Food Showdown

The San Gabriel Valley can be quite the daunting and intimidating place to visit. Sometimes clad with only all Chinese signs and sometimes far worse, all Chinglish signs, outsiders to the area can find this microcosm of Asia a scary place to venture to alone.

I’ve always thought that if my journalism career didn’t work out that I’d create my own type of tour guide. I love history and shopping like any other person, but I go anywhere for the food. I don’t want to see any landmarks, show me the food, then more food, then more food! Trust me, ask my friends that I’ve taken on “tours” of Hong Kong or LA. They ate from morning to night and were not given any of those boring experiences. Oh no, this was the Kristie experience.

So what did I do when my non-Asian besties came for a full day of visiting me in the SGV? Food show down. We ate for hours straight. I squeezed in some Asian shopping for them in between, but other than that we ate from lunch to dinner, layered with lots of snacks and more snacks, and shopping and snack shopping. That’s how I do.

 We started the day off with some Taiwanese style Shabu Shabu aka hot pot. Everyone get their own mini pot where you can choose whatever soup base you want. I chose the Japanese Spicy Miso. You also get to choose what type of meat you want. I chose beef. Your order also comes with some sides like veggies, noodles, etc. Try it yourself at Jazz Cat.

At this point, I knew it was time for dessert. We drove all the way to Rowland Heights for some shaved snow from the famous Class 302. Their sign is only in Chinese. They have a minimum of $3 per each person if you want to sit so we got it to go and ate in the car. This was our mango and strawberry with condenses milk snow. It was like the ice I have in Hong Kong, which is hard to find in the U.S.. I’m not wowed like all the yelp reviewers though. I’ve had better. If you do not live near the San Gabriel area, I’d recommend trying Hawaiian shaved ice from Get Shaved. They have a food truck that drives all through the Los Angeles area.

Next we went to the Atlantic Times Square for some Ten Ren. Their boba is really good, but pricy. It’s about $4 for a small. There’s also some fun shops in the area. They  enjoyed the Japanese makeup shopping available there. Make sure not to get their slushies though. Only get the teas here. You have been warned.

By this time we were stuffed like no other. But that only means we had to move on to the next stop. Bakery time! I love bakeries. I’m extremely picky when it comes to pastries and bread. This is the pineapple bread from Kee Wah bakery. There’s actually no pineapple in it. It tastes like a Hawaiian sweet bread, but better. It’s just that the crust looks like a pineapple. Anyways I Kee Wah is only good for their pineapple bread at 80 cents a piece. I would not recommend any thing else from them, no matter what their yelp pages says. You want better bakeries? Just ask! I have a list of my top 10.

Then for the true Asian experience, I took my friends to the 99 Ranch Market to check out some Asian fruits. Of course, I had to show off the horrendous smelling Durian. My sister says durian smells like rotting trash that has been stashed somewhere for a week. It’s definitely an acquired taste. Great photo opp though.

They ended up buying some lychee, dragon fruit, mangosteen, and star fruit.

And then came dinner time. My biggest secret is Boathouse. As many of you may know, Boiling Crab is a cajun place that has waits of upwards of 2 hours for their food. Boathouse is a great alternative in Alhambra that has no lines and is much cheaper.

Our raw oysters.

Our mussels, corn, potatoes, shrimp, and clams.

The battlefield…

We went to four cities: Pasadena, San Marino, San Gabriel, Alhambra. We meant business. So did you agree with my food choices?

Crappy Weather Day Food

    L.A. freeways may be flooded with rain and car accidents, but even tornado warnings & crappy weather does not equate to crappy food. It does means toning down my usual up to 3 hour awayfood excurisons to something much closer though. Then again I think if it really came down to it, I would still be willing to drive far and long for an awesome mean even if L.A. was about to swooped into a tornado. I live in the San Fernando Valley where there is no good Vietnamese food or Asian food in general, which is why most of my posts are from the San Gabriel Valley over an hour away. Well since today Mother Nature decided to curse us today, the mother and I were forced to decide between the 2 decent Vietnamese restaurants close to us. We ultimately decided to go with BaLe because it was closer than the other place. Although BaLe has really good thai tea boba and Chicken Com Tam (Broken) Rice, I would have much rathered drive an hour and a half away to Orange County for some real Vietnamese food. Viet food is one type of food I can't stand when it's not made right since my parents were born in Vietnam. My taste buds are overly sensitive to unauthentic and just plain bad Vietnamese food. But with the threat of everyone getting sucked into a tornado espcially in the Orange County area, I had to make due with what was close which was at 7233 De Soto Ave. Canoga Park, 91303. They just redid their entire parking lot so it looks a lot better than it did before. And remember before you visit, just like any good Asian place it's cash only-perfect like all those Asian joint owners trying not to pay taxes. Plus, this place is cheap. Awesome. 

    Here is their awesome Thai Tea Boba I was talking about. Their boba is so yummy, helps to distract from the fact that the world outside looks like it's about to end. 2012 what? And the tea is a really good mix too. The trick is asking them to crush your ice instead of giving you those blocks. They usually are hesitant to say yes to you, but when you got a pout like mine how could they say no right? No, really though get the shaved ice with it or else your boba is gonna stick to those huge chucks of ice they put in. 

    Here's my other favorite at BaLe. Everyone orders it since it's their speciality. Chicken over Broken Rice. It's like Costco chicken but WAY better especially when it comes out fresh and the skin is super crunchy. 

    We also ordered Bun. Shrimp and Charbroiled pork bun. It's basically dry noodles with no soup. It's not bad but my fav is still the rice if I each time I come here.

    Goi Cuon. You can't really go wrong with spring rolls so it's always a safe bet. 

    Cha Gio/Vietnamese Egg Rolls. Ah, now here comes the problem. These are not proper Vietnamese egg rolls. The skin is completely wrong. This is Panda Express Chinesey (yes that is a word, deal with it) egg roll skin. Real Cha Gio skin is really thin and melts in your mouth. It's a real bummer though cause Cha Gio is one of those appetizers you always order. 

    Anyhow, just because your house is on the verge of being blown away in a tornado doesn't mean you have to subject yourself to eating crappy food. Just do yourself a favor and lay off the egg rolls unless they are legit. 

Happy Eatings!