Image
  • Writing
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • About my Novels & Writing
    • All Writing Posts
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Scrivener – Writer’s Word Processor
    • iPad for Writers
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Books
    • Book Review Index
    • Favorite Fantasy Novels
    • Andy Gavin: Author
    • The Darkening Dream
      • Buy the Book Online
      • Sample Chapters
      • Short Story: Harvard Divinity
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Untimed
      • About the Book
      • Buy Untimed Online
      • Book Trailer
      • Sample Chapters
      • Reviews
      • Info for Reviewers
      • Press Coverage
      • Awards
      • Cast of Characters
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Games
    • My Video Game Career
    • Post Archive by Series
    • All Games Posts Inline
    • Making Crash Bandicoot
    • Crash 15th Anniversary Memories
    • World of Warcraft Endgames
    • Getting a Job Designing Video Games
    • Getting a Job Programming Video Games
    • Naughty Dark Contest
  • Movies
    • Movie Review Index
  • Television
    • TV Review Index
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • A Game of Thrones
  • Food
    • Food Review Index
    • Foodie Club
    • Hedonists
    • LA Sushi Index
    • Chinese Food Index
    • LA Peking Duck Guide
    • Eating Italy
    • Eating France
    • Eating Spain
    • Eating Croatia
    • Eating Vietnam
    • Eating Australia
    • Eating Israel
    • Ultimate Pizza
    • ThanksGavin
    • Margarita Mix
    • Foodie Photography
    • Burgundy Vintage Chart
  • Other
    • All Posts, Magazine Style
    • Archive of all Posts
    • Fiction
    • Technology
    • History
    • Anything Else
  • Gallery
  • Bio
  • About
    • About me
    • About my Writing
    • About my Video Games
    • Ask Me Anything
  • Contact

Archive for Rowland Heights

Far East – Beijing Tasty House

Mar10

Restaurant: Beijing Tasty House [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]

Location: 1380 Fullerton Rd Ste 105 Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 573-8518

Date: July 31, 2022

Cuisine: Beijing Chinese

Rating: Okay, but not as good as Alhambra branch

_

Crawls generally need a good “closer” meal at the end where the group can mop up to a satisfying level. In this case, we chose the newish Hacienda Heights location of Beijing Tasty House.
1A4A2513
I’ve eaten at the Alhambra branch at least half a dozen times and always enjoyed it, even if their service is a bit “unrefined” and their execution at times uneven. This one is way out east in a typical strip mall.
1A4A2514
1A4A2515-Pano
The interior is nice enough but much smaller and more cramped than the Alhambra branch.
1A4A2518
1A4A2519
The menu. Very small writing.
1A4A2521
Hot and Sour Soup with Rice Noodles. Name was weird but this is exactly the dish I hoped it was. The “soup” is very tangy with a bit of spice and numbing. It’s warm and the noodles provide interesting texture.
1A4A2527
Smashed Cucumbers with Garlic. Properly done.
1A4A2530
Fire Exploded Kidneys. For the water sports enthusiast.

1A4A2531
A-Choy with sesame sauce. A bit weird, bits of lettuce with a sesame sugar paste.
1A4A2535
Peking Duck. Very solid spring pancakes and hoisin. Skin was good and crispy but the meat was very dry and low fat. Not bad, but probably a B+ Peking Duck, even by LA standards. I really should put this place in my Ultimate Peking Duck guide as they do serve proper Beijing Peking Duck, it’s just not the best in town by any means.
1A4A2538
The meat with skin on top.
1A4A2541
The usual condiments.
1A4A2543
Real spring pancakes (certainly NOT tortillas).
1A4A2544
The contents of the “bing” or “burrito.”
1A4A2547
Duck Bones with Cumin. Not a bad version of this dish, quite spicy too.
1A4A2552
Beef (and pork belly) Dry Pot. Quite tasty with very tender beef. Extremely spicy.
1A4A2556
Lamb Ribs and cumin. Also similar, but the ribs were awesome and tender.
1A4A2559

Strawberry Cheesecake Gelato — strawberry cream-cheese base with strawberry ripple and house-made graham cracker crumble — 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 #cheesecake #strawberry #GrahamCracker #ripple #creamcheese

Overall, food is very similar to the Alhambra outlet, but it’s further, smaller, and has no liquor license (although they let us use tea cups with the bottles hidden). So no reason to go this far, just visit the closer one for a better experience.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Beijing Tasty House
  2. Duck House without Yarom!
  3. Tasty Duck X 5
  4. Hedonists go to Beijing
  5. Beijing Pie House
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Beijing Tasty House, BYOG, crawl, Gelato, hedonists, Peking Duck, Rowland Heights

Quick Eats – Peking Restaurant

Mar04

Restaurant: Peking Restaurant [ CLOSED? ]  [Crawl: MK BBQ, Peking, Bafang, Spicy Home, Beijing Tasty ]

Location: 19240 Colima Rd Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 363-4961

Date: July 31, 2022

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Sloppy and not worth recommending in any way

_

This particular crawl was not well researched. In fact, it was slapped together mostly from yelp or driving around to include places in the “far SGV” (Rowland and Hacienda Heights). This is our second stop after one tucked in a Supermarket!

1A4A2431
1A4A2426-Pano

I love the look of these dives where they took some old 1950s-70s place and converted it into a Chinese restaurant.
1A4A2432
1A4A2433
1A4A2434
1A4A2435
1A4A2436
1A4A2437
1A4A2438
The menu is big — just not good.
1A4A2439
1A4A2440
At least they let us open wines.
1A4A2452
Cucumbers were just plain chopped cucumbers. Not marinated. Not smashed. No garlic. Nothing.
1A4A2442
Jellyfish. Very mild flavor like they just dumped some distilled vinegar on them.
1A4A2446-Edit
Cold appetizer plate with MORE jellyfish, ok cold beef, and shrimp with ketchup and Chinese mustard. The shrimp tasted just like shrimp cocktail Chinese style. Lol.
1A4A2455
“Peking” duck. Wasn’t very crispy and the meat was quite dry. Total hack job.
1A4A2458
Messy pile of scallions.
1A4A2460
Gunky shredded cucumber.
1A4A2461
Hoisin was not so great.
1A4A2462
Tortillas! Yep, not spring pancakes. Packaged flour tortillas. Way too heavy and ruined the whole vibe.
1A4A2465
Fried sweet buns. Fried Chinese dough with a bit of sweetened condensed milk. This was probably the best dish. lol. It was best dipped in a 50/50 soy sauce and vinegar mix.
1A4A2466
Oranges.

This place appears to have closed (gone out of business). Not exactly surprised, it was one of the worst SGV Chinese restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. Kinda grungy inside too.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Quick Eats – MK BBQ
  2. Quick Eats – Earthen
  3. Far SGV – Hunan Restaurant
  4. NC Peking Duck – Double Duck part 2
  5. Quick Eats – Menya Tigre
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, crawl, hedonists, Peking Duck, Peking Restaurant, Rowland Heights, SGV

Spicy Moment V2.0

Apr17

Restaurant: Spicy Moment V2.0

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-4966

Date: March 1, 2020

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: check: Terrible menu, surprisingly good home-style food

_

Back in August we did a 6 restaurant crawl in and around the Mandarin Plaza. One of the places we visited was Spicy Moment and we agreed to come back for a full dinner, or maybe a 2-fer combined with Hunan next door.
7U1A9286
In the meantime Spicy Moment “rebooted” with a new owner, new menu, new concept — but they kept the name, build out and sign. However, despite what the sign says, it’s no longer “modern Chinese cuisine” and is a much much smaller menu Chongqing place.
7U1A5088
The decor is pretty much unchanged. They still have the ugly drop ceiling, but they have made a tiny effort at decorating.
7U1A9246
My wine.
7U1A9245
This menu set me up with low expectations. It’s basically cold apps and noodle soups. Noodle soups don’t share well and I’m not that into them anyway. There is nothing here. But Yarom never likes to give up on a plan so we went anyway — and were in for a super pleasant surprise.
7U1A9231
They have Chongqing crispy duck — we’ll come back to that later.
7U1A9232
7U1A9233
And an array of “attractive” cold apps. But we love cold apps. Serious, they maybe a touch scary but we love them.
7U1A9243
Smashed garlic cucumbers. Nice and crunchy, but could have used a stronger garlic flavor.
7U1A9237
Cold marinated pig ear and sliced pork or beef parts.
7U1A9238
Savory sweet peanuts with little fish (delicious), pulled spicy pork, and crunchy celery with tofu.
7U1A9250
Chongqing special tofu pudding. Soft homestyle tofu.
7U1A9248
Spicy sauce for the tofu.
7U1A9273
You take a scoop of tofu and add sauce — we also added peanuts. The tofu had a fascinating smokey wood-fire flavor. The chili sauce was salty and had a ton of flavor. Really interesting and great combination.
7U1A9264
Chongqing crispy smoked duck. Very crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Tons of flavor.

I have a feeling this duck is made more or less in this manner. Check out this video — and the cook’s adorable dog!

7U1A9268
Noodles with beans and pork and egg and veggies.
7U1A9275
You mix it all up with the sauce and it was quite delicious.
7U1A9279
Chicken cold dry noodles.
7U1A9284
These had a thinner noodle. You mix it all up and it had a great texture and a wonderful slightly tangy texture.

Overall, we were blown away considering the expectations from the limited menu. Just a terrible menu that looks like all of one thing. But this was some delicious stuff and really different. Hadn’t had this exact sort of duck before and everything we tried was pretty delicious. Plus that tofu pudding was totally unique and I could just imagine eating it in some dirt floor ancient Chinese farm hut! That dish has to be like 1,000 years old!

This place was like teleporting to China. Super interesting and a whole lot of fun. Very nice people too with great hospitality.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Malubianbian Spicy Stick Pot
  2. Spicy City!
  3. Thai Tour – Spicy BBQ
  4. Mandarin Plaza Crawl
  5. Chong Qing Special Noodles
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chongqing, duck, Mandarin Plaza, Rowland Heights, SGV, Sichuan, spicy, Spicy Moment, Szechuan cuisine, Tofu, Wine

Malubianbian Spicy Stick Pot

Apr08

Restaurant: MaLu Bian Bian Hot Pot

Location: 18194 Colima Rd Ste A, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 820-9206

Date: February 23, 2020

Cuisine: Chengdu Szechuan Chinese Hot Pot

Rating: 12/10 for experience

_

I’ve been on a bit of a Szechuan style hot pot kick for the last year. For those of you know don’t know, “hot pot” is the classic Chinese homestyle food which is super popular as a restaurant type in recent years. The most “classic” form is “Mongolian” like Hot Pot Hot Pot or Little Sheep. Then there are hybrid more modern joints like Hai Di Lao. And even the cheap student pre-prepped version like Boiling Point or Flaming Pot. But my favorite is the ultra spicy Chengdu or Chongqing style. I’ve had this in Chengdu and last year several opened in the SGV including Chun La Hao and Shancheng Lameizi.7U1A8678

So bringing us to tonight, Malubianbian represents a new style of skewer oriented Chengdu street hot pot. This is one crazy experience so I’ll detail it.
7U1A8668-Pano
This is in the “Yes Plaza” in Rowland Heights. It’s like teleporting to China because everyone here is Chinese and at the restaurant everyone is about 23.
7U1A8667
If you can see, there are about 20-30 people waiting outside.

7U1A8681-Pano
Inside it’s sort of industrial new Chinese style. Small tables. Uncomfortable chairs. Ineffective hoods. As part of the “experience” a few minutes after we entered I started to cough uncontrollably. Something was just making my throat and eyes itch. I thought something was wrong with me until I noticed everyone else doing it. The server came by to apologize as the chef had just fried up a new batch of chili oil. Lol. I should have known. The place already smelled like chilis, so you couldn’t really smell it, but when you make Szechuan style chili oil (which I do myself) you have to dump 350deg oil over chilies and it releases a ton of pepper compounds into the air which are very “irritating.”
7U1A8765-Pano
In any case, we didn’t have to wait too long (only 20 minutes) as we had a “reservation” for the “private room” which was this super cute painted closet with a two burner little table. Supposedly it sat up to 12 — but really 8 max. I mean max.
7U1A8692-Pano
Very cute though.

7U1A8764
Wine was a whole saga too. Only Jefferey brought some, but no one, including the restaurant had a corkscrew. He wandered the mall but no restaurant was willing to help him open his bottle (and walk out with it). Eventually we managed.
7U1A8683
7U1A8684-Pano
Like many new hot pot places Malu has a “sauce bar.” This isn’t as extensive as at  Chun La Hao or Shancheng Lameizi but was sufficient. It was, however, pretty messy.
7U1A8731
This was one of the main sauces I made. They didn’t have the sesame paste or all the fermented stuff I really love at Shancheng Lameizi.
7U1A8686
They do have these traditional dry “powdered” sauces. You grab one and then add some broth from your pot to make up a sauce. It congealed very easily and didn’t really work for me, but the sauce bar version was decent.
7U1A8688
We got all the broths. On top here is the lame tomato broth and below is the series traditional super-spicy ox fat (those big rectangles that haven’t melted yet) and blend of peppers and 18 spices.
7U1A8699
Below is the other lame broth, the “mild” mushroom broth. Above that is the “classic” spicy Szechuan broth that doesn’t use the heavy ox fat.

I exclusively used the fully leaded traditional gut cleansing medicinal purgative spicy ox fat broth — as should anyone who isn’t a wuss.

o
But what, you say, does one do with these punishing broths? You cook stuff in them. But the format at Malu is interesting. Out in the dining room are about 10 refrigerators filled with skewers and boxes of food. You just wander over and grab the stuff (which seems a touch “unsanitary” but never mind). The staff count your skewers and containers at the end to calculate your bill.

Malu’s particularly unique bit is the whole skewer thing. These cost about $0.35 each and you just shove them in your pot and easily withdraw them. But for some reason I found this a bit awkward and preferred the plates of stuff.

7U1A8701-Pano
7U1A8703
7U1A8704
7U1A8705-Pano
7U1A8709-Pano
7U1A8711-Pano
7U1A8713
7U1A8714
7U1A8715
7U1A8717
7U1A8718
7U1A8719
There are a lot of skewer types including nearly all the vegetables, tons of marinated meats, the usual meat/fish etc balls and whatnot. Each bit on a skewer is pretty tiny. Often even half a meatball or the like.

7U1A8716
7U1A8720
They also have a bunch of plates with more meats and various other “exotic” stuff like duck blood or duck intestine (anyone want a whole bowl of raw duck intestine?  we did!). I mostly ate off these because I found it easier.
7U1A8747
Fried pork. This is a menu order item. It was just okay.
7U1A8721
Spicy beef stomach. This was quite delicious — and chewy.
7U1A8728
Special house spicy beef. This was amazing. Tons of flavor (and heat).
7U1A8733
Spicy glass noodle. Really mung bean jelly. It was actually warm, which is unusual for this type of typical Szechuan street food.
7U1A8736
Crab sticks. Imitation crab. Tasty, but they come apart in the pot.
7U1A8739
Luncheon meat. This is always one of my hotpot favorites. Pure pork and fatty goodness. We went through at least 3 orders of this!
7U1A8740
Beef. A Staple.
7U1A8741
Lamb.
7U1A8742
Weird spongy shrimp rolls. I don’t know what to call these, but they actually cooked up as delicious things.
7U1A8745
Shrimp balls with actual shrimp and row. These also cooked up great.
7U1A8751
Skinned frog. This was just too sad.
7U1A8753
Noodles, lotus root, and strange veggie cake.
7U1A8756
Pig ear on a stick.

Plus tons of things I forgot to photo.
7U1A8762
Odd rice jelly. This was like water jelly. It had a jello texture and was totally clear and absolutely zero flavor. The brown stuff was some kind of syrup and very mildly sweet. You could barely taste it. I suppose it was meant to cool the palette after the inferno.
o (1)
Fried rice cakes. Another typical Szechuan dessert.

Overall, this was a great experience and TONS OF FUN. The broth is awesome. The format is weird, but fun and flexible because you can get your own stuff. The problem is that the ingredient quality isn’t quite as good as at Hai Di Lao,  Chun La Hao and Shancheng Lameizi. Also the sauce bar is only adequate.

Service was fabulous though. Usually hot pot service isn’t the greatest, but it was here. They kept checking on us and the owner came over and was super nice, the manager was super nice. Really friendly and helpful.

It’s very inexpensive too. A skewer is only $0.35!

So I highly recommend if you are adventurous and into new things. Mind your bottom.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Related posts:

  1. Spicy City!
  2. Stick It – Feng Mao
  3. Thai Tour – Spicy BBQ
  4. KTown Spicy Challenge
  5. Spicy Noodle is Not
By: agavin
Comments (0)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chengdu, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, hot pot, Rowland Heights, SGV, Sichuan, spicy, Szechuan cuisine

Mandarin Plaza Crawl

Sep18

Earlier in the year, Yarom and I hatched and plotted this particular all afternoon mega crawl at the Rowland Heights Mandarin Plaza — partially at least while sucking down some serious hot pot in said plaza. This place is far from LA proper, way out 40+ miles to the east but is in the heart of the “new Chinatown”.

7U1A5148

Restaurant: Leung Kee

Location: 18908 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese BBQ

Rating: check: roast pig before noon

_

We start at 11am, “meating” (haha) up at the former Sam Woo BBQ, now Leung Kee Chinese BBQ.
7U1A4942
It’s right smack in the middle of this huge mall that contains tons of Asian restaurants, including Chinese, Korean, Thai and more.
7U1A4990
They do a lot of takeout biz, pigs and ducks and the like.
7U1A4943
The space is typical old school SGV.
7U1A4944
Boba must be a new thing.
7U1A4945
7U1A4946
7U1A4947
7U1A4948
7U1A4949
7U1A4950
7U1A4951
7U1A4952

The menu.
7U1A4965
Tea comes in a mug!
7U1A4953
And there is free eggdrop soup — which was pretty darn good.
7U1A4960
Macau style roast pork. Must have just been reheated as it landed on our table in 2 seconds, but pretty tasty.
7U1A4969
Crispy beef. Very fried, but very delicious.
7U1A4973
Peking Duck. It wasn’t the best peking duck, maybe a bit soggy, but peking duck is always pretty good.
7U1A4982
Buns instead of pancakes.
7U1A4985
And sketchy extra duck meat — that was actually pretty good.

Overall, just fair. Pretty much what you’d expect. But I like pretty much all (real) Chinese food at a good bit.

_
_

Restaurant: Mandarin Bay Seafood

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 839-7738

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: check: Just ok

_

Next up, we leave the actual mall and cross the street on foot to:
7U1A4991
Meet up with more people at noon at:
7U1A4992
Cantonese Mandarin Bay Seafood Restaurant.
7U1A5019-Pano
The gang (minus yours truly).
7U1A4996
The takeout menu.
7U1A4994

It’s noon, by 1 minute or so, so time for wine.

From my cellar, a touch too dry — bone dry rose sparkling from France.
7U1A4997
Nice.
7U1A4998

Second free soup of the day, hot and sour — this was not good hot and sour. I saved the stomach space.
7U1A5007
Marinated Jellyfish. Vinegary and chewy good.
7U1A5000
Salt and Pepper Shrimp. Salty, crunchy, very tasty.
7U1A5012
Salt and pepper squid — somehow we ended up with the same prep twice. These were good too.
7U1A5017
Ginger and Green Onion frog. Kinda fried, but the sauce was great.

Overall, Mandarin was fine too, but nothing super exciting.

_
_

Restaurant: Spicy Moment

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-4966

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: check: Surprisingly good, big menu

_

Next up we walked 2 doors down.
7U1A5028
To a new style Szechuan place.
7U1A5088
This is what I mean by new style. They still have the ugly drop ceiling, but they have made a tiny effort at decorating.

7U1A5029
7U1A5030
7U1A5031
7U1A5032
7U1A5033
7U1A5034
7U1A5035
7U1A5036
7U1A5037
7U1A5038
7U1A5039
7U1A5040
7U1A5041
7U1A5042
7U1A5043
7U1A5044
7U1A5045
The menu is gargantuan.7U1A5046
This is a great wine on any day, and particularly great on a hot day with Chinese.
7U1A5047
Recycled from the Vietnamese crawl.
7U1A5058
Grilled pork jowl with Yunnan sauce. Delicious.
7U1A5063
Fish in pickle pepper soup. This wasn’t spicy, but it was amazing. Really, really delicious. Soft tender fish and very distinct and lovely sour flavor.
7U1A5067
Dry pot pork rib and shrimp. Also filled with potatoes to sop up the sauce. I generally like dry pot and this was particularly delicious. Lots and lots of flavor.
7U1A5075
Black pepper lamb shoulder. Not spicy, but very tasty with a strong onion flavor.
7U1A5080
Eggplant with garlic sauce. Fine rendition.

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by Spicy Moment and would totally go back for a full meal. Plus they let us drink our wine on the down low. Menu is huge and execution was good — and interesting. It should be noted, that as of Feb/March 2020 Spicy Moment “rebooted” into a totally different, more homestyle Szechuan place with the same name. I have, of course, already eaten there.

_
_

Restaurant: Hunan Restaurant

Location: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 964-8458

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Hunan Chinese

Rating: check: Solid

_

Then we popped back to this spot:
7U1A5027
Located in between the Mandarin Bay and Spicy Moment.
7U1A5107-Pano
Hunan is more old school than Spicy Moment, but it also has a vast menu:
7U1A5089
7U1A5090
7U1A5091
7U1A5092
7U1A5093
7U1A5094
7U1A5095
7U1A5096
7U1A5097
7U1A5099
7U1A5100
7U1A5101
7U1A5102
7U1A5103
7U1A5104
7U1A5105
Vast menu.
7U1A5048
More sweet wine.
7U1A5106
And a rhone blend.
7U1A5130
Peanuts.
7U1A5115
Shredded minced pork with corn and pickled vegetable. Super tasty — pork really helps a veggie. Sure to make things really move along later.
7U1A5121
Sautéed lamb. Tasty.
7U1A5125
Crispy pork ribs with garlic and chilies. Lots of flavor, not so much meat.
7U1A5135
Fish filet with fire cracker salt. Very delicious boiled fish with garlic and chilies.
7U1A5147
Spicy pickled cucumbers. Also delicious. Generally a fan fave.

Overall, Hunan was also very good. Sort of a blend of (more old school) Szechuan AND Hunan, but who cares. It was excellent. While the pictures above cover what we ate during the crawl, I’ve also been to this place my specifically, and a more detailed write up can be found here.

_
_

Restaurant: Happy Tree House BBQ

Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Chinese Skewers

Rating: check: hmmm

_

When I was spotting during the hot pot night, this place seemed intriguing.
7U1A5150
Happy Tree BBQ. It’s a new style skewered meats place.
7U1A5156-Pano
Very snazzy new interior.
7U1A5155
Real coals.
7U1A5177
And this warmer thing on the table where they put your skewers.

7U1A5178
Powders.
7U1A5174
Seaweed salad. Tastes like it looks.

7U1A5179
Spicy octopus salad. Ok, but the sauce tasted a lot like Sriracha.
7U1A5185
Beef skewers. Not bad.
7U1A5187
Shrimp skewers. You eat shell and all.
7U1A5193
Hot dogs. Well they didn’t call them that, but they basically are.
7U1A5194
Chicken skin skewers. Crispy!
7U1A5198
Lamb skewers. Pretty good too.
7U1A5201
Chicken wing skewers. Just so so.

Overall, we were kinda disappointed in Happy Tree. Chinese skewers aren’t nearly as good as good Yakatori. They’re fine, but not super exciting. This place looks good, and is probably packed with young people on dates in the evening, but it just doesn’t feel as “Chinese” somehow. I’m not really sure where in China this kind of food is actually from.

_
_

Restaurant: Silk Road Garden

Location: 18904 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. (626) 581-9886

Date: August 3, 2019

Cuisine: Uyghur Chinese

Rating: check: great

_

So our final place is all the way west.
7U1A5203
And merely across the parking lot next to the first spot.
7U1A5205
It’s Uyghur Chinese like Dolans and has the decor to match. Very cute and intimate.
7U1A5206
7U1A5207
7U1A5208
7U1A5209
7U1A5210
7U1A5211
Being Uyghur doesn’t mean their menu is any smaller! They have skewers here too — I bet they would be better.
7U1A5214
Garlic pickles. Nice crunchy garlicky cucumbers.
7U1A5216
Yellow noodle with cumin lamb. Delicious tender cumin lamb on top of spaghetti-like noodles.
7U1A5223
Meat and Vegetables in Homemade pastry. A giant golden meat pie. Extremely hot on the mouth, but tasty.

7U1A5229
Special homemade noodle with minced beef. A western Chinese bolognese — tons of flavor. Nice thick al dente noodles.
7U1A5236
Manti, meat and onion filled dumplings. These were superb, with really delicate skins. They could have used a dipping sauce though.
7U1A5204
They had a little freezer of ice cream macarons.
7U1A5238
Overall, I was also very pleasantly surprised by Silk Road. First rate execution. Small, intimate, and clearly cooked with precision. The dishes are typical of the region — half way between Shaanxi and Afghan — focused on lamb, and delicious.

In Summary, we only hit 6 of the perhaps 20+ restaurants in Mandarin plaza, and we “only” had 8 people, but we dined like Emperors on a cross China trek! Seriously, so much variety of style. The far SGV (aka Rowland and Hacienda Heights, Dimond Bar, etc) is where a lot of exciting culinary growth is.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

imagejpeg_0
Chevy and Mary may have skipped the first place (the BBQ) but they made up for it by getting shave ice and boba tea!
20190803_162008

Related posts:

  1. Chicken Crawl – Dong Nguyen
  2. Chicken Crawl – Side Chick
  3. Chicken Crawl – Tasty Food
  4. Chicken Crawl – Red Chicken
  5. Broiling Pit is the Pits – Crawl part 3
By: agavin
Comments (3)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, crawl, food crawl, hedonists, Hunan Cuisine, Mandarin Plaza, Rowland Heights, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine, Uyghur Cuisine, Wine
Watch the Trailer or

Buy it Online!

Buy it Online!

96 of 100 tickets!

Find Andy at:

Follow Me on Pinterest

Subscribe by email:

More posts on:



Complete Archives

Categories

  • Contests (7)
  • Fiction (404)
    • Books (113)
    • Movies (77)
    • Television (123)
    • Writing (115)
      • Darkening Dream (62)
      • Untimed (37)
  • Food (1,484)
  • Games (100)
  • History (13)
  • Technology (21)
  • Uncategorized (16)

Recent Posts

  • Mes Ami – C’est Mort
  • Robo Eats – Szechuan Place
  • Providence Chef’s Table 2022
  • OOToro Double
  • Robo Eats – Anarbagh
  • Fred loves N/Naka
  • Major Major Major
  • Far East – Beijing Tasty House
  • Home Sweet Spicy Home
  • Quick Eats – Bafang

Favorite Posts

  • I, Author
  • My Novels
  • The Darkening Dream
  • Sample Chapters
  • Untimed
  • Making Crash Bandicoot
  • My Gaming Career
  • Getting a job designing video games
  • Getting a job programming video games
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • A Game of Thrones
  • 27 Courses of Truffles
  • Ultimate Pizza
  • Eating Italy
  • LA Sushi
  • Foodie Club

Recent Comments

Archives

  • March 2023 (12)
  • February 2023 (11)
  • January 2023 (14)
  • December 2022 (11)
  • November 2022 (13)
  • October 2022 (14)
  • September 2022 (14)
  • August 2022 (12)
  • July 2022 (9)
  • June 2022 (6)
  • May 2022 (8)
  • April 2022 (5)
  • March 2022 (4)
  • February 2022 (2)
  • January 2022 (8)
  • December 2021 (6)
  • November 2021 (6)
  • October 2021 (8)
  • September 2021 (4)
  • August 2021 (5)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (3)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (11)
  • March 2020 (15)
  • February 2020 (13)
  • January 2020 (14)
  • December 2019 (13)
  • November 2019 (12)
  • October 2019 (14)
  • September 2019 (14)
  • August 2019 (13)
  • July 2019 (13)
  • June 2019 (14)
  • May 2019 (13)
  • April 2019 (10)
  • March 2019 (10)
  • February 2019 (11)
  • January 2019 (13)
  • December 2018 (14)
  • November 2018 (11)
  • October 2018 (15)
  • September 2018 (15)
  • August 2018 (15)
  • July 2018 (11)
  • June 2018 (14)
  • May 2018 (13)
  • April 2018 (13)
  • March 2018 (17)
  • February 2018 (12)
  • January 2018 (15)
  • December 2017 (15)
  • November 2017 (13)
  • October 2017 (16)
  • September 2017 (16)
  • August 2017 (16)
  • July 2017 (11)
  • June 2017 (13)
  • May 2017 (6)
  • March 2017 (3)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (7)
  • December 2016 (14)
  • November 2016 (11)
  • October 2016 (11)
  • September 2016 (12)
  • August 2016 (15)
  • July 2016 (13)
  • June 2016 (13)
  • May 2016 (13)
  • April 2016 (12)
  • March 2016 (13)
  • February 2016 (12)
  • January 2016 (13)
  • December 2015 (14)
  • November 2015 (14)
  • October 2015 (13)
  • September 2015 (13)
  • August 2015 (18)
  • July 2015 (16)
  • June 2015 (13)
  • May 2015 (13)
  • April 2015 (14)
  • March 2015 (15)
  • February 2015 (13)
  • January 2015 (13)
  • December 2014 (14)
  • November 2014 (13)
  • October 2014 (13)
  • September 2014 (12)
  • August 2014 (15)
  • July 2014 (13)
  • June 2014 (13)
  • May 2014 (14)
  • April 2014 (14)
  • March 2014 (10)
  • February 2014 (11)
  • January 2014 (13)
  • December 2013 (14)
  • November 2013 (13)
  • October 2013 (14)
  • September 2013 (12)
  • August 2013 (14)
  • July 2013 (10)
  • June 2013 (14)
  • May 2013 (14)
  • April 2013 (14)
  • March 2013 (15)
  • February 2013 (14)
  • January 2013 (13)
  • December 2012 (14)
  • November 2012 (16)
  • October 2012 (13)
  • September 2012 (14)
  • August 2012 (16)
  • July 2012 (12)
  • June 2012 (16)
  • May 2012 (21)
  • April 2012 (18)
  • March 2012 (20)
  • February 2012 (23)
  • January 2012 (31)
  • December 2011 (35)
  • November 2011 (33)
  • October 2011 (32)
  • September 2011 (29)
  • August 2011 (35)
  • July 2011 (33)
  • June 2011 (25)
  • May 2011 (31)
  • April 2011 (30)
  • March 2011 (34)
  • February 2011 (31)
  • January 2011 (33)
  • December 2010 (33)
  • November 2010 (39)
  • October 2010 (26)
All Things Andy Gavin
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
Programmed by Andy Gavin