Restaurant: Sea Harbor Seafood Restaurant
Location: 3939 Rosemead Blvd. Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 288-3939
Date: June 11, 2014 & January 2, 2015 & May 17, 2021
Cuisine: Cantonese Dim Sum
Rating: In the top 5 SGV Dim Sum
This is a compilation of both a birthday trip my brother and I made to Sea Harbor Dim Sum, the latest in our crusade to visit all the best Dim Sum joints in the San Gabriel Valley, and a in force 20 person assault on the place later with my hedonist group.
I think Sea Harbor has been around for a long time and is one of the mainstays.
The interior is pretty typical.
On 5/17/21, not long after the lockdowns, they were also serving outside on the patio.
One of these nice color photo menus. The paper “checklist” you order with is only in Chinese, but we just use the numbers. This is made to order dim sum, which is much fresher than the cart style.
The sauce plate (like everything else, on request).
Paul Bara Champagne Grand Cru Brut Grand Rosé. AG 92. The Brut Rosé Grand Cru is bold, richly textured wine that literally bursts from the glass with impressive concentration. This shows gorgeous inner perfume yet remains a decidedly extroverted, singular wine. The weight of the Pinot comes through in spades. Readers who want to understand why the Grand Cru vineyards of Bouzy are so famous for Pinot and Rosé should start here.
Cucumber with garlic and spicy sauce.
Jellyfish with GongCai. Apparently the green stuff is “tribute vegetable.” I thought it was bits of asparagus or something. Jellyfish was good.
2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay White Hill. 93 points. No real sign of oak although it is fermented in mostly neutral oak with a bit of stainless steal. Wonderfully balanced, I want oysters with my next bottle! Great alternative to so many oaky Cali chards out there.
Chicken feet with Angelica in Meat Broth.
Spareribs in black bean sauce. Hideous, but they taste great.
From my cellar: 2012 Tenute Sella Coste della Sesia Majoli. 90 points. Deep red in the glass. This is a rosé with some weight, quite different from some of the nimble, mineral driven rosés from France. Dominant cherry tones, with a touch of Luden’s cherry drop. Clean finish. Potentially this could stand up to a more medium bodied dish, outside of the typical realm for other rosés. This is an unusual bottle, not often encountered – I’ve never seen Tenute Sella rosé for sale, anywhere.
Har Gow. A top version of the classic.
Siu Mai. Pork and shrimp dumpling. Also classic. These are the “normal” (non jumbo size) and tasted great.
Siu Mai with Truffle. I think the truffle is actually a negative.
196x August E. Anheuser Riesling Spätlese Kreuznacher. 78 points. Fallen in cork. A color light like muddy oily rainwater, but surprisingly still sweet and vaguely drinkable.
Bean curd skin roll with seafood. These always look ugly, and they have a funny texture, but I tend to like them.
Ginger chicken & pork bun. These are stuffed with a meat ball that has a very pronounced ginger flavor. Interesting and quite good.
1979 Morandell Grüner Veltliner Trockenbeerenauslese Ruster. 98 points. Not totally sure of the year, certainly from the 70s, but this amber bit of syrup knocked our socks off. Spectacular nectar.
Fish roe with scallop dumpling. A very elegant seafood dumpling.
Steamed shrimp paste with corn and pea dumpling. The two of us were split on this fellow. I liked them, as they had a dense texture and a nice corn/pea taste. My brother wasn’t a fan.
2002 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Kabinett. 89 points. Delicate scents of fresh strawberry, lemon, honey and vanilla. Bright and tingling in the mouth, with the sensation of fresh strawberries right down to their tiny whiskers. Quite refreshing yet adamantly slatey in the finish.
Pork, peanut & celery dumpling. Interesting. A little mild, with steamed peanuts.
Juicy pork bun (XLB). A nice version of this most awesome food.
2011 Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. IWC 90. Elegant aromas of cherry, acacia blossom and pine nut. Succulent and creamy on the palate, tinged with nuances of herbs, nuts and vanilla. With fine balance, this spatlese finishes with an underlying sense of slate.
France style baked BBQ pork bun. I have no idea what is “France style” about these, but they had a delightful, light, and crispy outside (slightly sweet) and were filled with a yummy sweet BBQ pork mix flavored with cilantro. Very unusual and very good.
Thai Style Tofu with Chicken Broth. Awesome soft fried tofu with a sweet and tangy sauce.
2009 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Kabinett. IWC 90. Delicate aromas of peach, candied lemon and nut oil. Glossy and quite full-bodied but elegant, this riesling tastes crisp and pure. The clean finish features lime and discreet slate. A textbook kabinett and one of the finest of the vintage.
Beef ball in superior soup. These reconstituted beef balls had a spongey texture that I liked, and a very nice beefy flavor.
Deep fried pork dumpling. Tasty, but as usual for this type, too little filling.
2012 Domaine Bruno Clavelier Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Brulees Vieilles Vignes. Burghound 91-93. A strikingly complex nose features notes of Vosne spice, black cherry, plum and sandalwood. There is first-rate intensity and verve to the beautifully well-detailed medium weight flavors that display plenty of minerality and dry extract on the firm and austere finish that delivers marvelous length. This is also an exercise in harmony allied with finesse.
Ginger Chicken & Pork Bun.
Classic steamed pork bun.
Pan grilled spinach pork bun.
Never seen this one before, but it was pleasant.
Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce.
2008 Rhys Pinot Noir Family Farm Vineyard. Burghound 92. An attractively layered and fresh ripe red berry fruit and overtly floral nose offers excellent complexity that continues onto the rich but elegantly rendered medium-bodied flavors that possess a seductive texture and perfect balance on the lingering finish. This should age extremely well as everything is in perfect proportion.
Sautéed sichuan runner beans with minced pork. A decent version of this classic. The beans were crunchy and the pork tasty, but it was hard to get on the chopsticks!
Steamed rice noodle with BBQ pork (aka “pork slime”). Almost certainly the best pork slime I’ve had — and I’ve had a lot.
Steamed rice noodle with shrimp.
2006 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Precious Mountain. Burghound 90. The nose possesses very impressive aromatic complexity with a lovely mix of both red and blue berry fruit notes, spice hints and a gentle touch of wood toast that does not continue onto the supple, round and vibrant flavors that display good mid-palate density on the slightly dry and tangy finish that does not really detract significantly from the overall sense of balance. We’ll see how this turns out but it appears to have the dry extract to round out the finish in time.
Crystal noodle with fresh shrimp. The shrimp were tasty. This dish was fine, although not outstanding. The noodles had this worm-like slippery quality.
Sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf. An okay (but not spectacular) version of this. The rice additives could have used more flavor.
Sticky rice with preserved meats. Awesome salty and complex flavor.
Fried rice with dry scallop and egg white. A nice salty rice.
2013 Opolo Vineyards Zinfandel Mountain Zinfandel.
Assorted seafood fried crispy noodle. I love this dish, and this version didn’t disappoint. It was probably a 8 to Elite’s 9, but still great.
Deep fried durian puff. Not for everyone, but interesting all the same. Inside, lots of durian with the texture of rotten banana and the flavor of… petrol? Seriously long and complex finish. Weird!
Steamed Preserved Salty Egg Yolk Bun.
A house specialty. Eggy goodness inside. More sweet and sticky than salty. Mostly. Very tasty.
Overall, Sea Harbor was very satisfying, but perhaps a tiny notch below some of the others we have been trying recently like Elite or King Hua. Except for a couple stellar dishes like the pork slime or france style bun are so good, it makes you wonder. Certainly this place is great and you can’t lose.
An update from May of 2021 shows that Sea Harbor, even post pandemic, still has a top notch dim sum kitchen. The interior is in a bit of disarray, and they were out of a few things, but the food quality was still excellent.
They also might have laid on the MSG because I got an outsized dim sum coma that lasted for hours. Granted, dim sum always gives me a head buzz, but this was a little more than usual.
