Restaurant: No. 1 Charcoal BBQ
Location: 112 N Chandler Ave #101, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 281-5288
Date: August 22, 2021 & March 13, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese BBQ Skewers
Rating: Fabulous food — Highly recommended for the adventurous
Yarom and I discovered this Chinese BBQ joint while exploring the area (and eating at a nearby Northern style place).
It’s around the corner from Garvey, not far from the lots of places I’ve frequented.
Inside is amusingly peculiar, the current Chinese BBQ place having clearly taken over a space that was once an 80s or 90s Japanese restaurant, complete with sushi bar and wood paneled tatami private dining rooms. In typical Chinese fashioned they didn’t redecorate. As far as I can tell most of the business in summer of 2021 is takeout.
The magic occurs here in this sloppy looking (but tasty) charcoal grill under the hood.
You can still see the sushi freezers on the bar. Everything is just cluttered with random crap.
We used this private dining room, which while a bit awkward to climb into was very cute and the atmosphere was way better than the messy front room and its constant stream of takeout customers.
The menu.
Western Chinese skewer powder.
Jellishfish — quite good, although it could have been tangier. Notice the “plates” that consist of styrofoam takeout containers ripped in half.
Tofu with century egg — delicious with awesome savory notes.
Cucumbers with slightly peanuty dressing.
House Special Beef — there was a delicious brown MSG sauce (pictured below).
Crack sauce.
Pig ears.
Cold lamb with house special sauce.
Cold sesame noodles.
Lamb “Casserole”. Not bad.
Shredded potato. Great.
Stinky Tofu. Stinky!
Spicy tofu sauce.
Dumplings with 3 ingredients. Typical boiled dumplings.
Spicy Crawfish — great sauce, hard to eat as usual.
Spicy “casserole” (aka Mala hot pot).
Extra spam.
Beef tongue
Lamb skewers. All these skewers had a lovely charcoal flavor and were sizzling hot and delicious. The awesome tablewares continue with some cheap paper plates.
Pork.
House special spare ribs — boney but incredible flavor.
Sausages — a bit sweet and awesome.
BBQ Leek — great.
Beef tendon.
Chicken Feet.
Fish Tofu — a touch sweet and spicy.
Lamb Brisket. Good enough we ordered seconds.
Cabbage with garlic — incredible. Really stunning cabbage dish.
King Oyster Mushrooms.
Enoiki Mushrooms.
Grilled BBQ Squid — a touch fishy but good.
BBQ Garlic!
Ball of Quail.
Reminds me a bit of:
Sliced potatoes.
Garlic with a side of eggplant. Also awesome.
Crispy Chicken Bones. Amazing sauce and crunch.
Mascarpone Coffee Crunch Gelato — A base infused with Mascarpone Cheese then blended with house-made Coffee Crunch — created by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #cheesecake #mascarpone #cheese #coffee #CoffeeCrunch #candy
Grapefruit Aperol Tarragon Sorbetto — Cold pressed Fresh Grapefruit juice from my garden, Aperol and fresh Tarragon! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Unique and bracing — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #grapefruit #aperol #tarragon
Strawberry Jam Gelato — an awesome dairly Strawberry base swirled with Strawberry Jam — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — sugar time! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #strawberry #jam
Our fun little room.
Our wines for the night.
No. 1 Charcoal is one of those surprising SGV finds that make the drive east so so worth it. Despite the amusingly “casual” (or ad hoc) hole-in-the-wall style of the restaurant and the crappy disposable “serving dishes” the food here was actually incredible. It was just full of flavor. Highly recommended for the adventurous.
A second visit in March of 2022 reconfirmed that this is a darn tasty place with a fun room.
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