In the Valley (the Other Valley)

NBC Seafood Restaurant is a very well known Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park. It's located in a strip mall off Atlantic Blvd., just south of Garvey. It serves traditional Cantonese Chinsese food, specializing in dim sum in the morning and lunch, and usually has a banquet or two booked for the evenings. The restaurant itself is quite large, with several private dining areas reserved for banquets, and a huge central dining area. I think it probably seats about 600.

I went with a bunch of friends on a Saturday evening, and we made sure to call in a reservation beforehand. When we arrived, there were two banquets already in progress, and prospective diners who hadn't made reservations were lined up out the door.

We were seated and given a few pots of tea. The decor in this restaurant, much like most traditional Chinese restaurants, is more more of an afterthought. There are some Chinese woodcarvings on the walls, and a few Chinese paintings, but the focus is more on the food. The menu is typical of a traditional Cantonese restaurant, no real new dishes, but the same tried and true dishes, served family style.

We ordered a bunch of different dishes. We ordered a suckling pig appetizer, roast duck, two noodle dishes, three lobster dishes, dumpling soup, and dessert. It turns out that the lobster dishes use different parts of the same lobster.

We ordered one half of the suckling pig and it came out on an interesting gold colored platter adorned with little metal pig feet on the bottom. The pig platter came served up with its head. The pig was very delicious and juicy, if a bit fatty. The skin was especially crispy and nice. Our lobster dishes came next. The tail section of the lobster was served in a clear sauce with mushrooms over a bed of Chinese greens. The claws also came served with mushrooms over a bed of Chinese cabbage. The midsection of the lobsters was lightly battered and fried. Our beef chow mein (stir fried beef and vegetables over crispy noodles) and lo mein (soft noodles) arrived. There was also a dumpling soup with mushrooms and leeks.

After a fulfilling meal, the last dish arrived. Our dessert was an assortment of three different jellied puddings. There was the red bean paste dessert, the taro root pudding, and the black sesame dessert, which resembled little concrete blocks. I especially enjoyed the black sesame dessert.

The food here was quite good. The vegetables are fresh, crisp where they need to be, and softer where appropriate. The lobster was tasty, and quite interesting as it was prepared three different ways for us.

If you can brave the crowds and the noise, lack of decor, and not too personable service, you will be rewarded with very good traditional Cantonese Chinsese food. I recommend NBC Seafood restaurant for such an experience.

The Yard House Restaurant in Pasadena is located in the new Paseo Colorado shopping plaza at Colorado Blvd. and Los Robles Ave. It's a great place to dine at while shopping, catching a movie, or ice skating.

I went to the Yard House with a few friends for happy hour. Happy hour is from 3 to 6pm and select appetizers are 50% off, as well as some beers. The Yard House is known for its yard-long (3 feet) beer glasses. We arrived at 4:30pm and were seated immediately. (We were glad too, since at 5pm, the masses started coming in and the place was packed!)

The decor at the Yard House is very nice. There is a lot of rich wood trim used, dark wooden floors, and it conveyed a nice, sophisticated atmosphere. The atmosphere is friendly but bustling, and it is a bit noisy with many conversations and music, but a type of noise that conveys a lot of energy and excitement. There are plenty of flat screen TVs to catch a game no matter where you're seated.

Our server took our drink orders and we went over the menu. There are plenty of appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, and burgers, as well as prime steaks and seafood dishes. We chose the buffalo wings, chicken lettuce wraps, calamari, and BBQ chicken pizza appetizers, all half price during happy hours. We also ordered an enchilada stack entree and I ordered the grilled hot pastrami sandwich!

Our appetizers came first. One of my friends was simply doing to dine on appetizers for dinner. The BBQ chicken pizza was very good. The crust was excellent! The buffalo wings were not too spicy and very enjoyable. The chicken lettuce wraps came with three different sauces. The calamari came with tartar sauce and marinara sauce. I highly enjoyed the calamari, it was crispy and not fishy tasting.

Our entrees came a few minutes later. My friend's chicken enchilada stack is basically an enchilada built like a tower rather than rolled up. It is made of chicken and roasted pasilla peppers in garlic cream layered with jack cheese, fresh corn tortillas, pinto beans, tomatillo, and red chile sauce. My friend said his chicken enchilada stack was absolutely perfect! I had the grilled hot pastrami sandwich. I eat a lot of pastrami from different places, so I have a taste for pastrami. Yard House's version is New York-style pastrami on grilled French bread with pickled jalapenos and mayo. I really liked the sandwich. I usually eat pastrami on rye, but the grilled bread was a very welcome departure. The buttery grilled bread added to the rich taste of the pastrami.

After we were done, we were much too stuffed to get any dessert. Our total bill was $49.19 before tip.

The food was good, service was friendly and prompt, and the environment was relaxing. It's at a very convenient location too. I highly recommend the Yard House at Paseo Colorado.

Mei Long Village is a tiny little restaurant specializing in Shanghai Chinese food. It's a bit hard to find, it's located in the rear of a strip mall on Velley Blvd, between New and Del Mar in the city of San Gabriel.

Mei Long Village is a very small "hole in the wall" that seat about 60 people. When we arrived, it was packed. After a 45 minute wait outside, we were finally seated. The restaurant's decor isn't much inside, but that's not the reason people come here. Upon being seated, we were given two pots of tea. Very common in almost all Chinese restaurants.

The menu features Shanghai Chinese cuisine. Traditional Chinese food is served family style. The idea is that everybody should share a meal, versus eat their own. The menu is in English and Chinese, but there really isn't much description of the items in English. So you have to know what you're ordering. We ordered a few orders of steamed buns, an order of hot noodle soup, chow mein featuring thick Shanghai noodles, some Mongolian beef, shrimp, short ribs, and a handful of other dishes.

When our food arrived, it was sure worth the wait. The steamed buns are a traditional Shanghai favorite. They feature a mix of pork and seasonings encased in a thick wrapper and steamed. The thick doughy wrapper seals in all the juices. The soy sauce and white rice vinegar dip adds the tang that makes these buns perfect! The chow mein with the thick Shanghai noodles were great too! The thick noodles seems to soak up the flavors of the soy sauce, seasonings, and beef quite well. The shrimp was pan fried, and not too soggy or too overdone.

We had other dishes such as short ribs, Mongolian beef, and hot noodle soup. The waiter also brought us a pot of warm white rice, a staple of the Chinese diet. I was too busy engorging myself on some of the dishes I missed out on trying a few of the other ones. Since they were eaten up quickly, I can confidently say others found them quite good.

After we were done with our meal, the server cleared off our table and brought us our dessert. Our dessert was a fried red bean pastry. It's a rectangular pastry shell with a core of red bean paste. While it doesn't exactly sound appetizing, it's really good. The red bean paste is unusually sweet and I quite enjoyed it.

I highly recommend Mei Long Village. If you can bring a friend that can read Chinese or knows what the dishes are supposed to be, then you're in business. The total cost for our Shanghai feast was $83 before tip. The food is very good, not expensive at all. There isn't much decor, but it doesn't matter as you'll be ignoring it as you focus on the food.

The Hat is a fast service burger/sandwich stand known for their world famous pastrami sandwiches. If you like pastrami, you will probably have heard of The Hat. I think this restaurant is definitely on par with the Los Angeles area's other world famous sandwich and fast food restaurants.

We went to the original The Hat in Alhambra, at the corner of Valley and Garfield. There are other locations in Monterey Park, Pasadena, and some in other parts of LA County and Orange County. But the Alhambra location is the original established in 1951, and still going strong.

The Hat is a walk-up restaurant with a menu board above the counter. The menu has the original pastrami dip, burgers, chili burgers, pastrami burgers, hot dogs, chili dogs, steak sandwiches, cold sandwiches, and all sorts of sides.

I ordered the pastrami burger and my friend ordered the original pastrami sandwich. We shared a side of chili cheese fries and got two drinks. Our total was $20.25. We were given a number and our drink cups.

The Hat has the regular soft drinks and iced tea, but they also have a drink I don't see everyday... BANG. They have Lemonade BANG, Pina Colada BANG, and Orange BANG. These are whipped drinks I really liked as a kid. I tried the Pina Colada BANG. It's not exactly a Pina Colada, but quite tasty drink nonetheless.

The Hat keeps prices low by being simple and frugal. The most expensive item on the menu is $6.99. The seating area is quire simple. Faux wood paneling, florescent lights, old black, and white photos of The Hat restaurants in the 1950s. The condiments are all single serve packets kept in huge bins along the wall. The food is wrapped in butcher paper, and the plates are recycled paper. One doesn't come here for fancy china, or a romantic ambience, but really really good food.

After a few moments, our number was called. I went and got our food. The sandwiches are in paper take out bags, and our chili cheese fries are in a large recycled paper tray which also doubles as a drink holder.

The chili cheese fries are HUGE... they look like they serve 6! Unfortunately they do not have half orders of this. I took a few bites of the fries and discovered that they weren't greasy as one would expect. They were quite good, if decadent.

My pastrami burger was excellent! The taste of the juicy burger mixed quite well with the pastrami. There was a LOT of pastrami topping my burger, and the pastrami was shaved thin and almost melted in your mouth. My friend loved his Original Pastrami Dip. It's thinly shaved pastrami dipped in its original juices, served on a roll with pickles and mustard.

A quick glance around revealed people from all walks of life eating here. People came here by bus as well as luxury car. People know to come to the Hat for good food.

Sam Woo BBQ Restaurant is a small chain of restaurants specializing in Chinese Cantonese BBQ and frequented by the local Asian population. We visited the Sam Woo in Monterey Park, which is on Garvey, just east of Atlantic Blvd. There are other locations throughout the San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles city, and a few in Orange County.

Sam Woo is a very no-frills place. You know exactly what you are getting, nothing more, nothing less. The first thing you see (besides the long lines during meal hours) when you enter is the takeout section with a large hanging display of all sorts of Chinese BBQ! Some of the more familiar ones are roast suckling pig, roasted duck, BBQ pork, roasted chicken. Some of the items most might find questionable are BBQ squid and tripe. There is also an attached heated display with all sorts of other takeout items as well.

We wanted to eat in the dining room, so we waited for a few minutes before we were waived over to our seats. There is no real decor to the dining room, just a painting or two, and restaurant specials scribbled in Chinese onto posters hanging on the wall. There's no dining music, just loud conversation from the other tables around us. People come here for the good food, not for the dining experience.

Our waiter brought us the customary Chinese pot full of tea. Chinese dining is family style, and the menu at Sam Woo reflects that too. The menu contains the BBQ/roasted dishes you'd expect, as well as rice, noodle, some limited seafood items, and regular Chinese Cantonese specialties.

We ordered a won ton soup, a beef chow mein, and a small side of roast suckling pig.

About ten minutes later, our waiter brought us all three of our dishes. The roast suckling pig is basically a side of pig with skin attached, cut up into three inch long strips. The pig is roast in hot oil until the skin is nice and crisp. The pork is nice and soft, there's a layer of fat in between the skin and meat, but it wasn't too bad. I especially liked the nice crisp skin. (What do you think fried pork rinds are?)

My won ton soup is a common dish found in Cantonese restaurants. It's a bunch of won tons (dumplings) filled with pork and shrimp. They are cooked in the hot broth, which also contains yellow noodles (mein), Chinese cabbage, and green onions. Yummy.

I also ate some of the beef chow mein. The noodles (mein) are pan fried (hence the chow) until crispy. The beef, Chinese cabbage, carrots, and mushrooms are stir fried in a nice thick sauce and served over the bed of fried noodles. The sauce soaks the noodles and makes them nice and soggy.

Our bill before tip was $18 for the 3 dishes and tea. Sam Woo takes cash only. The food is great and quite cheap too. I highly recommend Sam Woo.

Johnny Rockets is a national chain of 1930s and 1940s themed diners. We dined at the Johnny Rockets located on the first level of the Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia, California. Santa Anita Mall is at Baldwin Drive and Huntington Drive, adjacent to the Santa Anita Racetrack.

The inside of Johnny Rockets is designed to resemble a 1930s diner, complete with white paneled walls, lots of chrome, red vinyl barstools, and staff outfitted with white uniforms.

We were seated at a comfortable booth. Each table located along the wals comes with a little 1950s era mini-jukebox. Our waitress greeted us and took our drink orders. I ordered a mocha fudge milkshake. We turned to our menus. Most of the menu at Johnny Rockets is made up of burgers and sandwiches, and the typical sides of fries and onion rings.

My friend ordered a patty melt, but substituted any American cheese for Tilamook cheddar cheese. I ordered the Chili Size, which is an open faced chili cheese burger. We opted to share a side of American fries. Our waitress brought out the mocha fudge milkshake and took our food orders. The mocha fudge milkshake was off-white in color. I expected it to be chocolate brown. Despite the color, it was quite good. The shake came topped with whipped cream and cherry on top. The remainder of the shake comes in the metal blending cup.

About 10 minutes later, our food arrived. My friend's patty melt is a hamburger patty with cheddar cheese melted on top with grilled onions, served on rye bread. She really enjoyed her patty melt.

My Chili Size is an open-faced hamburger with all-meat chili and topped with fresh grated cheddar cheese and chopped onions. I liked the burger, although it was quite messy to eat. My only suggestion would be to use a different type of bread that would hold up to the chili better rather than hamburger buns.

Our total bill before tip was $19. That includes the two burgers, fries, and milkshake. I recommend Johnny Rockets. Unfortunately Johnny Rockets' menu is pretty much limited to burgers and sandwiches, but it's still a good place to get a tasty burger in a 1930-1940s diner atmosphere. Located in the Santa Anita Mall, it's a convenient place to stop and take a break from shopping.

Corner Bakery Café is a chain of upscale bakery restaurants with an Italian flair. We dined at the location off of Foothill and Rosemead Blvds. At first glance, the interior of Corner Bakery Café can be described as contemporary chic, much like a larger version of the typical modern coffee house, like Starbucks. The atmosphere is a bit busy, loud, and bustling. I guess Corner Bakery Café could be described as an upscale Italian café.

There is a menuboard above the front counter. Most of the items are salads, soups, sandwiches (including paninis,) and pastas. There is also a small breakfast menu. In the front counter display, there are a lot of baked goods, such as cakes, rolls, breads, and other desserts. There is also no single item on the menu above $6.99.

Since we arrived during Sunday brunch, my friends ordered the oatmeal, Farmer's Scramble, and the Chicken Carbonara pasta. I ordered the All American Scramble breakfast. Including two drinks, our total was $25. Our server gave us a number placard and we found a table outside. About 10 minutes later, a server brought our food out to us.

My friend's Chicken Carbonara has oven roasted chicken, spring peas, and linguini pasta in creamy carbonara sauce. It's topped with applewood smoked bacon and toasted bread crumbs and comes with two slices of garlic bread grilled in a panini grill. My friend really loved his pasta, he said the bacon really adds a lot of flavor to it.

My other friend had the Farmer's Scramble breakfast with a side of oatmeal. The Farmer's Scramble has scrambled eggs with red and green bell peppers, red onions, mushrooms, potatoes, and cheddar cheese. It's served with roasted breakfast potatoes and whole grain toast. The toast was very fresh and soft, as expected with a bakery restaurant. The oatmeal was topped with currants, dried cranberries, brown sugar, toasted walnuts, and almonds. It came with two sweet raisin bread crisps.

My All American Scrambler has scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, and roasted breakfast potatoes and two slices of toast. My toast was also quite soft and fresh. I liked my entree and there seemed to be a pretty good amount of scrambled eggs in it.

I was somewhat disappointed by the very limited breakfast menu. There were only 12 breakfast items on the menu(including the oatmeal,) and no traditional breakfast items such as pancakes or waffles. For a bakery restaurant, I expected more of a breakfast offering. However what we did order for breakfast was quite good. It seems more of a place to get a quick, yet nice, lunch or dinner.

The San Gabriel Valley has a wide selection of Cantonese Chinese restaurants. But there aren't as many Shanghai cuisine restaurants. We went to one of them, Wok & Noodle, in Alhambra off Valley Blvd. just east of Atlantic.

Wok & Noodle is in a little storefront facing Valley Blvd. We waited for about 15 minutes to get a table. The place is quite small, probably seating only 40-50 people in 10-12 tables. We were seated at a table by the front of the restaurant. The decor is quite basic, it's a storefront painted white on the inside. White walls, white ceiling panels, florescent lighting. The only real decor are three large panoramic photos of Shanghai cityscapes. This is pretty typical of most Chinese restaurants around here, nobody cares about the decor if the food is good.

The waiter plopped down the customary pot of hot tea and handed us our menu. The menu features mostly Shanghai style dishes. We ordered potstickers, beef with green onions, jellyfish with celery, Shanghai style beef chow mien, pan fried pork with veggies, and pan fried pork buns. We were told they were out of the pan fried pork buns, so we opted for the steamed ones instead.

About 10 minutes later, the first dishes, the beef with green onions and sea cucumber arrived along with a container of white rice. I loved the beef, it was pan fried until the outside edge caramelizes a little and gives it a sweet and savory taste. The sauce is good over the white rice. I wasn't so crazy about the jellyfish, it had a slightly stringy texture and I just wasn't accustomed to the taste.

Our next dishes, the Shanghai style chow mien and pork with veggies arrived. Shanghai style chow mien differs from it's Cantonese counterpart in that the noodles are thick and round, versus Cantonese style being thin and pan-fried until crispy. I love the thick noodles, they absorb the sauce quite nicely and carry the flavor well. I tried some of the pork, which was pan fried with veggies in a thick goopy sauce. While I liked it, I was more interested in the buns and potstickers.

The steamed buns and pan fried potstickers are dishes normally found in Shanghai cuisine. The steamed potstickers were very tasty. You just have to be careful of the "juice" that drips out once you bite into it. The inside is made with a mix of pork and green onions and seasoning. It's very good when dipped in a vinegar and soy sauce dipping sauce. The potstickers are similar to the buns, except they are pan fried until the bottoms are nice and crispy. I came specifically for the potstickers, and they didn't let me down. They were tasty and juicy. You can also dip them into the same vinegar and soy sauce dip.

Our total bill was $33. That's an absolute steal for that large amount of good food.

BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse is a wildly popular chain of pub type restaurants known for deep-dish pizza and its pizookie desserts. We went to the location in Arcadia on Huntington Drive just west of the 210 Freeway.

BJ's is tremendously popular, so we weren't surprised to find a wait on a weekday evening. They issued us a pager, which went off after about 45 minutes. We were seated in a comfy booth near the bar. The decor is that of a brewpub. There is a section off to the side with windows into their microbrewery. In the bar area, they have a huge bar, with plenty of tall bar tables and a six section big screen TV that takes up half the wall. The dining area also features a bunch of flatscreens to view whatever game is on. Today, it was the Anaheim Ducks going for the Stanley, so the crowd was a lot louder than usual.

Our waiter greeted us and we placed our drink order. They have a large line of handcrafted beers, my friend ordered their Jeremiah Red Ale. When it arrived, I tried a sip. I don't usually like strong ales, but this one wasn't too bad.

BJ's menu features all sorts of appetizers, salads, sandwiches and burgers, soups, their famous pizza, pasta, and some signature dishes. My friend ordered one of these signature dishes, their New Orleans Jambalaya, and the rest of us split a large deep dish pizza, half BJ's Favorite, half Buffalo Chicken. My friends also ordered a Caesar salad.

A short wait later, my friend's Caesar came and they gobbled it up. I tried a little, it was pretty good.

A few moments later, the Jambalaya and pizza came. Our server plated a slice for each of us. My friend really liked his New Orleans Jambalaya. It's made with blackened chicken, shrimp, and Chicken-Andouille sausage, saute with bell peppers, onions and tomatoes in a spicy sauce. Served over rice pilaf and topped with green onions. I tried a bit of his Jambalaya, and they sure do use a fair amount of spices in it. It was very tasty and hearty. My friend couldn't finish the large portion and had to box it for home.

Our pizza was absolutely delicious. The BJ's favorite half was made with oven-baked meatballs, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, green peppers, black olives, white onions, and fresh Roma tomatoes. The buffalo chicken half was mad with diced celery, red onions, and grilled chicken breast marinated in hot and spicy buffalo sauce, drizzled with ranch dressing. Both halves were excellent. The crust was crispy on the outside and bottom, and soft and filling near the top. It really filled us up.

Afterwards, we ordered a cookies and cream pizzookie (PIZZa cOOKIE dessert). It's made with a soft chocolate cookie in a little deep dish pizza pan, topped with ice cream and creamy mousse. Totally decadent and delicious.

Total bill was $56. Fair price for four drinks, pizza, salad, and entrée.

At first glance, Full House Seafood Restaurant looks pretty unimpressive sitting in the middle of a small strip mall. My parents heard different and took us there for a nice dinner crowned by a Peking Duck platter. Full House Seafood Restaurant is located in the 99 Ranch strip mall in Arcadia off of Duarte and Goldenwest Ave.

Upon entering, there was actually a short wait, as plenty of hungry Chinese customers were waiting for a table. The restaurant decor isn’t particularly eye catching, some token Chinese paintings hanging on the wall, live lobster and crab tanks near the front. Even more obvious are the banners for various dinner specials hanging among the paintings. We were seated and given the customary pots of hot tea.

We browsed the menu and ordered the Peking Duck platter, a half platter of traditional Chinese appetizers of roast pork and sea cucumber, Chinese green beans, pork with fresh lettuce, Chinese spinach, garlic beef with green onions, and beef chow mein.

A few minutes later, our server brought out the Chinese appetizers. Spices are rubbed into the skin prior to roasting, resulting in a nice crispy and tasty rind. This was no exception as the skin was quite tasty and had that characteristic crispiness.

Our other dishes followed, the Chinese green beans, pork with fresh lettuce, and Chinese spinach arrived. I typically don’t care much for the Chinese green beans, but they were actually pretty good. The green beans were sautéed in oil and topped with little bits of dried miniature shrimp and spices. The Chinese spinach isn’t actually spinach, but some other sort of leafy green, kale, I believe. I loved the pork with fresh lettuce. It's pork mixed with spices and some veggies and fried up in a wok. They serve it up with circles of fresh crispy iceberg lettuce. You put the pork in a lettuce circle and eat it similar to a fajita.

Our garlic beef with green onions came, accompanied with a container of hot white rice. The beef has some nice carmelization to it, making it quite sweet and savory. The beef chow mein came next. The flavor of the beef wasn’t as nice as the garlic beef, but the nice sauce made up for it.

Finally the main dish came, the Peking Duck platter. It basically the skin of the roast duck, shaved thin with a little meat underneath. It’s served with steamed buns (in China and Hong Kong, they are served with tortilla-like flour wrappers). You put a piece of duck skin on the bun and top it with green onion slivers and a dab of brown sauce, very nice. The Peking Duck platter isn’t just the skin, but a second platter of the duck meat. I love the duck meat, it has a rich, yet slightly gamey taste to it.

All of us enjoyed ourselves and had a good, filling dinner. The total damage was $112 for all these dishes plus drinks.