Restaurant: Longo Seafood Restaurant
Location: 7540 Garvey Ave, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 280-8188
Date: February 11 & June 10, 2018
Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese
Rating: Great Meal, Good Deal
The first week of February my SGV radar was buzzing about a new Cantonese place in the SGV. I think because Jonathan Gold wrote it up and then several friends went. Mostly they were talking about the dim sum but most Cantonese places are really 2 in 1 with nighttime banquet service.
Longo is on Garvey right next to the Longo Toyota. Lol.
It’s one of these big formal Cantonese places.
Peanuts.
Peking Duck (2/11/18). The meat was very good. This was a bun place. People have their preferences as to buns vs pancakes. I like both, but pancakes allow you to eat more!
NOTE: On my second visit, for my birthday, June 2018, I had called ahead (twice) and reserved Peking Duck — but when I got there they told me “no duck, sold out” — clearly they had sold away my duck to the highest bidder as I saw some on tables! I was fairly irritated.
Suckling pig (half, 2/11/18 & 6/10/18). Perfect pig. Really, really crispy with nice pork flavor.
What happened to piggy?
Lamb stew (2/11/18 & 6/10/18). Interesting.
Fish with garlic on bok choy (2/11/18). The garlic made it really delicious actually.
Here comes the giant King Crab!
Brian shows off the scale.
El Crab returns wokked with vegetables. Stir fried crab (2/11/18).
Crab Legs with garlic (2/11/18 & 6/10/18) which was awesome.
Close up of that tender goodness.
And as egg custard (2/11/18) in the body.
Crab parts fried with salty yolk (6/10/18). As I’ve several times found, this isn’t my favorite prep. A bit too salty and with that grainy yolky texture.
Crab fried rice (6/10/18). Great stuff!
Fried tofu with mushrooms and broccoli (2/11/18 & 6/10/18). Very nice actually. Love the delicate sauce.
Kung pao chicken (6/10/18). A nice tasty version. I got some tame dishes on this day because we had a bunch of SGV noobs in the crowd.
Walnut shrimp (6/10/18). Fairly light, mayo forward version.
Sole with black bean sauce (6/10/18). Turned out to be moderately spicy!
Pea tendrils with garlic (2/11/18).
Ung choy (6/10/18).
Preserved fish eggs fried rice (2/11/18). Nice and salty.
Vegetable fried rice (6/10/18).
Simple lo mein (6/10/18). A lot of the Chinese food amateurs enjoyed this.
Seafood chow mein (6/10/18). I always love this dish.
Weird sweet bean soup (2/11/18).
Walnut soup (6/10/18). MUCH much better than the bean soup — actually kind of pleasant.
Custard buns (6/10/18) on the house. I enjoy these mild sweet things.
And a bit of cake (someone brought on 2/11/18).
For my birthday dinner (6/10/18) I brought some Sweet Milk Gelato I made:
On the left, a new flavor: Limoncello Zabaione Gelato, an eggy frozen zabaione made with Sorento Limoncello.
On the right, Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Cloud, Valrhona chocolate base, Valrhona cream cheese fudge, and gluten free oreo substitutes.
Got crabs?
The service was absolutely first rate the first time we came (2/11/18). The manager above really took care of us. The food was great too. Not the best Cantonese banquet I’ve ever had but really very nice with a lot of first rate dishes. The pig and crab were as good as it gets and the crab was a total deal at only $19-25/lb. The duck was very good too as were a number of the other dishes.
The second time for dinner (6/10/18, I had been there another time for lunch), the service was a bit different. They were mobbed. I had called ahead (twice) and reserved Peking Duck — but when I got there they told me “no duck, sold out” — clearly they had sold away my duck to the highest bidder as I saw some on tables! I was fairly irritated. They also took a LONG time to come over and take our order. Once it got rolling they were reasonably attentive. Food was still good, but they could have done a way better job with us.
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I’ll post but not bother elaborate on the wines:
6/10/18 dinner wines:
