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Archive for dumplings

Paradise Dynasty Costa Mesa

Sep30

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

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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.

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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.
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Build out is nice but it’s spoiled by that whole mall atmosphere.
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The menu is epic with quite a bit of variety.

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Spinach and Vermicelli tossed with Vinaigrette. A “salad” of sorts. Pleasant.
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Specialty Dynasty Xiao Long Bao. These are why one comes to PD: the 8 flavored XLB.

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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.
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Ginger for the XLB. One adds soy sauce and vinegar to the dish for dipping.
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Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp. Top notch.
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Radish Pastry. Lovely flakey (probably from lard) texture.
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Prawn and Kurobuta Pork Wonton in Chili Vinaigrette. Classic, light, and delicious.
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Noodle with Prawn and Kurobuta Pork Wonton in Signature Pork Bone Soup.
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A single portion. The broth was basically like Chinese Tonkotsu.
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Stir-fried Shredded Pork in Black Bean Sauce served with Chinese Crepe.
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This is the “Crepe” (Spring Pancake). This was an excellent version of this very salty/savory dish.
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Ma Po Tofu with Pork. First rate version actually. Not super numbing, but very good.
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Scrambled Egg White with Fish and Dried Scallop.
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Breaking the egg. I really liked the soft texture and mild but very savory flavor of this dish.
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Stir-fried French Bean with Minced Pork and Preserved Olive Vegetable. Nice version of this classic too.
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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.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Shanghai – Paradise Dynasty
  2. Revenge of the Han Dynasty
  3. Return of the Han Dynasty
  4. January in Paradise Cove
  5. J&J – Crab XLB
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese Food, dumplings, OC, Orange County, Paradise Dynasty, Shanghai Cuisine, XLB

Luscious Dumplings

Sep22

Restaurant: Luscious Dumplings

Location: 919 W Duarte Rd, Monrovia, CA 91016. (626) 821-0518

Date: January 14, 2022

Cuisine: Chinese Dumplings

Rating: Fabulous Homestyle Dumplings

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This is the second AFF (Asian Food Friday) in a row where we set off — Omicron be damned — for some homestyle dumplings.1A4A1376
This time I picked Luscious Dumplings, which I had heard were very good.1A4A1377
The menu is pretty simple, but has nice pictures.
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The decor is even simpler!
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This is the full menu.
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Sliced Pig Knuckle. Sounds scary but was delicious!
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Marinated Wood Ear Mushrooms. I love me some cloud fungus.
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Seaweed Salad with Chili Garlic Sauce.
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Shredded Sichuan Pickle and Pork Noodle Soup. This was an interestingly different noodle soup.
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Pan Fried Flakey Fish Dumplings.
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Pan Fried Chive Pockets. A bit bigger in form factor, but one of our favorites.
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Boiled Chive, Egg, Pork, and Shrimp Dumplings. Awesome classic.
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Pan Fried Pork Dumplings. The super classic.
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Steamed Pork and Blue Crab Soup Dumplings.
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Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings. No one complains about XLB.
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Bank breaker.

This was a great place for both boiled and pan fried Jao Zo dumplings. Some of the best I’ve had actually. Unfortunately I forgot to order the unusual “Pan Fried Beef Dumplings with Onions and Cheese” — darn, I’ll just have to go back.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. One One Dumplings
  2. Shandong Dumplings
  3. XLB – Soup Dumplings!
  4. Dumplings the size of Grapefruits!
  5. Day of the Dumplings
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AFF, dumplings, Friday Lunch, Luscious Dumplings, pork

One One Dumplings

Sep08

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

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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.
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Small interior.
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Very casual sauce containers.
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The menu is smaller than the interior and doubles as an order form. And a third of it is crossed out.
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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.
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Fried pork dumplings. Great crispy bottom.
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Stewed pork noodle in soup.
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Flavors stewed beef. Presumably this meat is braised in the same liquid as the tofu.
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Cabbage, pork, and shrimp. Straight up delicious boiled dumplings.
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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.
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Chive, pork, egg, and shrimp boiled dumplings.
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Fried chive, pork, egg dumplings. These had the most perfect pan fried bottom!
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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.

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This is where we intended to go. When they reopen for sit down, I’ll try again.

Related posts:

  1. Shandong Dumplings
  2. Day of the Dumplings
  3. XLB – Soup Dumplings!
  4. Dumplings the size of Grapefruits!
  5. Dirty Dumplings
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: AFF, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, dumplings, Friday, lunch, noodles, One One Dumplings, SGV

Too Tony at Chef Tony

Apr13

Restaurant: Chef Tony

Location: 2 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105. (626) 803-0028

Date: February 26, 2020

Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum

Rating: Dumplings good, but portions tiny

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The Lunch Quest gang is always keen to try a new Chinese spot.7U1A8984
So we trekked out to Pasadena once we heard that the original chef from Sea Harbor was opening up a new “fancy” dim sum spot in Pasadena.
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This is in the old 800 degrees space and nicely built out… up stairs at least.
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There is an attractive bar.
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But our six person party was banished to the “dungeon.” The basement was claustrophobic and smelled of “potty.” Ick. It was pretty off-putting.

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The Menu.
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Sauces in the usual microscopic dishes.
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XO sauce.
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Lobster Salad. This is a “whole” order ($28.80). It was tasty, but very small.
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Steamed chicken feet in brown sauce.
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Shrimp dumpling with gold leaf. These are basically har gow (below) but with a black dough and gold leaf. They don’t taste too different. One of the nice things about Chef Tony is that almost all the dumplings can be ordered by the piece as well as by the order. This really helps when you have a person count that isn’t divisible by 3 or 4.
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Har Gow. Very nice classic shrimp dumplings — except they are $2 each and at many places they are $2-3 an order!
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Shrimp and Pork dumpling with Black Truffle. Pretty much your usual shu mai but with truffle. They were good, but I’m not sure the truffle actually improves anything.
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Baked BBQ Pork Bun. Excellent version with the usual sweet interior.
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Shrimp wonton with house spicy sauce. Very nice and delicate with quite a bit of salty flavor.
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Shrimp, crab meat, and matsutake dumplings. Nice delicate dumplings.
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Juicy Pork dumplings (XLB). Very good example of the Cantonese variant of these.
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Pan-fried shrimp & pork pandan bun. Doughy, but with a very nice flavor. Quite tasty.
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Deep fried pork dumpling. Just an ok version of this chewy fried type.
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Deep fried tofu in Thai sauce. Nice tender tofu. Quite good.
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Pan-fried radish cake with XO sauce. I really liked this dish. It had the soft/starchy daikon texture with lots of umami XO flavor.
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Squid ink pasta with crab meat and gold leaf. This was a total disappointment. It was just vaguely fishy with a strong red pepper flavor. Not terribly good at all.
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Stir-fried rice noodle with beef. This was much better. Like Chinese beef Pad Thai.
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Deep fried crispy king prawn. Tasty and super crispy but also super fried.
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BBQ Pork. Delicious and pretty much coated in syrup.
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Braised eggplant with minced pork on rice noodle casserole. Not a ton of eggplant but I enjoyed the chewy “rice noodle” with the sauce.
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Sliced Chinese broccoli with black truffle sauce. Now this was only $6.80, but it was embarrassingly tiny. We are talking 2 inches across!
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Sautéed string beans with minced pork. Decent tasting but also about 1/3 the size of a typical version of this dish. It was hard to split 6 ways.
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Coconut pudding. These were super cute, but very bland. Basically nearly flavorless coconut jelly (vaguely sweet) pressed into bunny moulds.

Overall, Chef Tony is not a phenomenal experience. The dumplings were actually pretty good, being a bit fancier and smaller and more delicate like they are in Hong Kong. But many of the other dishes were a bit limp. It’s still in soft opening and a few things on the menu (like Chow Fun) weren’t available. Service was fine. QPR isn’t great. Some dishes are laughably small. Some are way more expensive than at a larger “Cantonese Palace.” Some are both. I’d certainly rather go to a place like World Seafood, Elite, or Grand Harbor. For me, Pasadena is also further away than the SGV and more difficult to park in.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Lunasia Dim Sum
  2. Shandong Dumplings
  3. Chef Yu Bo & LQ Foodings
  4. World Seafood is Elite
  5. Westwood Chinese – Northern Cafe
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chef Tony, Chinese cuisine, Dim sum, dumplings, Lunch Quest, noodles, Pasadena, Truffle

NC Peking Duck – Double Duck part 2

Apr01

Restaurant: NC Peking Duck 老北方烤鸭店

Location: 17515 Colima Rd A, City of Industry, CA 91748. (626) 839-0000

Date: February 16, 2020 & May 2, 2021 and April 24 & October 27, 2022

Cuisine: Northern / Beijing Chinese

Rating: Awesome duck and great flavors

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Tonight is “Double Duck” night and while we had a “Peking Duck Appetizer” at Happy Duck, afterward the main event was at:
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NC Peking Duck — which is a Northern and Beijing style place that is quite new and seemed a bit closer in style to real Beijing offerings.
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In case you wondered if they have duck.
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The Menu 4/24/22 (reduced from how it was before the pandemic).
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Cold plater with Pig Ears, Cloud Ear Mushroom, Peanuts, and Seaweed. Mostly nice and spicy with good crunch, mala, and heat.
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Smashed Garlic Cucumber (older & 10/27/22). Nice version of the garlic cucumber. Extra good with the spicy sauce from the other dishes.
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Tofu with Century Egg. Awesome dish. Nice firm silky tofu with the incredible umami and jelly-like texture of the Century Egg. All doused in spicy sauce. Totally to die for.

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Century Egg with Chilis (4/24/22 & 10/27/22). Fabulous savory egg with very strong pickled Hunan style chilis.
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Szechuan Glass Noodles (2020 and 4/24/22 and 10/27/22). Actually a kind of mung bean noodle, here with a spicy sauce, peanuts, and a super umami mushroom paste or sauce. Nice, but I prefer them in the tangy/spicy sauce.

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Cold Spicy Chicken. Awesome tender chicken in this fabulous hot, spicy, and a touch sweet sauce. Tons of flavor.
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Child Chili Chicken (4/24/22). Great bang bang sauce with a bit of peanut butter in it.

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Fried fish with seaweed (5/2/21). Pretty much a Shanghai dish, but still good here.

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Chili Fish with Glass Noodles. Now these were actual glass noodles. Nice tender fish too and lots of flavor.
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Peking Duck with pancakes (everytime). This is just one duck (we ordered 2 for 8 people). This meat had the skin more integrated and was very juicy and full of flavor. It was some of the best Peking Duck I’ve had in LA.
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Close up on the duck meat.

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Duck presentation on 5/2/21.
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Duck presentation (4/24/22).
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Duck presentation (10/27/22).
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The typical duck toppings, scallions, cucumber, and really really good thick hoisin.
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Ultimate Condiment Box. Tons of interesting things to put in the duck pancake, including sweet and spicy sauces, sugar, candied fruits, melon, etc. They haven’t had this since the first time I went in 2020.
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Pancake all done up.

The full DuQuest duck analysis (based on 10/27/22) is:

NC skin was ultra-thin and crispy, and gets an extra point for some of the pieces having some meat/fat on them = 9 for fatty pieces and 7 for regular ones.
Meat was juicy and flavorful with skin on = 8
Pancake was thin and resilient = 9
Hoisin was tasty but “goopy”, extra thick, and with a bit too much medicinal tone = 5
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual = 7
The “burrito” together was a 6/10, dinged mostly by the hoisin.

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Duck Bones. Pretty juicy.

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Stir fried duck bones (5/2/21 and looked similar 4/24/22 and 10/27/22). Very nice version of “duck #2.”
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Duck Soup (4/24/22). Very mild.

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Crispy chicken (5/2/21). Great version.
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Fragrant Spiced Lamb. Not their best dish. Sauce/soup was very watery and tasted mostly of mala. Not bad or anything, just the weakest dish out of a lot of great dishes.

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Delicious “bacon” (aka preserved pork) with garlic and leeks (5/2/21 and 4/24/22).

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Beijing Style Pork (5/2/21). With the fermented bean sauce, slightly sweet.

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Big Pot Cauliflower (2020 and 4/24/22). With a bit of pork. Nice and crunchy.

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Smashed garlic eggplant (5/2/21 and 4/24/21).
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Bok choy (5/2/21). Simple but delicious.
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Jiggly Pork Elbow (4/24/22). Certainly not a lean cut!
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Seasoned Rack of Lamb (4/24/22). Nice lamby flavor and good “hot fat” factor. Serious fat later. Seasoned western style with cumin.
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Sauces for the lamb.

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XLB (5/2/21). Always a favorite.
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Pork and Chive Dumplings. Tons of chive, delicious with vinegar.
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House Tianjin Pork Baos. Awesome. Really nice thick skins with a huge lump of very flavorful pork.
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Chinese Sweet Bean Roll with peanut dust.
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My wife’s Valentine’s Day pick: Dulcey Chocolate Cloud – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Ganache and the rotating ingredient is house-made Vanilla Dulce de Leche — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #DulceDeLeche #caramel

Overall, I really liked NC Peking Duck. First of all, the duck was some of the best I’ve had in the states, and even beyond that, they had a really interesting menu with lots of standout dishes. Almost everything we had tonight was great, particularly the tofu with century egg, cold chicken, fish, and the pork baos.

Returning here on 5/2/21 the food was still very good but the restaurant was suffering from immediate post pandemic operational changes. They had clearly been doing takeout for the previous year (good for them and I even had it once and it was very good), but hadn’t yet switched back over to normal service. I think we were the only dine in party and the menu had been pared back substantially. Hopefully soon they’ll be back to 100%.

Returning again on 4/24/22 the food was pretty much back up to the level of 2020 although the menu was still a bit reduced and they were missing some “fancier” items like the 9 condiment container.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Happy Duck – Double Duck part 1
  2. Peking Duck at A-1 Chinese BBQ
  3. Dragged out for Duck
  4. Duck House – Crawl part 4
  5. Forget the Duck Soup, More Meat!
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: beijing Cuisine, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, dumplings, Duquest, Gelato, hedonists, Peking Duck, SGV, spicy, Wine

888 Not So Late

Feb14

Restaurant: 海珍大酒樓 888 seafood restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 8450 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 573-1888

Date: December 19, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum

Rating: good cart dimsum

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We had such a good banquet dinner at 888 Seafood a couple of weeks ago that we decided to return and try their dimsum during the day. It should be noted that 888 has been around for a long while — decades — and is still a cart place. I.e. everything rotates around on the steam carts.

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Har Gow. Shrimp dumplings. nice.
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Shrimp and Scallop Dumplings.
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Vegetable Dumplings.
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XLB (Xao Lao Bao). Pork soup dumplings. These were tasty, but a bit sticky and pasty.
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Shrimp and Vegetable Dumplings.
7U1A4389Shu Mai. Not a bad version of the classic.

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Pork ribs. Ugly but delicious.
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Beef balls. Also ugly but tasty.
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Shrimp Chow Fun. Good for this dish.
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Eggplant and Shrimp Paste. Black bean sauce. A little more unusual.

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Greens with Sauce. Comes on the dedicated greens cart.
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Crunchy top pork buns. A bit sweet and really nice texture.
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Baked pork buns.

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Shrimp paste with Green Pepper with Black Bean Sauce. Pretty good, actually.

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Chewy Pork Dumpling. I always like this texture.
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Bean Curd wrapped veggies.
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Cantonese Luke Warm Roast Duck. Pretty juicy, but very luke-warm, almost cool.
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Pork Hock with Bok Choy. Delicious! Several people popped their pig’s feet cherry on these.
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Fatty Beef Ribs. Rich sauce and thick slabs of beef that didn’t seem so Chinese.
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Chicken Feet in XO sauce.
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Seafood on crispy Chow Mein. Yum!
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Pineapple Buns with custard and real pineapple chunks — great. Had several even though I was very full.
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Macao Tart — ok, a bit mild.
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Dimsum at 888 was solid, but not particularly interesting or super fresh. Definitely a notch or two down from the made to order places. Shells were a bit “sticky” which indicates they have been sitting in the steamers for a bit while they wheel around. Non dimsum dishes were more interesting. This is more like the way SGV dimsum was 10-15 years ago.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Capital Dim Sum
  2. World Seafood is Elite
  3. Late Night Longo
  4. Ring in Tang Gong
  5. Tim Ho Wan – Dim Sum Pedigree
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Brunch, Cantonese Chinese, Dim sum, dimsum, dumplings, hedonists, lunch, Lunch Quest, SGV

Shandong Dumplings

Nov18

Restaurant: Shandong Dumplings

Location: 80 N Fair Oaks Ave, Pasadena, CA 91103. (626) 578-9777

Date: October 8, 2019

Cuisine: Shandong Chinese

Rating: Great home-style dumplings

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Another of these small lunch outings with Yarom and I, this time also joined by Tony L.
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There aren’t a ton of Shandong specific places in LA.
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And this one is in the heart of old town Pasadena.
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The homey interior.
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They make them here.
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The menu.
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Peanuts, celery, cucumbers, shredded potato. Cold appetizers.
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Hot and sour soup. I love this old school classic.
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Lamb with fennel dumplings. I adore this boiled kind and the lamb ones have a lot of flavor.
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Dry shrimp with egg and leek dumplings. Yeah, they look the same, but they don’t taste the same.
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Chicken and celery. Nice celery flavor.
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Ginger and spiced cabbage juicy steamed dumplings. These were among my favorites, with very delicate skins.
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Pan fried pork bun. Yum!
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Pan fried pork dumplings. Pretty much the Shanghai style kind. A bit bready, but the crispy bottom is fun.
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Fried chicken bones. Not to the American taste, but full of flavor.
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Pork. Boney, but there was lots of meat here.

Overall, this is a tasty place. The dumplings were way better than the couple meat dishes we had, and were great for casual homestyle dumplings. I really do love all dumplings, particularly the boiled and “juicy” soup dumpling kinds.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Day of the Dumplings
  2. XLB – Soup Dumplings!
  3. Dumplings the size of Grapefruits!
  4. Dirty Dumplings
  5. Westwood Chinese – Northern Cafe
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: dumplings, lunch, Lunch Quest, Pasadena, Shandong Dumplings

Bubbe’s Kitchen – Traktir

Sep11

Restaurant: Traktir

Location: 8151 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046. (323) 654-3030

Date: July 25, 2019

Cuisine: Russian Cuisine

Rating: Delicious!

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Erick’s Russian friends told him that Taktir was the best Russian place in town and so we had to try it.
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This is the West Hollywood location, there is also one over in the valley, in Tarzana. I have no idea if one is better than the other.
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They have a big outside patio.
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Seen from the other side.
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And the interior (we sat to the left there).

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The menu.
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From my cellar: NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 94. The NV Brut Rosé is brilliant and finely-sculpted in the glass, with floral aromatics, pulsating minerality and chiseled fruit. Less austere than it can be, the Rosé impresses for its combination of tension and textured, phenolic weight. There is so much to like. The blend is 59% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 8% Pinot Meunier. Disgorged Spring 2013.
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Pickled Vegetable Combination. Tomato, Cucumber, Cabbage. Just like at the Jewish deli!
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Homemade Cured Salmon. Really nice cured salmon actually. Not too salty but great flavor.
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Larry brought: 2013 François Raveneau Chablis 1er Cru Les Forêts. VM 89. Pale, bright yellow. Stone fruits and oyster shell on the nose. Supple, sweet and fruity, showing a bit more grip than the village wine but still in an essentially soft style. Drinkable now for its ripe stone fruit flavors.
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Olivier Salad. Russian potato salad. Lots of dill!
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Herring «Moskovsky». Herring on Dark Toast with Butter & Onions. This very north eastern dish was spectacular. Super fresh tasting marinated herring with onion and in perfect balance with the toast.
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Darnitsky Salad. Tomato, Cucumber, Onion, Feta, Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, House Vinaigrette. Not a bad salad at all, lots of vinegar.
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Fake chard.
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Salo. Cured Pork Fat Garnished with Garlic. I was a touch wary of these sheets of solid lard, but they turned out to be great with the incredibly strong mustard.
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The mustard was so good we had to ask to see the jar.
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Red Caviar. 4 oz served with Blinis and Garnish. The cheap caviar, but still pretty good on the little pancakes and with the sour cream.
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Pougs brought: 2005 Domaine Francois Lamarche Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots. 92 points. Medium+ colour. Some animaux, beautifully perfumed red fruit and then caramel. Wonderfully intense and nuanced red fruit palate, it is absolutely perfect today. The suave fruit and tertiary notes are fully forward. No need to be afraid of tannin in this 2005 – this is beautiful.

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Kharcho. Spicy Tomato Based Lamb Soup with Rice. Nice soup, basically goulash.
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Golubtsy. Stuffed Cabbage with Ground Meat and Rice. This is such a traditional Kosher Jewish dish and this particular version of it was so good. Tender and delicious.

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Yarom brought: 2004 Tua Rita Redigaffi Toscana IGT. VM 93. The inky-colored 2004 Redigaffi, 100% Merlot aged for 16 months in new oak, offers expressive, nuanced aromatics along with sensations of richly-textured blue and black jammy fruit, minerals, mint, chocolate, spices and sweet toasted oak on big, powerful frame with notable underlying structure and a warm, resonating finish. Although it has enough structure and acidity to drink well for another decade or so, I enjoy Redigaffi most in its youth.
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Vareniki Combination. Potato Vareniki. Russian style Dumpling with Potato Filling. Sauerkraut Vareniki. Russian Style Dumpling with Sauerkraut filling. Not bad at all, but not as good as below.
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Pelmeni. Meat Filled Tortellini served with Sour Cream. Wow these were spectacular. Tender little pasta pockets (heavily boiled) but with a nice meaty flavor and in perfect combo with the sour cream.
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2006 M. Chapoutier Ermitage l’Ermite. VM 94. Full ruby. A roomfilling bouquet of fresh red and dark berry scents, along with smoked meat, violet, incense and minerals. Wonderfully fresh in the mouth, with vibrant raspberry and black cherry flavors. Gentle tannins rein in the expansive fruit without standing in its way. The finish is all about fruit, with late-arriving notes of black olive and smoky minerals. Extremely sexy now but balanced to age.

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Lula Kebab. Ground Meat with Spices.
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Super grill plate with:

Chicken Shashlik. Marinated Chicken in House Spices.

Pork Shashlik. Marinated Pork in Special House Sauce.

Lamb Shashlik. Lamb Marinated in Herbs & Spices.

Beef Tenderloin Shashlik. Beef Tenderloin Marinated in Herbs & Spices.

Lula Kebab. Ground Meat with Spices.

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Potatoes and slaw.
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2003 Colgin IX Estate. VM 93. Ruby-red. Explosive aromas of black raspberry, minerals, graphite and flowers. Wonderfully sweet and dense, with a superripe suggestion of maple syrup and a note of hot rocks. Finishes with huge, chewy but well-buffered tannins and a lingering note of caramel. Perhaps the least lively today of these 2003s, but winemaker Aubert notes that the 2003 vintage in general here brought higher-than-average acidity.
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Grilled 16 oz French Cut Pork Chop. Served on a Sizzling Skillet with Mushroom & Onions.

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Beef Stroganoff. Sliced Beef in Sour Cream Sauce. Very soft, but the meat itself was quite tasty.
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Chicken Tabaka. Pan Seared Pressed Cornish Hen in a Garlic Wine Sauce.

Lamb Chops. Marinated in Our Special Sauce & Flame Grilled.

Kotleti. Ground Meat Patties served with mashed potatoes.

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House-made flavored vodkas!
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Raspberry vodka. Sweet and not too harsh.
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NV Buller Calliope Rare Tokay. VM 95. Deep amber. Spiced nuts, Cuban coffee, toffee, melted butter and brown sugar aromas are broad and explosive. This completely coats the glass. Thick and viscous, with powerful flavors of vanilla bean, honey, Bananas Foster and toffeed apple. This almost overwhelms the palate. Clings on the back end, showing almost oily concentration and unreal length. Remarkable stuff.
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A chocolate and cream parfait.
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Italian Lemon Cookie Meringue Pie — Limoncello Zabaione base with lemon cookie flavor mixed with Italian Lemon Creme Cookies and Sicilian Candied Lemon and topped with house-made toasted Meringue — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato) — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #lemon #LemonCookie #cookie #Sicily #Sorento #Limoncello #Meringue #LemonMeringuePie

Radical new flavor: Gianduja Extra Virgin Olive Oil — a tricky high fat EVOO base made with 2014 Giuseppe Quintarelli Olive Oil and layered with house-made Piedmontese Hazelnut and Valrhona Chocolate 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 #evoo #OiliveOil #Quintarelli #SavorySweet #ganache #valrhona #chocolate #hazelnut
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In the bowl.
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Overall, this was a very fun evening and Traktir over delivered in terms of food quality and tastiness. It’s not the most updated interior, or slickest service, but the food just tasted really good — at least most of the dishes. Many of these dishes are similar to classic Jewish food (like my mom sometimes cooks) and are among the best versions I’ve had. Certainly the best stuffed derma (stuffed cabbage). This isn’t a Jewish place per se — it does have cured pork fat on the menu — but eastern Jewish food is so influenced by Russian. Not every dish was perfect, but enough were really good, like the herring, stuffed cabbage, meat dumplings, that I was fairly impressed.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Phoenicia – Hookah Time
  2. Chili Crab Craze – Starry Kitchen
  3. Thai Tour – Spicy BBQ
  4. Tasting Kitchen
  5. Shanghailander Arcadia
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Caviar, dumplings, Gelato, hedonists, Hollywood, Russian Cuisine, Salmon, Sour Cream, Traktir, vodka, Wine

Shanghailander Arcadia

Jun14

Restaurant: Shanghailander Palace [1, 2]

Location: 1440 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 348-8866

Date: May 19, 2019 and January 18, 2020

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

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

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Hedonist trips to the SGV and its requisite Chinese adventures are among my favorite dinners. Shanghailander specializes in Shanghai style cuisine (obviously). We’ve been out many times to their Hacienda Heights location, and last time the owner invited us to try their newer spot in Arcadia — which is closer so no complaints there.

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Chinese frontage built into what may have been some kind of family restaurant in the 50s or 60s.
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The dining room.
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But the Arcadia one has several awesome private rooms!

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Cold appetizer plate (5/19/19 & 1/18/20) to start.
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Greens in a mustardy sauce to the left. Sweet meat and tofu to the lower left. Hainan chicken on the bottom.
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Mushrooms to the right.
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Perhaps an eggplant to the right.
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Crunchy marinated sweet turnip in the upper right and pork jelly at the top.
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Jellyfish in the upper left.

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Cold Shanghai style duck (5/19/19). Excellent and very juicy.

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Sautéed shrimp (1/18/20). 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.
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Sea cucumber with shrimp roe (1/18/20). Sea cucumber, the white stuff was roe, shrimp and fish. Weird soft textures but very pleasant. Not exactly a looker, but quite tasty.
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Sea cucumber (1/18/20) — nice texture, odd mild garlic and grain sauce.

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Shrimp with pineapple in mustard sauce (5/19/19). Close to walnut shrimp, but with a distinctly different flavor.
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Shanghai style crab with rice cakes (5/19/19). Really nice garlic and ginger sauce (delicious with the cakes).
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Seasonal special: Crab with sticky rice (1/18/20) — really nice. sticky rice has mild but good flavor with sweet Chinese sausage.
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Peking/Shanghai duck (1/18/20). Sometimes peking duck isn’t so hot at non Beijing places, but this one was excellent with a rich thick hoisin sauce and pancakes (way better than buns).
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The whole assembly.
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Duck soup (1/18/20). This was actually a tasty duck soup! It was rich, not overwhelmingly salty, and tasted of actual duck. There were also big chunks of juicy meat. Usually I hate duck soup, but this was quite enjoyable.

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Shanghai style eel in pot (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). This was delicious. Soft and rich in a savory slightly sweet sauce.
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Shaking Beef or French Style beef (5/19/19). Excellent juicy beef with lots of beefy flavor.
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Fried fish with herbs (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). Lovely fried fish. We always order this.
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Shanghai style braised pork in brown sauce (5/19/19). A huge hock of pig that falls off the bone. This is about as good as roast pork gets.
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Cut up a bit. It’s a lean meat.

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Meatballs stuffed with egg (5/19/19). Very unusual dish (here, typical in Shanghai). A kind of fried meat ball with a gooey duck egg yolk INSIDE!
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Soy sauce or 3 cup chicken with chestnuts (5/19/19). Not always my favorite dish but this example was really good.
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Jellyfish with cucumbers (5/19/19). We loved this dish so much we ordered another (larger) one. Awesomely tangy with a textural contrast between the crunchy cucumbers and chewy jellyfish.
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Braised eggplant with salty fish flavor (1/18/20) — sweet sticky sauce and distinct bonito flake flavor. Almost Japanese in style like miso eggplant.
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Grandmother’s special pork (1/18/20) — super tender, fatty, delicous with that thick sticky sauce

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Pea tendrils with garlic (5/19/19). At first it was a little short on the garlic and we mentioned it and they remade it with even more garlic — awesome.
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Shanghailander pan fried buns (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). A fried version of same. So hot they were hard to eat, but oh so tasty.
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Shanghai steamed dumplings (XLB) (5/19/19 & 1/18/20). Always one of my favorites. The dough was great, the meat needed a hair more flavor, but I still ate about 6.
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Nocciola Espresso Caramello Gelato (5/19/19) — A classic nocciola base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste and then layered with a house-made Espresso Caramel Ganache then topped with fresh roasted hazelnuts — 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 #hazelnut #ganache #dulcy #ChocolateTruffle #nocciola #caramel #caramello

Sicilian Tiramisu Gelato (5/19/19) –attempting to reinvent Tiramisu with Sicilian flavors: Pure DOGC “Bronte” pistachio paste gelato base with lady fingers soaked in house-made orange syrup and layered with house-made “cannoli filling” (sweetened fresh ricotta with cinnamon and mini dark chocolate chips) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — this one will be a test of concept: too much? –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #ricotta #chocolate #orange #ladyfingers #tiramisu

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Mud Pie Gelato (1/18/20) — Hot brewed espresso gelato with house-made milk chocolate coffee ganache and crushed Oreos — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — the gluttonous classic made even more gluttonus! — #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 #oreo #MudPie
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Peppered Lemongrass Ginger Creme Brûlée Gelato (1/18/20) — 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

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Our 5/19/19 visit to Arcadia 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. The private rooms are better here, but we forgot to preorder some dishes, like roast duck, plus they had lots of other interesting things. So next time we will have to really up the ante for a major banquet. They are super nice and I’m sure will knock it out of the park.

Our 1/18/20 visit was just as good — if not better — with a great menu (picked by Bonnie W and I) and a more focused set of wines. Still the best Shanghai place I know of in the US.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!
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Wines from 1/18/20:
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Related posts:

  1. Hedonists at Shanghailander
  2. SGV Nights – Seafood Palace
  3. So Many Palaces, So Few Sundays
  4. Szechuan Impression Tustin
  5. Day of the Dumplings
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Arcadia, BYOG, dumplings, Gelato, hedonists, pork, SGV, Shanghai Cuisine, Shanghailander, Wine, XLB

Tim Ho Wan – Dim Sum Pedigree

May16

Restaurant: Tim Ho Wan

Location: 2700 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA 92606. (262) 888-8828

Date: May 15, 2019

Cuisine: Hong Kong / Taiwanese Dim Sum

Rating: Solid, new format, but not amazing

_

Tim Ho Wan, the Michelin-starred dim sum restaurant from Hong Kong, opened last week in Irvine at the Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center.

It’s the first Southern California location of Tim Ho Wan, which has 47 outposts in nine countries, with U.S. restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas and Hawaii. The restaurant earned worldwide acclaim when it opened in 2009 as a 20-seat dim sum restaurant in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, earning a Michelin star a year later. The restaurant has continued to earn a star for nine consecutive years.

Tim Ho Wan is best known for its baked BBQ pork buns, made with a sweet, sticky char siu (barbecued pork) encased in a cloudlike fluffy bread with a sweet, crunchy top. In addition to the buns, there are the usual dim sum favorites, including har gow (steamed shrimp dumplings), siu mai (steamed pork dumplings with shrimp), braised chicken feet with abalone sauce, congee with pork and preserved egg, steamed egg cake and fried turnip cake.

And the restaurant is known as much for its long wait times.
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Mid week, Yarom and I, dedicated Chinese eaters that we are made the full on 1 hour+ pilgrimage to the OC just to try the new “hot” dim sum place.
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It’s one of those newish maxi-malls (10 years or so) — a bit nicer than a traditional strip mall but cheesy construction. There were all the usual suspects like 85 degrees, hai di lao, etc.
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11:15am — 3 hour wait!  Yep! The buzz is a-buzzing. We were lucky though and were only 2 people (we had a third join us mid meal), so we got seated in about 35 minutes.7U1A1002
Meanwhile we went next door and got some 85 degrees coffee.

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Besides the regular tables there is a bar, but it’s not open yet. This will make coming in by oneself easier/faster eventually.

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The main dining room is attractive, with some build out, but it’s quite casual. Even more downscale maybe than Din Tai Fung and set up for smaller 2-4 person parties (younger audience) and not the traditional giant round tables of a big Cantonese banquet house. More on this later at the end.
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The menu is small, and everything (pretty much) is pictured on the placemats.
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The older sheet. Today about 1/4 of the items were not available, as they haven’t come “online” yet. It’s still in soft opening.

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Tea.
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Steamed Rice Roll with Shrimp and Chives. As I always mention, in my family, when I was a kid, this was called “shrimp slime.” We liked it then, I love it now. This particular one had nice fluffy texture, but the taste was a bit reduced. Maybe less grease? (which is a good thing in dim sum). The sauce was a bit mild too, not as sweet as it usually is.
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Braised Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce and Peanut. Nice abalone sauce and good texture on the little chicken claws.

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Foot fetish (not everyone loves a good chicken foot).
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Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf. A dim sum classic.
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Inside the meat and sausage bits of the rice were good, but it also tasted a bit under-seasoned. Not salty enough? Texture was pretty good though.
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Braised Beef Brisket with Turnip. Just like mom’s Rosh Hashanah brisket with potatoes! Actually pretty close. Beef was excellent. Soft and full of flavor.
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Braised Beef Brisket with Thin Rice Noodles in Soup. Soup was delicious. The meat was the same as with the turnips — and just as good. The noodles are a bit thin and soft, which is traditional with this soup, but I like more al dente noodles in general. The bowl size, which is hard to tell here, is single person small. It’s not the bigger bowl that most Chinese places use. More on that later too.

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Pan Fried Noodles. Very simple, classic pan fried egg noodles. Nice taste and light texture though. A bit less greasy than the most traditional version. I’m thinking they use a different (or less) oil than traditional Chinese.
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Steamed Pork Spare Rib with Black Bean Sauce. Bone in. The usual sketchy looking pork niblets, but great flavor. Also maybe a touch lighter than usual at most dim sum places.
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Deep Fried Spring Roll with Egg White and Shrimp.
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You can see inside the fluffy egg white. Very nice light roll. Good crispiness, good texture on the filling. Slightly lighter grease though so I think the flavor was a bit muted. The sauce is more a slightly sweetened soy. I kinda like the sweet sauce for this kind of fry. This may be a Taiwanese influence?
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Deep Fried Bean Curd with Avocado and Shrimp and Golden Chives. It’s bean curd, but fried up like a spring roll. The inside with the avocado was interesting and flavorful, adding a bit more heft than the fluffy Spring Roll. Again a sweet sauce would have worked.
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Steamed Vegetable Dumplings. Nice texture on the skin and chunky vegetables inside. Light skin too which I like. Still a touch under salty/greasy?
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Steamed Dumplings with Shrimp and Chives. Great texture again for the skin, but soft on the inside and muted in flavor.
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Har Gow. Steamed Shrimp Dumplings. Nice skin, big chunk of meaty shrimp. This was the best dumpling and fairly classic.
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Steamed Beef Ball with Bean Curd Skin. Nice soft meat ball with a good beefy flavor.
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Siu Mai. Steamed Pork Dumplings with Shrimp. Small like I like them, and very good texture, but again had that slightly muted flavor.
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Steamed Rice with Minced Beef and Pan Fried Egg. Rice less sticky than typical Chinese rice (on purpose). Pretty much a flat layer of the same meat as the beef ball on the rice, with a fried egg and the sauce from the Rice Roll. The whole thing was pretty great. The beef on the rice, with the richness of the egg, and the sauce soaking into it all.
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House Special Baked BBQ Pork Buns. Soft crunchy outside. A good bit of sugar.
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Inside was delectable sweet pork. This was a great pork bun. As good as I’ve had. It’s of the slightly crunchy type. There are several other types like the steamed white ones, or the baked syrup glazed ones. I probably like this and the glazed ones best.

Tim Ho Wan is interesting. They are clearly making a play at becoming (expanding?) a little empire of fine casual focused dim sum eatery. It’s very new generation. Very millennial. The table layout is for 2s and 4s instead of the giant round tables of the big old Cantonese palace. The decor and format are more casual. The menu is smaller, maybe 1/4 the size and focused only on the dim sum greatest hits. Also importantly there is no “second chef” and giant banquet menu. It’s all the same focused small set of dim sum.

Service, particularly for being in soft opening, was excellent. They kept checking on us. They were speedy. Some confusion but they were on it double checking and made sure everything was perfect in the end. They are clearly very dedicated to improving and doing a good job. There were some minor quirks, like they had no chili oil (only chili sauce) — but they promised to get some by next week!

Plate/order size is smaller than a tradition dim sum house. I actually like this as it allows more dishes. They don’t have any large plate items. This is more consistent with the likes of DTF (Din Tai Fung). It works better with parties of 2.

Food wise, the textures were consistently good, which is the standard thing that many dim sum places mess up. Food was pretty fresh and very hot and not soggy. Problem for me was that on many dishes the flavors felt muted or light. I think it’s under seasoning. Maybe there isn’t so much salt (MSG?). Maybe they use a lighter oil. There is this standard dim sum oil taste that I really like and it wasn’t present or at least was very much more reserved. That oil and salt thing is one of the things I love about dim sum. As I mentioned, the menu is fairly small. We ordered every dish available the day we went and all are pictured above. There were about 6 or so on the menu that weren’t online.

So in terms of actual dim sum quality, places like Elite and Grand Harbor are a notch better at current. I can hope that Tim Ho Wan tunes up a bit, but it’s also possible that they are deliberately going for a lighter less coma-inducing style. It has this new faster/more casual format too, but with a long wait, that’s offset. Eventually though, it probably will be easy to get in on a weekday — it’s always going to be a long wait on weekends. Of course, there is always 85 degrees while you wait. And for me the long drive. I hope one opens on the Westside up here!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Capital Dim Sum
  2. Lunasia Dim Sum
  3. Christmas is for Dim Sum
  4. More Modern Dim Sum
  5. Dim Sum is Shanghai #1
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Dim sum, dimsum, dumplings, Har Gow, Hong Kong, lunch, Lunch Quest, Orange County, pork buns, sticky rice, Tim Ho Wan, Yarom

Crawling with an Old Friend

Feb27

The SGV (or San Gabriel Valley) of Los Angeles is not only a Chinese Food mecca (best in America) but lends itself to the peculiar but extremely fun tradition of the “food crawl” or as we sometimes call it the “SGV Parlay.” This involves heading out there and visiting multiple locations in the same day. Everything is so close together and the density is very high.

My oldest friend, Brent, and I have been eating Chinese food together for about 40 years so on this particular Sunday night (January 27, 2019) when he was in town we went out at about 4pm for the crawl.
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First stop the Hunan Chili King and late Lucky Noodle King mini mall. This is a classic old school SGV mall, probably from the 70s.
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Here’s HCK, the best Hunan joint I’ve been to in the state.
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They were decorated for Chinese New Year.
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And here’s Brent.
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Hunan style cold cucumber salad with marinated cucumber, Cilantro, and chilies (everything has chilies). This was really tasty, and one of the least spicy dishes. The marinate lent it a slight cool quality. Very salty though.
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Snails with preserved vegetables. This dish was amazing! Sure it’s an “advanced” dish, and incredibly spicy. Hottest dish we had that night by far. Super deep potent heap. The combo of the chewy snails and the unusual pickled green beans (with their crunch) was stunning.
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This might have been our most expensive stop too. Lol.

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Next over to King Kho Bo for some dried snacks like dried seasoned mushrooms and whacky New Year’s coconut strips.
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Then into this weird low rent mall. Like a cheap mall in China as there are all sorts of “stores” tucked away inside this vast drop ceiling hall. Pretty ugly! And classic SGV charm (actually is fairly charming).
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Speaking of charm, this guy in the parking lot drives a manga rice rocket!
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Next we moved over to another (newer) minimall on Valley. I’ve eaten here at Mian, Mei Long Village, J &J, and Tasty Dining! This is in the heart of Alahambra and very dense.

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Mian, where we decided to get some Szechuan on, gets a serious line. About 30 min at 7pm on Sunday for 2!
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This place is much newer (2 years) and popular with the young Chinese couples on cel phones — wait, that’s all young Chinese (and other) couples.
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Weird cold tea.
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Slightly fermented spicy cabbage adorn the table — like Szechuan kimchee.
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The awesome cold smoked plum juice — so good (too much sugar when you guzzle it though).
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Egg custard with ground pork. One of those delicate fluffy egg custards covered in savory ground pork. Yum! I really enjoy the texture (and taste) of this kind of custard and with the pork was fabulous.
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Beef in chili sauce. Quite spicy, dry, and nice.
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Szechuan Cold Noodles.
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You mix up the above cold noodles and eat. These were superlative. Nice noodle texture, good weight, and this scrumptious tangy chili sauce. Loved them. I adore when the acid balance is right and these really had it down. A bit of nuttiness, but not nearly as nutty or heavy as a dan dan — different, but great.
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Then we went across the mini mall to the Foot Soak for a 1 hour Foot Massage ($20!).
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This particular FM “spa” is one of my favorites because the guys on staff are strong and do a good job. There is NO GLAMOUR here. In fact, it has the oddest (not for the SGV but to the uninitiated) ambiance. The chairs are packed together almost touching and period Chinese dramas (in Chinese, of course) play on the TV. Plus, quite a number of people just hang out or sleep. The massage is good though and the price right ($20 is for a full 60 min).
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Now on to our third minimall, well actually welcome to the Maxi-Mall. The California Mini-Mall’s GIANT SGV cousin.

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You could spend all day in this mall, there are so many restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and massage places. But since we’d done two spicy spots, we figured we’d finish up with some awesome carbs. Juicy Dumpling is upstairs.
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They have a glassed in dumpling workshop!
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Brent pounds the hard stuff — tea!
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XLB (xao lao bao) “sweet”. 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. They have two types here — savory and sweet. We ordered the sweet because it’s more unusual. I kinda like it, although maybe not as much as the savory.
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Pork and Shrimp Dumpling. Great version of the pork and shrimp, with delicate but pronounced flavors. Like the savory pork only version but with a shrimp inside!
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Giant Crabmeat Juicy Dumpling. 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.
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Here with the straw — so good, just watch you don’t burn your tongue.

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As our final (7th!) stop we wanted some boba tea. There were options to choose from, like Boba Ave but we went instead to:
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Whacky name.
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Typical young clientele.
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Slick modern (industrial) decor.
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They double as internet cafe and offer unusual savory treats. Brent joked that “real men” would polish off the evening with an egg and prosciutto waffle — couldn’t manage it.
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Instead just got a milk boba tea (small for me).

Overall, a total blast of a night. It’s really hard to convey how fun these crawls are — which is the purpose of this post. It feels kinda like teleporting to a section of a some slightly (American) Chinese city for an evening. Everything is so close together and if you like Chinese food the density of places is off the chart. We walked by a good 15-20 other places that looked delicious, some of which I have been to, many not.

This whole adventure was probably about $120 for the both of us too, including the Foot Massage and tip. Food was probably $80. With 4 people it would be even cheaper (each) and one could try more dishes. Hard to crawl with more than about 4-6.

Related posts:

  1. Day of the Dumplings
  2. For the Bun of It
  3. J&J – Crab XLB
  4. Westwood Chinese – Northern Cafe
  5. Noodling About – Mian
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, crawl, dumplings, Hunan, parlay, SGV, Shanghai Cuisine, Sichuan, Szechuan, XLB

Georgian Bakery and Cafe

Jan07

Restaurant: Georgian Bakery and Cafe

Location: 11749 Bustleton Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19116. (215) 969-9900

Date: November 21, 2018

Cuisine: Georgian

Rating: Like bland Afghan

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It’s tradition on the day before ThanksGavin, for us Gavins to go somewhere ethnic.

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For the last 2-3 years we’ve been going to an Uzbek place but this year it was slightly shifted to a nearby Georgian place — oddly located next to the home depot.
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Here’s the restaurant itself in what was clearly intended as a big box store space.
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Inside is oddly sterile too. But we have a huge table to ourselves. There was one other large party but otherwise empty.
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Some Prosecco to start.
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Salad. Like a Greek salad.
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Slightly different salad — with more garlic.
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Eggplant paste toast — excellent.
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Eggplant salad. Roasted.
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Bread.
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Boring “spicy” sauce. Wasn’t really spicy.
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From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières. Great bottle, fully mature.
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Weird sweet pomegranate juice or something. Very sweet and bland.
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Fried chicken. Pressed flat.
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Egg bread. Fried egg inside what is pretty much a pizza bread. Pretty good, if very mild.
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Cheese bread. Sort of like a cheese pizza with no sauce. Bland but tasty.
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2014 Domaine Dujac Morey St. Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffots. 92 points. Bit of reduction. Pure, clean red fruit.

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Georgian dumplings. Giant with thick skins. The meat inside was pretty good and these are clearly related to Chinese boiled dumplings. So heavy though! And badly badly need soy sauce, vinegar, and chili paste.
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From my cellar: 1977 Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico Riserva. Mature, earthy, a touch sour.
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Kabobs of the pork, veal, beef, and chicken variety.
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Sturgeon. Ick. Reeked and tasted like seared heavy fish oil. I needed tongue therapy after this.
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Peanut crunchy cake. This was dry but pretty good.
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We had a fun night and service was diligent — although there was an odd very long (45 min?) gap between the dumplings and kabobs.

But the food, while well prepared, was quite bland. The Uzbek place we have gone to several times was tastier and a bit more varied — and Afghan food, which is very similar, has about 10X the flavor. Georgian seems to be like carbs, cheese, and fairly bland meat and mixed up with no seasonings.

For more Philly dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Westwood Chinese – Northern Cafe
  2. Eating San Francisco – Zuni Cafe
  3. Eating Hoi An – Brothers Cafe
  4. Quick Eats – Pho Cafe
  5. Little Sheep Hot Pot
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Bakery, Dessert, dumplings, Georgian, kebab, Philadelphia, ThanksGavin, ThanksGavin 2018, Wine

Capital Dim Sum

Dec03

Restaurant: Capital Seafood Beverly Hills

Location: 50 N La Cienega Blvd #130, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. (310) 855-1234

Date: October 10, 2018 and August 1, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese Dim Sum

Rating: Good for this far west

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Finding great Chinese west of the SGV has long been a problem, but the “great wall” between east and west has been cracking with lots and lots of new openings closer to (my) home.
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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.
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The space looks pretty Chinese, even in Beverly Hills.
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Coves. Gotta have the coves!
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The made to order dimsum Menu.
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Sauces were great. The chili sauce and XO both awesome.
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Cold Spicy jellyfish (8/1/19). Nice chew and great Szechuan-style spice flavor.

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Shrimp and pork shui mai. Classic, but well done versions.
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Spinach Mix Veggie Dumplings. We had a vegetarian in the house.
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Shrimp Har Gow. Very nice, not too sticky either and kept together.
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Tofu Skin Roll with shrimp. I like these bean curd wrapped thingies. The goji berries were a different touch.

 

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Beancurd stuffed with shrimp (8/1/19). Great spongy textural play.

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XLB (steamed pork dumpling). Solid versions of this amazing dish. A touch pasty, but oh so good.
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Shrimp, scallop, and peanut dumplings. Dumplings always rule.
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Baked BBQ Pork Pastry. Super rich lovely pastry and sweet BBQ pork.
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Baked Honey BBQ Pork Bun (8/1/19). This is my favorite of the pork bun styles with the sweet bread stuffed with delicious sweet BBQ pork.

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Stuffed Shrimp and Scallop Ball (8/1/19). The inside of this fried fellow is a shrimp and scallop cake/paste. Delicious with the provided mayo.
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Steamed Cilantro Rice Noodle (Chow fun). I’ve never had it with just cilantro. A little bland but the rice noodle texture was excellent.

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Minced Beef Rice Noodle (8/1/19). Tastier than the cilantro version.
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Taiwanese Shrimp Egg Roll. I really liked these super hot, ultra fried, mega crispy cigarette-like spring rolls.
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Deep fried mushroom egg roll.
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Rice Noodle with XO Sauce. I loved these chewy rice cakes smothered in spicy XO sauce. Very soothing texture and a lot of salty umami XO flavor.

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Lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice (8/1/19). Classic and filling.
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Dried Shrimp and Pork Dumpling. The chewy fried bomb shaped dumplings were excellent.
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Shrimp and chives dumpling (pan fried). Also greasy fried flavor.

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Steamed Chinese Broccoli (8/1/19). Pretty tasty.
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Roasted half duck (on the house). Really succulent and moist. Delicious.
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Salt and pepper eggplant. Fried and salty and very hot (temperature) but delicious.

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Seafood with Pan Fried Egg noodles (8/1/19). I’ve loved this dish for over 40 years!

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On my 8/1/19 visit I brought these home-made (by me) gelati:

Strawberry Margarita Sorbetto! — like a frozen cocktail — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Strawberries from Avignon, blended with fresh lime, Reposado Tequila and Cointreau –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #strawberry #Margarita #cocktail #Tequila #Cointreau

Cioccolato Fondente Torrone Gelato — I’ve been working to squeeze the most chocolate humanly possible into a dairy gelato. This is 70% cocoa Valrhona and 100% Callebaut Chocolates — a total of 22.5% cocoa by weight — extremely intense — offset slightly by Italian soft nougat (torrone) — 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 #peanut #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #torrone

Overall, Capital Seafood is middling level dimsum for the SGV but excellent for Beverly Hills. Almost certainly the best west of the SGV. One of the only rivals is The Palace, which is good, but still the cart format. The manager/owner was awesome. Service was very attentive, but a little weird in that a few of the girls hovered uncomfortably close. They were trying though.

On our second visit service was clean and unobtrusive. Food was fresh and tasty. Really quite good. Not the BEST dimsum in the known world but still first rate.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

Related posts:

  1. World Seafood is Elite
  2. Dim Sum is Shanghai #1
  3. Derek moved to China Red
  4. Lunasia Dim Sum
  5. Dim Sum – World Seafood
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beverly Hills, Brunch, Cantonese cuisine, Capital Seafood, Dim sum, dimsum, dumplings, hedonists, lunch, XLB

Eating Shanghai – Paradise Dynasty

Oct03

Restaurant: Paradise Dynasty

Location: 3/F, 8 Shiji Dadao, near Lujiazui Huan Lu 世纪大道8号3楼, 近陆家嘴环路

Date: August 8, 2018

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Great XLB, everything else is just ok

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We got in late to Shanghai and so we just popped over from our hotel into the IFC mall…
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Which is like a giant high end Beverly Center, in search of dumplings!
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Fortunately for us, the mall’s many restaurants include Paradise Dynasty, which is like Din Tai Fung’s more colorful cousin.
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See what I mean?

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Big contemporary space.

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And a glassed in kitchen.
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Salad rolls. Yeah, some kind of spinach-like green rolled up — you dip it in the sesame dressing!
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Plain noodles for Mr. Picky.
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Steamed baby shrimp. The Shanghai classic, a bit bland.
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Vinegar, ginger, and chili sauce for the dumplings.
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Paradise special mixed flavor Xao Lao Bao (XLB). These were fabulous with very thin skins and eight different flavors.1A0A5039
You can see these listed below. My favorites were original, garlic, crab roe and Szechuan.
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Steamed garlic greens.
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Pork noodles. A lot like ramen.
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Vegetable potstickers. Not the most exiting.
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Steamed vegetable buns. Breadier versions.
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Crispy vegetable spring rolls. Quite light and crispy. Delicious.
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Pan fried Shanghai pork soup dumplings. Heavier than the XLB. Still delicious, but I prefer the light-weight classic XLB.
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Wontons in chili sauce. Not particularly hot but delicious.
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Pork pot stickers. Just fine. Not nearly as good as the XLB.
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Crispy fried red bean pancakes.
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Deep fried buns. Just Chinese buns, fried.
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Mysterious light Asian fruity jelly. Loved it. I always like this stuff. Might have been like hyacinth and lychee.
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Sesame mochi balls in syrup. A lot of the kids (and many of the adults) love this dessert.
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Rolled mochi dough with red beans and peanut dust.

Overall, the XLB here at Paradise Dynasty were really good. I enjoyed the different flavors and the light wrappers were great. The other items, also pretty similar to Din Tai Fung were just fine.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Dim Sum is Shanghai #1
  2. Revenge of the Han Dynasty
  3. Eating Beijing – Xian Lao Man
  4. Surprise! More Shanghai #1 Dim Sum
  5. Banqueting at Shanghai #1
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: China, dumplings, Eating China, Eating Shanghai, Paradise Dynasty, Shanghai, XLB

Eating Xi’an – De Fa Cheng

Sep10

Restaurant: De Fa Cheng

Location: 28 Pingan Market, Bell Tower Square, Xi’an, China. +86 29 8767 6615

Date: August 2, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese Dumpling House

Rating: Really interesting if a bit “big”

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When I came to China in 2008 I ate at De Fa Cheng and enjoyed it tremendously. That trip, it was one of my favorite meals and I always regretted only taking a photo or two (it wasn’t until 2010 that I started photoing every meal I ate). It claims to offer “authentic” Tang Dynasty dumpling feasts. I have my doubts as to the historicity of the food, but it’s sure good.
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The place is located right across from the central Ming Dynasty Bell Tower and is at least 3 stories!
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I remember this golden dumpling from last time and used it to locate the restaurant again this trip (by some creative googling).
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Last time we had a big group and therefore some private rooms upstairs but this time we were in the “grand hall” on the first floor.
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They have plastic models of dumplings.
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There is a sauce bar you can make up your dumpling sauces at — unfortunately I only noticed after the meal!
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We got tea, plum juice (which I love), and some weird herbal/fruit dark brown juice with a highly intriguing and not entirely pleasant flavor.
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Cold dishes to start, including the world’s largest dates.
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Wood ear mushroom with onions. Loved it.
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Spinach, egg, and garlic.
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Pickled veggies and meats.
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Shrimp and cucumbers.
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And super spicy crawfish.
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There are many levels of dumpling banquet, varying from about $10 a person to several hundred! We got level 2 or 3, it was about $15, and was a staggering amount of food. There was even a custom veggie version for my wife.

The normal course we ordered came with what seemed to be “all you can eat” boiled pork dumplings, a comfort food I always enjoy. Each time our plate got low they just brought another.
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The veggie course likewise had a plate of boiled veggie dumplings. She level got it low but I’m sure they would have replaced it too.
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Each person then got one of each type of specialty dumpling. I’m going to have to guess for most what was in them because I couldn’t read Chinese. The brown ones were walnut dumplings. I dunno about the other.
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There were duck dumplings and something else here.
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A whole selection of veggie dumplings here.
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And a second round of different veggie dumplings here.
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Then some veggie and some other type here for us.
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The orange ones were a touch sweet and really good. Maybe pumpkin.
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These dumplings were in a soup with Szechuan peppercorns and hence had a nice numbing bite.
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Fried pork dumplings.
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Baked dumplings.
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More rounds. I can’t remember what they were but the ones with the green edge were really good. Like meatball dumplings.
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The middle ones were a strong tomato dumpling and I can’t remember about the outside.
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Finally there was a wonton soup.
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We got this whole story about the Empress Cixi and how this was made for her. It contained little wontons and the random number in your bowl denotes your fortune somehow.
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Watermelon.

This was a fun meal and a great deal at $15 a head for an epic gut bursting feast. Light eaters could split a course. In fact we ordered 4 for 3 adults and the kids. The dumplings were interesting and flavorful. My only complaint was that sometimes the skins were a bit chewy/thick. I wonder what the hell is in the expensive banquets? I think they go up to 100 dumpling types!

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

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De Fa Cheng is right across the street from the iconic Bell Tower

Related posts:

  1. Eating Beijing – Xian Lao Man
  2. Eating Xi’an – Jia San Soup Pau
  3. Eating Xi’an – Warrior Lunch
  4. Eating Beijing – Country Kitchen
  5. Eating Beijing – Dadong
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: China, Chinese Food, De Fa Cheng, dumplings, Eating China, Eating Xi'an, plum juice, soup, Xi'an

Eating Xi’an – Jia San Soup Pau

Sep03

Restaurant: Jia San Soup Pau

Location: 93 Bei Yuan Men, Xi’an, China. +86 29 8725 7507

Date: August 1, 2018

Cuisine: Halal Chinese

Rating: Tasty!

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After Beijing we move on to Xi’an, the oldest of China’s great capitals and the eastern terminus of the silk road. Xi’an, now a city of roughly 15 million, has been an important city for perhaps 5000 years! It’s the capital of Shaanxi province and of course home to Shaanxi cuisine.
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In it’s western position in China it’s home to many Chinese muslims and a vibrant “muslim street” filled with restaurants and snacks.
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Like random kabobs!
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Or what the Chinese call “naan breads” (puffier muslim breads).
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Somewhat afraid of the street meats we decided to have dinner here at this recommended, popular, and very colorful spot.
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As far as I can tell, it’s name is Jia San Soup Pau.
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It was so popular we had to go up to the 3rd floor to get a table.
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Lazy susan etc.

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They specialize in these western XLB, which are somewhat more akin to Afghan Muntoo. These were vegetable filled muntoo.
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And mutton muntoo — no pork at this place, it’s halal. The lamb ones were delicious with a very delicate pasta, a nice pronounced lamb-quality, and tons of juice.
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Sesame noodles. Had a bit of mustardy punch too.
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Spicy Tripe. I’m not sure which animal’s stomach we ate here. Lamb? Maybe ox? It had that tripe texture and was a bit firm and not crazy chewy. The sauce was STRONG. An intense smack in the face of chili and sesame. Really good sauce. I could only eat so much tripe but I would love this sauce on noodles.
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Ox tail soup muntoo. Amazingly good juice meat dumplings.
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Steamed greens with a bit of soy and ginger flavor. Quite nice.
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Fried chicken. With a bit of spicy powder.
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Lamb, garlic, celery, poatoes, and pepper hand pulled noodles. Underneath this very homestyle dish was a pile of excellent hand pulled noodles. This is a very Shaanxi style dish.

Jia San Soup Pau was an excellent place. Good rustic food and hearty flavors.

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Back out on the street time for snacks and dessert like this “spicy lamb burger” which in Chinese might be 肉夹馍, a name that sounds like “Rodger Moore” (maybe Rho jaa mo or something like that). This one was lamby, very salty, and liberally greased with chili oil.
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My eye was drawn to this very interesting looking dry ice dessert steaming in the cauldron. I called them dragon balls.
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It’s handed to you steaming too. Turns out they are just puffed rice balls, with no flavor, frozen in liquid nitrogen. You crunch on the ball, trying vainly not to freezer burn your mouth and exhale like this:

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

Related posts:

  1. Eating Beijing – Xian Lao Man
  2. XLB – Soup Dumplings!
  3. Eating Beijing – 3.3 Noodles
  4. Forget the Duck Soup, More Meat!
  5. Eating Beijing – Xiao Long Pu
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: dumplings, Eating China, Eating Xi'an, Halal, Jia San Soup Pau, lamb, Shaanxi, spicy, tripe, Xi'an

Eating Beijing – Xian Lao Man

Aug27

Restaurant: Xianlaoman

Location: 252 Andingmen Inner St, Dongcheng Qu, Beijing Shi, China, 100007

Date: July 31, 2018

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: You can never go wrong with dumplings!

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Xianlaoman apparently translates as “our fillings are big” or something like that, referring to the apple stuffing of their dumplings.
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Located not far from the Forbidden City, it’s a small chain of very Beijing style food.
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The frontage is just across the street from an old Hutong area.
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They pickle garlic!
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The interior is typical of contemporary mid-level Chinese places, with a bit of actual decor, but not over the top.
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Nice wood chairs.
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Our guide in Beijing, Dana, was vegetarian (unusual for a Chinese) and kept — to my annoyance — taking over the orders and trying to make them all vegetarian. Boring! Although we did have 1-2 in our party who needed it, but the rest of us wanted the meat.

In any case, this spicy cauliflower was actually very good. Nice crispy texture to the plant and a salty heat.
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Vegetarian egg noodles with celery. The noodles didn’t have egg, but instead there is egg in the dish.
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Fish flavored pork. I managed to get this one in, although she tried to cross it out. It isn’t actually “flavored with fish” but instead “fish flavored” means something (like pork or eggplant) cooked in a prep traditionally used for fish. In this case a sort of tangy/spicy/oily sauce I love. This was a great fish flavored pork with good textures and lots of subtlety.
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Steamed broccoli. Why, Dana, why?
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Boiled Fish dumplings, I think. These were okay.
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Pork and shrimp dumplings. Excellent, and the only one I was “allowed.” It was finished in 2 seconds and half the table was complaining that there were no other meat dumplings.
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Vegetable dumplings. 2 X double order. Notice there are twice as many — and she ordered 2 plates. Stuffed with spinach and garlic. They were ok for vegetable dumplings but they are still kind of like spinach balls and we had lots uneaten at the end.
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Vegetable pies. I ordered the classic Beijing pork pie but Dana switched it to vegetarian in Mandarin. More spinach. Just not as good as a nice steamed pork ball!

Xianlaoman was good, particularly the meat dishes (wish we had more). This is well done Beijing comfort food and pretty similar (but better executed) to the fare in Northern Cafe here in west LA.

For my catalog of Chinese restaurant reviews in China, click here.

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Related posts:

  1. Eating Beijing – Xiao Long Pu
  2. Eating Beijing – Dadong
  3. Eating Beijing – 3.3 Noodles
  4. Beijing Pie House
  5. Hedonists go to Beijing
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beijing, Chinese Food, dumplings, Eating Beijing, Eating China, Xianlaoman

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

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.

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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.

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

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

Cucumber. Lightly marinated with salt. Nice and crunchy.

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

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

Vegetable Dumpling.

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.
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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.

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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.
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String beans. Good.
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A kind of boring noodle dish ordered by a lightweight.
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Hot Spare Ribs. Delicious sweet red ribs — hot.
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Cumin Beef. Nice. Tender too.
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Yangchow fried rice. The classic everything fried rice.

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Kung Pao Chicken. Not your typical Szechuan prep, but more a pretty spicy brown sauce prep. Good though.
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Shrimp with crab roe and peas. Scrumptious. Loved this dish.
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Fish filets boiled in chili. Lots of mala surprisingly — very good. Hot hot.
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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.

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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.
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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.

Related posts:

  1. XLB – Soup Dumplings!
  2. Northern Chinese
  3. Dirty Dumplings
  4. SGV Nights – Seafood Palace
  5. World Seafood is Elite
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Boba Tea, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, dumplings, Gelato, hedonists, Maxi-Mall, Northern Chinese, SGV, Spicy City

Northern Chinese

May14

Restaurant: Northern Chinese

Location: 8450 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770.  (626) 288-9299

Date: April 8, 2018

Cuisine: Northern Chinese

Rating: tasty, interesting, and very inexpensive

_

Another Sunday, another fun trip to San Gabriel for more awesome Chinese!

This time to Northern Chinese, which specializes in you guessed it, Northern Chinese. Totally typical strip mall on Valley, walking distance from the previous place I went to, New Century Lobster.

Inside has that low decor drop-ceiling style we know and love.

Decent amount of space, and packed by the middle of our meal.

Meat pies. These might not look like much but they were (hot) and amazing. Very tasty ground pork.

Chinese sausage. Salty and kinda mild.

Cucumbers with chilies and cilantro. Good version of this dish with nice crunch.

Spicy sliced potatoes. I loved these with the spice already on.

Scallion pancakes. Hot but just tasted like oil. Not my thing.

Boiled dumplings. Solid versions of these, but no obvious sauce in the offering. I had to scrounge up some ingredients and mix my own.

Twice cooked special house sliced pork. Super crispy, super sweet, and amazing. Really good ultra fried pork slices.

Cumin lamb. Another great dish.

Cornbread. Looks like pancakes and who knew the Chinese made cornbread?

Chinese greens. Very nice crunchy greens actually.

Steamed fish. Boring, but decently cooked.

Spicy beef. Not a great dish. Tough beef and the sauce didn’t have any mala.

Fried chicken cartilage. Sounds gross, and the texture takes some getting used to, but actually pretty awesome.

Lamb bone soup. Bland with chunks of boney mutton. Not my favorite.
 Sweet corn. Very sweet.

Overall, a tasty meal with some interesting stuff. Dishes varied in quality, but the better half were really good. Service was very “overworked” but extremely friendly. Super cheap too. We will be back.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Love that drop ceiling.

I just gathered up the wines.



Related posts:

  1. Westwood Chinese – Northern Cafe
  2. Shaanxi Garden
  3. Fancy Feast – Bistro Na
  4. Peking Duck at A-1 Chinese BBQ
  5. World Seafood is Elite
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, dumplings, Gelato, Northern Chinese, SGV, Wine

J&J – Crab XLB

Sep25

Restaurant: J&J Restaurant

Location: 301 W Valley Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Date: August 9, 2017

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Great crab XLB, but rest was just so-so

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As part 3 of our mini lunch SGV parley we move onto mini-mall classic J&J.

It’s tucked at the back of the same minimal as Mian, Mei Long Village and Tasty Dining.

The typical pictorial menu.

SGV haunts fall into a couple categories. This is of the 10+ year old “ugly white drop ceiling older clientele variety.”

Crab XLB. This is why you come here. These were the best crab XLB I’ve had. Nice delicate wrappers and lots of solid crab flavor. This should not be confused with a categorical statement that they were better than the best PORK XLB I’ve had — just different beasts. I should have ordered the regular pork ones as the shells were great and so those might also be excellent — but we didn’t.

Crab Rice Cake. Crab in a sort of lightly curried sauce with the chewy Shanghai rice cakes. I liked the cakes and the sauce, but there was almost no accessible crab meat — unless you are a seal or some other animal natural equipped with shell crushing teeth.

Sweet and Sour Pork Chop. Not a bad version of this dish. Sticky soy-sugar sauce, little bits of bone, but very soft accessible meat.

Since this was just a couple dishes as part of a multi-restaurant crawl we only had a few things. The Crab XLB were great, the other two dishes just fine. They used MSG (I could feel it after). The atmosphere wasn’t exactly lively or updated. Service was pleasant.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Tidewater Crab
  2. Raw Crab Guts are Yummy
  3. Shanghainese at Southern Mini Town
  4. Hedonists Boil Up Some Crab
  5. Elite – King Crab Custard
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, crab, dumplings, J&J, SGV, Shanghai, Shanghai Cuisine, XLB
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