What’s better than eating duck tongues in an abandoned Wienerschnitzel? Filing my sixth Scouting Report, “New Eastern Spice in San Gabriel has traditional jian bing savory Chinese crepes” on the Los Angeles Times‘ Daily Dish.
When the family’s in the mood for Chinese food, we head south to San Gabriel, Alhambra, or Monterey Park to feast. But when the family’s in the mood for American Chinese food, we stay close to home and dine at Yang Chow Restaurant (or Panda Express, of course). There’s enough gastro real estate for the best of both woks.
The Yang Family opened the first Yang Chow upon arriving in Los Angeles from Hong Kong in 1976. Today there are three locations in Pasadena, Chinatown, and Canoga Park.
Even though there are well over 100 items on the menu, every customer that comes through the doors orders the same thing: Slippery Shrimp ($17.50). An ocean-dwelling cousin of General Tso, Slippery Shrimp is lightly coated in cornstarch and wok’d to perfection before being doused in a sticky sauce made of ginger, garlic, chilies, and plenty of the refined white stuff. It’s sweet as all hell, but also addictively crunchy.
A few days before Here’s Looking at You officially opened to the public, my friend Thien and I attended a sneak peek for friends and family.
Lien Ta, the restaurant’s co-owner and front-of-the-house maven, is our friend and family, and seeing her longtime dream of opening a restaurant come true this evening was, dare I say, quite possibly even better than Chef Jonathan Whitener’s amazing cooking. High-five, L.T.! You did it.
Thien and I were seated at the best table in the house—a bad-ass banquette overlooking the entire dining room. We thrived in our throne all evening!
We started with two perfectly crafted cocktails. For me: the Seascape Swizzle ($15) with Mezcal Espadin, summer berries, fresh lime, cassis, Lillet Rouge, rose, and sea salt; a drink inspired by Sqirl’s seascape berry & rose geranium jam. I’m a total lightweight these days, and this one did me in in the best way.