or homogenization,” in the winemaker’s words-is directly mirrored in the wine’s complexity, with fresh tropical fruit and citrus notes; spiced, baked and dried orchard fruits; and honey-drenched, ennobled white raisins all taking a turn in the spotlight. That said, the overall impression, without lacking elegance, is certainly fatter and softer than the norm here this year, which may of course say as much about the lateness of the picking as it does about its comprehensiveness. The texture is also uniquely doughy, with a lovely, subtle chewiness. Potential 2 stars.

Pork intestine with pickled pepper. A spicy mix of pig guts and whatnot. The sauce was pretty good and the chitlins had this earthy flavor — not my thing.

From my cellar: 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 93-95. Bright medium gold. Superripe aromas of apricot jam, exotic spices, honey and tobacco; just misses the clarity of the best SGN bottlings from this producer. Very dense but not hugely unctuous thanks to firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Sappy, vibrant and very long on the aftertaste.

Ma-Po Tofu. I always order this when I can. This was a nice version. Not the best I’ve ever had, but darn good. I could just have used a bit more numbing (like Chengdu — well, that’s more than a bit more numbing). And there was a good amount of SMG (probably), or at least salt. But it got my head sweating a bit.

Dan dan noodles. This is what the trip was all about. Soft noodles, lots of meat, peanuts, some peanut or sesame goop, mustard, green onions, and chili oil.

You mix it up into this incredibly savory porridge of meat, spice, and carbs. It’s super addictive, tasting just ok on the first bite and getting better and better as you work through the bowl.

Noodles with meat soy sauce. Sort of Szechuan spaghetti Bolognese. Not spicy, but rich and tasty.

Mixed up.

ChongQing sour & Spicy cold noodles. These classic mung bean noodles are covered in a tangy spicy sauce with both chile and numbing heat. Yum.

2011 Domaine Joseph Roty Marsannay. Burghound 87. A mildly toasty nose of red currant and dark pinot fruit gives way to energetic and quite fresh middle weight flavors that possess acceptably good depth on the moderately long, clean, cool and balanced finish where a bit of oak toast surfaces. This is both slightly rustic and austere though there is very solid length.

ChongQuing Spicy Chicken. Very fried chicken with aromatic peppers. This was some fabulous fried chicken — very fried — with a nice delicate pepper flavor.

Have some peppers!

2009 Gaston & Pierre Ravaut Ladoix 1er Cru Les Basses Mourotttes. I’ve never even heard of this appelation — or if I did I forgot it.

Cumin lamb. The traditional wet form of this dish. Hot with a lot of cumin.

Stir fried pork belly with vegetables. Bacon and greens?

2011 Cameron Pinot Noir Arley’s Leap. 90 points. Clear, light ruby color. Bold spice elements (tobacco, black pepper, oregano, pickled peppers) accenting the bright cranberry and red plum fruit, hints of light roast coffee. Bright acid makes this refreshing to drink, fine-grain tannins help as well. The red plum, cranberry and red cherry fruit is crunchy and fresh, gliding across the palate. This wine has a whole lot of pickling spices and mineral notes working for it, and it’s hitting all the right spots. Cool, clean, complex yet elegant. Ready to drink now but the stuffing for some near-term aging is here. From the highest vines in the Abbey Ridge Vineyard, this is a stunner for my palate.

Not sure what meat this was, beef or pork. It had a lot of flavor though and was fairly mild.

Crazy flavor in savory spiced eel. I admit, I wanted to order this dish — but I regretted it. Not only was it spicy and VERY oily, but it had this fishy flavor that made me nervous.

2009 Alban Vineyards Syrah Reva Alban Estate Vineyard. VM 93-97. Inky purple. Alban’s 2009 Syrah Reva is drop-dead gorgeous. Sumptuous, layered and absolutely impeccable, the 2009 boasts stunning depth and richness but it is never overdone or excessively heavy. Today, the aromas and flavors remain intensely primary, so readers will have to be patient. Still, the Reva is simply thrilling, pretty much as it always has been from barrel. As compelling as Alban’s higher-end Syrahs are, in 2009 I prefer the Reva, as it is the most polished, impeccable and balanced wine in the range. It will be interesting to follow the development of these wines over the next few years.

Twice cooked pork. This was some tough old pig. Very “gamey” and not in a great way.

Fish filet w/ spicy sauce. The sauce was excellent with a lot of numbing peppercorn.

Braised Beef noodles. Like a Pho basically. Quite nice.

Tomato & Fried egg noodles. Different, and not bad at all.

Contrary to internet complaints, the service was excellent. But for me, the single lady was extremely nice and friendly — and the food came out fast and hot. They were extremely on top of it (by SGV standards).

Lucky Noodle King is a homestyle place, and some of the dishes are great. Most of the noodle dishes (particularly the Dan Dan), the fried chicken, etc. Some of the dishes were fine, like the cumin beef, or the Ma Po tofu. However, their meat quality isn’t the highest, so there was a gamey factor with a bunch of dishes and they are heavy handed with the chili oil. Not that I mind the spice, but the ill feeling after Szechuan is directly related to the amount of chili oil consumed.

For most dishes, Spicy City and several other places are a bit better.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Asian cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Dan Dan Mein, Dan Dan Noodles, hedonists, mapo tofu, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, Szechuan Pepper

Hedonists at Shanghailander

Jun12

Restaurant: Shanghailander Palace [1, 2]

Location: 1695 South Azusa Ave. Hacienda Heights, CA 91745. 626-839-7777

Date: June 7, 2014 and December 9, 2018 and July 25 & September 11, 2021

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Excellent – best Shanghai food I’ve had in the US

Hedonist trips to the SGV and its requisite Chinese adventures are among my favorite dinners. Shanghailander specializes in Shanghai style cuisine (obviously). On the downside, it’s far — in Azusa — almost 40 miles from my house! But it’s so good it’s really worth a once a year visit. Unfortunately, it was 4.5 years between my first two, but I’ve been back a number of times since.

The atmosphere may not be the fanciest, but these big communal dinners are great fun.

2005 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. IWC 90. Pale yellow. Rich aromas of lichee, lemon oil and pine.Luscious yet piquant tropical fruit flavors accented by smoke. In spite of the wine’s substantial depth, subtle acidity brings spice and finesse to the finish.

Peanuts (12/9/18) to start.

Real Chinese always begins with cold appetizers. Smoked fish (2014 & 12/9/18) is a classic Shanghai dish. Sort of like sweet crunchy fish chicken mcnuggets.

Marinated radish. A little sweet with a delightful crunch.

A different kind of slightly sweet marinated vegetable.

Cold chicken (2014).

Hainan Chicken (12/9/18). I think this was different than the above cold chicken from 2014. It was perfectly cooked and came with a garlic sauce.

Lamb in jelly. Tastes better than it sounds.

A slightly different “meat jelly” on 12/9/18.

Marinated lima beans.

Shanghai style bran curd. Love this stuff. It has a sweet taste and spongy texture. It’s made from bran or wheat gluten or something.

Dates. Never had dates in a Chinese restaurant before.

Greens with a peanut sauce. Not the most exciting.

Spinach. Kind of like spinach or broccoli soup — but not a soup.

Three cup chicken. Basically chicken with soy sauce — but boy, it was delicious. The sauce was sweetened and thickened perfectly.

2000 Mestre-Michelot Meursault 1er Cru Les Genevrières. 91 points. Lots of reduction (which I like).

Sautéed shrimp (2014 and 12/9/18). Simple but tasty. I’ve had this dish dozens of times at many Shanghai restaurants and this was for sure one of the best versions I’ve had in the US.

Fried fish with herbs (12/9/18). Lovely fried fish actually.

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.

Shanghai style braised pork in brown sauce. A huge hock of pig that falls off the bone. This is about as good as roast pork gets.

Grandmother’s BBQ pork belly (12/9/18). Perfect version of this rich, sweet Shanghai dish. Amazingly tender.

Meatballs stuffed with egg (12/9/18). Very unusual dish (here, typical in Shanghai). A kind of fried meat ball with a gooey duck egg yolk INSIDE!

Crab with rice cakes and ginger sauce. This was also delicious. We ordered two and I couldn’t resist the soft chewy rice cakes in that sauce.

Crab in a salty yolk sauce.

Tofu soup. Basically chicken broth with tofu and a bit of ham. Actually very tasty.

Sea cucumber with shrimp roe (2014 & 12/9/18). Sea cucumber, the white stuff was roe, shrimp and fish. Weird soft textures but very pleasant. Not exactly a looker, but quite tasty.

West-like style whole fish.

Squirrel Fish. Similar fish, but deep fried and in the super thick, super sweet and tangy sauce.

2009 Anderson Oaks Pinot Noir. 90 points. They weren’t kidding about the oak.

Tasty frogs. Bull frog Schezuan style in chili oil and peppers. Had some heat.

Shanghai steamed dumplings (XLB) (2014 & 12/9/18). Always one of my favorites. The dough was great, the meat needed a hair more flavor, but I still ate about 6.

Shanghailander pan fried buns (2014 & 12/9/18). A fried version of same. So hot they were hard to eat, but oh so tasty.

2003 Bennett Lane Cabernet Sauvignon Primus Reserve.

Shanghai duck (2014). Like Peking duck but… well not quite as good.

Same dish 12/9/18. Prep was more elaborate and I think it was better.

Here on 2 plates.

Stir fried duck (2014 & 12/9/18). Delicious.

Three cup chicken. They have a perfect version here, even if this isn’t my favorite dish.

Cumin lamb with pancakes (12/9/18). Different and quite nice in the pancake.

French style beef. This gets order too often (not by me!)

Vegetables. Some kind of greens, mushrooms, and bamboo.

Stir-fried green beans.

Spicy eggplant with garlic and fish sauce (12/9/18). Fish sauce is just the name of this kind of sauce. This was a great version. Nice soft texture and TONS of garlicky flavor.

Eggplant in sweet soy sauce. A very different take on eggplant.

1997 Greenock Creek Cabernet Sauvignon. 93 points. Pretty dark purple color, showing some sign of age towards the rim. Very expressive nose of dark fruits (black currant/cassis, blackberries and blueberries), some elderflower berries, a touch of green bell peppers, some cedar wood and some sweet spices. Hits the palate with a full body, medium-low silky tannins and medium (to medium-low) acidity. There is tons of dark fruit on the palate, cassis and some sweet spices again. This is a pretty massive wine with good length. There is a touch of heat, but it’s not really disturbing since the fruit is very generous. Not the most complex wine, but powerful, balanced and totally mature now. It’s drinking really beautifully.

Glass noodles with egg (12/9/18). Very pleasant.

Pepper rib eye with lettuce (12/9/18). Fine, but not my favorite. Not as typically Chinese somehow either.

Shanghai style eel in pot. This was delicious. Soft and rich in a savory slightly sweet sauce. I tried to order it on 12/9/18 and our (very nice) waitress kept dodging the order under the theory that we white folk wouldn’t like it!

Oftentimes a soup comes right before dessert, in this case a cabbage and pork meatball soup.

The meatball was amazing and thee broth was tasty.

Shanghai Noodles. Wokked with soy sauce.

The the Chinese desserts like these deep fried red beep spring rolls (12/9/18). Chewy in texture.

Fresh fruit.

Sesame ball in wine soup. This is one of those odd sweet Chinese “soups.”

You can see the boba-like sesame balls. They were squishy and had a pleasant sesame taste. All very sweet and mild.

The first of many large batch holiday flavors — Peppermint Gelato (12/9/18) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — peppermint candy base laced with peppermint bark! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #peppermint #candy #holiday #winter

A new variant on an old flavor — Cold Pressed Expresso Gelato (12/9/18) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — cold pressed expresso base (usually I hot brew it) with Valrhona Dulcey Stracciatella! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #expresso #Dulcey #Valrhona #Stracciatella #ColdPressed #ColdPressedCoffee #coffee

Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto (9/11/21) — Cold pressed Fresh Grapefruit juice from my garden, Aperol and fresh Tarragon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unique and bracing — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #grapefruit #aperol #tarragon

Coconut Cream Pie Gelato (9/11/21) — Coconut dairy custard base, house-made GF Graham Crackers, and house-made Coconut Caramel — 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 #coconut #caramel #grahamCrackers #cookies

Yarom and the owner on 12/9/18.

All in all, our 2014 was a fabulous Chinese banquet. Perhaps it is slightly better even than the similar Shanghai #1 Seafood village. The drive is killer though, as it’s 15 miles PAST our usual SGV haunts.

On our 12/9/18 return the meal was insanely good. Almost every dish was on point and many were unusual. Food was really really good. Service was great too but this was certainly the best Shanghai style food I’ve had outside of China — and this is just a couple months after my most recent visit to Shanghai and incredible means like Shanghai Tang. Shanghailander has an Arcadia branch too and we will also have to try that — although it’s not clear if that’s really closer as it’s so far north off the 10.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

Some members of our party posing in front right before foot massage — 2014.

Wines from the 12/9/18 dinner:

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese Food, hedonists, Shanghai, Shanghailander

Shanghai #1 Seafood Village

Apr18

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

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

Date: April 13, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Very authentic Shanghai style

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

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

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

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

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

Our “appetizer” spread.

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

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

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

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

Marinated cucumbers (pickles) in a sweet soy vinegar.

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

Some kind of marinated mushrooms. Very earthly and delicate.

Classic smoked Shanghai fish. Smokey and crunchy.

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

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

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

Chili fried scallops, with a little heat.

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

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

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

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

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

Chicken soup. Pretty much like moms’.

It came in this pot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The inside. These were great with vinegar poured in.

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

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

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

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

Our menu for the staff!

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

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

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

Birthday Party, Hedonist Style

Apr09

Restaurant: Shin Beijing

Location: 3101 W Olympic Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90006. 213-381-3003

Date: April 1, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: very solid electric Chinese

Hedonist regular, Penny, wanted to go out for her birthday, so 15-18 of us descended on Korea Town Chinese restaurant Shin Beijing. As far as I can tell, except for the Kimchi, Korean Chinese is pretty much Chinese (food wise).

Birthday girl Penny on the right next to Hedonist leader, Yarom, who’s sporting his best Myspace pout.

In Chinese style, the staff brought us out some of our victims alive before cooking them up.

You can’t really see it, but we had a nice private room, one of several.

From my cellar, Parker 90, “With respect to Saint-Cosme’s white wine offerings, readers should check out the 2007 Cotes du Rhone blanc, a blend of Roussanne, Marsanne, Picpoul, and Viognier. Flamboyant scents of melon, tropical fruit, and honeysuckle jump from the glass of this beauty. It offers amazing richness, a dry, medium-bodied mouthfeel, superb freshness, and far more quality and complexity than one would expect from a white Cotes du Rhone. Luckily, there are over 1,000 cases of this cuvee.”

Kimchi. No self respecting Koreans would do without.

Kimchi spiced daikon?

Parker 91, “The Monchof 2007 Erdener Treppchen Riesling Spatlese Mosel Slate is scented with fresh tangerine, heliotrope, wisteria, and mint. Lush and brimming with ripe pineapple, musk melon, and tangerine, it spreads a creamy fruit concentrate over the palate yet remains infectiously refreshing in its long, sappy finish. Once again, this high-volume Eymael calling card represents an exceptional value and should go right on pleasing for a decade or more, provided anyone both thinks to cellar it and can resist temptation in the interim.”

Cold jelly fish (right) with wasabi sauce. Shrimp with mustard sauce (left) and aromatic braised beef (top) in black bean jelly.

In the upper right, Chinese pork sausages.

Some very unusual artisanal “sour” beers. Stawberry flavors and very… unique.

A stir friend chicken dish.

2008 Domaine Macle Cotes du Jura. This old fashioned wine is made in a manner a little like Sherry where a layer of bacteria is used to prevent oxidation. It was very dry and hot with sherry fino like notes.

Ma po tofu (a.k.a Pockmarked-Face Old Lady’s Tofu).

2003 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. Very nice with strong notes of pear.

Bamboo shoot w/ black mushroom.

1978 Joseph Phelps Zinfandel. Not something you’d expect to still be good, but it was. Tasted like an old Bordeaux, very nice.

Crab w/ ginger and onion sauce. This sauce was delicious. Some wonderful crabs. Almost as good as the ones I had in Singapore.

2010 Domaine Gauby Côtes du Roussillon Villages Les Calcinaires. A little funky, with a distinct barnyard taste that someone described as “dirty piggy.” I liked it quite a bit though, as did many others.

Fried shrimp w/ hot sauce (traditionally twice cooked spicy shrimp). Damn tasty shrimp!

A Turley Howell Mountain Zin.

Lobster hunan style. Good stuff, some really great lobster. Lightly fried with hunan chillies (but actually pretty mild).

w

Fried whole fish w/ chili sauce. Yummy!

It’s not pretty, but great with white rice.

2007 Chin Chin Syrah.

Beef w/ black mushroom, bamboo shoots. Classic Chinese (American) dish.

Noodle with black bean jelly.

The noodles are hiding underneath. Looked cool, but the black bean jelly was a little mild flavored. I would have preferred pork ragu 🙂

Assorted fried rice (shrimp, chicken, pork). Great fried rice.

Parker 95, “Peter Michael’s Bordeaux program is built around their flagship Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine, Les Pavots. The 2008 Les Pavots, a blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc and 11% Merlot, offers up notes of roasted coffee, cocoa, chocolate fudge, black currants, licorice and a hint of truffles. This full-bodied, beautifully rich red boasts an opulent texture, impressive purity and a long finish. Impressively made with impeccable attention to detail (it is sorted berry by berry rather than grape bunch by grape bunch), this 3,500-case cuvee should drink well for two decades or more.”

The condiments for Peking duck.

Both pancakes and buns! I’ve never seen both at the same restaurant.

Peking duck. Looking good!

For the uninitiated, you put some duck skin, duck meat, onions, and hoison sauce in the pancake and roll.

1980 Château Nairac. Yarom always manages to find these ancient Sauternes. Tons of buttered popcorn and apricots. Not as syrupy as many desert wines. Still has a bit of acidity.

Apple pie (brought in).

2002 Domaine Weinbach Tokay Pinot Gris Altenbourg Cuvée Laurence. Parker 95, “Among the few slightly older wines from Weinbach that I tasted recently, the 2002 Pinot Gris Altenbourg Selection de Grains Nobles was especially notable. Black tea, citrus zest, musk, white truffle and honey aromas lead intoxicatingly to a plate the combine delicacy with density and richness, Like mandarins marinated in honey, tea, and grapefruit juice on the palate, on which 166 grams of residual sugar are tossed off and practically forgotten. This finishes with unquenchable refreshment rare for an S.G.N., and the sort of complexity and clarity that accrue to the best wines of this under-rated vintage.”

Glazed sweet potato. Basically sweet potato fries coated in sugar. Carby yum.

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, $60 a person all inclusive of tip and tax, considering the number of dishes and the fact that we had several lobsters, several crabs, and two peking ducks.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

The crab is making a break for it — unfortunately for him, he didn’t make it.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing, Chinese Food, Côtes du Rhône AOC, crab, duck, hedonists, Kimchi, Korean cuisine, Lobster, Marsanne, Roussanne, Shin Beijing, Viognier, Wine

Revenge of the Han Dynasty

Nov30

Restaurant: Han Dynasty

Location: 3711 Market st, Philadelphia PA. tel. (215) 222 3711

Date: November 21, 2012 & November 26, 2014

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Spicy Goodness

Every year, we Gavins converge on Philadelphia for the annual ThanksGavin, and every year it starts out with the “Wednesday night dinner.” This time around, we ended up at Han Dynasty, a downtown Szechuan Chinese restaurant. I love Szechuan, but rarely see it. In China, I’ve had meals that were so spicy delicious that your life flashed before your eyes.

Han Dynasty is a new breed of American Chinese restaurant, more hip by far than your typical Chinese eatery.

The menu. The red border is not only auspicious, but prognostic — of the heat!

Knowing we were up for some Szechuan, I dragged some Riesling across the country in my handy winecheck bag.

Parker 92, “The detail, refinement, and lift that characterize the best of 2007 were reason enough, Rebholz said, for him to essay some residually sweet Riesling, otherwise, I’d rather leave that to the Mosel vintners. The 7.5% alcohol of his 2007 Riesling Spatlese Vom Buntsandstein indeed puts one in mind of the Mosel, as well as on notice that this will be wine of delicacy and very high residual sugar. It is also impressively endowed with ripe quince and wafting lily and gardenia perfume, and manages to keep its sweetness balanced so as not to tip into sheer confection, but instead to exhibit seamless purity and nectar-like lusciousness. It should be worth watching for a dozen or more years, and in fact I would personally not even care to revisit it for 6-8 years.”

Not your usual Chinese chinz.

Even the tea comes in stylish (probably Japanese, from the look of them) teapots.

We ordered up a deluxe ($30 a person) tasting menu for 16.

Vegetable fried dumplings. The vegetarian variant of your standard potsticker. These were probably the most disappointing dish, but then again, these puppies are always better with pork.

Spring Rolls.

Chinese hot wings, ordered off the happy hour menu.

Double Dragon Punch. Brandy, rum, amaretto, homemade orgeat, orange, pineapple & lemon juices. The ultimate Scorpion Bowl!

Champagne (style) wine also goes great with spicy Chinese.

Spicy Crispy Cucumber. Beware anything at Han Dynasty that has “spicy” in the name. These were delicious and crunchy, but drowned in chili oil — not that I minded.

Dumplings in Chili Oil. Even hotter. These fiery little fellows burn straight down the gullet.

Scallion Pancake. Not spicy, but observe the lovely red tint to the sauce!

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

Wonton soup. Not hot, but had a little bit of peppery kick.

Rice helps cool the palette.

Little clams in spicy black bean sauce. Yum. This wasn’t too spicy, although you can see those Szechuan peppers hiding in there.

Dan Dan Noodles. This isn’t the crazy hot traditional version of the dish. Sure, it had plenty of heat, but it also had a nice sweet nutty sesame taste.

Another view.

We had the pork on the side, like high end baco-bits.

Sesame noodles. Same noodles as the dan dan, without the pork or chili sauce. Much nuttier in flavor.

Smoked duck. The duck was probably tea smoked duck, as it had that pastrami-like flavor. Controversial, as some didn’t like that vibe. I did.

Han Dynasty’s take on Honey Walnut Shrimp. These generous shrimp were crazy tempura fried and then glazed with a honey sauce and walnuts. Great rendition of the dish.

Hot shrimp with asparagus. Not a ton of shrimp, but some heat.

This was a special. Lobster in garlic sauce. Yum yum delicious. The lobster itself was perhaps a hair overcooked, but the sauce was amazing and the crustacean was perched on a bed of rich noodles…

Which allowed them to be soaked by the sauce. Yowzie!

Ma Po Tofu. One of my favorite dishes in general, and while this rendition was a touch too salty, it was still fabulous.

Eggplant w/ Garlic Sauce. These were not only very spicy, but had a delicious smokey garlic taste.

String Beans w/ Minced Pork. Fantastic version of this classic.

Pea Leaves w/ Garlic. Another great classic vegetable treatment.

Hot sauce style beef. Stir fried with cabbage and celery in an authentic Sichuan chili oil hot sauce!

Kung Pao style chicken. Peanuts, celery, and chili peppers. Excellent version of the classic.

Scallion Style chicken. Stir fried in hoisin and oyster sauce with onions and scallions. Not so spicy.

Cumin style lamb. Cumin-crusted and stir fried with bell peppers, dry peppers, and onions. Strongly flavored of cumin as you’d suspect with a nice heat. This was excellent, although it wasn’t as good as a cousin of the dish I once had in western China that was drier, on sticks. That one was bright red and relentlessly, throat burningly hot. It was also one of the best lamb dishes I’ve ever had.

Scallion Style beef. Mild and tasty.

Salt and pepper style chicken. Delicately battered and served on a bed of minced pepper and onion.

Salt and pepper fish. Also good, with a bit of heat.

This unusual white wine from Campagnia went pretty well too.

Another special. Whole stripped bass in sweet and sour chili sauce.

The sauce was, you guessed it, hot! But amazing.

Another special, dry fry style shrimp. These puppies were heavily fried (yum) and doused in a healthy dose of chili oil, then stir fried (again).

Spicy Hot Pot. Beware, like most Han Dynasty food, it was hot two ways (temperature and spicy). There was all sorts of goodness in there. Mostly chicken and a bit of seafood. This had some schezuan peppercorns.

The chefs at work: playing with fire!

This was a fantastic Chinese feast. Sure, it burned through my whole GI for 36 hours, but it was worth it. A worthy addition to the catalog of great Wed night ThanksGavin openings. Commenting two years later, and many many great Chinese meals under my belt, I’d have to say this is solid Schezuan style food, a tad modernized, and good stuff. One complaint on my second go (2014) was that they brought all the food in two giant waves, an “appetizer” and “entree” wave. The first time each item came out more or less on its own. This is way too many dishes for a big barrage.

See the rest of the ThanksGavin here.

For more Philly dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese Food, Han Dynasty, hot pepper, Sichuan, Szechuan Chinese, ThanksGavin, Wine

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

Dec21

Restaurant: Din Tai Fung

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

Date: December 8, 2011 & February 28, 2012

Cuisine: Chinese Dumpling House

Rating: Amazing Taipei spinoff

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

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

The chefs hard at work in their little glass tank.

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

The huge menu. And it has pictures!

Some stuff appears to be take out friendly.

The setup of chopsticks, tea cup, and ginger.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Pork sticky rice .”

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

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

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

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

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

“Shrimp Fried Noodle.”

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

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

“Pork buns.”

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

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

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

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

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

Yum yum, drown that baby!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

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

Programmed by Andy Gavin