Road Trip – Page 29

Road Trip: Tri-Village Northern Chinese Cuisine – Irvine (Orange County)

March 29, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

**** Tri Village has closed

After returning from Beijing, the Missus was craving some Beijing Kao Ya (北京烤鸭), aka Peking Duck. Unfortunately, we decided on a visit to Duck House, which was a big disappointment. The Missus had pretty much given up on getting a decent to good Peking Duck…. until She saw this post by Super-OC Food Blogger, and writer for the OC Weekly, Elmomonster. At that point in time, She just couldn't wait to visit Tri-Village. In fact, I took a day off so we could get some duck, and the Missus called ahead and ordered the Beijing Kao Ya. When we arrived at the mall on Jeffrey Road, and saw the restaurant, along with a Kohl's….across the I-5 from the plaza with 99 Ranch Market and such…. the Missus didn't quite know what to think.

She didn't feel much more confident after looking through the menu, and talking to the staff, and finding out that in spite of the name, like Duck House, this is a Taiwanese run kitchen. Great for Taiwanese food, but maybe not for Northern Chinese…… or Beijing Kao Ya.

The restaurant itself is pretty tiny, but very clean. The staff here is very nice and friendly.

On this day, most of the customers were speaking Mandarin; it was to the point that the two couples we saw eating sweet and sour chicken and chow mein really stood out. We then went with one of our favorite moves; we walked slowly to the restroom to check out what the other tables were eating……. and still wasn't convinced; many of the dishes, especially the Dan Bing looked really greasy….

Still the really nice woman brought out a serving tray, set it beside our table. The young man brought out the duck for us to inspect. It seemed a bit light in color, but it did glisten and looked decent. At least they brought out the duck for us. Due to the tight spaces, I really didn't expect a tableside carving…. they might've ended up skewering a patron…. not a good move if you want return customers.

Within a few minutes our carved duck made it's way across the tight dining area and to our table.

Along with the Dan Bing….. which looked a bit dry…..

But turned out to be pretty good, not quite as thin as Beijing, but these displayed a decent chew to them, and wasn't dry in the least.

One of the women stopped what she was doing and came to start assembling our duck. But seeing how busy she was, we told her that we'd be just fine doing this ourselves.

I picked a piece of skin and had a taste, and was surprised. The piece I'd picked had that light crisp richness and almost melted into fatty goodness on my tongue. And the best pieces were exactly that. The skin wasn't quite as flavorful as what we had in Beijing, neither was the meat; but it was miles above what we had a Duck House. And much better than any version we had in San Diego by far.

The sauce served with the duck seemed to be bottled stuff; but we weren't complaining in the least.

The Missus, still traumatized by the awful bean sprouts and duck meat dish at Duck House, decided to spend the extra $6.99 and get lettuce cups……. a big mistake.

Apparently, there wasn't a whole lot of meat left, and the chef decided to add some filler…… deep fried won ton skins! Say what? This was really bland; the Missus dumped almost the whole container of sauce on this in order to eat it. Maybe this time we should have stayed with the bean sprout stir-fry?

We had also ordered the bone soup, another $6.99. It looked really nice when it arrived, looking like a nice soup.

With mushrooms, napa cabbage, and bean thread this was pretty good. The Missus was disappointed that they didn't use frozen tofu for the soup; a real Northern Chinese thing, but we still enjoyed it. Since it came out rather quickly, we knew that the full potential of the soup hadn't been reached. Still, it had a mild wildness to it…. but instead of spending the extra seven bucks, maybe you'll do what the Missus does.

Overall, we really enjoyed the duck, and will be back. The price for the duck, a standard two ways (no soup) is $34.99. We really enjoyed the service, which was friendly, and efficient.

Tri-Village Northern Chinese Cuisine
14121 Jeffrey Road
Irvine, CA 92620

Finding the Pho in Phoenix: Pho 43 Express

March 8, 2011 ed fromyuma Bun Bo Hue, Pho, Phoenix/Scottsdale/Chandler/Central AZ, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Kirk needs a break and Cathy is reeeallly busy, so today ed (from yuma) is posting about some place not in Yuma or San Diego.

Knowing that we were going to be in the Phoenix area around Presidents' Day, Tina and I thought about some places to eat. Both of us, as it turns out, were hungry for Vietnamese. A little research on Chowhound turned up a list of Vietnamese restaurants.

The one closest to where we were going to be was Pho 43 Express on 43rd Ave in the Maryville district of Glendale. We figured we'd give it a try.

The restaurant is a stand-alone building with plenty of parking in a neighborhood of multiple ethnicities — so far, so good:

The large number of family members (no school on Presidents' Day) let us know that this was a family restaurant, not a pho factory like some of the assembly line SD pho restaurants. The folks were friendly.

Looking over the menu, we realized that this was primarily a noodle House, with bun, pho, hu, and mi dishes predominating. That made ordering easy. A large combination pho and bun bo hue.

The garnishes arrived first and were all on one plate. There were plenty of bean sprouts and shredded cabbage, abundant mint and basil, lemon wedges, and a few jalapeno slices:

Although a few leaves of basil were blackened at the edges, we had plenty.

The first soup to arrive was the bun bo hue:

I thought it was a pretty decent bowl of soup. The nearly spaghetti size noodles were nicely cooked. They still had some pull and were not all clumped together. There was enough chili spice and a slight taste of the sea underneath the meat flavors in the stock. Kirk, of course, would have deemed it insufficiently funky and reached for the shrimp paste. But he wouldn't have found any on the table:
The beef in the soup was good (though not memorable), but the meaty highlight of the dish where the pieces of pork leg. Look at this:
And here's another:

Loved all the tender pork meat and the abundant tendon.

Still, I think we liked the pho even more:

Again the noodles were extremely well prepared. Separate and not overcooked. The stock rich, slightly sweet, with a nice anise flavor. The jalapeno slices and basil contributed nicely.

Unlike the bun bo hue, this soup had very little tendon and not much brisket. On the other hand, it was full of crunchy tripe and had remarkably flavorful rare steak:

I was impressed by the slices of rare steak. Normally that is my least favorite, and to my palate, the least flavorful pho meat. Here, it was really good and steaky. Amazing.

We also had good homemade lemonade:

To be honest, I was pretty impressed with this little restaurant. Maybe we just got lucky, but the pho was better than most that I've had in San Diego. And I would order the bun bo hue again as well.

I have not included prices because I'm sure that the carry out menu that I carried out is out of date. That large bowlof dac biet pho must cost more than five dollars, and the bun bo hue has got to be more than $4.90. However, I'm sure they are still incredible values.

Pho 43 Express, 2844 43rd Ave, Phoenix AZ 85009, (602) 269-3383. Open 8 am – 8 or 9 pm every day but Tuesday.

Road Trip: Shufeng Garden – Rowland Heights (Los Angeles)

February 20, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Shufeng Garden has closed

Aaaah Colima Road, how we miss thee…. not for the traffic, or the noise, nor the drivers who wouldn't pass the DMV driver's exam in my hometown for the matter. What we do miss, is the wall to wall….."stuff". While on the short end for Japanese and Thai, there's an abundance of Chinese and Korean restaurants. Man, did we love those 24 hour Korean Restaurants…. but I guess that's a bit too much to ask for. Though, even in Honolulu there's at least one 24 hour Korean Restaurant! Having lived two blocks from Colima Road, food was always at our fingertips…. though I probably could have done without the fragrance of Chou Doufu floating through the air…..

On Christmas Eve we had taken a drive through Rowland Heights on our way back to San Diego. We peeked in Shufeng Garden and liked what we saw, and ordered the Tea Smoked Duck, which we thought was pretty good. So recently, we returned for a meal.

There's a strange tropical-jungle like mural that runs the entire wall of the restaurant. The staff here was really nice, if a bit harried and over-worked. We've noticed that staffing in Rowland/Hacienda Heights seems to be much better than restaurants in San Gabriel-Alhambra-Monterey Park…perhaps it's my imagination; but things seem that way.

We were given some soup to start things off. When I caught a whiff, I told the Missus that She wouldn't like it, it smelled really medicinal….. and it was.

I started with a couple of dishes I had read about on Pam's Blog. I was fascinated by the Intestines with Chili ($9.95), prepared in the fashion of Chongqing Chicken, first deep fried, then cooked a second time with lightly scalded chilies.

The texture of these were top-notch, light crunch, followed by the mild chew of intestines. I enjoyed the spice, good heat, but not overwhelming. The Missus hit it right on the nose when She said, "blah, these don't have that intestine flavor. You don't know you're eating intestine!" Still great texture, nice heat, could have used a bit more "ma" numbing from Sichuan Peppercorns……. I would suggest this dish if you love chilies, but have never had intestine before. I'm actually going to print out this photo, and see if they'd make something like this for me at Ba Ren!

The Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce ($7.95) was phenomenal.

This cold dish featured fatty pork, with a mildly sweet, chili based sauce that reminds one of the sauce used for the classic "Saliva Chicken". The pork is muy tender without a touch of waxy greasiness.

The cucumber under the pork refreshed my palate, making ready for more…….

The Missus saw the next dish on another table and ordered it. She shouldn't have…….

At first I thought it was something like Shui Zhu Yu (water boiled fish). And though it did look like that dish with bean curd added, it was pretty bad. It was spicy, but that's it…. nothing else was brought to the table, no savory Doubian Jian flavor, nothing….. it could have used some salt as well. Also, the fish was overcooked and too flaky for this type of dish.

Much like Earthen Restaurant, if we still lived in the area, we'd be eating here every so often. The Missus doesn't think this place is worth an extra stop on our road trips to the area. I'm going to have to talk Her into stopping for the pork dish…….

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Roadtrip: Earthen Restaurant – Hacienda Heights (Los Angeles)

February 4, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Over the last couple of years, we've tried to grab a meal at Earthen Restaurant in Hacienda Heights, but never seemed to have much luck, and had usually ended up somewhere else. The Missus just didn't think that much of the menu, and was sure we could get better Dan Bing and Jiaozi elsewhere, so why wait in line? Still, having read posts on Earthen by Elmo and Pam, I knew I just had to make it there someday. And on this weekend before Chinese New Year, we were in luck.

We're very familiar with the strip mall where Earthen is located. We used to shop at the Long's Drug store that used occupy a large part of the mall.

Half of the problem was that Earthen opens at 1115, not 1100, or 1130……. so we had to adjust our schedule. We arrived at 11am, and were the second set of customers in the door.

There were just two items I was really interested in. One of them is the Shandong Chicken. A room temperature roasted chicken topped with a nice sauce…..slightly sweet, assertive but refreshing vinegar tones highlight this chicken.

While not quite in the class of Dazhou Pa Ji or Dao Ko Shao Ji, the famous roasted chickens of Shandong province, this was quite good. And since we saw a plate of this on every table (we actually checked), this is obviously the restaurant's signature dish. I'd gladly have this again.

We also ordered Dan Bing…… here they are thin and slightly crisp.

These are good piping hot; but get really greasy as they get cold.

The Missus decided to order some Jiaozi. We started with the Shrimp and Chive, one of my favorites.

The filling had nice pieces of flavorful shrimp in them, if a bit on the mild side. The wrappers were decent…. they looked pillowy, but were a nit too tough for my tastes.

When the Jiaozi arrived, something interesting happened. The Missus noticed that there was only white vinegar on the table. And worse, we weren't provided with bowls for our dumplings. Very un-Shandong-like. We noticed that the service here was a bit better than many of these types of restaurants….. and when the Missus asked for bowls, the woman smiled and asked Her if She wanted black vinegar as well. Both arrived post haste.

We also ordered some Pork Jiaozi.

The wrappers on these were better than the shrimp Jiaozi; pillowy with a bit of pull. The filling wasn't that great. Some folks may enjoy fillings heavy on the meat, like these. However, there wasn't anything to cut the rich pork, which was also on the hard side. Some celery, cabbage, or something similar would have been a welcome addition.

In the end, we thought the service here was good. Unlike many of the restaurants in the SGV this place is well staffed. The chicken is quite good and the Dan Bing was good, As for the Jiaozi, I guess if we were still living here, we'd have them every so often. But when you drive a hundred miles, you really don't mind driving a bit farther for something better.

Earthen Restaurant
1639 S. Asuza Ave.
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

Postscript: We're always curious to see how businesses that we remember are doing. Back in the mid-nineties, before the Missus met me, this was a regular stop for Her.

And while I hold no nostalgic memories of this place; I was happy to know that one of the Missus's very old favorites was still around…….

Road Trip- Shau May (Hi Pie) Restaurant, San Gabriel

January 25, 2011 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, Desserts, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Today, Cathy is blogging. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are "researching" places to blog.

Well. The day was fairly mundane, chilly, the first day of the year. The Mister and I were going to Pasadena to see the Rose Parade floats after the parade ended. We drove North on the 5 instead of the 15…a bit more of a drive, but we hadn't taken that route for more than three years. It was all new and interesting for us. We missed our exit. But since we knew the general direction we were heading, had no interest in turning around. Suddenly, the freeway ended and we were in Alhambra. Then the street had a sign welcoming us to San Gabriel. I had no idea we were heading or even near the San Gabriel Kirk always talks about. We saw this:

Hi Pie Restaurant. That's what the sign says. We parked, stood out front. A nice lady opened the door and said "Happy New Year" with a heavy accent and held the door open. We went in.

Steam trays. Menu above the trays.

Menu on the wall. There are tables inside and out, including two eight person communal tables in the center.

The nice Lady, who spoke broken English, asked us what we wanted and I told her noodles with shrimp. She told one of the young girls working behind the counter what I wanted. The Mister pointed to some items and the nice Lady told us what they were.

We sat near the steam trays at one of the communal tables and saw how quickly items were replenished and replaced. Seems everything is always fresh and a brisk business was going on.

The Mister ordered a three item combination ($4.99)

Really good steamed rice, Ma Po tofu, on the bottom right, (excellent soft soft tofu, with a spicy different than I have ever had, no meat-in fact at least half the menu is vegetarian); ground pork stuffed tofu, on the bottom left, (again, nice light spices and wonderful flavor, tofu firm)and pork belly, in the front on the photo below…

Not crispy pork belly. Flavorful, wonderous, melt in your mouth pork belly…on top of heavenly chopped vegetable something sauce. Seriously good.

Still, we wondered about the name "Hi Pie". I grabbed a business card, and my order came from the kitchen.

See the upside down business card in the top corner?-"Hi Pei Corp." At the top was "Shau May Restaurant" Somebody orders signs. Somebody is dyslectic. Or maybe they got a good deal…

ANYHOW This noodle dish($5.95). Heaven. The shrimp really tasted like they were sauteed in butter. The mushrooms were soft and flavorful. The cabbage, carrots and onions were great and crispy. Oh, and the noodles- not mushy, cooked, but firm. The way I like them. The sauce was not overpowering, but complimentary.

We could get extra rice from pots against the wall, and our own soup, as much as you want…

This one was vegetarian-winter squashes in a plain broth.

This one had a very rich, meaty broth and the green vegetable was not spinach, but more of a cabbage-an older bok choy maybe…

Then, since The Mister was kind of planning on dessert of some sort, and since there would be no pie..I walked over to the other side of the cash register. These were toppings you could select, for shaved ice. Three toppings, $3.95 with tax. I was asked if I would like brown sugar and/or sweetened condensed milk on top. I only chose the milk (New Year Resolution was still in effect). I could get more shaved ice if I wanted…

Oh. My. You can see one of the lychees by the spoon there…and some black tapioca (boba) and then the green apple jelly. So delightful and refreshing.

The food here was really very good. The restaurant is definitely frequented by locals who are knowledgeable about the unlimited rice and soup options. The dessert was a bonus for us and a great start to moving forward in 2011.

Shau May Restaurant – Hi Pei Corp. 830 E. Valley Blvd. San Gabriel CA 91776 (626) 569-9600

Xmas Eve Roadtrip: Lucious Dumplings – San Gabriel, Qing Dao Bread Food – Monterey Park, Shufeng Garden and Happiness Restaurant – Rowland Heights, and other places (Los Angeles)

January 6, 2011 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

Just as we did the previous year, the Missus and I decided to have Christmas Eve dumplings in the SGV. In an attempt to show some restraint, the Missus picked one restaurant, and I another for Jiaozi. We'd then do some take-out for our Christmas day meal. This year the Missus selected Lucious Dumplings in San Gabriel.

Luscious Dumplings:

The Missus ordered the Pork and Celery Dumplings that we had enjoyed so much on our previous visit. This time around they were disappointing, the wrappers weren't made quite as well, a bit too tough, and though the texture of the filling was spot on, it was devoid of celery flavor.

Having been told that the Guotie here is really good, I decided to go with the pork version.

And though they really didn't look like the style of Guotie I'm used to, but I liked the color. Picking up the guotie gave me pause…… first the potstickers were strangely stuck together. Pulling them apart yielded thin strands….. When I took a bite I realized that the strand were sugar based as these were rather sweet. I'm guessing that instead of the water-cornstarch slurry used to create a crust attaching the guotie together, this one had something akin to simple syrup.

The filling for these were well flavored, and for me the sweetness detracted from our enjoyment of these.

The Missus was kinda bummed since we enjoyed our previous visit so much. Hopefully we'll have better luck next time.

Luscious Dumplings Inc
704 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

My choice was an easy one……..

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Of course. The Missus called me predictable and boring because I selected Qing Dao Bread Food last Christmas Eve. And as always I ordered my Lamb Jiaozi.

The wrappers were dead on perfect for me, soft with a bit of al dente "stretch" . These had a bit less "soup" than what we're used to here. The Missus also thought the filling was on the tough side this time. I thought they were fine.

The Missus, unsatisfied with what we had at Luscious Dumplings, decided to order the Vegetable Jiaozi. I had my doubts since this type of Jiaozi tends towards blandness…… I was wrong.

I managed to try two of these, and the flavor was quite good…… too good. The Missus and I agreed that veggie dumplings would never taste this good without a little "flavor enhancement" if you know what I mean. Whether or not our suspicions are justified or not, this was enjoyable.

Qing Dao Bread Food
301 North Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Our next stop was…..

Tianjin Bistro:

For my Christmas Yang Rou Suan Cai Guo, which of course I got last year as well.

I prefer getting this to go as it actually tastes better to me the next day. The flavors have time to meld, and the sour-gaminess is even more pronounced the next day.

Tianjin Bistro
534 East Valley Blvd. #8
San Gabriel, CA 91776

At this point the realization (with the Missus's help of course) that I was becoming pretty predictable, and that we needed to change things up a bit…..

So we drove East on the 60 freeway, past the rain scrubbed sky, with a wonderful view of the San Gabriel Mountains on the background……

To our old neighborhood of Rowland Heights. This stop was:

Shufeng Garden:

A Sichuan Restaurant across from Hong Kong Plaza that I first read about on Pam's Blog.

I had planned out what we were going to order until…… I saw an older woman sitting on the table near the door going to town on what looked like Tea Smoked Duck. She was gnawing and sucking away on the bones like this was her last meal before the electric chair. So we just had to order the Tea Smoke Duck. We paid, and took a short walk around the shops…. when we returned, the woman was still sucking away…..perhaps at the same bone? While it seemed kinda gross at first, her enthusiasm for that bone started making me hungry!

I've grown used to duck in Sichuan and Hunan restaurants being a bit on the bony side. In those cuisines flavor is king. This was the most meaty Tea Smoke Duck I can remember ever having. That entire container is just half a duck. The duck was moist, and while I think the smokiness and tea flavor was on the muted side, it was pretty good overall.

We also got a few cold dishes:

All of which were on the bland side (for Sichuan food) and forgettable.

Still, we'll be returning in the future to try some of the other stuff here.

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

So we had the beginnings of a pretty good meal for Christmas going…. but there was something missing. As you can probably tell, I'm not real big on sweets. There is however, a snack dish I just love. Right across the street in Hong Kong Plaza was a restaurant called Manie's which is long gone. It has been replaced with another Sichuan Restaurant called:

Happiness Restaurant:

And while the name has changed, much of the menu (other than the seemingly hundreds of "new dishes") looked the same.

There was one item that we decided to order…. we just had to see if they prepared the same way. Liang Ci Ba (Sticky Rice Cake – $4.95).

This is basically six large globs of sticky rice cake, topped with a peanut-sesame paste…. and it was… and still is delicious. Not too sweet, but just right for my tastes, this stuff literally sticks to your ribs as it is quite "heavy". This was dessert for the Missus and I for three meals.

Shufeng Garden also has this on the menu, but we just wanted to see how it would be here.

While we waited for our Liang Ci Ba, we watched the turtle occupying a tank at the front of the restaurant.

While the little guy was munching on a slice of cucumber, I turned to the Missus, and we both ended up blurting out, "I wonder when he'll be on the menu" at the same time! What is it that they say about couples who have been married a while thinking alike???

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

After grabbing some jerky, and with Liang Ci Ba in hand we headed home…. ready for a nice Christmas meal.

Rodeo Road Trip – NFR 2010, Las Vegas (Great breakfast at Egg Works)

December 7, 2010 Cathy Las Vegas, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is not only about food and meals, but how we got to find that food to enjoy those meals. Today, Cathy writes about her latest adventure.

So. It's time for my annual mini vacation to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Ms. T and I left early Sunday. Soon we were at State Line.

In another 30 minutes, we were at the hotel.
…with the beautiful decorated tree in the lobby...
the outdoor 'beach' pool area…

and very large exercise room, right next to a heated outdoor lap pool.
Which was an amenity we needed to use, after we hit the Buffet for dinner.

The next morning, we needed to get to the airport (to go to Customs and Border Protection for Trusted Traveler Program paperwork completion) and were looking for breakfast.
Egg Works. At the SouthEast Corner of the airport. (Sunset at Southeastern). Hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Seven television sets, free wifi, a coffee cup at every place setting. Breakfast and lunches. Owned by people who own The Egg and I (a restaurant I used to go to when growing up in Detroit-the first restaurant that sent us Birthday Club Cards, the first place my parents remember getting a thermal pot of coffee left at the table… a Midwestern chain which makes and serves Cincy Chili) That black egg face flips to become yellow and is a signal for any passing waitress that you would like their attention.
You get a choice of toast or home made banana nut muffin with your breakfast. The muffin comes out *hot* from the oven.
Pure, simple. real banana and more nuts than in this photo. Really good. People buy loaves To Go of this banana bread.
Ms. T ordered the chalkboard special Northern California Omelette ($9.25) Four eggs, chicken, broccoli and mushrooms, topped with a cheese-Hollandaise-like sauce. Fresh and filling and good. It came with a side of Works potatoes and the toast.

I ordered the Home Made Corned Beef Skillet ($9.95). Really meaty corned beef hash, made with green peppers and onions and potatoes, topped with two poached eggs. Excellent. If you are in Las Vegas, this is the place to have a very good sit down breakfast. There are three locations.
By 5 p.m., we were parked and ready to go inside to see the National Finals Rodeo- the World Series of Rodeos. The top 15 Cowboys in the world of each of seven events competeing for ten days in a row to determine the World Champions.

The women who control horses to race around three barrels as quickly as possible.

The men who control a horse and rope a steer in as little time as possible (three different events): Or the men who stay on a bucking animal for at least eight seconds.

Long Live Cowboys. Athletes.

The tenth and final day of NFR is this Saturday, the 11th. It is shown live and rerun on ESPN daily.

Egg Works 2490 East Sunset Road Las Vegas 89120, 9355 West Flamingo Las Vegas 89147
Egg &I 4533 West Sahara Las Vegas 89102 Website

Green Valley Ranch Resort Website

National Finals Rodeo Website

Road Trip: Lu Dumpling House – Monterey Park (Los Angeles)

December 6, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

We had passed Lu Dumpling House, the newest shop opened up by the folks who own Mama's Lu. The shop is just a couple of blocks from Mama's Lu, which we found to be a bit strange…… but reasoning would become clear in short form.

We noticed how tiny this shop was when we first entered……

But all was answered when the side door was opened, and we caught the fragrances and saw the small army of people making dumplings. this place was doing some pretty brisk take-out business, both in cooked and frozen items.

We aren't big fans of Mama's Lu Xiao Long Bao, so we went with other items this time around.

We started with the Shengjian Bao.

These looked good, and when cut in half the fragrance of the filling was nice…. but these never delivered. It was much too bready and the Missus thought the dough too sweet. The filling was tragically dry and in spite of the fragrance, very bland.

The Pork and Fennel (actually Dill) Jiaozi were much better.

Though I'm not a big fan of the wrappers….the dough seemed to be over-mixed and was on the tough side, I enjoyed the fillings for these Jiaozi. Dill fragrant, but not overpowered by the herb, the mixture had quite a bit of meat. The filling was very light, maybe not as light as the mousse like filling at Lucious Dumplings, but quite good. The Missus wished for more dill, but I thought the flavor well balanced.

The standard Pork and Napa Cabbage Jiaozi were also good.

Like the Pork and Fennel Dumplings, the ratio of meat to vegetable was quite high. The flavor was very mild, but very light.

I enjoyed the Shrimp, Pumpkin, and Pork Dumplings much more than the Missus did.

The flavor of the shrimp really came through in these, but the Missus thought the filling too sweet for Her tastes, and She prefers that the pumpkin not be mashed into a paste. Each dumpling had a whole small shrimp in them.

We both thought the way the dumplings were fried did not do them justice…… it almost seemed that not enough oil was used, giving the Jiaozi wrappers the texture like that of really cheap frozen gyoza, more gummy than crisp.

Having six Jiaozi per order was nice since you could order and try several different fillings. Don't let the $2.99 – $4.99 price fool you though. Getting a dozen could run you $7 or more.

In the end, we may be back since we both enjoyed the Pork and Fennel Dumplings. The fillings are nice and light, and the ratio of meat to vegetable is pretty high. Service is decent, and the women working on this day all mainly spoke English, making this a very unintimidating place to eat.

Lu Dumpling House
330 N Garfield Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Open: Mon-Sat 9 am – 6 pm
Closed on Sundays

Road Trip: Duck House – Monterey Park (Los Angeles)

November 25, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

I hope everyone had a delicious and fun Thanksgiving Day!

Like past years, the Missus had to work on Thanksgiving, again giving true meaning to what She always says about the day….. "Thanksgiving….. bah, I'm Chinese, I don't have anything to be thankful for!" All in fun of course…. I think. So the weekend before T-Day, we decided to have our own Thanksgiving. We'd always wanted to check out Lu Din Gee, which is now called simply, "Duck House".

Which makes ordering quite easy, right? According to such highly esteemed folks like Pulitzer Prize winning Food Critic Jonathan Gold, and heck even FOY (Friend of Yoso) Elmomonster of Monster Munching (his post on Duck House here), who has hit the big time now writing for OC Weekly, this is place the to go for Peking Duck. But isn't Duck House at it's core a Taiwanese Restaurant? According to another FOY, that's not much of an issue since, "Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese Chain, and they make the best Xiao Long Bao…." (which I actually don't agree with, but I get the point)

And so we ended up at Duck House at just before noon on a Sunday, and snagged one of the very few parking spots in the tiny parking lot out front. The restaurant itself is tiny, and fills up fast. We had ordered our duck, three ways when the Missus made reservations the week before. According to what I've read, you're supposed to call at least an hour ahead if you're ordering Peking Duck, something which made me scratch my head a bit later on. The place fills up quickly; and every table ordered duck. We went whole hog, or perhaps I should say… full fowl, ordering the Duck Three Ways ($49.95).

The first thing to hit the table was a plate of shredded scallion and cucumber. And rather large bowl of sweet bean sauce. Now, having eaten this many times in the US, I've grown accustomed to the usual Hoisin thing. But in Beijing, each major Duck House makes their own sauce, and takes pride in it. It was no different here, as the sauce was much different than any I've had before….. but not necessarily in a good way. The sauce was very salty and beany, and tasted more like Aka Miso. It truly lacked a sweet and fruity component.

I also asked the Missus what the corn flake looking stuff was in the condiment jar alongside the chili oils and mustard was. She didn't have a clue, so maybe one of you can tell me?

When the first course of duck arrived, we made a couple of observations….. first, the skin was pretty light in color, second, that was probably the biggest pile of duck meat I've ever seen in the middle of that plate.

Due to the size of the restaurant, I really didn't expect to have the duck carved at my table….. though that would have been optimum. I can tell you that the meat in the center of the plate was pretty cold, leading me to believe that much of this is done ahead of time. I also must say that this was some of the blandest and dry duck I've had in a while. But honestly, one does not order Peking Duck for the meat, right? It's the skin that makes the dish…… And in this case, the skin was light, greasy (in a good way), and basically melted in your mouth. Still, it was a none starter since it had almost no flavor at all.

The pancakes provided were nice and warm.

But were a bit too thick for me. Filled with a combination of bean paste, skin, meat, and scallion, it did seem that the sum of the parts were better, but everything still lacked flavor. The Missus, having made these pancakes at home had a much better appreciation for them than I did.

Next up was the huge bowl of soup made from the duck bones. Usually one of our favorite things.

We both appreciated the color and velvety texture of the broth. It started developing a "skin" quickly as it cooled. It had been prepared with good technique except for one thing…. it lacked flavor. If there's one dish that captures the soul of the duck, it's the soup made from it's bones. This truly lacked soul, as it tasted mainly of white pepper. To be perfectly fair, as it "ripened" the broth tasted much better….three days down the line the leftover broth started tasting a bit more like what I expected.

Next up was an additional dish we ordered; the Taiwanese BBQ Eel on Sticky Rice ($19.95):

Like the previous dishes, this was a large quantity of food. The glutinous rice was prepared with a soy based sauce, topped with Eel and steamed on lotus leaf. The oils from the Eel had seeped onto the rice, making this a rich dish. The flavor was again a bit lacking as everything tasted like a weak "Unagi sauce" had been poured on it. Secondly, even though everything was placed upon a lotus leaf, we could not taste the the wonderful flavor that lotus leaves add to dishes. The funny thing is, this dish tastes really good with some third party unagi sauce poured on it……

Our third duck dish was duck meat stir fried with bean sprouts.

Now coming from a bean sprout lover….. I'd say this is good. But was it good as part of a fifty dollar dish? Well first, where's the duck meat? The Missus and I were thinking that perhaps using some of the huge quantity of duck meat served on our first plate would actually make a difference….. until we considered how bland that duck meat was. Second, when I first started learning how to use a fire ring I practiced on bean sprouts; and in all honesty, that was just as good. Third, it sure seemed that Duck House was trying to present itself as a more upscale eating establishment…. so why didn't they pick off the root and sprouts?

The Missus and I discussed this meal constantly over the week, as I really didn't want to be exceedingly harsh. I didn't want our disappointment of the overall meal to be unfair. The service we received was as good as can be expected from a understaffed restaurant whose first seating is filled to the max with everyone getting the same thing. Much of the clientele is older and demanding, or in the banquet mentality, but the folks seemed to be trying. And yet the food fell way short. A couple of weeks ago, I tried to arrange a meal here with friends, I wasn't able to get a reservation and we ended up somewhere else. Which I'm now thankful for. In the end, Duck House ain't even close to this:

Perhaps our visit was a fluke……… I'm sure you'll let me know.

Duck House
501 South Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Road trip: Sofia’s in Gila Bend

November 9, 2010 ed fromyuma Mexican Restaurants, Phoenix/Scottsdale/Chandler/Central AZ, Road Trip, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Kirk and Cathy get a day off today because ed (from Yuma) has a report on some decent desert dining not far off I-8

Normally when my car gets on Interstate 8 in Yuma, it heads west to San Diego. That makes sense, for sure. However, some recent trips have taken me in the other direction, ultimately ending up in Surprise, Arizona. And of course I was looking to find some good food — if there was any – on my route.

I have gotten lucky. On my first adventure to the north and east of Yuma, Tina and I spotted an unassuming looking Mexican restaurant in Gila Bend with a lot of cars in the parking lot (and in July, there aren't a lot of cars anywhere in Gila Bend):
On our way back home, we'd decided to stop there. To be honest, Tina and I weren't expecting anything special, even though the purple and orange interior decorated with a mural of a famous natural wonder in Jalisco seem right to me:
The highlights of that visit were the main courses, Tina's carnitas and my green chile (beef chunks in spicy chile tomatillo sauce). Both were really good. We were also impressed by the flavorful tomato-based salsa (served in a mini carafe) and fresh crunchy corn chips, obviously fried on promises:

However, I had not brought my camera on that trip. So all of the pictures for this post come from a later visit.

The next time we stopped in Gila Bend, it was for a quick lunch, and again I had no camera. And again the food was good. Tina's California burrito was filled with decent carne Asada, potatoes, and the other fixings. My chicken enchiladas contained actual chicken rolled in good quality corn tortillas and topped with a dark red enchilada sauce.

Finally, at the beginning of November, I remembered to bring my camera, and Tina and I enjoyed another satisfying Mexican meal. Although no beer or wine is served, they do have homemade horchata and jamaica:
We started with one of the strangest things that Tina and I have ever ordered together in a Mexican restaurant, a couple of old-fashioned, gringo style, hamburger tacos with fried shells:

On a previous visit, we had seen an order of these go to the table behind us, and they had looked wonderful. I realized that over the last 20 years, I had eaten raw fish, cow stomach, pigs ears, fermented squid intestines, and all sorts of other things, but I could not remember a single hamburger taco experience. And I could not remember ever seeing better looking hamburger tacos.

So this time, we ordered them, and they were perfect, better than my memories. Totally crisp and greaseless, the crunchy shells stayed intact even when we poured salsa into them and then bit off the end. The hamburger was moist and perfectly seasoned. There was just enough lettuce and yellow cheese. Ummmm-crunchy beefy good:

As an entree, Tina had the carnitas again, for reasons that this picture should make clear:

Crunchy, chewy, and tender pork very lightly seasoned. Warm fresh white corn tortillas. Decent rice and creamy beans.

My chile relleno plate was pretty dang good as well. The three fresh chilies blanketed in tender egg batter and covered in fresh tomato sauce:
The preparation was excellent. Each chile was stuffed with a decent amount of melty white cheese and perfectly cooked. The big surprise were the chilies. Not only were there three of them, but these were full of chile flavor and exceptionally spicy, probably from this year's New Mexico harvest. This picture shows you a little of the goodness of the dish:
I can't imagine that there is better food to be had between Yuma and Surprise, Arizona.

Sofia's Mexican Food, 530 West Pima, Gila Bend, AZ 85337, 928-683-6382. Open Daily.