A few months back, what is now several road trips ago, we decided to head on back to one of our favorite lunch restaurants in Santa Barbara County. Instead of making it a single over night stay, we decided to stretch things out into three nights. We'd be doing a bunch of shopping along the way and be able to take our time. We'd spend the first night at the huge Courtyard by Marriott again, then head off the next morning.
We started off early, with thoughts of hitting up Canton Restaurant – Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ again. But we had gotten an early start and the Missus changed Her mind and suddenly requested a visit to Brodard. Brodard! I told Her that Brodard had moved since we last visited over a decade ago(!). Cathy has visited the "new" (it's all relative) location a couple of times.
We arrived a shade past 9am.
The place was almost empty, with one two top occupied.
The restaurant is quite large, with a dedicated takeout area. The space is modern and clean.
I could never have imagined Brodard being this quiet.
Service was quite pleasant and relaxed.
Of course we had to order the Nem Nuong Cuon. These days you can order just two rolls if you want for $2.50 each!
These seem a little smaller than I recall, but the sausage was nicely grilled and the proportion of ingredients seemed right, so one could enjoy the salty-sweet-savory flavors of the "bouncy" nem nuong and the crunch of the crisp egg roll wrapper. The wrapping was done perfectly, neither too loose nor too tight which would make the rolls tougher, creating what I'd call "bad botox spring rolls". The sauce was as before slightly sweet-sour, with garlic and umami tones. I does seem a bit more watered down than I recalled.
We also got the Banh Khot ($14.95).
I did notice that one of the shrimp was "MIA". Still, the Missus enjoys the crisp rice flour cup/shell, which has a hint of coconut. The shrimp were plump and tender, nicely cooked. These are quite a treat with the mung beans, pickled veggies, the anise-citrusy tiet to (perilla), and the slightly sweet-chili-fish sauce concoction.
We're glad we stopped by and will make sure to visit more often.
Brodard Restaurant
16105 Brookhurst St.
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Hours:
Daily 8am – 9pm
We then headed off to the SGV. We did some shopping at the TS Emporium off Rosemead (I'll do a bunch of shopping/misc posts later) and some other stops before heading to the Courtyard. We were lucky enough to be able to check in early and spent the rest of the afternoon napping.
We hadn't made any plans for dinner. We were just going to play it by ear. It was a Wednesday, so we didn't expect things to be too crowded. The Missus wanted to walk to our dinner destination, so we headed down Atlantic, pausing at Daikokuya, then crossing over and taking look at a couple of places. We crossed back over Garvey and noticed Wing Hop Fung in the strip mall that housed 99 Ranch Market.
We had passed by many times over the years, thinking this was something along the lines of TS Emporium. But once entering….whoa….
The Missus made a beeline for the teas.
And really took Her time checking out the Pu-Erh. Well, this was no cheapo shop.
It seemed like some good quality products here.
And in case you have $1800 lying around.
And the wine/liquor section was no less intense.
They also carry a good selection of Kavalan, one of our favorite brands. My favorite over time has been the Amontillado Sherry Single Cask Malt Whiskey. Our visit to the Kavalan Distillery affirmed that it is still my favorite. You can get that here. It's ahem, "only" $549 a bottle. I'll just admire it from afar for now….
We enjoyed our time in Wing Hop Fung, it looks like the herbs/tea are high quality and the selection is vast. I understand that for many years Wing Hop Fung had a very popular store in LA's Chinatown. Though I really don't recall that.
Wing Hop Fung
725 W Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
We walked out of the store suffering from a bit of sticker shock. We decided to get something comforting and simple for dinner. We had passed a Taiwanese place right around the corner named Mandarin Noodle House many times over the years . It had been around back in the days when we lived in the SGV! I was really missing the pork chops I'd enjoyed in Taiwan, so I thought it would a great time to finally stop by. We turned the corner and there it was.
The restaurant is simply adorned, a typical mom-and-pop type establishment that immediately made us comfortable. The prices seemed so reasonable.
The gentleman working was nice and efficient. Ordering was a breeze as we immediately set our sights on two dishes.
Of course I wanted the Pork Chops. At $14.95, this seemed a bargain for these times.
The rice was decently cooked, the pickled greens were fine. The soy sauce egg had been cooked to death, the yolk dry. I enjoyed the Taiwanese spinach. The pork chops had a good amount of pepper, but not enough five spice flavor, was on the salty side, and really tough and chewy. Sadly, it did not remind me of Taiwan.
The Missus got the Pig's Feet ($14.95).
Which came with the same cooked to death soy sauce eggs. But after that, things got so much better. The wonderful porky-sweet-savory-soy based sauce had been poured over the rice. Oh man, talk about comforting! The pigs feet had been cooked perfectly; still intact, but the skin was so tender, the flavor of the cooking liquid had permeated every nook and cranny of the trotters. Once the skin was off, the meat fell of the bones, porky deliciousness. We got a winnah here!
By this time, folks had started coming into the restaurant. Different nationalities, all classes, from guys in workwear and boots speaking Spanish, to three guys in suit and ties, an older couple who knew the guy working. All converging on this little business, it was great to see. Looks like Mandarin Noodle House might be what I call a "thread in the fabric" of this neighborhood!
Mandarin Noodle House
701 W Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Hours:
Daily 1030am – 9pm
And yes, more pineapple cake to carry back with us. 
Since I arrived before 11, I took a stroll around the strip mall. It was quite interesting. Back in 
This was a fairly straight-forward bowl. The broth had a decent beefiness, hints of five spice, and was not as spicy as it looked. The broth was not very rich either.
Man, this as a mistake. The pork, which seemed like strips of super lean, pounded pork chop were really tough, almost hard and dry. The batter was on the chewy side as well. The strips were lightly seasoned and not particularly spicy. I ended up using the dried chilies and a big splash of chili oil to help me consume this. I had a ton of it left over.
In retrospect, the egg was also a mistake, it was ice cold, the yolk severely overcooked and dry.
I don't know if they went easy on me, but this wasn't particularly spicy…I mean, it did have some heat, I actually enjoyed the funk induced broth, which was lightly permeated with the flavor of the "fat intestine". The broth edged on the salty side but was by far my favorite of the three visits. I enjoyed the offal-ly, funky, earthy pork bung. Yes, it was a bit chewy, but in a pleasant way.
It turns out that in December, we had time to decorate Rose Parade floats on three occasions from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and wanting a nice meal before heading home in traffic, we decided instead of driving aimlessly to look for a place to eat, we would return to Tam's. The Mister began reading directions from the phone (since I don't know how we got here the first time) and at one signal light, noticed 
It turns out there is an "Afternoon Tea" menu offered daily from 3-5 and we were just before 5 and were able to order from this special menu. 
Y1.- Wonton Noodle Soup ($12.99). A very large bowl of a not-salty but deep flavored pork based broth filled with ten thin-skinned wontons, each filled with meat and shrimp. Bok choy and springy noodles filled this bowl. Very filling and flavorful.
The Mister decided to order the Y10. – Deep Fried Chicken Wings with Salt & Pepper ($12.99). Four large, meaty drums and four large meaty flats, fried to a delightful crunch while lightly coated in salt, pepper and topped with garlic, chili and green onion and not really spicy. 
This Afternoon Tea menu, just like the Breakfast Menu, includes a beverage. The lemon tea was great- a very strong tea with lemon slices and the coffee, served with a small pitcher of Black & White brand evaporated milk were kept constantly refilled.
The interior is kept clean and everyone seems very organized. We were helped by at least five different people after being seated. 
Mabo Tofu ($15.95) was a hefty serving. The soft tofu was plentiful and added a calming touch to the spicy pork based sauce. It was good, definitely made with quality ingredients but missing a bit of saltiness (we both added soy sauce from the table) or maybe the 'umami' that The Mister enjoys in other Mabo sauces. Still, there were leftovers. The large bowl of rice was $3.75. A pot of hot tea was $2.25 per person.
My 'baseline' order, vegetable Egg Foo Young ($16.95). I always enjoy seeing how different chefs prepare this common dish. The version here was filled with vegetables (peas, carrots, onions, mushrooms and a few bean sprouts) and the pancakes were nicely eggy. Crisply fried and covered in a not too salty gravy with some more peas, carrots, mushrooms and onion, the crunch lasted for the majority of the meal. 
We had to ask for chopsticks.
Green Onion Pancake ($5.75) is always nice to share. Flaky layers with a light crunch and a delicate spring onion flavor to the (not oily) pastry.
Spicy Sesame Wonton ($12.50) was another great sharable choice. Most of the other tables had large steamed buns delivered and these more delicate wontons had a great pork and vegetable flavors as well as a pleasant chile based sauce which was used for dipping. Complimentary heat, not numbing.
Beef Chow Mein with Pickled Vegetable ($14.99). The beef was tender and not chewy with a nice salty flavor, probably imparted by the pickled vegetables, which also had a pleasant bitter undertone. The noodles were properly cooked and the other vegetables added a good texture to each bite.
Hot Tea ($3.99). I always order tea and must say the quality of this particular pot was excellent. Fresh, flavorful and just right.
Looking at the dumplings gave me pause. Look at the color; it's very "light", and as I thought, these hadn't been fried long enough and were hard and chewy, rather than crisp. The tops should be somewhat pliant with a slight pull to it. These were a bit on the brittle side. The filling was decently seasoned, but had too much napa cabbage for my taste.
This was pretty bad; the "skin" was hard and brittle. The filling seemed to be half cabbage, the pork mealy, dry, and was quite tasteless.
So, I hunkered down and took a sip of the broth and shook my head. It was really thin, lacking in beefiness, with just a hint of metallic-anise tones. It was in need of more richness. At least it wasn't salty….but on second thought it could have used more sodium and white pepper.
I would skip the "chili sauce" which wasn't particularly spicy, just kinda oily.
