It's time for Taiwan Fest!

[Mr Taster]

Next weekend - May 10-11 at El Pueblo de Los Angeles
http://www.taiwanfest-la.org/

There's no info re food on the website, other than to note that a food vendor booth costs $1150. So has anyone ever been? How's the chow? Bring on the stinky tofu, sinbala sausages and beef noodle soup... I'm ready! (though somehow I can't imagine that the churros and chili dogs will be left out

)

Mr Taster

[Chelmoon]

Some, but not much Taiwanese food according to this blogger.

http://www.angelenic.com/inaugural-ta...

[eileen216]

I was there yesterday and was quite disappointed about the food. There were only 3 Taiwanese food stands. The rest were Thai, Korean, Mexican, Chinese (from Mainland) and kettle corn. The Taiwanese stands all had long line. We didn't bother with the food and just went to Olvera Street for lunch.

[Mr Taster]

We only saw 2 Taiwanese food stands... Canaan, which was serving the stinky tofu et al, boba, shaved ice and Ay Chung serving rice noodles in glutenous soup. What was the third?

I thought it was quite funny that all the standard carny fare (kettle corn, Hawaiian shave ice) had almost no people in line whereas the Taiwanese food vendors had lines a mile long.

Mr Taster

[eileen216]

The 3rd one was a vegetarian stand. They served Taiwanese style vegetarian bento.

[Mr Taster]

Ah yes, next to that creepy booth. It was very strange hearing Paula Abdul say "You're watching Supreme Master TV".

Mr Taster

[mstinawu]

It's looks to be more about dancing and music and other things than about food--probably why there isn't any food information on the website.

[lakeshow318]

darn, i was really hoping they would have something like a night market feel. hope i'm right, or else it'll be watching lots of taiwanese dance, which in my experience can be painful and stomach unsettling.

[gsmoose]

I was there yesterday for a performance thing and indeed, not much to report on the food side. Ah Zong has a booth as does Canaan... nothing terribly interesting going on food-wise. You can definitely smell the stinky tofu though!

[Mr Taster]

We arrived around 11:00am on Saturday and could smell the stinky tofu, but was told by the vendors that the health department forced them to stop serving it due to safety restrictions!

Incidentally, later that day the stinky tofu was being served again.

Mr Taster

[Bjartmarr]

I tried the stinky tofu today (Sunday), and was surprised at how little it...um...stank. I'm not sure what it was supposed to smell like, though; perhaps they toned it down somehow for the health inspectors? Authentic or not, it was tasty. The line was about 15 minutes long, and had doubled by the time I got to the front. :) There was also a brown/black rectangle of something, about the size of a pack of playing cards, that looked interesting but that I didn't try.

I also had some sort of cold noodle dish (at Ding's booth) with noodles cut to order from a huge block of what I guess was rice starch. Again, not earth-shattering, but tasty, and easier than going all the way out to MP. I wouldn't mind knowing what it was that I ate.

Perhaps the festival wasn't terribly interesting for those used to Taiwanese food, but for somebody unfamiliar with it, it was well worth the trip.

[wilafur]

ywp! i arrived at 4pm opn saturday and canaan was serving up stinky tofu. not the best, not the worst, but stinky tofu nonetheless.

the festival, as a whole, was quite underwhelming though. a lot of folks hawking products from insurance to facial irons.....i was hoping for more taiwanese food booths.

[mstinawu]

Sadly, that is normally how most "Taiwanese" fairs turn out. They just don't get enough vendors specific to the theme of their fair and that's why they'll let in totally unrelated vendors sign up to participate.

[Mr Taster]

Yeah, like the "BUY ME!" forklift for the show special price of $17,500. What that hell was that all about?

Mr Taster

[Mr Taster]

Hey wilafur, any tips on where to get some great stinky tofu (deef fried kind)? The only place we've gone is Stinky Tofu King in Rowland Heights (in the Hong Kong Supermarket plaza), but their presentation is a little strange.... tofu squares are way too big and they have a habit of injecting way too much funky sauce into the middle so that it becomes mushy. Would love to find a really nice crispy, fragrant but mellow stinky tofu and have no idea really where to go for it.

Mr Taster

[wilafur]

MT, stinky tofu king is the best that i have had in socal. not sure what you mean by injecting sauce into the tofu, that has never happened before to me. that sounds kinda gross. eww. now that i think about it, are you talking about the juice from the fermented cabbage? you can also ask the proprietor to put any sauce and/or fermented cabbage in a separate container so that the stink tofu remains crispy.

as i tell my friends, stinky tofu king is good....for socal. if you want really good stinky, you've gotta head to taiwan.

ranking:
1. stinky tofu king
2. jurassic
3. indian restaurant
4. young ho tou jiang

[Mr Taster]

Yes, exactly... they inject huge amounts of the fermeted cabbage juice into the middle of those giant squares, making the tofu squares all liquidy inside. My wife (who is Taiwanese) doesn't seem to mind, although she prefers the dry squares. To me, it makes a marginal food item (albeit one that I have learned to enjoy, with some hesitation) much less appealing.

Virtually all the stinky tofu we've had in Taiwan have been cut into much smaller squares (think 1.5" square and 1/2" deep) so the smaller surface area provides more crispiness. Mrs Taster and I were both surprised to find these comparatively huge squares (2.5 - 3" square) at stinky tofu king. I wonder why he does it this way?

By the way, the owner of the shop told us that all the stinky tofu in LA comes from one source.

Mr Taster

[wilafur]

man, you made me hungry.

didn't know all the stinky tofu came from the same source....kinda makes sense to a certain degree due to the fact that none of the stuff i've had this side of the pacific are stinky enough. haha!

haver you tried the stir fried stinky tofu at jurassic or indian? good stuff.

[Mr Taster]

No, have not made it out to any of those spots. The only stinky tofu we've had in LA has been at "Good Time Deli" in Artesia (I think that's the name... it was not very good), Stinky Tofu King and the soft hotpot version Boiling Point in Hacienda Heights.

Where are Jurassic, Indian and young ho tou jiang located?

Mr Taster

[wilafur]

Jurassic Restaurant
15301 Gale Ave
City of Industry, CA, 91745
[phone]

Indian Restaurant
633 S San Gabriel Blvd
San Gabriel, CA, 91776
[phone]

Yung Ho Tou Jiang
1045 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA, 91776
[phone]

Yung Ho Restaurant
533 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA, 91778
[phone]

[Mr Taster]

Great resource-- many thanks!

Mr Taster

[lakeshow318]

thinkin of going tomorrow, anybody go yet and taste the food? worthwhile?

[simplyo]

Ooooh that looks like a place to hit this weekend. Hope the vendors make that $1150 worthwhile.

[wilafur]

will be there tomorrow to check things out. i hope they have lots of good food vendors as i plan on having lunch at the event.

[JimmyC]

thanks for the heads up i wont miss that

[Servorg]

It would be tough to say how it was before as this is their inaugural event in LA.