Road Trip – Page 28

Road Trip: Vientiane Thai Laos Restaurant – Garden Grove (Orange County)

July 9, 2012 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

The Missus asked me what I wanted this past weekend, I'd been craving Jiaozi since we got back from our trip. So I thought a trip to Qing Dao Bread Food would be great. But the weekend rolled around and it was on the warm side…..and man, it had been a while since I had Lao food! So I thought what about grabbing a bite at Vientiane Thai Lao? The Missus jumped at it….which made me a bit suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when She directed me to drive to South Coast Plaza. A half hour later, She had a new pair of Christian Loubitouns and I was going to get my Lao food. How's that for a trade off? Well, it could have been worse, She had spent some time checking out jewelry at the Chanel store…yikes!!!

We were rather surpised when we stepped into Vientiane…..the place had been renovated since we last visited during the beginning of 2010. It looked nothing like what I remembered.

I sure hoped that the food was the same! We were waited on by a couple of really friendly young men, who did their job adequately and with good humor.

There were two dishes we'd driven up for; the first was the Raw Shrimp Salad ($7.99):

I appreciated the fact that we weren't asked how spicy we wanted it. It would be interesting to see what we got. I think my tolerance has gone down quite a bit now that I don't eat as much spicy food as I used too. After a couple of bites I had sweat pouring down my face. But that didn't prevent me from really enjoying this dish. In spite of the chilies, you can still get the slight sweetness of the shrimp coming through. Nice tangy flavors from the citrus, a bit of garlic, fish sauce, chilies, all jockeying for top spot in the flavor battle…what's not to like?

We also ordered the Ka Na Moo Krob($6.99). If I recall, Moo = Pork and Krob = Crunchy, or something like that.

I know some folks don't enjoy the chewy texture of roasted/braised, then deep fried pork belly, but I kind of like it. The pork had decent flavor, the Gailan (Chinese broccoli) was fresh. The sauce, which tasted like Kecap Manis, or some type of sweet soy, along with some oyster sauce, and perhaps some bean paste(?) edged on the salty end of the scale. It was fine when eating at the restaurant….in fact, we ordered some sticky rice with the sole purpose of soaking all the sauce up. The leftovers tended to be much too salty….note to self: next time finish it all!

Next up, one of those dishes I'll request before the executioner pulls that lever……Nam Khao ($6.50). I just love the sour-salty-crunchy-nutty-savory goodness of Nam Khao.

You know, Nye has a wonderful looking recipe for this on her blog, but I just can't bring my self to make this. I guess making this would eliminate the air of mysterious wonderfulness that dish provides….so I just avoid it. what I really enjoy about this version is that's it is less salty and probably quite low on the MSG scale if there's any in it at all. You can make out the coconut, the sour sausage, the nuttiness of the fried rice……

The last dish we ordered is I believe a version of Or Lam, a typical stew dish called "Meat Stew with Dill and Herbs (Aww)" on the menu ($6.99). Given that the Missus pretty much doesn't eat chicken, beef, or pork, we went with the fish version.

The catfish was too muddy for my tastes, but the Missus liked it. I thought the eggplant and the kabocha were cooked quite well, the Missus was especially taken by the kabocha, soft, but still holding shape, the sweetness coming through with each bite. The broth looked fairly dark and funky, and you could make out what was probably either a bit fermented fish or shrimp paste, which actually took a back seat to the generous amount of dill and kaffir lime leaf flavoring everything. Overall, the Missus enjoyed this much more than I did.

It was a nice meal since we'd been talking about Laos a bit recently and our bill came out to a tad over $30, with leftovers for dinner, a pretty good deal. I'm sure we won't wait two years to return next time. Maybe it was worth the price of those Christian Loubitouns….well, maybe not, we could have over 20 of these meals for those pair of shoes….but who's counting, right?

Vientiane Thai Laos Restauarant
10262 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove,CA92843

Hours: Mon – Thurs 10am – 9pm
Fri – Sun 10am – 10pm

North East San Diego County Road Trip: Amerient-Country Cooking & Oriental Cuisine (Ramona) and a drive to Julian

May 21, 2012 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese Restaurants, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

You are reading the blog named mmm-yoso!!! It’s about food. Not just a description of what, but also the where, sometimes the why and, occasionally how and who. Kirk usually takes care of those pronouns and sometimes ed(from Yuma) writes in a way outlining his posts using the interrogatives. Today, Cathy is using her grammar skills to share a day.

Hi. Last week, on a particularly foggy weekday morning, The Mister and I decided we’d like to take a drive North, to Julian. Originally we wanted to try Jeremy’s on The Hill, which ed (from Yuma) had posted about earlier this year, but on checking, realized it was not open for breakfast. However, figuring that people everywhere have to eat, we got in the car started the drive up Highway 67 and while on the lovely main street through Ramona, (cleverly named Main Street, just before it turns into Highway 78), I spotted this building, signage and decided this was where we should stop.

Perhaps you can’t read the signage on the building. I had heard of Amerient years ago but never had even noticed it when passing through town on my way to and from other errands.

We were greeted, seated and handed the leather bound combination menu. I noticed a lady in the corner booth rolling egg rolls and asked if I could order from the “oriental” part of the menu, even though it was barely 9 a.m., and was told that I could. (While we were there, several other people ordered other-than ‘country cooking’ items).

The wall decor and table condiments reflect both cuisines offered here.

The Mister decided on the Daily Special ($5.99, $2 off the regular menu price). On this day, it was Country Fried steak, which came with two eggs (poached), home fries (thin sliced and crispy fried)…

Here is a cross section view of the tender, lightly breaded, perfectly fried steak which was topped with a *very* nice, slightly peppery sausage gravy.

The Special also came with two GIANT pancakes, butter and heated maple syrup. On the right in the above photo, you can see a partial view basket of teas to select from($1.95)

My meal came with two fresh made egg rolls.

These were more meat than filler/no cabbage and really good; properly fried and not greasy. Actually, they were more like a good lumpia,now that I think about it. The neon red sweet-tart dipping sauce with a dot of hot mustard is something I rarely see or get to taste and it was a nice memory jog to my taste buds.

Here is a cross section of my order-Vegetable Egg Foo Young ($7.25). I crave mushrooms and was silly happy to get this giant platter of goodness, with the fresh, al dente cooked mushrooms, carrots, peas, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and -that patty- a fluffy, mostly cabbage, onion and egg delight. Actually a perfect breakfast (the gravy was not salty). Every restaurant makes egg foo young differently and this version was particularly memorable.

We plan to return, because the Saturday evening special is Ma La chicken. Spicy!

Amerient Country Cooking and Oriental Cuisine 668 Main Street, Ramona, CA 92065 (760)789-6855 website

We got in the car and continued on through the fog on the winding two lane road to Julian and were able to park on the main street, again having the clever name of Main Street. I so enjoy not having to think much. Parking on Main Street is something you can’t do during apple-picking time in Autumn. It was kind of strange to see the town, sidewalks and parking places in an uncrowded state. We walked and checked out every menu and determined that the price point for a meal started at $8, not including beverage. It’s also pretty consistent that a slice of pie with ice cream will cost $5. None of the businesses offer coupons in the local free paper nor is trying to underpricce a neighboring restaurant.

We drove just West, (Main Street turns into Farmer Road) to the cemetery, and walked around.

It was foggy and misty and peaceful.

We started to drive South, and passed Jeremy’s,which is about three miles from the center of Julian, then stopped four miles later, in the town of Santa Ysabel. Usually we stop at Dudley’s Bakery, but it’s only open Thursday-Sunday. There is a sign in the window that Dudley’s items are sold in the small IGA market next door, but since the bread would not be baked-that-day-fresh, we walked across the parking lot to the Julian Pie Company.

where a cute door handle greets you…

Choices of fresh pie slices, cookies, donuts, carmel apples and a freezer of take and bake pies and no crowds or waiting made the choice overwhelming.

So, we got one apple cider donut (75¢) and a coffee ($1.50) and a pie to go. The apple cider donut is unique in flavor…made with apple cider instead of water, it has a nice, fresh apple flavor and the light coating of cinnamon sugar was complimentary and not overwhelming. A good snack.

The pie?

The small size chicken pie. Made with the crust used for all the fruit pies. A good sized (one pound) meal for two. Baking fresh at home was perfect a few days later. The filling is almost all chicken, along with vegetables and the sauce.

San Diego County is large and every area/city/road has something interesting to do and places to eat. I hope everyone can have an adventure someday soon.

SO…yesterday, ed (from Yuma) wrote about his vacation and today I wrote about my “staycation”…whose turn is it now?

Julian Pie Company 21976 Highway 79 Santa Ysabel, CA 92070 (760)765-2400 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

Sunrise Cafe-San Clemente

January 4, 2012 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Road Trip, San Clemente, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping by to look at mmm-yoso!!!, a blog about food. Cathy is blogging today, appearing organized. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are busy with things.

The other Saturday, The Mister and I woke at a decent hour and then a leisurely drive North, to Pasadena, and on our way, took the El Camino Real exit from the I-5, in San Clemente, looking for some place open for breakfast. This caught our eye.

So we stopped, parked in back and were greeted by one person cleaning a table outside and another nice lady as soon as we walked in the door.

We were seated in the adjacent room, which was set for the soon to be crowd, with each table sporting jams, jellies, sugars, syrup, salt, pepper and a bowl of half and half containers, each with one green Irish Cream flavored coffee whitener container. (Coffee is $2 here, good and refilled constantly). Our waitress was very friendly and seemed to know everyone else eating here and made us feel at home.

The Mister ordered what he wanted- corned beef hash with over easy eggs, home fries and a biscuit with gravy ($7.75)

The biscuit was fresh made, home made and quite large. The gravy had sausage and some pepper in it (had to add more). The corned beef was pretty standard and good and those eggs were jiggly-over easy, cooked the proper way. The home fries were really nice and flavorful; probably fried in butter.

I ordered the veggie omelet($8.50). This menu item caught my eye, because in addition to avocado, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms,onions and cheese, the menu listed cauliflower as an ingredient.

It was a three egg omelet and I asked for tomatoes on the side (instead of potatoes) as well as rye toast. The omelet was very good, even with the mushrooms being canned. All the other ingredients were fresh and tasty and the omelet was really filling.

We really liked the food, homey feel and the super friendliness at Sunrise Cafe as well as being in San Clemente without the summer crowds. This may become a regular stop for us, in the off-season. I'll have to post where we eat when we visit this beach city in the summer…

Sunrise Cafe 701 N. El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672 (949) 498-6379 Open 7 a.m. M-F and 7:30 a.m. Sat-Sun, closes at 2:30 p.m. every day

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: Chef Chen – Irvine (Orange County)

November 13, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Orange County, Road Trip

**** Chef Chen has closed

I first recall hearing about Chef Chen on Elmo Monster's Blog (man, have you really been around for eight years???). After seeing a post on Chef Chen on Eileen's blog, with a pretty decent looking bowl of Niu Rou Mian, I had pretty much made up my mind. Also, we'd already tried out A&J which really didn't suit our tastes and a very, very, bad visit to Liang's in the same strip mall which was so terrible I never even posted about it. So why not make it a tri-fecta and check out Chef Chen's?

I sure must have been motivated since this is one of those parking lots I detest. One single exit/entrance, folks without any regard of right of way, people just plain parking in the middle of the aisle, people stealing spaces from folks patiently waiting for folks to leave by going around them and gunning into a spot. Man, this place has it all….they should have a reality show based on parking lots….. I made it a point to arrive a bit early, then stretched my legs by taking a walk and checking out how things have changed since the last time I've been here.

I entered the restaurant a few minutes after they opened and had a seat. The menu is a mix of different dishes, everything from typical Chinese fast food (which didn't look half bad) to Dao Xian Mian and even something that really interested me(more on that later). The prices, especially for the lunch specials and items from the "Northern dishes" menu were very reasonable…as was my bowl of Niu Rou Mian at $5.99:

I liked the color of the broth, which was decent and in my opinion better than Liang's (thin with no beef flavor) or A&J (oily but without flavor). Still not beefy enough, nor without enough five spice flavor, the spice level was nice. Be warned that the meat used is a very traditional beef shank which is a bit on the chewy side, though full of flavor. The noodles are nothing special, but were cooked to a nice chewy texture. This was not bad and actually better than I thought it would be.

I also saw something on the menu that I couldn't resist getting….Dao Ko Shao Ji. When we lived in LA, one of my favorite things was Dao Ko Chicken, from of all places Hong Kong Market. I'd tried Dao Ko Shao Ji from just about every place in the area and still enjoyed the one from Hong Kong Market. Then the market did a renovation and the deli case was gone…..sigh. I really missed my chicken. To the point that my Mother In-Law got in touch with an uncle who is a chef in Henan and he sent us a recipe. Read the post….it's a hoot!

When I arrived home and opened the container, the first thing that struck me was how much this looked like Earthen's Shandong Chicken. However, it lacked the sweetness with a touch of vinegar and in fact was kinda bland other than the super strong pungency from the raw garlic topping the chicken. It was one of those dishes that looked much better than it was.

Still, the prices were reasonable, and I really thought the service was excellent. The woman who served me was quite good, no wasted motion and very aware of her tables. She arrived with extra napkins just when I needed it, as soon as I pushed my bowl back she arrived to ask if all was well, then handed me my check. She then arrived with my chicken as soon as I placed money on the plastic tray. She was also quite friendly and nice and put up with my bogus (non-existent) Mandarin quite well……..

Chef Chen's
5408-B Walnut Ave
Irvine, CA 92604

One interesting thing I noticed in across the street and maybe if Elmo reads this he can answer it for me…..what's with the line outside Taiko?

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

Roadtrip: Omar’s Xinjiang Halal Restaurant – Alhambra (LA)

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

**** Omar's Xinjiang has closed

I had recently heard about an honest to goodness Xinjiang/Uyghur restaurant opening in the SGV…. not Northern style Muslim Chinese, but real Xinjiang. Last year, during our tirp to China we had eaten with friends at an Xinjiang restaurant called Jinsite in Beijing. I really enjoyed the food, all the different skewers, "rice to be eaten by hand", and other stuff. The Missus wasn't so thrilled, but She seemed rather enthusiastic about checking this little restaurant, located on the corner of New avenue and Ralph street (more on that later).

We arrived at around 11am and found the restaurant empty. The decor seemed right, though the young lady seemed annoyed that we had interrupted her television show and treated us like we were proverbial flies in the ointment….after all, how dare we walk into this restaurant and actually expect to eat?

The menu is small but packed with lamb, lamb, and more lamb. The Missus looked over the menu and gave me a puzzled look, but didn't say anything. We had thought about trying the rice to be eaten by hand…here called pilaf, but that would take an hour. We decided on a couple of other dishes instead.

We started with the house made yogurt ($2.50), which had a nice, sweet hint to eat, much like Suan Nai, but whereas Beijing yogurt is liquid, this was a pretty thick curd. It was much thicker than the Xinjiang yogurt I had before as well.

Still, I found it nice and refreshing.

I had wanted to try the Spicy Ox Tripe ($5.99).

These type of dishes are usually cold appetizers, so we were caught a bit off guard when it arrived warm. I'm not a big fan of honeycomb tripe, but this was wonderfully tender. the flavor wasn't especially spicy, and the Missus added even more black vinegar to it, but I can say I really enjoyed this dish. From here, things went pretty much downhill…….

We ordered two Yang Rou Chuan - Lamb Skewers ($3.55), which were salty, but other than that very weakly seasoned.

Of course we had to get the Zi Ran Yang Rou, cumin lamb ($10.99). I currently use cumin from Xinjiang, it is pungent, but almost mildly sweet so I was itching to see what would arrive…. and I couldn't believe my eyes……

I'm not a big fan of grey meat, and tough grey meat is even worse. This was both, it was a very cheap cut, full of gristle, and not much cumin to the whole thing. Some onion, chili, and garlic would have surely helped and this was fairly low on the cumin scale in terms of flavor. Of course it didn't help that this looked like it was cooked over a can of sterno………

If you compared that, with this, which is what I make at home, honestly, which would you rather eat?

We took most of it home and I tried to rescue it with more toasted cumin, some onions, wine, and dark soy…. but to no avail, it was DOA, beyond resuscitation.

The last dish was supposed to be the crowning jewel as I love the chewiness of hand pulled noodles ($12.99). what I do not love is hard, tough, almost brittle noodles, which is what this was.

Plus for thirteen bucks in the SGV, I expect a bit more than the three thin slices of lamb (though it was tasty lamb) and minimal vegetables in the stir fry. Man were those noodles hard, if you flogged me with this wet noodle, I'd be scarred for life……as it was the mental scars are more than sufficient.

All this combined with the server who made us feel like we were intruding…..it was a rather uncomfortable feeling. She did flash a smile though….when I asked for out check! It was so absurd, we can only laugh about it. In the end, we really didn't feel that this meal was worth forty bucks…….

As we were leaving, the Missus told me, "you know I don't care for Xinjiang food…." I asked Her why She had agreed to checking this place out. Her answer cracked me up; "I thought you said JINJIANG (Fujian) not XINJIANG! You owe me….." So we quickly rushed to Qing Dao Bread Food, then found some pretty good duck, had a visit to Domies bakery, and did take-out from a Yunnan restaurant……

Omar's Xinjiang Halal Restaurant
1718 New Ave
San Gabriel, CA 91776

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

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

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

**** Shufeng Garden has closed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

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

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

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