Roadtrip: A return to Hunan Chilli King - San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

I rarely post on revisits of places in the San Gabriel Valley. But I hope you don't mind if I do a return visit.

It seems that the Missus has been taken by Hunan food in the SGV. On a recent visit, we decided to return to Hunan Chilli King. On the last trip, I had been almost blown to bits by one of the dishes, but apparently I hadn'tlearned my lesson. The Missus had wanted to try several items She had noticed previously, and I had one particular preparation in mind as well.

  

In actuallity, our strategy was to hit another restaurant first, with food a bit milder, than grab a bite at Chilli King on our way home. Unfortunately, the restaurant we had in mind had changed their hours, and wasn't open when we arrived. So it was off to HCK.

This time, the Missus decided to not even bother with the menus, but to order items listed on the colorful strips of paper lining the entire restaurant. One thing I did notice; many of the items lining the walls, are also in the menu. Perhaps it's their way of letting us know everything is good? One thing about me and very spicy food....I will sweat profusely, to the point of embarrassment, and sometimes concern from the staff of a restaurant. But I almost never have lingering "complaints" from my GI system. The Missus, on the other hand, can tolerate incredibly spicy food with nary a drop of perspiration on Her brow. She has however, known the feeling of, how should I put it..... magma making it's way to the ocean.....

This being fairly early in the morning for spicy eats, I thought some Beijing style yogurt would be a nice proactive step.

 

It does help that I love this stuff.....

After having the Pork Intestines with Pickled Green Beans and Chilies at Xiang Wei Lou, I wondered how the dish would fare at Hunan Chilli King since we thought the pickled green beans and the chilies were much better here. So of course, we had to have the Suan Do Jiao Chao Fei Chang:

 

Having not learned our lesson on our previous visit, we ordered this "Big Spicy". For some reason, this didn't seem quite as hot. Notice, there weren't as many chili seeds this time around. That's not say this was very tame....

Just as before, we love the way HCK prepares their pickles. The intestines were fine, but I thought that Xiang Wei Lou does a better job of it. To me, the pork intestines from Xiang Wei Lou, cooked with these pickles and chilies, by the folks here would be the perfect combination.

The Missus saw a Dry-Cooked "small fish" dish posted on the wall, and we decided to order it.

 

A bowl of semi-dried fish that had been dry-fried with dried chilies, black beans, and leeks hit the table. The fish were chewy, and you ate them head and all. In spite of looks this wasn't a particularly piquant offering. It was very fishy and unpleasant.....

 

This coming from a guy who has had Prahok, Padek, and various other fermented fish and shrimp ingredients. Of course, for us there's a distinct difference between savory fermentation and rotten.... at least to us.

The Missus was intrigued by a dish that was simply called "steamed eggplant" on one of the placards. Inquiring didn't provide any clarification or demystification of what that dish was. At $10.99, it was pretty pricey as vegetables go in the SGV. For comparison sake, a whole steamed fish at Hunan Chilli King is priced at $7.99!  In spite of the generic description, the Missus was assured that the dish was very good. So we ordered it.......

 

What arrived was a surprise. First was the preparation, which was almost exactly like Hunan Steamed Fish. Secondly, we counted a total of five whole eggplants were used to make this dish. The texture of most of the eggplant was excellent; I believe it was "oil blanched" before steaming. The flesh was creamy and wonderful, though we had to remove the skin because it was hard and basically inedible. The sauce was that wonderful soy sauce-oil concoction with fermented black beans and some chilies, when combined with rice is like crack! This was the best dish of the day.

We left with a ton of leftovers....... With our next stop on our minds.

Hunan Chilli King
524 East Valley Boulevard
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Comments

[foodhoe]

mmm the eggplant sounds heavenly, at least the meal started and ended well.

[nhbilly]

My eyes, my mouth, and .... is burning.

[sawyer]

what is Beijing style yogurt? that sounds pretty interesting. and those eggplants look particularly delicious

[Judy]

Where's the meat? All I see are chilies... My stomach just started to churn...

[MrM]

Now...the eggplant, at least, looks like what I was after at Hunan in RB.

It's a pity about the dry-cooked fish. It looks promising. Was it supposed to be dry-cooked preserved fish or did they just leave the fish out too long?

[Kirk]

Hi FH - That eggplant was excellent!

Hi Billy - Sorry about the ... thing! ;o)

Hi Sawyer - There's a better description at the end of this post:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2009/03/road-trip-tianjin-bistro-san-gabriel-la.html

We also visited Bluecherry's shop but I haven't posted on that.

Hi Judy - There's actually a good amount of intestine in that dish.

Hi MrM - It seemed to be a salt preserved/semi dried fish, much like shishamo or urume maruboshi. It tasted a bit off. And yes, Hunan, doesn't really make any Hunan dishes.

[Andy (美國土子)]

where did you get the yogurt?

[Kirk]

Hi Andy - All of these places, Tianjin Bistro, Xiang Wei Lou, and Hunan Chilli King sell them for about $2.50. Just look for the posters in the restaurant. It's a good way to get your stomach set for spicy food.

[kat]

wow everything sounds spicy, I would definitely regret eating that much chili!

[Eat. Travel. Eat!]

I've always been wondering about the Beijing Yogurt that is here in the SGV. I have seen it at some bakeries at San Gabriel but have never sampled it before. Great to know that it is good! I do like it when I travel; drinking it is very fun :). The hotel that I go to that serves it gives special straws just for it!

The rest of the items make me cry. So spicy! I think I can handle the eggplant though. It is interesting that how restaurants like to oil blanch their eggplant. Make the eggplant cook faster?

[Faine G]

I miss Beijing style yogurt from my China days! I need to find a source for it here in Sacramento.

I gotta find my way into more Hunan food in the near future. I like the concept of the dry cooked fish, and it's a shame they didn't turn out! The eggplant, however, I'd get up right next to (as they say). Great report as always, Kirk.

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - It was pretty spicy, but nothing we couldn't handle (this time).

Hi ETE - It is pretty good.....tart and sour with a sweet finish. I think the fact that it is liquidy turns some folks off. It reminds me of the yogurt we had in Peru, and is kinda close to what the Missus used to have in Beijing....perhaps a bit sweeter, and not as sour. Oil blanching helps theeggpalnt keep its shape so it doesn't turn into mush. And tought it seems counter-intuitive, I believe that by oil blanching the eggplant will acutally soak up less oil.

Hi Faine - Dry-cooking/dry frying is very common in Sichuan cuisine as well. I'm still trying to see if there's any way I can that yogurt in San Diego.

[MMYreader]

Hello Mr. Kirk,

You may recall that oil blanching is simply a layer of oil on top of water then when boiling, add vegetables to blanch shortly. This way, vegetables have lighter, but still rich flavour unlike fried.

Gailan in dimsum is prepared this way.

[Kirk]

Hi MMYreader(Mr Z?) - You may not recall that Oil Blanching (guo youu???) to quote a few references is: "the relatively simple cooking technique which is a sealing process. The aim is to seal in flavor and juices." "Heat the wok pour three cups of peanut oil into it......etc, etc, etc...." Please check you references - I used The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Breath of the Wok, and Fuchsia Dunlop's Land of Plenty......