Road Trip – Page 33

Road Trip: Dean Sin World – Monterey Park (Los Angeles)

January 25, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

You remember the scene in Back to the Future? You know which one, right? Where Marty McFly and the Starlighters cover Johnny B Goode? If you're one of perhaps three people out there who've never scene the flick, you can find a poor YouTube facsimile here (the fun starts at about 1:25). There's a point where McFly takes the guitar solo(actually played by Tim May) a bit too far and over-the-top(starting Chuck Berry and ending Eddie Van Halen….), leaving everyone stunned, not quite knowing what the heck just happened. I had such a moment recently. I was at work when one of my coworkers asked me about "Chinese dumplings"….. and off I went, talking about wrapper thickness, the folds, the slight pull and pillowiness of well made wrappers. Then there was the thing about not over-working the dough to the point it seizes….. Heck, I didn't even make it to the filling when I noticed that the poor guy stood, mouth agape, eyes rapidly blinking…. he'd been Jiaozi-sized! The silence was deafening, how do you break such uncomfortable silence (I swear, you could hear a fish fart….)? I managed a throat clearing "uumph" and crept away…….. My friends know that I can really get on a roll and build up a good head of steam, and even though I try to reign myself in, sometimes it just comes bubbling to the surface. Oh well…….

I had first read about Dean Sin World on gastronomy, but I really didn't pay much heed. While walking from Giang Nan to Qing Dao Bread Food on Christmas Eve, the Missus and I passed a tiny shop that was full of folks. There was a woman rolling out dough in the little space by the window who cheerfully tried to wave us in. The Missus peered at the menu, and told me "man, it's really cheap here, and the food looks decent, let's check this place out on our next trip." A week later we made our way to this little strip mall. I parked and laughed when I saw the banner:

It was Dean Sin World! I couldn't make out the sign in the dark on Christmas Eve.

We arrived pretty early, and had a seat. Looking up at the menu, I could confirm that the prices were very inexpensive.

10 Shengjian Bao for $4.85? 10 Pork and vegetable Jiaozi for $4.25? Wow……

The two women working here were very friendly, and funny…. more on that later. The Jiaozi was the first to arrive:

These were quite good. The wrapper had a decent pull, and yet was tender and doughy. The portion size of the filling was excellent, a perfect bite. It was also moist and minced not ground, creating a very soft, but not mushy filling. As I mentioned in this post, the Missus loved the use of Savoy Cabbage in the place of the usual Napa Cabbage. Oooops, there I go again. Let me just say that perhaps I lack the vocabularial (I'm guessing there's such a word) dexterity to come up with something more colorful and enjoyable…. soooo how about… It was good, not quite in the league of Qing Dao Bread Food in our opinion, but good enough for the Missus to call Mom and needle Her saying, "we found another one as good as yours." Yikes!! It was also good enough for us to return and buy 50 frozen, at a good price of $10.

The Xiao Long Bao was the next to arrive:

We didn't enjoy these as much. Though I'm not a big fan of over-worked thin wrappers, these were much too thick. Also there wasn't enough "soup" in the XLB for me. The flavor was also on the bland side.

Last to arrive were the Shengjian Bao, white and glistening. The woman who brought these out said something to the Missus which made Her laugh. She said, "these are the first of the day, it's going to be very good. Look how beautiful they are so white and perfect." When we were waiting for our frozen Jiaozi, the same woman brought out some SJB for a couple sitting on one of the tables and exclaimed, "look how beautiful, white, and shiny these are." So this is her usual shtick, and we were a bit charmed by it.

As for the SJB, in my opinion, these were the best I've had to date. It was mostly due to the dough, and how it was cooked.

As you can see, the bottom is nicely browned and crisp, the top has been cooked well, it is nice and fluffy. The textural contrast was excellent. The filling was a simple pork, and could have been perhaps a bit more "juicy". The Missus still prefers the filling from Food Cabin's version of SJB.

And yes, as you can see, these are "beautiful, white, and shiny." I'm looking forward to having this again, and perhaps some Niu Rou Mian on my next visit…. when I pick up my next batch of 100 frozen Jiaozi.

As we were waiting for our frozen Jiaozi to take home, one of the women asked the Missus where we were from. She told Her "San Diego". The woman told the Missus that her son"goes to College in San Diego", and pointing to several plastic sacks filled with bags of frozen Jiaozi, said, "that's all for him". The Missus mentioned how lucky he is that he is able to get good Jiaozi to eat. The woman laughed, shook her head, and said, "no, no, he takes them to San Diego and sells them to other students!" You gotta love it!

Dean Sin World
306 N Garfield Ave #2
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Open Daily – 930am – 9pm

Read Gastronomy's post on Dean Sin World here.

Seafood Village – San Gabriel Valley

January 21, 2010 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Seafood, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

mmm-yoso!!! is Kirk's foodblog. Nice guy that he is, he lets some others like Cathy, Vicky, and even ed (from Yuma) post here sometimes. Today we magically go back to last summer when ed and Tina finish their culinary roadtrip with a stop in San Gabriel Valley.

Before leaving Monterey, Tina and I had begun the day with some pastries and lattes at Patisserie Parker-Lusseau by the post office, so by the time we rolled into the San Gabriel Valley more than five hours later we were hungry. Really hungry.

After locating a reasonable room for the evening, we headed out for an evening of Chiu Chow dining at the Seafood Village location in Temple City. This location (the original is in Rowland Heights) is larger, has more parking, is less crowded, and well, it was closer to our room. And did I mention we were Hungry?:
We parked in the giant lot behind the restaurant and entered the restaurant by its back entrance. At this time, slightly before 6 p.m., we were one of the few groups of customers in the spacious main dining room:
While we were looking over the menu, a small bowl of boiled peanuts accompanied by mildly pickled vegetables were placed on the table. Although not mind-blowing, these helped keep our hunger in check until real food started arriving:
That evening we had brought our own wine, a bottle of 2007 Roussane from Tablas Creek Winery (which had ridden down to SGV in an ice chest in my car). Tablas Creek is my favorite winery in the Paso Robles area, and to my palate at least, this bottle was the tastiest white wine I had encountered on my trip:
The restaurant charged a modest five dollar corkage fee and provided the stemware.

The seasonal vegetable that evening was pea greens ($12.99). They were wonderfully fresh and perfectly prepared. There was none of the toughness or stringiness that sometimes ruins this dish:
We also ordered baked oysters with XO sauce ($10.99). It arrived with eight breaded oysters on top of slices of a somewhat crunchy stirfried vegetable:
My first oyster was slightly disappointing because I was expecting more crunch from the breading — having already forgotten that the oysters were "baked." However, the more of this dish that I ate, the more I liked it. This preparation really focused on the taste of the shellfish. And the oysters were perfectly cooked, moist and full of wonderful funky oyster flavor.

The crunch in the dish was instead a product of the accompanying veggie. At first, I was puzzled by that crunchy vegetable as it seemed to resemble no vegetable that I had ever had in a stirfry, and yet it was very tasty. "What's this vegetable?" I asked Tina.

As soon as she said that it tasted like cucumber, I realized she was right and remembered that Kirk had recently posted a stirfried cucumber recipe. I felt only slightly embarrassed that I had missed the identification of such a common vegetable.

Our main dish that evening was the house special crab ($4.99 a pound — $14.97 total):
When reading about this restaurant at various places on the Internet, everyone said that this was the signature dish at the place. Still, at first it seemed odd to be eating crab that had been breaded and deep-fried in its shell . "Why bread shell?" I wondered.

As soon as we started eating the crab, any puzzlement I felt completely disappeared. This was really good crab (and the breading was pretty tasty as well). Flavors of garlic and mild chilies were predominant. The breading was good enough that I sucked some of it off of crab shell. The greatest part of the dish, however, was the succulent, moist, tender, and flavorful crab inside the shell:
And I realized then that the breading serves to keep the hot oil away from the crab meat, which was not greasy at all. This was so good it will be hard to drive through the San Gabriel Valley in the future without stopping in and eating it again.

Overall, Tina and I were delighted and impressed. We had tasted seafood and vegetables different than anything we can get back home. The wine proved to be an excellent match with the cuisine, having enough body and structure to stand up to the flavorful preparations. The service was not as superb as at Sea Harbour, but it was more than adequate, and our total for the evening was $50, not including tip, about half of what we had paid at Sea Harbour. Thanks, Kirk, for the recommendation — it was spot on!

Seafood Village, 9669 Las Tunas, Temple City, CA, 626-286-2299

Road Trip: Hunan Style Restaurant – San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

January 17, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

**** Hunan Style Restaurant has closed

Believe it or not, even after having Shengjian Bao at Kang Kang Food Court, Xiao Long Bao at Giang Nan, and Jiaozi at Qing Dao Bread Food, we still weren't through! You see we dropped by Tianjin Bistro to pick up Suan Cai Yang Rou Guo which I had on Christmas Day. While waiting for our take-out, I noticed that the long awaited Hunan restaurant had opened across the street. Seeing the name on the sign got my interest.

You see this restaurant had the same name as a place that was on our "list" for the longest time before it burnt down…… When I mentioned this to the Missus, we decided to grab a bite. In cases like this, we employ our "left-over" strategy, in which we make sure to select dishes that would still be good the following day.

We entered, and was seated immediately. The first thing we noticed was in spite of the place being almost full, there were no wonderful fragrances of chili in the air…. not a good sign for us. The menu was rather small in comparison to other Hunan restaurants in the area, and seemed to have quite a few dishes that seemed more like Sichuan than Hunan.

The interior of the place is very, well, red, with a kind of strange mish-mash of decor.

There was a woman manning the front desk right as you entered with toddler in tow. Three young ladies, all of whom seemed to be college students were scurrying around. And then there was the bell….. that all powerful bell, you know, the one that Chinese restaurants use to let the staff know that dishes are ready. I'm sure that the woman had taught the girls that the bell is all powerful, and a ring of that bell supersedes any action, be it taking an order, clearing a table, and perhaps bodily functions. Every time that bell went "ding", all three girls ran to the window like crabs scurrying up the shore at midnight. Once, one of the young women was in the process of taking our order when…. "ding". The girl immediately stuffed her pad into her apron and went running off! Unfortunately, she finished second best (I wonder if there's some kind of "ding" point system going on) as another girl had gotten there first. The young lady turned around, and headed off… to another table! The woman with the toddler had to remind the girl that she had been waiting on us!

And though the Missus was a bit irritated at this, and even a bit more at the freebie little dish of peanuts and peppers, which looked very pretty, but was very bland.

I was having a blast watching the girls run like crazy……. with all that wasted motion, it was obvious that they were new to this. I bet their feet hurt like the Dickens after work.

Eventually, we did get our order taken, and after a bit of a wait our order arrived. The first item was the Steamed Hunan Style Preserved Meat:

The Hunan Pork was the best of the items on the plate. The texture of the pork was nice, a bit waxy, but not too greasy. The smoked fish and duck were very dry and almost tasteless. As a whole, the flavors seemed watered down. There wasn't much heat to this in spite of the chilies. Not even close to the version we enjoy the best at Hunan Seafood. I will say that the steamed rice was of good quality, and fragrant….perhaps it was the best item we had all evening……

The other item we ordered that evening was the Sauteed Lamb ($9.98), the stir fried lamb and cilantro dish I enjoy so much.

First the good; whomever cooked this has good technique, the lamb was melt in your mouth tender. The ratio of cilantro to lamb was good. The not so good, of all the Hunan dishes I've had in the area, this was one of the blandest….. In spite of us ordering this dish "very spicy", there was not the faintest sheen of sweat on my forehead. It also needed a good dose of salt. When I reheated this dish the next day, I added a good dose of soy sauce and a pinch of sea salt…….

There was an interesting and very telling vignette that we watched unfold on a table right across the way from us. A gentleman in perhaps his late forties, early fifties, and two boys that assume were his sons were seated there. The boys looked to be perhaps of college age. The father looked around the place, and kept talking to his sons. He pointed across the street couple of times…. and then it came to us…. Hunan Chilli King is right across the street! When their dishes arrived, the gentleman had one bite….. and entered into "protest position"….. he folded his arms and wouldn't eat another bite during the rest of the meal. He kept talking to the boys, and though we couldn't hear what he said, he kept looking across the street……..

It's obvious that this place is still going through all of the problems associated with opening day. From what I saw on my way to the restroom, the kitchen is staffed generously, but the dishes come out fairly slowly. It was fairly obvious to the Missus and I that in regards to technique, our dishes were prepared well. But both dishes fell short in the flavor department. So perhaps we'll revisit one of these days.

Hunan Style Restaurant
529 East Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Road Trip: Revisits to Giang Nan and Qing Dao Bread Food – Monterey Park (LA), and a little slice of life……

January 16, 2010 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

The Missus and I were still hungry after having the Shengjiang Bao at Kang Kang Food Court on Christmas Eve. The Missus wanted some Xiao Long Bao, and I was craving some Lamb Jiaozi. Driving down Garfield, I thought why not get both…… and so we did.

**** Giang Nian has closed

Our first stop was Giang Nan, tucked away in the back of one of the seemingly hundreds of strip malls in the area.

It had been a while since we were last here, but we still considered the XLB here to be among the Missus's favorites. Still being early on on Christmas Eve, the place was fairly empty, though it had filled up by the time we left.

I had recalled the Duck in Supreme Sauce from our previous visit, so we ordered it. It was as before, sticky sweet-soy in flavor, standard for Shanghainese cuisine.

We also got an order of Pork Xiao Long Bao, which we enjoyed more than the pork and crab version.

This was as good as we had recalled. Wrappers of good thickness, not too thin, good soup to meat ratio, the soup not being too sweet. The meat was not overly processed, and was just soft enough to enjoy. Still under five bucks, this was a pretty good deal….. I had two, the Missus the rest, since She was the one who really wanted some XLB.

While we were eating, and enjoying our tea, a family of six arrived; an older gentleman, along with his wife, a younger couple, and two kids in their early teens. The family dynamic was pretty interesting…. you could tell some things right away. The younger couple, and their kids were obviously from out of town, you could tell by the way they dressed and acted. It was quite apparent that the woman was the daughter of the older couple. You could tell by the way the guy pretty much didn't say a word, and just tried to fade into the background. The older man turned to his wife and said, "I wanted intestine, and spicy Sichuan food, they don't have anything I like on the menu". The older woman made a little "chin nod" in the direction of their daughter and told the older man, "but we're eating Shanghai style, so let's find something." Aaah, they had come here for their daughter. The older woman started making suggestions to her daughter; "remember how much you used to like this?" "This was one of your favorites….." "You always enjoyed this dish…." All of which the young lady replied to in a indifferent manner. "Whatever you think…" "It's ok, order what you want…." The older gentleman entered "protest mode", by closing the menu, placing it on the table, dramatically crossing his arms, and looking off into the distance. Meanwhile, "Mom" kept trying her best….. Meanwhile the son in law stared stoically straight down at his plate, and the two kids kept on playing their handheld games oblivious to the drama unfolding around them……

The Missus suddenly felt bad, and called Her Mom. There were many times that She's been that "ungrateful daughter". Sometimes, we forget that there are people in our lives that are pleased by making us happy. In this dance, it's our responsibility to enjoy…. because just as we are receiving, we are giving…….

Giang Nan
306 N Garfield Avenue
Monterey Park, CA 91755

We had considered having another order of XLB, but instead crossed the street, and headed on over to Qing Dao Bread Food. The Missus knows that I love the Lamb Jiaozi here. For the Missus, this is a little taste of Her hometown; Qing Dao. It also gives Her a chance to needle Her Mom, documented in my previous post on Qing Dao Bread Food. So of course, She was soon calling Her Mom on the phone again. While I enjoyed my lamb dumplings:

Of course the standard condiment is what I call the Missus's "little dish of memories", the pounded garlic in black vinegar. When the Missus was a child, it was always Her job to pound the garlic, a job She hated with a passion….. which now prompts a bit of nostalgia.

As I noted before, I love the lamb flavor, and there's a small amount of "soup" in these Jiaozi. The wrappers have what I call a "pillowy – pull" to them. Perhaps I'm just a little bit nuts when it comes to Jiaozi, but how can you blame me?

While we were eating, a very pregnant young lady entered carrying a toddler. It was obvious she was the daughter of the husband and wife team that runs this little shop. The Missus, overhearing their conversation had to laugh. When I inquired, the Missus told me, "the daughter told her parents that they should close up." The daughter had told the parents, "you should close up, nobody wants to eat in places like this on Christmas Eve, they all go to the big restaurants!" Well, I for one was glad that they were open on Christmas Eve.

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

Road Trip: A’Float Sushi Japanese Restaurant- Pasadena

January 13, 2010 Cathy Japanese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Sushi and Sashimi, What Cathy Eats!

Hello. You are reading mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog. The usual blogger here is Kirk. Sometimes ed (from Yuma) writes about what he ate. Sometimes it's Cathy writing. Then occasionally Vicky and a few others also write about their meals. Today, Cathy's writing about a meal she and The Mister enjoyed.

So, the other day, The Mister didn't have to go to work and we fueled up the car and drove North. We had seen this place in Pasadena for years…at the Corner of Colorado and Arroyo, a pretty central intersection in the Old Town area. We decided to pay the meter and have lunch.
Floating sushi. That's what it's about. Walk in, sit down ask for some tea and watch the boats go whizzing by.

You can see the boats are chained together. They are constantly moving. There is space for up to four plates on a boat and you just grab and stack plates. The plates are priced by design which is noted on the menu/placemat.

We grabbed the fried shrimp ($3.58) when we saw them being brought out from the kitchen and placed on the boats. Light, crispy and the shrimp with flavor. Note the placemat and prices with corresponding plate designs.

The mini lobster wrap with soybean paper was only $3.58 and that filler is real crab, not rice. To the right, the fried squid were $3.08 (see, it's on a plate with a different design). The squid pieces (rings and tentacles as well as one *really* fresh whole shrimp and one breaded and fried green bean) were very tender and lightly breaded. Again, you have to grab the fried stuff as soon as you see it or it gets cold on the trip around.
The dumplings ($2.58) were chilled. They tasted good, were filled with mostly crab.
The oysters ($3.58) were fresh and chilled and quite plump.
The cucumber salad ($3.08) was refreshing. Crispy and with good flavored tomatoes. Topped with a light rice vinegar.
At the end, I stacked the trays by design, to make it easier for our waitress to tally the bill. (Hot tea was free). (The far left plate was for a $1.98 California roll, 3 pieces. Those were fresh and with real crab) It was fun and different for us. You could ask for anything on the menu to be brought out, or for specific cuts of sushi or rolls to be made. We'll do that next time.

A Float Sushi Japanese Restaurant 87 East Colorado Boulevard Pasadena 91105 (626)792-9779

Wholesome Choice- Irvine. A Market, and then some.

January 8, 2010 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Mediterranean Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Just some friends writing about what they ate. Today, it's Cathy writing after she ate.

One Saturday morning, The Mister and I drove North up the 5, took the 405 a few exits, exited at Culver street, went South two lights and stopped here.
Wholesome Choice. The location used to be a Wild Oats (Henry's) Marketplace. It is quite large inside. When you first walk in, there is a line of people waiting for hot Sangak (flatbread) to come out of the oven. I don't take photos of people and so could not get a good one of the ovens. You'll have to go there and see it for yourself.

The bread is four feet long, made from mostly wheat flour, with a starter from the day before, is topped with sesame seeds, costs $2.79, is placed on a piece of brown kraft paper directly from the oven, HOT. I will show you photos later. Here is a story of Sangak .

198

It is a regular grocery store, with fruits, vegetables, Halal meats and pretty much the normal Mediterranean stuff. Good prices. Very clean.

Nuts- in all varieties and prices.
Preserved foods and olives from around the world…
Then, at the other end of the store, you notice the cheeses…and what is all that? Looks like steam trays.

Menus above each area (there are Indian, Persian, Chinese, Thai as well as soups, cold deli and bakery sections )
In the soup area, there is Haleem.(a wheat-based porridge)
There is a Gyros and Schawarma area.
A by- the-pound deli area…
So many different Feta cheeses are available…
as well as any other sides you can think of (fresh hummus is $4.49/lb)
…so much more that I haven't shown you.

These are just some of the desserts. There is a fresh baked, by the piece baklava and in house made croissant case…so much.

So anyhow. The Mister and I were hungry and bought some stuff, paid at the cash register and sat down (there are tables inside just past the cash register and also tables out in front of the store).
Here is a photo of one large styrofoam tray, filled with half a baked chicken(with *wonderful* saffron flavor) on top of what must be a pound of Addas Polo (basmati and saffron rice with lentils, currants and dates) ($7.99). The rest of the photo is the Sangak bread we picked up when we walked in. At the midpoint of the Sangak bread…see that hummus in a box…one half pound. The box is 4 inches square…wait.
Here is a photo of the hummus with a normal size plastic fork…the bread is HUGE. It is soft, slightly spongy in the areas where it is not too thin, tears easily tastes so good…the sesame seeds make it more flavorful.
We also got one Koofteh ($3) Ground beef, rice, herbs and yellow split peas in a vegetable stew.

A wonderful place, not that far from here. There is a location in Anaheim Hills also. If you have some free time, take a short drive North. Then stop, shop and eat.

Wholesome Choice Market 18040 Culver Irvine, CA 92612 Open 7-11 daily (Food Court area open 11-8 daily) website

5755 East La Palma Anaheim Hills, CA 92807 Same hours

(The Irvine location is 84 miles from our East County home and the Anaheim location is 106 miles from here. The Anaheim store is about 1/3 larger, formerly had been an Albertsons. That location has a gelato area in the food court. Really good gelato.)

Monterey Peninsula: Shin La Korean Restaurant

January 3, 2010 ed fromyuma Korean Restaurants, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz - Monterey Bay/Peninsula, Road Trip, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Welcome to mmm-yoso – a little foodblog hosted by Kirk, who sometimes lets his friends post here. Like today, for example, when ed (from Yuma) writes about some things he ate on his summer vacation.

Although I have not lived in the Monterey area since 1997, I am fortunate to still have friends on the peninsula. And fortunately for me, many of those friends are almost as food obsessed as I am. With their help, I am able to eat in restaurants far from the beaten paths, places with no tourists in sight (well, except for me, I guess).

Last summer, Jack, Sarah, Lance, Tina, and I descended upon one such place, Shin La Korean restaurant.:
This small restaurant is located in a little strip mall on Carmel Ave, a few blocks east of Del Monte Blvd in Marina, California. In fact, if one wanted to hide a restaurant in a location where almost nobody could possibly find it — this'd be the place. The neighborhood is mostly residential and Carmel Ave is such a secondary street that there is no stoplight for it on Del Monte Blvd.

Previously, this space and been occupied by Shinra Korean restaurant, which served me a couple excellent meals before it went downhill. I have no idea when the new owner took it over.

In some respects, this incarnation is not as good as its predecessor. In particular, the ban chan currently lacks tremendous variety and outstanding quality. At Shin La, the ban chan were pretty ordinary – though properly prepared:

On the other hand, our first dish, fried mandu ($10.99), was first rate:
Each of these giant ravioli was stuffed with lightly spiced ground beef and had been nicely grilled like a good potsticker. The spicy dipping sauce was a nice complement.

We also loved the gal bi ($17.99):
Although the short ribs were cross cut, they were tender and pleasantly marinated.

We also were impressed by the cold noodles ($9.99):
Although the basic ingredients were just typical, the noodles had a nice pull to them and the broth (does anyone know what is in the broth for Korean cold noodles??) was very good. We were also impressed by the accompanying stoneground mustard seed:
The highlight of the meal was probably the Black goat soup ($29.99), which was served in a metal bowl placed on a heating element to keep the soup warm:
All of us were impressed by the soup itself. As you can see by this picture, numerous slices of goat meat were combined with a lot of cabbage in a rich and spicy miso broth:
The five of us ate until we were stuffed like dumplings and agreed that the food overall was pretty darned good. The next time you're in the Monterey Peninsula area, stop at Shin La for a meal and say some friends recommended the place.

Shin La Korean Restaurant, 265 Carmel Ave, Marina CA (831) 384-8956

Road Trip: Kang Kang Food Court – Alhambra (Los Angeles)

December 28, 2009 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

A pretty long while back, uber Foodblogger Wandering Chopsticks mentioned that she thought that Kang Kang Food Court in Alhrambra made the best Shengjian Bao in LA. Kang Kang Food Court…… So I made a note, and on one of our road trips we decided to drop by, and check out the SJB.

Though the storefront is right on Valley Boulevard, you drive to the rear and find parking in the parking lot. Once down the hallway, you enter the world of Kang Kang….

Bare bones and very cafeteria like, Kang Kang offers both steam table and cold items, in addition to various menu items. The word "menu" kinda understates "THE MENU" which takes up the top of an entire side of the place. It's one thing to have a book-sized menu delivered to your table….. and another to have to look at what seems like an unending number of items lining a wall…….

And it seems like that entire side was just not enough room to contain this "menu on steroids" as various banners around the place display other "specials".

But we were here for only one thing:

Which became a non-starter, since we found out the SJB cook comes in at 11, and it was 10. So we decided to check out the Xiao Long Bao, and return at a later time for the SJB.

As far as XLB are concerned these weren't very good. First off, a couple had leaked….. so "no soup for you". Second the folds of the Bao were hard as rock, and the wrapper too thick. Not enough soup, which was flavored pretty neutrally, not too sweet. The meatball was too hard and "squeaky".

Usually, food like this would pretty much ward me off. But in this case, there were a couple of things I kinda enjoyed. First, when you place your order, you give the cashier your table number. And in a few minutes, you get a pot of tea delivered to your table, along with the standard black vinegar based dipping sauce. I admit that this place goes a bit overboard with the styrofoam, and the tea is basically tea colored water, but it's a nice touch. Second, the cashier is very nice, a step up from the perfunctory, sometimes rude service you get at the other Shao Mei's and Sam Woo's. And in fact, some of the steam table stuff looked pretty good. I'll say this much, the stuff at Sam Woo's take-out here in San Diego looks pretty bad in comparison.

So on Christmas eve, the Missus and I decided, to drive up, and kinda do a semi-crawl, very leisurely going back to a few places we enjoyed, maybe try a new place, and do some take-out for calm Christmas Day. So why not stop at Kang Kang and try the Shengjiang Bao? Which is what we did.

We followed the drill, and after about 15 minutes, our Shengjiang Bao arrived, glistening under the fluorescent lighting.

So how did we enjoy it? Well first off, these were blasting hot, and full of juice. They'll literally explode when you bite into them. The "soup" has a strong pork flavor, which the Missus thought was too "porky", for me, the porkier the better. I love the crust on the bottom, but thought the rest of the Bao had not risen enough, and we were left with gummy dough. I want the tops of my SJB or Lu Bao to be somewhat fluffy. Again, I had a problem with the filling, which was a hard and squeaky meatball.

I guess if we could get the crust and soup from this SJB, and cross it with the filling and semi-leavened breadiness of the SJB at Food Cabin we'd be happy. As it was, this was not bad, and soon enough it was time to move on to our next stop.

Kang Kang Food Court
27 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801

Road Trip: Banh Cuon Tay Ho – Garden Grove (Orange County)

December 9, 2009 mmm-yoso Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

**** This location of Banh Cuon Tay Ho has closed

On one of trips to "the OC", we were in need of a snack, and was in the Garden Grove/Westminster area. The Missus and I thought some Banh Cuon would do the trick, especially since the Banh Cuon in San Diego really doesn't match up to what you can get in the Little Saigon area. Because we were close by we stopped at the Garden Grove location of Banh Cuon Tay Ho which looks very clean. And we arrived just at the transitional time when the breakfast folks were headed out and right before the lunch crowd.

This location looks newer and a bit cleaner than the Westminster location, but the tables and chairs are packed in close together. The snorting and slurping older man on the table behind the Missus kept bumping Her during the entire meal….. I offered to switch seats with Her, but She refused. So what the heck….. maybe it made Her feel like She was back in Vietnam?

Another thing we like about BCTH is that they don't fool around with the Nuoc Mam Cham……two pitchers of the stuff was delivered to our table. This pitcher of the spicier version was full when it arrived…….

I just went with the Banh Cuon Dac Biet – the house special ($6.35):

Though not as thin and sticky as the versions we had in Vietnam, I still enjoy the Banh Cuon, the rice sheet has a nice mild pull, and is still thin enough to enjoy. The standard pork and wood ear fungus has decent flavor. Along with the standard accompaniments of Cha Lua and blanched bean sprouts, a version of Banh Tom (deep fried shrimp and sweet potato fritters) and Banh Cong, a sort of mung bean and shrimp fritter is included.

As are all the garnishes:

We also had an extra order of Banh Cong($6), and were warned "it is vegetarian, you know"….. I wonder what kind of vegetable shrimp is? In all fairness, there's only one shrimp attached to the outside of each cake.

Think of this as a savory, dense, mung bean "andagi" if you will. It is quite substantial, and I'm certain that it multiplies in volume once it hits your stomach.

Since the Missus saw it on the menu, She had to order the Bun Rieu ($6.35):

We both thought that this was a subpar version of Bun Rieu; it lacked the flavor of tomato, and was so superbly red that I was wondering if they use food coloring. The noodles were the appropriate thin version, but were super mushy and overcooked. The broth was terrible, much like water with shrimp paste. Not very good eats……

Still, we had come here for the Banh Cuon, and tough I've been told that the shop in Westminster is better, I left satisfied.

Banh Cuon Tay Ho
13876 Brookhurst St
Garden Grove, CA 92843

Of course nothing quite matches the appeal of Banh Cuon made fresh in the morning………

Road Trip- Las Vegas- A day

December 6, 2009 Cathy Las Vegas, Nevada, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about food written by a group of friends who eat. Today, Cathy is blogging about both food and an adventure.

Hi. The other day, my brother sent me an email that he had a pass to a convention Las Vegas and would be flying in, accompanied by his son, my 15 year old nephew, who couldn't go to the conventionor any adult ventures because of his age. and anyhow, he was wondering if "Aunt Cathy" maybe could drive out for a bit and visit. So I did.

I left Santee about 7 a.m. and drove, keeping the speed limit.

Soon I was at my destination, called my nephew on the mobile, announced I was hungry and was happy he was also ready for lunch.

We drove out of Sunset Staion, took a left and started looking and found a Sammy's California Woodfired Pizza place: Unique for my nephew. So we stopped.

We shared a small Caesar Salad ($7) which was fresh and not too garlic-y.

We asked for bread and a basket of fresh made white bread and some crackers was brought to the table.

Since we could not decide, the "New York" pizza was ordered ($10)- wood fired dough topped with sausage, pepperoni, salami, mushrooms and block olives. Very good.

My brother came back from his meetings and was ready for dinner. We went to Blueberry Hill, a 24 hour, Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner place and he ordered one of each of the soups of the day-a tomato turkey and a beef zucchini; both were very good.

My nephew ordered this- fried chicken, mashed and vegetables. Gravy came on the side.

Along with a breakfast of corned beef hash, poached eggs and ribbon cut hash browns (aren't they pretty?)

I ordered a breakfast, because I wanted a blueberry muffin, grilled.

My brother ordered chicken fried steak. Which came with the gravy on it.

I started noticing flooring in the hotel. Like this birds eye view of hot dogs in the elevator. I knew I needed to sleep.

The view from the hotel room was glorious the next morning, only to be set aside by my dear brother and nephew both telling me "don't fool yourself Aunt Cathy, you snore"…