Los Angeles County – Page 18

Road Trip: Kyochon, Yes Plaza, and What’s up at Hong Kong Plaza – Rowland Heights (LA)

March 10, 2009 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Korean Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Driving East on the 60 Freeway, car smelling of my bounty of Indonesian Food, I had a few more stops to make. First……

Yes Plaza:

As I previously posted, what is now Yes Plaza, was a pretty dark and seedy strip mall back when we lived a few blocks away. Because of the terribly scary, and always malfunctioning laundry room in our apartment complex, we'd end up at the better lit, but very beat, "Launder Land"…..with the terminal fermented geriatric diapers smells, and god knows what oozing from under the bathroom door (which cost you a quarter...how's that for a double whammy). But boy have things changed.

I'm not sure if I really like the pastel, antacid blue that they've painted the place…..just like the pastel t-shirt and jacket an acquaintance of mine from back in the 80's ……who wanted to be Don Johnson used to wear all the time. The only problem was; that one, he was Japanese, and two, he was maybe five-foot two on a good day. (we nicknamed him, "Miami Mice") It just looks wrong….

I will say that there's a really good array of eateries in Yes Plaza.

And the walkways are no longer coated with gum and various stains of dubious origin. And it seems like the liqour store, Thai Restaurant, and ironies of ironies, the Laundromat (though really cleaned up) are the only businesses remaining from that time.

And since there's no way you can go through one of these malls without some interesting bit of "Engrish", I was on the look-out. But the only sign I could find was in the window of the Indonesian Restaurant:

"Fish Tilapia"…..kinda redundant isn't it? But maybe they were just trying to differentiate it from the "Moose Tilapia" or "Frog Tilapia", or the even more heinous "Kangaroo Tilapia?"

Now why the heck was I aimlessly wandering the walkways of Yes Plaza?

Kyochon Chicken….

Is why. After reading posts from Wandering Chopsticks and Elmomonster, I'd been dying to try the twice fried chicken wings. But the Missus, having tried and not cared for BBQ Chicken, did not want to waste precious eating time on our road trips. Having to make a solo trip to LA gave me the opening I needed.

Now the standard line is "to ensure the best quality, and freshness, the wings are made to order." Which is why I was just kinda hovering around Yes Plaza, with one of those coaster-buzzer thingamajiggy's in hand.

One more thing, how hard is it for a bright, new, and shiny chicken wing restaurant, to get an 'A' health inspection grade? Maybe Kyochon purposely flunked to get some street cred? You know the saying…… in the SGV, 'A'=American Food, 'B'=Better Food, and 'C'=(real) Chinese Food. As I was contemplating that, the coaster went "off", which was a good thing…the next thing I might have started contemplating would have probably been my navel.

I had ordered seven wings with the standard garlic soy, and four wings spicy. Each came in wonderful looking boxes, along with a kleenex dispenser(must be some free gift), in a good quality bag. Talk about some overhead.

The garlic soy wings were nice, light, crisp. As all posts on Kyochon note, the double-frying technique renders off all the subcutaneous fat off. Leaving you with thin crisp skin, and moist meat.

The chicken is "glazed" in a sweet, soy-garlic sauce. That is mostly sweet. Folks from "back home" know this style as "dipped chicken"…fried chicken that dipped into a sauce right after frying. Much like my garlic chicken……with much more finesse of course. I thought these were rather good.

I had two wings and moved on to the sweet-spicy wings:

These were glazed in a slow burning, slighly sour, lip stinging sauce. It had a nice slow burn to it. I ate two and saved the rest for the Missus.

Her verdict? She thought the spicy wings were nice, not too spicy, but good. She enjoyed the texture of the wings, and had thoughts of getting some on our next trip to the area….until I showed Her the receipt:

She quickly changed Her mind. They were good, but not THAT good…..

Kyochon Chicken
18180 E Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

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I had one last stop, Hong Kong Plaza, to pick up some Chinese Beef Jerky for the Missus. Curious about what was going on in the space of the now defunct Hong Kong Market. There was this sign posted:

It always amazes me, how quickly businesses close around here:

And how quickly they are replaced:

The market was gone, but some enterprising vegetable vendor had set up shop on the sidewalk this day, and was doing bang-up business.

In spite of the bad economy, there's quite a bit of new construction going on. Our old "dry cleaners" is now a flattened dirt lot, waiting for a new mall or building to spring up.

One thing hasn't changed. On a good day, you can still see the San Gabriel Mountains….I had forgotten how much I loved looking at them. Even from a strip mall parking lot…..

Road Trip: Wok and Noodle (I think) – Alhambra (Los Angeles)

March 1, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

**** Wok and Noodle has closed

The reason I'm saying "I think", is that for the life of me, I couldn't find an English sign for the place. Googling the address 828 West Valley Blvd brought up a huge listing for a place named "Wok and Noodle", so that's the English name until someone tells me otherwise. We had finished our, not so great lunch at Kingburg Kitchen, and feeling unsatisfied, decided on a drive down the "old side" of Valley Boulevard. We hadn't been down here in a while. Right past the Boiling Crab, we noticed a large group of folks exiting what looked to be a restaurant. The Missus read the signage and told me, "this is a Shanghainese restaurant." Which sounded good to me….I swung around, and parked the car.

Upon entering, we noticed 2 things, many large families, and lots of older Chinese. This was a sure sign of "value pricing" and sure enough, looking over the menu, we found the prices to be very, very, reasonable. The 2 waiters here cracked us up….they were very nice, but just kinda did things at their own pace(S-L-O-W). One guy constantly hummed and sung while cracking what I thought were sunflower seeds. Every so often he'd spit the shells out into the tray holding the dirty dishes. The other guy just loved to whistle. You gotta love places like this.

Realizing that we had just eaten an hour earlier, the Missus and I decided on just a few cold dishes and some "bao".

So of course we ordered the Shanghai Smoked Fish ($4.25), one of the Missus's favorites.

This was a decent version, not too bony, not overly sweet, but maybe a bit too "wet" and mushy. But the Missus wasn't complaining, especially after having the really lousy version at Mr Dumpling recently, that was allwrong taste and texture-wise, over twice the price ($9.95!), and less than half the portion size.

I wanted the Salt Cured Duck($4.75):

Can you say "duck ham"? I really enjoyed this salty, duck-y(is there such a word), mildly salty cold dish. The meat had a semi-dense and ham like texture from the curing, though the Missus said the look of it kinda turned Her off.

Just seeing Xiao Long Bao on the menu means we have to order it($4.95):

This was not a particularly stellar version of XLB, the pork filling was decent, nice pork flavor and not overly sweet. The soup to meat ratio was a bit off, in my opinion, not enough soup. The wrappers were the weakest part, too thick and gummy. I probably won't be coming ordering Xiao Long Bao here next time.

And then of course, we had to have the Missus's latest obsession; Shengjian Bao (6 for $4.95):

The Missus said these rather rustic looking SJB, most closely resembled what She recalls eating in High School. Though the bottoms of these Bao were nice and crisp, the bun was more gummy than fluffy. The filling was a simple pork meatball that was on the bland side.

I think we'll be back for the cold dishes, and a few other items we saw being served at the other tables. After all, you can't beat the prices.

The service is pretty slow, though the staff is nice, it just seems like they're eternally day-dreaming. We saw one rather impatient older lady walk up to the service window and grab what I'm hoping was her dish and take it to the table herself! The restaurant is smaller than it looks, and full of large parties. Two can stuff themselves silly for under $20.

Wok and Noodle
828 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803

Not Duckin’ the Subject: A Roast Duck Comparison – Sam Woo times 2, Jasmine Express, and Yum Cha Cafe

February 24, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

I don't know how many times I've been asked for a recommendation for the "best take-out roast duck in San Diego." And boy do I hemm and haw, and when I finally do make a recommendation, I preface everything with so much "fine print" that it ends up reading, or sounding like one of those automobile adds. The reason that I've become rather gun shy with regards to roast duck, Chinese BBQ, and even Dim Sum recommendations in San Diego, is that, well, if anything, these offerings have proven to be consistently…..inconsistent. Which is why a place like Yum Cha Cafe may do rather well here. If it's going to be inconsistent, it might as well be cheap…..….

If I'm going to do roast duck comparison, I might as well have a baseline. So I think this place is as good as any:

Yes, it is Sam Woo, but no it is not in San Diego. This location of Sam Woo Barbecue is in Alhambra, and in my opinion has one of the better, most consistent take-out Roast Duck in SoCal. Yes, there are several Sam Woo's, Irvine, San Gabriel, and the City of Industry/Rowland Heights location was fairly close to where we lived. But not all Sam Woo's are created equal. This older location has always been good.

But oh my have the prices gone up over the years. Half a duck here is $9.25!!! More expensive than anywhere in San Diego.

What makes the duck here so good? First, the skin is not overly tough. Second, the duck is neither too meaty and dry, nor just skin and bones and tough. Saltiness does not overwhelm the duck, even though "jus" is ladled over the duck. And it is not greasy in the least.

The Missus's typical response after the first bite is always, "what's the big deal….." But She'll always go back for more. The flavoring is subtle, with a very mild-sweet finish.

Sam Woo Barbeque
514 W Valley Boulevard
Alhambra, CA 91803

Sam Woo San Diego:

Compare this with Sam Woo(aka "Sam Woo the Killer Whale") in San Diego. Surprisngly, a half roast duck here in San Diego is cheaper than in Alhambra ($7.50). I had made up my mind to never get roast duck from here a while ago; but this place gets Ed from Yuma's stamp of approval, so I decided to give it another go.

The duck has a tendency to be bony and tough. The skin is hard, and the "jus" is really salty. I don't mind the rather brusque service, but there a real disregard for the customers here. It wasn't always that way, but I've noticed it getting worse every year. Take for example the simple take-out container housing the duck:

It was covered in a variety of Chinese BBQ sticky-oily drippings and hand prints…I made out a thumbprint on one side of the container, that belongs in one of those CSI shows, but the photo didn't come out. If this happened to some little ol' Chinese lady in Alhambra or San Gabriel, that duck neck would have ended up shoved up…..well you get the picture.

Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd Ste 103
San Diego, CA 92111

Jasmine Express:

Is the place I usually recommend in San Diego, thoughitiswithafewreservationssinceI'vegottensomeprettylousyduckfromhereattimes. Jasmine's little take-out stall roast duck (which does not resemble the duck served in the restaurant) was surprisingly even cheaper than Sam Woo's ($7.25 – half duck).

You can just see the inconsistency of the roast duck, if you compare this rather good roast duck I purchased in November of last year.

Even though the chopping technique was on the sloppy side, the flavors were pretty good.

Compared to the duck I purchased for this post a few weeks back.

This one was a bit on the greasy side, and tasted rather bland. The duck served at Jasmine is usually more meaty than the version at Sam Woo SD.

Jasmine Express
4609 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Yum Cha Cafe:

**** Yum Cah Cafe has closed

Just for giggles, I thought I'd grab a half duck from the new Yum Cha Cafe, which turned out to be the most expensive of the three San Diego Roast Ducks ($8.25)!

The skin was tough, the meat on the dry side, and the rich duck flavor was lacking.

You may be better off having something else.

Yum Cha Cafe
6933 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111 JasExpress01

So there you go. Holding my feet to the fire, I'd usually recommend the roast duck from Jasmine Express, or even take-out from Golden City, but those recommendations are not without reservations. Since I've been doing this food blogging thing, I've posted on a bunch of places that do Chinese BBQ, but there's one place missing from my list. That place is Tom's Chinese BBQ on University. When we first moved to San Diego back in 2001, the roast duck was pretty good. But the quality and flavor got worse and worse, until it just wasn't worth the effort….so maybe, just maybe, one day soon after I recover……..

Road Trip: Saturday Indonesian Food Fair – Duarte (LA)

February 23, 2009 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, Indonesian Restaurants & Food, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Gravitational force is interesting….it can be defined in very simple physical terms as the force of mutual attraction which pulls two bodies together. Perhaps I'm stretching it a bit, maybe taking a bit too much "metaphoric license" per se…… but over the years, and in my travels, I've noticed another gravitational force of sorts. Cultural gravitation is what I called it. It is the invisible, undeniable force that our culture, whether by nature or nurture, has on us. It's much stronger for those of us who are far away from our original "home". And for many, there are those items which bring on that inner, nostalgic warmth that is at the center of this gravitational pull. And if you're like me, food is that source, it marks births, deaths, birthdays, reunions…..memories of friends and families. It is that center. Over the years, I've seen that gravitational force in action. What else could explain the folks waiting in the parking lot of a Chinese Restaurant on Buford Highway in Atlanta, some having driven from as far off as Birmingham, arriving at 7am in the morning, waiting for Dim Sum. Or seeing more Chinese on one Sunday, shopping and eating at a mall in Phoenix, than I knew lived in Arizona. There are celebrations and events that provide that "center" such as festivals. And, there are even regularly scheduled events, which provide the weekly comfort food fix, allowing one to face another week. The weekend Wat Thai Temple Food Court was one of those weekly events. And, the amazing, OC Food blogger supreme, Elmo mentioned another, the Indonesian Food Fair. That post was back in 2006, and I had added it to my list……but much like the Wat Thai Temple food court, much to my disappointment, the Indonesian Food Fair bit the dust. Whether, like the Wat Thai Temple, it was NIMBY-ism, or not, I don't recall. And if it was, I don't know if I blame them. We live on a nice quiet street.There's a Church right down the road, and a couple of times a year, they have events, which we don't mind, it's kind of cute and quaint. But if they had them every weekend……I'm not so sure.

But luckily for me, right before a recent solo trip back to LA, I went over to Chowhound's LA board and saw this. Like a Phoenix, the Indonesian Food Fair had risen from the ashes. (And if you're wondering, Wat Thai Temple's Food Court is back in action, though on Sunday's only.) Which is how I found myself parking my car in front of the Duarte Inn on a recent Saturday morning.

I had to crack up…… I had done some work in the area during the late 90's, and one of the guys I worked with just loved the El Pollo Loco which faces the street in front of the motel.

The food fair starts at 10am, and if today was a good example, it is pretty small and intimate. On this day, only 5 booths were present.

But let me tell you…….the fragrances were amazing. Unfortunately for me, it was not a Siren's song, but the wonderful scents that drew me close.

And it didn't help that everyone was so nice and patient with me……a total neophyte with regards to Indonesian Food.

Most everything is steam table goods….but don't let that dissuade you.

One of the ladies ordered like seven plates from this booth.

And the young lady working this booth was so very nice and patient. I just kinda stood in the background until the ladies were done, and the young lady explained all the dishes to me…. needless to say, I was impressed.

So what about the food? Let me first say, the colors are a feast for the eyes…and the smells are a feast for the nose. And overall, some of it like the "yellow rice" (Nasi Kuning) I couldn't get enough of.

And who doesn't love a boiled egg?

We found some of the offerings to be amazingly mild, in spite of the scents.

But this eggplant was killer:

And I felt like I should post the photo of this on my wall.

I found the Nasi Gudeg (simmered jackfruit) to be a bit too sweet….must be the palm sugar.

But the "spicy fish" was the best thing on the plate….which was not too spicy for us, in spite of looks.

Again, don't be like me and be seduced by all the smells, you should let Elmo be your guide….and the folks here are nice.

Indonesian Food Festival – Saturday 10am – 2pm
Duarte Inn
1200 Huntington Dr
Duarte, CA 91010

One last item, I'm dedicating this post to "Amy", who has moved to LA from San Diego. Amy emailed me recently, and mentioned that she's been reading for a few years, but had never had the chance to comment or email me. I'm sure Amy is a lot like most of you folks, and I just wanted to thank everyone for checking us out. Oh, and Amy, Los Angeles and Orange County has much to offer…….like the Indonesian Food Fair. Just let me know what good eats you find out there, ok?

Road Trip: Kingburg Kitchen – San Gabriel (LA)

February 17, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Niu Rou Mian, Road Trip

Yes, I have a "little black book"……no, not that kind of little black book! This Moleskin that I carry around is full of little handy dandy notes…things like addresses, how to change the time on my wristwatch, and sometimes, when I anticipate that all to often occurrence nowadays, where the heck I parked my car. And of course, it contains names of restaurants, many restaurants, an unmanageable list of places to eat in several cities, some which I'll probably never set foot in….but like making sure you wear clean underwear, you know, "just in case", I'll jot down a restaurant, the address if I have it, what to order, and other stuff, in my own little undecipherable scribbling….just in case. And recently it dawned on me, this list of restaurants, having no rhyme or reason, has become untenable. Luckily for me, I can, most of the time, locate my restaurant scribblings when necessary. A good example is Kingburg Kitchen. Several months back, I scribbled "Kingburg – Shengjian Bao". And after reading first, Eileen's post on Kingburg Kitchen, which led me to Pepsi Monster's post on said dining establishment, we just had on head on over during a recent trip to the SGV. Please check out their wonderful posts.

Kingburg Kitchen is located on Las Tunas Drive, quite close to Lucious Dumplings, a place that we'd been to a few times. And yet we had never noticed it, in spite of the very bright and yellow banner.

The interior is San Gabriel Schizoid……everything from a faux cloud ceiling, to the fake fish tank. And man does this place love fliers….sheets of paper posted everywhere. Many of them saying, "We have the best buns in town".

The tables were only mildly "San Gabriel sticky", and the usual suspects were in display with regards the soy and vinegar.

The menu is a simple two sided laminated page full of soups, dumplings, buns ("the best in town!!!"), and cold appetizers.

The woman working was very efficient, and quickly brought out some pickled napa cabbage, which was pretty bland, but kept the starving Missus satiated.

We started with the Niu Rou Mein (spicy beef noodles soup – $6.50):

My first thought was, "this looks nothing like what I saw in Eileen's post." And to put it bluntly, we didn't care for it very much. Nice mild spice, but no beef flavor to speak of, the meat was very tough, and tasted a bit off. The noodles started out with a decent chew and pull, but went mushy real quick.

The broth needed a more richness, it just reminded us of soy sauce water. Perhaps this was the first bowl of the day, and it needed more simmer time?

We couldn't finish half of it.

Of course we ordered the Shengjian Bao, starting with the pork and cabbage version ($6.50). After the requisite 20 minute wait, it arrived nicely browned on both sides.

The Missus and I both bit into our buns simultaneously, chewed and stopped, well, I swallowed. There was something wrong with these, the taste was decent, full of pork flavor, and well seasoned. But the texture of the buns was on the "gooey" side. This is when we took a look at the buns…..

Good God, the pork was still raw, and the dough on the interior of the bun was uncooked! I watched the Missus turn several shades of yellow, or was it green. The Missus managed to flag down the Server, who was already working on several tables, and explained to Her quietly in Mandarin what was going on, and of course we displayed the uneaten portions of the Shengjian Bao. Now, when something like this occurs, there are a whole range of responses we've gotten from restaurants. Everything from very defensive attitudes, to actions that try to place the guilt on us ("well, it's your fault you ordered this"), to where everything would just be reheated and dumped on our table. This lady responded in the best way possible to make things right. She was very, very, apologetic, and told us that they would like a chance to make us a fresh batch (this is a Chinese Restaurant, ain't no way you're getting comped, and we're not into making a scene). Of course this would take 20 minutes. So we decided to go ahead, but take the Pork Buns to go. In all honesty, I still get the heebies just looking at that photo…….

By this time our Vegetarian Buns($6.50) had arrived, and to be perfectly frank, I was ready to turn into a vegetarian about now anyhow.

Of course, we didn't just dig in this time, but daintily cut the Bao in half to check out what was going on first. Overall, we both weren't too pleased with the bun, in spite of the decent browning on both sides, we found the overall texture to be a bit too gummy, and the browned areas hard instead of crisp.

Personally, I love bitter greens, so I enjoyed the filling.

The smoked tofu and cloud ear fungus really just adds texture, but there was enough seasoning and flavor of my tastes. I think the Missus was still mentally consuming raw pork………

We did have an entire order of Bao which we took home….but we really had a hard time eating them. I tried to have a few, but for once, we wasted food……which I feel real bad about.

We thought the service to be efficient, and the Server was very nice and professional. We really wanted to like this place, but I'm just not all that sure we'll be back.

Kingburg Kitchen
715 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Road Trip: Hunan Seafood – Rosemead (Los Angeles), CA – And we get the answer to an Urban Legend.

December 23, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Hunan Seafood has closed

Ever since reading this post on Eileen Likes to Eat, I've been waiting for an opportunity to check out Hunan Seafood (formerly CrownCafe). It had been an uphill fight from the beginning. You see, the Missus'sFather is from Hunan, and I've marched ourselves to a few "Hunan" restaurants that have been anything BUT Hunan. When the Missus first heard the name of this place, She scoffed, "Hunan Sea-food? Yeah, right….." You see Hunan Province, is landlocked, bordered by mountains on three sides, and the Yangtze river on one(I don't think Dongting lake qualifies). She explained it to me this way; "Iowa is located on the Mississippi River….would you eat at a place called Iowa Seafood Restaurant?" But the combination of the photos on Eileen's Blog, and the good mood the Missus was in after our "first lunch" at Food Cabin put Her in an amiable state fo mind.

Hunan Seafood Restaurant appears very bright and clean from the exterior, but is starting to show signs of wear and tear in the interior. The service is typical SGV, all business, order quickly, don't ask questions……

We started with something near and dear to the Missus's heart; the Steamed Hunan Ham, Smoked Duck & Fish ($10.98):

The Missus clearly recalls visiting Her Paternal Grandmother in Hunan when a teenager. For a city girl it was quite a shock. No electricity, no indoor plumbing, the potty being in the same shed as the family pigs (totally freaked out, She held out for several days….until Her Dad rescued Her, taking Her into the city to potty), and the very hard life of Lily Blossom farmers. Funny thing is, we now pay thousands of $$$ to experience nearly the same thing nowadays – does anyone else notice the irony? There were of course, the great memories as well……. the wonder of lying on the drying slab and clearly seeing the Milky Way for the very first time. But, as a teenager, being the nice, plump, fresh meat for the local mosquitoes was not much fun.And toothpaste being the only available remedy for mosquito bites….. I can barely restrain myself mentally picturing the Missus covered with blots of toothpaste….wearing Her Jimmy Choo shoes with Her Gucci bag in tow…..

The scent of smoke was very strong when the plate literally hit our table. Looking at the plate, I was quite sure that it had hit quite a few tables in its time. Steaming both moistened the meat, and really brought up the fragrance. The La Rou (smoked pork) had a great texture, the fat soft and buttery, and the meat while smoky in flavor was much milder in saltiness than the preserved stuff you buy in markets. It also lacked the somewhat artificial flavor. The duck was good, but it was the fish that I enjoyed the best:

Salty and intensely smoky, the Missus said this was just as good as the stuff Her Grandmother used make and send Her Dad in China. The fish was slightly dense and chewy, though not as tough as jerky. The Missus had to call Her Father immediately after tasting this…. it brought back many memories.

And then it happened. We had heard of "it" happening before, but had never seen it in person. While waiting for our rice, the Missus murmured, "oh….. my …. God! I don't believe it!" When I asked Her, "what's going on?" The Missus stage whispered; "they're recycling rice….taking the leftover rice from one of the tables and dumping it back into the pot." The ricepot in Hunan Seafood is out for all to see, and as I turned to look, they dumped yet another container of leftover rice from another table into the ricepot…mixed it up a bit and put it into a rice container, which made its way to our table…… I should've taken a photo, but was too stunned. I wish I hadn't seen that….the meat was nice and salty, and I really wanted some rice….. You know, we've drunk Chicha de Jora made from maize germinated in the mouth of the maker, so reused rice doesn't sound too bad…. but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to eat this rice! I had heard of rice being recycled, or maybe reused for fried rice, and wasting rice is a sin…. however, faced with eating this? So I guess the urban legend of reusing rice is true.

Meanwhile, the wonderful looking Toss Fried Mutton with Cilantro ($9.98) made it to our table.

Just as with the unapologetic reuse of rice, this was an in-your-face spicy. Such is Hunan food; no goofing around with sweet, sour, or numbing flavors. The mutton was moist and tender, but was just overwhelmed with the red chilies (you didn't think those were red bell peppers did you?) and cilantro. You really couldn't taste anything else. Whomever cooked this showed some good cooking technique, but the dish seemed out of balance.

I'd gladly eat food from Hunan Seafood again, ummm…. well, maybe just some take-out, or even better, I'll just force myself to NOT look at the ricepot. We'll probably even bring the Missus's Dad here when they visit, but face him away from the ricepot. But at least we now new the answer to that old urban legend; "do Chinese Restaurants reuse uneaten rice?"

Hunan Seafood Restaurant
8772 E Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

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Road Trip: Food Cabin – Rosemead (Los Angeles), CA

December 9, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

**** Food Cabin has closed

What's in a name? Alot really, but in this case? What kind of cuisine would a restaurant called "Food Cabin" serve? When I first mentioned this place to the Missus, She guffawed out loud, obviously picturing a combination "Northwoods Inn" (home of the dirty snow) meets Denny's kind of place. She gave me a look that said, "you're running out of new places to eat, aren't you?" Honestly, the name Food Cabin just doesn't really inspire you to run out to the car and visit, does it?

Yes, Food Cabin just doesn't seem to get much respect; even the Restaurant's signage plays second fiddle to "The Best Car Wash" (now that's a name!!!):

As with many restaurants in the SGV, the Chinese name, has nothing to do with the English name. In this case the literal translation of the Chinese characters is something along the lines of "Dragon, Dragon, Good Food" or something like that; not a cabin reference to be found.

Food Cabin, the Restaurant, is located on the quiet end of Valley Boulevard, in, well, something that looks a lot like the manager's office of one of those cookie-cutter apartment complexes, converted into a restaurant. Having said that, I don't think the name Food Cookie-Cutter-Apartment-Manager's-Office is particularly inspiring at all either.

The interior is kind of apartment like; the Missus and I were trying to determine which "room" we were being seated in. The place was empty except for one table when we arrived at noon on a Saturday!

The menu is large, and quite varied, with mostly Northern Chinese style favorites. There are a number of specials, posted on the ubiquitous colored paper on the walls. One of the specials is a "buy 1 beer, get one free" deal.

The woman who seated us, looked very smart in her glasses, was very nice, and friendly. Not your typical SGV server. She started us off with some pickles, good, but on the salty side, and asked us twice if we wanted more.

We started off with the "Thousand Layer Meat Flat Bread" – aka "Pork Pancake" on the menu ($5).

This was nice, not greasy, as many versions of this dish is. The texture was good, crisp crust, a bit chewy in the interior. Not much meat to be had, but that is pretty much how the home made versions of this is. With a bit of the salty-pickly spicy broadbean paste, this was quite good.

But what I'd really come for were the Shengjian Bao(10 for $6.45), a "Bao" that is fried-steamed.

The Missus told me of a stand right across the street from Her High-School in Qingdao, that made Shengjian Bao. Which would inevitably end up being Her "snack" on most days. Shengjian Bao, is a semi-leavened bun, stuffed with meat, that is of a Shanghainese origin. Being both fired and steamed means that when done right, you'll get the best of both worlds.

The Missus and I were both surprised when 10 rather large Bao arrived at the table. Glistening with oil, I expected these to be heavy and greasy. Boy was I wrong, these were very light, and I enjoyed the contrast in textures. A crisp bottom, the rest of the Bao was nice and bready. To be sure, the bottom could have been a bit more crisp, but I really enjoyed the texture.

The filling was pork, with coarsely chopped squash for added texture. Moist and light, it could have perhaps been a bit more savory, but the provided soy-vinegar-cilantro dipping sauce was the perfect match. The nice Server even provided a small container of sauce for the left over Bao we took home!

The Missus, suffering from XLB withdrawals, ordered the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Juicy Pork Dumplings – $6):

I wasn't too impressed with this version, I thought the wrappers on the hard side, and the bottoms of the XLB were hard. There wasn't very much soup, and the filling was much too sweet, and left me with an odd, almost camphor like aftertaste. The Missus, on the other hand, ate 7 of the 10 XLB. Even though I wanted no part of it after eating the first one, She made me eat the last 2 since XLB doesn't keep and reheat real well.

We requested a few containers for our leftovers, and our check. ($18.88 – a bargain!) And the Server told the Missus in Mandarin to wait because She shouldn't miss the free dessert. Which turned out to be a sweet rice porridge….no big deal, but very nice service:

As you can tell, we enjoyed this meal. It wasn't perfect, but it sure hit the spot. We found the service to be very nice, and the pace much more laid-back than other restaurants in the area. This place started to fill up as we left, with several groups of older folks.

So next time someone asks you if you'd like to grab a bite at a "Food Cabin" don't hesitate. It might be worth your while!

Food Cabin
9510 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

Why the leftovers you may ask? Well, you know why…… another meal was in store during this roadtrip!

Road Trip: Mama’s Lu and Northern Dumpling House – Monterey Park(LA)

July 1, 2008 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

With gas prices at new highs, just wanting to take a road trip would probably be grounds to have us committed. But we were getting a bit stale just stewing in our juices at home. So, we went ahead with our little road trip and made the best of it. After doing our morning shopping, instead of heading toward San Gabriel, we decided on what in the good old days(at least for us) was the center of our eating universe. The intersection of Garfield and Garvey in Monterey Park. We were amazed at how light traffic was and even snagged convenient parking on Garvey. I'm guessing gas prices are affecting everyone.

Our first lunch stop was a newer restaurant called Mama's Lu….no not Mama Lu's, or even ahem, Mama's Loo(God help us all). It really is called Mama's Lu:

See what I mean? I asked the Missus what the deal was with the name. Her response? "Hey, you're the food guy, right? You figure it out." Which translated, probably meant, "I'm tired of your questions, you figure it out…." This little shop occupies the area that used to be Heavy Noodling, which I was kind of sad to see go.

The interior of "Da' House of Lu", is very clean. Not a sign of "San Gabriel sticky" to be found here.

The menu is short and concise, mostly dumplings, Shanghainese, with some Sichuan thrown in on the Chinese menu board:

I dunno if we've gotten used to prices in San Diego or what, but we had reverse sticker shock when we checked out the menu.

10 Xiao Long Bao for $4.50? You can barely get a Carne Asada Burrito for that in San Diego! Maybe this drive was worth it.

As we looked over the menu, the Missus and I hatched our plan. 2 Xiao Long Bao, and one dish we'll sample, and load into the ice chest. We started with an old favorite of the Missus, Shanghai style "Smoked Fish"($4.50), a classic dish. The Missus grew up eating the stuff.

The photo is a bit deceptive, this was a pretty large portion. This version was drier(but not dry), than versions I've had. It also didn't have a very pronounced sweet and five spice flavor. I really enjoyed it, because unlike other versions, this was not "fishy" in the least. The Missus(and my MIL) still favor the version at Chin's. But I'll take this any day of the week.

The Pork and Crab Xiao Long Bao($8.50), probably the most expensive item on the menu.

These came with each XLB(8) packed into an individual foil container. What I thought; "wow, they pack them individually, in these little dishes so they don't leak." What the Missus thought; "no wonder they're so expensive, they waste money on those dishes. If they make them right, they won't leak. And they sure better know the difference between the crab and the pork Xiao Long Bao. What a waste."

For us, a good Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao, will be rich and mildly sweet. This was bland and kind of greasy. The meat to soup ratio was not to our liking. Too much meat, not enough soup. The wrappers had a major defect; the fold was hard and chewy, and the bottom was gummy.

The Pork Xiao Long Bao(10 – $4.50):

These Xiao Long Bao suffered from the same problems as the Crab and Pork with regards to the wrapper and meat to soup ratio. Flavor wise, these were better with regards to a mild sweetness, and the meatball was melt in your mouth tender. I still think it was under flavored.

Still, I think it's better than any XLB we have here in San Diego, but when compared to all the other XLB in the area….. On the positive side, we had excellent service, our tea was refilled, and our water twice! The very nice Server, came back to check on us, something that almost never happens in the SGV! There is a booth behind the cash register that displays the XLB makers at work, a la Din Tai Fung. One more thing that I found somewhat humorous. The 'A' Health Rating is posted by the hallway door, away from the street…almost as if they're ashamed that they actually got an 'A'.

Mama's Lu Dumpling House
153 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

So why did the Missus and I exercise such restraint at Mama's Lu? Right across the street from Mama's Lu is this place.

**** Northern Dumpling House has closed

The English sign only says "Restaurant". I had read about this place on Chowhound, called Northern Dumpling House. We saved some "room" for a meal here. We planned on one order of Jiaozi and "something else". Like Mama's Lu the place is very clean, and almost too cold and sterile. The prices here are very reasonable as well.

I really wanted to try he Pork and Opo Squash Dumplings(I thought they'd be interesting), but they did not have any.

So we had the Beef and Chinese Celery Dumplings($5.50):

These Jiaozi were interesting, the wrapper was very soft and pillowy. I enjoy a bit of chew, but the Missus enjoyed these as a change of pace. She went into a lecture about making the dough of Jiaozi, and water temperature, etc, etc, etc…. The filling was undoubtedly beefy, but lacked a decent Chinese celery crunch and the only way we knew there was celery in the filling was a slight aftertaste. I'm not quite sure about these, but the Missus enjoyed them. I want to bring my Mother In Law to see what She thinks.

Looking for something that we could have a few bites of, than take home; I went for the Cumin Lamb. We thought it strange that all the stir fry dishes had prices that had been covered by blank white stickers. So at the risk of being charged some exorbitant amount, we went ahead and ordered it anyway.

If you enjoy a milder cumin taste, you'd like these. What made this dish really good was how the lamb was prepared and cooked. There were slices that were melt in the mouth soft! If not for the mild gamey flavor(not wild enough for us), you'd think that you were eating very well prepared beef. Mildly spicy from the chilies, this was even better the next day. Did you guess how much this cost? It was $5.40……on our check the Server initially wrote $4.95, but crossed it out and wrote in $5.40….I'll take that any day.

Even more than the food, there was something really interesting about this meal. The restaurant was empty except for another couple. Apparently, the Guy is a "Chef" at another restaurant, the Missus said he had a strong Beijing accent, She could barely understand his girlfriend/wife("man, her accent is really hard to make out"). After making our food the cook came out, pulled up a seat, and they started talking about business in the area. And also started dissing other regional Chinese cuisines. They were especially hard on Tianjin Cuisine("no way a Tianjin restaurant will make it, they don't make any good food, only snacks"). Stuff like prices and competition were discussed, too much to write in this post. But if you've ever wanted to be a "fly on the wall."

Northern Dumpling House
138 East Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

A Road Trip from Memory Lane

June 22, 2008 mmm-yoso Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, yoso-silly

I recently took a vacation day from work. For some reason my internal clock is still a bit off, and I just needed a day of R&R(that would be rest and relaxation, not readin’ and ‘riting). In spite of the recent increase in fuel prices, the Missus & I decided to take a "road trip down memory lane". When we resided in LA, we had a Saturday ritual. Whenever I was in town, we’d start our day with a drive down to the Torrance Saturday Farmer’s Market. I know I’ve posted on this before, in fact, more than once. But this Farmer’s Market holds a special place in our heart; if only because we spent a good many Saturday mornings at the market.

On this morning, we made it to the market in record time. There was a significant lack of traffic. I’m thinking it was combination of the heat, and gas prices. We arrived at about 845am, and the market was just starting to pick up. As always, there was a nice selection of a variety of fruits and vegetables. Because of the heat, all the "bug netting" was up.

With the heat and the bright sunlight, it seemed like it was already noon! We purchased a few items, walked the market, which is one of the largest in SoCal, and headed off to our next "regular stop".

On "memory road", our next stop was Marukai Gardena. And we arrived a bit after the 9am opening, and found primo parking. And though we spent a good amount of time walking the isles(and soaking up the A/C), the main reason we stopped here was to purchase fish. Even though, Marukai has opened in San Diego, one of areas where it is still deficient is with regards to fish. Though that could be said for Nijiya and Mitsuwa as well. Our little ice chest full of super fresh salmon, Karei, and Ahi, we headed on our way.

Marukai Gardena
1740 West Artesia Blvd
Gardena, CA 90248
Summer: Monday – Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.

My previous post can be found here.

Our next usual stop would be East on the 91, North on the 710, and either getting out on Valley, or as today, East on the 10. Today we exited on Garfield, and ended up at the place we used to call the "center of LA’s Chinese universe", the intersection of Garfield and Garvey…….this was circa the 90’s of course, and much has changed since then. So where did we eat? Sorry folks, but that’s future post. After not one, but two meals(hey, with gas prices, who knows when I’ll be back….and leftovers are always welcome), we headed off "home". Not our current "Home" in San Diego, but our old stomping grounds, Rowland Heights. The Missus had a craving for her Shaved Ice from Shau Mei, and that’s where we encountered a big surprise. While the Missus was enduring severely rude service at Shau Mei, I noticed this sign.

A bit curious, we entered Hong Kong Market, and this is what greeted us.

The produce section had been removed, and now consists of boxes of items being sold……inventory liquidation. The meat and frozen food section was "taped off". You can compare it to my previous post, here.

We were shocked, we hadn’t heard that they were closing. Now over the years, I’ve endured some horrible service at Hong Kong Market, but we shopped here frequently, sometimes 4-5 times a week, when we lived in the area. It was within walking distance. The Missus called Her Dad, who shopped here often when they lived in the area.

I guess time had caught up with this rather run down and seedy market. But we had many memories of the place.

In spite of the horrid service, I’ll miss the place. In keeping with the standard service at HK Market, the Missus went over to one of the cashiers who was standing around, and inquired about the closing. The young lady gave the Missus a dirty look, and in a nasty "it’s none of your business" tone, told the Missus, "there is NO reason". You gotta love it, a final kick to the crotch!

We were still talking about the closing while I was prepping dinner. Wondering what was taking its place, and what it meant to all the other businesses in the area. We had already noticed how much lighter traffic was in the area. It was the topic of conversation as we had a "memory lane" beat-the-heat dinner; Poke’ 2 ways.

The Ogo from Marukai was lousy, but man that Ahi was super-fresh. It took us back to our old "Saturday Night" meals way back when. Time moves forward, but sometimes it’s really nice to taste the past.

I hope everyone managed to keep cool this weekend. Tell me, what are your "eating trips down memory lane"?

The Very Last Day of 2007-and a preview of 2008! Behind the scenes at the Tournament of Roses! Oh, food, too.

December 31, 2007 Cathy Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food..and what some of us do to get to eat said food. Cathy is having her annual adventure North of San Diego and you get to vicariously enjoy!

Hi. It is the 31st of December and here we are. We made it through 2007, relatively unscathed and 2008 is right there staring at us. We have to learn a little different way to type or write the date; new calendars are out on the walls and on the desk, filled with so many blank pages, papers can be filed and gotten ready to start inputting into the new Tax Program on your computer, or in a folder to hand to your Tax Guy or Tax Gal…and still, there is time to relax, because the the first day of the year is a holiday! A lot of people have breakfast at home with family or friends and watch the Rose Parade on television. A spectacular event, planned almost a year in advance, yet assembled only a few weeks before it actually can happen, because every visible portion of each float must be covered with something that is, or was alive…thousands of volunteers have been working on the float decorations, sleeping overnight in Pasadena, waking to sticky, glue covered hands and clothing and going at it the next day…and yet, nobody will see these lovely pieces of art and architecture until tomorrow on television…except for you, dear readers!

Oh yes, The Mister and have this on our agenda every year…We just are skipping the sticky glue covered hands part this year. Yes. we merely woke up about 4 a.m. today and drove north to Pasadena, to have breakfast with the Pasadena Host Lions Club at the Historic Castle Green Hotel and then take a VIP tour of the final float preparations.

The Hotel is now mostly an apartment building and the eating area is still used for parties and such. We got some food from the buffet: Kind of standard stuff; scrambled eggs, potatoes, fruit, muffins, danish, ham and sausage. One trip only…coffee, cranberry and orange juice too. We didn’t care- we were here to take the VIP tour of the final decoration of the 2008 Rose Parade Floats! I am trying to give you views you will not see on television. This 25,000 pound Indian (Native American) float will be one you see on television, mid parade.

Remember, every square inch of every float has to be covered with something that is or was alive. The smells up close are wondrous…and also glue-like.

This is the back of the Lions Club International Float.. and this is what it looks like from the front. As I said, every square inch on every float must be filled in, and judging was about to happen in less than three hours. If you look close, you can see glue on the back of these Marguerite flower heads and the blank space they were being placed onto the float just behind. Other flowers had been cut and placed in water vials and were also ready to be used for ‘spot fills’. OK, here are some other floats…for a sneak peek! AND SO ANYHOW…It was lunch time and we were hungry, but the streets of Pasadena were starting to line up with people claiming a spot along the parade route and we wanted to stay away from those crowds, so jumped on the freeway, started heading East, and decided the"Covina" exit at Citrus Avenue sounded nice…and we saw this sign in a non-descript mall…and stopped The menu was simple- So. we ordered…The pastrami sandwich ($5.25).

Very large, lots of meat, juicy, nicely spicy(not too much pepper), good fresh bread. No jus to dip in, however, there was enough juice on the bread to make it wonderful as a last bite. I wanted the gyros sandwich special ($6.99) included fries and a medium drink…the gyros was wonderful, meat cut in thick slices from a spit and perfectly juicy and flavorful, topped with a tangy tzatziki sauce, chopped onions and chopped tomatoes. In my quest for wonderful onion rings and knowing they are pretty much always perfect from these Mediterranean places that have gyros, I ordered the SMALL size ($2.59). I was not disappointed in the size, nor the quality and spice of the breading and crispiness; I was merely disappointed in myself that I could not finish it all…

P&G Superburgers 1030 N. Citrus Avenue, Covina open 7 am-11 pm, seven days

We wish everyone out there a Very Happy 2008! (or "2000 ate" as ed so succinctly put it) Have a safe day!