Yeah, she knows the bus lines pretty well and is now a pro at the Gold Line. She prefers going to the Atlantic/Garvey and Valley/Del Mar areas for groceries. She’s got something against Arcadia…That’s why she’s on the Fair Oaks/Colorado corner a lot–taking the bus down to Atlantic. That’s what she was doing when she noticed CT.
She’s slowly appreciating OT Pasadena–noticing quite a few Chinese establishments that are close to home and she doesn’t have go other areas of the SGV. Just missing a good Vietnamese place and a supermarket.
How’s Shandong Dumplings? Asking more for me than my mom, who’s meh on dumplings.
well, arcadia is mainly ranch 99 when it comes to (asian) groceries now that i think about it. and h mart. both of those places are infinitely cleaner than shun fat on atlantic or that other place on atlantic closer to garvey. but they’re a little pricier now that i think about it. to each their own; i personally find it difficult to justify patronizing any chinese place close to old town pasadena knowing i’m paying extra for rent so i have nothing to offer on shandong. IIRC there’s a sister branch in SG down on valley that never seems to have anyone in there whenever i happened to look in because i was eating at another place in the same mall. so if people are going to shandong in pasadena, it’s for reasons with which i have limited affinity.
The food at The Athenaeum is quite good, but it gets tiresome after a while. Pie 'N Burger is quite decent (and not too far away), but again, it’s not Chinese cuisine.
Heartened to know Pie N Burger is still around–remember it from my PCC days. I was not a fan, but still get a little thrill when I see oldies from my school days still alive and kicking.
Yep, the places on Colorado across from PCC are handy also. I still have to get to Kopitiam. And bummed Che Cali doesn’t have the usual snack and dessert menu (why?).
Went to Chef Tony today for lunch. Service was very solicitous (went a little out of the way to explain the price of the tea). Food was good and served promptly. Had the app selection, green beans, har gow (smaller and no better than Lunasia’s), some spicy won tons which were the best. Not cheap but tasty. More dishes to come online as the soft opening continues/concludes. Next time I would avoid the selection and go for multiple pieces of good tasting things.
Hong You Chao Shou is being served by a famous dim sum chef? Honestly this place doesn’t sound too promising lol The quintessential dim sum dish Ha Gow is just as good as Lunasia. I know I know it’s not officially opened yet
it should come as a surprise only to the last renters that the NW corner of san gabriel & colorado has closed again. at least they didn’t rebrand themselves using letters from the same signage.
speaking of rebranding, the mijares at washington and allen has shuttered, with signs announcing their being replaced by “el matador”. the location south of old town appears to be still be going strong. i wonder if this is a family squabble not unlike golden deli/vietnam/vietnam house located with a mile of each other run by siblings of the same family, combined with pho '79 branches eventually all rebranding themselves as saigon eden.
That corner seems cursed: I can’t think of what, foodwise (or otherwise) could make it work.
Directly across Colorado, in that corner mini-mall, Romeo’s Pizza closed a while ago. There was new signage for (I think) an Ernesto’s Pizza but I’m unsure if it ever opened. Now that signage is down and something else is up, but I’ll be damned if I can recall what it is, other than it being another restaurant.
A block and a half west, on Colorado, Grandview Palace has reopened after closing last fall for renovations. Menu has been revamped and trimmed (current menu on Yelp is the old one) - looks like a lot of our regular choices are no longer offered. Will need to call and see if those can/will still be made.
This was our dependable Americanized Chinese go-to choice: not great, but consistently solid and - depending on who answered the phone - willing to substitute tofu in some of the dishes.
They reopened as the virus stuff was starting to hit the news and they’re not looking busy when we go by; that’s worrisome. Will try to get in this week to show our support.
Good to know! I think we need to try them again; I remember liking their garlic knots and being rather disturbed by the unexpected use of sweetened ricotta cheese on one of their pizzas.
Forgot to mention that they (Mamma’s) gave free (or included?) garlic knots with the lunch. Not as good as Tarantino’s garlic knots, but really good. And Tarantino’s aren’t free.
Well, maybe not so crowded. Went tonight (Friday) and although the parking looked like the place was busy, the restaurant was about half full. Got seated at once. Food was the same as it ever was. Ditto margaritas. Still the less than full vibe was a little off.
