Chinese Restaurants – Page 51

Xi’an: The Army of Terracotta Warriors and the Dumpling Banquet from De Fa Chang Restaurant (德发长)

September 1, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

Since we were in Xi'an you knew we weren't going to miss a visit to the famous Terracotta Army, located in the Lintong District about an hour's bus ride (40 km) out if Xi'an. In fact, even huge morning downpour and the incessant drizzle wasn't going to stop us from visiting….. it did help that our hotel loaned out umbrellas for free. We managed to catch bus 306 and arrived outside the parking lot of this world renowned archaeological site…..the drizzle had dampened the spirits of the many hawkers and vendors and we made it to the front gates unscathed if a bit soggy.

There are three main pits and we'd recommend starting in reverse order, from the smallest (pit 3) to the largest. This increases the dramatic effect of the visit.

Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China must have been one heck of a force of nature and a pretty amazing individual being credited with starting the Great Wall, unifying China, and starting the national system of roads. Of course, he was also known as a brutal and tyrannical ruler who ordered the destruction of all Confucian and non-"scientific" texts, and supposedly buried 460 scholars alive for having the forbidden books. All of the great building came at cost of hundred of thousands of lives……no wonder the emperor felt he needed a large army to protect him in his next life!

The actual discovery of the army is an amazing one; in 1974 a group of farmers digging a well struck something about 15 meters down…. it was a head….but as time would tell, not just any head! The rest as they say is history, though I'm always interested to know what "fame and fortune" these poor farmers found in later years, and found this interesting article.

We started our visit in the museum to the right of the entrance. The most interesting item was a replica of the bronze horses and chariot found near Qin Shi Huang's tomb(about 2 km west of Terracotta Army), along with photos of how it looked at the time of discovery.

We started at Pit 3, the smallest excavation, it is thought to be the "command center" of the army, though strangely, we saw nothing recognizable as a commander or general. Perhaps the Emperor thought himself to be the commander?

Also, many of the soldiers are missing heads in this pit. Experts have surmised that perhaps grave robbers had broken into this pit and stole the heads, or perhaps vandals broke in at an earlier time and destroyed them. There are a total of 68 soldiers in this pit.

For many, Pit 2 is the most interesting as it features the 1300 or so warriors, horses, and chariots in various military formations.

What I found most interesting about this pit were the remnants that were unrestored, showing the shards of terracotta that were reassembled…..being that I was never much good at jigsaw puzzles, I can't fathom the work it takes to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Pit 1 is pretty amazing. The building is the size of a airplane hanger and lines of terracotta soldiers stand almost as far as the eye can see……

The hall is over 19,000 square yards and you can't help but be awed by the amount of work it took to build this army.

According to what I've read, every face is unique and was based on an actual Qin soldier.

This is a definite must see…….

Feeling great we headed back to Xi'an catching the bus in the parking lot of the museum……it was interesting as the bus driver knew most of the folks getting on and off the bus, he'd stop without them evening pulling the bell cord.

We thought that we should get something special to eat, it just felt right . We got off the bus and sloshed our way back to the mall across from the Bell Tower, again crossing under the streets and ending up on the wrong side of the road! De Fa Chang, right across from Tong Sheng Xiang was recommended for their dumpling banquet.

The display on the first floor looked quite impressive…..

We were ushered quickly to the busy second floor, ordered our dumpling banquet, and our food started arriving very quickly….

Starting with some "appetizers" which were no big deal……..

The mushroom based soup was very bland…..

The pastry were cold, hard, and somewhat greasy…..

The steamed dumplings started appearing, most were very uneven in flavor, sometimes cold inside, oddly bland, waxy, etc, etc, etc……

One that stood out was the goose dumpling, which had a nice gamey flavor and a hint of spice.

Many of them looked quite pretty………

But we were severely underwhelmed…….

Until we got the one item we ordered a la carte, the Dry Cooked Mushroom, a dish that we loved so much, I've been making it at home. This one was excellent, earthy, with a touch of sweetness and heat. There was also some Sichuan Peppercorn in this which was a nice touch.

We could really see the potential of the kitchen with this dish…..

Unfortunately, the next item out was the Jiaozi, which were terrible……

Whomever had made this dough had over-worked it….I have a feeling they made it in a large stand mixer and went to town. The wrappers were very brittle with little stretch to it. The filling was on the bland side…the Server gasped when the Missus asked for black vinegar then used it as a dipping sauce. I guess they don't eat them that way in Xi'an.

The last item (thankfully) arrived soon there after, a little bowl over heating element.

Opening the top of the pot didn't reveal much….a pale broth with some greens and a wolf berry or two…..

But soon, as the broth came to a simmer, mushrooms and tiny dumplings rose to the top…..

This was not bad….the broth light in flavor.

Much like the snack banquet in Nanjing, htis proved to be a lot of premade dishes with little attention to detail. We could tell that the folks cooking had some skill, but it was not put to good use in mass producing these dumplings. Still, all was not lost since Jia San wasn't a long walk away!

Thanks for reading!

Xi’an: The Muslim Quarter

August 27, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

In my post on the Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San, I mentioned the Muslim Quarter. Located behind the Drum Tower, the Muslim Quarter and the Xi'an Mosque was first mentioned in imperial records dating back to 742 AD.

Walking past the Drum Tower and down Bai Yuan Men Jie, the main street, you'll start to notice as subtle change in dress, women with their hair covered in scarves, men looking a bit less "Han" in appearance. The Missus notes that even the language here was different.

Bai Yuan Men Jie is lined with shops. Many of them selling dried fruit, nuts, and other items that Xi'an is well known for….being that Xi'an was the Eastern terminus of the Silk Road, perhaps some of these items have a long history.

In one of the shops I came across the sesame and nut stuffed dried peppers we had in a dish in Jinan, One of the Missus's foodie uncle's had mentioned we'd be seeing this in Xi'an. I had a taste and man, this was pretty spicy….back of the throat spicy that got me coughing pretty good.

Quite a few snack shops along the street as well.

This one served up a bunch of different fried dough……..

Which was actually pretty greasy and tasted rancid!

If you really want to see the "real action", it's all located on the side streets that branch out from Bai Yuan Men Jie.

This is where you'll see all of the produce, meat, and other vendors. We were told that there are folks who are raised, married, and die, who almost never leave this tiny enclave…… I'm not sure it's true, but it's quite a story.

The smells are intoxicating, there always seems to be a pot of something simmering or boiling over some pretty rustic stoves putting out some major heat.

And there were times where it didn't seem like we were in China…..

And of course, this was where most of the food stands were….like this one making Rou Jia Mo, often called "Chinese Hamburger" in signs, but more like a meat stir fry in pita bread. This stand was quite popular…..

It was pretty amazing the amont of heat that came out of this stove…….it looks simply like charcoal in a hole, but there is a fan contraption underneath.

As well as a bellow set-up……so things can get pretty hot.

I kinda enjoyed the Rou Jia Mo…

Though things get a bit crowded in the Muslim Quarter during the day, it was still pretty relaxed .

However, when the sun started going down……

Things behind the Drum Tower start heating up…..the crowds descend on the Muslim Quarter and it gets quite crowded.

I had to find areas to take a break from the mass of humanity at times.

I'm not a big fan of crowds, but we had to check things out because this was when all the grills came out!

The alleyways were full of little stands, all in turn filled with customers chewing away on skewers of yang rou chuan.

It was really amazing and somewhat alarming watching cars attempting to drive down the packed alleyways, but we saw no accidents.

I guess we enjoyed the Muslim Quarter, as we returned there on every day of our stay in Xi'an…….

Getting lost and wandering down the small streets that were like branches growing from the trunk that was Bai Yuan Men Jie.

Luang Hai Ky returns to Convoy

August 23, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

*** LHK on Convoy has closed again

Back in July I noted that Luong Hai Ky had returned to its former spot and had considered dropping by. But it was just too darned hot for Mi for me (no pun intended). I also figured that the fare would be about the same as the Mira Mesa location and the last few visits to the Convoy shop. If you are at all familiar with how the broth used to be before the original owner past away, you'd probably be as blase' as I was…..

Still it was only a matter of time before I visited……

There was a certain eeriness to entering the restaurant and seeing it looking exactly the way it was before……like nothing changed.

That may be comforting to some; but to me it was just kinda strange.

LHK had always been on the high side with regards to Mi Gia, so I was surprised to see $4.99 lunch specials on the menu.

So I decided to order the Won Ton and Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($4.99).

The broth at LHK has always been on the saltier side, but before there used to be a touch of savory, almost seafood flavor to it……which is no longer. Still, it doesn't lack for flavor….it's only that it is now mostly salty which is better than bland. The won ton and dumpling are the status quo for these type of shops, worked and hard, something I've grown used to over the years. I'm not going to go all (as my friend Peter says) "dumpling Nazi" over the stuff here. It's cheap eats….. and I'd say worth $4.99. The portion size did strike me as being a bit smaller than the usual…but then again, LHK was never known for huge portions.

A couple days later the weather had cooled even more, so I decided to drop by and try the Beef Sate noodle dry ($6.80).

I'd had the Beed Sate Noodle Soup at LHK before, an underwhelming experience, but felt that I should have it dry (Kho) just to see. This was an error on my part. Other than a mild spiciness the flavor fell flat…there was so little of that savory sate flavor going on, the meat was on the tough side….too much Thai basil killed everything else…. I ended up removing it. Some tomatoes and more onions replacing all that iceberg lettuce would have been nice as well.

And at almost 7 bucks, I just didn't feel that this was a good value at all being on the small side portion wise.

I'll stick with the $4.99 lunch special for now……

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

You can read Kirbie's post here.

Xi’an – Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San (aka XLB from Jia Brother’s)

August 10, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an, Xiao Long Bao

Most of the time I'll do our travel posts in chronological order….well, because it's the most logical I guess. But looking at the photos of the Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San made me kinda skip to our meals at two of the locations. We actually ate the Guan Tang Baozi, unlike the Shanghai style soup only Baozi, these were like Xiao Long Bao….and just about one of the best things I ate on our trip to China. In fact we ate GTB (sorry can't help the abbreviation thing) three times! The Missus just couldn't get enough.

I've heard that Jia San has several locations, we ate at two of them in the bustling Muslim Quarter in Xi'an. A stop at Jia San was a must based on the recommendations from my MIL's classmate. One location, the one we ate at twice was on a super congested side street……

This one has a small downstairs dining area…..

With an open kitchen facing the street.

You know you're at the right place when you see the photos of local celebrities on the wall.

On our first visit we ate upstairs which was also packed…. and the young lady and the young man working the area were constantly screaming at each other…..bowls seemed to be flying about, and the service was perfunctory at best. For some reason the noise, clutter, and craziness reminded both of us of a place in Hanoi.

In a funny moment, the girl just finished screaming out some orders to the young man….the Missus walked to the counter and asked for something, the girl started answering in a shrill scream, until she realized that this wasn't her coworker, but an actual customer and caught herself!

The other location is right on the main road into the Muslim Quarter, right on Bai Yuan Men Jie and looks much more modern.

Looking very much like a proper restaurant. The dining area is large and well lit.

With a large kitchen in the back. This location was better staffed and there seemed to be an army of people marching out of the kitchen with ponderous stacks of obviously scorching hot bamboo steamers piled high. I wish I got a clear photo of someone carrying one of those stacks, but the best I can do is show you a typical 14 steamer stack…..folks were actual carrying twenty of these out at a time.

It also seemed like folks were eating much more at this location……..

We ate just one thing here….the mutton Guan Tang Baozi……

The mutton in the baozi was so light, it melted in your mouth. Of course it was so hot that it melted the top layer of tissue in your mouth as well. The filling was both wonderfully gamey and sweet, with a balanced amount of "soup" to meat.

The wrappers were very nice, it had a bit of pull, but unlike the glutinzed over-worked dough of most XLB, these had a gentle pillowiness to them as well.

Ever since She's had these, the Missus can't bear the tougher lamb filling in the Lamb Jiaozi from Qing Dao Bread Food, sigh……

I swear; if we stayed in Xi'an for fourteen days, we'd be eating here for at least twelve of them!

The only thing we couldn't figure out was how inconsistent the sauce for the Baozi was. It tasted different on each visit! The first time it was slightly spicy, devoid of any other flavor, and left a layer of oiliness coating the inside of your mouth.

The second time, it was mildly spicy, but also had what seemed like mutton broth in it. This was the best version.

The third time, it looked like dirty dishwater, and tasted like watered down salted broth. Well, we didn't come here for the dipping sauce did we?

To this day, all I have to do is mention the Guan Tang Bao from Xi'an to the Missus and am rewarded with an instant Pavlovian response……

Tea Station- a quick lunch

July 27, 2011 Cathy Chains, Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome! You have found mmm-yoso!!! a blog. A food blog. Kirk usually writes here, but he's busy with his job. ed(from Yuma) sometimes writes here, but he's busy with vacationing. Today, Cathy is writing here because she isn't that busy.

Hi. I blogged about Tea Station, in the middle of another post in 2007, when I had just become aware of Tea/boba type snack houses. Since then, The Mister and I try to take the time to stop for small meals and/or snacks when we are out and about. For the record, I still think of boba as being large snots and just don't order those large chewy masses of tapioca…

A few weeks ago, we went to Tea Station and noticed it had expanded into the next store front.
So we sat in the new area. It looked like it can seat about 50 people, plus the area out front can have more tables. The beverage bar is a few steps down, in its original location and the seating there is the same (about ten four person tables).

Tea Stations are franchised, all the locations seem have the same inventory and menu. The beverages to choose from include, hot and cold, tea- regular, fruit. flavored and milk, coffees, milk drinks, snow ices, jelly ices and healthy drinks. This time, we decided to try a small pot of the Rose tea ($4) . It came with two cups.

The tea both smelled and tasted of roses, yet had a deep strong undertone of black tea. Different and very good. It was perfectly brewed before being brought to the table.

The menu is divided into Snacks, Meals and Noodles. We decided to try a 'New!' item from the snack menu- fried squid balls ($5.25). These were quite substantial, meaty/chewy in a good way, had a light breading, were lightly fried, not greasy and enough spice to make them just right. I hope they remain on the menu.

We also decided to try the Tea flavored mushroom pork ($8.25). This came with rice and three side dishes (which vary daily). There are small mushroom pieces in the shredded pork and gravy, which has a mild tea flavor, but you can taste the meat flavor. The gravy was thick and tea/mushroom flavored. This day two of the side dishes had meat in it ground pork (or chicken) mixed with stir fried bok choy, the other with shredded pork and various vegetables and the third was room temperature pickled vegetables. Each side had its own flavor and in a larger serving, each could have been a meal with rice. Very refreshing and complimentary to the main dish.

Even though the plate seemed to be expensive, it came not only with those delightful side dish additions, but also a beverage choice of: hot or cold, black or green and with or without milk tea. This is a cold green tea milk and it tasted very nicely strong of green tea as well as milk.

All in all, a very nice relaxing light snack/lunch.

Tea Station 7315 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858) 268-8198 Open 7 days 11:30 a.m.-12:00 Sun-Th, until 1:00 a.m. on Fri and Sat Website

Xi’an: Tong Sheng Xiang (同盛祥)

July 20, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

Our next stop after Nanjing was the city of Xi'an… and boy was I excited! With over 3,000 years of recorded history, along with being the beginning of the Silk Road headed west and of course the Terracotta Army, Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. And by coincidence we visited three (along with Nanjing and Beijing) of the four on this trip. Also by coincidence, our visit to Xi'an last year was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road….. this year we visited Istanbul (Constantinople) the western end of the Silk Road! What didn't make me so excited was watching this guy smoking a cigarette on the runway in Xi'an….. guys do love smoking in China.

We caught the bus from the airport to a hotel downtown, then a cab to our hotel, the Ibis Hotel near the South Gate of the city walls. Lucky for us, the Missus's Mother had a classmate who had moved to Xi'an right after college. She provided us with great info and recommendations, and one of them was Ibis Hotel, which was one of the nicer hotels we stayed at all trip….it looked new….

And once past the plumes of cigarette smoke in the lobby, the rooms looked sparkling clean……though it reminded us of a Ikea showroom. The best thing? The price at about $17 a night!

There was even a "portable" police station right outside the hotel!

After dropping off our bags we took off for our lunch destination. Xi'an is known for it's Muslim Quarter and the abundance of lamb and mutton dishes. The first thing I wanted to try was Yang Rou Pao Mo….. and we were given a recommendation of Tong Sheng Xiang. Lao Sun Jia is probably more well known, but we went with the local's recommendation.

The restaurant is easy to find…… we walked (it seemed much longer than we thought) to the mall right across from the Bell Tower, which is strangely trapped on what looks like a traffic island.

What made most of our trips much longer were the underground passages across intersections….. you go down the stairs and end up in "Grand Central" with six or sometimes eight different ways to go! We'd always choose the wrong way and end up directly across the street from our destination. After a couple of tries we managed to end up on the correct side of the street. Like many other places we dined at on our trip, Tong Sheng Xiang was a multi-level restaurant.

You enter on the south end of the building, go up a flight of stairs lined with photos of folks I assume are VIPs until you enter the dining area. It looked pretty fancy for a place selling mutton in broth with unleavened pancakes…..

We ordered a couple of other dishes with the Yang Rou Pao Mo. I really enjoyed the Jellied Mutton:

Like a good head cheese, cut with the Black Vinegar and soy sauce.

The Missus didn't care for the Mung Bean Noodles.

Too much sesame paste for Her.

On this trip, if we saw Baihe (lily bulb) on the menu, we'd order it for sure.

Baihe with Gingko is one of our standard dishes nowadays……

As for the Yang Rou Pao Mo…. if you've never had it before it's quite an interesting dish. First a plate of pretty hefty discs of unleavened bread is placed on the table…..

Along with a large bowl……

Your job is to break the bread up into bite sized pieces….. it was pretty tough going at first since the bread is very dense. How much bread? Well, I guess that depends on your appetite…..I saw a young man break up almost the whole plate! Considering how heavy this stuff was, I could only imagine how that would weigh you down after eating….

Bowls of chili paste, cilantro, and some really yummy pickled garlic is placed on the table….

And my bowl was whisked away…..leaving me wondering what evil deeds were being performed on my pieces of crumbled bread.

The bowl returned….. the bread had been covered with a thick broth, almost like gravy, the scent of mutton so thick I could cut through it. Some fatty slices of mutton, toothsome, but oh so deliciously gamey had been placed on the top.

Can you tell that I really enjoyed this?

Hearty and substantial, this would keep you going for a while after a hard day's ride on the Silk Road. Of course I hadn't travelled to Xi'an on camel, but I could imagine, right?

The Missus got a kick out of what came back after we paid our check. We were given change in what She said was "old style money". Pretty neat, huh? Old currency after eating a rustic meal in a historic city at the end of an ancient trade route……

Nanjing: Another Dinner and what our T-Shirts said

July 16, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Nanjing, Travel

I figure I'd better get going with more China posts before my memory really fades…….

After our visit to the Sun Yat -Sen Mausoleum, we caught the bus back into the city. My foot was feeling pretty good, so we decided to walk up to the major shopping district of Nanjing….which was packed to the gills with people. Out of curiosity we even walked through……

Which was quite interesting…..

We soon tired of the crowds and decided to walk back to our hotel and grab some dinner on the way back. We had passed this restaurant earlier, another multi-leveled place…..fast food on the bottom, casual restaurant second floor, restaurant third floor, and banquet area on top….

The Missus and I decided to stop here and have dinner. The place wasn't very busy, and the service here was pretty good. The menu was fairly vast with some interesting looking dishes on it. Like this one……

Because I'd already had sprinkles on a dish during one of our banquets in Beijing it didn't have quite the same effect on me…. but I still found it a bit odd. I'm waiting for the day I'll open a menu somewhere in the SGV and see a savory dish with sprinkles on it! If you can read Chinese you might find the story of the dish on the menu interesting.

We ended up ordering a whopping five dishes of the menu, which varied in quality and taste.

The worst was the grilled lamb rib which was really dry and tough….and had almost no flavor….

I didn't think much of the classic Nanjing dish, the bean curd soup.

If I recall, the true classic version of this is supposed to have vermicelli in it…this one had bean sprouts. The Missus thought it was tasty though.

The Baihe (Lily Bulb) with Celery was passable. Not as good as other versions, but pleasantly gooey….

Of course after seeing the "Scrolls with Treasures" on the menu, we just had to try it!

This was actually better than it looked. The sprinkles were really just a garnish…. call it parsley on the plate if you will, and really didn't interfere with the flavors of this dish. The sweet soy and peanut oil mixture was very tasty. This was very much like the "seaweed roll" you'd see served in dim sum places.

The best dish of the night by far was the minced duck served with cups made of wheat flour……which looked like wo-wo-tou.

First off the duck had a wonderful flavor, and the sauce, a mild fruity-sweet, along with a nice salty-soy flavor went well with the minced duck. The vegetables added some nice crunch and helped to cleanse the palate a bit. The "cup" were wonderful, mildly grainy, nutty, with a restrained sweetness that just brought everything together for us. This was one of the most memorable dishes of our trip.

After dinner we walked back to our room….pass the now brightly lit "Disco Palace"….

To get some rest…… my foot needed some elevation, and the next day we were headed out to Xi'an, a city that I was really excited about visiting…..

What our t-shirts said:

On my last post on our visit to Nanjing I had a photo of sort of matching t-shirts the Missus and I bought. I was surprised that folks wanted to know what the shirts said:

Mine on the left said, "I don't eat, but I do the dishes". The Missus on the right says, "I eat all the food, but I don't do the dishes."

Oh, and the one we bought for my Mother In Law, who is very frugal (and proud of it…she sent us a photo after we mentioned the shirt in our post) says, "I make money, but never spend it!"

COMC: Little Sheep in photos

July 10, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, yoso-silly

A couple of months back, the Missus requested Little Sheep for Her B-Day dinner. I took some photos as always, but never posted them. A couple of days ago, I got an email from one of my favorite FOYs (friends of yoso) who kiddingly dared me to do a hot pot post….. even though I enjoy spicy food on hot days, Sichuan Liang Mian, a good Koi Soi… man, hot pot would be pretty tough, for me. What about you?

Of course I'm expecting a comment from Ed from Yuma telling what he'd go for huo guo anytime, even after walking over cactus and tangling with gila monsters in the 120 degree Arizona heat running backwards uphill both ways….. (just joking Ed!)

Me on the other hand, I'm not so sure….. even though I know folks looove hot pot in Sichuan and other areas of China during summer.

Anyway, here's to hot pot, but maybe not on a week like we just had. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot & Grill
4718 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

The Missus just peeked over my shoulder and told me, "why are you doing a post on Little Sheep, are you nuts???" He-he-he…maybe a bit crazy from the heat?

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Happy Hour at The Dragon’s Den

July 7, 2011 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chinese Restaurants

**** The Dragon's Den has closed

I've been "wrassling" with my my thoughts about the Dragon's Den since going there for "happy hour" last week.

Ever since I heard that the owner of the now closed Shanghai City was opening a restaurant downtown with Dumpling Inn as one of the partners, I've been quite…. well, curious might be the right word. I wondered what the menu would look like since the word "fusion" was bandied about. Once the place opened, I checked out the menu, and yes, there was stuff that would make PF Chang's proud like Lemon Chicken and Lettuce Wraps, the inevitable seared Ahi… and even…a sushi bar! But still, the menu's soul looked very Chinese, with English translations of course…jiaozi were of course dumplings, Niu Rou Chuan was Beef Brisket and Hoisin Green Onion Wrap, and Xiao Long Bao…… were Xiao Long Bao! Looking at the menu online, I decided that perhaps happy hour might be my best bet. So, I recruited two of my favorite FOYs (friends of yoso), PeterL and his lovely wife Angela, both have been on road trips to the SGV, and and Peter just can't seem to get enough Niu Rou Chuan. There were just two conditions. Based on the location, there was no way I was going when the Padres were playing at home…. and I sure as heck wasn't having no sushi!

The location of the restaurant is fantastic….literally right across from Petco Park.

The Padres were out of town on this day, so the bar area was open when I arrived, and the bartender, a very friendly and pleasant young lady told me to just sit where ever I wanted.

There are about six beers on tap and San Diego microbrews aren't really represented, other then Karl Strauss.

I had some time to check out the menus while waiting for Peter and Angela…… so here you can see what I saw.

The Happy Hour menu is pretty sushi heavy. Pardon the jailhouse look, but based on our meal I found it somehow appropriate.

I think I need to apologize to Pete and Angela because I'd pretty much picked out what we were eating before they arrived.

I have a hard time resisting Salt and Pepper Chicken ($6 happy hour priced):

I can understand using white meat chicken….. I suppose there's a thought that the general public prefers white meat to dark. But I don't think that, if someone is going to order something battered and deep fried that they'd want a gummy coating that seemed to have been fried at a temperature too low. The seasoning, while restrained would have been passable had the chicken been fried properly.

The Xiao Long Bao ($6 – not happy hour priced) proved to be somewhat (unintentionally I believe) humorous.

These actually looked like the XLB from Shanghai City…. while the wrapper was always too thick, and the fold at the top was too hard, I always preferred them to the version at Dumpling Inn…. such is the sad state of XLB in San Diego. Don't even mention Chin's which I believe gets their XLB frozen from LA! What was really funny is that we were provided with forks and knives….. really….. I'm going to eat a Bao with soup in it with a fork and knife??? That, combined with the obvious lack of soup in the XLB (at least they weren't broken), made me wonder what folks who hadn't had XLB before would think upon eating this? No wonder they thought Dumpling Inn was so good! I asked for spoons, and after an odd look, got regular spoons. Actually, the flavor of the filling wasn't bad, slightly sweet, but there was almost no soup…. I guess maybe we didn't need spoons after all?

Next was the Shrimp and Chive dumplings ($6 – not happy hour priced). Over the years, my "enthusiasm" for jiaozi has been subject for some funny emails and comments…. I've been called the "dumpling Nazi" and parodied in some comments…..which I think are quite funny. But this time, I think the photos speak for themselves.

It's quite telling that we each had only one jiaozi a piece. I had thoughts of just posting photos…. but I think quotes from others will do just fine. Peter, "man, this is pretty bad, it's really gummy…" We took the rest with us when we left and met TammyC and YY, letting them each have a taste. TammyC said it best; "what is this, fish? The stuff in the package with the panda on it is better than this!" 'nuff said…..

The one item that looked really good was the Beef Brisket Green Onion Wrap (Niu Rou Chuan $5 – happy hour price). I can understand the less oily dan bing. it was indeed thinner and more crisp.

It was not bad overall. If I had to go with one item, this would be it. Too much hoisin, not enough bite, beef a bit too dry…..but not bad overall.

I realize that places like Dragon's Den are perhaps not designed for me. But I really don't think I ask for much and I also believe that when one is doing fusion, it doesn't mean safe and dumbed down; there are places that already do that. To me it means taking something to that next level… being creative and moving things forward. To paraphrase a very popular tune, "perhaps I'm more Atari, and this is X box", but I think it's more Commodore 64.

And yet, in the end, I do have a nice recollection of my time in the Dragon's Den. You remember that young lady with the short blond hair who was bartending? She made time to talk to everyone since it wasn't too busy, and she seem to know the regulars. But what impressed me was when she saw two dogs passing by who looked like they were overheating, she called to the woman walking them and brought the two dogs a bowl of water….. in my mind that almost made up for the jiaozi…. almost.

The Dragon's Den
315 10th Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101

Saturday Stuffs: Shufeng Garden (Rowland Heights) and updates on MIA San Diego Food Bloggers

June 25, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

I was going to do something titled a "quick road trip", but that would be inaccurate…… I had an appointment in our old neighborhood of Rowland Heights, and usually the Missus would accompany me. We'd get things done early and hit up one or two (or maybe three) places. Because of work, this was a solo drive for me…. and it was a darn good thing. I got out of my appointment at 1pm. Now I don't know how many of you notice that we like to eat early to avoid the crowds…. but by 1pm on a Saturday… well, good luck. So I did some quick shopping at Marukai in West Covina, man has this area changed since we moved to San Diego. Someday, I'll do that post. Anyway, I decided to just do some take-out and head on home. I decided on something from Shufeng Garden which I've posted on before. By the time I got home it was 430…… so I guess I had a kinda late lunch, the Missus and early dinner.

**** Shufeng Garden has closed

I wanted to check out the tea smoked duck again($12.99), and this time it was even better.

Though the smoked flavor is still not as pronounced as I would have enjoyed, this was one meaty, and surprisingly moist duck.

I went with a favorite from our previous visit, the Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce ($7.95):

I gotta say, even though I really enjoyed it on our previous visit, it was even better today. I think sitting in the chili-garlic-vinegar-sugar mixture on the drive back to San Diego gave the thinly sliced pork belly, and the cucumber slices below it time to soak up the flavors. Mildly spicy, pungent, sweet with a mild tangy finish, this was nice. Sitting in the sauce also gave this a more "back of the throat" heat. The pork holds form without being too waxy or mushy….. It is one lovely dish.

Wanting to try something I hadn't, I went with the Lamb with Hot Chili ($7.95). Consisting of lamb rib bones and meat… this was almost finger food, though you don't want to be touching your eyes after. Hints of cumin, Sichuan peppercorn (not quite enough), and the flavor of scalded chilies were the key players in this dish.

This could have been a bit more spicy, but was a nice dish overall….. I'd have it again.

The folks working here have always been nice to me….. so I'll probably go back and try some different items. Perhaps the Rabbit with hot sauce, or maybe the Steamed Toad?

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

An update on some MIA San Diego Food Bloggers (aka I've been looking for you on milk cartons):

I guess I've been doing this for a while. And over the years, I've met and traded emails with many of the food bloggers in San Diego….. to paraphrase fellow food blogger Marie, "it's almost like I've known you for ages." Like the tides, there seems to be an ebb and flow…. food blogs come and go, and it's always nice to come across a new one. But there's always a sense of loss when a food blog seems to fall by the wayside and I do tend to wonder what happened. So I will often email folks after seeing no posts for a while…. or even call them if I have their number. Such as the one and only Captain Jack of San Diego Restaurant Reviews Blog. I spoke to Jack recently and he's doing well, still taking photos of food, but has been occupied with work and other hobbies (is World of Warcraft a hobby?). Having a nice stash of food photos, I'm thinking it's just a matter of time before Jack is posting again. I also received an email from Masa Assassin who told me he is doing well, perhaps a bit too well having gotten a promotion at work, leaving him little time for the blog. I'm just glad that he and the Missus are doing well. So there you go, a couple of updates on some MIA fellow San Diego food bloggers.

Hope to see some new posts from you fella's soon!