Sweethome Grill: A Pictorial Essay

[J.L.]

Verdict: A wonderful newcomer to the Northern Chinese food scene now sweeping across the San Gabriel Valley... The "Grill" is in their name, and by golly, grilling is certainly their forte!

Highlights: Great hand-pulled (not knife-cut) thjck, chewy noodles, with single strands of noodles so long (from skillful pulling without breakage) that it takes scissors to cut them afterwards! The grilled foods are beautifully seasoned and blissfully pungent, but not overly so. A surprise highlight is the boring-sounding, but deliciously grilled "man tou" (bao bread), which looks like garlic bread at first, and one taste of this from the skewer had me completely hooked. Cold tofu skin with spice oil makes a yummy appetizer. Grilled oysters are juicy and done just right. The beef noodle soup is worth the trip alone. The savory "Big Plate of Chicken" (& noodles) is tied with Omar's Xinjiang Halal as the best versions in the SGV. Fennel-infused grilled tilapia (on-the-wall menu item) is aromatic and satisfying.

[raytamsgv]

Nice job!

[andytseng]

Great pics. I live 2 blocks away and this is my new regular spot. Especially nice because it's open late. Even though it's a different style, I like the corn at Indian a lot more. The SO says it reminds her of her time spent in Beijing.

[J.L.]

Indian's just a good corn & beer place in general...

[andytseng]

Just wanted to clarify any confusion from my bad sentence structure/composition... The SO says Sweethome Grill reminds her of her time spent in Beijing. The spices and style are very different than Indian.

The one thing missing from Sweethome Grill, which may have been mentioned in the other thread, is the lack of beer.

[TonyC]

818 Shaokhao bar has a full liquor license. They don't have the noodles, but they do have the skewers. http://la.eater.com/archives/2012/05/...

Also, believe J.L. meant Uncle Yu's Indian Taiwanese, not South Asian Indian, Indian.

[bulavinaka]

Yup on the beer - a natural with the menu. Considering their hours, beer would be a major draw as well.

[ClarissaW]

Love the photos!

[PeterCC]

Heh, the color palette of the yogurt drink and the corn cob holders made me picture a Chinese restaurant in a Hot Dog on a Stick! Everything looks delicious and the oysters look fantastic.

J.L., I like how you're slowly doling out the reviews from (I assume) what was your food crawl this weekend. Builds suspense. May have to do the same for my tour, rather than have one mega-thread with a ton of photos and (hopefully) comments.

[Johnny L]

Hmm I really need to get around to trying this place, I guess you didn't try the lamb skewers assuming from your pictures?

[J.L.]

... and of course, I forgot to include a photo of the spectacular grilled "man tou" in my original post. Apologies.

[ipsedixit]

Pan fried man tou with some salt and a fried egg was one my childhood favorite comfort foods. In fact, it still is.