Road Trip: Kyochon, Yes Plaza, and What's up at Hong Kong Plaza - Rowland Heights (LA)

Driving East on the 60 Freeway, car smelling of my  bounty of Indonesian Food, I had a few more stops to make. First......

Yes Plaza:

As I previously posted, what is now Yes Plaza, was a pretty dark and seedy strip mall back when we lived a few blocks away. Because of the terribly scary, and always malfunctioning laundry room in our apartment complex, we'd end up at the better lit, but very beat, "Launder Land".....with the terminal fermented geriatric diapers smells, and god knows what oozing  from under the bathroom door (which cost you a quarter...how's that for a double whammy). But boy have things changed.

 

I'm not sure if I really like the pastel, antacid blue that they've painted the place.....just like the pastel t-shirt and jacket an acquaintance of mine from back in the 80's ......who wanted to be Don Johnson used to wear all the time. The only problem was; that one, he was Japanese, and two, he was maybe five-foot two on a good day. (we nicknamed him, "Miami Mice") It just looks wrong....

I will say that there's a really good array of eateries in Yes Plaza.

 

And the walkways are no longer coated with gum and various stains of dubious origin. And it seems like the liqour store, Thai Restaurant, and ironies of ironies, the Laundromat (though really cleaned up) are the only businesses remaining from that time.

 

 

And since there's no way you can go through one of these malls without some interesting bit of "Engrish", I was on the look-out. But the only sign I could find was in the window of the Indonesian Restaurant:

 

"Fish Tilapia".....kinda redundant isn't it? But maybe they were just trying to differentiate it from the "Moose Tilapia" or "Frog Tilapia", or the even more heinous "Kangaroo Tilapia?"

Now why the heck was I aimlessly wandering the walkways of Yes Plaza?

Kyochon Chicken....

Is why. After reading posts from Wandering Chopsticks and Elmomonster, I'd been dying to try the twice fried chicken wings. But the Missus, having tried and not cared for BBQ Chicken, did not want to waste precious eating time on our road trips. Having to make a solo trip to LA gave me the opening I needed.

Now the standard line is "to ensure the best quality, and freshness, the wings are made to order." Which is why I was just kinda hovering around Yes Plaza, with one of those coaster-buzzer thingamajiggy's in hand.

One more thing, how hard is it for a bright, new, and shiny chicken wing restaurant, to get an 'A' health inspection grade? Maybe Kyochon purposely flunked to get some street cred? You know the saying...... in the SGV, 'A'=American Food, 'B'=Better Food, and 'C'=(real) Chinese Food. As I was contemplating that, the coaster went "off", which was a good thing...the next thing I might have started contemplating would have probably been my navel.

I had ordered seven wings with the standard garlic soy, and four wings spicy. Each came in wonderful looking boxes, along with a kleenex dispenser(must be some free gift), in a good quality bag. Talk about some overhead.

The garlic soy wings were nice, light, crisp. As all posts on Kyochon note, the double-frying technique renders off all the subcutaneous fat off. Leaving you with thin crisp skin, and moist meat.

 

The chicken is "glazed" in a sweet, soy-garlic sauce. That is mostly sweet. Folks from "back home" know this style as "dipped chicken"...fried chicken that dipped into a sauce right after frying. Much like my garlic chicken......with much more finesse of course. I thought these were rather good.

   

I had two wings and moved on to the sweet-spicy wings:

 

These were glazed in a slow burning, slighly sour, lip stinging sauce. It had a nice slow burn to it. I ate two and saved the rest for the Missus.

Her verdict? She thought the spicy wings were nice, not too spicy, but good. She enjoyed the texture of the wings, and had thoughts of getting some on our next trip to the area....until I showed Her the receipt:

 

She quickly changed Her mind. They were good, but not THAT good.....

Kyochon Chicken
18180 E Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

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I had one last stop, Hong Kong Plaza, to pick up some Chinese Beef Jerky for the Missus. Curious about what was going on in the space of the now defunct Hong Kong Market. There was this sign posted:

It always amazes me, how quickly businesses close around here:

 

And how quickly they are replaced:

 

The market was gone, but some enterprising vegetable vendor had set up shop on the sidewalk this day, and was doing bang-up business.

 

In spite of the bad economy, there's quite a bit of new construction going on. Our old "dry cleaners" is now a flattened dirt lot, waiting for a new mall or building to spring up.

 

One thing hasn't changed. On a good day, you can still see the San Gabriel Mountains....I had forgotten how much I loved looking at them. Even from a strip mall parking lot.....

Comments

[Pepsi Monster]

Hey Kirk,

Agreed with wifey on this one. It's good, but not that good. I do like Kyochon in certain ways, but if you are looking for chain BBQ, try out BBQ Chicken in K-town or Bon Chon. You should try out a Korean BBQ Chicken smack down and report back which of the Korean chain would win the best KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) title.

It's hotly contested right now in LA.

[Wandering Chopsticks]

That's what I felt. So pricey just for chicken wings. But oh, that slow burn on the spicy wings was so delicious.

[Beach]

I thought I saw this type of chicken fastfood inside a Korean market. Possibly Arirang market on Garden Grove Blvd.. Need to verify. For a guy from SD, you sure are travel a long way to get KFC.

[Kirk]

Hi PM - I ate at BBQ Chicken in San Diego, and really didn't care for the flavor. I purposely kept the receipt, and withheld it until the Missus tried those wings....I wanted to see Her reaction.

Hi WC - Agreed.....$4.99 for 4 wings???

Hey Beach - Yes, similar type places are everywhere. But be warned it's not really fast food. Most of these places make the wings fresh, so it can take 15-20-25 minutes or more. We try to maximize our experiences when we do a road trip.

[janfrederick]

Ahh...the San Gabriel mountains. I work in a building on Sorrento Mesa that has a good view of the surrounding area. On really clear days I can see San Gorgonio, about 80 miles as the crow flies. On a REALLY clear day, just after the mountains get some snow, like a few weeks back, I can see the San Gabriel Mountains (~110 miles). That's pretty far!

And yikes! Quite a bill. Too bad you couldn't eat the bag! ;)

[Sandy]

I guess if I'm in the area and see Kyochon, I'll have to give it a try despite the B rating and the price!

I wasn't that impressed by BBQ Chicken in SD, either.

[elmomonster]

Ditto. Expensive alright. Maybe when the economy gets better I'll get me some more...it is good though.

[Pepsi Monster]

Hey Kirk,

It's not the same thing in getting BBQ chicken from SD compared to either K-town or Buena Park. It's like comparing Daikokuya from Costa Mesa vs Little Tokyo & Monterey Park.

The reason I brought up Kyochon in K-town, instead of Rowland Heights was that the consistency is better in that part of the town than at Rowland Heights. The battle ground for KFC supremacy is in K-town.

The price is stiff, but when you down a few brew with those wings, it's oh so good. For me, BBQ Chicken in Buena Park is better, Kyochon in K-town gets the hype, but I have heard Hite Kwang Jiang, Bon Chon, and OB Bear are places to go for those KFC (Korean Fried Chicken).

[Kirk]

Hi Jan - I forgot how really great the San Gabriel Mountains looked.

Hi Sandy - Yes, give it a try.

Hi Elmo - I agree...

Hi PM - So you've tried the BBQ Chicken outlet in San Diego? I'm not saying I disagree with you, and will give BBQ Chicken in Buena Park a try.....but I may still have the same opinion. I still haven't really bought into the chicken wing fad.....

[Pepsi Monster]

Hi Kirk,

I did tried BBQ Chicken in both Buena Park and K-town. Both were different in terms of breading and consistency. I'm not saying that you might changed your mind from your experience in San Diego, but it's may very well turn out that you might enjoy it from a different location.

If you say that you don't like the SD's BBQ Chicken, I'll take your word it. It definitely will be a difference comparing the SD to one (or maybe both) of the other two other franchise locations. Let's not forget about Irvine (I heard Irvine was worse than Buena Park though).

[foodhoe]

hmmmm, I'm still waiting for KFC up north, those wings look delicious

[Kirk]

Good god PM - The breading was different? That's terrible franchise control....

Hi FH - It's only a matter of time.

[Passionate Eater]

That is nice to hear that though SD places are going out of business, there is construction and new businesses going up. I wish I could say that same for my mom's place (she lives in the Inland Empire). :(

[kat]

For that price, I am glad they were good!

[RONW]

expensive, indeed. Is that also 12% sales taxes??

[Kirk]

Hi PE - Actually this is Rowland Heights, in the LA area...but it is good to see that businesses are doing ok in the area.

Hi Kat - Yes, but the jury's still out...

Hi RONW - I believe Rowland Heights is %8.25 sales tax....and I think it's going up again! Lucky live Hawaii, no?

[Passionate Eater]

Oops, sorry about my brain fart Kirk. But, I just gave you an award, so please pick it up! I hope that makes up for my mistake.

[Passionate Eater]

http://passionateeater.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-am-terrible-procrastinator.html

Here it is! (Typepad did not detect my link.)

[Kirk]

hi pe - thanks that's so sweet

[Faine G]

I wish we had some easily accessible kyochon in Sacramento, though hopefully at a lower price margin! Yeesh!