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Chicken Crawl – Side Chick

Dec06

Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 688-3879

Date: November 04, 2017

Cuisine: Hainan Chicken

Rating: Very succulent

Occasionally those of us Hedonists who are really serious about our Chinese food do a food crawl of some sort. Today’s was 5 stops, all for Hainan Chicken Rice. This is a traditional dish of Hainan Provence in southern China and is one of the national dishes of Singapore. Poached at low temp with garlic and ginger. The broth is supposed to be used to cook the rice. It is served with a variety of sauces.

This is part 1. The full set is: [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5]

I’ve been to the Santa Anita Westfield mall (on Baldwin) a couple times for Hai Di Lao, but didn’t notice the little food court area. This mall is incredibly Asian oriented (haha).

Googling Side Chick’s name taught me a new slang word, Side Chick, meaning the girlfriend on the side. Lol. But it’s also this kiosk restaurant.

They pretty much only have Hainan Chicken.

As you can see on the short menu.

Hainan Chicken. Side Chick uses mostly (all?) breast meat. The meat was the most tender, moist, and chickeny of all the places we went. I liked the rice too. There was soy sauce, spicy sauce, ginger sauce, and…

Chicken jus. Which made it even more moist. A whole lotta chicken flavor.

Boba tea from next door.

Side Chick is a one trick pony, and it’s in the mall which means the parking is spectacularly annoying. That being said, if you want a mild, moist, but very flavorful Hainan Chicken, it’s a good spot. Probably actually my favorite of the Hainan Chickens per se.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (6)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, food crawl, Hainan Chicken, hedonists, SGV, Side Chick

Shaanxi Garden

Nov06

Restaurant: Shaanxi Garden

Location: 529 E Valley Blvd #178a, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 787-5555

Date: October 1, 2017 & January 12, 2018 & February 19, 2019

Cuisine: Shaanxi Chinese

Rating: Really good (and interesting) stuff

I love heading off to “unusual” (i.e. not Cantonese) Chinese food. We’ve been to Western Chinese before but it’s not the most typical in that it specializes in knife cut noodles and the like from the region near the old Tang capital of Xian.

The mini-mall frontage.

Shaanxi is in the mini-mall next to the Anhui place we ate at recently (which is how we found it). The interior is very typical. Sadly the Anhui place is closed now.

Some of the gang.

Seaweed salad (2/19/19). Rather excellent actually, with a nice tangy quality.

Cabbage. I enjoy this lightly stir fried cabbage and this version was no exception.

Cabbage with dried shrimp (1/12/18 and 2/19/19). A slightly funkier version — also great.

Wontons in chili oil (1/12/18 and 2/19/19). A nice version of this dish. Lots of flavor. Really excellent.

Bean curd with chili oil (10/17 and 2//19/19). Nice dish actually and interesting thin tofu texture.

Pork bun (first visit and 2/19/19). Sweet BBQ pork in a bread bun.

Tangy pork bun (1/12/18 and 2/19/19). With a more vinegar based sauce.

Beef and tendon and tripe with chili oil (10/17 and 2/19/19). Really tasty pastrami-like beef with garlic and lots of very hot mala chili. I ate a ton of this.

Chicken noodle big plate (10/17). Giant bowl of chicken in brown sauce with potatoes and knife cut noodles.

Check out those noodles!

Potatoes (10/17). This dish has a slight vinegary note and a little bit of heat. With a bit of extra sauce it has a great texture and is delicious.

Pork with chilies and noodles (10/17).

This was very similar to some Vietnamese dishes, particularly the signature Hoi An dish Cao Lou.

Fish filets in chili sauce (first visit and 2/19/19). A solid rendition of this Szechuan classic. No numb taste and very oily though.

This oil was so hot that touching it gave me a second degree burn!

Lamb dumplings in sweet and sour soup (10/17 and 2/19/19). Very unusual, sourish broth, rich lamb dumplings.

Eggplant (10/17 and 2/19/19). A bit like the Szechuan version of this dish. Tasty and not as hot though.

Fried chicken with chilies (10/17). Very eggy batter. Good though.

Pork belly coated in rice flour (2/19/19). Another classic Szechuan dish. Good too, but a slimy texture that put off some people (I, being adopted Chinese, like it).

Sebastian keeps thinking that hole-in-the-wall Chinese places adhere to typical American resteraunt memes. So he thought he was ordering Yellowtail. But alas:

Yellow Croaker (2/19/19). Delicious whole little fish in tangy sauce with all the bones, eyes, jaws etc!

Szechuan style clams (2/19/19). This is a typical Szechuan dish and was actually quite good here with lots of flavor and easily accessible clam meat. It wasn’t as spicy as the OG version, but it was excellent.

Beef with ripped bread (10/17). A kind of noodle / bread ripped into little pieces and mixed with a spicy meat sauce. I guess like a Western “ragu.” Really loved it. Very filling though.

Garlic (pickled).

Lamb with ripped bread (1/12/18). The even more classic version — delicious — with pickled garlic.

The lamb with ripped bread on a different day (2/19/19). Maybe even a slightly different dish.

Spicy beef with chilies and onions (10/17). Green pepper fun.

Beef with bamboo shoots (1/12/18 and 2/19/19). Excellent!

Beef noodles (10/17). Another fun noodle dish.

Lamb noodles (2/19/19). Because you really have to love knife cut noodles.

Epic noodle pull! It must be one giant noodle.

Cumin lamb skewers (10/17 and 2/19/19). Pretty much the usual.

I brought gelato (10/17) from home. Three flavors: Zabaione, cappuccino caramel, and lime basil.

The 2/19/19 gelato:

Strawberry Basil Hendrick’s Sorbetto – Strawberry and Hendrick’s Gin Sorbetto laced with Fresh Basil. Strawberries from Avignon — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #sorbetto #strawberry #basil #Hendricks #Gin #cocktail

Butterscotch Butterscotch Caramel Popcorn Gelato – I made my rediculously decadant homemade butterscotch, crafted a gelato from it, layered it in, and added caramel popcornjust because I could! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #butterscotch #vanilla #popcorn #CaramelCorn #sauce #sweet!

Salty Peanut Fudge Reese’s Gelato -Salty Chunky Peanut Base with homemade Valrhona Chocolate Fudge Ribbon and mini Reese’s Peanutbutter Cups! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #peanut #salty #reeses #peanutbuttercup #fudge #Valrhona

Overall, another great SGV find. Some really yummy and different western Chinese!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Wines from the 10/1/17 evening:

2/19/19 wines:

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chinese cuisine, Gelato, hedonists, SGV, Shaanxi Garden

SGV Nights – Seafood Palace

Oct27

Restaurant: Seafood Palace

Location: 684 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 289-0088

Date: September 24, 2017, July 14, 2019, and October 24, 2021

Cuisine: Chaozhou Chinese

Rating: One of LA’s best (and most authentic) Chaozhou places

My Hedonist group has been coming here for years, same location, same food, different name – formerly Seafood Village.

It’s actually in the mini-mall with Sham Tsem and the “hooker motel secret room” (see the post I linked in this sentence). Mysteriously, even thought he “construction” period transforming Seafood Village into Seafood Palace was like a year there is no apparent update. It’s still the same over-lit drop ceiling “palace” as before.

Pickled onions and boiled peanuts on the table.

Jellyfish (7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Nice crunchy texture.

Sliced cold pig’s feet (7/14/19). A bit gelatinous, but surprisingly delicious. Better sliced like this than whole!

Special order turtle soup. Since we had turtle soup at World Seafood Yarom has been determined to try it again.

The broth is delicate and savory, with an almost tea-like taste.

And all the crud that made the broth is as follows: bits of turtle, turtle fat, chicken feet, ginger, organs, god only knows. We actually picked at this repulsive looking plate and the meat was quite tasty.

We also selected two large lobsters.

Chaozhou style duck (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Sort of like the duck version of Hainan chicken.

A vinegar sweet sauce for the duck.

Roast pigeon (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Tasty little fellows.

Causeway style shrimp (7/14/19). Whole prawns crusted in garlic. Super delicious and so well cooked they could be munched whole.

This is what most people come here for, the house special Chiu Chow Style Crab (Dungeness) – (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). This is basically battered crab, fried with chilies and lots of garlic. I’ve also heard this called “Causeway Style.” Good stuff with lots of flavor. You end up sucking out the meat or just chewing on through.

House special garlic lobster. Not causeway style, but very tasty.

Roast pork (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Cured like a pastrami and very flavorful — also quite fatty as you would expect.

Scallion omelet (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Eggs and green onions.

Special fried fish (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). Lots of garlic flavor. Simple, but extremely tasty.

Mutton curry. Very strong flavored (but delicious) meat in a nice mild curry sauce.

Bean curd with duck in Chui Chow brown sauce (10/24/21).

Oxtail and lilly bulb with brown sauce (10/24/21). Star anise and black cardamon.

Lettuce Cup Chicken (7/14/19). Yeah, PF Chang’s didn’t invent it wholesale!

The lettuce cups and hoisin sauce.

Frog with chives (10/24/21). Delicious.

Chilies with ground pork (2017 and 7/14/19 and 10/24/21). I’ve never seen Jalepenos per se in China, but they do have lots of peppers. Regardless, this was a fabulous dish as the pork was cooked in a great black bean sauce and the combination of the mild heat and the slightly sweet meat was wonderful.

Special Chiu Chow Style “lettuce” (2017 and 7/14/19). Evidently a classic. It head a bit of a porky taste so there must have been something in there with the veggies. Not bad.

Rice porridge soup (7/14/19). A sort of congee-like concoction.

Special glass noodles with meat (earlier and 10/24/21).

Salty garlic fried rice. Excellent fried rice with a salty fishy taste.

White guy shrimp (aka walnut shrimp). Very heavy mayo’d version.

Scallion beef (7/14/19). Slightly different, very succulent.

Cumin lamb or beef. Really tasty full flavored nuggets. Pretty tender too.

Sweet and source pork nibblets (10/24/21).

Sweet and sour pork ribs (7/14/19). Someone ordered the sauce on the side. Salty crunchy pork slabs (with some bone) with the sweet sticky stuff.

Chili sauce.

As usual now-a-days I brought some home made gelati from Sweet Milk, my private gelato label. Green Apple Moscato Sorbetto.

Rosemary Chocolate Gelato. Valrhona chocolate and milk infused with rosemary from my own garden.

The 7/14/19 gelati:

Chocolate Peanut Pretzel Gelato — testing a new 80% chocolate fondant base made with Valrhona and Callebaut Chocolates — then layered that with a house made salty peanut pretzel ganache — you can’t see the base, it’s under the 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 #peanut #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #ganache #pretzel

Testing out two variants on a theme, first one: Bellini Sorbetto! — French White Peaches and Prosecco — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I love the Pozzetti (round tubs), but I do need to figure out how to decorate the small batches in an attractive way — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Bellini #peach #Prosecco

Testing out two variants on a theme, second one: Dark Mimosa Sorbetto! — Blood Orange and Valencia Orange juice mixed with Prosecco — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I love the Pozzetti (round tubs), but I do need to figure out how to decorate the small batches in an attractive way — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #Mimosa #orange #bloodorange #Prosecco

The 10/24/21 gelati:

Strawberries & Mascar-Creamy Gelato — A base infused with Mascarpone Cheese then blended with house-made Strawberry Curd — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — my vain attempts to pipe a pretty decoration on top were uttery foiled by timing –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mascarpone #cheese #strawberry #cream

Overall, Seafood Palace is just like Seafood Village and there is nothing wrong with that because it’s still great. Last time we had a few “more interesting” dishes and in 2017 there was a LOT of fried. Still, awesome meal!

Back again on 7/14/19 I thought execution was even better. This is probably my favorite Chaozhou place — a bit like Cantonese but not exactly the same, slightly more “unusual”. Lots of garlic!

Our return visit on 10/24/21 was also spectacular. Just a really great place.

It’s not really worth writing up the “motley cru” of wines that come to Chinese, so I’ll just list the photos here.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Chaozhou Chinese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Food, Gelato, hedonists, Lobster, san Gabriel valley, seafood palace, SGV, Sweet Milk, turtle soup, Wine

Anhui Whoey?

Oct13

Restaurant: China Taste

Location: 529 E Valley Blvd. Ste 108A. (626) 766-1788

Date: September 3, 2017

Cuisine: Anhui Chinese

Rating: Great and really different

I was excited to try this place because I’ve never had Anhui cuisine before — neither probably have you. For those not in the know, it’s a province of China just west of Shanghai. Landlocked and fairly rural although the Yangtze passes through it and it’s certainly had it’s share of famous goings on during the last 10,000 years of habitation.

China Taste is located in a slightly upgraded version of the space that used to house Hunan Restaurant. That was a good place too actually, but not Anhui (as the name betrays), and there is always Hunan Chili King right across the street. China Taste is more modern now with booths and less standard Chinese big tables. The buffet of cold appetizers is gone.

From my cellar: NV Drappier Champagne Brut Rosé. JG 90+. As I noted in the past, the Drappier Brut Rosé is one hundred percent pinot noir from the estate’s own Aube vineyards and is produced by the saignée method, so that its lovely cherry color is from skin contact, rather than by adding a bit of still red wine to the blend. The cuvée is aged two and a half years sur latte prior to disgorgement and has a dosage of 7.5 grams per liter. The current release in the market is really pretty and stylish on the nose, offering up a vibrantly complex mix of strawberries, a touch of blood orange, chalky soil tones, rye toast, woodsmoke and a hint of clove in the upper register. On the palate the wine is brisk, full-bodied and focused, with a good core, frothy mousse, lovely minerality and a long, nascently complex and still quite tightly-knit and youthful finish. I was surprised how youthful the structure still was here, given how open the nose is at the present time, but it is certainly approachable today and should really blossom with a year or two in the cellar.

agavin: great with spicy Chinese

Shredded potato? or some other root vegetable. Vinegar and chili oil give this crunchy stuff an awesome spicy/sour flavor.

Sake. A decent mid-end sake, but doesn’t pair that well.

Cucumbers and garlic. Standard dish. Fine, but not particularly great.

From my cellar: 2012 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault Clos de la Baronne. 95 points. Light gold color. Drank 1 glass over 45 minutes plus. I’ll echo a lot of the sentiments of Chablis28. This was a thing of beauty. There was everything happening here tonight, finesse, purity, fruit, minerals, and all coming together in a perfect package tied neatly in a pretty little bow just ready for us to open. And speaking of open, it surely was. A great wet stones nose with stone fruits, pear, melon, citrus, great aromatics. The palate is bright, but elegant and seductive, the fruit is fresh and lively without being too forward, just the right amount of toast shows, stone fruit, lemon, balanced, lengthy finish, just plain lovely stuff.

Cold beef. Great with the sauce.

Cold chicken with peanuts in chili oil. You have to like the chicken bones and cold chicken in general but the chili oil had a great flavor.

2005 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. JG 93. The 2005 Brücke Spätlese is another stunning bottle in the making. The bouquet is deep and racy, offering up a mélange of white cherries, kiwi, very slatey minerality and a topnote of spring flowers. On the palate the wine is medium-bodied, deep and intensely flavored, with a great core of fruit, brilliant structure, and a very, very long, nascently complex finish. The Brücke Spätlese is more closed than either the Kirschheck or the Felsenberg at this early stage, with the wine’s inherent complexity now a bit muffled by the combination of firm underlying structure and plenty of puppy fat. But this will be a great wine with a few years bottle age.

House special griddle chicken in chili pot. The white stuff is like dumpling skin or peking duck pancake floating in the rich dark chili soup. The chicken is little bits of chopped up chicken parts underneath. They were boney (full cleaver treatment) but the broth was extremely tasty!

Sliced pork with black fungus and garlic. Super delicious bacon-like pork in a nice garlic sauce.

Shrimp with aromatic chilies. Like the chicken and chilies dish that is common in Szechuan, but with whole shrimp. You could eat the shell and they were sweet, salty, and hot.

Warren brought: 1994 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Herrenweg de Turckheim. 81 points. Too old. Not undrinkable, but thin with no fruit or sweetness. Residual sugar was too low to last 23 years.

Special whole fish. Some kind of fish from China in a chili sauce, covered in chilies, and with tons of lotus root and other interesting stuff. Really delicious sauce. Fish was fish. I loved the sauce and vegetables over rice.

2010 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Southing. 93 points. Central coast, cherry, earthy, mineral. Low tannin, complex.

Spicy beef soup with white mushrooms and chives. Looks mild but it was hot as bejesus. The waiter told us that it had 5-6 types of “spicy things”. We could see some green peppers. It nearly burned my esophagus out — tasted amazing though.

2013 Sea Smoke Pinot Noir Botella. 93 points. Deliciously approachable. Cherry, light cedar and oak, tannins still pull your cheeks in a bit on the finish to remind you there is still a lot of youth in the bottle

Mystery pot of mystery meats. Hot dogs, tripe, bacon and who knows what other yummies were at the ends of the sticks.

Greens and garlic. The usual.

Spicy crawfish. Great sauce, but the cockroaches of the sea were very hard to get any real meat out of.

Dai dan qiezi. Amazing dish of 1,000 year-old eggs and eggplant.

You mash it up and it was incredibly umami.

David brought: 1989 Château Meyney. 89 points. Bright red in color. Green pepper, stony mineral, tobacco, black pepper and mature tannins. Very savory with little remaining fruit. Modest finish. Cork was intact. Possible an off bottle, but mostly just very mature Bordeaux.

Spicy chicken. Similar very spicy brown sauce and more super cleavered chicken bits. Bones again, but very tasty (and hot).

Fried rice. Nice fried rice, particularly with just about any of the red/brown sauces.

Scallion Pancake. They were out of preserved meats (Chinese salami) to stick on top. Still it was a yummy slice of oily goodness.
I brought a pair of homemade gelatti made that day: on the left, “Bourbon Street” a molasses, coffee, chocolate caramel with Knob Creek bourbon and home-made butterscotch. On the right “Triple Chocolate Cloud” with two kinds of Valrhona chocolate, Valrhona cream cheese chocolate icing and chocolate on chocolate oreos!

Overall really fun night. China Taste is family run with parents cooking in the back and the young (twenty-ish) son working the front room. Service was very friendly if not the speediest, but they really took care of us and brought the dishes out 1-2 at a time nicely. And the food was really interesting, very inexpensive ($31/person all in with a big tip) and extremely interesting. I’ve never had a bunch of these dishes and many of them were outstanding.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (2)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Anhui cuisine, china taste, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, SGV, Wine

Best Geoduck Ever

Sep27

Restaurant: World Seafood Restaurant [1, 2]

Location: 1412 S Garfield Ave. Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 282-3888

Date: August 13, 2017

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great Cantonese banquet

I last went to World Seafood almost 2 years ago (for dim sum) and being that Cantonese Restaurants are basically two in one (dim sum and dinner) I was psyched to try it with master orderer Tony Lao for dinner.

Typical big Cantonese house outside.
Inside a touch of new color encircles the giant Chinese-style banquet hall.

But tonight we had one of the private rooms — all the better.

There was a ton of wine, but I’m not cataloging it because I tragically had a weird camera malfunction and most of the photos are from Yarom’s phone — yes, these are not my photos, and so not as sharp — but they will do.

Boiled peanuts to start.

Fungus with chili oil. Super delicious and great texture.

The white boiled chicken feet. I never try these, too gelatinous.

Sautéed geoduck clam with snap peas and fungus.

And look, they individually plated it (like most of the dishes). Incredible. Tony gets that to happen fairly often but I’ve never had it with anyone else at the ordering helm. This was the best geoduck ever. Super tender, not over cooked, with a lovely chewy flavor.

Giant prawns. In a sort of sweet garlic sauce or something. Delicious too and you pretty much had to eat the shell.

Working the wine.

Fried geoduck. Like the best fried clams you’ve ever had. Seriously like New England clam strips. Fried with garlic.

Suckling pig. Excellent! Very tender and totally deboned.

Some of the extra (less attractive but just as tasty) meat came as a separate dish.

Some more something (more clam?) fried in the heavy egg yolk fry. I don’t love this salty rich type of batter.

Turtle soup. On request, even though it was summer, they served us up this delicious consommé of turtle.

I guess that is turtle meat.

Lettuce cups with chicken. Specially made with chicken on request. Might have had more flavor with pork, but the texture was excellent.

Individually plated again.

Special stuffed duck. Stuffed with rice and chestnuts and I don’t know what other goodies. Tasted very soft and delicious. A little like Budha’s chicken.

Special lamb chops. We almost didn’t get these but they were amazingly flavorful.

Close up, individually plated.

String beans and pork. Nice version of the dish.

Yin Yang fried rice. This is a great dish, although in this version the red porky side was a bit too sweet. The white side is shrimp.

In the bowl.

Walnut and black sesame mochi ball soup. Strange Chinese dessert.

John and I went out for some “coffee” — if you can call this boba cookies and cream ice blended coffee — more like a milk shake.

Overall, World Seafood served up some really excellent Chinese banquet fare, and service was fantastic. Individual plating! We had some different things and they were nearly all perfectly prepared. I love this kind of dinner.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, geoduck, SGV, World Seafood

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

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.

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, crab, dumplings, J&J, SGV, Shanghai, Shanghai Cuisine, XLB

Noodling About – Mian

Sep20

Restaurant: Mian

Location: 301 W Valley Blvd #114, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Date: August 9, 2017 and January 27, 2019 and August 20, 2022

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Salty but good

Mian is the Szechuan noodle outpost from the people who run Chengdu Taste, which is one of the SGV’s original Szechuan places and pretty darn good.

It’s located in the minimall with Tasty Dining and Mei Long Village. And this fact led us to eat not one lunch but two, hitting up both Mian and J&J separated by a one hour bargain foot massage — all in the same minimall!

Mian has a superficial level of style — although if the entire build out cost more than $30,000 I’ll eat 5 bowls of noodles. Still, instead of the hideous white drop ceiling there is an ugly black drop ceiling.

Slightly fermented spicy cabbage adorn the table — like Szechuan kimchee.

And they serve sweet mung bean tea.

I’m not sure I’ve had this tea before, and boy is it ugly to look at, but it goes with the food.

The same Mao era canteen mug is home to this delicious egg custard with ground pork (8/17 and 1/27/19 and 8/20/22). 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.

Zoom in on the custard.

Beef in chili sauce (1/27/19 and 8/20/22). Quite spicy, dry, and nice.

Sweet and sour pork wontons (earlier and 8/20/22). The sauce was that spicy/tangy Szechuan sauce I like, and the noodles and pork filling excellent, however the whole thing was a touch too salty.

All mixed up for better coverage.

Szechuan Cold Noodles (1/27/19 and 8/20/22).

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.

Extra side of minced pork to mix into the noodles.

Chengdu Zajiang noodles with fried egg and pork. This is the house specialty, with and without egg, with and without some kind of gut busting Chengdu bean.

Here it is mixed up. The noodles themselves were perfect and the meat was delicious. The overall effect was excellent. I think these are a top version of this particular noodle variety. I’m a little partial to great dan dan mien as that has a more complex nutty flavor, but I certainly wouldn’t kick these out of bed.

Overall, Mian has a very simple menu. There are 4 types of the same wontons, about 6 types fo the Zajiang noodles, and not too much else, so it’s pretty much a great spot for a tasty bowl of Chengdu noodles, not a whole Szechuan meal (you could go to Chengdu Taste or one of the many other great Szechuan places for that). The things they do make, however, are quite good.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Mian, noodles, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

For the Bun of It

Aug03

Restaurant: Mama Lu’s Dumpling House

Location: 153 Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91755. (626) 307-5700

Date: June 27, 2017

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Tasty and cheap

Two days in a row I head to the SGV for Chinese yummies.

This time it’s Mama Lu’s, one of a small mini-chain of casual inexpensive dumpling places.

This is classic SGV. Look at this sexy corridor — right out of late 90s China — the restaurant bathroom can be found here too.

And the interior, vintage early 21st century SGV interior. Booths, drop ceiling, fish tank, dangling wires, all that.

On the table are sugared peanuts and cucumbers.

XLB. The classic pork soup dumplings. Skin is a touch thick and there wasn’t much juice, but the meat was tasty. I’ve certainly had better of these but like pizza and some other things, XLB are always at least good.

Pork, shrimp, and chive dumpling. Soft classic boiled dumplings. Not bad.

Spicy wontons. Disappointing. Not really spicy at all either and kinda bland.

Zha jiang mian. Not the really traditional version, but pretty tasty. Mild, despite the peppers, and no super strong bean flavor. Just kinda nice.

Crispy shrimp. Fried shrimp with mayo. I like this Chinese-American dish.

Shredded pork and bean curd. Really a Szechuan dish. This was fine.

Pea tendrils and mushrooms. What can you say.

Mama Lu’s certainly wasn’t mind blowing. It was cheap and tasty. If it were close to me I would go all the time. They have a big menu and are very crowded. Atmosphere is either hideous or quaint if you are an SGV aficionado like me. While everyone inside was Chinese, it feels slightly Chinese American. Maybe it’s just catering toward people who have been here 15-20 years rather than young folk just off the boat. Certainly there is no trendiness.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, dumplings, Mama Lu's Dumpling House, SGV, XLB

The Legendary Restaurant

Aug01

Restaurant: The Legendary Restaurant

Location: 2718 Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 872-0616

Date: June 26, 2017 & September 21, 2018 and January 6, 2018

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Solid Szechuan in the land of so much solid Szechuan

It’s actually been awhile since I tried a NEW Szechuan place for lunch. But part of my 2 part back to back days in the SGV I figured lunch buddy Larry and I would give Legendary a try — the name after-all is very impressive. Wait, that must be Szechuan Impression or maybe Chengdu Impression :-).

Anyway, a year and change later I came back for a revaluation.

Typical frontage. It was 100 degrees in the SGV today!

The interior is just hinting at having some style. Not much. And it used to be some tikki restaurant called Bamboo Lounge and the signs aren’t even all changed over. haha.

It should also be noted that they have a liquor license and a tiny selection of beverages.

Short menu with nice pictures.

By 2018 there was a MUCH glitzier picture menu — printed in China and quite gorgeous. I forgot to photo it though.

Big pitcher of smoked plum juice. A must with Szechuan.

Special Bean Jelly (9/21/18). Oh, Szechuan bean jelly, how I love thee! I can never get enough of the slippery texture and hot tangy taste of this dish.

Hot and sour fern root starch noodle (1/6/19). This was an amazing dish with a really fabulous hot and sour tangy sauce and a cool slippery buckwheat-like noodle.

Chongqing street noodles. Basically noodles in the chili oil broth. Not bad, but I like good dan dan better. Nice noodles though.

Shredded garlic pork (1/6/19). Not exactly shredded, but it was garlicky and porky. Basically garlic cured cold bacon you dip in sesame sauce. Pretty delicious.

Sichuan boiled wontons with chili sauce (1/6/19). Sauce on the side for Ron who is a spice hater.

Shredded eel with dried chili (9/21/18 and 1/6/19). Actually quite delicious. The eel was very fried, very crispy, and not fishy at all. It had that nice salty/aromatic quality from the chilies. This is, of course, very similar to the chicken dish, but more eel!

Second time we had this dish (1/6/19) it had a fairly off-putting “urine-like” taste.

Peking Duck (1/6/19). I was surprised they had it — we had to pre-order, but still, this was pretty darn good. The mean quality was excellent and I liked the way they cut and presented it. The skin could have been a touch crispier but this was great.

Pancakes to go with the duck.

Boiled Fish with Peppercorns (9/21/18). To say that this dish had “peppercorns” will always be an understatement. There must have been an entire bag of Szechuan peppercorns in here — and it gave the fish a delightful (and intense) numbing factor.

Crispy shrimp (1/6/19). Shells, on, a bit sweet, but tasty.

Fried shrimp in hot spicy sauce. I’m not sure I would call this a sauce. Fried shrimp bathed in dry hot peppers is more like it. The shrimp were tasty though.

Griddle Cooked Chicken (parts) (9/21/18). There are any number of griddle cooked dishes, and they taste pretty similar regardless of the protein, but this one was basically all chicken giblets. I must have eaten 10 hearts! Not bad, considering that.

Boiled beef in chili sauce. This was probably my favorite dish. Nice mala broth. Tender beef. TONS of garlic and interesting tofu noodles and lotus rooms underneath. Really great over rice.

Black pepper beef (1/6/19). Well executed with a good bit of flavor, but not a regionally appropriate dish.

Kung Pao Chicken (1/6/19). Pretty good version of the classic.

Braised special pork (1/6/19). Sweet, fatty, delicious.

Smoked lamb chops. Or mouton chops as the case happened to be. Very fatty and gamey. I liked them, but I don’t mind a bit of mouton — but YMMV.

Griddle cooked cauliflower (1/6/19). Nice flavorful vegetable with good crunch.

Trick eggplant (1/6/19). Eggplant and 1000 year old egg. Nice umami savory quality.

Tofu with Crab Roe (9/21/18 & 1/6/19). I discovered this dish on my recent China trip and have been addicted ever since. It has that soft Mapo type texture, but is mild, salty, with a lot of umami.

Second time I had this, 1/6/19 it was not as good. Fine, but blander.

Lightly fried pork buns. These were basically pan fried XLB. Loved ’em. Ate most of this plate. Could have eaten another plate. These unfortunately were out of stock on 1/6/19.

Yang Chow Fried Rice (1/6/19). Solid everything fried rice.

The gang on 1/6/19.

Overall, on my first visit, I found Legendary a solid Szechuan place with a bit better style to the plating than most. Food was good, but not quite as good as some others. They didn’t seem to use MSG though which is great. It was also dead empty so they might not last. I’d certainly go back but the competition is fierce in this area. It isn’t Legendary though, I’d give it a blue, no purple for sure.

Second time around, in September of 2018, I was more impressed with Legendary. We got some different dishes (well totally different, and only a couple I’ve had exactly at other places) and they were all spectacular — except maybe the chicken hearts. They weren’t crowded at all, and same funny Bamboo Lounge vibe, but I this this is a first class Szechuan joint, up there with Chengdu Taste and Szechuan Impression.

Third time, for dinner on January 1, 2019, Legendary continued to impress. 8-9 out of 10 dishes were great and there were a lot of really good ones, including, surprisingly, the Peking Duck. There were a few misses like the eel this time around, but also some other unique and “legendary” dishes like the fern root noodle.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

Wines from dinner visits:

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Legendary, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

Dragged out for Duck

Jul17

Restaurant: Duck House [1, 2]

Location: 501 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 284-3227

Date: June 11, 2017

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Interesting stuff

Big surprise that for my birthday dinner I chose — you guessed it — Chinese food! And because it was my birthday I managed to drag the rest of my family all the way out to the SGV. I went for a return to Duck House (previous recent visit here), as they have Peking Duck (no duh), it’s on the west side of Alhambra, and because it isn’t spicy or too weird. But I did pre-order a bunch of interesting dishes.

From my cellar: NV Demière-Ansiot Champagne Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs. VM 91. Vivid yellow. Bright, mineral-accented aromas of orange, pear, anise and white flowers are lifted by a gingery topnote. Lively and precise, offering intense orchard and citrus fruit flavors and a hint of buttered toast. Shows impressive clarity and mineral cut on the finish, with the pear and floral notes echoing. This elegant Champagne should age well on its balance.

Slightly sweet soy marinated chicken wings. Always on the table here to start. Boney and cold, but nice taste.

My 8 year-old tried these fried buns. Basically the soft bao dough fried with sweetened condensed milk on the side.

2005 Seigneurie de Posanges Savigny-lès-Beaune. Not a bad young village.

Peking Duck. Served here with the meat and skin. We had it only 1 way, but two ducks. This is solid, but Tasty Duck and a few others have slightly better duck. Mostly I think they just need better Hoisin.

Egg with tofu. My wife liked this. Steamed egg with tofu and a vegetarian brown sauce.

Eggplant with garlic. A little mushy, and not as spicy/garlicky as the best Szechuan versions, but certainly nice.

Sweet and Pungent shrimp. Basically fried shrimp in sweet and sour sauce. Love it!

Vegetable crispy lo mein. With the sauce on the side.

Here is the sauce. Lots of ginger.

From my cellar: 2008 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Bougros Cote de Bouguerots. BH 96. An exceptionally elegant high-toned and strikingly layered nose of oyster shell, mineral reduction and perfumed cool green fruit is extremely seductive and serves as a fascinating introduction to the concentrated, serious and powerful yet refined flavors that ooze a fine minerality on the mouth coating and hugely long finish. This is blessed with buckets of sap that completely buffer the firm acid spine. This is a flat out great effort that is indisputably a “wow” wine.

Treasure Island, which somehow I keep mis-remembering as “buried treasure.” This was a special pre-order dish and I’ve never had its like before. Napa cabbage smothered (it’s huge) in egg yolk and crab meat sauce. Topped with goji berries. Unusual. Very mild and pleasant, but certainly a LOT of cabbage.

Steamed black cod. For the healthy folk.

2004 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes. VM 95. Opaque ruby. Incredibly powerful bouquet encompasses cherry, blackberry, cassis, candied plum, dark chocolate, licorice and garrigue Positively mouthfilling, with potent, liqueur-like dark fruit, licorice and mocha flavors, but also with surprising freshness and cut. As weighty as this is, there’s a sense of elegance, too. Finishes juicy, sweet and impressively long, with persistent cassis and blackberry flavors. Wow!

Jan, your ass is big!

Buddah’s chicken. Another special order dish. Whole roast chicken stuffed with seafood, taro, and I don’t know what and smothered in brown sauce.

Inside it’s like Chinese Thanksgiving! Cool texture.

2014 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. Can we say vanilla?

Sticky rice with BBQ eel. I don’t know why they always have this dish at duck houses, but they do.

Truffle Lobster. Can’t go wrong with a giant fried lobster in truffle sauce!

I was far too stuffed for cake, so had to have my candle in some eel rice!

Overall, a fun night and great to share it with the family and friends. Not sure I need to order the Treasure Island again, but it was very interesting. The sauce was actually great over rice, but there was so much of it!

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Duck House, Peking Duck, SGV, Wine

Yunnan Garden

Jun23

Restaurant: Yunnan Garden

Location: 545 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 308-1896

Date: May 21, 2017

Cuisine: Yunnan Chinese

Rating: Solid!

Apparently there aren’t many Yunnan restaurants in American — most people don’t even know it’s a separate Chinese province and assume the speaker means Hunan (different province).

Anyway the SGV has got one of the few.

But they don’t have a liquor license yet and we had to settle for a Hedonist Tailgate Party instead!

The interior clearly used to be a coffee shop in the 60s. Look at that soffit and the old hanging lights!

Cold starts of pickles, lima beans, and shredded potatoes. The last of these needs chili oil and vinegar!

Spicy tendon and pig ear. Everyone’s favorite meats! The tendon was very good actually.

I’m not a huge pig ear fan though.

Dan dan mien. It wasn’t that spicy, and didn’t have the ultimate nutty complexity, but the noodles were excellent and perfectly cooked. Certainly tasty and satisfying.

Pea tendrils or whatever. A solid garlicky colon sweeper.

Brian has occasionally been known to try a vegetable.

Kung Pao Shrimp. Decent, if a little “typical.”

Smoked chicken and a kind of fried tofu. I liked both. Loved the tofu and the chicken had a nice pastrami-like tone.

Same chicken but with peanuts and pig knuckles. Ick!

Spicy Fish with French Fries. Excellent sauce filled with lotus root, fries, etc. I like real mountain potatoes but the fries did work.

Lamb “ribs.” Very very fried. With some cumin. Similar dish to the fried Szechuan chicken tossed in aromatic chilies. Not much meat on those bones though!

Goat in spicy sauce. Pretty tasty.

Spare ribs with chilies. Excellent!

Fried rice with preserved vegetables. Fine, not the best FR I’ve had by any means, but who’s counting?

Fried chicken with chilies. I think it was chicken. Hard to tell. haha. The batter was that yolk and salt very heavy kind, but it was delicious.

Cured pork with pink tomatoes. Again with the yummy pastrami thing.

Walnut shrimp. An okay version of this. Not the best.

Overall, Yunnan Garden was solid. Not my absolute favorite SGV place, but awesome compared to the lame Chinese available in most other locales. Interesting. Pretty similar to Szechuan here. Not totally sure these are all Yunnan dishes. I would have to research.

Oh, and we did go to Solju afterward. Never hurts.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, hedonists, SGV, Yunnan Garden

Duck House – Crawl part 4

Jun05

Restaurant: Duck House

Location: 501 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 284-3227

Date: April 23, 2017

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Excellent

After the totally lame Broiling Pit we had to get some good Chinese for stop 4 — so we returned west toward:

A total classic on Atlantic not far from Elite.

They immediately treated us like pharaohs and put us in a private room.

Cold appetizer of mysterious chicken wing bits.

Fillings for the peking duck.

Peking duck, awesome as always with both meat and skin!

Fancy pancake case with bunnies!

House fried rice with Chinese sausage.

Fried sweet and sour shrimp. Decadent and delicious.

Lobster.

Garlic crab. Delicious, but a bit hard to get into.

Mysterious fruity jellies. I was so full by this point (3 meals in) that my stomach hurts just remembering.

Duck House was great, even if we only had a few dishes. I’ll have to come back for a full mega meal. But anyway, the Chinese crawl was huge fun even if not every place was successful!

The full crawl consists of these visits: Yaha, Broiling Pit, Duck House

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Duck House, food crawl, hedonists, SGV

Broiling Pit is the Pits – Crawl part 3

Jun02

Restaurant: Broiling Pit

Location: 939 S Glendora Ave, West Covina, CA 91790. (626) 813-3777

Date: April 23, 2017

Cuisine: Chinese BBQ

Rating: Yuck

Continuing our food crawl from Yaha, we ventured across the minimal to:

This was supposed to be a skewers BBQ place.

The interior is way more modern.

This was just the specials menu. There was a giant picture menu too.
This wine traveled with us.

Fake pinot!

2008 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino. VM 93. A complex mix of savory herbs, plums black cherries, leather and sweet spices emerges from the 2008 Brunello di Montalcino. Beautifully layered from start to the finish, the 2008 impresses for its exceptional balance and finesse. The mid-weight style will likely come as a surprise to Valdicava fans, but all the elements come together in the glass. Proprietor Vincenzo Abbruzzese describes 2008 as a solid vintage across the board, but without the peaks of quality that would have allowed him to make the flagship Madonna del Piano. Instead. Abbruzzese bottled just one Brunelli, and it is fabulous.

Lamb skewers. Tolerable, but salty.

Roast chicken. Again, passable but nothing special.

BBQ ribs. So so.

Corn. Sweet. I mean like they put sugar on it.

Broiling Pit just tasted flat, not particularly good at all. And it was empty and took awhile — although they were perfectly nice. I marveled at all the custom signage and the enormous custom color menu. I can’t see how they can make money. Just not particularly good in an area with so many good places.

The full crawl consists of these visits: Yaha, Broiling Pit, Duck House

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Broiling Pit, Chinese cuisine, food crawl, hedonists, SGV

Yay for Yaha – Crawl part 2

May31

Restaurant: Yaha

Location: 983 S Glendora Ave, West Covina, CA 91790. (626) 480-7130

Date: April 23, 2017

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Solid

Tonight’s Sunday excursion to the SGV is a crawl — a multiple stop Chinese Food extravaganza. I was caught at work and couldn’t get out in time for part 1 (of 4) which was supposedly just so-so, but made it in time for this place.

Located in a far (an extra 15 minutes east) mall in Covina, Yaha is some kind of western/northern Chinese restaurant.

Crunchy cucumbers.

Spicy beef tendon. Not bad for this typical dish.

The menu.

XLB. This dish never disappoints, even when medium level. These were good, probably a 7/10 for XLB, which means 9/10 on the normal food scale!

NV Bruno Gobillard Champagne Vieilles Vignes Brut. BH 92. A very fresh and expressive nose combines notes of green apple, white flower and yeasty hints that carry over to the moderately effervescent flavors that possess fine detail and solid precision on the still developing finish. To be clear, this is certainly more than one-dimensional at this point but it seems clear that it’s likely to produce notably better depth in time.

2012 Xavier Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Anonyme. 91 points. Ruby in color with and a light red rim. On the nose it was very soft, subtle with a definite grape juice quality. Also, obvious hints of blueberries, cherries, plums, spices, pepper, and some faint licorice. A medium bodied, smooth wine, with acidity due to the high alcohol that never really dissipated. Great long legs.

2008 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay Richard Dinner Vineyard. VM 91. Hazy gold. Pungent aromas of orange and grapefruit peel, smoky minerals, honeysuckle and spicecake. Juicy, intense and nicely focused, with very good extract to the smoky flavors of pit fruits and citrus pith. The wine’s lively acidity adds intensity to the long, sappy and penetrating finish.

Twice cooked preserved pork. Salty, but very tasty.

Garlic eggplant. Tasty, although I’ve had better (and spicer versions).

Meat pie. I always love these.

Fried dumplings. Solid too.

From my cellar: NV Drappier Champagne Rose Brut Nature. VM 90. Pale orange. Mineral-accented red berries and citrus fruits on the nose, complemented by hints of candied rose and white pepper. Stony and precise, offering lively strawberry and orange zest flavors that expand slowly with air. Closes spicy, stony and tight, with very good clarity and floral persistence.

We only had a few dishes at Yaha, but what we had were all very tasty, so they seem to have a solid kitchen — and rock bottom prices. The above was $9 a head including tax and tip!
The full crawl consists of these visits: Yaha, Broiling Pit, Duck House

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, food crawl, hedonists, SGV, Yaha

Top Island Seafood

Jan06

Restaurant: Top Island Seafood

Location: The Marketplace, 740 Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 300-9898

Date: December 29, 2016 & July 17, 2017 and March 10 & September 15 and December 22, 2019

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great — and great value — Cantonese

The San Gabriel Valley is just oozing with new Chinese Restaurants to try.

And no category is more crowded than the Cantonese Banquet House. Top Island fits right in the middle of this pack, offering up all the luxury ingredients in a big format at reasonable prices. Look at that sign on the left, lobster for $8.99!

And check out “party like it’s 1989” cove lighting in the giant banquet hall!

And a big pano of it.

2002 Gardet Champagne Cuvée Charles Gardet.

Boiled peanuts.

Sweet and sour goose webs (3/10/19). Goose webs are goose feet. These had the weird texture, but a really nice interesting sour flavor.

BBQ pork and jellyfish (3/10/19). Awesome sweet BBQ pork and first class jellyfish. Not all jellyfish is that great but this one was.

The super deluxe BBQ plate (earlier and 12/22/19) with pork, chicken, jellyfish, pork hock/foot and more (9/15/19)!

Westlake Beef Soup (9/15/19 and 12/22/19). Really addictive soft textured mix of ground beef (or maybe pork), tofu, egg white etc. Very mild but delicious.

NV Jean-Noel Haton Champagne Grande Réserve.

Walnut shrimp. Sure it’s a white guy dish, but this was delicious.

Salt and Pepper squid (9/15/19). Tasty calamari.

Salt and pepper shrimp (9/15/19 and 12/22/19). Someone doesn’t know how to mix up the preps. Very salty, but delicious.

Fish filets with black bean sauce (3/10/19). Really nice light fish.

2006 Paul Hobbs Pinot Noir Hyde Vineyard. VM 89. Dark red. Subdued, brooding aromas of dark cherry and chocolate. Fresher red and dark berry flavors are brightened by zesty minerals and given grip by dusty tannins. Finishes with very good persistence but limited definition. A serious, deeply concentrated style of pinot that needs some cellar time to loosen up.

Peking Duck (earlier and 3/10/19 and 9/15/19 and 12/22/19). This particular duck came with buns instead of pancakes. These were really nice buns, smaller than some. The meat was great, as good as any LA peking duck.

The skin was in the first picture, most of the meat was here. Needed more hoisin sauce as usual.

The “meat” section of this duck is actually pretty edible. Some places it’s just a carcass.

Duck second way (3/10/19 and 12/22/19).

Zoom on the second way (12/22/19).

You put this in the lettuce cups and add hoisin. Nice crunch.

2013 Boundary Breaks Vineyard Riesling No. 198 Reserve. VM 90. Quite reduced on the nose, with slightly shy aromas of Asian pear, white pepper, champagne mango and chamomile. The palate is quite honeyed and coats the cheeks and tongue in a soft layer of sweet fruit. A strong acidity keeps the palate in motion and prevents the wine from feeling fat. 58 grams per liter of residual sugar.

2012 Domaine de l’Ecu (Guy Bossard) Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Taurus. The top broke off (the glass!) and so few of us dared try it for fear of broken glass.

From my cellar: 2006 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Charmes. VM 93. Ripe peach, orange and hazelnut on the nose; a real essence of Charmes. Then opulent, sweet and rich but with very good inner-mouth tension to the ripe peach flavor. A seamless, highly concentrated wine with a wonderfully silky texture and a very long, fruit-driven finish. This fruit was harvested early, noted Boillot.

Seb brought: 2005 Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fumé Silex. 92+. There is no doubting this is Sauvignon blanc – it has that straight out green grass, a bit of lime, definitely very crisp although not tart. When NZ makes SB, this is what they are going for I think. Very well done version of that style.

Lobster noodles. A solid lobster dish. Maybe a touch “fishy” and while the noodles looked gross, they tasted great with the drippings.
2012 Giesen Pinot Noir The Brothers. VM 90. Bright medium red. Perfumed aromas of strawberry, rose petal and spices. Juicy and intense, offering very good concentration to its brambly red berry and cherry flavors. Finishes with firm but smooth tannins and very good tactile persistence.

Lobster Causeway style. Covered in crunchy garlic bits. Awesome! We ate the salty garlic by itself too afterward.

Dungeness Crab with garlic sauce (3/10/19). Very light fry. Delicious sauce and shell was soft enough you could crunch through it.

We didn’t have the King Crab the first couple of times I went but we should have. So we got one on 3/10/19. Only $17 a pound or something!

King crab causeway style (3/10/19 and 9/15/19 and 12/22/19). Might have been fried but those garlic bits were so good!

King crab with garlic (3/10/19 and 9/15/19 and 12/22/19). Tender and delicious.

Conch. Chewy and interesting.

Curried Meat. Can’t remember which meat, maybe beef or mutton. Pretty delicious though.

Fried pork chop. I didn’t love the oily taste.

Sweet and sour pork chops (3/10/19 and 9/15/19). MUCH better than the oily ones.

Roast pork with crispy skin (12/22/19). Really great meat flavor and nice crispy skin.

Seb brought: 2010 Marcassin Pinot Noir Blue-Slide Ridge Vineyard. 95 points. In a great place. A showy wine highlighting ripe red fragrant fruits with a sweet edgy appeal. Quite pretty for a large scale pinot as slightly faded sour cherry fruits are well integrated with bright acidity and baking spice. Finishes really lasts. Quality stuff.

Pigeon (earlier and 3/10/19 and 9/15/19 and 12/22/19). Straight from the Promenade — but actually quite nice.

100 Flower Chicken (12/22/19). This is pressed chicken with crispy skin and shrimp paste. This particular version was excellent, quite awesome.

Chopped pork and string beans. Classic dish. Excellent verison with crunchy beans and lots of pork.

Chinese greens. tasty (surprisingly).

A different tasty green (3/10/19 and 9/15/19).

Stalks with Chinese sausage (3/10/19 and 12/22/19). Love that salty/sweet sausage. Offsets the fibrous stalks nicely.

A different type of stalky vegetable (12/22/19).

Fried tofu (3/10/19). Similar garlic crunch to the causeway style.

2015 Château Doisy-Daëne Grand Vin Sec. 93 points. Tasted like Durian! Very dry and very interesting.

Fried sweet and sour fish. Not bad. Typical orange sauce.

Fried rice.

Yin yang fried rice (earlier and 9/15/19 and 12/22/19). Fried rice is underneath and covered with pork and shrimp sauces. Delicious!

2002 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate. VM 93. Good deep ruby-red. Highly aromatic nose combines musky redcurrant and tobacco. Plush, broad and fine-grained; atypically sexy and showy for this wine, in much the same way that Montelena’s basic 2002 Napa cabernet is unusually pliant and rich. Finishes with big, dusty, but rather suave tannins. This offers early accessibility but has the material and structure for extended aging. The alcohol here is 14.3%, the highest since the 1978, which was 14.4%.

Chicken chow mein. I love these crispy noodle dishes. Great and very addictive once the sauce softens the noodles.

Adam brought: 2004 Harlan Estate Proprietary Red Wine. Parker 98. Another rating identical to that which was given in 2007 (when first tasted from bottle), the 2004 Harlan Estate is performing essentially the way I suggested in 2007 as it is one of the more precocious and accessible of the Harlan Estate wines to date. A great showing at this retrospective, this wine, which seems like a hypothetical blend of a Pauillac, St.-Estephe and Graves, represents around 1,500 cases from 40 acres of beautifully manicured hillside vineyards overlooking Oakville. Still dense purple to the rim, with notes of creme de cassis, charcoal, blackberry and sweet toast, the wine is full-bodied and voluptuously textured with the tannins largely resolved. But the density and richness suggest this wine can go a long, long way, even though the window for drinking it seems open and inviting already. A world-class, first-growth wine if there ever was one from Napa, this is simply an exquisite Harlan Estate that has atypically reached mid to late adolescence at the age of ten. That is great given the fact that these are 30- to 40-year wines – possibly even half-century wines. Drink it over the next 30 years.

Black pepper beef (earlier and 9/15/19). Vietnamese style dish, quite good.

French style beef with mushrooms (3/10/19). Very tender flavorful beef.

Steamed fish with ginger and soy. Too plain for my taste.

Coconut buns (earlier and 3/10/19).

Buns with pepper or something (12/22/19). Very plain buns with the dusted seasoning. Hmm.

I brought some pistachio gelato from home (which I made).

Red bean soup for dessert. Looked like the output of a bad case of food poisoning.

Close up 9/15/19.

After my advanced gelato class, trying a slightly new pistachio formulation — Pistachio Madeline Gelato — base uses my same awesome Pistachios from Bronte Sicily but also a small amount of egg yolk for extra body. I baked the Madelines from scratch and soaked them in hand made Grand Mariner syrup — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #Pistachio #lemon #orange #Sicily #GrandMariner #Madeline #cookie #baking

Getting whacky — Thai Peanut Coconut Lime Chili Gelato — Salty peanuts, Thai coconut cream, lime zest, and serrano chillies — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — almost too spicy! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #IceCream #NomNom #dessert #chili #spicy #thai #peanut #coconut #lime #SavorySweet #Serrano

9/15/19 two more gelati:

Cherry Cioccolato Fondente Gelato — working to squeeze the most chocolate humanly possible into a dairy gelato. This is 70% cocoa Valrhona and 100% Callebaut Chocolate base is my best yet — only 17% milk it has an INTENSE chocolate taste, plus house-made White Chocolate Amareno Cherry Ganache rounds it out — 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 #chocolate #valrhona #Callebaut #cherry #amareno

Matcha Almond Latte Gelato – Ceremonial Matcha Green Tea and Sicilian Noto Romano Almond gelato base — 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 #almond #matcha #GreenTea #Sicily

I like how they tagged Yarom’s chair with the bills.

Great wine lineup tonight (for Chinese).
The big boy with the manager.

Overall, a great time and really solid meal. Orignally, I thought Top Island isn’t in the league with Elite or such for high end Cantonese, but this whole feast was $35 a person with tax and tip! So considering with had Peking Duck, Lobster etc and it was all very tasty this was a steal. All the dishes were enjoyable and they have a huge menu. Plus, as Yarom says, “they treated us like Pharaohs.” I.e. we had great service as they were very warm and brought out all the dishes “slowly” (by Chinese standards). Too bad they don’t have this sort of quality on the Westside!

I also must chime in that in light of our 3/10/19 dinner I have to upgrade Top Island to one of the best SGV Cantonese places. The service is really great. They brought us our dishes in a carefully selected (wine friendly) order, one at a time. The prices on sometimes expensive things like lobster and king crab are really fabulous, and overall dish quality is extremely high. Almost every dish was excellent that night (and on a previous trip a couple weeks before I missed). Great place!

For the 9/15/19 and 12/22/19 dinner I continue my thinking that Top Island has a really top notch Cantonese kitchen. Food is really really good. Service is great too, although the place is a bit of a zoo given how big and popular it is. Our 12/22/19 was a hilarious CF of a dinner though — not in any way the restaurant’s fault. We had a table they said seated 12-14, which really seated about 10-12 (and 12 was pushing it) and then ended up with 15 people (because it’s hard to manage the numbers at these things). We were so packed in at this table, sitting an extra foot away so the chairs made it around. But most problematically, with 15 people the dishes only got around to about 12ish — and so it turned into a “lord of the flies” style frenzy. Total chaos — if a touch amusing.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

And a bunch of wines from the second night:

12/22/19 wines:

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: BYOG, Cantonese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, crab, Gelato, hedonists, Lobster, Peking Duck, san Gabriel valley, SGV, Top Island, Top Island Seafood

Shanghainese at Southern Mini Town

May04

Restaurant: Southern Mini Town

Location: 833 W Las Tunas Dr., San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 289-6578

Date: April 26, 2016

Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese

Rating: Tasty, but too much MSG

A couple of us Hedonists drove out to the SGV for lunch intending to go to Tasty Noodle House, but they were on summer holiday so we went next door instead.
Southern Mini Town, despite the weird name, is a pretty ordinary looking SGV Shanghainese.
The inside has that SGV vibe.
Including the helpful “menu as wall decor.”
House special two flavor shrimp. The right one was the simple white sauce shrimp and the left a onion based sweet and tangy sauce. In both cases the shrimp were extremely tender and well cooked. The “spicy” (not really) sauce was better, very good actually.
String beans. Classic dish. A pretty good version. Beans were crunchy.
Special beef tendon. Not so much tendon, actual meat. However the sauce, onion based and tweet and sour made it taste like my mom’s sweet and sour pot roast / brisket. Good stuff.
Garlic ribs. Hot and fried, but a bit chewy and not enough garlic. This was one of our least favorite dishes.
Fish filet in spicy sauce. Very similar sauce to the “spicy” shrimp, but not as tangy. Helped by adding vinegar.
Beef and scallions. Okay. Tender beef, but not amazing or anything.

Shanghai pan fried buns. Excellent. They ought to be as a Shanghai cuisine signature item.

Shanghai steamed dumplings (XLB). Disappointing as the dough flavor was too dominant and there was little to no juicy broth. Not enough pork flavor for sure.

Overall, Southern Mini Town was okay. By non SGV standards it would be quite good. For the SGV, it’s just fine. I’ve had a lot better Shanghai food. And HUGE negative. I was walloped with a massive MSG headache about 45 minutes after leaving. About 25% of the places out here will use a lot of MSG, but plenty don’t.
Tasty Noodle House is where we were originally trying to go.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, hedonists, SGV, Shanghai, Southern Mini Town

Tasty Duck X 4

Mar16

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3, 4]

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

Date: February 28, 2015

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

Tasty Duck is a regular spot with my Hedonist food and wine club.

The interior is jammed and the turnover is high. There isn’t even a space inch to stand while waiting for a table as the serves need what little space there is to reach the tables. Although tonight being Sunday, the crowds died down by 8pm.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

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, starting with excellent pancakes. One mystery question I must ask: why do Chinese restaurants insist on putting far too few pancakes and too little hoisin sauce on the table?

A pancake in the making. For some reason tonight the hoisin seemed saltier and less sweet than usual, so wasn’t quite as good. The meat was awesome as always.

From my cellar: 2011 Coche-Dury Bourgogne Blanc. VM 88. The 2011 Bourgogne is an excellent introduction to the domaine. Tension, energy and focus are the signatures in a wine that announces the Coche-Dury house style beautifully. Citrus and white flowers abound on the finish.

agavin: I brought this way overkill pedigree, which had a long citrus finish. Very nice.

Cold appetizers. Spicy beef, seaweed salad, cold chicken.

2006 Sine Qua Non The Hoodoo Man. VM 94. Sine Qua Non’s 2006 White Wine The Hoodoo Man is insanely beautiful. Remarkably fresh for a nine year old white, the 2006 The Hoodoo Man will change readers’ perceptions about what California white wines are and can be. A rich mélange of apricot, peach, honey and exotic white flowers graces the palate as this voluptuous, intense, yet remarkably vibrant wine shows off its utterly compelling personality. Slightly reductive, the 2006 needs a good bit of air. Today, the 2006 shows no signs whatsoever of fading. It should continue to drink well for another 5-10 years. The Hoodoo Man can only be called an absolute triumph in viticulture and winemaking. Time and again, I thought I had mixed up my glasses and that this was 2013 White Wine Résisté. The Hoodoo Man is 39% Roussanne, 31% Viognier and 30% Chardonnay; 75% from John Alban’s vineyard and 25% from Eleven Confessions. The wine was aged in 58% new oak, the rest 1-2 year-old barrels and a dollop of stainless steel.

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

2012 Maurice Schoech Riesling Kaefferkopf. Middle dry.

Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple! Not my favorite rendition of this dish. Still good, but I can live without the pineapple. We’ve gotten spoiled.

2012 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett. Vinous 87. Nectarine, pine nuts and lemon oil on the nose. Delicate tropical fruit flavors are brightened by a salty twang. Refreshing acidity gives a feminine character to the finish. Nicely balanced.

Duck part 2 (with bean sprouts).

2010 Cherry Pie (Hundred Acre) Pinot Noir Stanly Ranch Vineyard. VM 90. The appropriately named 2010 Cherry Pie offers up juicy red cherries, mint, cinnamon and cloves. In this vintage, the Cherry Pie has tons of energy and minerality to support the racy, sleek fruit. Sweet floral notes add lift on the finish. The 2010 is a gorgeous, exuberant Cherry Pie with great balance and overall harmony.

agavin: a very contentious wine at the table. Ron and I thought it tasted like cherry cough syrup. Way too high alcohol for pinot noir to my Burgundy pallet. Those who like more of a sledgehammer to the face loved it.

Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings (XLB). Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth. We got 2 orders of these.

2012 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin. Burghound 89-91. A ripe yet markedly cool and restrained nose offers up notes of cassis, spice, earth, underbrush and menthol. There is a lovely mineral streak to the rich and relatively large-scaled flavors that possess excellent mid-palate concentration and plenty of verve on the complex and impressively persistent finish. This is a fine Gevrey villages and worth your attention plus it is sufficiently pliant to enjoy young but should reward longer term cellaring as well.

agavin: just super young one note village Burg. Not bad, but way too primary for my taste.

Simple vegetables. These barely had sauce, but yet were surprisingly yummy. They did have an “oil” flavor (in a good way) and were very light and crunchy.

2009 Château Branaire-Ducru. VM 92+. Red with a pale rim. The fruity nose hints at macerated red cherries, bitter chocolate and dried herbs. Then big, fat and soft on the palate, with fresh, harmonious acidity providing adequate lift to the black cherry, chocolate and sweet spice flavors. The long, plush finish offers a concentrated coffee and red fruit cocktail quality. Still very young and likely to develop more complexity. As good as this is, Branaire-Ducru is one estate where the 2010 will likely turn out to better than the 2009.

A very nice mixed fried rice.

2013 Sine Qua Non Grenache ♀. Super massive and extracted grape juice.

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

See the meat.

Giving her the bone!

2009 E. Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92. Deep red. Potent cherry, redcurrant and floral scents are given a musky, earthy touch by a hint of rhubarb. Sappy, sweet and broad on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering bitter cherry and raspberry preserve flavors and a touch of licorice. The clinging finish is shaped by silky, even tannins and given bite by a hint of cracked pepper.

Corn soup. Meat, peas, corn, carrots, egg. Super simple. Incredibly delicious. I don’t know what it was about this soup, both flavor and texture, but I had 3 bowls!

1994 Bodegas Muga Rioja Torre Muga. VM 94+. Bright, deep red. Expressive aromas of red- and blackcurrant, plum, tar, tobacco, and nutty, spicy oak. Sweet entry, then very concentrated and silky; really expands in the mouth. Strong acidity gives the flavors a penetrating, lively quality. Very long, subtle finishing flavors supported by firm but not harsh tannins. As suave as this extremely impressive wine is right now, it will be better for several years of additional bottle aging.

agavin: certainly my red wine of the night, as it had age and complexity. Really nice.

Lamb with green onions. A nice tender lamb.

2006 Inniskillin Vidal Icewine Niagara Peninsula VQA. GV94+. #1; COLOR-medium to dark golden; NOSE-pineapple jam exploding; apricot; mango; exotic; this is seductive; gorgeous nose; canned peaches; PALATE-huge viscosity; almost like cream; completely coats your palate; gorgeous pineapple; peach and apricot; the delicious factor is simply off the charts; virtually almost impossible not to like this; the fruit is fantastic; I would like a little more acidity, but this is delicious

Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, but VERY sweet and VERY fried.

2013 Larkin Cabernet Franc.
Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho. The shell was a bit chewy and tough, which detracted.

Overall, another fantastic meal. Tasty Duck isn’t the most adventurous SGV place, but they do an excellent job. They were super friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over a long period. Tonight was better than on some of the overcrowded Saturday’s when they don’t have as much bandwidth for us.

The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. Although I was disappointed in the hoisin tonight. Some other dishes, like the pork hock, and the XLB were amazing too. A few others just so so, like the shrimp. Tasty Duck is all about the duck.

Also, as usual for Chinese, the order of the food is so crazy from a wine perspective nothing really matches up right.

For more Hedonist adventures or

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: hedonists, Peking Duck, SGV, Tasty Duck

White Guys Can Cook Noodles

Jan13

Since I’m a noodle fiend, and Dan Dan Mein is one of my all time favorites, and a lot of my home cooking focuses on pasta (and pizza and gelato) I got it in my head to try making this amazing noodle dish at home — super authentically of course.

So I hunted around for recipes and came across this hard core one to use as my base.

For those of you that don’t know, Dan Dan Mein is the sort of “OG Sesame noodles.” But it’s so much more than the watered down version we get in the states. Ever wonder why sesame noodles are sometimes spicy? It’s because they derive from this dish, which in its true form is always hot. But it’s more than hot. Good dan dan is very complex incredibly aromatic, nutty, spicy, numbing, meaty, and a hefty bowl of chow.

Then before meeting my pal Sebastian out in the SGV for some Szechuan I stopped by the 168 Market and spent about an hour hunting down all the ingredients. I went so far as to make sure even normal items like garlic and peanuts were grown in China! Subtle things like the differences in vegetable breed can influence the flavor of a dish.
We start off making chili oil from scratch. This particular incredibly Szechuan oil is flavored with Szechuan peppercorn, star anise, cinnamon, and “regular” chilis.

Here are the Szechuan Peppercorns, which I learned were also known as Prickly Ash or sometimes Red Ash. They smell amazing (and strong) and have a citrus note and a numbing quality on the tongue.
Dried star anise, which smells like licorice. Oh, and the cinnamon.

Then the chili flakes, and peanut oil.

First try. Let it get too hot. Don’t do this (notice the brown color).

Next try went much better. You basically cook the peppercorns, anise, and cinnamon in the oil slowly to 325.
Then strain out that stuff and dump the regular chilis in and let it sit until it becomes super red and potent.

Next up we brown the meat for the dish. I actually made the noodles twice the first week, once with turkey (above) and another time with lamb (below).
The sauce for cooking the meat involves a mix of shaoxing wine.

The incredibly yummy (and salty) Szechuan sweet bean paste.

And some dark soy sauce (plus a little five spice powder)..

Then in with the browning meat you add sui mi ya cai. This mystery ingredient, which apparently is some kind of preserved mustard green, took me about 30 minutes to possibly locate in the market. None of the employees knew what it was. This “spicy preserved vegetable” was the closest thing I could find. Perhaps it’s the right stuff. Perhaps it’s a variant. It’s certainly preserved and certainly mustard green.

Here they are cooked together with the sauce, then set aside until the noodles are ready. As my friend Bryan, who tried my second batch, commented, the preserved vegetable makes it much more Chinese.

Next up we work on the noodle sauce which is more soy sauce and sesame paste.

Pretty!

And the five spice powder.

And the aforementioned Chinese garlic.

Mixed together.

Some more Szechuan peppercorns needed to be crushed to go straight into this part, so I used my killer mortar and pestle.

You blend it up.

Then incredibly dump a huge amount of that red chili oil in.

And keep stirring.

Meanwhile, some peanuts (also from China).

Chopped.

Then the noodles. The recipe called for Lanzhou noodles, which are flat and white. These turned out to be about the same as most of the restaurant dan dans.

They cook fast.

Then you put the sauce in the bottle of the bowl, dump in some noodles.

Layer on the meat mix, peanuts, and some chopped scallions.

It looks great above, but you need to mix it up.
Here is the fully mixed version you eat. It might not be a looker, but the dish is incredible and I was very pleased how it turned out. Just like restaurant dan dan, all the good stuff is at the bottom, the rich sauce, the meat chunks etc. The lamb version really kicked ass too (most dan dan uses pork). I also used more meat then most restaurants do and tried to keep the sauce under control so it didn’t get too soupy.

By: agavin
Comments (4)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, Cooking, Dan Dan Mein, noodles, san Gabriel valley, SGV, Sichuan, Szechuan cuisine

Say Hi to Shi Hai

Feb02

Restaurant: Shi Hai

Location: 1412 S Garfield Ave. Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 282-3888

Date: January 26, 2015

Cuisine: Cantonese Dimsum

Rating: Fun dishes, good, but dumpling skins too thick

My quest to try all the great dimsum houses in the LA area (mostly the San Gabriel Valley) continues with newcomer Shi Hai.

The name apparently means “sea world.” Hopefully no “blackfish” served here. 🙂

I brought only a 100mm macro lens and so capturing the dining room was a challenge. It’s sort of SGV high style 2015. This substantial wine nook betrays the recent Chinese interest in wine — even if all that Bordeaux and Cal Cab clashes hideously with the food!

Another nice pretty menu.

The usual tea.

We didn’t actually have to ask for mustard, and when we asked for water and soy sauce and vinegar we got 2 out of 3 on the first try! This is A+ service for an authentic dimsum house, some places you ask 3-4 times per item.

Shrimp dumpling (Har gow). The filling was good, but this dish betrayed Shi Hai’s biggest problem, their thick sticky shells. Getting these puppies out of the steamer intact was nigh on impossible so you ended up with a filling and a pile of shredded skin on your plate.

Shrimp and Bean Sprout Leaves Dumpling. I never find these “veggie” type ones as good as the meatier varieties. This also had the sticky skin problem too.

Surf clam and crab egg shrimp dumpling. I liked both the way these looked and the ocean flavors.

Octopus dumpling. Content-wise, this may have been just a Har Gow in disguise, dressed up as little octopi. But they sure are cute.

Shanghai juicy pork bun. Always a favorite. These weren’t the best XLB I’ve ever had, but they were tasty just the same. Here the dough thickness was reasonably in check.

Crispy cruller rice noodle. This is only the second time I’ve had the rice crepes with something friend inside (the first being at Elite). Weird, but it works, combining the soft and sticky textures with the crunchy. The thing inside was basically a tempura shrimp.

Baked BBQ Pork Bun. The flavors were good, but these felt a tiny bit soggy.

Roast Suckling Pigeon. This succulent little roast fowl is ironically paired with… Pringles! Despite that, it was a tasty little game bird. The skin was nice and crisp and the meat had a dark gamey quality I really liked.

The pigeon was served with mayo and salt.

Heads up! — shows of the 100mm lens to nice effect.

Sticky rice with lotus leaf.

The inside was a little wet, but the sausage was good.

Shi Hai Dan Dan Noodles. Now this is a little odd at a Cantonese place, but maybe it’s a nod to the popularity of Szechuan.

Either way, while it looked kind of wet, the flavors were deep, with a lot of sesame and that pleasant medium numb from real Schezuan peppercorn. I love this stuff.

Steamed sweet bun. How could anybody resist these little piggies? They were filled with some kind of dark taro/sweet bean mixture. No pork involved as far as I can tell.

Overall, Shi Hai was good but not great. I’d put it in the second tier of SGV dimsum underneath Elite, King Hua, and Sea Harbor, but in line with Lunasia and Shanghai #1 Seafood. It absolutely blows away what Downtown and Westside places I’ve tried, and is certainly a worthy destination. Shi Hai also has an interesting menu, and I’d like to go back and try another round or two of dishes. If only they tuned up their dumpling shells to be lighter and less gummy they’d be great.

It should also be noted that it’s just a short wander across the street for some excellent snow afterward!

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

The build out might be new, but it retains a modernized version of the old 80s Monterey Park Style — cove overload!

By: agavin
Comments (1)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: California, Chinese cuisine, Dandan noodles, dimsum, Monterey Park, san Gabriel valley, SGV, Shi Hai

Heavy Noodling at JTYH

Sep22

Restaurant: JTYH Heavy Noodle II

Location: 9425 Valley Blvd. Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 442-8999

Date: September 17, 2014

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Tasty

The SGV has every kind of Chinese food. JTYH specializes in homemade noodles and dumplings. For those of you not in the “noodle know” knife cut noodles are made by shaving a block of raw dough directly into boiling water with a sharp knife.

Heavy Noodle, lol. The sequel to Heavy Metal the Movie?

The decor rivals Crustacean and The Bazaar. Not. But the food is tasty and the prices astounding.

Uh oh, Yarom is ordering. Expect pig ears!

The menu.

1998 J. Rochioli Chardonnay South River Vineyard. Oxidized, and certainly not getting any better, but with an enjoyable custard vibe.

Pig ear w/ spicy oil. I told you so. This is two pig ear dishes in 4 days. I’m not a fan.

2012 Caspari – Kappel Enkircher Ellergrub Riesling Spätlese feinherb “Alte Reben”. Sort of half dry with a lot of asphalt.

Cold cucumber. Chinese pickles. These are fine.

2005 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. 93 points. Nice and sweet and nectar-like.

Smoked Chicken. You would not believe this is chicken. Tastes like ham!

From my cellar: 2001 Ulrich Langguth Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. Quite ripe – more Auslese in style – with a typical Mosel flavor profile. Enjoyable, and a good value for an ’01 Spatlese.

Celery. Yep.

2010 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. Lime juice, orange, apricot and apple. The sweetness of the pure fruit does show but it is cut through by very good acidity and it finishes very cleanly.

Beef roll. This “burrito” of vegetables and cured (pastrami-like) beef is pretty awesome.

From my cellar: 2002 Bouchard Père et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Les Cazetiers. IWC 92. Ruby-red. Highly aromatic nose combines dark berries, Cuban tobacco, smoke and game. Sweet, lush and fat, especially in the context of this vineyard, showing more texture than definition today following the racking. Best now on the very long, subtle finish, which features suave, sweet tannins and excellent firming acidity.

Boiled dumpling: pork w/ napa or leek. I’m not sure which dumpling Yarom ordered, but these had a tad more vegetable than I would have liked. Still, I ate three.

2009 Flying Goat Cellars Pinot Noir Rio Vista Vineyard. 91 points.

Shredded potato. This is a common central Chinese dish. Pretty darn yummy actually, particularly dipped i a bit of dumpling sauce.

2003 Flowers Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast. 91 points. Holding well with good fruit and good balance still. Nice red cherry fruit roll-up, compote strawberry and vanilla. Secondary flavor of toasted walnuts and almonds. Nice smooth wine, would drink now.

Szechuan Style Beef (I think). Some tasty beef in a red chili sauce with just a bit of spicy numbing peppercorn.

1997 Arrowood Syrah Saralee’s Vineyard. IWC 90. Ruby-red. Complex, musky aromas of raspberry, game, mint, nuts and woodsmoke. Ripe, layered and deep, with a pleasing pliancy and enticing flavors of raspberry, cola and smoky oak. Finishes with fine tannins and a persistent, subtle flavor of tangy raspberry.

Spicy Lamb Ribs. We’d be all set for passover, because this was more like lamb bone and chilies. It was tasty, but there was merely a hint of meat on them thar ribs.

2004 Saxum Syrah James Berry Vineyard Bone Rock. Parker 93-98. Made from a blend of 85% Syrah, 12% Grenache, and 3% Mourvedre, there are 500 cases of the 2004 Bone Rock James Berry Vineyard. It possesses a saturated ruby/purple color along with tight, restrained aromatics of blackberries, blueberries, and flowers, good acidity, fleshy, full-bodied flavors, and fine elegance, delicacy, and finesse … rare for a wine of this size and intensity. It will drink well for 10-12 years.

Corn. Chinese succotash!

2003 Pax Cellars Syrah Walker Vine Hill. Parker 94-96. The inky/purple-tinged 2003 Syrah Walker Vine Hill is a 552-case cuvee produced from a 12-year old vineyard planted on a southern slope in sandy goldridge soils. One of the estate’s silkiest, most opulent efforts, it is a stunning, enormously concentrated 2003 that tips the scales at 15.2% alcohol. Nearly 100% stems were utilized during its fermentation. A saturated purple color is accompanied by a massive blast of blackberries, cassis, and white flowers in this full-throttle, super-concentrated effort. There is a meaty-like richness in the mouth, as if one were chewing the wine rather than drinking it. Enjoy this impressive Syrah during its first decade of life.

Fried Pork Dumplings. These were the real deal. The filling was great and meaty. The covering was THICK!

2004 Dumol Syrah Jack Robert’s Run. Parker 95. The terrific, dense purple-colored 2004 Syrah Jack Robert’s Run is a 200-case cuvee that spent 18 months in French oak. Notes of melted tar, roasted peppers, meat juices, blackberries, and cassis emerge from this full-bodied, rich, flavor-filled, intense effort. Enjoy it over the next 10 years.

Hand-made noodles with preserved meat. Basically like pasta fresca with vegetables and sweet salami. Fabulously yummy though.

2006 Pride Mountain Vineyards Merlot. Parker 86. There are 5,000 cases of the 2006 Merlot, a blend of Sonoma and Napa fruit that includes 12% Cabernet Sauvignon. Its dark ruby/purple color is followed by subtle aromas of road tar, mocha, and sweet cherries, medium body, and austere, aggressive tannins that attenuate the finish. Drink this 2006 sooner rather than later as I do not believe the fruit is sufficient to hold up to the structure.

agavin: not sure we opened this, but it was on the table.

Dan Dan Noodle. You still it up. There was chili oil at the bottom. This is a pretty classic rendition. Quite nice with a little bit of heat.

Bok choy. Standard Chinese vegetable.

1997 René Renou Bonnezeaux Cuvée Zenith. 92 points. Opened and served immediately. Dark yellow to gold color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose of apricots, honey and a bit of tangerine. Dash of honey on the palate up front followed by a bit of lychee. Pretty light and somewhat nimble on the palate. Medium acidity, light to medium body. Drink over the short term, maybe the medium term.

Spicy Shrimp. Similar prep to the “ribs.” You ate the shells and that was fine, they were cooked down to a nice sweet crunchy state. A bit of peppercorn in here too. Very nice.

Shrimp fried rice. Classic.

2005 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ère Trie Clos du Bourg. VC 97. Light golden yellow color; almond, green apple, lanolin, white pepper, wet wool nose; rich, structured, deep, ripe apple, peach, mineral, almond, tart pear palate; long finish.

Cumin lamb. Here’s where all the meat went! These chunks were succulent and tender.

Beef fried noodle. More noodles, but again “hand-made” and again very good.

Food was extremely tasty at JTYH, and extremely reasonable. The feast was $28 a person with a huge tip. We didn’t actually get the “knife cut” noodles though (even though ordered) instead getting three types of the “hand-made” (which are more like a handmade spaghetti). I would have liked to try their knife cut, which are thicker and shorter (probably the same dough). I’ll just have to come back.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

or more crazy Hedonist dinners here!

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Auslese, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, JTYH Heavy Noodle II, knife cut noodle, Riesling, SGV, Spätlese, Valley Boulevard

Programmed by Andy Gavin