Los Angeles County – Page 13

Roadtrip: Dim Sum at Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

October 1, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

After our quick meal at Happiness Restaurant, the Missus calculated that we could still make it to San Gabriel and check out Shanghai No.1 Seafood Village before it got too crowded. Shanghai No.1 had been creating some buzz around the SGV, though I think it's more for the amount spent on decor (I've heard over a million) then the food. The restaurant is located in the same strip mall as Beijing Restaurant and where Green Village was before it shut down. The restaurant really doesn't look like much from the outside.

But the interior is something to behold, looking like an old Shanghai nightclub/restaurant.

We were here during lunch, but the dinner menu is also available. We asked to look at the dinner menu….and got what was to be the typical service here….lousy, abrupt, and perfunctory at best.

The menu really looked like those we saw in China, an over-sized volume of glossy photos, with each dish described in detail. I had read several accounts saying that the dim sum was expensive, but of course those folks hadn't eaten dim sum in San Diego recently. Here the small is $1.98, medium $2.98, large $3.98, and "specials" $4.98.

Since we had already eaten, our ordering habits had to follow a strategy we have when eating multiple meals in the SGV…..folks always look at me strangely when I tell them we actually have a strategy for eating, like I'm crazy or something. Only folks like my good friends and fellow bloggers like Kirbie and "CC" understand that I'm not totally insane…..partially perhaps, but not around the bend.

We started with the Lily and Corn Porridge ($4.98):

I took one sip of this and went…whoa….the base of the porridge was dried scallop, which just brought it up several notches. Also, notice the smoothness…it basically looks like milled broken rice! Most places serve you rice porridge that looks like rice and water….heck, that's what mine looks like even though there's abalone in it! This was the best I've had in a while, not too starchy or gummy, smooth, nice savory flavor that enhanced, but didn't overwhelm the added ingredients….quite nice.

Next up was the Abalone sticky rice in Lotus Leaf ($3.98):

Loved the way this was executed, the rice wasn't over-cooked and mushy. The rice had absorbed the maximum amount of smoky flavor from the lotus leaf. There was a slice of abalone, but it was pretty rubbery and instead of a whole egg yolk, there was a smear of yellow. Overall, this was good, but a bit on the rich side.

Next up was the Shanghai Vegetable Bun ($1.98). Now I enjoy the version at Chin's, but this was in another league.

These weren't very big, but the flavors were. The version at Chin's tends to be too bready and sweet. This one had a mild yeastiness and the filling had that balanced salty-bitter-sweet flavor I enjoy.

So far so good…..but from here our meal kinda took a turn in the wrong direction. If you've read our little blog long enough, you know that we just couldn't have a Hu Cai (滬菜) meal without trying the Xun Yu. Here's it's called Old Shanghai Smoked Fish and this one is priced fairly high at $12.99. Supposedly this is not made in the traditional way, but cooked to order, which, if you've ever made this – marinated-deep fried-marinated, seems a bit odd. The dish, which was on the small side was presented well.

The Missus took a bite and told me I wouldn't be able to eat it. But of course I had to try…..man, this was some of the muddiest fish I've had in a while. It tasted like I stuck a handful of dirt in my mouth. The textures were interesting, the exterior light and crisp, the interior almost like silken tofu, which I found odd considering this is fish. I just couldn't bring myself to eat another bite.

The Xiao Long Bao was also terrible ($4.98) – if anything was over-priced on the dim sum menu it was this.

First the folds were hard and gummy, not made well. The flavor of the soup was on the mild side and the filling was hard….much too hard for Xiao Long Bao. This would probably do in San Diego, but not in a Shanghai style restaurant in the SGV.

The one item I really wanted to try were the Shenjian Bao ($2.98):

Not to incur the wrath of my friend YZ from Shanghai, who will automatically tell me how wrong it is for SJB to have folds on the top. This was fluffy, the dough on the sweet side, but had a nice amount of salty-sweet "soup"…..much too sweet for the Missus, but I liked it. The meat wasn't anything special and this was fairly good overall….it looked better than it was.

The service really didn't live up to the standard of the design and decor…..this was basically lipstick on a pig. When we asked for boxes they were basically thrown at us…the whole objective seemed to be around turning over tables….I guess someone has to pay for the furniture, right?

I thought the execution of the dishes were better than the actual flavors, the SJB is a good case in point. The Missus and I had an interesting conversation about the food on the drive back home. The Missus came to the conclusion that I'm pretty unbiased when it comes to Chinese regional cuisine….I wasn't raised on the stuff, but became immersed during our years in the SGV, so I was basically a blank slate. She was raised on a combination of Lu Cai – Shandong cuisine, of the Jiaodong style and spicy Hunan/Sichuan cuisine. So the flavors of "South of the Yangtze" really don't appeal to Her…..interesting theory.

As for the dim sum at Shanghai No.1…well let's just say it won't make me forget about Sea Harbour or Elite.

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Restaurant
250 West Valley Blvd Suite M
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Roadtrip: Happiness Restaurant – Rowland Heights

September 27, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Happiness Restaurant has closed

Yes, another road trip so soon. We had an appointment in our old neighborhood….man, we've lived in San Diego for over a decade now, time sure does fly. Anyway, after our appointment, the Missus was hungry and I was still kind of hurting after our last visit to Chung King in Monterey Park. So we thought we'd get something close by…plus I wanted some Liang Ci Ba to take back with me.

And while I've stopped here for Liang Ci Ba, I really hadn't had anything else since this place was called Manie's Restaurant back in 2006. Strangely, though the menu looks the same and the lady who runs the place looks the same, the name has changed. So I was wondering what was going on….until I met "Manie"……and things got even more confusing…

You may recognize the turtle from a previous post….it has gotten a bit bigger. We were told the turtle is now 6 1/2 years old, so maybe the turtle was named after the restaurant and then???? Oh, so many possible scenarios go through my head….some NSFW, so I'll just stop.

Man, the two young ladies working here looked really beat and it was only 11 in the morning!

We decided to order a couple of items we saw on photos posted on the wall….well because the menu here is soooooo huge, with over 270+ items, not including lunch specials, scattered about like leaves on the ground…there are "Happiness Special Dishes" in one section, with "Happiness Special" in another…..not sure what meaning the addition/deletion of a single word would have, but the menu can induce total paralysis.

The Missus really liked one of the photos, but balked at the price, $16.95, for the House Special Fish…..but I told Her "sometimes you just gotta go for it", so we did. What arrived, well, looked like, but didn't look like the photo on the wall if you know what I mean. It arrived in one of those metal mixing bowls……

It looked like fish filets were cooking in a pot of bubbling oil, but not frying! Once things settled down, I had a taste and it seemed like it was all oil(it didn't separate overnight). The fish however, did not brown, and I'm guessing was either poached in another fluid and finished in the oil…or perhaps oil poached, which seemed like a more reasonable assumption since the fish had a wonderful buttery texture that almost melted in your mouth…."fei ur bu ni" (rich without greasy). The dish as a whole was not very spicy and the seaweed and other items in the oil didn't really add much….until we slowly, very slowly, heated up the leftovers the next day, but which time the chilies and seaweed had imparted a wonderful flavor to the remaining fish.

We'll ask the next time we have this…the Missus enjoyed this, so I'm sure we'll have it again.

The House Special Hot and Spicy Lamb Chops ($10.95) did look like lamb chops in the photo, but were just lamb ribs.

The batter was o the mushy side and the flavor not particularly appealing….decent beer food overall. The best part of the dish were the scalded scallions and garlic, which had also absorbed what the Sichuan Peppercorns in the dish had to offer.

The Missus asked me if I wanted the Kou Shui Ji – saliva chicken – written as Happiness Spicy Chicken ($7.95) on the menu. I thought why not…..

I felt kind of weird when it arrived….this usually a cold dish and it hit the table warm, almost hot. Catching a bit of the fragrance, I could make out sesame paste, which was a good start. In the bowl, this looked like soup….I fished out the chicken, much of which had been cubed, almost like it was being prepared for la zi ji, chicken with chilies. The flavor was actually not bad…there was a hint of vinegar, it was salty enough, sesame paste, but not sweet, nor spicy enough. If I had eaten this a year ago, I'd have rated it pretty low….but after having two renditions even worse then this in the last couple months, what can I say……still can't really recommend it, but it's passable.

And of course we got the Liang Ci Ba – Sticky Rice Cake ($6.95), which is under Happiness Appetizers, to go. Taking a peek at the table, I realized it's not quite what it used to be.

The rice cakes looked like they've been worked pretty pretty hard and they've gotten pretty stingy with the peanut-sesame paste topping, which was really dense. The Missus got to the topping before I did and left me all the carbs. In case you have any doubts about this…..here's what it looked like in 2006:

In case you're thinking it's because I ordered it to go….here's what it looked like around Xmas of 2010:

Well, I didn't have much time to dwell on that for very long as we headed off to our "second lunch"….stay tuned!

Happiness Restaurant
18438 Colima Road #106
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Post #2046 – Roadtrip: Chung King Restaurant – Monterey Park (Los Angeles)

September 24, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Chung King Restaurant has closed

Why post 2046…well, because it is our 2046th post, really….. I always want to do an anniversary thing, but I seem to always be away during May. I thought about doing post 2000, but then totally forgot. Perhaps waiting until 2500 might be a good idea, but who knows if I'll still be around? So, I went with post 2050, which just got me here….2046 whoooo-peeee!!??!!

And it's quite appropriate to do Chung King. This little Sichuan restaurant in Monterey Park, along with El Rocoto and Tung Lai Shun really fueled my interest in food way back in '98…..yep, almost fifteen years ago. I recall the first whiff of the floral, yet pungent whiff of Sichuan Peppercorn fueled air…the first "buzz" I got after eating a peppercorn dish then drinking water. To this day, I recommend folks do this after the first time they've had a dish with Sichuan Peppercorn. We used to visit sometimes several times a week, and at least once or twice a month even after moving to San Diego. Until we found, (not "discovered", who discovers a restaurant, the new world maybe, but a restaurant?) Ba Ren. Isn't it kind of appropriate that the Chef at Ba Ren, was one of the original chef's at Chung King and a certified master chef at that. Since Ba Ren closed down, something nagged at me….no it's not gas. I kept wondering how Chung King, now a little empire of several restaurants and god knows how many chefs later was doing. Which is what found us back at the what once was our favorite little restaurant in the world.

The interior looks a lot nicer since the last time we visited in 2003……

The place was totally desolate for our entire meal…at lunch time, on a Saturday. The young man who served us was a far cry from the borderline surly women who used to wait on us, being very friendly.

The menu had changed over the years, but what we wanted to start out with hadn't. Some liang cai 凉菜- cold dishes. With one of my all time favorites, Fu Qi Fei Pian – the Husband and Wife meat slices…I was really looking forward to this……

Which was a big let down….the flavor was truly lacking, no mild black vinegar flavor, no buzz form Sichuan Peppercorns, and worst of all, the tendon wasn't prepared nor cut correctly, being very thick, it was like eating plastic. The peanuts were on the dry and stale side, like they had been sitting around for a while. The long beans were decent. I'm used to a very briney flavor, though this edged toward the "very very" salty end of things.

Of course I had to order another of my favorite dishes, Kou Shui Ji 重庆口水鸡 – the mouthwatering (saliva) chicken.

This was the first place I'd ever had this…….and though this looked right, it was literally just a mere shadow of what I recalled, falling short on spice, Sichuan Peppercorn, black vinegar, sesame paste, and sweetness. Kind of sad actually…..

But not as sad as the Rice Crust with Three Delicacies ($9.99). You can just tell by looking at the dish what's wrong.

The sauce was very thin, I remember it being full of "chicken-ny" flavor, this was bland and insipid. The rice crust was strange to being soft and pliable it wasn't firm enough and we ended up with porridge.

Things turned around when the Pig's Intestines with Hot Pepper ($9.99) arrived.

The texture was excellent, crisp at first, giving away to a slightly chewy interior, the intestines were swiney and lovely to eat. This was the first dish to really make me think, "this is ChongQing style Sichuan", with bold and unapologetic flavors. Still short on Sichuan Peppercorns, it was still well seasoned.

The crowning jewel of the meal was something we'd never had before, Sliced Fish Filet with Cumin ($10.99). Man this was good.

I usually don't care for dishes where cumin is used with restraint, but in this case it worked in balance with the floral-pungent flavor of the Sichuan Peppercorns. The heat level was nice as it got the endorphins flowing and I started to get that euphoric feeling and there was a mild sweet flavor as well. The batter was egg based, but not too thick and eggy, making this a nice crisp dish. We even finished up the leeks and all the vegetables. Finally, in the end, this dish came through.

The Missus felt really bad as we drove home since I'd been looking forward to this for a while. I explained to Her that I just had to find out if it was still the same, it wasn't, but what is?

Back in 1979, one of my favorite artists, Paul McCartney and his band Wings came out with an album called Back to the Egg. Trying to get back to his roots with a more edgy rock and roll sound, what McCartney created, at least to me was an unfocused mess;

"When will you see me, my salamander?
Now don't try to tell me,
Oh no, don't answer, oh no….."

Really…… my salamander? No wonder Wings folded up its wings soon after….yes, I actually owned the album…. on vinyl Just goes to show, you can try to go back and get what you had, but sometimes the magic is gone.

It was nice to see that Chung King was still in business after all these years. The meal ended up well, but we feel that the restaurant really hasn't aged well.

Chung King Restaurant
206 South Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Postscipt: I actually think Goodnight Tonight should have been on this album, it was quite catchy:

And not nearly as cheesy as Coming Up.

Pasadena Road Trip-An early 2013 Rose Parade event and breakfast at Lucky Boy

July 19, 2012 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Sandwiches, Taco Shops, What Cathy Eats!

Hi there, person reading the blog called mmm-yoso!!! Sometimes Kirk writes here about meals and events and sometimes ed (from Yuma) writes about meals and events. Today, Cathy is writing about an event and a meal.

Well, it's been a hot and busy summer so far, probably for everyone. There are events every weekend it seems. Last weekend, San Diego was hosting both Comic-Con and Over the Line, the Orange County Fair opened and on Saturday, The Mister and I woke at 4:30 a.m., let the dogs out and back in the house, grabbed some snacks and coffee and jumped in the car and headed North, to Pasadena. In less than two hours, we were greeted by this sign.

Our reason for the trip and being here before 7 a.m.. Some of the floats that will appear in the 2013 Tournament of Roses parade were going to be road tested! There are at least three road tests for each float before the parade. This road test was mentioned on the Phoenix Decorating Company Facebook page and not on the website. The Rose Parade has fascinated both of us since we were children, watching it on television every New Year Day from our snow-bound homes back East and we are so happy to be able live here and be able to help decorate floats and also watch the progression of their creation every year.

This will be the Trader Joe's entry. You can see a few of the many kitchen gadgets (and cupcake holders) that will be part of the float. There will be some animation and those parts seemed to be the ones tested.

This is the initial sketch of the float. You can see the photo is facing the opposite of this drawing. It will be interesting to see the final product, which I am sure will be great.

Another float was being driven, with the Observer in front, directing the driver (who will be in an enclosed area in the middle of the float) down the street using headsets and microphones and then directing to a 180 degree turn at the end of the street to get back to the barn.

You can see the driver in this photo.

Other floats have the rebar skeletons covered and are almost ready to be marked for colors. This is the Shriners Hospital float. One bear depicts the Shriners Open Golf Tournament and the other bear depicts the Shriners Football Classic:

The rectangle cut into the belly of that bear will be where the Observer for this float will be looking out along the parade route.

Some of the floats are essentially ready for decorating, covered with foam and painted the colors where the various live and dried materials will be placed and glued. This is the 'off side' of the Nurses' float-the side the television cameras won't show.

This is the "camera side" you will see when you watch the parade on television. So beautiful.

The Rotary International float is very animated- that screw knob in the back spins and so do all of the gears! It was tested with nine riders.

The City of Hope float looks like a Chemistry Laboratory, complete with a spiral bound notebook and microscope.

There were eleven floats in all, all in different levels of being finished and tested for safety. It was fun to watch…and was all over before 9 a.m. There will be another road test on August 18. Dry decorating of the floats begins December 1. Volunteers are always welcome, but you have to sign up. Here are three links about decorating opportunities.

So, it was breakfast time and The Mister and I walked half a block North and over the Metro Gold Line tracks (this is the Fillmore Station)

to Arroyo Parkway and took a left,

and stopped at about two blocks North, at Lucky Boy…which is right at the corner with
the *Original* Trader Joe's location (the logo under the main sign is "Your neighborhood grocery store").

Anyhow, Lucky Boy. Walk up, order…

pay and wait for your number to be called…

A little peek inside the cooking area. The tortillas are cooked on a grill- and have grill marks.

This is a cross section of the famous Breakfast Burrito ($5.80). It weighs about one pound. Really. Hash browns, cheese, scrambled eggs and, in this case, ham-which was warm from the grill; nice. The salsa which came with was tasty and unique, a tomatillo based with some green chili and also a red chili with some heat.

We have been here before, but for lunch and dinner, and I usually order a pastrami something, but this time I decided to try a simple breakfast…

An egg sandwich, on rye toast. ($3.25)(not a typo). Soft scrambled eggs with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a really nice rye bread.

A perfect day. We stopped at a few places and were home by noon. The day had just begun!

Lucky Boy Drive In 640 S. Arroyo Parkway Pasadena, CA 91105 Website It is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, otherwise it's open.

25 Forty Bistro and Bakehouse (Old Town)-revisit for lunch

May 17, 2012 Cathy Bakery, Buffets, Desserts, European Restaurants, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

25Forty has closed. It will be missed

Well, you've found mmm-yoso!!! and we'd like to welcome you to our blog about food. Kirk usually blogs here and sometimes so does ed(from Yuma). Cathy usually chimes in about meals she has enjoyed when the guys are busy. Today, it's Cathy.

Hello again. I posted about a few lunches at 25Forty Bistro last year. 25Forty has changed since then; it's still open for Brunch and dinner on weekends, closed on Mondays and now is open for lunch on Thursday and Friday only. As part of that lunch offering, one of the menu choices is an all you can eat buffet at an affordable price of $8.

A few weeks ago, The Mister and I had some time and drove to Old Town for lunch here. The seating outside is the same, as are most of the tables inside, but along the back wall is a small buffet area.

We started lunch with iced tea and water. The water, as always, is brought out in glasses and with a large chilled bottle for refills at will. The iced tea is a good, strong brew.

The Mister ordered the All You can Eat buffet. As it was crowded, I did not want to get up to take a photo of the buffet area, but it is not large and on the tables looking like a nice buffet you'd have at a friend's home over the Holidays. This is a bit of everything available: cheeses, olives, pasta salad, salad with chicken, sliced ham, plain salad ) I do like the dressing here), rigatoni with meat sauce (very nice), roast pork (excellent) and mashed potatoes (perfect). The plate is very large and The Mister's second trip to the buffet area only brought back a bit more cheese and walnuts, which he said was his dessert…

I chose the $10 lunch combination, which includes a beverage, a baked dessert and either a salad or sandwich. As in my other post, I chose the steak salad, which I crave. The meat is so tender and perfectly seasoned and placed on top of balsamic dressed mixed greens. The heirloom tomato had wonderful flavor.

The selection of desserts was slightly overwhelming. I walked over to the counter and saw a selection of cupcakes as well as pastries. I noticed that people can order a coffee beverage to go (there were 'to go' cups stacked next to the espresso machine) as well as pastries and apparently lots of people do so. After a bit of time, I chose this Nutella® filled pastry.

As you can see, the pastry was fresh and flaky and filled with the chocolate-hazelnut spread. We shared this. It was a delightful end to this pleasant lunch. We walked around Old Town and "played tourist" before returning to the car. San Diego is a very nice place where we are fortunate to live.

25Forty Bistro and Bakery 2540 Congress Street San Diego 92110 (619)294-2540 Closed Monday. Website

Not Duckin’ the Subject – Roadtrip Edition: Lien Hoa BBQ (Westminster – Orange County) and Monterey Palace BBQ (San Gabriel – Los Angeles)

April 15, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip

I've often lamented the quality and consistency of take out Roast Duck in San Diego. It is after all, one of my favorite food groups. But for a change, instead of me whining about the whole thing, here are two winners. Unfortunately, both are not in San Diego County.

Lien Hoa BBQ – Westminster:

A while back FOY "DavidD" mentioned that this shop made the best roast duck. So I made sure to mention the place to Beach during my last visit. Beach told me he's being going to Lien Hoa for thirty or so years (looking at the sign, they opened in 1981) , knew the owners, and that this was indeed the best place for Chinese BBQ in all of Little Saigon, or even in Orange County.

The place is actually right next to Kang Lac Bakery, so we went in before having Bot Chien.

The shop is tiny with a small and cramped walking space. It's a no frills place, just up my alley…the other thing up my alley? A whole roast duck here costs just $15.50……bargain city.

After arriving home I opened the very heavy foil container took take a peak and a taste or two of the duck.

If you want a meaty duck, this would be the one for you. Personally, for me it;s all about a combination of factors; the skin, the flavor, fat content, and so on. The flavor of this duck will be a surprise for many raised on roast duck in San Diego. It is mild, with anise hints, and not salted to death to cover up the lack of expert preparation. The skin on the top layer was, perhaps a bit too "rubbery", but good overall. Sadly, they poured a ton of "jus" over the duck. There was about two cups of it in the tray (I measured). This meant the skin of the duck on the bottom layer was taut and the meat had started to be mushy. Gladly, even the juice wasn't too salty. I think I'll have them go easy on that stuff next time.

So, if you're passing through, or if roast duck matters enough to you to be worth a drive (like me), this place is worth a shot. And the prices are very reasonable.

Lien Hoa BBQ Deli
9299 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

Monterey Palace BBQ Fast Food:

A little over a year ago, we were driving east on Valley Boulevard. right past Focus Plaza, I noticed that a new shop had opened in a location I believe was some kind of bar or nightclub before.

The name of the place was Monterey Palace BBQ, which got me thinking that this place is affiliated with Monterey Palace on Garvey?

The place was bright, spanking new and turned out to be an interesting shop.

As you enter you basically meet the BBQ, followed by a section which is set-up for steam table foods, a la Sam Woo, nothing surprising there. The interesting thing is a bit past the hot foods section is a poultry and meat set-up, with several different types of chicken, duck, even rabbit.

The first time we stopped by and bought the roast duck, I really enjoyed it.

It isn't as meaty as the duck from Lien Hoa, but the skin was nicely lacquered and the flavor of bean paste was forward without overwhelming everything.

We have been back two more times since. On the second visit, the skin of the duck was wrinkled and it was too fatty…signs that temperature control was poor. One the third visit, things were back ot how they were on our first visit.

For now, Monterey Palace has replaced Sam Woo in Alhambra as our "duck stop". I'm hoping that we've found our place for take-out roast duck for now.

One downside to the location is that as far as I can tell, there's only street parking. There are only three spaces on the street in front of the place….so in case you're being tailgated by some aggressive retard like I was and have to stop and park, you may have to deal with the half peace sign salute and screaming from an idiot who was trying to get around the other cars and probably didn't know or didn't care (probably the latter) that you could indeed park on the street in front of the place. I'd forgotten how wonderful drivers were in the SGV…thanks for the reminder, moron. I've found that the best defense in such a situation is to look at the person and give them a big smile…A BIG SMILE…..

Anyway, he had to wait until all the cars drove past to merge into traffic and I got my roast duck. Seems like I got the better of the whole deal, right?

Monterey Palace BBQ Fast Food
118 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Road Trip: Shaanxi Gourmet – Rosemead (Los Angeles)

February 6, 2012 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Shaanxi Gourmet has closed

One of the dishes I really enjoyed during our trip to China was the Yang Rou Pao Mo from Tong Sheng Xiang in Xi'an. Dense, heavy, bread, which folks call "pita" but is not like any pita I'm familiar with is broken into edible pieces by hand. Once you've filled your bowl with enough of it, they whisk it away and fill the bowl with a gamey and flavorful mutton broth. It is heavy enough to keep you all day long and I really was looking for it when we returned from our trip. We tried the version at Beijing Restaurant in San Gabriel which was disappointing. So when I read about Shaanxi Gourmet on Dylan's Blog I got quite excited and a couple of days later we were driving up the I-5, headed to Rosemead.

The restaurant is of course, located in a strip mall off of Valley Boulevard, but is hiddn from the street. Though once you enter the parking lot, you can't miss the Terracotta Soldiers guarding the front door. The dining area is clean, the walls lined with photos of various dishes, and the restaurant is a bit smaller than it looks from the outside. You probably would only need two Terracotta Warriors to guard the place.

The service was kinda, well, slow and a bit disorganized, impatient, and let's just say, suited for the SGV. The menu, at least when we visited is interesting, it seemed that the vast majority of it was not translated into English.

Looking through the menu again I found a page of rather vague translations of some of the dishes. But we pretty much knew what we were looking for and the Missus started scanning the menu…..

Before making any big decisions, She had already gotten us some cold dishes to ward away our rising hunger.

These were adequate, but you can get better elsewhere……

Meanwhile, the Missus had already placed our order and in a matter of minutes our first dish arrived. The weather at that time had been pretty cold so we started with the spicy and sour soup with hand pulled noodles, the meatless version.

I loved the broth, which was light in viscosity, but full of flavor. There was definitely some Sichuan Peppercorn in this as we got some of that wonderful numbing sensation along with a bit of heat. The sour, was just enough to keep you wanting the next sip. The noodles were lovely, with a decent pull to them……I really enjoyed the noodles.

Still, I was waiting for my Yang Rou Pao Mo…..a part of me was hoping that the bread would be provided first for me to tear into bite sized pieces, but I guess practicality ruled here and the soup arrived with the bread diced into small pieces.

The broth was right on, a soulful, hearty, mutton soup. The bread was kind of strange as it was slimy and didn't really absorb the flavor of the broth. The pieces of mutton were pretty tender and had that wonderful flavor of the pasture.

It didn't quite take me back to Xi'an, perhaps as far west as New Guinea, but not quite there. Still this was pretty good and quite filling.

For our final dish, the missus looked over the menu and found something interesting……

I don't recall seeing Fen Zheng Yang Rou, lamb steamed with rice powder. But since we usually enjoy the various versions we've had of the dish, why not give it a try?

What we got this time around was some really tough lamb covered with gritty, grey colored powder. It was super bland and just not to our taste. For some reason, this reminded me of once when a bunch of us went camping at the beach and the guy assigned to cook ended up spilling the lunch into the sand and still tried serving it to us.

Overall, not a bad meal. I'd come back for those noodles and everyone seemed to be getting the Biang Biang Mian, which I think is Ku Dai Mian, super wide noodles the size of a sash/girdle. The service was spotty, one of the young women was really on top of things, but everyone else seemed to be walking in sand. Typical "A-B" (all business) SGV for us.

Shaanxi Gourmet
8518 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

Pie N’ Burger (burger, no pie)- Pasadena Road Trip

January 19, 2012 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

Hey, you found mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Welcome (back). Cathy is posting today, while Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are resting…or something.

Hi. I mentioned that we've been busy daily since Thanksgiving and have a bunch of meals to share. One of the days in December, The Mister and I returned to Pasadena to visit Rose Parade float decorating and stopped at a Starbucks and I was checking my email and had a note from Dennis, who writes A Radiused Corner. I mentioned where I was and he told us to go to Pie N' Burger, where he used to go when he was at University in Pasadena. I used the handy dandy "maps" app on my iPhone, found we were 1.1 miles away and that became our lunch venue.

When we got here, we found out that Pie N' Burger also sells breakfast and bakes their own white and wheat bread as well as pastries other than pie. They also serve fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juices and items other than burgers. PLUS- when you order a soda, they pump syrup into the glass, then soda water…real soda. Mental notes were made for our return visit.

Located inside this rectangular building, with a small streetfront presence, Pie N' Burger has been in this location on East California Street since 1963.

The menu on the wall, above the pie display, near the back of the building, has current prices. The Formica counter with chairs and swivel stools runs from the front of the store all the way to the back- about 20 seats. Near the front of the building is the grill, which had the seats I coveted (and did not photograph, since so many people were sitting around it).

The Mister, in his quest for a great chili,ordered a Chili Size ($11.50)- two patties topped with chili, cheese and onions (of course The Mister did not order onions…) This comes with a toasted bun on the side. In this article about the history of chili, the 8th paragraph from the bottom describes the origin of "chili size".

This was my hamburger ($6.75). You can see the patty is hand-formed and not at all perfect.

We ordered all of our burgers to be cooked medium rare. The burgers were seasoned, although the bean-filled-chili with deep flavor overwhelmed the burgers on The Mister's plate. The meal itself was very filling.

Here is my burger in my (small) hand. It comes on a toasted bun with Thousand Island (made fresh here), pickles and lettuce as well as onions (I got both raw and grilled onions, to make up for The Mister's misguided belief that onions are evil). I found out later that you have to ask for tomato (which does not cost extra…you just have to ask).

As you can see, they cooked this fresh ground, hand formed burger perfectly. I did add salt at some point, but it was at the last 1/4 of the burger and I wanted to 'spice up' the lettuce and onions. Plus, I had eaten all of the pickles…

We plan to go back (when hungrier) and try out other menu items. Thanks for sharing your hangout, Dennis!

Pie N Burger 913 East California, Pasadena, CA (626)795-1123 Website

Rose Parade 2012 float decorating and Plate 38-Pasadena

December 12, 2011 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

Welcome back to mmm–yoso!!! the food blog. It's the time if year filled with many holidays and Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy have been busy with activities other than eating. Cathy is posting about one of her busy days.

Hi. This past Saturday began with a 4 a.m. wake up and quick cooked breakfast.

Ham and cheese inside the flat omelet, sauteed spinach and mushrooms and crispy fried Bacon SPAM along with the only coffee I had that day.

It was still dark and the moon was beginning to eclipse when The Mister and I hit the road.

Soon, the sun was coming up, the moon had disappeared and we were passing giant Manger scenes along Interstate 5, the "General Hospital" building and got to Pasadena, finding a parking spot on the street, behind a Tournament of Roses vehicle.

We were at the Rose Palace, 30 minutes before our volunteer time was to start with our group, the Petal Pushers, which coordinates over 5,000 volunteers each year. There were many groups meeting this day to help decorate floats which were designed in February, when the theme of this 2012 Rose Parade was chosen- "Just Imagine". It was 42º outside and chillier inside. We were told to wear warm clothing that we were not afraid to get dirty. I wore three tshirts and an XL sweatshirt. As did most everyone else. This was a "Dry Decorating Day"- the fresh flowers won't go on the floats until 3 days before the parade on January 2, 2012. In other Rose Parade float posts, I've shown you how every visible part of the floats must be covered in living or previously alive materials. These dry decorating days are just as, if not more, important for the complete float to be built.

The assignments for Petal Pushers were given. We work on a few different floats in this barn, with various duties. Some people cut the purple petals off of these beautiful Statice flowers. All day. At the end of the day, all the five gallon buckets were empty-after being refilled one time- and the amount of flower petals gathered was less than one five gallon container.

One friendly couple were given the assignment of breaking down redwood bark- over the 8 hours they were given about 12 six foot long pieces of just bark,

which they shredded down into manageable thin pieces to be glued onto the HGTV float. They filled at least five of the large boxes and too many to count of the smaller one for volunteers to use to cover the trunks and branches on all the pine trees on this float, which has a replica of the HGTV Dream Home that somebody will win next year. In the background of the above photo, the young ladies are gluing bulghur wheat or some grain material onto the window frames. The spaces between the wood planks of the exterior have been filled with glued on poppy seeds.

You can see some of the glued on bark at the base of this pine tree. The tree is lying in the position it will collapse to during the parade- when the float passes under street and signal lights.

That box in front has a few poppy seeds left over. The HGTV home was built inside this barn and lifted onto the float 'body'. It is unusual to have such a structure on a float, since it is so heavy, but they wanted to build an accurate replica for this, their second float in the Rose Parade. HGTV will be doing a special before the Rose Parade showing how a float is built. It should be interesting.

You'll see this elk on the HGTV float, because he is on the 'camera side' of the float. Right now he is only partially covered in dry material. The undersides of the pine trees are covered in glued on dried parsley.

These powerful blenders are used to pulverize many of the flower petals so the powder can be glued onto some of the pieces of floats…

Like the giant flowers which will surround the Lions Club International float, "A World at Peace".

The 100th Anniversary of Loyola Marymount University will be celebrated with this tall(see the steeple in the back ?) float which is using the more blue-colored flower petals of the Statice flowers. It will have real palm leaves attached to the wires on those palm trees.

The back of the Shriners Hospital float looks like it has chickens exploding in the exhaust

which is coming from the bear-driven airplane. It's titled "Soaring for Kids".

The City of Los Angeles float has a few ancient creatures, with their textured skin made more visible with all sorts of beans. It honors the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County with the title "Dinosaurs in LA's Backyard"

There were a lot of volunteers working on the City of Glendale float, "Just Imagine the Music, Fun and Freedom"

The Lutheran Hour Float, in its 63rd appearance in the Rose Parade, is as detailed in the back as it is from the front. (Do you see two volunteers in this photo?)

The Farmers Insurance Group float looks like a giant game of "Mousetrap" and is called "The Unimaginable"

This is the back of the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs float "Shining Knights Still Exist".

At almost 5 p.m., we left. You can see the Sierra Madre Mountains and sunset in the distance…and the volunteers from the schools waiting for their buses to pick them up. There were more than 300 volunteers this eight hour day.

If you'd like to see artist's renderings of all the Phoenix Decorating floats, click on this link. There are a total of 55 floats in the 2012 Rose Parade and Phoenix is one of three companies which made them.

Anyhow, it was a LONG day and The Mister and I started driving through Pasadena looking for a place to have dinner (we brought lunch with ourselves; I did not take photos). We ended up on Colorado Boulevard

We were stopped at the signal light on Colorado at Sierra Madre and the side of this building on the Northeast corner had a sign about 'proudly serving Peets coffee'. We figured it was a Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner place and pulled into the parking lot.

Looking in the front door, it seemed Plate 38 does take out also. There were fresh, house made pastries in that display case.

We found a seat on the other side of the Christmas tree and admired the beautiful, solid wood table. We noticed the menu noted the food was made with local ingredients, no preservatives, organic fresh baked goods and also microbrews and Napa wines were offered.

The below photo turned out particularly blurry; I must have somehow channeled my exhaustion through to my iPhone and both photos of this same dish were just not good.

It is the Fritto Misto appetizer plate, which I chose to be my main dish. Quite large (it was at least 8×8 inches square) and filled with perfectly fried lightly breaded calamari rings, butterflied large shrimp and artichoke hearts and zucchini (both yellow and green), topped with a handful of mache lettuce and with a side of fresh made, wonderful lemon caper aioli, this was a perfect meal for me. The bonus was that since it was an appetizer, and between 4:30 and 6:00 p.m., the price was $2 off. Regularly $11, the $9 price tag was very much worth it.

The Mister ordered garlic marinated skirt steak plate ($18). The meat was tender and flavorful, not overpowering. The 'gravy' was a brandy peppercorn sauce. The fresh asparagus was not overcooked and had a nice crunch to it, I think it was braised in olive oil…the thin cut garlic fries were not overpowering and crispy, but not over-fried.

All in all we would like to come back to Plate 38 and try their other menu items. You can see the menu on the link below. For an all locally sourced, preservative free and organic baked goods, Plate 38 offers an excellent Return of Investment for your money. If you happen to be in this part of town. We will return. Maybe on a day when we aren't working and are all sawdust covered…

Tournament of Roses website

Phoenix Decorating Company website

Petal Pushers volunteer decorating information website (I just got an email- they still need volunteers for this Saturday (December 17) and from Dec 26-Jan 1)

Plate 38 2361 East Colorado Boulevard (at Sierra Madre) Pasadena 91107 (626) 793-7100 Sun-Th 7 am-10 pm, Fri-Sat 8 am-1am Monday 8 am-3:30 pm website

Road Trip: Tasty Noodle House – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

November 7, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

I'm not quite sure who recommended Tasty Noodle to me, I just can't find the email (was it you AndyS?). All I had was a little scribble in my notebook that says" Tasty Noodle – Dalian" and some other stuff…so it probably means that the owners are from Dalian, a city in Liaoning province, just North of Shandong where the Missus is from. The shop is tiny, tucked away in the same strip mall as several other restaurants including Golden Deli. Located in one of the corners you really can't see the place from the street.

Man was this place super clean….and super tiny, five-six tables in all. The young lady serving me was very friendly and polite as well……

The menu says "New style Chinese" which kinda raised alarms……….but I moved forward. Looking at my notes which said "noodle soup" (duh), but not which kind of noodle soup…. but I quickly made up my mind when I saw Pork Belly Noodle Soup ($5.99) on the menu.

The bowl was just humongous, filled to the brim with a thick soup. The noodles were excellent, looking closely you could tell they were hand made. The texture was wonderful, slight chew, mild pull, but nice and tender. That's where all the accolades end. The thin sliced pork belly was very tough and mealy. The broth really needed some help as it was very bland. I tried but only put a slight dent into the soup and took the rest home.

I would have usually just had some noodle soup and headed out since I was eating solo on this trip. But for some reason, I'd written Baozi in my notebook so I ordered the Tiajin Baozi ($6.99). It's written as "Pork Buns" on the menu.

It really didn't look that attractive, some were slightly open on the top…heck maybe this would even be a pseudo Guo Bu Li Baozi ("stuffed buns that even dogs would not eat" – a specialty of Tianjin). But after having eaten enough of these I could just tell by the smell, a mild yeasty-savory scent, with a touch of nutty sesame oil in the background, that I knew these were going to be pretty good. I actually reached out and grabbed one with my hands and was rewarded with a fluffy springiness…man, this was going to be good. The steamed bun was almost perfect, fluffy, light…best I've had in a while. The filling had that almost smooth texture with the perfect ratio of flavoring. This made the trip here worthwhile. I ate four and saved the rest for dinner. I also bought the Missus the vegetarian version. She loved the bun, even after heating…..She told me the filling was on the bland side, so go with the pork. But I know She's already planning to hit this place up on our next trip to the area.

Thinking that the folks here are from Liaoning, perhaps the Suan Cai Yang Rou might be worth a try……hmmm…my mind is still on that baozi, though!

Tasty Noodle House
827 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Hours 11am – 3pm
5pm – 930pm
Closed Mondays