zruilong's Profile
ISO Vietnamese Sandwich Shop in the South Bay
It doesn't even begin to approach OC, but at least Tapioca and Pho is Vietnamese run and owned. They do not make their own bread, and you don't get the long baguettes. The price runs in the mid $3 range. Grilled pork, grilled beef, house special, and a few others. Not bad, not out of this world.
I was going to try pho gardena, but they were out of bread. They, too, do not make their own bread. I would be surprised if any of these places do. Now, if they got their bread from Guilianno's around the corner..........
Jie mo dui... Beijing mustard cabbage... zai nar?
芥末墩 ， at least on my computer, looks like simplified characters to me. 墪 would be the traditional version of the third character, if I am not mistaken.
jie4 mo4 dun1 (jie mo dun'r with the beijing accent)
锺亚当 would be the simplified of the second set of characters. Your Chinese name, perhaps?
Indonesian, Malaysian, South American, African restaurants
I think Selmat Detang was the name of the restaurant before it became Belecan Grill. That location went through many different owners, style changes, etc. Belacan Grill is one of the longest tenents there. It is good food, just never "crowded."
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Belacan Grill
2701 190th St Ste 100, Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Should a great Shanghai soup dumpling / xiaolongbao contain oozing soup from the pork filling (directly), or via a congealed gelatinous spoon of soup inserted?
生(sheng1) has a meaning that relates to yeast? I never heard of that word used for yeast. I can only find reference to 野生酵母 (ye3 sheng1 jiao4 mu3) meaning wild yeast. But here, the 生 is related to 野生 which means wild and not to yeast 酵母. I could be wrong, and if you have a reference explaining the origins, I would love to read it!
Zankou Chicken....TERRIBLE
OK. To get by the rules and keep this question relevant to LA.
Since Armenians live and have come from many different countries in that part of the world, and of course now including Glendale, could you please differentiate the difference between Lebanese and Armenian AND recommend LA/OC restaurants that adhere to those distinctions for the unknowing?
Giuliano's Question...
I too had the same question, and the Gardena Guiliano's is close to my house. So, I asked the owner last time I was there a few months ago, and he basically repeated what DrBruin reported. They used to own other locations, but sold them off and now only have the original Gardena location.
I grew up going to the Torrance (Hawthorne and Torrance) location. I remember it was great. Now, the quality is lower, the same for the Redondo Beach (Aviation) location. Also, the Artesia location changed their sausage to more of a "Sicilian" style, but I do not like th taste at all. It tastes of lower production quality, so the dislike is not from the new recipe, per se.
The Gardena owner said the other locations have their sausages shipped in. The Gardena location, as we know, bakes its bread fresh daily ( I recommend strolling by in the evening after they close and they are starting the baking for the next day, yum). They also make their own sausage and other food on location and, according to the owner, are using the same recipe as when they opened.
Any good Chinese or Indian restaurants in Long Beach?
I wouldn't recommend Kamal Palace. Ate there twice, got food poisening twice. Wife ate there once, she spent the next day in the bathroom. Both times we were thirsty for days due to the high levels of salt as well. But, the times eaten there were at lunch, so maybe they execute dinner better.
Any good Chinese or Indian restaurants in Long Beach?
Depending on where you are in Long Beach, it may be just as easy, or even easier and faster to go to Cerritos/Artesia for Chinese instead of Torrance as well. The Torrance PCH Chinese places aren't anything special with the best probably being Sues Kitchen on Crenshaw (if you are alooking for noodles esp). Otherwise, I would head to Cerritos.
Authentic Chinese in Torrance
Most authentic would be Sue's Kitchen on Crenshaw north of Lomita Blvd. Small and informal.
Yunchuan Garden - Szechuan?...or Hunan?
When it was YunGui, I thought it was a reference to the city of Guilin in Guangxi (I thought I remembered (perhaps incorrectly) that they had some rice noodle dishes reminiscent of guilin mi fen (桂林米粉). Though, I always though that was odd since guilin is a city and yunnan a province, though the rice noodles are known as "guilin" rice noodles. Unfortunately, I can't remember the character used on the signage nor can I find a picture of it.
But, the restaurant is definately sporting Yunnan dishes as evidenced by their selling of Yunnan Crossing the Bridge Noodles (guo qiao mian 过桥面).
Sichuan and Chongqing regional dishes also have been promiment on the menu even when it was nammed yungui. However, you suggestion of Guizhou makes perfect sense as well. This is where seeing the original character name would help.
Oh now I remember, and found some photos. When the restaurant was called YunGui, the only chinese name it advertized was for the Yunnan Crossing the Bridge noodles (云南过桥面）. The last picture in the link, the one with the neon characters on the window says the restaurant is specializing in Yunnan style food. And it highlights the crossing the bridge noodles.
so, that was a long way to say. Yungui...i don't know what the gui stood for!
http://chinesefoodmap.com/1/CA/Monterey_Park/yungui_garden
Asian Kitchen chinese food
I'm sorry. Unless there is new ownership, Asian Kitchen on Artesia in Torrance is one of the worst Chinese places I have ever eaten in. I'm glad your experience is different; however, it does not represent real Chinese food. I even found it oddly bad for American style Chinese food.
In Torrance, I would recommend any of the noodle dishes at Sue's Kitchen on Crenshaw. If you want a balance between Chinese with some Chinese American offerings, I would recommend Tasty Kitchen down the road on Artesia by the 99 Ranch in Gardena or Seafood Port on HAwthorn and Torrance Blvd accross the street from the Guilianos and Albertsons.
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Tasty Kitchen
1324 W Artesia Blvd, Gardena, CA 90248
Sue's Kitchen
23918 Crenshaw Blvd, Torrance, CA 90505
99 Ranch
17713 Pioneer Blvd, Artesia, CA
Seafood Port
21180 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503
BEST Boba EVER!!!
I don't know if the shops in Rowland Heights and Artesia were ever related, though they may have been at one point. Looking at the pictures on yelp for the Rowland Heights location, they both shared the same chinese name and the logo looked similar. However, the Little Bean in Artesia was renamed by the family that owned it to Happy Nest a year or two ago. As of this summer, the family that owned the Little Bean (Happy Nest) in Artesia sold their shop and, according to the new owners, moved back to Taiwan. I will say however, I was very pleased with the Sheng Jian Bao at the Happy Nest in Artesia, perfectly pan-fried with a lot of juice that exploded out when bitten. That was not on the menu at the old Happy Nest (Little Bean).
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Little Bean
18902 Norwalk Blvd, Artesia, CA 90701
Apple Farms that press into Cider?
Oak Glen. It is near Yucaipa. They have serveral orchards up there that do u-pick apples (as well as a few that do berries as well). I know one place for sure has an old fashion apple press where you can press the apples yourself.
Every farm and store has a wide selection of fresh apple cider and cherry-apple cider.
http://oakglen.net/index.shtml
Where can I find Chinese hand pulled noodles in the South Bay?
This place is also Korean-ized Chinese. It may not matter to the original poster, just FYI.
Where can I find Chinese hand pulled noodles in the South Bay?
You can also order the noodles there two ways, "regular" or flat. I personally prefer the texture of the flat noodles in my niu rou mian.
Perhaps the original owners were from Taiwan? I remember when I first went there about 10 years ago, the place was much less "fancy" - no cold dishes in the front (that was full of styrofoam cups), no menu, just a big piece of construction paper taped to the wall. I assume it changed owners or more family members came to invest some new life in the place (like what happend at Golden Camel Mongolian BBQ). However, most of the menu is not particulary unique to Taiwan, except for the taiwan named dishes. Dumpling, potstickers, jiaozi, xiao long bao, the beef noodle soup, dan dan mian -- all common on the mainland. But it is an interesting quetion, nonetheless!
ISO Kim Chi in South Bay (store or rest't)
Kimchi House is the place to go. An entire store devoted to homemade kimchi, different spice levels and styles from small jars to oil barrel size (well, not really, that big).
Real Kimchi, made by real Koreans in the Japanese/Korean section of Gardena.
As a side note, for homemade, fresh, outragiously delicious tofu, go to Meiji Tofu around the corner on Western. They close early by 1.pm but have delicous tofu ranging from silky to firm. They also make a great edamamne tofu that you can eat with a spoon, like a dessert!
Just throwing some love to some local owned treasure.s
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Kimchee House
1434 W Gardena Blvd, Gardena, CA 90247
Meiji Tofu
16440 S Western Ave, Gardena, CA
Ja Jyang Myeon - Korean Bean Paste Noodles
See, that's interesting. My understanding is that is is a Northern Chinese dish (ala Ban Mu Yuan (A&J) in Alhambra, for example.
The Korean version is slightly different, modified to Korean taste and is the subject of this thread, that is often seen in Korean restaurants or Korean Chinese restaurants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zha_jiang_mian
Chow article on ten must haves in Beijing - where to get them in LA
Honestly, I don't remember. I was in the Anaheim off the 91 and 55 interchange. It was recommended by a coworker when I asked about a place that had good Zha Jiang Mian. After I got back from lunch, I thanked him politely and made a mental note never to listen to his reqs again.
Actually, now that I think about it, I think it had sauteed onions in it too.
Its encouranging to know that I may have had just ran across a reaaaally bad version of the dish. So, how is the Korean style in comparison to the salty northern chinese version?
Chow article on ten must haves in Beijing - where to get them in LA
Ahh..ok then the version of zha jiang mian that I had a couple of times at korean chinese places in oc were really sweet and had the super small, hard tofu cubes. Not my preference.
I liike the A&J in the SGV cause they use the northern style. However, the a&J in virginia goes the sweet route. go figure.
Chow article on ten must haves in Beijing - where to get them in LA
I also like A&J for their Zha Jiang Mian as well. The sauce is salty like it should be and not sweet with the hard little tofu cubes that the korean-chinese versions have.
What ELSE to get at Mei Long Village?
Actually, it is Not Little Dragon Dumplings (小龍包) . I made the mistake as reading it that way initially for a long time as well. The problem is compounded in that I have seen a restaurant or two incorrectly use the dragon character.
The actualy character(籠) in the dish is also pronounced the exact same way, long (with a rising intonation), but there is a subtle additional radical (zhu -- (竹) bamboo) on the top of the dragon phonetic. This new character﹐ 籠﹐ has the meaning of cage or basket, and it references the container the baos are steamed and served in. Traditionally, and you will see this in China, the steamer is made of bamboo, and the bamboo bars on the bottom to let the steam through make it look like an inverted bamboo bird cage. In the US, due to health regulationis, the baos are steamed in metal containers that basically look the same as their bamboo counterparts. I personally find there is a slight difference in the taste between the xlb prepared in bamboo vs metal, but it is subtle.
Now, I am not a huge fan of the XLB here. They were unevenly cooked and I felt they were too big with skins too thick. Only 2 of the baos had juice in them, but when they did, it had a very nice flavor. I believe, that XLB are good here, I just got a bad batch. I will return one day, but its hard to get my group to return to a place since there are so many restaurants in the SGV.
Exilekiss, I hope you don't feel this was somehow an attack. It is not, I just wanted to add to the discussion about the naming of the dish. I found out the hardway and in a somewhat embarrasing situation. :-)
Plus I hope the characters show up correctly on peoples computers, never entered them to a message forum before.
NY Hound seeking itinerary advice
I agree with jesstifer regarding the DimSum option for breakfast on Sunday. However, Empress Pavilion in Chinatown, though a fairly solid choice for an average weekend, would not reflect the best of the LA Dim Sum scene. Since there won't be any traffic in that direction on a Sunday morning, I suggest going an addtional 10-15 minutes east on 10 to the heart of the San Gabriel Valley.
LA has the traditional cart style that you are familiar with, however, this city is on the cutting edge of the new wave dim sum houses that serve exclusively from menu. Elite is probably one of the best of these style right now. Again, a quick search will give more than enough info.
If this is something you are interested in doing, just search for Dim Sum, there is usally a new, and fairly detailed Dim Sum thread each week.
Looking for Hawaiian Plate Lunch in L.A.
That's a shame, because Teri Hawaii has the proper kind of of ice shaver, with the big round block of ice that spins and shaves the ice off the side. When I was there a few months ago, I noticed the texture of the ice was more granulated than in the past. I figured it was because I got it the ice to go, as I had to drive to where i was going and by the time I got there the ice must have melted and re-froze. But, accoridng to PayOrPlay, maybe the quality of the shave ice, or the shaver at least has gone downhill.
I have found the uality also depends on who prepares it as well. If they stack the ice unevenly it will topple, or if they compress it too much then it looses texture. Does anyone know if the ice shaver blade can get too dull? Maybe thy need a new blade? Or perhaps the amount of pressure applied to the rotating ice block affects the thickness of the ice that is shaved? Not an expert there, but would like to hear from someone that may have an idea.
Where to Eat in Torrance?
Cho Dang Soon Du Bu on Hawthorne, just south of Sepulveda in the same plaza Gable House Bowling. Great soondubu and their kalbi is good as well. Their expanded menu, includingn Bulgogi seems to be very popular as well.
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Cho Dang Tofu
22549 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90505
ISO Fake, Americanized, but YUMMY Japanese food
Seriously, Uber, I third this place for the same reason as you....lived on it while at UCLA. Actually, reading your posts, what you eat and where you eat at, I need to double check that you are not my clone (or vise-versa)! I have to have eaten at one of your restaurants at the same time as you over the years. Its a little creepy, really! :-)
Looking for Hawaiian Plate Lunch in L.A.
In addition, there is Bob's Okazu-ya in Gardena on Vermont as well.
Bob's Okazu-ya
16814 S Vermont Ave Gardena, CA, 90247
Though, I've heard that Bob has sold the place, the quality may be in a state of flux.
But, Bruddah's is a good mainland offering, their rotating daily specials are good. Afterwards, stop by the Mexican bakery next door for some cheap goodies.
I love the Bowling alley coffee shop, definately not the type of food one normally associates with bowling. :-)
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Bob's Okazuya
16814 S Vermont Ave, Gardena, CA 90247
San Gabriel vegetarian Chinese... but not Happy Family
I would be surprised if DTF used lard when they know they shouldn't either, and I do not mean to imply that they did in your case or in general. It was more of a warning in general to those seekig vegetarian options at restaurants. The flavors I tasted may have been some residual wok flavors, as you said.
The reason the story stuck out in my mind is the first time I was there, we ordered a vegatable dish. It was a seasonal vegetable dish that they had in stock, and was an addition to the menu, I believe (there was a long conversation between my wife and the waitress regarding the vegetable option and I started to get distracted by all the other tables and their food). When the dish came out, it had a deeper flavor, not really the "savory/meaty" MSG flavor which I don't mind, but different. My wife immediatly said, its lard. I replied, really? How are you so sure? She said that her family would do that from time to time and it would taste just like it. I didn't believe her, so later that week, she bought some lard and prepared the dish at home, sure enough, same taste. My next question was, "Why didn't you do that before!?!" :-)
Now, DTF, is my favorite XLB restaurant in the US and supports its XLB with very good quality accompanying dishes. Their owners and head chefs have forgotten more cooking techniques than I will ever learn, so they definately could have produced that flavor in other ways, especially using professional grade equipment. I don't mean to make a claim against DFT that is unsubstantiated and would damage their reputation, but the whole discussion of vegetarian at non-vegetarian restaurants reminded me of this story. I failed to communicate the message of my post properly above. I should have been more specific in my original post, but that's what I get for posting when I should be listening to my conference call. ;-)
So, to be clear for any additional readers.
I do not know if they use lard in any or all of their dishes.
I tasted something that was replicated by preparing the dish at home with lard on a VEGETABLE dish there, but that was a dish we did not specify to be VEGETARIAN.
I have no reason to believe DFT would use meat based products when a customer requested a vegetarian meal/dish.
In general, however, especially at smaller restaurants that have a lower English speaking waitstaff, it is good to make sure they understand your intention that a vegetarian dish is not simply the dish sans meat, but not prepared with other meat based products like lard (and I assume that would go for chicken broth as well?).
San Gabriel vegetarian Chinese... but not Happy Family
Yeah, also one needs to be careful that they don't use lard to stirfry the vegetarian dishes. I've tasted this at DTF, in their stirfried vegetables and one other dish. But, we weren't looking for pure vegetarian and appreciated the added flavor that kind of stir-frying adds. But, in the case of a vegetarian, that is obviously not desired.
Foodiest Spots in L.A.
Sounds to me like he defined a chowhound.
http://www.chowhound.com/manifesto
Have any Chowhound Faves Broken Your Heart
Mei Long Village - XLB skin thick, juice inside either absorbed into the overthick skin on half of them and the other half were not fully cooked on the top. The other dishes seemed good, but not as good as I thought given the praise on the board.
