Road Trip: Yun Nan 168 Restaurant - San Gabriel (Los Angeles)

**** Yun Nan 168 Restaurant has closed

On a recent trip to the SGV, while driving across San Gabriel Boulevard on Valley, I noticed a new restaurant had sprouted up. What was once a Spike's Teriyaki Bowl, is now something called Yunnan 168.

Even though it was pretty early, we decided to stop by and grab a "breakfast" of sorts. The interior looks brand new but kinda generic..... and of course the 'B' DOH Restaurant rating was hung with care.... as if it was a badge of courage.

Like the other Yunnan Restaurant we've been to, there's a a table of cold appetizers.

Much of it looked delicious, and all the usual suspects were in view, from the Pao Jiao(pickled pepper) chicken feet to the bean curd noodles.

And much like the other "Yunnan" Restaurants we've been to, the menu seemed very "Sichuan" with dishes like "ChongQing Fried Chicken" and "Ma Po Doufu". We did start with a nice plate of appetizers:

The Missus was overjoyed at seeing pickled long beans. These were good, not as salty and spicy as the Hunan version, but very nice. My only problem was that the beans were diced into fairly small pieces, which made eating them a rather laborious task. Think of eating a bowl of peas with chopsticks. Still, quite good, and even better as a part of our leftovers (more later). 

The sliced bean curd "noodles" were good as well:

Other versions of this dish are sometimes bland and dry, often breaking when attempting to eat. These had some mild spice, with a bit of tartness to them.

Of the three cold dishes, the eggplant was the best, with a nice garlic-chili-vinegar punch.

The texture was yielding, but not mushy. If anything, this could have used a touch of salt, which was ironic based on our main courses.

While choosing the cold dishes were hard enough, with all the offerings, selecting two dishes from a menu consisting of almost 200 items was quite a task! Looking thru the menu, I noticed something translated as "Yunnan Fried Rice Cake". I was curious, and had a feeling this was a Nian Gao dish. I had the Missus ask our Server, who confirmed my hunch. Having just made Chao Nian Gao at home I was interested to see what Yunnan Nian Gao ($6.95) would be like. It didn't disappoint:

 
 The use of ground pork along with "ham" was a good choice, since the dish teetered on the edge of saltiness. The ground pork helped to level the flavors a bit. I loved the pungency that the chives added to the dish, and the occasional bite of preserved vegetable made this a pretty complex dish with regards to flavor, in addition to adding a bit of crunch. The rice cakes were cooked adequately, with a touch of "wok hay". Since we had a few places to hit on this visit, we packed a good amount of this as leftovers. The next day, I mixed the pickled green beans into this dish before heating..... and it was even better!

We saw a gentleman enthusiastically slurping a noodle dish on one of the tables across from us..... it just looked (and sounded) so good we decided to order it; Yunnan Noodle with Special Sauce (Yunnan Da Lu Mian - $4.95):

 
From my experience Da Lu Mian is usually a noodle dish with various toppings in a "gravy", and this filled the bill. However, as good as the Nian Gao dish was, this was ten times as bad. The noodles were water-logged on the bottom, like they had not been drained well, residing in a pool of pinkish water. Perhaps it is supposed to be served that way. The noodles were also a tad over-cooked. Even worse, the meat topping was extremely salty, almost inedible. The pork was hard and grainy, and in spite of the looks it had very little for the palate except for the saltiness. The Missus barely finished a bite.

The noodles also came with a clear broth with pea sprouts. This was meant to be eaten separately(we asked).

I'm not really into chlorophyll flavored salt water.......

Still, we had enjoyed the Nian Gao, and the cold dishes were pretty good..... and of course there's Guoqiao Mi Xian (Crossing the Bridge Rice Noodle Soup) on the menu, among another 190 or so dishes. We may return in the future....gotta watch that salt though!

The place is very clean, and the folks working here were very helpful and enthusiastic. It sure ain't no Teriyaki Bowl restaurant......

Yun Nan 168 Restaurant
1530 South San Gabriel Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Comments

[Wandering Chopsticks]

Yay! You checked it out. I've wondered as I've driven past if it would be worth a trip.

Actually, between the teriyaki bowl and before Yunnan 168, it was a Gourmet Steakhouse. Didn't seem to have many customers though.

[Dennis]

I've had a few Spike Burgers in my school days.... The cold eggplant looks delicious!

[kat]

I'm bad with chopsticks especially if they are those slippery plastic types, I would've needed a spoon for those beans.

[bill]

Grasshopper, eating smalls diced beans prepares you for greater gastronomical challenges. Don't be dissuade by the site grasp your inner GI and forage on it's like eating those d@mn slipper legumes - aka peanuts and bun bo hue noodles. Ahhhhh! I feel you, but for some reason you'll keep punishing yourself and come back for more.

[Kirk]

Hi WC - They do have the "usual suspects" for Yunnan Restaurants in LA - Crossing the Bridge Noodles - which you might want to try, one food historian believes that it influenced Pho. Also dried Yunnan Beef which the Missus hates but I enjoy, and Yunnan Preserved Pork (ham), amogn others.

Hi Dennis - The Eggplant was pretty good.

Hi Kat - Really? You'd be the last person I think that would have a problem.

Hi Bill - LOL! Just give me a spoon already!!! ;o)

[Eat. Travel. Eat!]

Those appetizers sure look yummy; I've driven by this place several times but have never tried it. Good to hear that it is good! The pea sprouts in broth though are quite unusual. Haven't seen them like that before.

I was going to say that Yunnan 168 used to be a Gourmet House place but Wandering Chopsticks beat me to it :).

[Kirk]

Hi ETE - Gotta watch the salt level on the dishes.... I have a feeling that they over-salt. The appetizers were good, and I would probably be happy with just those.

[Su-Lin]

Oh, I love the look of that eggplant! I wish the Sichuan restaurants here had a cold appetiser buffet thingy!

[Kirk]

Hi Su-Lin - Funny, all the Sichuan/Yunnan restaurants worth mentioning have cold dishes. I've just come to take it for granted.