Chinese Restaurants – Page 67

Road Trip: Elite Restaurant – Monterey Park(LA)

November 4, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

The Missus and I have a tradition, during the Sunday of a time change, we attempt to make the best of the extra hour, by celebrating and having brunch. When we wind the clocks back…well, we celebrate by having brunch! However, on this day we decided to shake things up a bit, and have some Dim Sum. Why? Well, this year the time change occurred a week later, causing mild discombobulation. But more importantly, it seems that the Missus and I have a black cloud following us around to brunch. Last year, we had brunch at one of our favorites, The Red Lion Hanalei Hotel, one month later the brunch was closed, and the Red Lion became a Crowne Plaza Hotel. This past March, we enjoyed our time change brunch at European Bistro, and wouldn’t you know it, a few months later, Chef Axel had stopped serving brunch. I’ve heard the change is temporary, but last time I checked, they are still not serving brunch. Now the Missus and I had become concerned that if this pattern were to continue, Jim, the Sunday Brunchmaster might start hunting us down…… And we wouldn’t want that! So, what to do? Dim Sum seemed like a good solution, but we wanted something a bit different, not the usual stuff. One of the places on my "list" was Elite Restaurant. In it’s former incarnation Elite was called New Concept, and I had been waiting to eat there, but never had the chance. I was a bit disappointed, but after reading Dylan’s post on his meal at Elite, on his wonderful blog, Eat, Drink, & Be Merry, I couldn’t wait. So what’s so special about Elite? Well much like Happy Harbor, Sea Harbor, and Mission 261, Elite represents the "New Wave" of Dim Sum service, that would be menu service(no cart here), and interesting, sometimes innovative, creations. I couldn’t wait…..

One other item. On weekends Elite opens at 9am, which meant that we could take advantage of our "extra hour". Alas, due to some minor timing issues we arrived at 915 am, and were amazed at how packed the place was!

Elite was much different from the "usual" image of Dim Sum Houses. The restaurant was not the typical cavernous, giant Dim Sum restaurant. It became quite clear that there was no way this restaurant could ever accommodate carts without removing half the tables. Also, tasteful colors, decor, and lighting, replaced much of the faux Chinese ornamentation. Since we had just "missed the boat" we knew there would be a wait ahead of us, which gave us time to peruse the menu, and "people watch". It was pretty amazing how many people tried different strategies for getting ahead in line, from hovering around, to aggressiveness, to applying pressure. I’m wondering how many times the Chinese equivalent of the LA-ish "do you know who I am" was used! Seated customers who knew people waiting would welcome them to their table, moving and adding chairs, suddenly a two-top became a very cramped 5 top. Very nice for their friends, bad for increasing the wait of others…… 50 minutes later, we were seated in a nice quiet corner in one of the side banquet rooms, ready to order after going through the menu. We decided to have some "interesting" items, and a few standards.

Off we go. Baked Durian Pie($2.98):

This was wonderful. Think of it as a Durian Cream Puff. The very light, melt in your mouth Choux-like pastry is filled with Durian Cream. Perhaps the filling was a tad on the sweet side, but we both thought that the best aspects of durian were presented in the custardy-slightly nutty flavor, with very little of the cheesy-old socks scent. Having a bite of this pastry, followed by a sip of tea, was a combination made in heaven.

Macau Egg Custard($2.98):

One of those Dim Sum staples. This version had a nice and light crust. The custard was also light, though also a bit too sweet for me.

For the Missus, one of Her hallmark dishes, is the Taro Gok(Fried Taro Dumplings/Balls). There is a fine balance between oily, and light and crisp, and the flavor can tend to the bitter side if the balance of filling ingredients is not right. We ordered this from the server since it isn’t on the menu.

When it arrived, I wasn’t too impressed at the very light color. But one taste of the crisp, light as a feather, dumplings, with a perfectly balanced filling, I knew I had met the best version of this I’ve had in a while. The addition of preserved vegetable was a nice touch, both in flavor and texture.

Thai Style Papaya with Goose Feet($5.98). sounds really interesting, doesn’t it?

Think of deboned Goose Feet and sliced green papaya flavored like Chinese spicy pickles(like Kimchee). This was a nice refreshing change of pace. The flavor teetered on the edge of being too sweet. The spiciness was on the mild side. In fact, I added a good amount of chili paste to this. Goose feet won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, the texture consists of several levels of crunchy, from the leg portion which is chewy and tender, to the webbed portion which can be pretty hard.

Home Style Pork Legs w/Peanut in Special Sauce($5.98):

This was a hearty five-spice flavored broth, very rustic and home style. The pig’s feet were tender, with a good amount of gelatin. The boiled peanuts added nice flavor and texture contrast. The only thing we didn’t care for were the super hard and tough bamboo shoots. I was also wishing for a nice bowl of rice………..

The Macau Roasted Pork($5.98):

This was the dish I saw on Dylan’s post that had me adding Elite to my list. And it delivered as promised, 12 Andes Mint sized slices of the most perfectly roasted pork belly, served in perfect proportion of velvety and sweet fat, a thin layer of light and crisp skin, and a layer of meat made this an excellent dish. Served with salt and hoisin, which were not needed. Very rich, we(ahem, I) only finished 4 slices.

Bamboo Pith Fungus & Sea Cucumber Wrap($2.98):

First let me say, I’m not a big fan of of Bamboo Pith Fungus (zhu sun – 竹荪). In fact, every time I’ve tried it, I hated it. I think it has a strong, earthy-muddy-bitter flavor that tastes like medicine. The Bamboo Pith Fungus in this dish was fabulous, with a delicate earthiness to it. The rest of the dumpling was problematic. It was so large, dominated by the shrimp cake, that you really couldn’t taste anything else. We took it apart to sample the different flavors. Proportionally, not very good, I’d like something smaller with better balance.

The Scallop Steamed Rice Noodle(Cheong Fun – $2.98):

The Cheong Fun was sadly, a disappointment. Though it looked beautifully lacquered, and a had a good amount of scallop in it, the noodle was tough, and without a nice pull and elasticity. The scallops were flavorless, and the sauce tasted like almost pure soy sauce.

Shark’s Fin Dumpling in Supreme Soup Stock ($5.08)

For us, this was all about the broth, rich, with sweet-peppery tones. The huge dumpling residing in the middle was full of various seafood and pork, most of which were bland and tasteless. The dumpling wrapper was terrible, gummy and tough. That broth though……….

Shark Fin & Red Clam Dumplings($3.98):

A trio of very large steamed dumplings. Again on the bland side with the flavor of the masago dominating. The Red Clam (aka Surf Clam/Hokigai) was basically a garnish for the rest of the dumpling. Another case of out of proportion flavors.

Sticky Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf($2.98). One of the Missus’s favorite. Compared to the enormous dumplings these looked positively dainty.

The Missus said that these were good, nice flavor, and hot. There’s a piece of abalone in the center of the rice, but it was super over cooked, tough, and flavorless. The Missus was satisfied, though.

And overall, so was I. We didn’t eat too much…..I know that you’re thinking we went insane here, but we’ve got a frig loaded with leftovers. The total damage, including tea was $51, less than what we’d usually spend at a good Buffet Brunch. I think the "super-sized" dumplings may appeal to some, but it really knocks the flavors out of balance. Also, I’ve also considered dumplings at Dim Sum service to be nice and delicate, full of flavor. Service was very good, considering the restaurant was stuffed to the gills. The Missus still preferred the flavors at Happy Harbor….but that pork……

Prices:

Small – $1.98

Medium – $2.98

Large – $3.98

Special – $5.08

E Special – $5.98

No not cheap, but some of the dishes are a notch above!

Elite Restaurant 名流山莊
700 S Altantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Hours:

Mon – Fri 10am-3pm, 5pm-10pm
Sat-Sun 9am-3pm, 5pm-10pm

This is what the crowd outside the restaurant looked like when we left.

Road Trip – No.1 Noodle House – Rowland Heights(LA)

November 1, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Niu Rou Mian, Road Trip

Well, I'm back, (almost)fully recovered from the "roast beef sandwich" from hell. Funny thing, I ate and drank all kinds of street food and other "interesting stuff" in Peru, with nary a problem. Now I'm back at work, and a sandwich from a (formerly) trusted source ambushes me….. Since starting this food blogging thing, I've spent much more time really "tasting" my food. EXCEPT, when busy at work, where I'll wolf stuff down at my desk. So about half way through my sandwich, my tastebuds finally sent a message, via slow boat, to my brain, that the sandwich tastes really "off"…..and the rest, as they say, is history. I'll just say, that right now, I can't look at a piece of roast beef without the word "emesis" in shocking white letters flashing in my head. Well on to better things……

Waaaay back in August we made our way back to the old neighborhood….that would be Rowland Heights. Even though we've lived in San Diego since 2001, we still see our Ophthalmologist in the area. I'm not quite sure what it is, laziness, trust, or maybe just for an excuse to eat. I'm sure the latter plays a large part in our decision. On this visit, I had No. 1 Noodle House directly in my line of fire.

No 1 Noodle House is located in the super refurbished Yes Plaza, on the corner of Colima and Fullerton Road, which used to be a pretty beat and seedy looking strip mall when we lived several blocks away. Now, after a major face lift, we can barely recognize the place! We cracked up when we saw the laundromat we used to use is still there, looking pretty new, I bet it doesn't smell like fermenting geriatric diapers any more……

The menu at No 1, is comprised of various Sichuan (Chengdu-style) snack foods….that would be various noodle dishes, and the like. And yes(or in this case "YES"), this shop is sporting a 'C', facility food rating….

After spying such a rating, there are those that are going to flee in the opposite direction as fast as possible, and those that will say, when it comes to Chinese Restaurants in the SGV, "A=American, B=Better, C=Chinese….."

I had heard some pretty good things about the Niu Rou Mian, so I was excited to try it out.

This bowl set us back $5.50, and frankly, was pretty lousy. The broth had the consistency of dish water, and was served at a tepid temperature. The broth had a diluted beef flavor and lacked spice, with just a hint of anise/five spice in the background. The noodles were simple store bought, and over cooked. The beef was tender, but like the broth lacked flavor, other than a slight refrigerator staleness. Needless to say, the bowl sat pretty much untouched.

Luckily, we ordered a few other items, which helped to balance things out a bit. "Cold Bean Noodle" (liang fen – $4.50):

For those who haven't had (or knowingly had) this type of Starch Jellied Noodle, Liang Fen is made from mung bean. This version was mixed with a sesame paste-soy-black vinegar mixture, and served with chili oil/paste, ground peanuts, and green onions. Oh yes, and MSG. The flavor was right and refreshing, and hit all the salty-sour-spicy notes for us. Liang Fen has a nice slippery-mildy chewy texture that was very pleasing. Good stuff.

We also ordered the Chili Oil Won Tons($3.50):

This was another surprisingly good dish. The Won Tons were pretty large with a good amount of filling. The generous topping of excellent chili oil, peanuts, and green onions made this a spicy and satisfying dish. Like many of these types of dishes, it sure looked like a lot of oil was used, but it was not greasy in the least. I'd have this again in a minute.

I really don't know what the deal was with Niu Rou Mian, but the other dishes made up for it. The service is typical San Gabriel Valley, brusque and efficient. You should not eat here if you have MSG-phobia, or have adverse reactions to MSG, you'll see MSG crystals in your food.

No 1 Noodle House
18180 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

You know, I just realized the irony of this post….many people I know wouldn't dare eat at a place with a 'C' rating. And yet, I suffered no ill effects, just as I've encountered no GI problems when eating at Taco Trucks, and various eateries with 'B' rating or lower….and here I was ambushed by roast beef with an 'A' rating!!!!

Rickshaw Corner in Tierrasanta.

September 27, 2007 Cathy Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is the blog that never goes on vacation, even though Kirk does. Cathy is still here, talking about yet another meal she ate.

So, long story short. The Mister was stuck in some major traffic on 52 last night. He finally got to the Santo Road exit, took it and was looking for a pay phone (keeping it short, don't ask about a mobile phone right now) and eventually ended up at the Vons at Santo Road and Clairmont Mesa, where there is a pay phone in front of a Laundromat.

He told me there was a Chinese Restaurant on the end of the mall and it looked really busy with lots of people doing take out. I should have asked him to see what they were ordering, but it is too late for that now.

It turns out the menu is two sided, Chinese and Japanese. Taking the 50-50 chance, we chose Chinese…because…well

I grew up with this>

as my definition of Chinese food and so, nothing could be that bad…and- AND- and the Japanese Bento meals were being served on -Honest To God- sectioned cafeteria food trays.

Plus, well, if you read the menu, you get 8 Pot Stickers on the Chinese menu for $4.95-(62¢ each), versus the 5 Gyoza for $3.25 (65¢ each) on the Japanese menu.

Chinese it was.

The 10 piece fried chicken wing appetizer ($4.95). Nicely fried, plump and juicy but absolutely needed the Plum Sauce served with them. Soy Sauce also helped.

The pot stickers. Absolutely wonderful.

Plump, meaty, great pork with some water chestnut filling. Just right thickness skins stir fried to a perfect crispiness.

We decided to try the 3 Flavor Sizzling Rice Soup. ($4.95). It was brought out in two bowls, the rice was not sizzling, but was cooked. The broth was cabbage and white pepper based, not at all chicken flavored, even though there was a layer of oil on top and I thought that was an indication it was a chicken broth. The cabbage and peas were fresh and crispy, not canned. The shrimp had good flavor but the chicken pieces tasted old and maybe freezer burned. The beef just had no flavor. It was not good. If I had a cold, I might want it just to get hydration and something into me, but … no. Not really.

We decided to try the vegetable Egg Foo Young ($6.95). I have never seen egg foo young prepared this way. Two pancakes topped with stir fried vegetables and sauce. The vegetables were good and fresh and the sauce was nice and the pancakes were… pancakes, with canned or frozen peas and carrots-no bean sprouts- in them. Kind of thin, kind of tough. Strange.

As were our fortunes. The Mister's says "Great! You're ready for a party." and mine says "You are primed to come up with a creative solution."

Whatever. It was a meal. I am curious as to what they can to do to Japanese food now. The people working are all family, very friendly and nice, knowing the regulars who are coming in to pick up meals …I just wish I knew what they all ordered.

Rickshaw Corner 10428 Clairmont Mesa Blvd (at Santo Road) (Tierrasanta) San Diego 92124 (858)541-1998 (858)541-0877 Mon-Sat 11:30-9:30 Sun 3-9 (Closed M-F 3-4 p.m.)

Sam Woo BBQ-Part Two- Lunch Specials!

September 18, 2007 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog with the Temp, Cathy, writing while the Main Guy, Kirk, is on vacation. She still writes about food. That’s why you are reading this blog, anyhow.

Hi again. Yesterday, I blogged about breakfast specials at Sam Woo, inside the 99Ranch complex. Here is a little snippet of what the lunch specials are like.

You will notice there are two sets of items- Specials #1-#55 cost $4.95 each and #56-#82 are $5.95 each. The all include rice and a bowl of the soup of the day (sometimes egg drop, sometimes hot and sour, sometimes tofu, and on this day a black bean pork soup)

Pretty much this was the best soup I have had here, in that it was unique with the salty black beans and rich pork broth. You never know what the soup will be, so I always look forward to it.

This is a combination of two dinners post, therefore more than three entrees are shown. #56- honey glazed walnut shrimp, always a favorite. Plump, juicy shrimp, fried in a light batter and then topped with Kewpie- a mayonnaise sauce- and served with those crispy wonderful not sticky honey glazed walnuts. The flavors go together . Really… and this stuff is addictive. The only vegetable served with this- lettuce shreds, which you will like to eat with some of the mayonnaise.

#78- spicy salted squid. Oh yes. You will see plates of this coming out of the kitchen all the time. Fresh squid, batter fried with the spicy salt in the batter. The squid is scored and so it curls into tubes when it is fried, making it easy to hold and eat with chopsticks. Not too hot/spicy- that comes from the only vegetable on the plate; the chili peppers and green onion tops. Still, it isn’t a bad spice or heat. It is very light.

This is #5- shrimp with black bean sauce. Usually we get the rock cod fillet with black bean sauce, but the main thing I like is the black bean sauce. Spicy, salty, onions and green peppers compliment the flavors and you can still taste the sweetness of the shrimp.

#77 spicy salted oyster. Oh my, yes. There are only four oysters on this plate. They were obviously farmed in Chernobyl. Same light salt batter and those chilis on top, along with some more lettuce. Excellent flavor.

I saw some jarred oysters inside 99Ranch across the hall that were this size, so am pretty certain of the source for this dish (you know, after being shucked in Chernobyl). The Mister likes clams, and I like oysters so this dish is pretty much only mine to eat. He will eat maybe half of one oyster, as he does enjoy the salty crispiness of the crust. heh heh…the rest are mine….

Ah, #61- scallop with XO sauce. Oh. XO. Yes.

XO sauce is quite unique. It has dried scallops, dried shrimp, dried red chiles and various other spices. Most people make their own. It is unique, spicy in a good way, kind of crunchy because of the dried small pieces of seafood and…wow…I love XO sauce. Sometimes, we order #55- fresh mushrooms with XO. A whole plate of various mushrooms slathered in XO..and, oh, it’s a vegetable! As you can see, this dish is served with onions and green peppers as well as a lot of thin sliced scallops.

Here is a photo of #11- the rock cod fillet with black bean sauce. After a bunch had been taken off the plate. The rock cod is thin and juicy and the sauce is, again, the same one as witht eh shrim. above -and I crave it. Red and green bell peppers compliment this dish in a nice way. Crunchy and refreshing, to go with the saltiness of the beans.

We usually only get hot tea when we eat here (no charge at lunch, but 30¢ for a pot at breakfast…I dunno) but one day, I had a craving (they sell more of the iced/boba drinks via the attached ‘To Go’ Sam Woo steam tray area attached to the restaurant, but store the ingredients in the glass doored refrigerators where I could see them from where we were sitting) and asked for a red and green bean iced concoction-no boba ($2) sweet red beans and sweet green (yellow) beans, ice, sweetened condensed milk and a cherry. Very nice.

If you are shopping at 99Ranch anyhow and hunger strikes, this is a great place to stop and eat. We have tried just about every item on the lunch menu, and do like the beef and chicken and pork as well as tofu dishes, as well as the deep fried whole fish and the vegetable only dishes (sometimes we get a whole veggie plate because we know there basically aren’t any vegetables with what we ordered, as we always order three plates anyhow..but they usually only give us two bowls of soup, since there are only the two of us eating). I only blogged these most recent meals.

Sam Woo BBQ 7330 Clairmont Mesa Blvd, inside the 99 Ranch mall. Lunch Specials 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 7 days.

Sam Woo BBQ Part One-Breakfast!

September 16, 2007 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Part Two is here

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog that was started by Kirk, an Ex-Pat Kama'aina. He is on vacation. The Temp, Cathy, a White girl from Detroit and East San Diego County is blogging for now.

Hi, again. As part of my thinking about a "regular rotation" for The Mister and I, stopping into Sam Woo inside 99Ranch Complex for something to go or to eat inside the restaurant comes to mind.

Sam Woo BBQ has breakfast ($3.20 for all items, a choice of 33 different salty wonders, with a charge of 30¢ for a pot of tea, or 30¢ each for a cup of Vietnamese coffee-which I will explain soon) and lunch specials (either $4.95 or $5.95) seven days a week. I will post about lunch tomorrow.

So, anyhow, we went to breakfast this morning.

We got the only rice dish on the menu, #33. Fried rice with Lunch meat (i.e., fake Spam). It is always satisfying, and plentiful, made with peas, carrots and egg as well as the bits of Luncheon meat. We usually take some home to have later- for lunch or dinner. Sometimes we get the #1- stir fried rice noodles with Luncheon meat-same stuff but with noodles.

This day we also got #2 on the menu- Fried rice noodles with bean sprout and soy sauce. This is a favorite- the wide rice noodles, stir fried and slightly burnt, with onions and bean sprouts and in a light, not salty tasting soy flavored sauce.

We, of course always order three dishes (one for each of us and one for the table) and this day got the #10-Won Ton Noodle soup. This is always a favorite. The whole bottom of the bowl is all egg noodles and there are some pieces of bok choy in the rich, rich pork broth that has a slight white pepper kick to it. There are always five dumplings, thin skinned and filled with a lot of great pork filling. The #11- shrimp dumpling soup is the same but the dumplings had half the amount of pork filling and a whole shrimp inside. Some days, it depends on what we want to eat.

There are 6 different porridges on the menu, but Sam Woo does not make the fried donuts that go with porridge. You have to walk across the hallway into the 99 Ranch Market and go to their steam tray area and buy the donuts for 40¢ each. I see families sitting down, ordering and then one person running out the door to get donuts all the time.

Ah, one of the perks of breakfast here. 30¢ pots of tea and 30¢ cups of Vietnamese coffee- it is made in an electric drip coffee pot and not the traditional Vietnamese slow drip pot, but is just as strong, and served with the nifty pitcher of sweetened condensed milk that will 'cut off' the thick sticky substance and works perfectly to keep that sweetened condensed milk from getting all sticky on the container. They don't do refills on the coffee, but one cup, along with the tea is just perfect for me for breakfast.

A nice, inexpensive, wonderfully salty breakfast in a sit down restaurant. It is a great way to start the day. If you have to go grocery shopping, just walk across the hall.

Sam Woo BBQ inside 99Ranch Complex 7330 Clairmont Mesa Blvd San Diego 92111 (619)505-9888 fax (619)514-8988 (The paper handouts all have the 619 area code; I am not sure if this is correct; if you are trying to call and it doesn't go through, try 858 as the area code)Breakfast 9:00 -11:00 a.m. M-F, 8:30-11:00 a.m. Sat-Sun

Cam Ky Chinese BBQ

September 4, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** Cam Ky has closed

On a recent Monday, in the mood for Banh Mi. I took a quick drive to the strip mall on the corner of Marlborough and University, the taste of Banh Mi on my lips…..only to find the place closed. And though Cafe Dore sounded good, I decided to try something new. The little Chinese BBQ restaurant in the mall, Cam Ky.

Check out "little neon piggy" sign, can you guess what Cam Ky does? The little restaurant has about nine tables, a Chinese BBQ counter, and that's about it.

I had a seat, and was given a menu by the serious and quiet lady. The menu wasn't very large, but I saw something that I wanted to try…..

In spite of the heat, I ordered the Goat Egg Noodle Soup($6.50):

A medium sized bowl of dark soup arrived in a few minutes, topped with some crisp fried Yuba, imitating fried goat skin, a nice touch. There was a large portion of stewed goat meat, which was very tender, if a bit short on flavor. Though the soup looked dark and rich, it was thin and also on the very mild side, with just the ever-so-mild essence of 5 spice. The egg noodles were still crunchy, and the addition of watercress gave the soup some life. Overall, this was not bad considering the generous portion of goat meat, but it's not something I'd order here again.

I figured this would be a "one and done", except something from the BBQ counter kept calling to me:

I know you can't really see it, but that side of roast pork looked sooooo good. I got a half pound ($3.75) to go.

I just had a few bites(3 pieces) and shared the rest of it with the people at work. From the texture standpoint this was very good, velvety fat, nice moist meat, very crisp, but not hard skin. The flavor was (again) on the mild side. Not perfect, but better than most.

Which meant that I'd be back……fast forward to a few days later. This time the lady was much more friendly. She asked me if I spoke Mandarin, I told her that I didn't. She had thought that I was Taiwanese….which is probably an insult to Taiwanese everywhere.

On this visit, I decided to go for the gusto, and ordered the 3 roast meats with rice($6.50). The meal started with a soup with stewed pork shank.

Man this was good. The broth had a good pork flavor, without being too salty. The meat, while not falling off the bone, was more than adequately soft. The photo speaks for itself……I wanted some rice!

After the broth, the rest of the meal was pretty anti-climatic.

This was quite a bit of food, I was ready for a major nap after eating all of this. Over a generous amount of rice was some BBQ Pork, which was just ok, the fatty pieces had some nice flavor, and was fairly tender, but the leaner pieces were tough, and lacked the sweet, rich flavor. The Roast Duck while nicely flavored with 5 spice, was on the lean side, and quite tough. The Roast Pork was the same as my previous visit, and for my money is the way to go here with regards to roast meats. Still, you get quite a bit of food here.

While eating, I noticed many men in "white T-shirts" and "paper hats" coming in to buy duck and pork. I'm guessing that several Mi Gia places get their roast meats from Cam Ky. By the time I left, the roast pork was gone.

The menu at Cam Ky ranges from Hu Tieu(Rice Noodle) and Mi(Egg Noodle) Soups, Fried Rice, and various items on rice. In keeping with the theme of the "neon pig" , while I was paying at the register I noticed a photo of a whole roast pig on the wall. cam Ky sells whole roast pig, ranging in price from $150-$190. Oink-oink…

Cam Ky Chinese BBQ
4141 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Closed on Tuesdays

Road Trip: Dragon Mark – San Gabriel(LA)

August 26, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

**** Dragon Mark has closed

Only in the San Gabriel Valley…..could 3 restaurants selling Xiao Long Bao co-exist in the same strip mall, nearly side by side! Dragon Mark, is the "middle child" of the three restaurants, with Mei Long Village to the West, and J & J right next door to the East. You can see just how close J&J is…..

Like J & J, Dragon Mark is quite tiny, though very brightly lit…..the Missus twice remarked how bright the lighting was at Dragon Mark. Unlike J & J, Dragon Mark actually serves tea in a real tea cup, not cheapo Styrofoam cups.

You are handed a menu that is both in English and Chinese, but need to order on a check-off sheet, that is written in Chinese! Go figure…..I'm pretty sure that the ladies would do the check off sheet for you.

We only had time for a "snack" during this visit, so of course we had to order the Xiao Long Bao ($4.75):

Soon enough our steaming hot Xiao Long Bao arrived…first thing we noticed was all of the broth on the parchment paper…several of the XLB had burst! Second thing was that these were served with the julienned ginger on top the Xiao Long Bao…so where was the Black Vinegar???? After rummaging through the bottles on the table, we spotted the vinegar, in a Soy Sauce bottle, with a teensy-tiny label!

Here's what the XLB filling and soup looked like:

We found the dumpling to have too much meat, and not enough soup. The pork filling was very salty, and didn't have the unique savory-sweet flavor of XLBs. The wrapper was on the thick side, and the folds on the top of the XLB were hard. Bummer……better than Dim Sum Restaurant XLB, but not very good by San Gabriel Valley standards….still this XLB was better than anything in San Diego.

The Missus noticed a dish I enjoy on the table top placard, and ordered it.

The placard said "Pork and Basil Dumplings", but these are actually Pork and Dill Dumplings($5.25). I've seen these as Fennel and Pork Dumplings, and now Pork and Basil Dumplings……

We really enjoyed these, the dill was soft, without being mushy, and the ratio of pork to dill was perfect.

In most cases the dill overwhelms everything, but this was a good example of great balance. This got the Missus and I talking about how the flavor and texture of the filling was put together….perhaps the dill was blanched? Leave it to the dumpling heads to spend most of lunch talking about Jiaozhi! The wrapper was okay, on the brittle side without enough "pull". The Missus thought that the dough had not been kneaded enough…..too much kneading and you get tough wrappers, to little and the wrapper will be soft, but will break easily without any "pull".

As with most of these tiny restaurants, service is fast, but don't expect much in the way of friendliness…..instead expect efficiency. The restaurant is about the same size as J&J, but we thought it was brighter(much brighter) and cleaner. Though I think I enjoy the XLB at J&J more(and Mei Long Village even more…). Other than versions of dumplings, we saw most everyone else eating Niu Rou Mien.

Dragon Mark
301 W Valley Blvd Ste 110
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Another silly observation……

I kinda take it for granted that almost all signs in the area are in Chinese, or Chinese and English. So we both cracked up when the sign to the right, taped onto the stairway wall to the parking lot was written only in English. Why only in English?

BTW, I did NOT write the LOL on that sign…….

Cantonese Feast at Yummy Yummy in Yuma

August 19, 2007 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

Hi everyone – this is ed from Yuma again. mmm-yoso!!! is Kirk’s wonderful blog, and he is kind enough (or lazy enough?) to let Cathy and I post here occasionally. I felt like sharing with you a meal that I recently shared with some of my friends in Yuma. Unfortunately for you, they got to taste the dishes, you just get to read about them. Sorry about that!

I can still remember a conversation that took place about seven years ago. I was waiting for some take-out from this nearby Cantonese restaurant, and I asked Mary, the proprietor, if they could make greens with foo-yee sauce.

"You like foo-yee?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and a quizzical look on her face.

"I love it," I lied. I had never tried it. However, I had just read at Chowhound that Jim Leff initially judges a Cantonese restaurant by ordering greens in foo yee sauce. If they could not make it, the restaurant was not authentic. If they could not make it well, the restaurant was not likely to make anything else very well either.

A week later, I opened my first carry out box full of greens in foo yee sauce. The pungent aroma of fermented tofu heavily laced with garlic rose to my nostrils in a scented steamy cloud. The greens were in a light colored sauce full of garlic chunks and smears of fragrant tofu. What a funky wonderful way to eat a vegetable. As it turned out, this was the true beginning of my relationship with Yummy Yummy restaurant and of my education about Cantonese cuisine.

Over the years, Mary has taught me about various Chinese greens and other vegetables, and her restaurant has served me hundreds of generally satisfying dinners and lunches.

Anyway, this last week I hosted a veggie dinner at Yummy Yummy for nine of my friends, most of whom have treated me to dinners and parties at their homes. This was my way of partially repaying them for their gracious hospitality without having to clean my apartment. Since I had just returned from San Diego (and the Ranch 99 market), I made sure that Mary had a range of interesting vegetables to prepare.

After we had opened numerous bottles of wine that we brought, and after steamed rice, fried rice, and a vegetable chow mein hit the table, the first real entree to arrive was fried tofu and pineapple in a sweet and sour sauce:

As usual at Yummy Yummy, the tofu was perfectly fried, putting a nice skin over the moist and tender interior. To balance the sweetness of this dish, the bitter melon in black bean sauce was served next (photo is a bit fuzzy):

While some of my friends are not very fond of bitter melon, I love this dish, and Mary has taught me how to select melons that are more or (as in this case) less bitter. The deep flavors of black beans provide a perfect foil to the smooth bitterness.

Two orders of vegetable egg foo yung soon followed. While not earth-shatteringly good, Yummy Yummy’s egg foo yung has a straight-forward, mild flavor. I had never ordered it until some of us got together for a similar feast last year, and one individual asked for egg foo yung, and I was reintroduced to a dish I only remembered from childhood:

In order to show off Yummy Yummy’s Mexicali style kung pao, I asked Mary to prepare kung pao squash.This restaurant’s kung pao is done with celery, baby corn chunks, and water chestnuts instead of peanuts to add crunch. While I usually have the dish with chicken, the squash was a good substitute that added to the various textures (sorry about the blurry picture):

Everyone thought this was a very tasty and spicy dish.

The next two dishes were two versions of yu choi (Ranch 99 was out of on choi and their long beans looked long on age). One of them was prepared with foo yee sauce, and the other with a ginger and garlic sauce (pictured):

Although both preps were good and showed off the fresh green flavors of the yu-choi, the greens with the foo yee sauce were the favorite of my friends. Considering that no one at the table had ever eaten foo yee sauce before we started dining at Yummy Yummy, it amazes me to hear someone say "wow, I love that foo yee sauce!" with a rich Texas accent.

Two plates of my favorite dish from the meal, tofu with fresh shiitake mushrooms, then followed:

The intense umami of the mushrooms is a perfect complement to the neutral tofu. In addition to the soft chewy ‘shrooms, the slightly bite resistent tofu skin, and the soft creamy interior of the tofu, thin strips of onion and celery added to the contrasts in textures and to the overall mouthfeel of this succulent and savory dish.

Tiny baby bok choi arrived next, their light sauce full of ginger slices and chunks of garlic. Again the cooking emphasized the freshness of the veggies, leaving plenty of cruch to match up with the softer green parts of the leaves:

The same wonderful baby vegetable then arrived paired with fried tofu:

For a bit of a change of pace, the spicy tofu was served with steamed tofu. Normally this dish would have had different vegetables, but I think Mary felt that she needed to use up the whole bag of shiitakes that I brought back from San Diego:

Amazingly, most of the spicy dishes at Yummy Yummy are created using a single dried chili pod from a type of chili that I cannot recall ever seeing elsewhere in a restaurant or a store (the pic is from another meal). Yet that single chili is perfectly capable of spicing up and flavoring an entire plate of food.

The final dish, egg plant in oyster sauce, was a fitting conclusion to the meal and tasted much better than it looked. The rich flavor and soft texture of the vegetable gave all of us pleasure:

I should note that most of these dishes are not regularly available at the restaurant. The menu simply notes "Chinese Vegetable" ($6.99), and normally only one or two Chinese vegetable choices are available at any time. But as you can tell, this restaurant is very willing to work with a customer (particularly a customer possessing a Chinese vegetable or two) to create wonderful meals.

I should also point out that this is not fancy food, by any means. Instead, Yummy Yummy prepares straight-forward, ingredient-centered dishes. Nonetheless, the 9 omnivores and the one mostly vegetarian person all left feeling like they had enjoyed a true gourmet experience.

I hope you readers and friends of mmm-yoso have enjoyed looking at and hearing about this meal almost as much as my friends and I enjoyed eating it. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s possible.

Yummy Yummy Chinese Restaurant, 2241 S. Ave A, #23 in Palm Plaza, Yuma AZ 85364, (928) 376-0419.

Seattle: Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant

August 6, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Seattle, Washington, Travel

**** Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant has closed

You can call me late to the party….I know that Seven Stars Pepper is under new Ownership, but since we were here, I thought what the heck. Also, I'd been told that one of the not-to-miss dishes (still) was the Sichuan Crab at Seven Stars. The restaurant is located on the second floor of a strip mall on the corner of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street that would not look out of place in Monterey Park or Alhambra.

In fact from the graffiti to the dried out pieces of gum on the sidewalk, to the loud and slow elevator that took us to the second floor….this almost had San Gabriel Valley written all over it.

The interior consisted of faux laminated plywood siding and weaved mats, going for the Asian feel. I had even considered the possibility that the tables would be a "San Gabriel Sticky", but they were in fact spotless glass topped tables.

While my Father In Law and the Missus chatted with the nice Server in Mandarin, I looked over the menu board…and there it was Sichuan Crab. Unfortunately, they were out of crab, so we made due.

We started with the Fuqi Feipian($4.75):

Instead of the usual cold appetizer table, everything here was off the menu. Fuqi Feipian, the "Husband and Wife" dish is probably my favorite Sichuan appetizer, usually a combination of thinly sliced brisket or shank, and tendon or tripe drizzled with chili oil, sichuan peppercorns, crushed peanuts, chinese celery, scallions, and sesame seeds, or a combination thereof. This version left me less than satisfied; first off the lack of peppercorns eliminated the wonderfully addictive numbing heat. This version used too much vinegar, which my Father In Law and I didn't care for. The Missus and Her Mother enjoyed the flavor, since it was pretty close to the Beijing-style Sichuan flavors they enjoy.

The Chong Gin Hot Chicken (Chongqing La Zi Ji – $10.75):

Another go to dish that I usually enjoy. In this version, the cubes of chicken were deep fried to a perfect crunchiness. Again I lamented the lack of Sichuan Peppercorns, making the heat(which wasn't very hot) one dimensional. In addition, the "hot sauce" used had an interesting vinegar kick, that the Missus and I kept trying to put our finger on……until it came to me. It almost tasted like Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce! In other words like Chongqing style buffalo chicken cubes with chilies……. It sure was a long way from Chung King in Monterey Park.

Cumin Lamb($10.50):

Not really a Sichuan dish, but I really enjoy the combination of lamb and cumin. I've been told that this is originally a Xinjiang style dish. The Missus has told me of street vendors selling skewers of grilled lamb with cumin in Qingdao where She grew up. I enjoyed this dish, though not quite as much as the Dry Fried Cumin Lamb from Dede's back in San Diego, as it was a bit on the oily side. Still, the nutty cumin flavor, along with a slight chili kick provided by the dried chilies, along with wild flavor of the lamb was nice. One thing I noticed is that the Chef doesn't "scald" his dried chilies, which would make the dishes much more fragrant and release much more of the chili flavor.

The Sichuan Prawns ($12.95):

Much like the chicken, these nice sized prawns were cooked perfectly… the meat moist, with a nice firm texture, the shells crisp, with a nice dusting of corn starch, but not hard. Again, these were not particularly spicy, but this allowed the sweet flavor flavor of the prawns to come through.

Overall, a decent, but not exceptional meal at Seven Stars Pepper. Too bad about the lack of crab. The service was very nice and accommodating, if a bit on the slow side. Perhaps on our next trip, we'll be able to check out Szechuan Chef, the restaurant run by the former owners of Seven Stars Pepper in Bellevue, or another restaurant recommended by one of the bellmen at the hotel, Yea's Wok.

Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant
1207 S. Jackson St. Suite 211
Seattle, WA 98144

Open Daily: 11am – 1030pm
206-568-6446

Oh yes, special thanks to Tohta for a nice list of recommendations for our next trip up to PNW!

The Revised Rotation

July 25, 2007 mmm-yoso Bakery, Bun Bo Hue, Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Lao Restaurants, Plate Lunch, Salvadoran Restaurants, Vietnamese Restaurants

I’ve been blessed by blogging. Through our humble little food blog, I’ve gotten to know so many wonderful, kind, and generous people. It’s also great to know that I’m not the only (slightly…) food obsessed person out there. I’m very happy to call Howie, who does the Foodieview, a friend.

Case in point, over the last year (yes, year…) I’ve received a few emails and comment, asking me when I’m going to update "My Rotation". Those would be the restaurants the Missus and I think about when we make plans to eat, whether it’s the two of us, or dinner with friends, or something similar in nature. I had thought that a post was in order, but didn’t quite know how to approach the whole thing. Suddenly it came to me(though it could have been gas….but we’ll never know), I remembered Howie’s post on embedding restaurant maps in posts. I thought it was pretty neat, and Howie was nice enough to demo what mmm-yoso’s map would look like…..it did look like 300 map links stacked on one another….it seemed like I’ve been eating in the same place like a couple of hundred times! Now, I know Howie’s a really busy guy, but I mentioned updating my rotation to Him, and sent him a list of places on our revised rotation, and to my surprise a short itme later I received a response. And there was a map! You can see a more detailed map with info here. So without further ado, here’s Howie’s work:

Pretty cool, huh?