Chinese Restaurants – Page 36

Ma Noodles House

August 23, 2016 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants

A couple of weeks back, I ran into an acquaintance, it was nice catching up a bit, and of course the conversation eventually turned to food. He told me about his new favorite Chinese spot named Ma Noodles House. Now for some reason I had a slight malfunction, maybe flashing back to Mama's Lu, so I asked him what regional style of Chinese food this place made? And got the weirdest look…..mainly because he wouldn't know a "Baozi from Bao Bao".

This place did indeed make regional Chinese food, from that province 6600 or so miles east of Shanghai, "Ab-cee-dee". Yep, I should have known, Ma's is an ABCDE ("American Born Chinese Dining Establishment"). And he was more of a quantity over quality kind of guy. But he did mention enjoying the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings here, which is a weakness of mine. So I decided to drop by and check them out.

Ma Noodles House is quite the hole-in-the-wall, quite tiny, and except for the kind of odd out of place swap meet "art" on the wall, could have easily been named something like "New Eastern Pearl Royal Golden Phoenix Panda Garden Restaurant".

The fryer and wok stoves on one side, a lowboy on the other with all the ingredients. For some reason, this place brought back memories of the "old" Noble Chef.

There's a prep area in the back, but this was a one man operation on my visit. The prices are very cheap; figures why "da guy" likes the place so much.

I went with the Pan Fried Crispy Noodle ($7.95) and an side of the Salted (Salt and Pepper) Chicken Wings ($3.50). I felt almost guilty paying so little. The gentleman working here was very nice, though they served me my food with a fork and spoon and had to go scrambling when I asked for chopsticks.

Since this was National City, I had visions of a nice Upside Down Pan Fried Noodle. But while the dish was humongous, it really didn't deliver.

The shrimp weren't bad, they dump them in the fryer briefly so it isn't over-cooked. The chicken, as is the norm with these type of places is quite dry. The "crispy noodles" were more crumbly, powdery, with a rather strong floury flavor. And let's not leave out the bland, gloppy, brown sauce.

For those who prefer large chicken wings; rejoice. I'm more about smaller wings with a great skin to meat ratio. These were pretty large wings; but the batter wasn't very good.

Thick, hard, and crumbly, it just isn't my thing. The flavor was too mild for this sort of chicken wing as well……on the bland side.

Man, I barely made a dent in those noodles. All of this for under $12. Still, I'm more of a quality over quantity kind of guy. So, in spite of the nice service and the cheap prices, this was going to be a one and done. Until one of the guys bought me lunch…..guess from where? You got it…… I got this; the Yang Chow Fried Rice ($7.95). Good god; this was basically three meals for me!

Again, the shrimp were nice, the chicken dry, and portion size huge. Unevenly cooked; the color wasn't uniform, there was no wok-hey, thank god for soy sauce.

And before folks start sending me angry emails again, we do enjoy certain ABCDE/Chinoy dishes, but it has to be done well. Though the prices are good here, there are places that just do it better. I hope they do well though…….this place would keep all those starving students out there well fed.

Ma Noodles House
3108 E Plaza Blvd
National City, CA 91950

Great Wow – A First Look

August 15, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Great Wow has closed

I'd been following the progress of Great Wow, from the first time I saw the handwritten cardboard sign in March, to actually seeing the sign go up in early July, to reading that the place was going to specialize in Northern Chinese Dumplings and Noodles. Wow. While I was somewhat excited, it was tempered a bit since the last jiaozi place that opened in san Diego was a disappointment. For some strange reason, more so than the Missus who was born and raised in Qingdao and we often joke that "dough is your destiny", I often think of jiaozi as true comfort food for me. It's important, the small things matter, it is almost a birthright. This was probably cemented by eating a ton of jiaozi while living in the SGV, having watched my MIL make it many times, even watching the Missus's Aunts make it during a family reunion in Qingdao.

So for me this means; you don't come to Great Wow for Kung Pao Chicken, nor the XLB……it's about the noodles and dumplings they make in the glass room…..

Last week Candice and I were free for lunch, so we met up at Great Wow. The interior is fairly simple, plain wooden tables, and super hard and rather uncomfortable wooden chairs.

The menus are basically paper pinned together and even though they've been open only a short time looks worn. There's a ton of marks and writing on the menu. But my basic favorites were easily found….though they were out of the pork and celery jioazi.

Candice and I started with two of the liang cai; cold dishes.

Both were a bit disappointing.

The Jellied Pork was very hard and for some reason the black vinegar based sauce seemed watered down; weak and one dimensional. Sad, because jellied pork and jellied mutton are favorites of mine.

There should be a crunch that leads to a bit of meatiness.

The Bean Curd Skin was very bland at first, until we realized that we had to mix it with the pool of sauce on the bottom.

All of this would be forgiven if the jiaozi was any good. And would you believe it; these were pretty good!

The jioazi were on the large side, if this were Beijing where you order jiaozi by batches of 25 at some places, you'd be lying on the floor after one order!

The Pork, Shrimp, and Chive came out first. The wrapper was good, quite thin, though I think the dough has been over-worked a bit as it didn't quite have the tenderness and stretch I like. But that's really splitting hairs. Lot's of meat in the filling, I mean lots of pork. The filling in these were a bit heavy handed with regards to the salt/msg, but were far from bland.

I preferred the Egg, Shrimp, and Chive, which were a bit lighter and you could make out the shrimp flavor.

You could tell that while the dough was perhaps worked by machine, that the final rolling was done by hand…the seal where the wrappers came together were as thick as the rest of the dumpling skin. Overall, these were quite good; probably the best I've had in San Diego.

Funny thing, after getting back to the office, I received a text from Xiāngjiāo….guess what she was having? Then PeterL sent out a text, he was also eating at Great Wow…but of course, in the typical PeterL way, he ordered XLB…..sigh…..

Of course, I rarely do just one visit if doing a post, so I soon returned to Great Wow. The young man working remembered me!

I placed my order and sat back. Remember how rather tattered the menu looks? Well, check out the soy sauce and vinegar dispensers? Only open a week or two and the place already looks like it's in the SGV……are sticky tables around the corner?

I started with the pork hock. The nice young man told me I could do half an order.

This was quite good, not too salty, with decent pork flavor, and rather tender. Nice on a day where the temps were peaking in the low 90's.

This time they had the pork and celery jiaozi.

The wrappers were even better this time around. The filling was nicely seasoned, edging on a bit too salty, but very plump and moist. Lot's of pork; it could have used more celery in my opinion, but hey, it's a meat eater's world these days. The jiaozi here are quite large; I was stuffed.

The free dessert is the typical White Fungus Sweet Soup (冰糖雪耳糖水) with dates. On my first visit it was way to sweet…this time around it was a nice end to a meal on a hot day.

Do you notice something missing? The first thing both "YZ" and the Missus said when they saw this was "where's the lotus seeds"?

Later that day I found out that Candice had returned the day before! Then later in the day Xiāngjiāo sent me photos….she had ended up back at Great Wow. Having spent half a year in Beijing, I think she misses a lot of these type of dishes.

I found the service, at least from the young man with glasses and the young girl working to be very nice. There are quite a few grand opening kinks to work out, but I'm sure they'll get things in line. I'm also hoping they add some additional dishes….not kung pao ji or Xiao long bao, that have true roots in the region to the menu.

Oh and I got 20% off on each of my visits too…..grand opening discount perhaps?

There are a couple of dishes that are favorites of the Missus on the menu, like Xiao Mi Zhou (小米粥 – millet porridge) on the menu. So I'm thinking we'll return when things cool down a bit.

And yes, the dumplings are good. But not as good as my MIL's….so at least we won't have her calling the place doing the "La Guan Xi" thing to find their secrets!

Great Wow
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Wow, Eater's done a post on Great Wow today too.

Sizzling Pot King

August 10, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

**** Sizzling Pot King is now Zhang Liang Malatang

I'd been meaning to visit Sizzling Pot King since I noticed they had replaced Qi Wei Kitchen back in December of last year.

But for some reason, I just wasn't very excited about eating here. Perhaps it was the very lackluster visits we had at Qi Wei and the menu didn't seem that much different at all. What finally got me visiting was meeting up with Xiāngjiāo and her hubby MichaelFC. We had drinks at Poseidon and XJ brought this along for the ride.

This was actually pretty good! Decent spice, some definite numbing (麻) going on. Not too salty, loved the frozen tofu, and tripe and tendon just seemed a good fit for this. Nice job XJ!

They had me take the leftovers home; the Missus really enjoyed it!

So guess where we went a few days later?

The place looks pretty much the same as Qi Wei, except for all the "stuffs" on the walls. Also, it seems the cooks eat pretty well here.

So here's the drill for us; Large Dry Pot ($30.99), with Beef Tendon and Tripe (you get two "meats" – $10.99 for additional, not worth the upcharge IMHO), Medium Spicy, Ma-la, with frozen tofu ($2.99 extra). Delivered over a heating element, just like hot pot, you give it a couple of good stirs to mix all the flavors together.

Seems on the pricey side; but consider that it's 2-3 meals for us, which breaks down to $10-15 a meal and I'd say it's not priced too bad. This is a total 180 degree turn from Qi Wei, from the decent spice….medium isn't too much; you can still make out all the flavors, to a decent numbing from the Sichuan peppercorn. The tendon has a nice texture, as does the tripe. The frozen tofu soaks up all of that chili oil based sauce. For some reason, the Missus really likes the potatoes and cauliflower in this. I'd love a bit more celery though.

Still, not bad.

So basically, this has turned into a nice take-out option for us. I also took Calvin and JohnF to lunch here, and even though we had John who destroyed a Bandejas Paisa with us, there were left-overs.

I did also try the Won Tons with Hot Sauce ($5.99), which was fairly mediocre, slightly spicy, but quite one dimensional, lacking the rather nuanced flavors and the "kǒugǎn", the "mouthfeel" if you will of really good wontons.

The sauce was also a bit too thin for me; I'm still looking for a good version locally.

In the end; this is sort of like comfort food for the Missus and I. Nothing fancy, but good grub that's great take-out….it gets even better the next day as the spice settles and that frozen tofu sucks up all the sauce. I think tripe, tendon, and intestine are probably the best meats, since beef and chicken would tend to dry out a bit.

The service can be rather uneven, but one of the young men there is quite nice. Not sure about some of the other dishes as I've never seen folks ordering anything other than the dry pot.

Sizzling Pot King
8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Midweek Meanderings – Mama Cinia Opens and Tasty Pot Coming Soon to Mira Mesa, Plus the Sign for Yakitori Hino is up.

July 27, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Filipino Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants

During my drive up to Bale, I noticed a few things in the Mira Mesa area.

Mama Cinia Rice & Noodles Opens in the Christy's Bakery Spot:

Yep, Mama Cinia. My sources tells me its pretty good, so I'll have to check them out soon.

9178 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, California 92126

Another Tasty Pot Coming Soon:

This one in the former Fuze Restaurant and Tofu Ka spot.

To go along with the location opening on Convoy.

9379 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

The Sign for Yakitori Hino is up:

The next shop in the Yakyudori Empire.

7420 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

You stay classy San Diego:

During a recent visit to Paris Bakery.

There were so many open parking spaces, and yet….. Go figure. Not even close to Paris Bakery, none of the other businesses open, just decided to park here. Actually saw the guy parked in the Handicap stall struggle a bit to get out.

Sunday Stuffs – Do Re Mi House Closes, Dede’s is Becoming “Facing East”, and What’s Going on with 99 Ranch Opening on Balboa

July 17, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Markets & Grocers

So last week, I noted all the changes in the Kearny Mesa/Clairemont Mesa area. Well this past week, there was more………..

Do Re Mi Houses Closes:

This was kind of a spooky one. I drove by around noon this past Wednesday and noticed the place wasn't open. I went in and took a look. There was a hand written "thank you for the support" note. Kind of sad considering I first visited here back in 2001 and first posted on the place in 2005. Over the years they seemed to have changed hands not less than three times.

What really made it spooky was that an hour or so later, I had "FOY" Sage tweeting me, letting me know Do Re Mi House had closed down.

While I thought the quality of the food at Do Re Mi House had fluctuated over the years, they had always provided a reasonable lunch option. I'm sad to see them go.

Do Re Mi House
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste M
San Diego, CA 92111

Dede's Becoming "Facing East"……

Or Something like that. I went into this strip mall because I saw the Notice of Ownership Change posted for the former Convoy Noodle House. I was shocked to see that Dede's had closed.

While over the years; I thought the food at Dede's had really gone downhill….I'm more of a quality over quantity kind of guy; it was sad to see the windows papered over. then I also read Faye's post as well. It looks like this place will become a Chinese Restaurant named "Facing East"?

4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Meanwhile Convoy Noodle House is Becoming "Submarine Crab":

Or at least that's what the sign says…..

Which is yet another, I think….crawfish chain from the OC?

4647 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So 99 Ranch is really going into the old Haggen Site on Balboa:

In spite of what Eater San Diego said, I always had my doubts since it seems they would be competing with themselves. But on a recent (I really don't shop there enough these days) visit to 99 Ranch Market I saw this sign:

So I decided to actually drive by that location which had nothing posted the last time and found these signs.

So there you go…..

5950 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92117

Midweek Meanderings – It is Great Wow Restaurant, FuAn Garden Changes Course, Prime Grill Soft Opening, and Marukai is no Longer a Membership Market

July 6, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Markets & Grocers

Quite a bit of stuff happening on "Da Mesa's".

It is Great Wow Restaurant:

Remember the somewhat cryptic hand written sign on cardboard I posted on several months back?

I had thought that it might have been a typo. But apparently it's not. Meet the soon to open Great Wow. My sources told me there's a Beijing connection on this one. Wow…..

In the former location of Goldfish World.

3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Fu An Garden Changes Course:

Well, I think it was inevitable. The folks that used to work at Ba Ren bugged out a while back and my last meal there was terrible. So meet Fuan Garden Seafood Restaurant.

Same source told me that there's a Jasmine connection with this one….so perhaps I'll temper any excitement I may have.

Fuan Garden Seafood Restaurant
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Ready for Prime Grill's Soft Opening?:

Back in January I noticed that the old (Blue) Korea House was becoming something named Prime Grill.

Then in April, Eater mentioned that this will be a "High End" Korean Barbecue. That might be something to get excited about! Passing by this past weekend I noticed a sign for a soft opening from July 11th. So there you go!

4620 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Marukai is No Longer a Membership Store:

At least the SoCal stores. As of July first. They replaced my card with one that acts like the typical supermarket discount card, but also allows you to accumulate points. Not sure for what, but I guess I'll find out.

Also of note, I was told that Marukai in Hawaii will be using a different system….so we'll see what happens when I travel back "home".

Marukai Market
8151 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111

Clearing Out the Memory Card: Revisits to Shan Xi Magic Kitchen and Spicy House

June 12, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

I finally had a chance to have a day off; so things seem rather hectic this weekend. Last night I crashed and burned at 8pm. So here's a COMC post for you. I'll have someplace new tomorrow!

Shan Xi Magic Kitchen:

My first couple of visits to Shan Xi Magic Kitchen were pretty good. Our coworker Lily who has since transferred is from Taiyuan and she really wanted to have lunch at Shan Xi Magic Kitchen before I left on my trip. So the trio of YZ, Lily, and myself found a day where we all had times on our calendars. I gotta say, things weren't quite as good this time around, except for the Yang Rou Pao Mo, which was actually better. Some of the seasoning was out of balance and the service was rather slow.

The best items were the eggplant and the yang rou pao mo.

Shan Xi Magic Kitchen
4344 Convoy St,
San Diego, CA 92111

Spicy House:

It had been a while since I last at Spicy House, but my good friend Akira and his lovely wife Diana were in town. I hadn't seen them in nearly two years, when we all last ate at Spicy House, which Akira really likes, so why not? We made better choices this time, but I gotta say; even though I buy into the adage that "oil is the pathway to flavor", some of the dishes were borderline greasy. Especially that Shui Zu Yu (water boiled fish) and nothing really had enough zip.

I actually think the intestines with chilies might have been the best executed item as it had some of that "ma-la" thing going.

It could have been a bit crisper, and was slightly offal-y, but not bad.

I actually don't mind the Zi Ran Yang Rou (cumin lamb) here, but it needs a bit more cumin, is cut too thick, and needs a bit more of the nice flavor of the wok.

Still, it had been two years since I've seen Akira and Diana, whose wedding I attended in Ciudad Obregon and it was great seeing Akiko and her hubby, that food was really secondary. I truly had a wonderful time.

Spicy House
3860 Convoy Street #105
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope you had a great weekend.

Clearing Out the Memory Card – Revisits to Village Kitchen, Thai Papaya, and Sushi Yaro

June 7, 2016 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, Thai Restaurants

Man, it's been quite busy since we've returned from our (all too short) trip. I've had to work everyday, so I'm starting to feel it. So here's another one of those COMC posts of places you already know.

Village Kitchen:

The Missus requested Village Kitchen a few nights before leaving for Lima.

We tried a couple of the newer dishes like the "Green Vegetable Cooked the Old Way", which, in spite of the preserved vegetables was very bland, and the Intestines with Chilies and Bamboo Flavor, which tasted really good, but I'd have preferred the intestines being a bit more crisp.

The best dish was our old favorite the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg .

There's an interesting story about the folks here…..one day I might get around to sharing it.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Thai Papaya:

**** Thai Papaya has closed

Another favorite of the Missus, as long as they keep serving up the Som Tom Khai Kem; the papaya salad with Salted Egg, which the Missus pounced on so quickly, I never got the chance for a shot.

And the Spicy Thousand Year Old Eggs.

Another favorite of hers.

They actually had Roast Duck Larb on this visit.

Thai Papaya by Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

Sushi Yaro:

**** Sushi Yaro has closed

DW has been doing some great consulting work for us…..but she's from Missouri and had never had raw fish ever in her life. She does enjoy a bit of spice in her food and in spite of being terrified of some of the stuff I eat, is quite game….she had her first ramen that didn't come from a package a few weeks back, crawfish, raw oysters….but she was still terrified of raw fish. So I figured, since she loves rice, why not have same make her a Hwe Dup Bop. Knowing she was really nervous, he put the Makisu up around the prep area so she couldn't see anything, just to make her a bit more apprehensive…….you gotta love Sam!

Anyway, she really enjoyed her meal….though the look on her face when I had to explain what various things were….like masago; oh, and that cube thing was tofu. And that nice crunchy green vegetable was seaweed.

Aaah the things we take for granted. It's always nice to introduce folks to new experiences.

Sushi Yaro
7905 Engineer Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Northern Chinese Restaurant – Rosemead (LA)

May 27, 2016 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Kirk is on vacation, Cathy is doing bunches of things, so Ed (from Yuma) has today's post on an unusual eatery in San Gabriel Valley.

I had been researching restaurant possibilities for Tina and my trip to LA, and I was intrigued by a short post that Kirk had written back in August, 2009, about the Northern Chinese Restaurant. It was his second restaurant of the day, so he sampled only a few dishes, but hinted that he would be back. If he ever went back, he never told us readers about it.

Tina and I were looking for something different, something we'd never had before, so this place seemed intriguing and its location just down Valley Boulevard in Rosemead was close to our hotel:

The interior, with only about 14 tables, was clean and attractive. Of course, I wondered what a faux rococo pastoral tapestry was doing on the wall in a Chinese restaurant, but it’s certainly better than a bare wall:

We had arrived a little before 6 PM, by the time we left every one of those 14 tables had customers, sometimes large family groups. Tina and I were the only non-Asians in the place, and maybe the only people there who didn't have family ties to northern China. Nonetheless, we were treated well and the menu had clear translations for each of the over 200 dishes available. It was easy to point to what we wanted on the menu, so there was no confusion in the ordering.

The first dish to arrive was the Dried Tofu with Hot Pepper:

Talk about something different that we never had before! Those pale ribbons are not pasta, but strips of dried tofu. The light sauce had a mild pork flavor and the jalapeno slices added a nice spice and crunch to the dish.

Next was a huge bowl of Sour Napa with Pork Belly Soup:

In addition to the suan cai and pork, there were also chunks of frozen tofu and at the bottom of the bowl long transparent noodles.

For me and Tina, this was true comfort food. You can give pork and sauerkraut a different name and throw in some tofu and noodles, but it is still pork and sauerkraut, a combination that brings back memories of my childhood. The sour cabbage had been prepared perfectly so that the finished dish was sweetly sour, the mild tang cutting through the richness of the meat.

A cold dish, the Spicy Cucumber then arrived at the table:

This simple dish was a perfect palate cleanser – salty, garlicky, spicy, and crisp.

When I thought I was finished ordering, the young man wondered if we wanted rice, so I asked if there was something more typical of northern China that he would recommend, and he pointed to Smoked Meat and Pancake. So I ordered that also:

As soon as I saw it, I realized that this was a dish which Kirk had really enjoyed back in 2009. Of course he had called it by its real name, Xun Rou Da Bing, and of course we really enjoyed it in 2016.

The pancake was like a yeasty flatbread with a bit of chew and a nice crusty exterior. We happily would have eaten the bread by itself, but the dark bean paste sauce was wildly good and deeply flavored. The smoked pork was mild and okay, but if you put it and some scallion strips on top of a wedge of pancake slathered with sauce, you ended up with a very very tasty slice of Northern Chinese pizza:
But we weren't finished yet. The last dish to hit the table was the one that turned out to be our favorite overall, Cumin Toothpick Lamb:

The numerous chunks of gamy lamb were all speared with toothpicks. Some pieces were very tender and some a little bit chewy and gristly. The meat, tossed with stir fried onion, was flavored by abundant chili flakes, ginger, cilantro, sesame seeds, and especially cumin seeds. The combination was masterful.

Of course, as you have probably already figured out, we ordered way too much food even for two hungry people. We joked that we needed some starving imaginary friends to help us finish. We did eat most of the smoked meat and pancake in the restaurant, but we still had tons of leftovers. The cold lamb was still incredible two days later.

For us, this was more than just a different and interesting meal, it was a real feast.

And a reasonably priced feast:
The next day, we went to the Getty Museum and kept crossing the paths of a couple of young Chinese women. As we were leaving, we found ourselves waiting for the same elevator, and I asked if I could take their picture. Kindly, they said yes:

Afterwards, we chatted a bit and I learned that the young lady on the left was from Shanghai and the one on the right was from further north. "Beijing?" I asked.

"No, north from there." So I said that Tina and I had just eaten at a northern Chinese restaurant and had dishes like sour cabbage and pork.

"Yes," she said, "that's where I'm from."

Seafood Palace Née Seafood Village – Temple City (SGV)

May 26, 2016 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Seafood, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

While Kirk is out of the country, Cathy posts the most, but today Ed (from Yuma) posts about an old favorite with a new name.

Tina had some slack time at work, so she and I drove up to LA for a few days. During the day we went to LACMA, the Getty, and the Huntington where we especially enjoyed the Chinese Garden:

We stayed at the Hilton on Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel. That meant a lot of windshield time to LACMA and especially the Getty, but it also meant that we could have dinners in the San Gabriel Valley, which is a very good thing.

In particular, we wanted to go to Seafood Village in Temple city where we ate several times in the past, but that restaurant (as well as the one in Monterey Park) has been renamed Seafood Palace. Had the quality changed? In addition, we’d always ordered the special deep-fried crab, an amazing dish, but this visit we wanted to see what else the kitchen could do. We went there twice for dinner.

Both times we parked in the large lot behind the restaurant and entered through the back door:

One evening, we ordered a bottle of white wine; Seafood Palace had only two white wines, but we were happy with the Emmolo Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc:

It was complex, medium bodied, and dry – remarkably sophisticated with a very fair markup.

The first dish we ordered, the crab and fish maw soup, arrived in a large attractive bowl:

Wonderful soup. Imagine an egg drop soup with crab flavored broth packed with almost chewy, semi-gelatinous, and mildly flavored fish maws (air bladders). So good we each had three little cups:

This squid dish, salty baked squid I think it's called, really doesn't look baked:

The very light and somewhat salty crust has a bit of a crispy crunch and a touch of chili heat. The squid itself was remarkably tender. The tasty cephalopods were topped with slices of jalapenos and scallions and were served with white pepper and red vinegar.

The garlic fried snow fish (alias black cod, sablefish, butterfish) had an equally light breading and was moist, rich, and properly flaky:

Very well prepared. Not greasy at all, the fresh flavor of the fish accented with garlic.

One of our favorite dishes was the chiu chow scallops and asparagus:

Chiu Chow (various spellings) refers to cookery in the style of Chaozhou (various spellings), a city at the northern coastal apex of Guangdong province. In many ways the cuisine is similar to Cantonese but shows distinct Southeast Asian influences.

The asparagus was thick, fresh, moist, and cut perfectly. The large sliced scallops balanced the vegetable well and the mildly spicy sauce brought everything together. Even the scallions and roasted spinach leaves made small contributions.

We also loved the oysters cooked with scallions and ginger:

Scallions are often underappreciated, but here the fresh green onions became the main vegetable. I also liked the numerous oysters, mildly funky with that taste that reminds me of estuaries or small backwater coves. The ginger likewise was abundant, and the presentation emphasized the similarity of knobby and irregular ginger roots and bumpy and uneven oysters. Sort of a culinary pun.

The braised chiu chow duck was a little more problematic:

Every piece of duck was a bony piece of duck. The sauce was strongly flavored with ginger and leek, but I detected a slight odd herbal note and cornstarch. The hot pieces of duck were also hard for me to eat with chopsticks, lips, teeth, and tongue alone. The next day, however, in the privacy of our hotel room, Tina and I used our hands to devour the pieces of cold leftover duck, so I guess the duck was pretty good after all.

On one visit, we had the house special fried rice:

It was interesting, permeated with seafood flavors but light in texture. There were small clouds of egg white, thin slices of asparagus, scattered shards of crab, and occasional bits of shrimp. The rice matched well with the food, but it was the only thing that seemed kind of high-priced ($13.99).

Overall, however, Tina and I were delighted with Seafood Palace. The service was generally good even though the young man serving our wine didn't seem quite sure how to do it; nonetheless, he and the other servers consistently did well. If you want to see costs of the two meals etc., here is meal #1 :

#2:

Thanks for reading.