Cantonese Goodness

New Lucky has long been a staple of excellent Cantonese cuisine. I’ve posted about their amazing geoduck done two ways before, and here are some of my other favorite dishes from here. New Lucky’s Winter melon soup is one of the best I’ve ever had outside of Asia. It can feed at least 10 people. Call to reserve your winter melon soup because they do run out! 

 Cold appetizer of spicy and garlic cucumber.

 Our winter melon soup!

 Our winter melon soup!

 Our winter melon soup!

 Salty duck yolk fried pumpkin sticks.

beef stew.

 Green bean pumpkin dessert. 

Chiu Chow dessert with ginko and taro. 

Happy Eatings!

415 W Garvey Ave

Monterey Park, CA 91754

I Ate Bambi

Ha Tien Quan,but there are many unique Vietnamese dishes at this restaurant that are not typically found at Vietnamese restaurants. One of the more fun bizarre food dishes I recently had there was Deer sate noodle soup. Yup, I ate Bambi. Sorry. 

Deer is very lean with minimal fat. It is more favorable. If you’ve never had deer, the closest way to describe would be that it has a similar texture to lamb, but tastes like a more flavorful beef.

Would you go have deer?

529 E Valley Blvd

San Gabriel, CA 91776

Go Big or Go Home! Brick Toast Edition!

My dessert last night. Go big or go home! A teddy bear brick toast with layers of ice cream, fruits, chocolate, and cookies scattered throughout the monstrosity! Can you hang?



534 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Happy Eatings! 

Japanese Fusion Food

Bust out your wallet because this post is a little on the pricer side!

The Open Door is a small Izakaya-style (tapas/small plates) Japanese restaurant in Diamond Plaza. It can get pretty pricy, but if you love Honda-Ya or Furaibo, then TOD will absolutely blow you away. Seating is limited and TOD has some awkward hours. So beware! FYI, they’re only open for dinner. They're also closed Monday and Tuesday. Since Open Door likes to switch up their menu frequently, I like to pop in periodically to try out new dishes. Here are just some of the dishes I've tried. 

 Whitefish with Yuzu sauce 

 Oil seared scallop with chives, cherry tomatoes, and garlic. 

 Edamame Vichyssoise with uni and quail egg.

 Beef tongue carpa with chimichurri & crostini.

 Beef Tataki 

Tuna on crispy rice sushi. 

Two sashimis in one! Uni on scallop sashimi. 

 Salmon sashimi.

Clams.

 Fried soft-shelled shrimp.

Japanese shishito peppers. 

 Bone Marrow.

 Pork belly – which came with a little fried pork skin on top.  It comes with a poached egg which you need to mix and pour over each piece.

Beef Stonepot Rice.

Yes, The Open Door seems a little out of place in Monterey Park perhaps, even to the point of being a tad pretentious for the San Gabriel Valley. They also have Happy Hour for cheaper prices!

If you like watching the game, then this may be perfect for you. They have a good happy hour, decent parking, and allow  you to store your unfinished bottles of alcohol. I loved how they had typical tapas dishes for the people in my party that didn’t like to try anything out of the ordinary and more of the unique dishes for the more outrageous eaters like me.

122 S Atlantic Blvd

Monterey Park, CA 91754

I'm Featured on Huffington Post. Take a Look!

A preview of the video. I promise that it's all sorts of crazy. 

(Click to see the video for 'How to Eat a Xiao Long Bao').

Huffington Post also picked up the video and wrote an article about it. Click here to read it! Thanks for watching and reading!

Happy Eatings! 

Dongbu Live Fish

 Dongbu Live Fish is a small, family-run restaurant located in a small Rowland Heights strip mall. The specialty at Dongbu is hwal uh, which refers to the Korean-style sashimi.

Upon entering the small restaurant, you see live fish and other sea creatures swimming in saltwater tanks. Although Dongbu’s menu is filled sushi and other items, the star of the show is the live halibut sashimi. It comes in four sizes from x-small to large. The XS is $65. Don’t trust the size! It is a lot of food since it comes with multiple other dishes. An XS could probably feed three people.

 Our meal started with quail eggs, edamame, and an array of Korean condiments to accompany our appetizers. Next came soup and salad. The salad was like a cole slaw with a sweet vinaigrette sauce. It also had roe and halibut and tossed inside as well. The star of the show of course is the freshly caught halibut. It is served on an ice platter. The sashimi tastes extremely fresh. We also wrapped the halibut in the lettuce leaves provided.  Accompanying the halibut platter were eight additional dishes. The raw abalone was a bit chewy. The naengmyeon aka cold noodle was one of my faveorites. It had salmon, halibut, fruits, and cabbage all mixed in with a kick of spice! 

Next they brought out baked mussels with imitation crab. We also had shrimp and fried sardines as well. The macakrel was grilled really nicely. The skin was perfectly crispy. The meal ended up another bowl of soup. This soup to end the meal was a spicy fish soup.

The service was exceptional. The entire family was so nice and accomdating. Despite the small parking lot, there are a few spaces reserved for Dongbu customers so make sure to check before you go parking across the street. Enjoy!

18785 Colima Rd.

Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Cousins Maine Lobster Grand Opening in Pasadena, CA

Cousins Maine Lobster had its grand opening on Friday, September 21^st and I was fortunate to attend with Foodette Friend Edward of the 626 Night Market. This was CML’s move from food truck to restaurant establishment.

So what did I think?

I really think CML has a lot of restructuring to do. There seems to be a lot of ideas all rolled into one. It was too much lounge and bar, making it very difficult for patrons to come in just for the food. There were very few tables available. While I was there, I saw some angry patrons who had come in for food. They waited more than 35 minutes.

(The Seating) 

(The Bar area) 

 Onto the food:

My order of lobster roll and lobster ice cream took more than 30 minutes to show up. The very kind waitress (Bless her soul) was also very confused on food and drink items on the menu. I was also carded for a root beer for the first time in my life because she thought it was real beer.

Taste wise, I really enjoyed the lobster roll. I think it’s great that they serve fresh lobster and crab delivered daily from Maine (and used within 24 hours of arrival). You can really taste the freshness. The lobster roll tasted fresh and the sauce wasn’t too empowering. Usually lobster rolls have a strong mayo sauce and I really liked how this one wasn’t like that.

However, for $14, the lobster roll was a little on the smaller side. The picture made it look much bigger.

 Onto the main talk of the town…lobster ice cream.

Honestly, coming from the girl who has eaten stir fried bugs before, this just wasn’t for me.

I was feeling alright when the ice cream tasted like vanilla and then right when I hit the chunks of lobster, my tastebuds got confused. You have to remind yourself that you are eating a dessert when you hit a chunk of salty piece of lobster. If you’re into bizarre foods like I am though, it might just to be worth your while. Try everything at least once, right? 

Hopefully, CML can work out their kinks and make it work in Pasadena. What are your thoughts? Did you go to the opening?

115 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena.

Happy Eatings! 
P.S. I hope you've been following on all the great San Gabriel eats I follow at www.626foodettes.com. It's updated at least once a day!