mmm-yoso!!!

COMC, The Road Trip Edition - Revisits to Bistro Na's and Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ

During the late fall and early winter, we made several road trips to revisit Mountain House. We decided to stay the evening and make a stop for lunch on the way home. We revisited places I've already posted on, so I thought I'd just post mostly photos of those meals. So, here I go C(learing) O(out the) M(emory) C(ard) again

Bistro Na's:

Good lord, how many posts have I done on the place since our first visit in 2019? There have been some changes over time. Bistro Na's lost their Michelin Star in 2022 and many of the dishes we'd enjoyed in the past are no longer on the menu. We've also noticed some inconsistencies in execution and quality as well.

But, on this visit, the Tofu Skin and the Smoked Duck Breast were as good as ever.

What we consider to be their signature dish, the Crisp Shrimp was not however.

The shrimp lacked the plump tenderness of what we'd had before and the shells seemed to have been fried differently as they were hard instead of being light and crisp.

And did we really spend $22 for a tiny portion of under seasoned Ong Choi? It was listed as having fermented bean curd, but there was not much of the cheesy-salty-savory-sweet flavor present.

After this visit, we decided to give Bistro Na's a rest for a while. There's no much more to explore in the SGV.

Bistro Na's
9055 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780

Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ:

Well, this is now our default stop for Cha Ca. Ever since that initial visit, the Missus has been wanting to return. We've been back three times....I basically have stopped taking photos here. The food has been consistent on all our visits.

Tons of fresh herbs and veggies.

Funky mam nem, a generous portion of bun......extra onions which we put on the sizzling plate.

And we usually get the Cha Gio as well.

Plus, they open at 930am, which is great for our return trip home.

Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Cash only)
8550 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683

2024 Rose Parade Road Test #5, Breakfast at Bob's Burgers (La Puente)

mmm-yoso!!! is primarily a food blog with sometimes interesting stories about how the food was acquired.  Cathy and Her Mister took a short road trip on Saturday and here's that post. 

Link to 2024 Float Road Test #1

Link to 2024 Road Test #2

Link to 2024 Road Test #3

Link to Road Test #4

On the last Saturday in October, we woke at 4, left home at 5 and after a quick stop at Cream Pan in Tustin, arrived at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, just in time to see three floats for the 2024 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade being tested for mechanics and maneuverability.

 "Sounds of Success". presented by Coding for Veterans, a Canadian based organization.  The H60 and P35 aircraft are much more recognizable now that the rebar outline is covered.  This symmetric float (same on the camera and off camera sides) looks like it will have giant screens in the center.  The 'keyboards' under the screens are surreal. 

 Unsure about this float, but the 'spotter' in front is easy to see, as is the 'driver' near the back (with the ToR safety evaluator seated next to him). You can see the slot where the Spotter looks out in the above float photo. 
 Also unknown is this float, with an intricate 'skeleton' which may have some interesting mechanics attached.

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The road testing was short, the weather was windy and chilly and The Mister and I were not very hungry yet.  We did drive to Porto's and got a few seasonal bakery items and a loaf of cranberry walnut bread (spent less than $11!) and started driving around, looking for 'someplace new to us' for breakfast.

 Well.  Of course we stopped. 

 The walls and ceiling are covered with nostalgia.  After ordering and paying, we got our beverages and found a nice, clean table.  Our food was brought to us.  The breakfast menu is pretty simple.  The complete menu at the Drive Thru has me wanting to return.

 Realizing I haven't had a breakfast sandwich in a very long time, I jumped at the chance to try a sausage breakfast sandwich on rye ($8.99).  flat omelet style eggs on toasted, thick slices of rye with four skin-on breakfast sausages, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise...just a wonderful sandwich.

 The Breakfast plate with a hamburger patty, three eggs (over easy) and real hash browns ($9.99) was The Mister's choice.  Oh, we both really appreciate the char broiling of a patty and the seasoned grill here produces a wonderful flavored burger..  The eggs were perfectly over easy and the soft boiled potatoes, crisp fried on a flat top grill were just wonderful.  Of course The Mister also chose rye toast-an excellent bread, filled with rye seeds.

Bob's Burgers 14952 Valley Blvd. La Puente, CA 91746 (626) 961-2523 Open Fri-Wed 7 a.m.- 9:45 p.m. Closed Thursday  Website

 What caught my eye, on the counter were these Sampuru- fake food models.  But it's not Japanese food  (although apparently the teriyaki chicken and beef on the menu are very popular items).  I've never seen Mexican or American breakfasts, much less burgers and French fries done in this wax style of advertising.  Then again, look at the wall behind the fake food displays... kanji?

 

2024 Rose Parade float Road Test 4, breakfast at Tam's Noodle House (2) (Rowland Heights)

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog which sometimes posts about reasons for finding the food.  Today is one of those posts; Cathy is writing.

Starting in June, the last Saturday of the month is when Phoenix Decorating Company has road testing of floats for the upcoming Tournament of Roses Rose Parade, which will be held on January 1, 2024.  There are other companies which construct floats as well as six self-constructed floats in the Parade.

Link to 2024 Road Test #1

2024 Road Test #2

2024 Road Test #3

 Shriners Hospitals for Children will sponsor this float, "Believe In Tomorrow", keeping with the Theme of the 2024 Parade, "Celebrating A World Of Music, The Universal Language".   Floats are colored in to help with decorating.

 "A Lovely Day for Hope", presented by the City of Hope hospital system was tested for mechanics and maneuverability with 'weight' on board. 


 The 2024 entry from Trader Joe's is titled "a-one, a-two, a one-two-three-broccoli" and includes Trader Joe (collapsed at the back of the float, now but will be raised for the Parade) conducting a trio of broccoli and various vegetables playing musical instruments.  The beaters in the yogurt cup at the front will produce bubbles along the parade route.  Another beautiful float.

 A new entrant in the Parade for 2024 is from Coding for Veterans.  Unsure about the title.  The center looks like it will have a screen.  The outlines of aircraft are a H-60 and F-35.  
 This entry is from Western Asset.  It is backing into the barn.  You can see the Driver of the float (who proceeds down Colorado Boulevard by looking down and following the Rose Colored Line on the street) to the right in the photo and the Spotter (who looks out the front, communicates with the Driver via a headset) to the left.   You can see rectangular vented 'windows' at the fronts of the 'completed' floats, where the Spotters are seated.

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It was just before 8 a.m. and The Mister and I headed South then East, looking for breakfast.  We saw a sign visible from the street for a 99 Cent Only Store with a tiny (maybe three foot by two foot) sign on top of it "Tam's Noodle House".  There were cars in the parking lot.  We stopped.

 Walking inside, we were directed to the last open table. Tam's opens at 8 a.m.

 The breakfast menu was handed to us. 
 At the top of the menu, beverages are included!  (Iced beverages are an additional $1.50). The tea was good and strong and kept refilled constantly.

 From the menu, "C"- vermicelli with Satay Beef plus scrambled egg & bun with butter (the price was $12.99, not the $13.99 as on the menu).  Great broth with tender, flavorful beef and non-mushy noodles.  The scrambled eggs were soft and fresh made (I did add some chili crisp to them after a few bites) and the steamed, soft bread was just enough.

 "F"- beef stew with steamed noodle too plus scallop congee ($13.99).  I saw the noodles being rolled in the kitchen when I went to the back toward the restroom.  Fresh, soft, a thin layer...really nice.  That beef stew was excellent, tender and such flavor.  The scallop congee was really a great version.  The scallops were dry/shredded and interspersed throughout each bite.  

This was almost too much food (we did have some leftover and it reheated well for a light snack).  We want to try more of the breakfast offerings, but also the fact that the regular menu has more choices, is reasonably priced and the restaurant is open late, makes this a possible place to stop for dinner after we decorate floats in December.

Tam's Noodle House II 19035 Colima Road Rowland Heights 91748 (626) 820-9977 Open daily 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

 

Roadtrip - Jiou Chu Dumplings (Rowland Heights)

So, the Missus's new favorite restaurant is Mountain House. And since that meal we've been back three more times, I'll combine that into one post later! And we've stayed overnight on each visit. On the first revisit, we dined at places I'd posted on before, so I'll do that in a COMC post. The third time we did a bit of a longer road trip, that'll be coming up. This was the second revisit. We were looking for a place for lunch. On our previous trip, I'd read about a new dumpling shop opening in Yes Plaza. Aaaah, Yes Plaza, I'd posted on our "history" with Yes Plaza before and my has the place changed. Anyway, after having dinner at Mountain House on the previous trip, we took a drive to the strip mall. It was 730pm and at that time Jiou Chu Dumplings was only open from 5pm to 830 pm and there was still a line of folks waiting outside! The Missus looked at Her Instagram and wouldn't you know it, so many influencers showing off! Of course, often times it's all about the "content" and attention than the actual food.

The week before we left for Rowland Heights, Jiou Chou started opening at 11am. We decided to go for lunch and arrived at around 1040. The place was empty, there was no line, so we headed off to Hong Kong Market to buy some snacks and returned. It was just after 11am when we parked and noticed that there was a line!

Notice the 85° logo on the signage? Well Jiou Chu is owned by 85C and has two restaurants in Taichung, where we had just been a couple of months prior! This is the first location of the dumpling restaurant in the U.S.!

 There was a sign posted saying that the place wasn't doing takeout orders on this day. I guess they were anticipating a major lunch rush? By the way, this was a weekday. One thing we noticed, that is usually a positive sign were that most of the customers were older folk, which to us is usually a pretty good sign.

We were led to a table and seated. The restaurant was pretty sizeable.

Folks just kept on coming in and within fifteen minutes of being seated we noticed that the place was full!

Listening in, the Missus noticed that folks were placing orders to dine in and additional orders to go! I guess that's how they got around "no to go orders" for the day?  Several of the parties around us had apparently been here before. Ordering was done, at least by us, using the QR code. We noticed that many of the older folks struggled a bit and had their orders taken by the very accommodating staff.

Of course we started with the Pork Xiao Long Bao ($11.99). We quickly noticed that the prices were pretty good, perhaps that's why all the folks were coming out?

    These were not very good. The wrapper was chewy and brittle, there was some "soup" in the XLB but it was very bland. The filling was tough and chewy and also pretty much tasteless.

Kinda sad overall.

Next up were the two versions of Pork Chops. When we were in Taiwan the Missus said several times that I "didn't meet a pork chop that I didn't enjoy".

The Fried Pork Cutlet ($8.49) had a nice black pepper flavor, decently salty, but was over fried, tough, and dry.

The best item of the meal was the Fried Pork Strips ($8.49).

Think of this as a pork version of the typical Taiwanese "popcorn chicken". It was crisp-crunchy, moist, with a good amount of five-spice, white pepper, and salt.

We had wanted to order some Guotie since the photos looked quite good. They were out of several versions so we ended up getting the Kimchi-Pork version ($11.49). Good lord, this was a mistake.

The wrappers were gummy, the filling was weird, the "kimchi" lacked flavor as did the pork which was chewy. The menu warned that these dumplings contained hot soup, but that was a false alarm as there was none. This was our least favorite item of the meal.

Well, this meal was a fail. Unlike Taiwan where "lines don't lie", here in the states things can get over run by hype it seems. That's too bad as we were kind of excited about eating here. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

At least we tried it......and we'd be headed to Mountain House for dinner.

Jiou Chu Dumplings
18156 Colima Rd.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Roadtrip - Revisiting the Torrance Farmers' Market and Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Westminster)

We slept well after our dinner at Mountain House, we thought our room at the renovated Best Western wasn't bad, except for the terrible WiFi, but heck, we were here to relax, right?

We got up rather early (for a Saturday) since we had three stops in mind. The first being Porto's in West Covina, we used to go to the Buena Park location when I was doing work in OC and you can read all about Cathy's visits in her Rose Parade float posts. We just basically stop for two things the Missus wants, the dulce de leche cookies.

Next stop was a place we used to drive the 90 mile round trip to almost every Saturday when we lived in LA, the Torrance Farmers Market, which I've posted on several times already. Though it had been over ten years since our last visit! Sheesh, time sure does fly! We found parking where we've always have and was surprised to see that the Farmer's Market has grown a bit since the last time we were here!

We ended up buying quite a bit of produce and stuffs! Which was great since I was missing my usual Saturday shopping.

Torrance Certified Farmers' Market
2200 Crenshaw Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501
Saturday 8am - 1pm

As for our last stop?

I mentioned that I had another place for Cha Ca Thang Long in my last post on Song Long. I had done a bit of research and the name Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ kept appearing.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall on Westminster Boulevard along with Stater Brothers, Seafood Paradise, a Shabu Shabu place, a Pho Shop, and a score of other businesses and homeless folk.

The place is known for their Cha Ca Thang Long and Chao (rice porridge).

It opens at 930am. We arrived at 945 and there was already a large party seated in the place.

An older couple run the place, the gentleman the front of house and the woman swings between the kitchen and the dining room.

We placed our orders and soon enough a large plate of herbs and veggies to accompany our Cha Ca arrived. The gentleman placed the plate on our table and I took a look noticing that there was a lot of brown and wilted produce on the plate.

This didn't seem like a good start. But a minute later, the woman came out of the kitchen and did her "rounds", quickly noticing the state of our plate, swooping in, and replacing it immediately. We didn't have to say a word! Good save!

Soon enough, all the other accoutrements made their way to our table.

And good lord, that mam nem was serious business.....whoa was did it smell potent.

The Cha Ca was quite lovely......

The portion sizes are quite generous, the fish very moist and tender. The seasoning is on point and that mam nem takes it to another level. Wish the onions were a bit more caramelized, but I didn't order this for the onions. The dill just helps to restore the palate while adding a citrusy-anise flavor to things.

We had seen another table order the Cha Gio, so we ordered that as well.

    Man, these were super stuffed, full of porky goodness, hint of sweet- savory tones, and wrapped with rice paper. It was slightly more chewy than I prefer, but man, the overall package was much better than anything here is San Diego. This also heated up well in the air fryer!

As we walked out the Missus said to me, "looks like we have a new place for Cha Ca, huh? I think I want to come back here next week!" Whoa......

Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Cash only)
8550 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683

Well, we were two for two on this overnighter. As for returning the following week....well, we'd have to wait an additional week for returning!

Thanks for stopping by!

Roadtrip - Mountain House (Rowland Heights)

The Missus had enjoyed our last overnight Road Trip to Monterey Park so much, that She wanted to do another one ASAP. This time, She wanted to try some places we hadn't visited before. I did a bit of research and found that a Szechuan restaurant with origins in New York had recently opened. In of all places, old neighborhood of Rowland Heights....Rowland Heights?

Well, we decided to make it an overnight kind of thing and I went and found another place for sort of "brunch" the next morning. We made good time and got in kind of early and decided to drop by Hong Kong Plaza which we hadn't been to since before Covid. First we dropped by Hong Kong Market, which had kind of changed a few years back. It's now got a bunch more snacks and stuff.

And a more interesting variety than 99 Ranch Market.

I will get various snacks and also items like aged black vinegar and better quality soy sauce from here. One thing we noticed, the market was totally dead on a Friday afternoon.

We decided to take a walk around; places like Hong Kong Fishball House, Yi Mei Deli, and Shau Mei, remnants from when we lived less than half a block away in the late 90's are still open. We decided to take a stroll in the indoor portion of the mall and was shocked.

Good lord; it was totally empty.....

It felt so eerie walking along past the empty businesses.

And passing Happiness Restaurant made us especially sad.

And not because we've had great meals here, it's because on our last visit there was a turtle named Manie, who was 6 1/2 at the time and was the actual namesake of Manie's Restaurant which preceded Happiness. We wondered and hoped that Manie is ok.

The end of the parking lot was layered with trash and the overall feel was quite depressing.

We then headed to our accommodation for the evening. I had read that the Best Western Plus on Gale had been renovated and got a "interior" room, which was a major blessing because the freeway noise (the hotel faces the 60) can be quite loud. As it is, we had a pretty quiet room, with noisy, but effective A/C, and got in a short nap before we headed off to dinner.

Refreshed after our nap, we decided to walk to our dinner destination a mere 15 minutes away. Of course, no one walks around here and we got some stares, especially with all the cars entering and exiting the 60 as we crossed over.

The mall where Mountain House is located is fairly new and the area used to be on the seedy side when we lived close by. Indeed, there are still homeless camping out behind the Motel 6 next to the mall. But man, this looks a lot different than when we lived around here.

We arrived 15 minutes before opening and there were already folks waiting in line for the place to open. Mountain House only takes reservations for parties of 6 or more people.

The interior is pretty fancy, almost Traditional Taoist in nature. With everything from a koi pond to semi private alcoves in the somewhat maze like set-up.

Things started off with some tea, which the Missus enjoyed.

And we liked the ornate patterns on the lovely tea cups.

In spite of the rather fancy setting; we found the prices to be quite reasonable. Of course, it had been so long since we'd had good Sichuan in the states so we went a little crazy.

The gratis cabbage with chilies was a nice start. Nice ma-la sensations were brought to the forefront.

We started with what might be the signature dish at Mountain House the "Liang Yi" - Hanging Laundry ("Swing Pork Belly" - $13.95). Where strips of pork belly and cucumber are hung on a rack.

 The Laundry" hangs over a bowl with a smoky-mildly spicy chili oil, with a large dollop of garlic paste in the middle. We quickly noticed that fat was dripping off the slices of pork belly enhancing the concoction.

This was the Missus's favorite dish of the evening. She loved the combination of mildly spicy-pungent-savory flavors all finished with the clean, refreshing cucumber. 

Of course we had to order the La Zi Ji ($19.95). Which was brought to the table on the blade of a shovel.

This was also lovely, great ma-la, the small pieces of chicken were nice and crunchy. There was some bones to be found so you approached things with some caution, but this was really good. The leftovers were also great, heated in an air fryer, though I almost blinded myself when I opened it!

The Rabbit with Mixed Pepper ($25.95) was indeed spicy.

But there were too many shards of bone and it was way too salty.

I loved the Ma-La Intestine ($23.95).

Crisp and light, offal-ly pork intestine, perfectly numbing and spicy, not overly salty....the swiney excellence came thru nicely.

We ordered something called the Bamboo Trio ($16.95). Which featured Duck Tongue, Bamboo Shoots, and "Poached Chicken" (Ko Shui Ji - $16.95).

   This was an interesting Liang Cai (cold dishes) trio; the Duck Tongue in a chili oil was interesting. Usually, when we've had duck tongue, there's a hard inedible piece of bone in the center making eating it somewhat ponderous. The center of the tongue in this dish was cartilaginous, reminding us of nankotsu, with a pleasant crunchy shewiness.

The Bamboo Shoots were crunchy, with pickled peppers, creating a nice earthy dish.

The chicken in the Ko Shui Ji was tender and the overall flavor was by the book Sichuan.

The dish we enjoyed the least were the Won Tons in Hot Sauce ($9.95).

The won tons were decently flavored and tender, but the sauce lacked balance.....in spite of looks, it was overly greasy, not especially spicy, and just not pleasant to eat.

The Missus ordered one....then another dessert. I guess She really enjoyed it.

Overall, the highs really outweighed the lows. And we thought this was the best Sichuan we've had in over a decade. The Missus couldn't wait to return to try other dishes....and we'd end up returning sooner than I thought. My goodness, if the Sichuan here in San Diego was half as good as what we had here.

Mountain House
18888 Labin Court
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

We returned to our room with tons of leftovers; fat and happy.

Our room overlooked the strip mall with all the restaurants on Gale across from 99 Ranch Market. It was interesting watching the battle for parking spaces.....

We were really enjoying our time here......

Thanks for stopping by!

2024 Rose Parade Float Road Test #2 and breakfast at Ocean Bo (El Monte) plus

Thanks for stopping to read mmm-yoso!!!, this blog about food.  Cathy is writing today because she has a post about food (and some other things) while Kirk is busy with work.

This past Saturday had us waking at 4, leaving at 5 and getting to Irwindale at 7; the start of what we thought would be an efficient morning. 

2024 Rose Parade Float Road Test #1 

A few floats were being tested for mechanics and maneuverability. The Oddfellows and Rebekahs float, "All You Need is Love", passed with flying colors!  I can't wait to see which natural materials are used to decorate the unicorns. The Kiwanis 2024 float, "Serving in Harmony" passed its third road test, with people (weight) on board and will be ready too decorate with 'dry' materials and glue on the first Saturday in December.  You can volunteer to decorate by signing up HERE. 

 The Lions Clubs International float, "Changing the World Through Music" has a great rendering of the Parade theme (Celebrating A World of Music; The Universal Language) and float title.
 The Royal Court float was also tested; seven members will be seated here as part of their year long reign of community service. Stored inside the float barn, the Elks Clubs float with headless and handless Fife and Drum Corps is painted in (usually human 'skin' decorating, done with various spices, is separately worked on and I suspect that is why the heads and hands are not attached). The Petal Pushers and Lutheran Hour Ministries entry, "Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord" has been further painted in.
 The Rotary International entry, "Clean Water, the Music of Life" with the ducks and umbrellas looks to be a winner.  It's cute and conveys the message of the Parade and of Rotary. 
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Being efficient, we were on the road South and got to Portos before 8 a.m..

 Plenty of parking, no lines, a quick pick up of the seasonal peach tart, a blueberry croissant, cranberry orange scone, cheese roll, walnut raisin bread and a Cuban quesadilla (pretty much another form of cheesecake).

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 We started on the 10 West, toward El Monte, took an exit and I made a quick stop upon seeing this signage.
 The menu was outside, inside and at the counter.  
 We ordered #1, #3 and #7 (Shrimp Har Gow, Shrimp Shiu Mai and bean curd wrapped meat) ($18 total) and put the bag in the car.  It would be a late lunch.
 Very good, fresh, quite large pieces.  Glad we stopped. 
Hong Kong Dim Sum House, 9505 Garvey Ave, South El Monte 91733 (626) 350-7099 Open Wed-Mon 7-3, Closed Tues

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 Since it was early, and we wanted Dim Sum,  we we decided to try Ocean Bo again
 The menu is the same, prices slightly higher by 30¢ ($4.59) than in October.

 The drill was the same; check off your order on the menu and everything is brought out at once.  We knew what was in the car so ordered different things here. 

Steamed Fun Gor, Ham Sui Gok, Shrimp and Chive dumpling, Seafood Gow and baked egg tart (each $4.59).  Hot tea was $1.80 each and the pot was constantly kept refilled.
 Cross sections; different skins on each item, everything very fresh and very efficient service.  A great place. 

Ocean Bo 3944 Peck Road El Monte (626) 452-1818 Open daily 8 am-9 pm website 

Even though we were done at 9:29 a.m. and thought we would get home quickly, that didn't happen.  We drove over to the 15 and ended up getting in at 12:45.  Crazy traffic! Still a nice day.

Roadtrip - Qing Dao Bread Food (Monterey Park), Bistro Na's (Temple City), and Song Long (Westminster)

Recently, the Missus and I was wondering how some of our old favorites were doing in LA and OC. We decided to drive on up and stay the night at the Courtyard by Marriott on Atlantic.

So, we headed on up and arrived at area on Garfield near Garvey just after 11am. And easily found street parking! On a Saturday? What the heck?

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Even though we hadn't been back here in over five years it looks basically the same.

QDBF had long been a favorite of ours for Jiaozi and there's an endearing quality to the place for the Missus. After all, She's from QingDao. She gets a kick from hearing the "Qingdao Hua" (青岛话) - the unique accent of Her home town. And every time we come here we recall the story of my MIL calling the place when the Missus told her that I thought the Jiaozi here rivaled hers! In case you missed it:

"the Missus called Her Mother....and guess what, Her Mother actually called QDBF! Among the things my MIL did find out was that the Owners are from the same neighborhood as the Missus's family. What She didn't find out was the recipe to their Jiaozi dough! Even using small talk and the "La Guan Xi" (doing the buddy-buddy thing) method didn't work. The response to the recipe request? "You come here eat, and we'll tell you the recipe!""

She never did get that recipe.......

Anyway, we ordered the Pork Tongue, the Shrimp, Pork, and Leek Jiaozi, and the Lamb Jiaozi (of course).

We were served glasses of water. Not really paying attention I took a sip....it was boiled water! We cracked up; it's how they serve water in China!

 The pig tongue was as expected, fairly chewy and very porky. Quite typical.

The one thing that has changed over the years at QDBF is the garlic. Garlic is the traditional condiment served with Jiaozi and other dishes in QingDao. Mixed with black vinegar, I always call it the Missus's "little dish of memories". When we first visited, it was done the traditional way, pounded in a mortar and pestle, the bruising releases the oils and flavors, and the garlic is surprisingly rich and mellow. Sadly, on our last visit, it had been minced in a food processor. You may think it's strange, but the flavor and texture is totally different, it's much more bitter in our opinion.

The jiaozi arrived in tandem.

 We quickly noticed that on this visit, the dumpling wrappers were very soft, lacking in the slight "pull" that we enjoy in jiaozi wrappers. The filling of the shrimp, pork, and leek was very moist and actually had a good amount of "soup" in them...very nicely flavored, though a bit short in the shrimp department.

The wrappers on the Lamb Jiaozi was the same.

 But man, that filling was so gamy, moist, juice just poured out of it when I took a bite.

While the wrappers were not "perfect" on this visit, we still have to find jiaozi we like better. It was also quite fun to take this little trip down memory lane. Hopefully we won't wait another five years to return.

Qing Dao Bread Food
301 North Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

After lunch we decided to take a stroll and were surprised to see how quiet things were; especially in the shopping plaza on the corner of Garfield and Garvey. Also, most folks we passed were of the older demographic. We hadn't been around here since before Covid and the place seemed to be missing the vitality that we remember. It seems that younger folks have moved on and away from the area, or did the shooting in January of this year have even more of affect of things? We stopped by Ten Ren Tea Time and the Missus got some Oolong for Her collection.

We got to the huge Courtyard by Marriott and was able to check in early. We went and took another stroll across the street to Atlantic Times Square and found that other than AMC, Daiso, and a couple of restaurants, many of the businesses were empty as well. What the heck? This had the Missus wondering how Focus Plaza, i.e. San Gabriel Square was doing. One of the Missus's first jobs waaaay back when was located here. We were shocked to easily find parking and then while walking around.....

Of course, the 99 Ranch Market was going strong. It seemed that all the businesses surrounding this mall was doing good business, so I went online to check and found that the mall will being undergoing renovation starting in August and will be rebranded as TAWA (the owners of 99 Ranch Market) Gateway. Whew.....

We then headed off to dinner. We last visited Bistro Na's on our way back from Monument Valley and Sedona. One Michelin Star Bistro Na's has become a favorite of ours since we first visited back in 2019 and we've revisited half a dozen times since. Though we hadn't been back in over a year.

Unlike where we had visited earlier, Camellia Square and the surrounding area was quite busy.

Bistro Na's:

As always, the service at Bistro Na's was top notch. Sadly, several of our favorite dishes were no longer on the menu. Though our "key" dishes were.

Like the refreshing Chili Tofu Skin.

And the smoky and tender Beijing Style Smoked Duck Breast.

The Crisp Shrimp is a must order here.

 We did notice that the dish has changed since our last visit. The shrimp shells and the shrimp seems to have some coating; like the tofu skin, the portion size is smaller. The shrimp is not quite as delicate as it used to be. But the flavor is still there and the shells and tail are a pleasure to eat.

As for new dishes; well, we ordered the Bittermelon with Pickled Garlic.

This was delici-yoso! Totally suan-tian-ku-la-xian! Sour and mildly sweet tones, tamed the bitterness initially. There's some Sichuan Peppercorn in this to numb you. The bittermelon comes on strong at the end for an interesting finish.

The Intestine with Laba Garlic was not quite at the same level.

The intestine was cooked perfectly, great texture and offal-ly flavors. But the sourness overpowered the dish and that garlic was potent and very bitter. Still, not a bad dish.

We did miss the okra and crispy lamb brisket. Hopefully, those dishes will be back on the menu soon.

Bistro Na's
9055 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780

We took an after-dinner stroll before heading back to our hotel to relax.

As the sun went down, we looked out at Atlantic Times Square and noticed that many of the residential units seemed empty as well.

The next morning, we were up in the air about where to eat before heading home. I noticed that there was a Dim Sum place in the hotel named Chef Tony.

I did some research and found that Chef Tony is owned by Tony He of Sea Harbour. Hmmm.....while a bit fascinated, our last visit to Sea Harbour was not very good. We decided to pass. Instead, we decided to drop by another old favorite that we hadn't been to in a while, Song Long. In fact, like QDBF, we hadn't been back to Song Long in over five years!

Song Long:

We arrived around 930 on a Sunday and the place was empty when we walked in. The staff looked like they've put on some years as well.

We had to chuckle when the bread was brought to the table.

We ordered our usual; the Cha Ca Thang Long.

 Soon enough the large plate of bun, herbs, and veggies. And of course the Missus enjoys the Banh Trang Me dipping it into the mam nem. As for the Mam Nem, we noticed that it's not quite as potent as it used to be.

But, if we had any reservations about the Cha Ca, those were soon quelled when our sizzling plate arrived.

From the caramelized shallot to the tender fish, which almost had a mild sweetness to it, this was quite good.

The place filled up as we were finishing up our meal.

And though I have another location for Cha Ca in the area on my "list"; this really hit the spot.

Song Long Restaurant
9361 Bolsa Ave Suite 108
Westminster, CA 92683 

We enjoyed this little road trip. It was good to know that our "old favorites" were still serving up food that we enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Los Angeles - Far Bar, the Star Alliance Lounge (LAX), and Royale Laurel Class on EVA Air

After dinner at Sushi Enya we took a stroll around Japanese Village Plaza.

And wandered in and out of some of the shops in the area.

We also passed by the now closed Sushi Komasa with brown paper taped over the windows. We felt a tinge of sadness as Komasa had always been a favorite of ours. In fact, my second post, way back in May of 2005 was on Sushi Komasa.

Little Tokyo seems to be thriving as the place was pretty busy, even on a Tuesday night.

Passing places like Kouraku, the first place I recall seeing plastic Japanese food brought a smile to our faces.

And seeing places like Fugetsu-do always bring back nice memories.

It was a bit too early to head back to our room and hit the hay, so we decided to grab a cocktail. There's a place called Far Bar that occupies the iconic location of Far East Chop Suey which has it's own long history in Little Tokyo.

Man, it's been ages since I'd been in this building! I recall the mezzanine as a place where the Missus and I saw parties taking place the two times we ate here a zillion years ago.

The folks working here are very nice and laid back. The Missus had the Jade Empire and I had the La Luna y el Sol, which featured La Luna Mezcal and Aperol. 

Not overly stiff, quite easy to drink.

We also decided to have something small to snack on and went with the Maneki Tots because, well you know we weren't going to have any rolls and it's never a bad time to have some tater tots.

 

This was actually not bad. The tots were fried nicely, the bacon crisp, the braised pork a bit too sweet, the wasabi mayo added a nice zip, but the spicy mayo was a bit of overkill. Kind of a lot going on here, but what was I to expect with stuff like various sushi rolls, pozole ramen, salmon pasta, shiitake miso burgers, among others on the menu?

We liked the folks working and had a nice, relaxing end to our day.

Far Bar
347 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

We headed back to our room to catch some shut eye. Just like the last time we stayed at the Miyako Hotel our room overlooked 1st street. And just like that time, we could see the unending line outside Daikokuya.

Our flight the next day was scheduled to leave at just past noon, the flight was going to be almost 14 hours, so we decided to fly in EVA's Royal Class, which meant we had lounge access. Which ended up being a blessing since our flight ended up being delayed.

The Star Alliance Lounge was quite empty and peaceful when we arrived.

It would fill up rather quickly soon after, but by then we were ensconced on the porch area.

Which had a view of Terminal B.

 It was basically standard breakfast fare when we arrived, so we just had some coffee, tea, and water.

What was fun was watching the robot "bus boy" do its rounds!

While walking back from the restroom a gentleman had a chat with me. Turns out it was the lounge manager, a really nice guy. I mentioned his "bus boy" and he cracked up and said, "you should hear it sing Happy Birthday in one of about a hundred different languages!"

He also mentioned that I should give the "noodle bar a try, it starts at 1030". And since the lounge staff had just announced our flight was delayed, that's what I did.

Folks rushed the bar when it opened. I got a bowl with the vegetarian pho broth.

Very salty, but I enjoyed the veggies.

Soon enough, it was time to board. The service on EVA is wonderful. The Missus loved the Jason Wu designed pajamas which can be kept and also the Ferragamo amenity kit.

I loved the lie flat seats with a decent amount of space; but wasn't quite sold on the Hello Kitty themed pillows....

Like I mentioned earlier, EVA's service is well regarded and at least based on this trip well deserved. Our meals were also among the best we've had on a flight.

I usually avoid seafood on flights, but that octopus in the salad was so tender.

And the breakfast porridge was also quite good.

Most importantly, being able to get some rest on our flight really makes a difference as we can be awake and alert when we land and can adjust to things quickly.

Our flight departed late, but the pilots made up time in the sir and we arrived at Taoyuan Airport just an half hour late. We then found the MRT to Taipei Main Station and our time in Taiwan had started!

Thanks for stopping by!

Los Angeles - Sushi Enya

When planning our current trip, we decided to fly out of LAX to avoid layovers. The flight was already 14 hours long and we really didn't want to extend our transit time. So, we planned for something like we had done several years back; we'd stay the night in Little Tokyo, then head to the airport in the morning for our flight. It would give us a chance to catch up with one of our favorite little neighborhoods in LA.

Except, this being 2023 and all, we ran into a little problem. We enjoy doing Amtrak to Union Station, then taking the short walk to our hotel in Little Tokyo. On the morning of our trip I received a message from Amtrak, our train had been cancelled and we'd been automatically rebooked to Union Station out of San Juan Capistrano!?!?!? Say what? After spending 45 minutes on hold with Amtrak, our only other option would have us arriving in LA at 6pm, after our dinner reservation.  In the end, I made reservations on the FlixBus, which turned out to be a decent option and we arrived at Union Station at 430pm.

Walking to the Miyako Hotel from Union Station in 2023 was a different experience as well, many more homeless, folks with obvious mental health issues screaming at us (it's quite sad), groups of kids on skateboards harassing people acting like they "owned" the sidewalk. Whoa....

Though once you got off Alameda and made that turn on 1st Street things calmed down quite a bit.

We checked in, freshened up, and basically just had to cross the street to get to our dinner destination, Sushi Enya. Actually, we had wanted to check out a place that had been an old favorite of ours. But sadly, Sushi Komasa closed last year when the Itamae decided to retire. Sigh.... Anyway, we decided to check out Sushi Enya and I managed to get us early reservations. We were the first folks in the place and took a seat at the bar. 

There were five folks working behind the sushi bar! Our Itamae for the evening was a young man who was quite friendly, it seems like a couple of the folks behind the bar were tasked with making various rolls that folks coming in after us ordered.

We got our order in and our nigiri started arriving. A couple of observations. Enya seems to do a lot of Aburi (torched) nigiri, they also have several tare/nikiri that is used on all the nigiri, so we had no need for shoyu and wasabi, except for a few exceptions. We both didn't care for the quality of the rice used as it was on the hard and chewy side and lacked a nice fragrance. As for the nigiri, well, read on!

Things started with Engawa, the dorsal fin muscle of hirame (halibut) a favorite of ours

The engawa had that wonderful toothsome texture, the nikiri added a nice touch of savory-soy tones with a hint of sweetness. Very clean, great texture!

Next up was the Kinmedai (Golden Eye Snapper).

This was torched changing the texture, adding a layer of creaminess to things. The addition of yuzu kosho gave this a nice salty-citrusy-"zippiness".

I saw Yamaimo "Fries" with Truffle Salt on the menu and had to try it.

This was quite delicious! The exterior crisp, the interior slightly creamy. All the usual sliminess of yamaimo was gone! Not much truffle flavor, but we really didn't need that as there was a delicate starchy-sweetness to this.

Next up was the Albacore.

This was a miss for us as the strong garlic sauce really detracted from the mild flavor of the fish. The sauce overwhelmed the dish.

Things were quickly corrected when the O-toro arrived.

Ethereally buttery in texture.....the fish almost melted when it hit your tongue. Too bad we didn't care for the rice here. The nikiri really added a nice, mild soy-sweet flavor to this. 

We also ordered some Uni. When asked whether we wanted Santa Barbara or Hokkaido uni, the answer was quite easy.

The Hokkaido Uni was fabulous, creamy-sweet-briny. As I say, it's like having a creamy taste of the cleanest, freshest water of the Pacific ocean.

From here we decided to order a few more items to complete our meal.

We got some Hotate (Scallop).

With some ginger and the nice nikiri, this did need a bit of shoyu to balance things out. The scallop was sweet and tender.

We both didn't care for the Wagyu Nigiri.

The beef seemed really lean and did not benefit from being torched a bit too much making it very chewy.

We finished with Negi Toro Temaki.

This was fine, though the rice really dropped this a few notches for us.

Overall, a nice meal. Because of being the only folks sitting at the bar it was like we had our own, personal Itamae. Wish we liked the quality of the rice as it would have made our meal that much more enjoyable. As it was, this just illustrated how much we enjoy Tadokoro. We'll have to get our fix there soon!

Sushi Enya Little Tokyo
343 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

After dinner we decided to take a stroll and see what was going on in Little Tokyo. 

Stay tuned!