Road Trip: Giang Nan - Monterey Park(LA)

**** Giang Nan has closed

*** A short update can be found here.

Since we had managed to make it to Monterey Park during the eve of Chinese New Year, we decided to forgo the food stands at the Floral Street Fair, and take our chances at Giang Nan.

I say take our chances, mainly because we've never been able to get a table at Giang Nan, on every attempted visit there has been a wait list. Giang Nan resides in one of the hundreds of strip malls in the area, this time on Garfield Avenue. The restaurant is tucked away from the road at the rear of the parking lot perpendicular to the street. The restaurant itself is clean and well lit, though not very large. You've got to watch your step...not only are the tables close together, there are several inconspicuous steps that can cause you to stumble if you're not aware.

Looking over the menu, we started with the Roast Duck in Supreme Sauce($4.95):

The photo makes the dish look larger than it was. This was a single, chopped duck leg, roasted with a marinade that tasted much like a "red-cooked" Roast Duck, with that ubiquitous sweet-soy sauce flavor. I did enjoy the sticky salty sweetness.

Because we wanted a very light lunch we ordered the House Special Pork Knuckle(Pork Pump - $12.95) he-he-he:

In this case, the football sized pork shank that arrived was much, much larger than the photo suggests. From what I understand this pork shank(it is called "House Special De-Greased and Braised Pork Knuckle"  on the menu) is first fried, than braised in a sauce of rock sugar and soy sauce. This shank was enough to feed six people! The meat was a bit on the tough side, though the fat was a heavenly melt in your mouth creamy, and the skin tasted great as well. We only had three slices before cholesterol remorse got the better of us.

While eating this, the Missus and I got into a interesting conversation:

"You know, you don't have an identity when it comes to New Year....."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you really don't celebrate the Western New Year, and even though you're Japanese, you mainly cook for me to celebrate the Japanese New Year, you go to the Tet Festival, and you have more fun celebrating Chinese New Year...you're obviously confused."
"Well....maybe I'm a man of all countries! Yeah, that's right, I'm a worldly person!"
"Yeah right....if you keep eating all that pork fat, you'll be worldly alright. Waaaay bigger at the equator than at the poles......"

You realize that we couldn't leave without some Xiao Long Bao, right? Here's the Pork and Crab Xiao Long Bao($4.95):

The wrappers were a bit thicker than those at Mei Long Village, and were very delicate in flavor. Unfortunately, a few of the XLB had lost their soup. I liked the ratio of soup to meat, though.

The Pork Xiao Long Bao($4.25):

These had an excellent ratio meat to soup, though I like the wrappers at Meilong Village better. Both the meat and the soup were perfect, and wonderful slightly sweet, rich, umami flavor. My favorite XLB so far. Well..... maybe now I'm not quite sure....perhaps I can talk Ed from Yuma into a XLB "crawl" this summer? Anyone game????

The prices at Giang Nan are very reasonable, the Pork XLB were only $4.25. We'll be back to try some other dishes like the Winded Chicken, The Lion's Head, Smoked Fish, and others.......

Giang Nan
306 N Garfield Avenue
Monterey Park, CA 91755

Comments

[sher]

Worldly person----Now I'm starving!! :):)

[Chubbypanda]

I was raised on pig knuckle and I'm very "worldly"! Oh wait...

[Kathy]

Hey Kirk!
holy moley, my dad's coming next week, and now I think I have an idea of where to take him! the PORK did it for me :)

[clayfu]

pork knuckle always a favorite of mine.

there's a place in rowland heights i think its called Eastlake, its across from the 99ranch market on Gale/Nogales. Its also connected to Kingswood.

That place makes an amazing pork knuckle, easily feeds 9-10 of us. I believe its their speciality, around 20+$

[Wandering Chopsticks]

I think my cholestrol just jumped 50 points looking at that pork knuckle picture. I tried The Kitchen in Alhambra's version recently. Theirs is deep-fried. So crispy and delicious!

[Fred]

XLB crawl? If that invitation was open to anyone, I'm down for it!

[Vicky]

Hi Kirk!!
S and I are always on the prowl for the best XLB! We're down!! Our favorite is Din Tai Fung in Arcadia!

[nhbilly]

That was good laugh. Thanks.
I like the wordy menu at this place. I think I need to swing by when I take the in-laws out.

[howie]

Kirk, you may be a pan-Asian guy, or you may just be someone looking for any excuse for a good meal :-)

I'd be all over a XLB crawl!

I noticed a thread on chowhound about favorite XLB a while ago. Mei Long Village and Din Tai Fung were frequently mentioned as well as J & J, and Ho Ho Kitchen.

Here's the thread:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/359048

[Candice]

Hi Kirk - I had this pork shank in NY recently: http://www.oh-soyummy.com/archives/308
but I still think the Chinese braised version is best. Do you like the one at Shanghai City?

[kingkong5]

Count me in on the XLB crawl too! Sounds like a good time. And that pork knuckle, wow, what did you do with the leftovers?

[Andy 食神]

the XLB looks good!

Because I'm a geek...

the English name makes sense, Giang Nan which I belive is a romanization of 江南 (P:jiang nan) meaning, "southern Zhejiang" or "south of Zhejiang river"... which correlates to the signs subtext, which states they are serving Zhejiang style food.

but the name of the restaurnat in Chinese is 得月樓 (P:de yue lou).. whcih has to do with the Moon.

I don't get it when restaurants have names that like... either

1) Have an English name that has meaning in English

2) Translate whatever Chinese into English

3) Lastly just romanize the Chinese...

This is one of those restaurants that has done neither of these.. ending up with an English name that has some meaning because it's romanized from Chinese, but really has not direct or apparent correlation to the Chinese name.

Another example is 天津小官 (P:tian jin xiao guan) is called "Meijia Deli"...which has nothing to do with either the Chinese name or even the type of food it serves.. but it's clear the the English name is romanized from Chinese.

Kirk, have you been to Chang's Garden 樓外樓 (P:lou wai lou) in Arcadia? it's in the plaza behind Ding Tai Fung Dumpling house.

[Passionate Eater]

That pork knuckle looks tremendous! And you are right that we might not have a real appreciation for its size. Look at how the butter knife is sticking out of it like a toothpick!

[Kirk]

Hi Sherry - Perhaps I'm becoming a "worldy person...."

Hi Kathy - Well, take your Dad for the XLB...it's not the gimmicky uber-thin wrapper, but the nice ratio of soup to meat.

Hi Clayfu - I think we've been there......we'll have to do a a post next time...so long my arteries have recovered.

Hi CP - You are ever so "worldly"...just by association!

Hi WC - Yes, pork shank! So very good....and you haven't even had Crispy Pata yet!

Hi Fred - Let's see what I can come up with.....

Hi Vicky - I've always thought of DTF as being a kind of "gimmick", but who knows.....if we do a "crawl", they could be the best!

Hi Billy - Well let's see....there's other stuff on the menu that's even more "wordy".

[Kirk]

Hi Howie - Hmmmmm, pan-Asian..... Is there a term for an Asian Guy who likes almost everything?

Hi Candice - I haven't had the version at Shanghai City yet...I'm still stuck on the Niu Rou Mein.

Hi KK5 - We'll I had some of the leftover on rice, and Da Boyz had some with their kibble. Let's see if I can organize a XLB crawl.....

Hi Andy - Have you seen some of the names of furniture stores in the area? The Missus always cracks up.....

Hi PE - You're right.....that butter knife was like a toothpick...much too much pork fat(even if pork fat rules) for us!

[mizducky]

Wow. That pork knuckle is indeed a thing of beauty. Kind of masochistic of me to admire it while snacking on raw carrots, though ... :-D

And the price for those pork xiao long bao is just crazy. In a very good way, I mean. I could get into a crawl for some of that.

[ed (from Yuma)]

Here I get mentioned in a posting, and I'm too busy grading student papers to notice for a couple of days. But hell yes, a couple of days in SGV should be very doable sometime next summer. Ummmm dummmmplings . . .

[MeltingWok]

oo..this place is usually packed. Haven't been there a while now. Did you try their crispy sweet, spicy sour fish ..braised with pear and apple plum sauce ? it's good. btw, on the other end of the plaza have Best Szechuan restaurant, you prolly know that already. On the same street, couple blocks down got Ding's Restaurant. IMHO, its got the best szechuan food. They got a better pork knuckle braised clay pot dish, loaded with really flavorful herbal soup, couple boiled eggs and lily buds. Anyway, just in case you wanna check the place out, here's the info :
Ding's Restaurant,
115-117 N.Lincoln Ave.
MP, CA 91755 (626)288-2211
( 7 am - 11 am )

[Kirk]

Hi mizducky - It was quite a hefty piece of meat....

Hey Ed - Sounds like a plan.

Hi MW - Yep, Best Szechwan is right on the other side. We used enjoy Chungking much more though. Never heard of Ding's...that's a new one(for my list). thanks for the rec's.

[Scout35]

One thing I like about DTF is the quality and prep of the fresh steamed veggies. They work perfectly with the XLB treats. But I do agree that J&J has probably the best XLB as a stand-alone or with their wonderful special beef soup. We're going to try out Giang Nan this weekend. The pork can't be ignored! You only go around once.