San Gabriel: state of play
Alright. I've been sitting on my laurels, going to the same places over and over again for a while.
So I'd like to ask: for all you regular San Gabriel Valley and beyond goers, what are your favorites?
I'm suffering from the loss right now of Best Sichuan, Oriental Pearl, and Green Village.
SGV seems to change faster than other areas - places disappear, move, chefs change, places go from good to suck to good again...
My current favorites, in no particular order:
1. Chung King
2. Dai Ho
3. Hunan Seafood
4. Noodle House
5. Little Fat Sheep
6. Seafood Harbor
7. Elite
Some runners up:
1. Quingdo Bread Food
2. 101 Noodle Express
3. Wing Tin Deli
4. Giang Nan
5. Won Won Kitchen
6. Lucky City
What's doing it for you RIGHT NOW, san gabriel-wise?
By Thi N.
on Jan 30, 2009 11:38 AM
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"Best Szechuan" is LONG gone.
"Szechuan Best has closed for a few months now as well. When speaking of Western SGV, time line needs to be in weeks, not years?
Current Hunan hot spot: Xiang Wei Lou. Hunan chef, Hunan owner, seats 30, at MOST. strip mall chic, one of the FINEST smoked 4 treasures in crock pot.
Little Fat Sheep? Over it. They've gentrified/gringo-fied. When the pre-printed commercialized plate setting tells you to write a Yelp review, it's time to stop patronizing the establishment.
Current faves:
Silver and Gold Amazing ('09 Canto Carb House CHAMP! over Delicious Food Corner, over The Congee, etc.)
Kingburg (TW style beef noodle soup, DILL! pork dumpling)
Dean Sin World (XLB with chicken aspic: been pimping it since LAST summer, to no avail: http://www.yelp.com/biz/dean-sin-worl...
)Wing Tin (total underdog, for that $2.99 bowl of cheap anything cuz we're in a Recession)
And Jay Dee's. Cuz they have well drinks for $5 everyday.
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I tried to go to Dean Sin World, based on your recc, but they were closed for a month in early January. Vacation or something. I desperately want to go. Is it open again?
Little Fat Sheep: you know what? They've gentrified, but I taste no difference in the cooking. I've been going since about its 2nd month of opening, and they've added all kinds of hokey touches (possibly charming, possibly nauseating) since they got the Gold review - those menus, matching logo t-shirts, more English waiters with a schtick. But the food tastes *precisely* the same to me - the hot pot liquids are just as dense, herby, and cuminy; the lamb quality is the same. They've even added some occasional rare mushrooms that I love.
I mean: I care about food more than ambiance. This means I'm OK with dives. This means I'm OK with chintz. My natural tendencies are to suspect any places that are fancy or commercial-y, and favor trucks and holes, but this is only a rule of thumb. So far, despite their gentrification, the food tastes precisely as unholy-good.
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And yeah - Wing Tin. What is it about that place? I love that place. I think it gets underlooked on Chowhound because it's not some sexy region, but the very familiar Hong-Kong deli style. But it's freakin' good. Pepper-salt fried fish, tea-smoked duck, hot pot with taro and smoked duck. Currently my favorite chinese BBQ pork.
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A second for Silver & Gold Amazing. Fresh soft chewy rice noodle rolls, noodle and rice dishes.
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yes, the above are some of my faves:
chung king, dai ho, luscious dumplings, the nanjing duck joint, newport seafood (they moved to a new location just so everyone knows), din tai fung
and i think it was you chandavkl that mentioned a pan-fried fish dumpling joint on atlantic or is garfield that place is really good.
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Actually the pan fried fish dumpling place (Delicious Delicious) is gone, replaced by Silver & Gold Amazing. But the boiled fish dumplings at Qingdao, also mentioned above, are very good and you can buy them frozen uncooked and fry them yourself.
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that's right it was Delicious Delicious. sucks to hear it's gone, i was kind of a hankering for some of their pan fried ones and this thread got me hungry.
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The fish rice noodle rolls at Silver & Gold Amazing make a good consolation prize.
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Let us becry, bemoan the closing of Delicious Delicious and give it a moment of silence it deserves.
They served up this KILLER pangrilled pork "pocket" and had a super hot wok.
I will persevere and maintain Monland Hotpot is eons above Little Fat Sheet on Atlantic.
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I've never been able to peg the location of Newport Seafood.... I thought I saw one on Garvey near Atlantic, and the other day I saw one on Las Tunas in the Golden Deli strip mall across from Luscious Dumplings. Which is the location that gets raves here, and what are some recommended dishes there?
Mr Taster
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The Newport Seafood you want to go to used to be in the strip mall on Las Tunas (where Golden Deli is located).
It has now relocated about 1/2 mile east on Las Tunas in a stand-alone building (that used to house a Marie Calendar and most recently Favorite Grill).
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Thanks-- which dishes do you recommend?
Mr Taster
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House Special Lobster (everyone gets this dish)
The "shaking beef" (or beef loc lac)
The stir-fried ong-choy
Giant clams
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Beef loc lac? I had this in Cambodia.... it was one of the few Khmer dishes we actually would seek outside of Cambodia. What's the relevant cultural culinary crossover with Cantonese food that I'm missing? Is this the chiu chow cuisine (SE Asia/Chinese) I've read about but never really investigated?
Mr Taster
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Newport is a Vietnamese / Chouzou joint.
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That explains it all. Thanks ipse........
Mr Taster
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yes, it relocated in the past few months.
house special lobster and the beef lo loc (filet mignon medallions in a cognac peppercorn sauce, delicious, and cheap at 10.95), the lobster is not so cheap though.
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Last time I had the lobster (~5.5 lb) it was about $70.
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when me and my friend went there two yrs back, we had the shaking beef and the house special lobster and a couple beers and a soda, it was about 100 bucks without tip.
i think our lobter was closer to 75 bucks, and four and a half pounds, definitely great stuff.
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As someone who rarely (read: never) orders lobster out, is this a fair price? How many people does 4.5 - 5.5 lbs serve? What are we talking about for an average per person price for this meal, with no leftovers and without drinks?
Mr Taster
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Mr. T,
You can easily feed 4 people with one order of the Newport house special lobster and have plenty of leftovers (esp. the sauce and the drippings) to pair with some fried rice the next day.
As a point of comparison. The lobster at The Lobster Restaurant in Santa Monica charges $32 per pound. At Newport, it's approx. $70-80 per 5 pounds. You do the math ...
I'd say the price per head for a meal at Newport is anywhere between $15 (with no lobster) to $30 (with lobster). Exclusive of drinks, tax, tips, etc.
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Incidentally, the beef is called "bo luc lac".
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or if you're like me it's more like $50 per.
i'll i know is this would be a very tough place for a single dinner since if i'm not mistaken the smallest lobster is at least 3.5 pounds, they don't serve any small ones here for some reason, don't know why?
but does anyone else know why???
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Per request of my more choosey sister, how exactly is the House Special Lobster prepared?
I take it we're using local spiny lobsters, and not New England lobsters? Or would I be wrong?
Mr Taster
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Lots of garlic, green onions, soy sauce, sugar, salt, etc. and stir fried.
See pics.
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Need............... house.... special..... lobster...... now.......
Mr Taster
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I believe it was with Maine lobsters. There are tons of them in the tanks. Even if it isn't, I'm sure you can order Maine lobsters cooked in the House Special style.
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They are Atlantic lobsters. (Can't say for certain if they actually were caught off Maine, as opposed to off Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, Newfoundland, etc.)
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5½ pounds this past weekend was $88. ($15.95 per pound.)
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when we went it was 75/4.5, i guess it was about $16.60 when i was there.
yeah, we're quite the trencherman, i think 4.5 pounds is more than enough for two people (you could share with 3 or 4) especially if you're getting the bo luc lac and another dish or two.
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They've completely remodeled the place. The waiters there are stellar by Chinese restaurant standards. And they now accept credit cards (I think the minimum is about $15 or $20).
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I just had the Sha Tin congee (chicken and ginger) at Silver and Gold Amazing this weekend. It hit the spot! And it was just a little over $4.
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Half & Half (recession-friendly boba)
Q Noodle House (in Rowland Heights, get the countrynoodles)
Kam Hong Garden (get the knife cut noodles, avoid the dumplings)
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These are some of my faves:
Pa Pa Walk - spicy beef and tendon noodle is my favorite
Litz Restaurant - try the laksa
Yun Chuan Garden - love the cumin lamb and spicy dumplings
Pho 79 - try the Banh Mi Bo Kho (beef stew with french bread)
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Well, it's not in the San Gabriel Valley, but the food is in the spirit of the place.... with a twist.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/577814
Mr Taster
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Thi N:
Great post. I must confess, outside of our occasional venture to Babita, my wife and I do not make it out to the SGV enough. Your post has inspired me to get us out to the SGV more frequently for the great Asian dining options. With this said, the question is where to begin? We are both adventurous eaters, enjoy spicy food but do not eat pork. With these criteria in mind how do your current favorites stand up. Would you recommend starting with you number one and working down from there? Thanks in advance and once again, great post .
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NYC Seafood in Monterey Park. Recently had a huge Chinese New Years feast with fantastic salt fried crab ($14/pound), whole lobster in ginger scallion sauce, steamed fish, French-style pepper beef, gai lan with dried fish, shrimp fried rice, Peking duck, plus 6 beers for the table at about $60/head. Amazing value
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Really? I've been hearing downhill reports for the past year. Somebody even asked me whether it was still Chinese owned. Need to check this out.
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