517555 Fri May 09 12:21:23 -0700 2008 16 2 Los Angeles Area 0 3672450 Okay, so my wife is willing to go out for Mother's Day on Saturday instead, but she wants dinner - in SGV. She feels Mei Long Village would be good. They are good, even great in my eyes, but I'm thinking something a little more - more - along the lines of Green Village or Elite, maybe even Seafood Village in Temple City. I think she has her eyes set on dumpling-type things, as well as some great seafood, a great pork dish, and noodles as well. It doesn't have to be Shanghai cuisine as we all have open minds as long as the food is great and we can secure a decent eating environment for this meal. We'll be eating as a family with grandma and grandpa as well. We'll be shooting for around 6PM. Can this be done on the Saturday before Mother's Day? Thanks for your thoughts... Fri May 09 12:21:25 -0700 2008 64003 bulavinaka 1 3672776 You've answered your own question -- Green Village, in the plaza across from Mei Long Village. They have dumplings (their XLB are not all that, though); they have good seafood, the amazing pork pump (call ahead if you have your heart set on it, or go early), and they have an absolutely amazing "noodle" dish of tofu noodles in pork sauce. It's scrumptious -- SCRUMPTIOUS. Fri May 09 13:49:34 -0700 2008 3672450 10811 Das Ubergeek 1 3672907 Y'know it's going to be sort of difficult to find a place that has great seafood and great dumplings. While not mutually exclusive, one usually does not beget the other as they are really the fruits of different regional cuisines. But based on your criteria, I think 101 Noodle Express might be a good destination. Another alternative might be Chang's Garden. While I enjoy Elite and Seafood Village as well Mei Long Village, none of those will satisfy your "dumpling-type things" request. The former two (Elite, Seafood Village) have virtually no dumplings, and the latter only really does XLB, which is in my book are not really dumplings. As to Green Villiage, while I think it does certain things really well (eggplant, deep-fried eel), most of their seafood dishes are over-sauced for my tatstes. I would never go to, or recommend, Green Village for "some great seafood". It would be like going to Morton's specifically for the side order of creamed spinach. At 6pm on a Saturday, wherever you go you'll be find as far as crowds. Wherever you end up, enjoy. Fri May 09 14:27:31 -0700 2008 3672450 11583 ipsedixit 1 3673107 Giang Nan in Monterey Park is quite good for Shanghai/Northern Chinese cuisine. The pork shank(braised pig knuckle) is tender and nicely presented. We like the fish w/spicy tofu, chicken w/chestnut claypot, and seafood casserole. Fri May 09 15:21:44 -0700 2008 3672450 14467 cfylong 1 3673771 try "hong yei" on san gabriel blvd. and broadway. its a multi-regional fare with good dumpling/doughy dishes with good shanghai style food. their szechuan food are a bit lacking in the heat department, but overall you can sample decent food from different regions without hitting multiple restaurants. plus they just opened within the last year and a bit far from the alhambra/mp epicenter so they are not that crowded. Fri May 09 20:00:18 -0700 2008 3672450 19598 vvconst 1 3674381 Thank you very much for the great responses from some of the greatest respondents... You folks are a virtual '27 Yankees' Murderers' Row of Chowhounds! Will report back on where she decided and what we had... Thanks again... Sat May 10 08:02:47 -0700 2008 3672450 64003 bulavinaka 1 3781514 A whole list of emergencies, unexpected issues and deadlines had delayed our visit out to the San Gabriel Valley for over a month, but we finally made it out here. Das's mentions on the tofu noodles in pork sauce coupled with the amazing pork pump sold us on Green Village. We shot down the 10, got on to Valley, found a wide open spot on the street right in front of the shopping center, walked into Green Village, and d'oh! The hostess told us that they were closed for a wedding reception! Ohhhhh - stupid weddings... We were considering playing frogger across Valley to Mei Long Village, but we'd been there enough so I thought back to this thread and remembered ipse's recs on 101 Noodle Express and Chang's Garden. Being that 101 was just down the street, we headed over there. Okay, 101 won by default, but other than the simple cafe atmosphere, it was definitely no compromise! We were blown away by the dozens of choices for dumplings and almost as many choices for noodles. We decided on the noodles with minced pork, the steamed pork and shrimp dumplings, the (pan-) fried pumpkin and shrimp (with pork) dumplings, the beef roll, and the lamb skewers. The noodles with minced pork came up first, which was perfectly made. Of course, with "Noodle," in their name, what less should we expect? This is a simple dish, and the noodles were perfectly cooked just firm, and the minced pork in sauce and cucumbers played on each other very well. Next came the dumplings. Can I say one word on those dumplings? JUICY!!! I didn't miss the soup dumplings with both the steamed as well as the fried dumplings filled with so much juicy broth. Ten generous dumplings come with each order. The skins on the dumplings are so well-made and substantial enough to fill in the role of rice that I often reach for when eating such succulent food. Whether steamed or pan-fried, the dumpling skins retained just the right amount of moisture to have a nice bite and also to protect the integrity of the ample fillings as well. And that condiment made up of pickled vegetables, chiles, and cilantro - what was that stuff? I saw it and was slightly puzzled. Is it pickled vegetables? Is it some sort of chile condiment? I took a Gary Vaynerchuk-sized sniffy-sniff, and wow... what a mix of aromas that sent my brain lobes in a few different directions... Killer with just about everything we ate. We polished off the first jar on our table and grabbed another one from an empty table and kept going. Of the two dumplings we tried, I preferred the pork and shrimp to the pumpkin and shrimp. Both exceeded my expectations with the exception that the pumpkin dumplings needed more pumpkin for my tastes, but I'm splitting hairs here... As we were working on the dumplings, our waitress brought out the (MEGA) beef roll and then the lamb skewers. Again, 101 amazed us with the product of their talents. The beef roll was perfect in texture, balance of ingredients, and again very generous in its portions. I hate being so loose with my usage of that pickled vegetable/chile/cilantro/onion concoction, but it went so well with the beef roll as well. The real surprise for me were the lamb skewers. My guess is someone in that kitchen hails from the western portion of China - maybe in Gobi desert region? Four little skewers that held nice little chunks of lamb that were perfectly seasoned with (maybe) oregano and dill, and possibly some cumin and/or coriander were grilled just enough to cook the lamb through. I don't eat lamb often, but we ordered this on a whim and am very glad that we did. The skewered pieces of lamb were tender, flavorful, and a nice contrast in taste to the other dishes we ordered. The only other thing that would have made this all perfect would have been a nice bottle of Syrah... The bill for four came out to $32 and change, and all of us were full. This was a true bargain. We went into tonight's dinner expecting to pay at least four to five times this amount for dinner at Green Village but instead had some humble but exquisitely prepared dishes in that unassuming cafe just down the street. Ipse, thank you very much for steering us to 101 Noodle Express. With so many other places that we have yet to try in SGV, this place will definitely fit nicely into our rotation. And Das, thank you for the Green Village rec - it's still on our short-list of places we intend to try soon. We have also put Giang Nan and Hong Yei on our list as well - thanks, cfylong and vvconst... Sat Jun 14 23:07:35 -0700 2008 3672450 64003 bulavinaka 2 3781519 Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the writeup. Sat Jun 14 23:12:36 -0700 2008 3781514 11583 ipsedixit 2 3781566 Nice review bulavinaka. :) Yah, 101 Noodle Express is IMHO, the best Dumpling restaurant in the SGV. I wrote down my thoughts on a few other dumpling flavors they have there (some very unique ones) in an old review. If you ever return to 101, definitely try out the other flavors; I thought they were even better than the pork and shrimp (but that's very well made as well :). Sun Jun 15 00:22:50 -0700 2008 3781514 113442 exilekiss 3 3781824 Thank you exile... The shear size of the portions makes it tough to try more than a couple of dumpling flavors at a time (what a great thing to complain about), but I guess this is more of a reason to go back often... "lamb dumpling - check... yellow leek dumpling - another check... scallop dumpling - woh, partner - save it for next time!" I like the casualness of this place. It was still relatively hot out, so many folks were showing up in shorts and slaps - my kinda place! I was dressed more for Green Village, so I definitely felt a tad overdressed (for once in my life) relative to what others were wearing. Customers walking in are nonchalantly greeted by the folks at 101 - most of those customers are definitely regulars there. You can tell not only by the small talk over the counter but also for the fact that they don't even look at the menu while ordering. I saw this time and again while enjoying our meal, which speaks miles about this place. While we were eating, my wife overheard one of the ladies taking a reservation over the phone for 24 later that night - 24 for a place that has a posted capacity of 28! I'm glad we got there early... Sun Jun 15 07:11:51 -0700 2008 3781566 64003 bulavinaka 4 3781980 No problem. :) By the way, 101 Noodle Express allows you an option of ordering 2 Types of Dumplings for 1 Plate (for only 50 cents more) - so you get 5 of 1 type of dumpling, and 5 of another type. It's called "Dumpling Combo" in English (#20 on their menu as of 2 months ago). I usually go with this option so that all of us can try out more flavors. :) Despite the oddly translated English on their menu, you should definitely try out their "Hua Vegetable Dumpling" (Hwei Hsiang Miao Zhu Ruo Jiao), and their "Wild Vegetable Dumpling" (Ji Tsai Zhu Ruo Jiao); amazing flavors! Both have marinated Ground Pork in addition to the vegetables, and are very aromatic, rich with unique herb and vegetable flavors in addition to the marinated Ground Pork. :) And the Hua Vegetable one is pretty rare in the SGV (it's pretty unique). Enjoy~ Sun Jun 15 09:04:50 -0700 2008 3781824 113442 exilekiss 5 3782079 This info is invaluable for our future visits - we should have asked when we saw the combo item on the menu. Wow - I would have never ordered the ____-vegetable dumplings. I've usually been underwhelmed by vegetable dumplings but because they usually are vegetarian-like fare for folks like my vegan sister. I think as much as I want to use the combination option at 101, these two sound like they deserve a full order each on our next visit. As always, you're a treasure mine of culinary knowledge, and one of the best examples of a true Chowhound. How hounds like you, Das and Ipse ferret out all of these places and share your finds, I have no idea. But you folks are the meat on the bone of this board... Sun Jun 15 10:15:29 -0700 2008 3781980 64003 bulavinaka 6 3789138 Thanks. :) Here's an old review I did of 101 that has other recommendations in there as well: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/499518 Tue Jun 17 17:17:20 -0700 2008 3782079 113442 exilekiss 1 3783372 This story is too funny. We pile the kids and the in-laws into the van to head up to San Marino for a visit to the Huntington Library. Does DH tell me he wants to do dim sum? NOOOOOOOO.....so of course I'm cursing him out under my breath because I can't consult my CHers from a car. No, I don't have an iphone or other web based phone, besides, I'd get carsick. On another forum, we have each other's phone numbers and we call each other for info, LOL. We manage to make our way heading south on San Gabriel Valley Blvd because at least I remember that name from threads here. DH sees train tracks lit up ahead - figures we might get stuck there - and pulls a U-turn in front of Hong Yei Restaurant. I have no idea about Hong Yei. I pray that maybe the CHers will know when I get home.I kinda doubt it because it is one of a bazillion restaurants in the area. We enter - the only caucasians in the place. Packed with Asians. And its rated B. Menu has lots of typos. Good signs so far. We don't eat shellfish or pork (pseudo kosher), so we ended up with the following. - #18, Soup - Pine nuts in duck soup (DH likes to order out of the ordinary stuff) - EXCELLENT. Couldn't stop thinking of the Marx Brothers. - #47 for the picky kid - Mongolian Lamb. Delish. Ordinary though, btdt. - #83 for me - Spinach and glass noodles with bean curd. I like 'glass' noodles, and bean curd. This dish came served in a clear pyrex pie plate, cracked me up. Somehow I think they put in scrambled eggs instead of bean curd. No problem. - #127 - Pancakes with Beef (may also be on the menu as #2 under House Specialty). Wish I had a picture. Thinly sliced beef with green onions and cilantro, in a crepe/tortilla that was pan friend on both sides. We all agreed it was the hit of the meal. Even the picky kid liked it. #138 - Jia Jing noodles. My FIL ordered that, we used to have a noodle place by us that served that cuisine. It brought back memories! DH, who has a more discerning palate than I, declared the meal and service to be excellent. A lot more variety than we can get here in the Lomita part of the South Bay. I wish we were better educated as to Asian/Chinese regional stuff. We're getting there. I doubt we'll go back, not because we don't want to, but gas is getting to be $5/gallon...I wish we could have stayed longer and when it was quieter to ask more questions. 'Happy Family' turned out to have shrimp in it, etc. We recommend this place to everyone! At the bottom of the menu (paper one the waitress gave us when we left) - 'Welcome to Hong Yei Restaurant. We serve 'Mandarin Style', which is known to be spicier, more varied and more adventurous than other styles of Chinese food.' FYI. I think Jenn said she 'reviewed this place last fall' , and I see other favorable opinions of the place (whew!) , but I couldn't find her thread. Just my two cents! Sun Jun 15 21:45:41 -0700 2008 3672450 114951 leetmom7 2 3783395 Hooray for Hong Yei! And koodos to you for remembering the name of this place! If your picky kid considers Mongolian Lamb to be tame, you have a winner! Most kids run away screaming in fear when either of those names applies to a food dish that is presented to them. Your two cents are invaluable - great story and recs... Sun Jun 15 22:00:43 -0700 2008 3783372 64003 bulavinaka 1 3784644 Hey Bulavinaka, glad to hear that you got to try 101's beef rolls -- did you notice that every table ordered it too? They have the best beef rolls and the biggest. I always ask for extra hoisin sauce to add to it. And eating it fresh there is so much better than taking it home and reheating it -- not as crispy of course. Mon Jun 16 11:22:34 -0700 2008 3672450 69711 chowchow12345678 2 3786190 You are correct - every table had a platter of beef rolls, and I truly enjoyed them. Is the House Pan-fried Cake the same pancake that they use for the beef rolls but sliced and prepared like noodles? I saw a table with those and it looked dee-lish-shus... Mon Jun 16 19:09:46 -0700 2008 3784644 64003 bulavinaka