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Hedonists go to Beijing

Apr22

Location: 250 W Valley Blvd. Ste B2. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 570-8598

Date: April 20 & Sept 7, 2014 & May 30, 2015 & March 3, 2019

Cuisine: Beijing Style Chinese

Rating: Really tasty

Ah, the riches of the SGV (San Gabriel Valley), so many delicious Chinese regional cuisines to chose from. Tonight’s entry is Beijing Restaurant, in the very same minimall as Shanghai #1.

Boiled peanuts are a traditional opener all across China.

From my cellar: 1994 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Auslese. 92 points. Tons of petrol, still sweet, but not too sweet. A great wine with this food.

Cold cabbage salad (3/3/19). Like Chinese coleslaw, quite delicious actually and very refreshing.

Cold cucumber salad (3/3/19). Not quite as good as the cabbage salad, but very good, with a cucumber cilantro taste.

Cold garlic pork (3/3/19). Slices of roast pork and a garlic sauce.

Shredded potato. Cold. The “mild” version of this dish. Like vinegar potato sticks.

Squirrel fish (3/3/19). Fried whole fish with tangy sweet and sour sauce. Nice.

Fried sweet garlic fish. I used to get this dish as a kid at a restaurant called Szechuan in DC. I don’t think it’s actually a Schezuan dish, but it Beijing’s version was delicious. Like fish and chips in goopy sweet sauce. Doesn’t sound so great, but it is.

Lobster (3/3/19). Lobster with garlic in a light breading. Tasty.

2005 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. 92 points. This was beautiful and in a great spot. An expressive nose that struck a fine balance between expressive floral notes, vibrant fruit, and chalk. On the palate the wine exploded in the mid-palate with a melange of stone & tropical fruits with a long mineral driven finish. Outstanding, my favorite Riesling of the night.

Meat pancakes. Sort of like a scallion pancake (and there are scallions inside).

But also one of those delicious Chinese meat patties (pork or beef?). Oily and scrumptious.

Leek pie. The vegetarian variant.

1990 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Vieilles Vignes. 90 points. Medium yellow in color this seems to be an off bottle. Very earthy on the nose, maybe too much so. Very dry. Not a terrible wine but not what this wine should be.

Peking duck (3/3/19). The meat carved in that style with a bit of skin on each piece. Pancakes and the usual scallions, cucumber, and hoisin. A very solid duck. Not as good as in Beijing, but very good.

Duck meat in soy sauce (3/3/19). Also with the duck came this Shanghai-esque dish with various duck meat in a sweet soy sauce. Lots of gamey duck taste. Delicious.

Eggs and pork. This has to be a homestyle dish. Scrambled eggs, pork, in a sweet and sour sauce. In fact, it tasted like great hot and soul soup. Really, really fabulous. Not fancy, just fabulous.

Eggs and tomato. Again, the vegetarian variant.

2012 Loosen Bros. Riesling. 84 points. Too sweet for me. Nose is full of flowery notes and little bit of honey. Short finish.

Cumin lamb. A fine version of this typical Western Chinese dish.

2012 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spätlese. IWC 94. Seductive aromas of mango, banana, sweet herbs and honey. Rich, spicy tropical fruit flavors show a vague hint of botrytis and creamy depth. Certainly a touch on the sweet side, but nicely balanced and intriguingly long, this is one of the best spatleses of the vintage.

Lamb blintzes. I don’t know what else to call them. Inside the panfried crepe was a lamb version of that ground meat yummy stuff.

Meat pies. A different shaped take on the same basic ingredients, in this case pork and leeks, like in a potsticker. This has a higher meat to dough ratio and the thick skin holds in the yummy juices, so is one of the best.

Dry hot pot. This wasn’t actually ours, they just put it on our table by accident for a second.

Dry hot pot (3/3/19). You can pick what goes in here. I added bean curd, luncheon meat, wood ear mushroom, lotus root, etc. It had a great flavor and nice crisp textures.

2012 A.J. Adam Hofberg Riesling Kabinett. IWC 89. Fresh bouquet of pear, apple blossom and lemon zest. Delicately sweet on the palate, with a nice interplay of apricot and luscious citricity. Lip-smacking elegance on an appealing finish. A textbook kabinett.

Schezuan chicken. A drier peanut free kung pao. Might sometimes be called twice cooked. This had a LOT of taste, and both red Schezuan peppers (heaven facing?) and Schezuan peppercorns — for that tongue numbing effect.

Kung Pao Chicken. A more straight up version with softer meat chunks and the peanuts.

Cumin Lamb. With cilantro and onion. Really tasty dish.

Meat balls and cabbage (3/3/19). Not sure I’ve had this exact variant before. Meatballs were slightly sweet. I enjoyed it, as I usually like Chinese cabbage dishes and this was even better with the meat balls.

Soy sauce fried rice. Very tasty, with shrimp, egg, and bits of a spam like stuff in there.

Pork dumplings. These aren’t the lightest or most elegant dumpling I’ve ever had, but with a little vinegar they were pretty delicious.

Crystal shrimp. This hot pot contained all sorts of Schezuan pepper goodness, cabbage, and…

These flavorful little shrimp. The sauce was awesome over rice too.

2006 Clarendon Hills Grenache Old Vines Romas. IWC 94. Vivid ruby. Exotic Asian spices and smoky minerals accent fresh raspberry and boysenberry on the nose; shows more perfumed anise, patchouli and vanilla notes with aeration. Sweet black raspberry and cherry-vanilla flavors are sharpened by tangy minerals but betray no rough edges. This really stains the palate, leaving deep dark berry liqueur and candied floral notes behind, eventually. This is irresistible now.

Lamb burger. Roast lamb on a weird Western Chinese bread. The meat was tasty, the bread kinda heavy.

Shrimp and Spam. The same shrimp, and the yummy spam-like stuff in a dry hot pot.

Spareribs. Tasty hot cumin laced fried pork ribs.

Pork Noodles. The noodles were a little heavy and pan fried, but it was certainly tasty. Green beans, garlic, and pork round it out.

Cabbage and egg? Another homestyle dish of cabbage, egg, pork, mushrooms, and maybe even some spam. Really tasty tough.

Toothpick lamb. Another lamb dish, very similar to the skewers.

Cabbage. I have to say, this was probably the best cabbage dish I’ve ever had. How can a vegetable this humble be so tasty? Maybe it was the porky soy sauce.

Broccoli with garlic. Pretty straight up.

Eggplant in garlic sauce (3/3/19). A nice version of this dish. Not the spicy kind, which I prefer slightly, but still good.

String beans (3/3/19). Always like this dish. Solid version, some crunch on the beans.

Ma Po Tofu. Always one of my favorite dishes. This version had that numbing delicious schezuan flavor. It wasn’t super hot though.

Xia Xia Noodles. You mix all the stuff together and…

This savory concoction emerges. The sauce is a sort of sweet and tangy meat sauce.

Roast Mutton. Delicious fatty cuts of BBQ lamb (mutton being older sheep) with a spicy powder. Quite rich and flavorful.

Crispy beef. The pure form of this classic beef and celery dish.

Crispy potatoes. Like chinese potato sticks! Nice and very crispy.

Vermicelli. This was a nice savory dish with bits of pork and a silken texture to the noodles.

Some gelato by me on 3/3/19:

Noce e Heath Gelato – trying out my new Northern Italian Walnut I decided it needed something else, and something sweet, so Heath bar seemed to fit the bill — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #walnut #noce #HeathBar #heath #toffee

Danish Lakrids Licorice Gelato – I haven’t made this in 2 years and wanted to update the recipe. Polarizing, but surprisingly addictive — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #lakrids licorice #LoveItOrHateIt

Apricot Aperol Sorbetto – This is an old RnR favorite but I haven’t made it a while. Apricots from Avignon — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #sorbetto #apricot #aperol

Overall, I was very impressed with Beijing Restaurant. My first two feasts here ran $27 and $24 each with tax and a huge tip. The third was $38, but we ordered 12 dishes for 4 people! It wasn’t fancy, but nearly every dish was incredibly tasty. Really good fun. The cuisine has a western feel, lots of Schezuan elements and dishes. I love that stuff. It’s also breadier, or doughier than many other areas of China.

For more LA Chinese reviews click here,

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing Resteraunt, BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, hedonists, San Gabriel, San Gabriel California

Tasty Duck Will Bring You Luck

Sep30

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: September 28, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

My Hedonist food and wine club loves the SGV. This community 20 minutes East of Downtown LA boasts a staggering array of good Chinese restaurants and Tasty Duck is one of our regular spots. Even though its intensely crowded, we shoe horned 23 people in on a busy Saturday night. Of course this meant 11-12 people at tables meant for 8-10, but what’s a little elbow in your pancake among friends?

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. Burghound 93. A stunningly elegant nose of pure floral, Granny Smith apples, spice and freshly sliced lemon complements to perfection the intense and equally pure flavors that possess excellent punch like remain delicate and ultra-refined on the balanced and persistent finish. The supporting mousse displays a very find bead and the overall impression is one of subtlety and grace. Not only is this a wonderful effort but the value it offers it beyond stunning.

Cold appetizers: Jellyfish (top left), wine chicken (top), and beef (bottom). This kind of plate is very traditional in China. The beef was my favorite, marinated, a bit salty, and smoky.

Some white Bordeaux that was beyond gone. Too bad!

The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged. We had two plates of these per table and it was a feeding frenzy!

Here are the traditional accompaniments. Excellent pancakes, hoison sauce, and scallions and apple/pear. One mystery question I must ask: why do Chinese restaurants insist on putting far too few pancakes and too little hoison sauce on the table? We had to ask for refills about four times (which they happily brought).

2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit. 90 points. Very nice blueberry/strawberry nose. not hot on the nose. really nice full palate and mouthfeel with a nice mix of red and blue fruits, and integrated earthiness. did not noticably detect any heat or wood on this. certainly a bigger and different type of rose, but this bottle was nicely restrained and seemed in good balance tonight.

The best American rose I’ve yet had. Rather wonderful.

Cumin lamb. A typical specimen, but with tender flavorful lamb. Some places border on mouton.

2010 Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 92. While there is a trace of exotic fruit to the otherwise very pure aromas of white flower, citrus, wet stone and seaweed, this offers ample Chablis character. There is an attractive succulence to the fleshy middle weight flavors that exude a fine minerality on the clean, dry, linear and overtly saline-infused finish. Like the straight Chablis, this too evidences a hint of bitterness though it should pass in time.

French style Beef. Extremely tender and delicious, almost sweet, morsels of filet.

1971 Weingut Paul Ayl Ayler Kupp Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. Unfortunately a bit over the hill.

Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings. Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth.

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. Parker 99! These wines are made in frightfully tiny quantities, and are so rich that they make Chateau d’Yquem look like an under-nourished wine. Truly the stuff of legends, these possess 15%-18% residual sugar. All three will age for 40-50 years, but will anyone wait that long? They are “off the charts” in terms of flavor extraction, balance, quality, and the lavish quantity of extract and intensity they possess.

Wine of the night for sure!

Look who’s coming to dinner!

Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, similar to a couple weeks ago at the Shanghai place.

Bok chow and I think mushrooms, hard to tell. Mild but very pleasant.

1990 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux. Burghound 90. Still deeply colored. An expressive, dense, indeed huge nose of roasted, ever-so-slightly stewed fruit that is already showing a great deal of secondary and even tertiary development while the muscular, rich, extracted and solidly complex flavors are underpinned by a tough, firm and very prominent tannic backbone. This is a dramatic bruiser of a wine but it’s not clear that it’s ever going to harmonize as the finish is completely dominated by the structure and given that the fruit is presently much more advanced than the evolution of the tannins, it’s a tough call to say whether the fruit will be able to stand the test of time and this most recent bottle gave no cause for optimism in this regard, indeed it seemed to confirm that this is probably a lost cause. Optimists will continue to hold the ’90 Epeneaux in the cellar as it will certainly be around 30 years from now though whether it will be any more balanced than it is now is the essential question.

Some kind of crazy pork cut. Some serious fat here and the skin was a bit mushy, but the meat fell off the bone and was incredibly tender and delicious.

1970 Bodegas El Coto Rioja Coto de Imaz. Surprisingly good for such an old non-riserva Rioja.

The proverbial, “duck soup” that is the last part of “duck three ways.” Mild and pleasant with some tofu and cabbage. I can also vouch that it was served hot, as a ladleful was poured across my hand and I had to soak my thumb in ice water all night.

Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple!

Part of “duck three ways”: sprouts with bits of duck meat.

Yarom chomps on the pig bone.

Scallion pancakes.

A very nice mixed fried rice.

Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho.

Sweet egg drop soup.

Eye ball surprise anyone? Actually a very unusual dish. Like egg drop soup but sweet with these big tapioca balls. Pleasant, although continuing the general trend in which Chinese desserts bat about 50.

Overall, another fantastic meal. The total damage, including tax and a whopping 30% tip was $35 a person! “Inflated” because of our multiple ducks. The service was great (for Chinese). They were very friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over a long period . This is actually fairly unusual as a lot of Chinese restaurants like to slam you out in 45 minutes by dropping everything on the table at once. The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. The other dishes were good too, with almost all of them being very well executed and not greasy.

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