Road Trip: Mama's Lu and Northern Dumpling House - Monterey Park(LA)

With gas prices at new highs, just wanting to take a road trip would probably be grounds to have us committed. But we were getting a bit stale just stewing in our juices at home. So, we went ahead with our little road trip and made the best of it. After doing our morning shopping, instead of heading toward San Gabriel, we decided on what in the good old days(at least for us) was the center of our eating universe. The intersection of Garfield and Garvey in Monterey Park. We were amazed at how light traffic was and even snagged convenient parking on Garvey. I'm guessing gas prices are affecting everyone.

Our first lunch stop was a newer restaurant called Mama's Lu....no not Mama Lu's, or even ahem, Mama's Loo(God help us all). It really is called Mama's Lu:

See what I mean? I asked the Missus what the deal was with the name. Her response? "Hey, you're the food guy, right? You figure it out." Which translated, probably meant, "I'm tired of your questions, you figure it out...." This little shop occupies the area that used to be Heavy Noodling, which I was kind of sad to see go.

The interior of "Da' House of Lu", is very clean. Not a sign of "San Gabriel sticky" to be found here.

The menu is short and concise, mostly dumplings, Shanghainese, with some Sichuan thrown in on the Chinese menu board:

I dunno if we've gotten used to prices in San Diego or what, but we had reverse sticker shock when we checked out the menu.

10 Xiao Long Bao for $4.50? You can barely get a Carne Asada Burrito for that in San Diego! Maybe this drive was worth it.

As we looked over the menu, the Missus and I hatched our plan. 2 Xiao Long Bao, and one dish we'll sample, and load into the ice chest. We started with an old favorite of the Missus, Shanghai style "Smoked Fish"($4.50), a classic dish. The Missus grew up eating the stuff.

The photo is a bit deceptive, this was a pretty large portion. This version was drier(but not dry), than versions I've had. It also didn't have a very pronounced sweet and five spice flavor. I really enjoyed it, because unlike other versions, this was not "fishy" in the least. The Missus(and my MIL) still favor the version at Chin's. But I'll take this any day of the week.

The Pork and Crab Xiao Long Bao($8.50), probably the most expensive item on the menu.

These came with each XLB(8) packed into an individual foil container. What I thought; "wow, they pack them individually, in these little dishes so they don't leak." What the Missus thought; "no wonder they're so expensive, they waste money on those dishes. If they make them right, they won't leak. And they sure better know the difference between the crab and the pork Xiao Long Bao. What a waste."

For us, a good Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao, will be rich and mildly sweet. This was bland and kind of greasy. The meat to soup ratio was not to our liking. Too much meat, not enough soup. The wrappers had a major defect; the fold was hard and chewy, and the bottom was gummy.

The Pork Xiao Long Bao(10 - $4.50):

These Xiao Long Bao suffered from the same problems as the Crab and Pork with regards to the wrapper and meat to soup ratio. Flavor wise, these were better with regards to a mild sweetness, and the meatball was melt in your mouth tender. I still think it was under flavored.

Still, I think it's better than any XLB we have here in San Diego, but when compared to all the other XLB in the area..... On the positive side, we had excellent service, our tea was refilled, and our water twice! The very nice Server, came back to check on us, something that almost never happens in the SGV! There is a booth behind the cash register that displays the XLB makers at work, a la Din Tai Fung. One more thing that I found somewhat humorous. The 'A' Health Rating is posted by the hallway door, away from the street...almost as if they're ashamed that they actually got an 'A'.

Mama's Lu Dumpling House
153 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

So why did the Missus and I exercise such restraint at Mama's Lu? Right across the street from Mama's Lu is this place.

The English sign only says "Restaurant". I had read about this place on Chowhound, called Northern Dumpling House. We saved some "room" for a meal here. We planned on one order of Jiaozi and "something else". Like Mama's Lu the place is very clean, and almost too cold and sterile. The prices here are very reasonable as well.

I really wanted to try he Pork and Opo Squash Dumplings(I thought they'd be interesting), but they did not have any.

So we had the Beef and Chinese Celery Dumplings($5.50):

These Jiaozi were interesting, the wrapper was very soft and pillowy. I enjoy a bit of chew, but the Missus enjoyed these as a change of pace. She went into a lecture about making the dough of Jiaozi, and water temperature, etc, etc, etc.... The filling was undoubtedly beefy, but lacked a decent Chinese celery crunch and the only way we knew there was celery in the filling was a slight aftertaste. I'm not quite sure about these, but the Missus enjoyed them. I want to bring my Mother In Law to see what She thinks.

Looking for something that we could have a few bites of, than take home; I went for the Cumin Lamb. We thought it strange that all the stir fry dishes had prices that had been covered by blank white stickers. So at the risk of being charged some exorbitant amount, we went ahead and ordered it anyway.

If you enjoy a milder cumin taste, you'd like these. What made this dish really good was how the lamb was prepared and cooked. There were slices that were melt in the mouth soft! If not for the mild gamey flavor(not wild enough for us), you'd think that you were eating very well prepared beef. Mildly spicy from the chilies, this was even better the next day. Did you guess how much this cost? It was $5.40......on our check the Server initially wrote $4.95, but crossed it out and wrote in $5.40....I'll take that any day.

Even more than the food, there was something really interesting about this meal. The restaurant was empty except for another couple. Apparently, the Guy is a "Chef" at another restaurant, the Missus said he had a strong Beijing accent, She could barely understand his girlfriend/wife("man, her accent is really hard to make out"). After making our food the cook came out, pulled up a seat, and they started talking about business in the area. And also started dissing other regional Chinese cuisines. They were especially hard on Tianjin Cuisine("no way a Tianjin restaurant will make it, they don't make any good food, only snacks"). Stuff like prices and competition were discussed, too much to write in this post. But if you've ever wanted to be a "fly on the wall."

Northern Dumpling House
138 East Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

Comments

[liver]

Doesn't "lu" mean stove? So it makes sense to say Mama's Stove...

[GF/moowiesqrd]

Howdy, Kirk! I need to visit the parental units. That intersection is quite the eating playground and I miss it greatly, esp. the reverse sticker shock. Looks like we have some new places to try on the next visit!

[santos.]

hey kirk! yay, somewhere new to try--that lamb dish looks so good. i have yet to try any xlb in the united states that i really like. i went to din tai fung, but i thought they were just okay.

[Judy]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! i was drooling until i saw monterey park :(

[Wandering Chopsticks]

I miss Heavy Noodling too. :(

The little dishes are how the dim sum places serve xlb. I always think that means they didn't do a very good job of making the wrappers so they need the little dishes or else it'd fall apart.

[nhbilly]

What a foodie marathon you guys had the lamb sounds soooooo good.

[kat]

I gotta get Satoshi to take me to two restaurants in one meal :) Wow!

[foodhoe]

wow, a delicious and epic feast! that definitely sounds worth the drive.

[Kathy]

Aiyah Kirk, Northern Dumpling House?! It has been over a year since my last visit here! People in NYC would go crazy over these prices, hheheheh ^_^

[Kirk]

Hi Liver - The Missus says your totally correct....she was tired of me asking so many questions....

Hi GF - There are a ton of new places in the area like QingDao Bread Company....so get those Parental Units Moowiesqrd away! ;o)

Hi Santos - Have you tried Giang Nan yet? We thought they had pretty good XLB. There are a couple of new places in the area...and it looks like parking may not be much of a problem any longer! The cumin lamb was cooked well, but lacked decent cumin flavor.

Hi Judy - I'm sorry.....

Hi WC - I've wracked my brains thinking of all the Dim Sum places where we had XLB...we've had them in various bowls, but never in little tins. Maybe I just avoid getting XLB at Dim Sum restaurants.

Hi Billy - The texture of the lamb was good....not enough cumin for my tastes.

Hi Kat - LOL! I'm sure you'll be able to persuade him.

Hi FH - It was a nice 2 restaurant shuffle....we actually could have gone for #3...but we didn't want to make total pigs of ourselves. ;o)

Hi Kathy - I almost went into cardiac arrest when I got my check. $5.40 for cumin lamb!!!! But just think, it used to be $4.95!

[Pepsi Monster]

Here's an update on these two places. I still like Mama Lu's. It's cheap and definitely filled you up. One of the most underrated place on Garvey Ave.

As in for the Northern Dumpling House. It's closed. I suspected it was closed in late fall as another restaurant called HengYang Chili King replaced that. I think it's Siuchuan restaurant and it definitely have a sign instead of the plain "restaurant" heading.

So, it's Northern Dumpling House no more.

[Kirk]

Hi PM - Thanks for the update. I think we're hitting Kingburg this weekend, I've been waiting a while.

[Pepsi Monster]

Hey Kirk,

Oh cool! Have fun at Kingburg Kitchen. Watch up for the upsell because the items are cheap there. The $7 combo is worth it.

If you are still in a beef noodle soup mood after Kingburg, go check out Kam Hong Garden on Garvey Ave. They have a very good beef noodle soup also.

Have fun this weekend!