Archive for the 'Monterey Park' Category

Shufeng Garden – Monterey Park

Published by Gastronomer on March 8, 2013 in Chinese, Los Angeles, Monterey Park and Restaurant Review. 2 Comments

While most everyone I know was watching the Oscars several Sundays ago, The Astronomer and I tucked into Shufeng Garden in Monterey Park to numb our tongues and burn our throats. Who cares what frock whatsername is wearing when there are Sichuan delights to be had. Hashtag truth.

My lovely friend Pam, the blogger formerly known as Daily Gluttony, pointed me to the original Shufeng Garden in Rowland Heights this past summer while I was researching the Food Lovers’ Guide to Los Angeles.

Even though Shufeng Garden’s cooking was on par with my favorite Sichuan spots in town, namely Lucky Noodle King and Yun Chuan Garden, sheer distance kept The Astronomer and me from returning for more. Fortunately for us, the restaurant opened a Monterey Park branch a few months back, adding another solid tongue-numbing option to our rotation.

For me, a Sichuan meal isn’t complete without a bowl of dan dan mian. An expertly made version never fails to leave my tongue tingling and my heart singing; the noodles here came through on both fronts.

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Hot Pot, Hot Pot – Monterey Park

Published by Gastronomer on October 24, 2012 in Chinese, Los Angeles, Monterey Park and Restaurant Review. 4 Comments

While it’s usually best to leave the cooking to trained professionals when dining out, Mongolian hot pot is so drop dead easy that even a careful, chopstick-wielding toddler could handle it. Hot Pot, Hot Pot, a brightly-lit and well-serviced communal soup hall in Monterey Park, is the kind of place that’s perfect for small and large groups in the mood for a tummy-warming and interactive feast. The Astronomer and I headed here late one Friday night with our friends Diep and Alice.

We began by selecting a broth. Hot Pot, Hot Pot offers three bases including a mildly flavored “House Original,” a sweat-inducing “House Spicy,” and a medicinally tinged “Rejuvenation Broth.”

We chose the “Half & Half” option that allowed for two different varieties—on the left is the “House Spicy” dialed up to a seven and on the right is the “House Original.”

Once the broths were settled on, we were provided with a form listing all manner of proteins, vegetables, dumplings, and noodles to jazz up our hot pots. We may have gone overboard with over a dozen tick marks, but it was all in the name of research (and gluttony). We chose a mix of hearty ingredients that were suited for the spicy broth, as well as more delicate ones that benefited from the milder broth.

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{swoon} Fan Tuan at Huge Tree Pastry

Published by Gastronomer on October 3, 2012 in Breakfast / Brunch, Chinese, Los Angeles, Monterey Park, Taiwanese and {swoon}. 6 Comments

There are a handful of restaurants serving traditional Taiwanese breakfast in the San Gabriel Valley, but my favorite is the one operated by the Liu family in Monterey Park. Tucked behind a grocery store on the far end of a strip mall, Huge Tree Pastry is the place to get your you tiao on. Deep-fried to order, these twisted, golden crullers shatter at first bite and are just as good dipped in a bowl of steaming soy milk. Scallion pancakes, which come with or without an eggy coating, benefit from a drizzle of soy sauce. Chili oil is nowhere to be found here.

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Elite Restaurant – Monterey Park

Published by Gastronomer on April 28, 2012 in Chinese, Dim Sum, Los Angeles, Monterey Park and Restaurant Review. 14 Comments

Waiting for a table at Elite on a weekend afternoon tests one’s dedication to the sport of dim sum. The bellies that gather here are a tenacious bunch; they don’t seem to mind waiting an hour or even two so long as the food is tops when their number finally gets called.

Arriving soon after the restaurant opens can dramatically improve wait times, but The Astronomer and I relish sleeping in on weekends, so we resigned ourselves to thumb twiddling, menu gazing, and Dollar Store perusing (there’s one next door).

Once we were finally seated, some ninety minutes after we arrived, it was time to do what we do best—over-order and overeat. What’s unique about the dim sum experience here is the lack of carts roaming the dining room. We were presented with a picture menu and an order form as soon as we sat down.

I’ve always loved the chaos of traditional dim sum, but found this approach quite appealing. Not only were my favorite dishes prepared to order, but I wasn’t tempted to waste space on lesser dishes just because the cart came by. I also liked that I didn’t have to scan the room searching for the lone lady serving chicken feet. A simple tick mark on the form and voila, steaming hot chicken feet appeared at the table. Cart-less dim sum certainly has its merits.

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Pearl’s Restaurant – Monterey Park

Published by Gastronomer on May 5, 2011 in Los Angeles, Monterey Park, Restaurant Review and Taiwanese. 11 Comments

One night not too long ago, my friend Danny stayed up way past his bed time perusing this site’s Chinese food archives. I’m not sure what possessed him to do such a thing, but after spending a solid hour or so with my blog, he concluded that it needed more Taiwanese food representation.

Considering there are only four entries dedicated to Taiwanese food, one of which is distinctly Shanghainese, I couldn’t argue with his assessment. And that is how I found myself at Pearl’s Restaurant in Monterey Park on a recent Friday night.

While I’ve eaten at Sam Woo located a few steps away, I never paid much attention to the shoebox-size restaurant next door. The Astronomer, Danny, and I were seated at a table fit for four in Pearl’s surprisingly stark white dining room.

The menu here, which is divided into dumplings, rice, noodles, and appetizers, is all sorts of homey and priced beyond reasonably. Danny took the lead and ordered an array of dishes highlighting what the restaurant is best known for. By the way, the sign on the door states that the kitchen does not dabble in MSG.

To start, we shared a plate of pork boiled dumplings ($5.25). I slathered mine in the house-made chili paste, while The Astronomer went for a combination of soy sauce and vinegar. The dumpings’ skins were neither too thick nor too thin, while the filling was noticeably lean and well seasoned.

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