Ed and Tina recently had an extended weekend in the San Gabriel Valley area, eating interesting food and going to interesting museums. So Kirk and Cathy get today off.
Tina had to work on Friday morning, so we came rolling into Temple City just about dinner time. After the drive, we were looking for something familiar and tasty, and Seafood Palace nee Seafood Village was certainly familiar (another post) and we hoped tasty.
We were happy to see the boiled peanut and pickled vegetable free appetizer: 
Refreshing and enjoyable.
Of course, we ordered the house special deep-fried crab: 
The flavors are impressive — Dungeness crab, dried red chilies, abundant small fried chunks of garlic, chopped scallions, and the crunchy tasty coating. This is no wimpy crab. Unfortunately, however, the crab itself was overcooked and lacked moist juiciness: 
This was not a bad dish, it just fell short of its usual perfection.
On the other hand, the baked oysters in black bean sauce was close to perfect: 
The oysters were firm and chewy, nicely breaded, and flavorful. The black bean sauce matched slight funkiness of the bivalves. We liked. We liked so much that we were halfway through before I stopped and took the photo.
And the house special fried rice was light and tasty: 
The meal concluded with a small cup of sweet red bean soup: 
In addition to the generally good food, we were pleased with the service; there appeared to be a floor manager who oversaw the waitstaff. Our waters were refreshed regularly, and plates full of shell bits were replaced with clean plates. The bill seemed reasonable: 
Seafood Palace, 9669 E. Las Tunas, Temple City CA 91780, (626) 286-2299
For our last dinner in the San Gabriel Valley, we were looking for more seafood. Researching restaurants, we kept running across references to Newport Seafood; it seemed to be the gold standard for the area, but it was also expensive and famously over crowded, with long lines and waits of one to two hours.
Then I realized — we were planning on a Sunday night dinner, so there couldn't possibly be long lines. "But let's show up early, just in case," Tina suggested.
So at around 5:30 Sunday evening, we arrived at Newport Seafood, parking across the street to avoid the already crowded parking lot. Here's an exterior shot of the place: 
Amazingly, there were already over a dozen people waiting for larger tables, but we got lucky and got the last booth. Here's a fuzzy interior shot: 
There is also an area with several semi private rooms as well as the main dining room.
We had barely sat down when we were offered appetizers (not free) of boiled peanuts or cucumber chunks. We went with the cukes: 
Very tasty, crunchy, spicy, and tangy — the nutty flavors of sesame oil in the background.
Since this was our splurge meal, we opted for some wine, ending up with the Raymond Napa Valley Chardonnay, which was okay though the restaurant was out of our first choice: 
Then came hot and sour catfish soup: 
Stunningly good. Not at all like Chinese hot and sour soup, this was redolent of the complex flavors of southeast Asia — pineapple, tomato, lemongrass, cilantro, green chilies, celery and more, closer to hot and sweet than hot and sour. Along with that good broth was a lot of catfish (wonderfully fresh, but somewhat bony) and numerous chunks of fruits and veggies along with chopped bean sprouts. A carnival of tastes.
But we had really come for lobster. The menu offers five different lobster presentations (including simply steamed), but whichever you choose, you get an entire lobster. We opted for the Newport special preparation. It arrived looking very special: 
Chopped green chilies, diced scallions, and black pepper were the dominant seasonings. Lobster flesh exposed by the chopping had been breaded before the lobster was fried. While not as moist as steamed lobster, the meat was flavorful, fresh, and juicy when extracted from the shells: 
The first-rate New England lobster was a real treat, and the preparation was flavorful.
We also ordered the clams in black bean sauce: 
The black bean sauce didn't seem quite as tasty as the one at Seafood Palace two nights before. The clams, however, were perfect –exceedingly tender and mildly clammy, highest-quality bivalves treated well.
By this point of the meal, we realized a certain unplanned similarity between our two seafood dinners. Yes, Seafood Palace features chiu chow cuisine, and Newport Seafood is in the style of Tan Cang, a small port by the Mekong River estuary, but chiu chow dishes often show Southeast Asian influences. And yes, the fried crustaceans were different, as were the mollusks in black bean sauce, but the overall pattern of the dinners was largely the same, hence this post.
Anyway, at the end of the meal at Newport, we received a complementary chopped orange: 
And the bill for the meal: 
The overall experience Newport was positive. While the waitstaff was not as attentive as Seafood Palace, it was certainly professional and unobtrusive. The food was excellent. So we were happy as we walked out of the restaurant past the couples and families waiting for the next table to open up.
We had a good time in the SGV.
Newport Seafood Restaurant, 518 W. Las Tunas Dr., San Gabriel CA 91776, (626) 289-5998 (website)
I love how the earthy crunchiness of the rehydrated bamboo shoots as it contrasts quite nicely with the bun. These days, I don't drink the broth which is very light, until near the end. Once you finish dunking, saucing (that wonderful gingery and sweet nuoc mam gung), the herbs and veggies, and that duck into the broth, the flavor is transformed. The duck, which I think is the source for the broth is toothsome, but that gamy flavor is still quite pronounced. And of course that little bath in the nuoc mam gung just adds another wonderful layer.
Still, this is comfort food. And I always leave feeling like I'd had a meal at a friend's house. And all this is still eight bucks.
