Road Trip - Marukai Gardena and Harry's Aloha Chop Suey

I made my way to Marukai Gardena from the Torrance Farmer's Market. When I got there just at opening time, it was already quite warm, seems like it was going to be a "hot one".

Almost as big as an airplane hangar, Marukai Gardena is located right on Artesia Blvd. I remember the first time I entered this place; it had almost everything I needed. I had indeed reached the Ex-Pat food "Mecca". Redondo and Purity Portuguese Sausage, S & S Saimin, frozen Zippy's Chili, Diamond Bakery Soda & Creme crackers, and Aloha Shoyu, to name a few, can all be found here. One of the first things you'll notice when you enter is that for a place so large, it's really somewhat cramped.

It can really get crowded in here, so we always plan to get in and out ASAP. The "wall of snacks" here is daunting.

There's just so much here, I won't go into it in too much depth. Just enough to say, it was a quick stop today, no maguro, no ogo for me. Just some snacks and alot of nice memories. Marukai is a membership market, but a daily membership ($1.00) is available - it's cheaper than Disneyland, and almost as fun! So I shopped quickly loaded up my bounty, and headed back to my hotel room for a quick rest and to check out.

Marukai
1740 West Artesia Blvd
Gardena, CA 90248
Summer: Monday - Saturday, 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Winter: Monday - Saturday, 9:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. & Sunday, 9:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.

*** Harry's Aloha Chop Suey has closed

I than decided to hit Harry's Aloha Chop Suey for a quick bite before hitting the road.

The definition of "hole in the wall", with only 6 tables, Harry's has a small menu featuring hot table combinations (beef stew, fried chicken, etc.), cooked items (chop steak), and Saimin and Won Ton Mein. Call it a case of saimin insanity, today I decided to order what's probably the most expensive item on the menu - a large size "Super" Saimin ($9.00).

There was a ton of Char Siu, several slices of kamabuko, what probably amounts to half a head of napa cabbage, carrots, and won tons. The best thing about the dish were the noodles, perfectly cooked, saimin (not ramen) noodles. The crunchy texture triggered many a memory of bowls of saimin and teriyaki beef sticks. The broth on the other hand was nothing to write home about, weak and almost flavorless, shoyu was a necessity. The other item I was thankful for was the watery "chinese mustard", just like back home. A swirl with the chopsticks to get a bit of mustard on it, place into the spoon, grab noodles and place in the spoon, consume - delici-yoso! I finished just about everything, enough to get a comment of "you did pretty good".

So great noodles, not the best broth, great service, and everything under $9.00 (actually most items are under $6.50). Not as good as I remember from my last trip here, but still worth the culinary trip down "memory lane". Enough so that I was willing to eat this even though the weather outside was clearly "heatwave" in nature.

Harry's Aloha Chop Suey
1721 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247

Comments

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

Lucky you to get the "sliced" kamaboko and not the little strips we get here. It's also good that you get so much char siu in the bowl too. Do you find that chunks are harder to eat than strips?

BTW...I had saimin for dinner on Saturday night as well. It was so good....

[clare eats]

YUM!!!
I would LOVE that supermarket ooooh!

[Jo]

Yea Clare, I'm with you! Actually, when I was a kid, WAY WAY down on Hawthorne, there was a store that was very much like that but it specialized in European products. I remember my dad got all jazzed because they had Spanish turron. That was the first time I got to try it. They had not just the Jijona and Alicante, but Yema Tostada, Fruta, and some other flavor I can't recall now...

[Kirk]

Hi Reid - So now you only get kamabuko strips - kinda chintzy, huh? I remember the round kamabuko slices. There was alot of everything in the saimin - but I did finish it all. I had to use the spoon for the char siu. The broth was clear - but pretty bland, I added shoyu. The most interesting thing in here was, a young looked like high school age kid was eating a Mickey D's cheeseburger - and putting sriracha on it.

Hi Clare - Yes Marukai Gardena is pretty awesome, the problem being, try picking some snacks from that wall of snacks - it can be a bit intimidating.

Hi Jo - I was thinknig while walking through the isles - I'd be very afraid if they let You and Mills loose in here!

[Annie]

the saimin looks great! i think i have a craving for making my own wontons now though... thanks for sharing info about marukai! the $1 daily membership fee sounds reasonable too! great pictures btw! hehe!

[Jack]

Marukai market looks cool. I will definitely go there when I get out that way....look at all those snacks!

[milgwimper]

Jo,

Hey I know that place on Hawthorn, it also helps that my grandparents lived on Hawthorn. Wow...memories

Kirk,

Yeah I was thinking the same thing when I saw the pictures. We might stay there for HOURS!

[ed]

Hey Kirk,

Good to see you back and bloggin. I finally figured out part of the appeal. I get to go to all these places and eat vicariously. The bowl of saiman looks so tasty. But it'll have to be fish tacos for lunch for me out here today. Good eating!

ed

[Kirk]

Annie - Marukai Gardena is the "mecca" for us Hawaii transplants. There's also alot of local kine food places around there - like King's Bakery and stuff. I can't believe I ate the whole bowl of saimin, it was huge.

Hey Jack - It's not only the snacks - but many times you'll able to pick up ogo and stuff. Try and click on that second picture and enlarge and start naming all of the local stuff you see - you can name them just by shape - da' big box Diamond Head Saloon Pilot, etc...

Hi Milly - Hours???? I was thinking days. And then there's the food court there!

Hi Ed - Hope it wasn't too hot in Yuma recently. That saimin was good even on a hot day. I actually thought of you - I was passing Paso Robles, after going through "traffic hell" - the I-5 was closed so I had to take the 101 - took me 10 1/2 hrs to reach Mountain View! I thought, "man, Ed makes this trip a few times a year, the man's gotta be insane!" BTW did you get the little Soledad - Atascadero joke - it was just coincidence that I stopped to fuel at those two places.

[Jo]

Milly: I meant HOURS for the Snack Aisle! It would take DAYZ to get through the entire store!

Jo: I need to make ketchup...

[RONW]

Hi Kirk,

Harry's has been there since the late 60's. I'm not sure if they kept the same address all those years. Or the same 6 tables. But Harry's Aloha use to make more than his Hawaii chop suey house, even without a liquor licence like that he had with his Hawaii restaurant. Numbah 1.

[Kirk]

Hi RONW - I'd been to Harry's a few times when we lived in LA - but I didn't know he's been there since the 60's. I had heard that he sold the business a while back, and it was different people than I remember. I didn't know that Harry had a restaurant in Hawaii.....

[Kirk]

Jo - I don't think you could find a wagon large enough for all the stuff you want! :)

[Jo]

hmmm... Great point Kirk! Mills, whaddya say we just take the new 4 room tent and camp out there right in the middle of the store? We could set up the Camp Chef stove and do demos all day to earn our keep!

[milgwimper]

Kirk,

*nod* There wouldn't be a wagon big enough to carry all the stuff she's want or what I would want. LOL

Jo,

Hmmm That idea has some possibilities. ;P

[Kirk]

Hi Jo - Don't know what the code standards are with regards to camping out in Gardena are!

Milly - The parking lot is not quite that big, though I think the look on the face of the guy who takes care of the parking lot would be priceless.

[Jo]

oh, we weren't going to stay in the parking lot! Mike will come and build a loft that goes over the snack aisle and the 4 or 5 aisles next to it. Then we will mount the demo station on a "floating" stand that will run from the ceiling and lower every morning with the display of the day. Then at night, press a button, it raises up, viola, our kitchen! We would all wear faux leopard skins and fig leaves and never comb our hair again. We would bathe in the live crab tanks... well maybe the guys wouldn't... hmmm... maybe I wouldn't... HEY MILLS, WOULD YOU GET NAKED WITH A BUNCH OF UNHAPPY CRABS?

[Kirk]

Jo - My only question is; what's the soundtrack??? I know, I should know better than to stir things up like that!

[Jo]

THEME TO ROCKY! ::roaring with laughter::

[Kirk]

I thought Saturday Night Fever...