75719 Mon Nov 21 01:38:44 -0800 2005 18 2 Los Angeles Area 0 416777 Quick, while everyone else is having dessert at Fosselman's...! A bunch of us gathered at Little Sheep in Monterey Park tonight - lotsa folks there, and Prof. Salt reportedly took pix, so y'all won't go visually unstimulated. Just want to say that this is yet another insanely cheap way to eat too much at a single sitting whilst in good company. Absolutely NOTHING was rejected as unworthy, certainly not at our table, and aside from the usual glitches with gwai lo trying to do the chopsticks thing it was totally lovely and fun. While I personally enjoyed the kinda Buca di Beppo-ish ambience of jostling around the seething soup pot, I am definitely looking forward to revisiting this place with two to four other people, just to eat this nice stuff at a less frenetic pace, at a smaller table, with more concentration on the food. But I wouldn't have missed this for anything! Mon Nov 21 01:38:44 -0800 2005 0 Will Owen 1 416786 remember will, just behind the place is Deerfield garden, that does the traditional shuanyangrou without all the "herbs" in the broth, and with fewer "eclectic' selections, no pork in their shuanyangrou (there are a few small dried shrimp in the broth though). Mon Nov 21 03:31:13 -0800 2005 416777 0 Jerome 2 416807 Are there other hotpot places that do an herb-less broth? Mon Nov 21 09:52:03 -0800 2005 416786 0 Jay 3 416809 Kingswood does. Link: http://elmomonster.blogspot.com Mon Nov 21 11:10:49 -0800 2005 416807 0 elmomonster 2 416856 lol it's the herbs that make it good! never been to the deerfield garden little sheep, but there's another one in the mall adjacent to the Hilton on valley in San Gabriel. i actually think that mon land hot pot (literally across the street from that little sheep) is more flavorful and has more variety but they're both good. Mon Nov 21 14:19:43 -0800 2005 416786 0 rickmond 3 416924 different strokes. The Taiwanese places often have a yin-yang looking pot, one side with their take on the sichuan mala hot and spicy oily firepot, the other with a way herbaceous version of the liquid for rinsed lamb - shuanyangrou. The materiel for dipping, the pork, etc. is fine. However it's like comparing a pizza with canadian bacon and pineapple and mushrooms and pepperoni and extra tomato sauce in a 16"pan, to a neapolitan margherita. Both can be delicious. But I happen to prefer the simpler one and wanted to let those know who've gone to little sheep that they can sample and very possibly dismiss the northern style at a place not 50 yards from Little Sheep. Most folks I know from taiwan find Shandong and northern food in general to be bland. Those from that region refer to it as subtle. Taiwanese refer to their own food as flavorful and rich, the northerners I know think it's greasy and overdone. I enjoy both. As well as many other styles also available here. Mon Nov 21 18:13:40 -0800 2005 416856 0 Jerome 4 416947 hmm thanks for the info but a little confused. mon land as i understand it, is northern chinese, tho i could be wrong. little sheep is taiwanese? or is the taiwanese place a different place in deerfield plaza? both mon land and little sheep had yin yang hot pots - one side spicy and one side non - and i couldn't tell much difference between them except mon land's seemed a bit more flavorful. (they were both herbed up nicely it seemed...) Mon Nov 21 19:32:33 -0800 2005 416924 0 rickmond 5 416951 ohh my bad... rereading the thread, it seems you're saying that Deerfield Garden is a separate restaurant? thought that was just the name of the plaza... Mon Nov 21 19:37:08 -0800 2005 416947 0 rickmond 6 416963 It's not Taiwanese. There is actually a local Taiwanese hotpot. It's a version of the sichuan and northern hotpots, served together and geared towards the tastes of folks under 60 in Taiwan. It's their version of the dish. Like chicago pizza or new haven pizza as opposed to neapolitan pizza or how they do pizze in milan. the style of hotpot on monland isn't what you'll find in beijing or shenyang at a trad place. you will find it in shanghai (where there's a little sheep). Remember the cajun trend? blackened everything spicy? it's what it was. It wasn't really what you'd find in a roadhouse in new iberia, but it was fine. Such is little sheep and monland. deerfield garden may be too bland for your tastes. you may hate it. but it's closer to the original dish. with the seven sauces. Mon Nov 21 20:24:35 -0800 2005 416951 0 Jerome 7 416966 ahh ok i get it now! i'll probably have to try out deerfield garden just for comparison's sake. i've been addicted to mon land and going there every month or so over the past year. always thought that was authentic northern style but my upbringing has always been "cantonese food" versus "everything else" so what do i know. >< Mon Nov 21 20:50:13 -0800 2005 416963 0 rickmond 7 417123 Little Sheep actually has the sauces - not seven, I don't think, but at least four - although they only provide them on request, and they are somewhat baffled when you ask for them. The broth provides enough flavor on its own. As for Deerfield - there is that bland, gray, dishwatery aspect to its hot pot that may well be authentic, but is on the offputting side. I feel the same way about the warm pot at Tung Lai Shun. And while the hot pots at Little Sheep and Mon Land may tend toward the souped-up tourist version of the dish, they feel much less so, more herbally specific, than the hot pots at Lu Gi and Spicy Girl (which I also like). It's pretty unfair to compare it to pineapple pizza - if you've got to make the comparison, make it between doughy, oily Neapolitan pizza and the racy, wisp-thin version found in Rome. Tue Nov 22 14:21:23 -0800 2005 416963 0 condiment 8 417186 believe me pineapple pizza has its devotees. As does little sheep. as does neapolitan pizza with its burnt crust. The paired broth hotpot may be tasty, and it may also be an abomination to traditionalists. Let's compromise and call it a puck-influenced roast duck and arugula pizza infused with truffle oil (which is about as odd as a pineapple pizza from a neapolitan perspective). Tue Nov 22 18:05:18 -0800 2005 417123 0 Jerome 8 417193 i poked my head into lu gi once and the woman in there said it was a taiwanese restaurant. i got all confused but now it makes sense. do you guys happen to know if monland and little sheep are actually operated by taiwanese people? they were speaking cantonese to me at monland, which for some reason i didn't find strange at the time. Tue Nov 22 18:31:19 -0800 2005 417123 0 rickmond 8 417232 Just in light of full disclosure: i actually do like Little Sheep, and I think I was one of the first (if not the first) to mention Little Sheep on this board. Tue Nov 22 21:08:53 -0800 2005 417123 0 Jerome 1 416904 Ok, some pictures that came out acceptably well are posted over on my blog. Will, aren't you a photo pro? Where was your camera? :P **** Of the things falsely attributed to the Mongolians, the Mongol hot pot might be the most delicious. A flavorful pot of broth boils at the table, and you dip various meats, seafood, vegetables, dumplings, and noodles in it. Other Asian cultures have variations of the hot pot, like the Japanese shabu shabu. Unlike the Japanese version where you’d cook in plain hot water then dip your food in a sauce, here the broth is pungent with spices, herbs and chilis and adds all the flavor you’d want. One selects from several broths of various intensity, and differnent dishes to cook in it. This style of dining lends itself to large family style gatherings, and 32 hungry chowhounds gathered at this feast. With about ten people per table, we sampled many more dishes than we could with a smaller group. I love that this adventurous horde is up for any type of cuisine and will try pretty much anything, even the odd sounding stuff. “What the hell is Mongolian Fresh 18?” “Don’t know, but we’re gonna get one.” Continued... Click below. Link: http://professorsalt.com/2005/11/21/sheep-dip-mongolian-hot-pot-at-little-sheep/ Image: http://static.flickr.com/27/65602727_514e94641c.jpg?v=0 Mon Nov 21 16:56:35 -0800 2005 416777 0 Professor Salt 2 416908 Great pictures!!! Now I want to go again and get those onion lamb paddies!!! As usual, I had an absolute wonderful time dining with some our favorite hounds here on the board! Our table wasn't NEARLY as adventurous as Prof. Salt's table and while I didn't order a bottle of Tsing Tao, I did order a wonderful cocnut smoothie... Yummm... Beer or fruit smoothie goes perfect with FIREY broth! :) --Dommy! Mon Nov 21 17:08:57 -0800 2005 416904 0 Dommy! 2 416912 "Will, aren't you a photo pro? Where was your camera?" Ha! As deft and graceful as I was being last night, I'd have dropped IT in the broth, too! I do need to learn how to post pics to this here list... Mon Nov 21 17:36:40 -0800 2005 416904 0 Will Owen 2 416925 sad i couldn't make it. (the flavor at the one 50yds away comes more from the seven dipping sauces you get with the "rinsed" lamb.) Mon Nov 21 18:15:06 -0800 2005 416904 0 Jerome 1 416998 Will, thanks for starting the thread. And especial thanks to Dommy for organizing this outing. Doh! My table realized later we could have skimmed the herbs/pods/stuff off the surface which would have made eating our "washed" foods easier. But I have to say . . . this was one fabulous meal. I was at the Prof's table and we got reasonably adventurous -- the dumplings -- succulent. The meatballs, tasty. The veggies, lovely, especially the baby bok choy and pea shoots. And the Mongolian Fresh 18 . . . I have no idea what was in it, but it was delish! As the Prof. says in his blog, our table of 10 worked well because we got to try so many things. It was a great experience. Mon Nov 21 22:50:51 -0800 2005 416777 0 Dorothy