Dumpling House on Baldwin in Arcadia: 2 thumbs down
I finally went to try the Dumpling House on Baldwin Ave in Arcadia next to Kiyosuzu and boy was I disappointed. It was extremely hot today, so no beef noodle soup for us. I ordered the spicy cold chicken noodles, cold cucumbers, scallion pancakes, and potstickers.
First came the cold cucumbers. These were pretty decent, although a bit too mushy for me, but it was refreshing. Next came the scallion pancakes. They were okay. They were not fluffy and soft like good scallion pancakes should be, but at least they were thin. They were oily (in the sense that the oil sat on top of the pancakes) and doughy and chewy. Then, the spicy cold noodle came, and it came with 3 different sauces (sesame, chili and some oil). The sesame sauce was so salty that after I poured it into the noodles, the noodles became super salty. The oil had some weird herb or flowery flavor that made me want to spit it out. Good thing I tried it before pouring it in. The noodles had a weird flavoring to it, and the sesame sauce was missing the peanut and sweet taste that is typical of the dish. Finally, the potstickers came. At least these were semi-decent although I noticed that they burned the ones in the tables next to us so the bottoms were pitch black. All this for around $18, not a bad price but not worth it.
If this were located in the San Fernando Valley, it would be a decent place to go to. But, given that it is located in Arcadia/San Gabriel Valley, the prime area for Chinese food, there are just so many better options.
I'm going back to Dumpling House on Rosemead next time. I never regret a meal there!
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I don't think the noodles were as bad as you described, probably a matter of personal preference. I actually quite liked the cold noodles and consider them one of the better renditions of this common dish. The "weird herb or flowery flavor" of the oil that you described is due to Sichuan peppercorns, as anyone familiar with Sichuan cuisine would know. Sesame sauce is the tradition preparation of this kind of noodle, the use of peanut butter in certain noodles is an American improvisation since peanut butter wasn't even readily available in China until a couple years ago. I actually like the separation of sauces because you can tailor it to your liking, and I don't think you're supposed to use the entire thing. Maybe you should try the boiled dumplings and XLB next time you go, I thought they were decent to good.
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Awww, that was on my list of places to try -- but maybe I'll give it a go anyways, since I really only want to go there to check out their dumplings, and most of your disappointing dishes are not.
If I do go, I'll be wary.
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re: AquaW
Honestly, I would stick with Dumpling 10053 or Dumpling House (Rosemead)for fish dumplings. The dumpling sampling at DH (Arcadia) was pretty slim and had some weird combos. I think they had 4 boiled dumplings on their menu: 1) beef & onion, 2) pork & cabbage, 3) 3 flavor (shrimp, egg, chives), and 4) celery and pork. Aside from pork & cabbage, nothing was appetizing for me.
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