San Gabriel Valley self-guided food tour … suggestions please.

[scrupy]

I need helping putting together an itinerary for a self guided food tour in the San Gabriel Valley. The commercial tours all offer “Dim Sum 101” …. I’m looking for a something a bit more graduate level.
A group of 6 of us want to hit five or six spots in a single day where we can sample a highlight or two and move on to the next place. We are looking for the best range of interesting, authentic, Asian cooking - all ethnicities - which also makes a sense in terms of the least distance and driving time between restaurants.
What would your itinerary be? What dishes would you order? What other places – shops, parks, sites - are interesting to stop and check out along the way?
Thanks

[chezwhitey]

can you tell us a little more about your group e.g., experience, familiarity, food allergies, curiosity level etc. As far as shops, parks and sites, there's not a whole lot going on in the area you requested, it's more of stripmall land. There is a big chinese department stores if you are in to that. On second thought, your group can do foot massages at the various massage parlors, not that kind, along the route which are very cheap and pretty good depending on who you get. It would be a nice break between the sampling.

[scrupy]

Thanks to everyone for suggestions so far. I'm busy cross-checking all the suggestions and can't wait to try some Lamb Pies, Beef Roll etc.
I'd welcome any other specific dish suggestions from Bulavinaka's restaurant list.
My group are open minded and inquisitive. I'm pretty experienced with many years living and travelling in the far east, but more looking in accessible interesting food cooked well than in pushing the envelope.
Love the foot massage idea.
Thanks

[chezwhitey]

A few suggestions I have are
Changs Garden: Dong po pork, fried fish with seaweed
Bahn Mi at any of the various bahn mi vendors in the area
Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa: Bun Bo Hue, split a bowl between 3 people
JYTH: Knife shaved noodles, pan fried bao
mei long village: Pork Pump(requires 24 hour advance notice), xlb

Bring a cooler for all your leftovers.

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Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa
1700 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803

[Mr Taster]

I think checking out the Taiwanese sausages with garlic at Sin Ba La would be a great mid-meal snack.

And as far as foot massages, there are about 4 foot massage places in the shopping center that I go to. My favorite is near Mei Long Village, just perpendicular and one storefront away. Ask for Tom-- he's great. I got a two hour massage from him on Saturday. Cost: $30 (though I tipped him up to $45).

Mr Taster

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Mei Long Village
301 W Valley Blvd Ste 112, San Gabriel, CA 91776

[puppychao]

I second Huge Tree Pastry, Mei Long Village and JTYH. I also recommend Hunan Chili King and Shaanxi Gourmet.

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Mei Long Village
301 W Valley Blvd Ste 112, San Gabriel, CA 91776

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770

Huge Tree Pastry
423 N Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754

Shaanxi Gourmet
8518 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770

[sushigirlie]

Two important Chinese cuisines are Sichuan and Shanghainese. I recommend including these in your itinerary.

Sichuan. Although Sichuan is a diverse cuisine with many flavors, the "ma la" ("hot and numbing") flavor is the most distinctive and memorable. A good way to experience this flavor is with a dish known as "water boiled [fish or meat of your choice]." There are several good restaurants at which to try this. I would recommend Taste of Chongqing (but I would recommend every other board-recommended Sichuan restaurant as well). You should also order some dishes from the cold buffet (every Sichuan restaurant has one). This is good way to get textural variety, which is considered extremely important in Chinese cuisine.

Shanghainese. Winey and sweet are the most distinctive flavors that come to my mind when I think of Shanghainese food. I recommend trying a dish of wine-braised seafood at Shanghai Restaurant or Mei Long Village.

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Mei Long Village
301 W Valley Blvd Ste 112, San Gabriel, CA 91776

[echoparkdirt]

whats ur fave dishes at taste of chongqing

[Ciao Bob]

I'll chime in since I ate ther last night.
Water Boiled Beef was sublime.
Loved the House special fish (two preps discussed in Thi's LA Times piece http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/...
)Dan Dan Mien is good but not the best I've had (Lucky Noodle King does that best for me right now).

[LADave]

Jonathan Gold got started by eating his way along Pico Blvd., downtown to the ocean I guess. Has anyone attempted this on Valley Blvd etc.?

[Peripatetic]

> Has anyone attempted this on Valley Blvd

Tony C attempted this two years ago but, if I remember correctly, the demands of his day job put an end to it:

From http://sinosoul.com/2009/10/anatomy-of-a-j-gold-shout-out/

"On this blog’s First Blogiversary, October 10, (Taiwanese National Day, ie, 雙十節), Eating Valley Blvd will go live at http://www.eatingvalleyblvd.com. It will solely feature Asian eateries from Valley Blvd, between the 710 and the 605 freeway, covering approximately 8 miles. With the advent of Eating Valley Blvd, more space will be dedicated here to thuggy Carson eats, (really) lousy Long Beach eats, random LA street eats, and perhaps even some Indonesian experiences, replete with brain curries, from West Covina. "

[LADave]

VB probably deserves to be a team effort. There are mere blocks that would be significant projects. J. Gold only got as far as Century City and Valley Blvd. must be more challenging. For one thing the language barrier is a lot higher. I mean someone who reads Chinese really well could still have problems with regional dialects and stuff like that.

The second link above is nothing but a Viagra ad now. pity!

[TonyC]

And since then, the domain has EXPIRED. pttthhhp.

That said, to narrow focus just on Chinese restaurants is "misguided" -- pun intended.

3 of the tastiest in West SGV right now are Nha Trang, Quan Hy: http://sinosoul.com/2011/09/hainan-chicken-rice-taste-off-spice-table-v-quan-hy/ and Yoma. Even the best of Shanghainese can't touch the aggressive flavor profiles of Yoma and Quan Hy -- (goat egg noodle soup, yowza!

)

Mei Long is fine, but Yu Garden's non-carb dishes are much better. I'd absolutely skip the repetitive Chinese dumpling/noodle shops (Luscious/Noodle Boy/Kam Hong/Mandarin Deli/101 Noodle/Lucky Noodle, etc.) and go with some non-pho Vietnamese joints instead. PS: if at JTYH, get the SMALL bowl of noodles so you can try the fried lamb riblets.

And beyond Hunan / Sichuan (I will contend Hunanese is much more "important" than Shanghai in WSGV right now: http://la.eater.com/archives/2011/11/... ), Shen Yang Restaurant remains my absolute favorite Chinese restaurant in WSGV -- earthy food (3 color cold skin, chicken rack, WHAT?), Commie clients, and BOGO bad American beer. Who needs Sea Harbor?

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Yoma Restaurant
713 E Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770

Nha Trang
311 E Valley Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776

[mrbthree]

The link in our reply took me to an ad for viagra

[Peripatetic]

Yes, the link is in text I quoted from Tony C's blog from two years ago. The registration subsequently lapsed and is now being used as a website monetization page. I probably should have made that clear in my post.

[Chandavkl]

I've actually hit every Chinese restaurant on Valley Blvd., but it's a daunting task that took many years. According to the Chinese Yellow Pages there are over 200 Chinese restaurants on Valley Blvd. in Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead and El Monte. I guess if you restricted yourself to Valley Blvd. to the exclusion of the rest of the SGV it could be manageable. Also a couple of dozen new restaurants sprout up every year on Valley Bl., mostly replacements of existing restaurants, so it would also be an ongoing task.

[ipsedixit]

By the time you get to one end, there are about 5 new ones that opened up at the other end.

It's a Sisyphean task to say the least.

[martyR]

The Chinese restaurant version of painting the Golden Gate Bridge

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Golden Gate
230 N Market St, Inglewood, CA 90301

[LADave]

Awesome! It would be interesting to see how this compares to Jonathan Gold's initial project -- and he only got to Century City. Do you read Chinese? Did the food start getting repetitive?

[Chandavkl]

Do not read Chinese nor speak it (unless you count Pidgin Toishanese). Actually instead of being repetitive, except perhaps for too many cafe style restaurants, the food is remarkably diverse. Or tilting it slightly, of the 200 restaurants on Valley, only a small percentage are of any interest to my Toishanese relatives who only appreciate standard Cantonese/Hong Kong fare.

[bulavinaka]

The LA Board is gifted with Hounds who are (what I'd consider to be) experts in the various Chinese cuisines. Here's a few places that come to mind - these would be a starting point to cover a fair amount of Chinese cuisines/dishes in general. But I defer to those who know this area far better than me.

Lucky Noodle King
534 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776
[phone]

Luscious Dumplings
704 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776
[phone]

101 Noodle Express
1408 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801
[phone]

Dean Sin World
306 N Garfield Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754
[phone]

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
[phone]

Kim Ky Noodle House
1108 S San Gabriel Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776
[phone]

Sea Harbour
3939 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
[phone]

Elite Restaurant
700 S Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
[phone]
Omar's Xinjiang Halal Restaurant
1718 New Ave
San Gabriel, CA 91776
[phone]

Huge Tree Pastry
423 N Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
[phone]

Beijing Pie House
846 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755
[phone]

Cloverleaf Coffee and Bakery
9475 Las Tunas Dr
Temple City, CA 91780
[phone]

JJ Bakery
1130 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
[phone]

Phoenix Dessert
220 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91804
[phone]

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Luscious Dumplings
704 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776

101 Noodle Express
1408 E Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91801

Dean Sin World
306 N Garfield Ave # 2, Monterey Park, CA

Kim Ky Noodle House
1108 S San Gabriel Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770

Omar's Xinjiang Halal Restaurant
1719 N New Ave, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Huge Tree Pastry
423 N Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754

Lucky Noodle King
534 E Valley Blvd #10, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Beijing Pie House
846 E Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91755

[ipsedixit]

Hard to do "Asian cooking -- all ethnicities [sic]" in the San Gabriel Valley.

In the SGV, you'll mostly find Chinese, Hong Kong, Taiwanese, and some Vietnamese cuisines. Things like Japanese, Thai, Korean, Indian, Malay, etc. are severely underrepresented, or not represented at all.

You need to figure out what cuisines you want to sample, and ask again for advice.

[scrupy]

Fair enough - a range of different Chinese cuinines incl Taiwanese and Hong Kong would be great.

What do you recommend?

[ipsedixit]

Pig's blood cake at Sam Woo
Radish cakes at Huge Tree Pastry
Noodles at JTYH
Stuffed chitlins at BeBe2
Stinky Tofu at Mama's Lu
Sausages at SinBaLa
Pig's feet at Big Kitchen
Meet Pies at Beijing Pie House
Wine brew at Dean Sin World
Duck feet at Indian Restaurant