Road Trip: Mei Long Village - San Gabriel(LA)

We had to make a trip to Los Angeles this past weekend, and I just had to have some Xiao Long Bao(soup dumplings). Don't ask me why. I just had to have it. So we headed out to good old Valley Boulevard and Mei Long Village.

Mei Long Village is a Shanghainese Restaurant located on the boulevard of a thousand Chinese Restaurants(Valley Boulevard), and has survived. That says alot, since many restaurants, such as the next door "Homestyle Restaurant", serving Shenyang style cuisine is no longer there. We arrived at 2pm on this Saturday afternoon, and Mei Long Village was filled to the brim.

Not in the mood for for major entrees(like Pork Pump, or 3 Cup Chicken) we decided on some cold appetizers and Xiao Long Bao. We started off with the classic Smoked Fish($6.50):

This non-smoked, but marinated, than deep fried dish was really bad. Well, unless you consider a sweet aspic and mud flavored appetizer being good. Really very bad, I've had five versions of this dish, and this was the worst I've ever had.

The Wine Chicken($6.50):

Again a disappointment. A perfectly steamed/boiled chicken, with a flavorless, watery sauce poured over it. From what I know, true Wined Chicken should be have a slight cured flavor and texture. this was none of the above.

The Missus ordered the Radish Pan Cake($4.95):

These little flaky pastries contained moist strips of radish along with pieces of ham, which I enjoyed. The Missus thought they were too moist, and just ok.

Finally, the Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao arrived ($5.95):

I thought these were really good, just the size of a soup spoon, with  a wrapper just translucent enough to view the broth. Very nice!

The Xiao Long Bao(Shanghai Steamed Dumplings - $4.95):

For me, these were excellent. Let me explain. The wrapper was thin/thick enough to view the "soup", and yet retained the chewy, "al dente" texture that dumpling wrappers should have. In addition, the tops of the wrappers where the dumpling wrapper is turned upon itself is still tender, and not hard. The soup to meat ratio was also very good, with a very nice sweet-porky flavor. The Missus thought the XLB soup was too sweet for Her, but I enjoyed these XLB, with wrappers just right, thin enough to see the soup, and thick enough to stand up to the cooking process. And better yet, thick enough to be a part of dumpling, it's just not filling you are eating!

In the end, the Missus said She doesn't think she'll be back. So that means I'll have to sneak away for my  Xiao Long Bao when I'm in LA.....

Mei Long Village
301 West Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Sun-Thurs 11am-930pm
Fri-Sat 1130am-10pm

Comments

[santos.]

hey kirk, have you been to giang nan yet? i've heard good things about their xiao long bao. me, i don't know how to eat those things without poking all the juice out :P

[Justin Lo]

You have no idea right now how hungry you've made me. You really hit it on the nose, soup-to-meat ratio is, for me, the most important thing of all in siulongbao. Reminds me of the siulongbao I've had was in Vancouver.

So do you eat it all in one bite or do you pop open the dumpling first, slurp up the soup, and then consume the dumpling? I do the former, but I know most of my friends insist the latter is the "proper" way of eating a siulongbao. lol.

~Justin

[Rachel]

Hehe its nice to have a place to go when you have major cravings that can satisfy them. I have news for you kirk!! I am going to read up on all your Shanghainese cuisine to see what interesting dishes there are because. I am going to SHANGHAI next month !!!!!!!!!!!!! (the crowd goes wild!!!!!) It was kind of a last minute thing but will give you more detail if you are interested. Meanwhile I'll be doing some research to get the most of my trip and explore the area :D

[Jean]

Kirk, haven't made the XLB dumplings yet (too afraid to attempt). I know I will someday.

[dietchilicheesefries]

mmm... mud flavor... i can't wait to go try that!! hahaha..

[elmomonster]

Aw you beat me to it! I had a Mei Long Village post kinda simmering for a while now...of course, I've been putting it off since January - had the pics, but it just kept being pushed back for something else...anyway, great review! I agree completely about that Wine Chicken...it just wasn't flavorful enough...but the XLB were excellent. Better than Din Tai Fung in my opinion...partly because I didn't have to wait an hour for it.

[dailygluttony]

Last time I went to MLV was last year; I found the food quality had slipped a little since I used to be a regular back when i was a wee UCLA student. But I did order the XLB and they were still good! The other dishes we got were just *eh*. I'd still return & give them another chance though =)

[Kady]

I've never been to San Gabriel but I will def. go regularly if we move back to L.A. So would you say this place is only good for the XLB?

[Ben]

What that meal just for you and your missus? That is quite a lot of food. Suanne and I would not normally order so much food (unless of course, if it's a buffet). I like this blog. The chicken LOOKS really good.

[Passionate Eater]

I am stunned, shocked, and emotionally hurt. Mei Long Village is my favorite place to get shao loeng baos ("XLB") in Southern California--wait, make that all of California, because San Francisco's XLB taste like dog crap (no offense to the Boyz). But I forgive you, because all restaurants have bad days. Sorry that you had to eat the XLBs on a bad day.

(Kirk, if you want, I'll sneak in there with you if the Missus won't go to Mei Long no more.)

[Rachel]

Hmm how odd, I thought I posted here yesterday and was peeking to see if you made a comment. Sorry if you have read this some other post but I have great news!!!!
I might be going to Shanghai next month!!!! I have to read up all your posts about Shang hai cuisine and learn all about it :D
yippeeeeeeeeeeeee...... what a fortituous coincidence that you posted about this today *beam*

[Justin Lo]

You have no idea right now how hungry you've made me. You really hit it on the nose, soup-to-meat ratio is, for me, the most important thing of all in siulongbao. Reminds me of the siulongbao I've had was in Vancouver.

So do you eat it all in one bite or do you pop open the dumpling first, slurp up the soup, and then consume the dumpling? I do the former, but I know most of my friends insist the latter is the "proper" way of eating a siulongbao. lol.

~Justin

[Rachel]

Hehe its nice to have a place to go when you have major cravings that can satisfy them. I have news for you kirk!! I am going to read up on all your Shanghainese cuisine to see what interesting dishes there are because. I am going to SHANGHAI next month !!!!!!!!!!!!! (the crowd goes wild!!!!!) It was kind of a last minute thing but will give you more detail if you are interested. Meanwhile I'll be doing some research to get the most of my trip and explore the area :D

[Jean]

Kirk, haven't made the XLB dumplings yet (too afraid to attempt). I know I will someday.

[dietchilicheesefries]

mmm... mud flavor... i can't wait to go try that!! hahaha..

[elmomonster]

Aw you beat me to it! I had a Mei Long Village post kinda simmering for a while now...of course, I've been putting it off since January - had the pics, but it just kept being pushed back for something else...anyway, great review! I agree completely about that Wine Chicken...it just wasn't flavorful enough...but the XLB were excellent. Better than Din Tai Fung in my opinion...partly because I didn't have to wait an hour for it.

[Kirk]

Hi Santos - Nope, never made it there yet....as you can imagine, my SGV list gets bigger and bigger. BTW, I really enjoyed you Thai Town, Thai Restaurant post!

http://thirdandfairfax.blogspot.com/2006/07/b-is-for-better.html

Hi Kady - MLV does some other dishes well, and the place is quite popular. It's just that it was too darn hot for roasted pork pump, and other stuff.

Hi Ben - LOL! We carry an ice chest on our visits to LA, for leftovers(in this case we didn't bother with the fish and chicken remnants).

Hi PE - Well I reallly enjoyed the XLB, but the two cold dishes were pretty bad. You're on!

Hi Rachel - Wow, sounds like you'll have a blast, and I can't wait for the posts and photos. BTW, you did post earlier, but due to a glich in Typepad all those comments vanished, but now are back again.

Hi Justin - I'd say a bit of both! I'll usually dip my XLB into the sauce, and place it in a spoon. When it's hot, I'll bite into half of it and have a bite, after all, I wouldn't want a Xiao Long Burn, if you know what I mean. i'll then slurp up the remainder....key is not to lose any soup. As the dumplings cool, I'll do the single bite thing. Sheesh, I guess that's a bit too much information about my XLB eating habits.....

Hi Jean - I'm sure with your cooking skill, they'll turn out fine.

Hi DCCF - So you'll be first in line tomorrow I assume????

Hi Elmo - I enjoy a little thicker wrapper....but still thin enough to see the soup. DTF's wrapper is much too thin for me.

[Ted]

Really interesting post about Mei Long Village. I often see the place mentioned on LA chowhound. Would you say that its better that Din Tai Fung? Should one only get the soup dumplings? Which soap dumplings to get?

Thanks!

[Kirk]

Hi Ted - Hope your summer is going well, I know you've been quite active on CH. There are quite a few dishes on the menu, but we really didn't care for the cold appetizers much. Frankly, I think Shanghai City here in SD does them better. As for the XLB, I enjoyed both of them, but really liked the Pork ones better. But for the price, (about $5) you can get them both. I enjoy the XLB at Meilong Village(it's mostly a wrapper thing) much more then those at DTF, but I think you should try them both, to see which you prefer, also you won't get anything near as flavorful, or well crafted in San Diego. Also, the wait at DTF is outrageous... BTW, you know that DTF is a chain based in Taiwan, right?

[Jack]

Any good Xiao Long Bao in San Diego? I would sure like to try them.