myronmeisel's Profile
Struggling with Cambodian food at Siem Reap
i have eaten 15-20 times at siem reap and it is consistently excellent khmer cooking, comparable to what you can eat at good restaurants in its namesake city, though without the sometime pretentious service for the tourists. they do use a lot of fish sauce and the herbs can be unfamiliar and bitter but it's worth expanding the palate to accustom to the different flavors. hak heung across the street is also good and has an even wider menu, but i have so often been turned away because it was booked for private parties that i shifted my loyaty to the endearing siem reap. golden villa under its new management is also interesting in its scope and ambition, although i have tended to show up in off hours when it can be hard to find the staff. the cambodian restaurants in long beach are so special and unique to the area that i rarely eat anything else when i end up there.
Struggling with Cambodian food at Siem Reap
having eaten more than a dozen times at siem riep and started to get a handle on their menu, it is clearly my favorite among khmer places in long beach. the fish sauce is strong and ubiquitous and there are splendid exotic herbs (for US palates somewhat bitter and odd), but the food is remarkably similar to what one can eat at good establishments in siem riep, without the pretentions of service. hak heung across the street is also quite good and has even more lively selections but it is often closed for private parties which has bounced me to siem riep several times too many. the newly managed golden villa is also quite delicious with some ambitious offerings that make concessions to occidental palates without compromising the essential character of the cooking, although i have wandered in there at odd hours and it can sometimes be hard to find the staff at those times. whatever other culinary attractions there are in long beach, i find the cambodian places so dominate the scene that i rarely have any other kind of cuisine when i go down there from west la.
Chinese food in LA--where is the good stuff ?
alas, living near Hu's Szechwan we ate there the night we moved into our first house 23 years ago and it was so mediocre that we haven't been back notwithstanding the convenience. hunan taste can usually offer something approaching a suggestion of authentic chinese food but never with distinction and certainly without excitement. i can eat there perhaps once a year. but these are emblematic of the sort of places that demonstrate the lack of credible chinese restaurants outside the san gabriel valley (and chinatown has slipped severely the last five years, too, even formerly reliable stalwarts like empress pavillion which only occasionally rises to its old glory (esp during dungeness crab season).
