Discovering Bougie Chinese BBQ in a RiceBox

Dang! It's been so long and I think I was just awoke from another long slumber.

I think I was trying to figure out how I can find more inspiration of writing more posts without being repetitive. In most cases, it flow fast out like a gush of water for a ride on Raging Waters. Other times it can be dormant like the past 4 months.

Luckily for today, I decided to make some trips down to downtown LA. I think was doing some weird errands and was planning to check out a restaurant nearby (Orsa & Winstons perhaps?). Then on a peak of my eyes, I saw a small take out place with a few tables in an arcade mall. 

Soy Sauce Chicken with Fried Egg

RiceBox is similar to what you find on a Cantonese BBQ place that serves a bevy of different meat proteins that prepares in Cantonese roasted style. Probably the most famous is the Char Siu, where the pork  or any meat is roasted on a long fork over a fire oven. There is also ingredient of sauce embedded on the meat to give that succulent taste and flavor.

While I was looking over the menu, I also happened to stumble upon the soy sauce chicken with bok choy that it was offered. Adding a fried egg on top seemed to be a bit bougie, but without a tea egg or hard boiled, I thought it would be suffice.

OG Char Siu Pork with Fried Egg

While I was there, I might as well get their version of the "OG Char Siu Pork", which I gathered was honey glazed with the aroma of sweet smell from the slow cooked method.

Now of course, what makes me wanting to go to this nondescript place in middle of downtown for Chinese food? The place have a cute little tables set up for dine-in, but with a tight place like this, it probably managed a dozen people for the capacity. I highly support a place like this instead of glorified take out place that doesn't do justice.

For me, I had a good impression on a take on Cantonese BBQ in the middle of an area that seemed bustling with hip taco joints and divey bar actions. This bougie Chinese bento is a welcome sight. In a perfect world, this would be my kind of Chinese take out or delivery places. Love how they prep and present the rice bowl of either the succulent char siu pork or the soy sauce chicken.

Be prepared though to find parking. This place is great for that take out meals if you live around that area, but rough for destination travel meal. Hope they decide to open late for that late night snoosh after the last call.

That to me would be perfect.

RiceBox
541 S Spring St Ste 131
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Another Hainan Chicken Contender in Cluck2Go

Here we go again.

We got another situation at best age old question of where to go for that steamed chicken rice we recently talked about. I hated to do a similar cuisine post so close to each other, but I was done in by the request for that a better place for Hainan Chicken rice can be had locally near my work on the eastside.

The sign to let people know it's the same owner as Man Chan (down the street)

Since I did a post on Red Chicken which was a popular hang out among the nuevo cluck crowd that didn't want to go a high traffic dating place of Savoy that is down the street, I was recommended to try out Cluck2Go.

Why here you asked?

Apparently, for many years, a lot of Chinese compadres living on the east SGV (any Asian community east of 605 freeway) hated going to west SGV that consists of Monterrey Park to El Monte. Reminds of you transients that lives in West Hollywood not willing to venture out east of 405. In their mind, they found a groovy place for their fixings for this Hainan chicken....

The place they all have a hard on for the steamed chicken that I described in the Red Chicken post was a restaurant called "Man Chan". Not really a hidden gem as I remembered it fondly before and would recommended to people who stopped by here. 

However the good news was they decided to open up a scale down restaurant that focused only on their chicken dishes (steamed or fried) with a few sides. Hence, the Cluck2Go was conceived as Man Chan can be a full pledged Chinese restaurant with other rice dishes and different array of proteins than just poultry.

Hainan Chicken Rice

This location was a bit of a curse as i can remembered. In the beginning of the decade was a Flame Boiler outlet that gave way to a Korean Fried chicken joint. Sadly I never went to the latter and go to the former because of my co-worker fascination as a fancy healthy meal. 

I kid you not.

With this scale down version of the main flagship, Cluck2Go still maintained a fantastic juicy chicken that we come to expect for a good Hainan chicken that we all can craved. The minimalist vibe here gave it a Subway dining room kind of feel with a to-go mentality to match with it.

Fried Chicken Wings

I don't really know if this was a short term extension  or maybe this place can catches on where they can expand like Green Zone (another chain that catered to the nuevo cluck crowd). It's worth the quick meal like Flame Boiler? , but yet served the chicken rice dish on the fly.

*post note: I found out the answer after I wrote this*

To answer that question, this is the best Hainan Chicken rice I had on the eastside. The best thing about Man Chan or Cluck2Go was their tender juicy chicken. I do like the ginger dipping sauce for the chicken, but the spicy sauce needed a bit more kick to it. I also highly recommend to get the wings as well. That is better than the fried chicken as a meal.

This is good for work area meal, but I think I can travel farther distance for this dish if I am willing to be patient.
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*ps. I found out that it is an expansion as there is another Cluck2Go in Pasadena. That location apparently was the first one.

Cluck2Go
17110 Colima Rd
Ste A
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

A Classic Dish That Is Now Hip at Red Chicken

There's a dish that is making a major comeback.

It seemed not long ago everyone can only named one place to go for the steamed chicken we all tend to love ... Hainan Chicken. The place people would suggest is name of an Italian specialty cafe that can served out this southeast Asian favorite poultry dish.

What's Hainan Chicken and why is it so special?

Hainan Chicken Rice - Steamed Chicken with sauces

Let me break this down. In order to get this dish right, you pretty much have to cook this chicken to be moist and have a silky texture feel. The skin would needed to be in this texture of a taste (it's a blasphemy not to include the skin!). On top of that, the rice need to be steamed with the chicken stock to have that flavor.

Oh, let's not forget about the sauce! That's probably the most important, but yet more ignored part of the whole dining experience of Hainan Chicken. You got have that chili, soy, and ginger sauce to separate the sweet, spicy, and savory taste for that chicken.

It's used to be only south part of China specialty named after the island where it was famous for. However, it was grown be loved by most of southeast Asia like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and any big Chinese populations. For marketing purposes, most Chinese restaurants just simply named it "Hainan Chicken" because people will understand you wanted steamed chicken with all these pou pou involved.

Getting back to it, there used to be only one place that serves in the whole LA as of 2002. I know because that Italian place (Savoy Kitchen) was named the #1 date place for Asian community in LA. They served pizza and pasta, but was ecstatically known for this steamed chicken. I for one, are not a devout follower of this place and was on the look out for a better one.

Singapore Fried Chicken with Rice

Flash forward to present day and time where there is Yelp, Google, Instagram and other online presence that can get you to survey the land for that offerings. There are places like a food court in a supermarket, a hole in the wall restaurant, or even places that is known for other specialties dishes, but serves a bang up chicken like this.

How did I ever wind up in Red Chicken? Long story short, it was because someone I know complained about the service here, but mentioned how good the place was in having this dish. Service be damned.... I would not miss out if this is one of the better steamed chicken I am going to see.

Fried Chicken Wings

It basically looks like family run restaurant where I can see kids are there too during dinner time. I guess people don't mind if the food is good and can ignore this simple fact. My best guess also was that the owners running it has some sense of social media as they keep their taps on it and also update their website regularly. How savvy they are? We'll find out if they can find this post online.

My initial thought about this no frill, limited menu item place was that they are specialized (the name of the place, Red Chicken) was actually pretty good. I do love their wings and their fried chicken rice dish. The one that is where the dish people craves for... the steamed chicken was spot on. All those prerequisites I posted earlier have all been met, so I really am excited for the place to challenge the Italian place a few miles away.

Pink Milk - It does a body good?

This is a pretty straight forward place with not much to entice people to make the long trek for. People usually settles, but I think with the steamed chicken getting more popularized as I have noticed a sizable list was circulated by a few publications... it may be a good alternative finally.

For once, I can honestly say that popularity is catching on during the new Millennial era of SnapChat or Instagram. It was forgotten and underappreciated by the Gen X era of bloggers. Let's hope it doesn't get too crazy as more of these red chicken are popping up. I am noticing they are catering that crowd with those crazy milk drinks. Instagramable?...hardly, but you get the idea.

We all love a good comeback stories, but we also remembered the fizzled forgotten. Xiao Long Bao.
Red Chicken
1001 E. Las Tunas Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Coming All Together at PanAsia Sweet and Savory

Asian fusion is well alive in this town.

I reminisced to those days of Wolfgang Puck slinging in his version of what Far East Asian cuisine would be like with all those pretty decorative flowers on his plates. Of course you can tell, majority of the clientele are in his area on the westside of LA and not really catered for people seeking the genuine Asian food.

The team that is behind the venerable chains of cafe and desserts of Phoenix franchises (Boutique, Cafe, Desserts, & Restaurants) are coming out with a brand new "fast casual" restaurant on Alhambra, the heart of meltpot Asian communities.

Chili Pan Mee, Laksa, Tumuric Chili Wings, Pork Rolls

Fast casual can be somewhat describes of misnomer of fast food like your local BK or Micky D's, but more towards comfort food serves in chic vibrant dining. A lot of restaurant are now into this type dining setting while conveying a more regular hang out spot.

The aptly named PanAsia, consist of many different regions of Southeast Asian cuisine (Thai, Singaporean, Vietnamese, Malaysia, Chinese, and Cantonese style food) for the masses to try. The menu have many types of popular comfort food, but with elaborate fine tuning touches that may suit the taste buds, but also entice the senses of look and smell.

Hainan Chicken Rice

Beautifully plate, but yet enormously appetizing such as for some of the more simple dishes like the Hainan Chicken,  Laksa curry noodle, and their popular Malaysian hand pull noodles of Chili Pan Mee. Obviously with fusion involved, BBQ pork rolls, curry chicken somoas (delicious triangle shaped roll) and wings are also elevated to a more eye pleaser as well.

Turmeric Chili Chicken Wings

With a pet friendly outdoor patio seating, a stylish vibe on the front end of lounge area to hang out for your tea drinks, or you can dine indoor at their chic communal tables. It has a happening atmosphere either to dine or to just simply relax with your drinks while catching up with your associates. Maybe that's what fast casual should be like.

Mango Sticky Purple Rice

From an old days of Phoenix Inn to many dessert franchises (which I come to associate them when I was a kid), now back to cool dining, this has earmark of dining for all ages.

Oh, as in for what they are popular to the masses.... yes, they are keeping many of the hand made drinks and desserts available as well on the menu. Get this, you'll also can pick up many of the prepackaged desserts as well.

Simply put, nothing really will be miss as the place had added something new to include everyone else.

PanAsia Sweet and Savory
45 S. Garfield Ave
Alhambra, CA 91801

The Carb Delights of Beijing Pie House

Is there such a thing as too much carbs?

You'll probably throw your inhibitions away once you get a load of these delicious meat pies we're about to see. It's just a doughboy's heaven from here on out.

I was once introduced to this nondescript corner restaurant in San Gabriel Valley because of my heavy craving for dumplings. One of my associate suggested a place known for Chinese meat pies that is beef stuffed in a round flat circle shaped like a table coasters.

The famous Beijing Meat Pie

Imagine if you will of an Irish Pot pie (usually lamb) or maybe one of those British Chicken pie that are much more well known to the masses, but the Chinese beef version has been around for ages. Getting the Northern Chinese fare into general public might be a bit tad hard because of the public oppression towards carbs these days and competition against the popular xiao long baos (Shanghai's soup dumplings) that is a better seller these days.

Beef Green Onion Pancake

If you are ever hanker for this... watch out! Those fillings inside are like soup dumplings as well. Even the green onion cake version sliced perfectly can be tempting to any carb lover's dreams.

The minimalist restaurant has been very popular with the fans of Chinese dumplings for a long time as I have remembered it. It used to be on the annual list of best restaurants of many dining critic here in LA... all because of that one dish.

Make sure you get some walking exercise after the meal because this carb overload is worth that sacrifice.

Beijing Pie House
846 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

The Asian Brunching at Xian Yuan Gourmet

Personally I rarely do brunch. Especially getting up early on a weekend.

I can't lie, I don't think I ever get to see a sunrise or even have three square meals a day as breakfast is foreign to me. Brunch might be a doable because it's partially breakfast that gets lumped into lunch. Something light, but fulfilling enough at a late morning to early afternoon time during weekend. 

Har Gaw - (Crystal Shrimp Dumplings)

Hence, you can tell my brunch time is always during weekend for the late risers who really can't do early breakfast.

Dim sum for me is always the go to "breakfast of champions". It's the Chinese tapas for the uninitiated. If you think about it, instead of wine, you get morning hot tea and more importantly,  the small bites of various Chinese essential imperial items that goes well with the tea. It's funny, Chinese do not do mimosas or champagne cocktails. Tea leaf is the essential hot herbal remedy for all bodily functions.

Steamed Turnip Cake (not pan fried)

Steamed Bean Curd

Rice Roll Noodles

Chicken Feet

When you go to "Yum Cha" (I loathed the phrase "dim sum"), the staples included dumplings, noodle covered proteins, parts of chicken or beef in presentable manner, and cute bite size desserts. Apparently, it's a win for the whole family.

Steamed Taro Buns - Close up of Hedgehog

There are so many options in the West side of San Gabriel Valley, but the trek to Xian Yuan Gourmet was not for the typical fare of Cantonese brunch, but we're in it for the cutesy steamed taro bun that was crafted to a hedgehog shape. It's weird, but that's how it is now in the foodtography world of Instagram where we needed to get good pics of food and a cute shape of a steamed dessert buns was the go-get item of the day.

The inside of the bun

Other typical items you can find at a local Yum Cha places included Chicken Feet, Shrimp Noodles, Shumai (pork dumplings), Crystal Shrimp Dumplings (light wrap skin), Beef Tripe, and Egg Tarts for dessert.

Being fair and honest, I was quite astound to find that this place already was consider the best Chinese brunch place in all of LA by a few well known publication, albeit one of them writing it for that site had recommended other restaurants I have disagreed in the past. I would probably say that the staple of food is on par what I am used to.

Not a bad way to get you out of bed for a dim sum brunch.

Xian Yuan Gourmet
9556 E Las Tunas Dr
Temple City, CA 91780

Making the Important First Right Sichuan Impression

There used to be a time when food that burned your tongue is essentially wasted.

If you can't taste it, then you will never know the flavors, texture, or even get a conclusion if your tummy can feel the satisfaction. Thus the question, why is it necessary to have a spicy numbness as a level to kill your tastebud?

This is a fad I can never figured it out, especially the noodle rage of killer spicy level are on the horizon. Even now the fried chicken explosion can exemplify this ungodly rage. For us the uninitiated, let us introduce a fortitude of Sichuan cuisine.

Sichuan (for the gringos, it's often spelled Szechuan) is considered a Chinese cuisine that specialized the use of spicy peppers that would dulled your taste buds and periled your sense of smell with the overpowering aroma of stuffy spiciness. I think was first introduced to this adventure with a few of my old time Yelp friends back when we first dared to venture out to San Gabriel for Chung King (haha... Chongqing in real spelling). We did this because of a former LA Weekly restaurant critic was in love of that place. Read my old passage about this place as we paid the price back then.

Sichuan Impression, the third incarnation of Szechuan Impression (opened in San Gabriel and Rosemead) was wildly popular because of the said critic who since relocated to a loftier gig with the LA Times, who proceed to pump the mentions of Szechuan. I decided to venture out to the newer digs in Tustin, home to the growing Chinese upper middle class in south Orange County.

Why is this chain of Sichuan cuisine more popular than the others? Upon visiting this strip mall destination that luckily has a vast parking lot, which I believed back in the old days a supermarket required huge lots of parking. Reminds me... supermarket (dying breed?). It occurred to me why this place gets the kudos when I started to look at the menu.

Leshan Bobo Chicken (assorted meat with bamboo shoots, lotus in red hot chili sauce with green peppercorns)

One of the most interesting bizarre dish to be introduce was a picky skewer dishes in the sea of red chili pepper. It's aptly called Leshan Bobo Chicken, but there's nothing clowning about this and not quite sure why it's chicken. It looks numbing, but it's not really spicy. Eww, did I just spoiled it for everybody?

A special note about coming here for Leshan Bobo Chicken, make sure to come early for this 40 sticks dish as it is a limited ordered item on their menu. The restaurant will only fulfill about a certain numbers per night (guessing about 20 orders worth) as it does take nuisance of putting different ingredients of meat and veggies on a stick.

Pork Kidneys with Spicy Chili Sauce

Weirder part was that the most spicy or mind numbing burner was a pork kidney dish. That green sauce was scorching chili that was more intense than eating wasabi on a whole. It was served cold, which has a greater taste effect. I always tend to believe colder dishes tend to be much more spicier than a warm served plate of chili pepper. This was no exception.

Tea Smoked Spare Ribs

We should have tapped out by the pork kidney dish, but we braved on to a tamer and friendlier looking tea smoked ribs. Be frank, this was a mild mannered dish. The taste definitely matched the look of it as this was as innocent as it really looked. Nice touched, but we probably could have gotten a more challenging dish, but we believed the nice looking photo did some influencing on us to choose this.

What did we learned? Spicy numbness is great when we cannot taste the weird assorted meat? I was thinking the conclusion was the tummy didn't get screamed for the restroom, which was a good sign. We did noticed complex flavors didn't damaged our senses of either smell or taste, but it did enhance some of the meat that were presented in an imperial dining manner.

Oh, here's a catch. I do think certain dishes like the pork kidney is unassuming hot. For the big mind numbing spicy, avoid the chili peppers in a soup if you can handle it. My best advice is to avoid using water as an extinguisher, but used some subtle cold soup or a frozen lettuce to suck up and tame your flaming taste bud if you felt overwhelmed. As in for the tummy aches, milk can do it, but I suggested getting plum juice to make it settled in. It's your only hope.

I think there will be plenty of Sichuan adventures for me up ahead. For now, this ever popular chain is a nice introduction and a precursor for the hardcore chili pepper fans.

Sichuan Impression
13816 Red Hill Ave
Tustin, CA 92780

Lesson Learned: Don't Wait Too Long

Seriously, I think I had been out of the game way too long.

The feeling I can't really be put into words until I was told there was a new place opened up called "Red O" or did I tried "Toranko". Huh and huh? Followed by a sound of "hmmm" with a quick reflex to google up in my smart phone. I can't even fathom on how I can keep with these new places.

It was also brought to my attention that a few of my favorite places have closed down since last my post in the summer of '10. Felt a bitter cold wrenched in my heart and a little bewilderment clouding my thoughts because I always thought places that served good food will last forever.

Won Ton Noodle Soup (Won Ton Forest - City of Industry)

The closure hit me the most was a won ton noodle shop called Won Ton Forest in City of Industry. This hurts me badly because it was only a minor walking distance from my work. A won ton noodle shop that would have made a great lunch choice for me instead of Jack in the Box nearby most of the week have now come and gone. Somehow I didn't even know about it until a comrade Go Ramen (who is pursuing his dream of being a top Ramen maestro in Japan) introduced this place to me and had championed it for as long as I had remembered.

The big heart break?... I didn't visit this place until a month before it decided to shut down.

The won ton as anyone can tell you is not a small dumpling in a soup, but a well crafted combination of meat wrapped beautifully in either a flour skin or deep fried variety. Personally, I loved the soup version of the dumpling served here in a generous portion with an inviting bok choy that accompanies it. If I had to turn back time, it would be skipping the lunches at Subway (right next door) and all those crappy lunches at Jack in the Box, and come here instead.

Boy, did I ever regretted this.

Pho Bac (Pho Minh - South El Monte)

If I need another gut punch, this blow would floored me for sure. I was really bummed when I discovered that Pho Minh closed down in November of '10. I treated this place like my secret hideaway. Never really wanted to give an acknowledgement on how good their broth with its unique subtle and very light taste. Most of the time, the oily backtaste that is on the broth soup leaves me clamoring for water. Not at Pho Minh, which I'm sad to learn they never really caught on.

I wasn't suprised because I'm usually the only person on most week nights and no other customers to speak of. It has to be very discouraging because it never got a fair shake as it had a rough start and never recover.

The sad part is that both establishment were run by young and enthusiastic owners who are hoping they can make a go at the unforgiving world of restaurant business where the rate closure is less than 3 months. It is going to be brutual and both started at a not so great foot traffic area for their business. I really hope both young owners give it another go at this restaurant jungle, but I would understand if they felt discouraged.

It's tough to see these places go in a quick flash. It only serves me as a reminder that these new places that are popping up are replacing the old establishment that didn't made it. Of course after looking up where Red O and Toranko are located, I can only surmise that both have a fighting chance with much more buzz going for them.

Lesson Learned for me. I let this things passed by and only had a faint memories of these two places.

Shoot....*sigh*. Let's take a look at the menu for the new place that had just opened up. What's it called again?... Playa Rivera?

Former Location:

Won Ton Forest18230 Gale Ave
City of Industry, CA 91748

Pho Minh9646 Garvey Ave
South El Monte, CA 91733

Bid Adieu to Wonton Forest (City of Industry)

Am I the bearer of bad news or what? I think I enjoyed playing the Angel of Death this week because this is the 2nd news of something that are not going to be with us. Sadly, I cared about this place more than the Michelin Guide.

Wonton Forest was a place that my boy Go Ramen! had championed since its earliest days of opening. Since the mythical Won Ton Time closed in Alhambra more than a year ago, many people had being trying to find a replacement for a cheap won ton noodle soup. Why mythical?

To this day, no one knows how they make any profit margin by charging a bowl of soup with big won tons for less than $4. If you have to ask, yes...Won Ton Time closed under mysterious circumstances which we'll never know the behind the scenes.

For this case however, sadly Keizo of Go Ramen! actually whispered to some of us that the end will come for Wonton Forest. About more than a month ago, Daily Gluttony of Rants and Craves and I wanted to join Keizo for the last hurrah before the official announcement were to be made about the future of this restaurant.

The popular slang of "FML" comes to me when I realized this place is only 3 minutes from my work place. That close, but yet I never knew about the place until Keizo pointed this place out. Damn me...

Just looking at the photos of the Won Ton Noodle soup and the spring rolls made me wonder why I took such a long time to write a review and not championed this place earlier. Now, this restaurant will be part of a group that didn't deserved to suffer an early demise.

It's one of those regrets I wish I would have come to this place more often because the soup broth were excellent and the won tons were scrumptious. The spring rolls were a delightful crunchy sucker that was waiting to be dipped in the sauce so that you can fully enjoyed the wonderful flavor and aroma.

Too bad, now it's just all for naught as Keizo posted the sad news. With that in my mind, I do want to wish the owner Paul all the good lucks and may he prosper down the road as he worked hard to make this place that never was fully appreciated in a tough restaurants area.

With this, I bid adieu to Wonton Forest and wish the new place (whatever it may be) the best of luck.

Wonton Forest
18230 Gale Ave
City of Industry, CA 91748

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ps. I would have given this place a rating of A minus. *sigh* FML??

A Fond Farewell Mixed with an Experimental Dish @ Duck House - Lu Din Gee (Monterey Park)

A short age ago, I made a friend with this young man named Greg who at the time was aspiring to become a chef. We bonded and discussed about anything from everyday life to different cultures that is in our presence. I guess I was a little bit sadden that he decided to make a different journey by traveling back home to Pennsylvania in one short year after we met.

So with that in mind, a few of us decided to have a farewell dinner for Greg at a restaurant of his choice. I gave him a few options, but for the life of me, I don't know why I included this restaurant that I have not visited before. Sure enough, Greg decided to pick a restaurant I have not scouted beforehand for his bon voyage.

The Duck House or Lu Din Gee as some people referred as, was a off branch from the same location in Valley Blvd (RIP - closed as they relocated to a new location in Las Tunas Dr). One of the big feature about coming here was their famous Peking Duck. Before going in, you do have to make a reservation in ordering the duck one hour ahead of time. I guess they are keeping tabs of the amount of people and table needed. More importantly they wanted to make sure that they have enough poultry in stock and wouldn't want to oversell a dish.

There are a few items listed in their menu online that does required a few days notice. In fact, a story was conveyed to me that they would need a credit card payment in advance if there is more than 4 items ordered. So do keep that in mind when you decide to order multiple dishes or have a large party.

The number you have to call for advance order

This 2nd branch located off Atlantic Blvd is bustling with youngsters on Friday night when we attended dinner that night. It gave me the impression that dinner is served here first before going off to their late night engagement at a bar/dance club/lounge fare as they are dressed appropriately in their attires. Maybe the Valley Blvd location is more for the old foggies.

Once we placed the order for the Peking Duck, we do get an option of either letting it stand alone, or we can either add a soup or stir fried bean sprouts. The third option is to add both items to go with the duck, but we were warned by one of our tablemates to ignore the stir fried bean sprouts as it was deemed unnecessary.

The Duck Bone Soup has a very milky texture and a bit of creamy taste to the flavor. There is no meat to the soup as it was more a cleanser to your palate before the duck was about to arrive. They do give one free refill of the soup when you ordered it with the roast Peking Duck.

Duck Bone Soup

The main attraction of roast Peking Duck comes in a beautiful arrangement of meat separated from the crispy skin. They also put aside the sauce and the garnish for the construction of your very own roast duck taco with 12 thin pancakes included for this set. Keep in mind about this, it will cost you $5.95 for each additional set of 12 thin pan cakes and you will order two additional sets as we have done. It was mind boggling because we spend almost $12 extra because the amount of pancakes provided was not enough for the order of one plate of duck.

Roast Peking Duck ($38.95 with the Duck Bone Soup - Two Way)

Here's a quick guide of eating the Peking Duck with the pancake:

First, you have place the thin pan cake in the center of the plate openly


Second, place the Hoisin Sauce right in the middle of the pancake


Third, place a few garnish of spring onion flowerets around the sauce


Then place a few duck meat and skin on top of it and fold in half

Voila! It's that simple to construct and eat the duck with the pancake. It was a consider a national treat back in the old days. One of the features I liked about the Duck House's version of the roast Peking duck was that it was not dry and very tender when it was presented at our table. The skin was also very crispy and not flaky. You'll be surprised on how many restaurants cannot served a simple order of roast Peking Duck correctly. For me, I thought the roast duck was good, it did not prepare what was going to come up next.

The other special dish of the night was the Buddha Chicken. Granted, not one person in our table ever heard of the Buddha Chicken. In fact, not one clue was given on how to eat this thing when we saw the dish. At first, it looked like a bad construction of a meatloaf or a mushroom was given an over abundance of steroids.

Buddha Chicken ($31.95)

So I decided to take a stab at it and poke the precious bubble surrounding. After digging through, we saw that the chicken was deconstructed with stuffing inside of the chicken skin. The chicken meat was mixed with daikon, chestnuts, and a few pieces of other seafood. Seasoned well and place that is engulfed by the chicken skin to be presented in one plate of chicken.

You can conclude that the experiment have gone haywire or the gastronomy of a chicken was introduced by a mad scientists. It had an wow factor in our table as neither of us have seen it before and treated this dish with bewilderment at first and slowly accepted by a few of us. One of our late dining partner chowed this thing down like there's tomorrow. Just like him, I found the dish to be complicated at first, but accepted with an disconcerting appetite when we figured out the dish.

Inside of the Buddha Chicken

The Cumin Beef was off the menu dish. Apparently it was only available at the other restaurant, but you can ask for it if you knew the dish. This beef dish has a nice flavor component with the sauce and oil that is stir fried very well. The chili and onion complimented the beef in this very savory dish that was devoured by our table in minutes. Couldn't say it was the best dish, but I can tell you it's the most enjoyable dish.

Cumin Beef ($14.95)

Our last dish of the night was the deep fried sweet & sour garlic fish filet. This dish was very simple, but at the same time was order on behalf of our guest of honor and his less-than-adventurous foodie buddy. Even though it was not a daring item like a few preceded this dish, we still pretty much enjoyed with our steam rice and chucked this one up as a success.

Sweet & Sour Garlic Fish Filet ($11.95)

We had a wonderful meal and the bill comes out around $35 for each person. In comparison, some of us thought this was a major $$$ place for the VIP as it was not an everyday dining. For a farewell party, this was an excellent choice for the venue. If I had to suggest coming here, do order in advance for the Roast Peking Duck and the Buddha Chicken. Try to check about the Cumin Beef and skip the stir fried bean sprouts as part of the three way for the Roast Peking Duck.

Duck House
501 S. Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 284-3227

Grade:

FoodDigger Event @ Giang Nan (Monterey Park)

Late last year, I was doing something on the web, maybe was searching for something related to my food craze. By accident, I stumbled upon this website called FoodDigger which was a website that was unique and have interesting collections of reviewers voluntarily giving their takes on the dining experiences all across the country. I noticed a few of the bloggers that I have followed have also submitted reviews on this site. It then got me curious and compelled to "dig" a little further. No puns intended.

The concept of FoodDigger for which users would provide contents in a communal bowl like manner are similar to popular sites like BooRah and Yelp. Some major and subtle differences separate this site from others that came before them. For example, the final score for the restaurants have garnish average ratings from ambiance, service, taste, and the overall impressions where it would spell out the grand score for this restaurant. Just like Zagat, this site are not intending to go after the fast food chains or even mundane take-out places. The goal of their site is to provide valuable sources and insights from major foodies and even gourmets.

Seriously, which types of restaurant diners can provide these types of excellent caveats of info?

The wines that are going to be uncorked for that evening (two more bottles were later opened also)

Of course, it's the foodies that are willing go out and try out various different places are more likely to participate in submitting these reviews. Hence, I automatically felt like I belong in FoodDigger. I review restaurants, talk about my dining experiences, have some useful tips on which dishes to order, give a fair overview of all these places, and more importantly I have no problem sticking my neck out on giving a score (since I already do so on my blog).

If your reviews have provided useful or cool tips to the readers of FoodDigger, they can reciprocate by giving you a vote of confidence for your review by placing a "Trusted Vote" for the cuisine of your reviews that have shown the most knowledgeable insight. It's a more trusted way than having a beautiful face to gather up undeserved votes. (Trust me, the photo is not big enough to influence your votes or you know the broad with a bikini top will be the most trusted sushi expert)

After participating on FoodDigger for over a month, I got an invite out of the blue for a wine pairing in a sushi joint. (Never knew they had hosted events until someone from the site invited me to an event. A very nice suprise!) Unfortunately, I couldn't make to that sushi event and was a little bummed about the time schedule not being able to fit for that. Luckily, the next go around was a much better fit and I was ready to go.

This lucky go around had taken place at a Shanghai restaurant called Giang Nan in the city of Monterey Park, east of downtown LA. That night I was introduced to the founders, community manager, and content developer of this upstart site. I have so many questions and suggestions for the site in that I was too giddy sharing it with Marshall, one of the co-founder.

I also get to meet some of my fellow bloggers whom some of them I was dying to meet. Joining in on our round table of feast was the mind and soul behind the sites and blogs of Food GPS, Foodie Traveler, kevinEats, LA and OC Foodventures, Only Eat What Feed Your Soul, and Teenage Glutster.

As everyone has finally arrived to the shindig, let the good times roll.

The following is what we were served. If you missed the dinner, tough luck for you. The notes were graciously shared by kevinEats as I did not jot any notes down because....well..I was busy talking and eating while good ol' Kevin dutifully recorded all the happenings. I get to slack off for the night. Yay!

Smoke Fish

First up on the lazy Susy was the smoke fish and Marinated Jelly Pork Zheng Jiang Style. We paired these two up with a glass of sparkling white wine provided by kevinEats (N.V. Segura Viudas Cava Brut Reserva Heredad (Spain, Catalunya, Cava) and a bottle opened from (2006 Don Olegario Albariño Rías Baixas (Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas).

Marinated Jelly Pork Zheng Jiang Style

Yes, you guessed it. We are pairing Spanish wines with our Shanghai dishes. These two white wines goes well with the savory dishes that started our course. The pork dipped in the ginger sauce worked really well after you took a few sip of the wine.

Jade Celery

A couple of Veggie dishes had made its way to our table were the jade celery and the sliced bean curd sheets with vegetable. These two dishes were paired up with pinot noir of (2002 Michel Lafarge Volnay Vendanges Sélectionnées (France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Volnay) and (1995 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único (Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero).

Bean Curd Sheets with Vegetables

If you put a gun in my head, I'll be straight up honest about it. I don't know much about red wines as I'm a total wine novice. Pairing these two different style of red wines with veggie was very intense. The Bodega Vega has this Sherry-type flavors that is very smooth and easy to chuck down. If I wasn't too careful, I can drank that quickly and often. The celery just like the red wines was light, while the bean curds and veggie were small items taking its time while waiting for the main courses to arrive.

Seaweed Fried Yellow Fish

My favorite dish of the night was the deep Seaweed Fried Yellowfish. It got sent out concurrently with the Tea Smoke Shrimp and the West Lake Fish with Vinegar Sauce. Of course, we busted it out a different white wine to go along with the dishes (1996 R. López de Heredia Rioja Crianza Viña Gravonia (Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja) and also a red wine (N.V. Emilio Lustau Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda Lustau Solera Reserva Manzanilla Papirusa (Spain, Andalucía, Manzanilla de Sanlúcar de Barrameda).

Tea Smoke Shrimp

Coming from a novice, the white wine was an interesting choice because it is very light, but the sherry red wine of N.V. does compliment all of the dishes very well. The Deep fried seaweed yellow fish was probably the most popular item for me because its salty texture that I know I will appreciated with either wine. The shrimp was not battered or seasoned with unnecessary ingredient that was perfect as it is and the fish with vinegar sauce was quite nice when you paired it with the Sherry red wine.

West Lake Fish with Vinegar Sauce

The next four items that was presented were the Stir Fried Vegetables with Bamboo Shoots, Shanghai Spare Ribs, the Squash with Crab, and Shanghai Stir-Fry of Shredded Pork, Celery and Squid. Each of these four dishes enjoyed a duet with a red wine of (1999 R. López de Heredia Rioja Viña Bosconia (Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja). Out of the four, I probably enjoyed the stir fried veggie with bamboo shoots. These four are the set up for two upcoming meatier dishes.

Stir Fried Vegetable with Bamboo Shoots

Shanghai Spare Ribs

Squash with Crabs

Shanghai Stir-Fry of Shredded Pork, Celery and Squid

The two most anticipated dishes of the night were the Meatball with Duck Egg Yolk and the Braised Pork Knuckle (affectionately called the "Pump"). I did enjoyed the meatball and right off the bat, people around me encouraging me to taste test this item with the wine of the night (2001 C.V.N.E. (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) Rioja Imperial Reserva (Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alta, Rioja). The imperial was a red wine that I think most people in our table was the most giddy when it was finally popped opened.

Meatball with Duck Egg Yolk

The Anticipation of this pairing was inevitable, but it was not the show stopper of the night. That would belong to House Special De-Greased and Braised Pork Knuckle. Some of us were saving up the Imperial, which my dining companions are all raving about the depth of flavor and its texture of this red wine. The complexity did get to me on the meatball, but I actually enjoy it on the The Pump. With its fatty skin and slow cook meat, the wine did worked its magic .

House Special De-Greased and Braised Pork Knuckle

As we continued the talk of which of the dish worked well with the Imperial, we decided to order two more dishes and a dessert. Yeah, I thought we were full, but we are just "fooddigging" at this point. Some people can really eat.

Xiao Long Bao (Juicy Pork Soup Dumplings)

I always have room for Xiao Long Bao (Juicy Soup Pork dumplings) as I'm a hound for that. I do have to point out that the XLB lacks the soupiness compared to other places. It's still not bad, but didn't quite whelmed me.

Shanghai Rice Cake with Shredded Pork and Vegetable

Our final main dish of the night was Shanghai Rice cake with Shredded Pork and Vegetable. After the highlight of some of the dishes, I thought we were going to be on operational shut down with the low lights, but circumstances can proved me wrong as I thoroughly enjoyed the Shanghai Rice cake. So delicious in fact, we commensurate with the last wine of the night (Bodega R. de Ayala Lete e Hijos Rioja Vina Santurnia Gran Reserva (Spain, La Rioja, Rioja). Not bad of a red wine to end the meal.

Now it's time for the dessert, which we ended the entire evening with Sesame Mochi Balls in Soup. Just like the dessert, it was bittersweet to end the night as we all have bonded and shared many of our foodie adventures. The event connected all of us to share this unique opportunity to share insights with the officers of this website and bond with fellow bloggers.

Sesame Mochi Balls in Soup

I can only encourage you to check out FoodDigger if you haven't done so. They have collections of reviews from some of the top notch reviewers who went anywhere from fine dining to casual dining. It's not just about the most popular place being shown reviewed, but also some of the top places in each of the cuisine field.

Fine wine. Big Feast. Great Company. Unique wine pairing experiences that is out of this world. Who knew Spanish wines goes well with Shanghai food?

Thanks to everyone at FoodDigger for setting up this dinner and for the wonderful evening!

Giang Nan
306 N Garfield Avenue South
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 573-3421

Grade: No Grade (Dinner provided by FoodDigger)