Québec City/Lévis - Les Chocolats Favoris - moved?

Hi,

Hubby and I are planning extensive Québec City eating trip (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner - waddle back to hotel). One of our top places in the snack category is that yummy ice cream place on Lévis that dips the ice cream in chocolate. We have stumbled across a review in french that is either indicating that it has moved or opened a branch. Do any of you Québec City Chowhound folks or frequent visitors know what happened to it?

Once I get our restaurant itinerary set, I'll post it to see if you folks have any comments.

Thanks,

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Quebec (including Montreal)

Mei Long Village Review - Part 2

Hubby just called me a wai guo ren (foreigner) and reminded me that when we finished our second helping of the dish tonight, what was left over was not soup but "stuff." He is teasing me, but he did point out that there is a lot of stuff you don't really notice in the big pot (besides the noodles and the tofu, there are little shrimps, veggies, and of course, once you start taking apart the head, lots of chunks of fish).

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Mei Long Village Review - Part 2

Hey Zack,

I actually commented on the lack of other "stuff." but my husband explained that it is a soup type dish, so its ratios are more soup like. And, in my humble opinion, what a soup it was. I liked the soup flavor better than soups I've paid much more for. Our fish head seemed really fresh and tender, but I could see where you would be put off if the one you had wasn't fresh.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Mei Long Village Review - Part 2

Funny story! The waitress did look at me sideways when Bryan ordered it. Didn't get to try the Jade Shrimp - just too many choices. Fish head soup did well as leftovers. Sadly, rest of leftovers didn't - somehow not enough sauce for the pork pump as a leftover.

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Mei Long Village Review - Part 2

Just got back from day two at Mei Long Village. Wow! As Ciao Bob indicated, the fish head clay pot is out of this world. It was not only the best fish head clay pot we have had, it was one of the best dishes we have ever had. Words like "sublime" and "rich" slipped out whenever our mouths were empty enough to talk. We got the hot version - hot enough to make your nose run, but not overpowering in its taste. Did I say, "Wow?" Wow!

We also had the braised duck. We've been searching for this dish since we used to have it in the 1980's at the old Moon Palace in Chicago. Mei Long's version is okay - but not fantastic. If you have to choose between the duck and the pork pump - definitely go with the pork pump.

Also tried the Shanghai spare ribs - sweet, tasty spare ribs - not a revelation, but okay.

Finally, we finished with the red bean pancake. This had promise - nice filling to pancake ratio. However, they had to hold it for us because we had so much other food, so it got soggy. Looked like it started out crisp though, so we'll try it again some time.

Not enough room for the Beard Papas' cream puff. However, we will be back!!!!

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Report on J&J on Valley and Sin Ba La

Thanks,

We got to try them today. Yummy lingering spice. Will definitely try them at J&J next time we go there.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Mei Long Village Review

Hey all,

Flew back in to El Monte and added Mei Long Village to our list of new restaurants today. It was an excellent experience.

I would not recommend that you do what we did - we ended up loading up on pork, braised/brown sauce dishes, but I would recommend all three of the main dishes we had.

We started with the Xio Lung Bao. We would rank it as better than J&J but still not up to our standards. We were first introduced to XLB in Flushing, so the bar is pretty high. We are also Din Tai Fung fans, having had the privilege of living in Taipei for three months and developing our addiction there (however, we do like thicker skins, as well). Again, our main complaint was with the soup to meat ratio and the quality of the skins - don't mind of they are thick, but they need to be smooth and consistent.

We then tried the Pork Pump. Now that was up to our standards. It was very tender with a nicely balanced brown sauce - quite yummy.

We also got the Wuxi spare ribs, not realizing they were braised as well. Slightly sweeter braised sauce - quite yummy.

Finally, we tried the Lion's Head meatballs - while we have had better, it held its own. The meatballs themselves had a wonderful lingering spice that made them unique in all that we've have ever tried.

The Wuxi spare ribs and Lions Head meatballs were lunch specials, so they were half the price they would have been at dinner (plenty of food too).

We ended our splurge with a trip to Beard Papas - those eclairs/cream puffs are well worth the trip in themselves - yummmmmmm.

We are headed back to Mei Long Village tomorrow - plan to try the Jade Shrimp, the fish head clay pot, the pork with tofu, and the red bean pancake. Will keep you posted.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Report on J&J on Valley and Sin Ba La

Awesome tip. We went to Mei Long Village today (will report asap) and got the creampuffs. Fantastic - excellent pastry - not soggy or stale, excellent chocolate - tasted "real", excellent cream filling - more of a pudding really.

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Report on J&J on Valley and Sin Ba La

Hey all,

Wanted to report on our last two airplane trips to El Monte/San Gabriel Valley. We visited J&J at 301 W. Valley and Sin Ba La (on Duarte near Din Tai Fung).

J&J
We had both the pork and crab Xiao Lung Bao. Alas, we found them to be disappointing - not enough soup in the soup to meat ratio and not flavorful enough. Also disappointed in the skin.

We also had the fried pork buns like they serve at Noodle House. Just a clarification - both Noodle House and J&J call these sheng jian bao - and they actually are trying to make the barrel buns you can get at the markets in Taipei. Just isn't the same without the barrel though. The J&J ones were quite disappointing. Not a the fluffy convection they are at Noodle House. Same skin as their Xiao Lung Bao - bottom too tough - top too meally (sad). (By the way, a note on the Noodle House ones - take them home and bake them in a 400 degree oven for 13-15 minutes and they rise and bake up into a totally different treat - kind of like a pork crescent roll - well worth trying. Does not work with the J&J ones.)

Finally, we hit a really awesome dish. We tried the braised pork with tofu skin (ba ye je kao rou - forgive my pinyin). We've had this here in San Diego, and J&J took it to a new level. It is chunks of pork belly with little bow tie tofu in a brown sauce. It looks like there is a lot of fat on the pork belly (and there is), but even if you aren't a fat lover, try it. It carmelizes and melts in your mouth - amazing.

We will return to J&J but not for the small eats. Instead we'll try the other main dishes and see if they do as well as they did with the pork. Any recs would be appreciated.

Sin Ba La

The next trip we tried Sin Ba La. This is the Taiwanese snacky place with boba and shaved ice.

We started with the pork chop rice, and thought the pork chop coating was fantastic. Wish it could have been spicier, but was still quite good.

We then had the chicken roll. We have had better in Flushing, NY, but it was good to be able to get it here and it held its own.

Of, couse, we had to try the sausages. I love Taiwanese sausage. Alas, we thought they were okay, but not the heaven sent sausage we were hoping for. We've had more flavorful Taiwanese sausage purchased from Asian groceries - (and the one at Lu Din Gee was much better - unfortunately, we won't return there because of its service).

We had a couple of slushes with boba - very disappointing. As a result we almost didn't get the shaved ice (bing). So glad we went ahead and got it. The shaved ice was amazing - yummy condensed milk and brown sugar water drizzled over it. You get a choice of five ingredients. Quite worth the calories.

Will keep you posted as we continue to expore. Thanks for the recs.

Happy eating,
Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Noodle House Review - Thank you Professor Salt

Hey all,

Thanks all for the recs for restaurants near airports, and thank you Professor Salt in particular for Noodle House. Yum!

We flew back to El Monte to try Noodle House last Saturday, and it was so good and there was so much to try that we went back on Sunday!

Let's start with the Baoz. These are not the barrel buns from the markets in Taiwan, but they are quite good. The combo between the fried bottom and melt in your mouth top is interesting. We brought home a few and baked them to reheat them. The result is even better. The top rises and crisps nicely, leaving a still melt in your mouth layer but a flakier experience. Yum.

Now on to the noodles! Despite some Chowhound luke warm reviews of the noodles, we tried the beef noodle soup. We are so glad we did. We thought that their beef noodle soup was among the best we have had anywhere, including Taiwan. The noodles were nicely chewy and the broth was rich and multi-layered. These were what brought us back on Sunday. Perhaps the noodles aren't always consistent which could explain the other reviewers responses, but they were fantastic both days this weekend.

We also tried the sweet sticky rice ball - quite good little treat and the Tianjin pancake, an interesting salty combo of you tiao and an egg pancake with cilantro and a light sauce.

Their soy milk had good flavor and the you tiao to dip in it was light, hot and not too greasy.

At the waitress' suggestion we tried the garlic chicken - quite good - the chicken has a nice deep flavor and the ground pork on the rice adds a richness to it.

The waitress also sent us on our way with some cold sweet Chinese tea - quite refreshing.

Service was outstanding both days. The waitress (owner?) was fun, attentive, and extremely helpful. Of course, she gets points for putting up with and encouraging my Madarin. (Alas, with my tone deaf midwestern childhood, my Mandarin is a bit like the dog who can walk on its hind legs - it isn't good as much as it is surprising). All and all an excellent experience. We will be back to try more.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

what to order at din tai fung?

Hey Glutton,

We actually like their regular xiao lung bao (juicy pork dumplings) better than the little special soup dumplings. You might also try their pork and crab dumplings.

Get there really early, and if you end up havin' to take a number, listen up - they don't repeat it for long before they move on.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Near El Monte airport

Ooops. Showing myself to be a new format newbie. Used to post in San Diego before the new format and before San Diego's Chowhound slowed down so much. Thank you for the info on the pork bun. Did a little more research, and it does appear to be that awesome dumpling we used to get in the markets in Taipei. Will definitely be making that trip. And, I do like your blog.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Near El Monte airport

Excellent idea. Sorry I attributed it to another in my post. We will be expanding our search.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Food within striking distance of any general aviation airport in the LA area

Hey all,

Posted about our recent discovery of the ability to fly our airplane into El Monte and indulge in Din Tai Fung, Lu Din Gee, and various other yummy establishments. Professor Salt brought up an excellent point - why limit it to El Monte?

So here is the deal. You are a Chowhound. You have an airplane and can fly into little airports and take cabs to restaurants nearby. Where would you go?

Eagerly planning trips,
Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Near El Monte airport

Oh my goodness. Are these those little buns they sell at the markets in Taipei - like gyoza except juicer with a cha siu bao bun? I still have dreams about them. We will definitely be going.

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Near El Monte airport

Excellent idea. I shouldn't have limited it. Please, please, any ideas near any LA airports. We have often frequented Hawthorne and Torrance airports. They are fantastic airports with really nice controllers. Also, I enjoy your blog.

Thanks,
Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Lu Din Gee Good Food/No Service

Hi all,

Wanted to post on a recent visit to Lu Din Gee. We are NY foodies currently living in San Diego who are lucky enough to fly and have just discovered that El Monte Airport is smack dab in the middle of awesome cuisine. Flew in to check out Lu Din Gee on Friday.

We actually almost turned around and left upon arriving. We arrived a bit late in the lunch hour - 1:30, but not out of bounds for lunches. There was nobody waiting in line when we arrived, and the place was not at all busy but we stood for at least ten minutes before a waitress finally seated us. It was only after somebody who the waitress knew came in behind us, she started to speak to them, and I caught her eye did she even deal with us. It was truly baffling. I am Caucasian (my husband is Chinese), so maybe that had something to do with it. However, we have never encountered anything like that before anywhere. I ordered in Mandarin. Didn't know if the waitress spoke Cantonese or Mandarin, but I had to somehow establish my authenticity. Service perked up a bit after that but not much.

We had pre-ordered the duck three ways. We also ordered dan dan mien, the southern style pork that was recommended on Chowhound, a taiwanese sausage (because I have a bit of an addiction to them), and thousand layer cake. The sausage came first. It was sausage - like you buy in the store, but it really hit the spot. The duck arrived next. As y'all had indicated, the duck was quite good - the skin was firm and not too greasy and the soup was light and delicate. We would skip the second way (stir fried) next time - nothing special. Things then came to a grinding halt. The pork did not arrive and nobody came anywhere near us. When three o'clock rolled around and the wait staff sat down to eat without giving us our pork, our thousand layer cake, or our bill, my husband finally got up to ask for some help. We were not the only ones left by the way - there were others stranded as we were. The pork had been forgotten, but the waiter grudgingly sliced up and served the thousand layer cake. The thousand layer cake was not like any I had ever had but was good. It was made of glutinous a rice and interestingly sweet. We then had another long wait for the bill to come (while the staff ate), had to deal with attitude when we asked to have the pork taken off (since we had not received it), and had to deal with more attitude when we asked to have the remainder of our food wrapped up. We aren't very assertive (as you can tell by how long we tolerated the different waits), so the situation was agonizing. We finally got out of there at 4:00 and home after 6:00.

Alas, the food was really good, but we will not be back. The bad service left too much of a different kind of taste in our mouths.

That doesn't mean we won't be back to the area. Yummy food in a concentrated zone within flying distance - heaven.

Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

Near El Monte airport

Hey all,

We are based in San Diego and are lucky enough to be able to fly our little airplane to our food fixes. We've just discovered that El Monte Airport is excellently situated to the San Gabrial Valley food scene (airport is on Santa Anita). We flew in for Din Tai Fung last weekend (4 mile cab ride from the airport) . And yesterday we hit Lu Din Gee for the duck (a 3.5 mile cab ride) (I'll post reviews asap). Both cost us around 15 dollars each way, so that is about the radius we are probably comfortable with.

Oh what fun, so many restaurants, so many reasons to fly. So, food friends, say you had access to a five mile radius of restaurants around El Monte Airport. Where besides Din Tai Fung and Lu Din Gee would you wander and what would you get?

Thanks,
Shannon

llbcsbiggs in Los Angeles Area

NY/SF style Chinese food in San Diego

Great response. I thought it was just the lack of crab in the XLB that made it taste so different at the Dumpling Inn (our family has a preference for the crab version, so that is what we have become accustomed to). I'll also add that the skin leaves a great deal to be desired. It is hard to do good skin. We love Shanghai City, but we were really really sad when we tried the XLB there. There was no soup at all, and the skins just didn't cut it. We even tried it again just to be sure. On your recommendation, we'll try it one more time. We'll definitely give the Chinese Institute a try. I've been meaning to get there but have been too lazy.

llbcsbiggs in California

What happened to Boo Choo?

No. They let us cook the beef, but they insisted on cooking the pork. It was very odd. Maybe we'll give them a second chance.

llbcsbiggs in California

NY/SF style Chinese food in San Diego

MVNYC wrote, "The Chinese food scene here is not really that good no matter what style you are looking for."

I respectfully disagree. If you are looking for Shanghai cuisine, San Diego does well. While the skins are not quite up to the standard's of the original Joe's Shanghai in Flushing or Din Tai Fang in Taipei, the Xiao Long Bao (little pork buns) at the Dumpling Inn are quite acceptable. The jellyfish at the Dumpling Inn could hold its head up at the best of the Flushing restaurants. In addition the Chinese language menu at Shanghai City is fantastic. The fish with tofu is something we have only found in one other restaurant in Flushing, and Shanghai City does it incredibly well. Also, they make a hot beef noodle soup good enough to be served on Tao Juan Jie in Taipei. And their pork shoulder is no slouch. Both Dumpling Inn and Shanghai City do a decent twice fried noodle. Finally, Shanghai City's northern breakfast is quite acceptable. We are foodies, raised in Flushing, NY with a year under our belts in Taiwan. We have found San Diego to have better authentic Shanghai cuisine than many other cities we have lived in (such as Boston and Chicago).

llbcsbiggs in California

NY/SF style Chinese food in San Diego

Sorry. Posted a reply here, meant to reply to MVNYC. Have moved it.

llbcsbiggs in California

What happened to Boo Choo?

After a long cholesteral lowering induced diet (shudder), we just tried to find Boo Choo for a splurge on meat. Seems to be gone - place called something like Dae Wo there now. What happened? Am I just hallucinating from the lack of fat all these months. Hard to misplace a restaurant on little Engineer street. If they are gone, what would you suggest in their place? We haven't been impressed with Korea House or Buga (Buga insisted that they cook the meat in the kitchen because it makes it too smokey for us to cook it - never went back after that).

llbcsbiggs in California

best place for belgian pommes frites

As others have noted, you can get them in the Netherleands. They have the option of peanut sauce as a dipping sauce - incredibly yummy.

llbcsbiggs in International

Good Eats in Amsterdam

Stop by one of the frite stands - these are french fry stands like the Belgiums have - incredible crispy fries. The difference is that the folks in the Netherlands have peanut sauce as an option, a very yummy twist. By the way, if they cover the fries with tin foil, take the foil off immediately - it makes the fries soggy.

llbcsbiggs in International