mmm-yoso – Page 449 – As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.

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.

Chibugan

January 24, 2010 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Sisig

**** Chibugan has closed

Back in August I did a short post, noting that Eddels inside of Vinh Hung Market had changed ownership and was now named Chibugan. I recently finally got around to visiting Chibugan.

I did notice that the place had been cleaned-up a bit. Doors had been installed in the interior entrance, and the place has been painted a bright orange.

This place is a typical"turo-turo" (steam table) joint, featuring items like Pork and Chicken "BBQ", and a few desserts. Another big difference is the woman who works the front counter, who is a bit different from the the previous staff who were friendly and loquacious. She's more quiet and serious, and perhaps a bit more cautious. Not good or bad, just different.

The two item combo, with steamed rice rings in at $5.99. the portions aren't "Tita's sized" but are adequate.

Looking over the steam-table I made my choices, which ended up being pretty predictable. Sisig was one of choices of course.

For me, this wasn't a very pleasant Sisig. First, as you can clearly see, there was a ton of ginger, which overwhelmed most of the flavors, in a dish that's usually packed with sour, salty, and spicy notes. Second, the pork was much too waxy, and in this type of Sisig, I'd have enjoyed having some crisp pork skin which would have added a nice one-two crunch with the onions. The Sisig was also ice cold, which made it seem much more greasy.

The second item was something that I'd strangely never had before, Goat Adobo (Adobong Kambing):

This was pretty good, the chunks of goat was moist and tender. There was a hint of black pepper, but it didn't over-power the dish. In fact, this was pretty low on the salty-scale for Adobo, but not in a bad way. I did enjoy it.

Which gave me enough reason to return. The woman working the front counter, saw me entering, and told me "today this is the goat dish" while pointing at one of the trays. She had remembered me….. I guess I'm now the "goat guy".

Kaldereta was what she was pointing to. Which was one of the items I got.

This was a pretty mediocre version of Kaldereta; there were mostly bones in what I got, almost no meat. The goat flavor was too mild, and with the huge amount of tomato used to flavor this dish, it was almost like eating bony Filipino Menudo. Which was kind of a bummer, since I paired this with…… yes Menudo.

Fairly mediocre as well; fairly bland, an adjective I rarely use when describing Filipino dishes. The meat was dry and tasteless……. in fact just about the only thing that stood out in this dish was pervading taste of tomato sauce.

I did enjoy the Goat Adobo, but the other dishes really did nothing to inspire me to return. I'd say that Chibugan is a cut above Olga's and Ed's, but perhaps a notch below Manila Fast Food and Desserts and R & B.

Chibugan
10550 Camino Ruiz (In Vinh Hung Supermarket)
San Diego, CA 92126

Our most memorable meals part 2

January 22, 2010 mmm-yoso Hanoi, Lao Restaurants, Laos, Luang Prabang, Peru, Travel, Vientiane, Vietnam

Maybe I should've made a few resolutions for the New Year. First on that list would be "completing things I started sooner….." I realize that I did part 1 of this post on December 30th. I could, of course make it sound even farther "upstream" by writing something like "last year"…. Of course, I still haven't finished my posts on Guatemala, or even Thailand, I hope to get those done before we leave on our next big trip. So without further ado….. these are in no particular order, but it's the meals that the Missus and I talk about most often.

– Can Cau Market

I've always been fascinated by markets of all shapes, sizes, and types. You learn so much about the people who live in these destinations, by checking out the market….. The Sunday Market at Bac Ha is well known as a gathering of the various Hill tribes. The Can Cau Market is less well known, but we found that we enjoyed it more…. it was less touristy, and it seems a bit more laid-back, not that the term "laid back" in anyway describes anything in Vietnam.

Here in the hill country of Vietnam, the colors worn by the people are vibrant and colorful; the Flower H'mong, Red Zao, Giay, the Blue H'mong.

We had made it clear early on that we don't do tourist food, and ended up eating where everyone else was; sitting on low benches a few inches above the hard-packed dirt.

The fare was simple, boiled pork, noodle soup, pickled greens, and the star of the show, Ruou Ngo, the local "moonshine" poured into used plastic water bottles from "Jerry cans"…. the equivalent of 50 cents got your 16 ounce water bottle filled to the brim with Ruou.

And then the inevitable happened, we became the current novelty…. Our guide approached with cups of Ruou telling us that two of the gentleman sitting across the way "want to have a drink with you, because tourists never eat with them. They are very happy and proud that you would eat the same food." This of course, was only the beginning, of a scene we've encountered almost everywhere we've been in SEA, "they don't believe you're American. They say that you cannot be American, you don't look like Americans. Americans rarely come here, and those that do are afraid of the food, and won't drink with them. They take their pictures and leave right away."

Just as we are curious about the lives of people who seem so exotic and different, they are just as fascinated with us. You'd lose so much by keeping things at safe distance sometimes…..

What sticks with me was a toast the proprietor of the pork stall made before we left. Finding out that the Missus is Chinese, he made the following toast: "to Vietnamese and Chinese, we are brothers and neighbors, and brothers sometimes fight, but in the end we are still brothers". In the end, we are all brothers, under the same moon and sun……

– A Very Special Dinner in Cusco

Peru was a delicious and fascinating trip, and words cannot describe Machu Picchu.

Without a doubt, one of the highlites of our time in Cusco was dinner with the family of a friend of ours. We were told that they'd be making us a meal of Cuy, something that got me rather excited. That excitement was dampened when I had a terrible meal of Cuy the night before. Man was it bad, but there was a reason for that I was to find out later.

This family opened their home and hearts to us. And the Cuy was wonderful!

Crisp skin like roast pork, Cuy is all dark meat, and does taste like dark meat pork. I nibbled on the legs, the little bit of meat by the back spine is fabulous. And of course we had a drink after dinner to "kill the Cuy" as they say.

So why did that Cuy we had the previous night taste so bad? It was because they were fed a diet of meal that included fish and other ingredients to make them grow large quickly. The traditional food for Cuy is Alfalfa.

We spent a wonderful evening talking about all sorts of subjects….. humor is universal! When it comes down to it, we are more alike then we are different…..

– Astrid y Gaston, Lima

I usually don't do posts on fine dining and the like in San Diego. Like I've written many times, there are many other great food blogs and sources for that kind of info. Our meals during our travels are a different story…..

At the time of our visit in 2007 Astrid y Gaston, Gaston Acurio's flagship restaurant was on Pellegrino's top 100 restaurants in the world list. The concept of Novoandina Cuisine was very interesting to us. The unique cuisine of Peru had us entranced, and Astrid y Gaston really delivered.

Of course the Missus got Cuy, yet again.

Appetizer, drinks, and mains for two, for the equivalent of $80/US! Plus, a glimpse of the future of Peruvian cuisine…….

– Dinner at Tamarind: Luang Prabang

After attending the Tamarind Cooking School, we made reservations for dinner at Tamarind. And what a dinner it was, I had to do two posts to cover the meal. The meal we made reservations for was called the "Adventurous Lao Gourmet", and after checking out the local Wet Market, I could only imagine what we'd be having…..

And for the equivalent of $12 per person, this degustation style meal surely delivered.

From various "Jeow" (dips)…..

to "Fish Poo"…..

And steamed pigs brains…..

And of course, the various insects….. some of which I enjoyed more than others.

Even beyond the "look at what I'm eating" attention seeking thingy, I learned so much during this meal. Joy, one of the owners presents each course, and explains a bit about each dish.

Remember the quote from Brillat-Savarin: "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." Well this meal displayed to me resourcefulness, "Thao" a wonderful Jeow made from Spyrogyra, what some call "pond scum", salt-pickling, fish curd, and yes, even "Fish Poo" where the intestinal matter of the fish is used for preservation displays one of the most basic means of preserving food without modern refrigeration. The steamed pig brains is a cherished item, as Joy told us it "what you'll make for your children if you love them."

All of which was eaten with that Lao staple, sticky rice.

There's a peaceful, gentle, friendly tolerance we encountered everywhere in Laos.

– Dinner on Shores of the Mekong

Vientiane was quite a contrast from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok and even Nong Khai. Sometimes you happen upon just the right meal at the perfect time. And this was it. There are a huge number of stands along the Mekong river. For some reason, we decided to stick with the one we first passed early on. It was wasn't a huge set-up like the other stands, but the folks running the stand seemed so warm and friendly.

Sitting on a makeshift bamboo platform, I could feel all the tension and worries lazily drift down the Mekong. Of course, the Beerlao didn't hurt!

Some of the food, like the stir fried Morning Glory was good.

Other items like the whole fish, was just okay……

What really sent this meal to the "memorable list" was the act of thoughtfulness by the folks who ran this stand. You'll have to read the post to get that story. Let me just say, that along with being the best Nem Khao I've ever had……

It was a great introduction to the thoughtfulness of the folks in Laos.

And hey, that sunset wasn't too bad either!

So there you go…… Five memorable meals. There are a few more that I could probably add.

But it's those five that we talk about the most…..

You know, there's a song I've been listening to quite a bit lately. To me, it's got a great hook….. but I also realized that there's a line of the song that always makes me smile:

"Seems like everywhere I go
The more I see
the less I know" – Say Hey (I Love You), Michael Franti & Spearhead

Keep warm and dry this weekend! Thanks for reading!

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

Huynh Hoa Tuu Part 2

January 19, 2010 mmm-yoso Vietnamese Restaurants

Update: Huynh Hoa Tuu has closed.

Geez, in putting together this post, I just realized how many meals we've had at Huynh Hoa Tuu over the last couple of months! You can add the dishes in part 1, to those in this post for a more comprehensive list.

After a couple of visits we started noticing a few things about the Pepto-Bismol pink restaurant.

1 – On many evenings, there usually was a group of men having beers and a good time. And, after having some of the dishes, I'd quickly agree that many would qualify as "beer food".

2 – Things were sometimes slow to come out of the kitchen, but that never really bothered us much, as many of the dishes were pretty good.

One item that would qualify as "beer food" is the Mung Ram Muoi (Fried Squid with Spicy Salt):

This was kind of a mixed plate. Even though the squid was fried, it wasn't very crisp. It was very tender, however. The chilies and garlic were a bit charred and on the bitter side.

On one visit, we decided to try something more conventional, and ordered the Grilled Pork "Meatballs" Spring Rolls (Nem Nuong Cuon – $4.99):

And while the thick slices of Nem Nuong had decent flavor, there was a bit too much lettuce in these, and the wrappers were really sticky. What really made this was the dipping sauce, the best I've had in a long time. It was a nice sweet-nutty-savory concoction, with a mild and pleasant livery finish. There were fried shallots, and (gasp) what seemed like pork skin in the sauce as well. Man this was good. Unfortunately, on a return visit, all the "extras" that made this sauce shine were gone……. so sad…..

And from the you can't go wrong with fried pork files, I present the Fried Pork Leg w/Fish Sauce ($15):

A whole pork leg was sliced and marinated in a fish sauce concoction, then deep fried, and finished with a stir fry in a spicy and sweet fish sauce mixture. The difference between this, and say, the "Crispy Pata (Filipino Style marinated and deep fried pork leg) of my dreams" is the lack of lovely gelatin. The meat has a good chew, and the band of skin surrounding the meat is pork skin heaven. Of course I heard no complaints about the lack of gelatin when Howie of a Foodieview, and a couple of other FOYs plowed through this one evening. This would make a wonderful beer dish.

FOY "Yummy Yummy" had warned us off the Banh Canh Cua (Crab Noodle Soup – $6.75), the folks here kept recommending it to us. So one day we finally ordered it.

YY warned of the overuse of food coloring, and she was right on. This was also very bland, except for the black pepper overdose….. boy does this place love black pepper.

The Bun Mam ($5.99), was better, though I enjoy the version from Nhu Y more.

Though the soup was nicely pungent, it could have used a bit more Mam Tom, though it was not as sweet as other versions I've had. As usual all the herbs and veggies were fresh and shiny. The Missus actually enjoyed this more than I did….especially the eggplant and shrimp.

On one visit, we saw a woman eating a very pretty plate of fried rice, so on another visit we tried the Shrimp Fried Rice($7.50):

The rice was cooked perfectly…. you could make out every grain of rice… and each grain had color. The shrimp was cooked to perfection, and though we saw the very generous amount of black pepper on this, the dish wasn't affected. It was a bit short on savory flavor, and we added a good dose of fish sauce to it. Still, this fried rice is better than most, but below, say, Sab E Lee or Noble Chef in flavor……

I had recently revisited Phuong Trang, and had the combination Com Tam. I was disappointed in the dish. The broken rice was very fragrant, but everything else, especially the Cha (steamed pork cake) which was dry, cracked, and flavorless. So on another visit I decided to try out the Com Tam Suon Bi Cha (Broken Rice with BBQ Pork Chop, Shredded Pork, and Steamed Egg and Pork):

First off the soup had tons of flavor……and did I tell you that this place loves Rau Ram and Black Pepper????

The Com Tam was cooked nicely, not too dry, but wasn't very fragrant.

The pork chop was nicely grilled, and was even slightly tender. It was less sweet than many I've had, but I enjoyed it.

The Bi was not very good; too dry, and lacking in flavor.

What was very good was the "Cha" the steamed pork-egg-wood ear "cake"(for the lack of a better description).

Soft and moist, but not mushy, the flavor of the pork and the earthy wood ear fungus came through. This was the best I've had in a while.

In fact, on our next visit, I decided to order this (+ fried egg….. because, you know, everything tastes better with a fried egg – $6.99), so the Missus could check this out Herself:

The Missus loved the Cha and hated the Bi, but pointed out another good detail. Huynh Hoa Tuu's Nuoc Mam Cham wasn't watered down like many other places…. it is pretty strong, but goes with everything sooooo well.

I guess that's a nice final statement which illustrates that it seems Huynh Hoa Tuu is trying to do things right. It's also nice to have places like Que Huong and Huynh Hoa Tuu, the variety of dishes and preparation is a nice change of pace from other Vietnamese Restaurants in San Diego. It may not be Little Saigon level, but it's really not bad by any means….

Huynh Hoa Tuu
4660 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Monday Meanderings……….

January 18, 2010 mmm-yoso Cooking, yoso-silly

"They call it stormy Monday,
yes but Tuesday's just as bad………"

They Call it Stormy Monday – T-Bone Walker.

Well the first part of that is true….. hope the second isn't! Sheesh, talk about a blustery Monday. Today was the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday, so I had the day off. The Missus, never good with dates, had lunch scheduled with Her friends, so I stayed home, took naps, and had a nice little lunch.

This is a bit of an interesting post……. mainly because I haven't posted on the two restaurants that provided the food for my lunch yet. But what the heck, right?

First off, we finally found some frozen Jiaozi that we like, both in quality, and price (50 for $10). From Dean Sin World in Monterey Park. It holds up well after freezing as you can tell by the wrappers:

I think the filling is just enough, and the flavor is good. I thought it interesting that Savoy Cabbage is used in the filling rather than Napa Cabbage, but it does well. It isn't as good as what Qing Dao Bread Food puts out, but is much better than what I can get in any restaurant in San Diego.

I'm including my photo of the pounded garlic and vinegar so the Missus can critique it and give me another thumbs down…. apparently, I still don't know how to do this! he-he-he…. I can't pound garlic in my own kitchen!

I also had a little bowl of leftover Bamboo Shoots with Hunan Preserved Pork.

This was from one of the few Hunan Restaurants I haven't posted on in the area(SGV). Actually, this tasted much better today…… more spicy, and the smokiness of the pork had taken.

After which I had a nice nap…….. I'm feeling so lazy, so why not a little lazy Monday post?

We need the rain here in SoCal, but man am I going to miss the spring like weather we had for a couple of weeks. On the days when I didn't do a post, I'd just hang out outside…..have a cold one, and grill up chicken on the Hida Konro.

Yes, I could only grill one piece of chicken at a time….. but the process was so relaxing, almost cathartic. And you can't beat the flavor of Binchotan.

I hope the weather turns around in a couple of days…. I've still got a good stock on Binchotan on hand!

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

Your New Year Resolution does not have to mean sacrifice:macarons (from Starbucks), charcuterie and cheese plates (from Tender Greens) and a fancy waffle (from Cafe Venti)

January 14, 2010 Cathy Desserts, What Cathy Eats!, yoso-silly

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog about food. It's written by a few friends, all who have different backgrounds, cravings and locations. Today, Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Vicky are discovering things to write about and Cathy is writing.

Hi. I hope the year is going well for you. I'm trying to stick to one of my resolutions from last year and slowing down to savor life for a short time every single day. It isn't as easy to do as you may think. Incorporating food along with slowing down. Daily.

Sometimes, this involves stopping in at Starbucks.
Where you can order a 3 cup French Press of any coffee they sell for $3.50. It is brewed and brought out to you.
I noticed in the refrigerator section these Macarons, made in France exclusively for Starbucks. $10 for 12 of them and so *very* good. Flavored in pistachio, coffee, lemon, raspberry, vanilla and chocolate…light, airy with a crunchy crust, chewy cake like piece surrounding the creamy fondant-like fillings, all rich in flavor. Decadent and delightful. (Trader Joe's is selling a pack of 6 vanilla and 6 chocolate in their freezer section – the package does not indicate where they are made, but I suspect not in the USA.) One of the Starbucks Baristas said she thought the macarons may be seasonal, so if you see them in the refrigerator, grab a box…or something else to have with your coffee.

The other day, The Mister and I ventured into Tender Greens again, and noticed they were offering a charcuterie plate for $10, so we ordered it. (The three slices at 12 o'clock are tuna, the one at 3 o'clock is a ham and the other two are some sort of wonderful house made salamis, one of them Fra'Mani- neither were too spicy) The house made meats were wonderful. We also shared a grilled vegetable salad ($10)-Lettuces topped with grilled mushrooms, cauliflower, zucchini, brussels sprouts, baby parsnips and baby carrots, red pepper and topped with Parmesan and a tomato vinaigrette. Refreshing and making a light meal.

The cheese plate ($6) was an excellent dessert. There were four cheeses, two cheddars and two Jacks. One of the Jacks was a smoked cheese, which I usually do not like, but the texture and pairing it with the apple made it pleasantly tasty. That's a spicy apple puree on the plate, served with more slices of grilled bread brushed with olive oil. We even shared a glass of Spanish white wine ($7). A nice, light, healthy-ish meal. Something we don't always enjoy.
One day, we stopped at Cafe Venti, in the same mall as the Original Tajima and ordered dessert (they also make panini sandwiches here). To share.
The Waffle-Yo: a fresh made waffle, topped with (choice of two) plain and mango yogurt, fresh kiwi, strawberries and mango as well as small mochi. (~$7). A lot of food here and we needed to share it. Very good, very fresh. The yogurt is tangy, the way I like it.A latte ($3.75) and water accompanied our snack.

We sat down and talked for each of these small interludes. We didn't take anything "to go" and did not rush. So far, I have stuck to one of my 2009 Resolutions and have added a few for 2010. It isn't easy some days, but it has been so enjoyable on other days. I hope you are finding your resolutions enjoyable and not a burden.

Starbucks-everywhere

Tender Greens-Liberty Station, 2400 Historic Decatur Road San Diego, 92106 (619)226-6254 Website

Cafe Venti-4681 Convoy (between Engineer and Opportunity) San Diego, 92123 (858) 279-8500

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