went there today. my take is that you can get the same quality at lucky1 in rosemead for over $1 less per order, though lucky1 is still takeout only. econ majors can decide where this falls on their utility curve, and according to their signage, open every day from 9-5. (whereas lucky1 is open at 7:45am).
and i lament the passing of tasty noodle house and what might have been the best iteration of a shui jian bao in the southland.
On the Arroyo Parkway on the skeleton of Galang, there’s a banner announcing Akbar Indian Cuisine.
At the Monterey Park location, I would get the Beijing Meat Cake (Like a stuffed scallion pancake) as well as their Xiao Long Bao. For dessert, Taiwanese shaved ice.
the SG branch of sun nong dan is temporarily closed, as i discovered this morning hoping to partake of their breakfast special. i couldn’t even go get pho ga as a consolation prize as the PBMCC nearby on san gabriel blvd closed rather abruptly earlier this year.
Tasty Garden Monterey Park is closed. That shopping center is in sad shape as the 101 Noodle Express and many other of the restaurants in Atlantic Times Square never even reopened. Also in Arcadia, Dim Sum Box is being replaced by a branch of Tasty Choice. I thought Dim Sum Box was great, but being just a few feet away from Capital Seafood was probably too much to overcome.
i think you mean atlantic seafood; IIRC capital is in the mall off garvey & atlantic. i’ve never considered atlantic times square a destination for food with the exception of perhap happy family, though truth be told i haven’t eaten there in years either. 101 noodle express was great 15 years ago, but they’ve been surpassed in quality & value by a lot of newer places IMO - especially their beef roll.
finally made it to the brick & mortar location of carnitas el momo today in SW MP. they offer both indoor/outdoor seating.
the migijas is good if you like burnt ends, but they tend to run out and supplement it with other meats, which not a bad thing if you order a mulita and end up getting equivalent of an aporkalypse mulita (which costs $1.50 more) for the price of a regular mulita.
i still prefer the aporkalypse for the diversity of textures combined.
and they now offer a black sesame flavor ice cream at fosselmann’s, though it’s actually grey in color (top) along with mango & coconut/pineapple.
and i did finish it all with no leaks/spills.
Guess I should have put the Monterey Park and Arcadia items in separate paragraphs. Was referring to the Arcadia branch of Capital Seafood. With regard to Atlantic Seafood in Atlantic Times Square, that seems to be the remaining bright light in that center along with sister restaurant OK Cafe.
i had dim sum at atlantic seafood once and was underwhelmed. perhaps it was an off day, but the place had been open long enough that off days shouldn’t happen.
There has always been a lot of turnover at Atlantic Times Square in MPK, I assume from rents that aren’t sustainable for most restaurants. Also, since I haven’t travelled much from the pandemic + gas costs, how much was theater attendance at Atlantic Times Square impacted? Surely that would have had an even bigger impact on restaurant traffic there.
Someone ought to make a list of all the restaurants that have passed through ATS. That’s even with a few stable spaces, like Tasty Garden.
that’s been my impression about large malls in general, which has led to me forsaking places in large malls like santa anita, or in high rent districts like old town pasadena. in many ways i’m still a midwestern born and bred who doesn’t care to (expletive deleted) with mall parking and paying for the markup due to rent, etc. i’m a hole in the wall type of eater.
The food at Atlantic Seafood has been a roller coaster from good to bad to good to bad. Must be changes in ownership or chefs.
Bao Kee opens up in South El Monte replacing the failed branch of Spicy Moment. Bao Kee sounds like a mainland restaurant specializing in Cantonese stews.
their menu, though small, is somewhat intriguing
as it includes steamed minced pork with salted fish - and french toast (with peanut or blueberries) - and “new orleans” grilled wings.
the emphasis on “health” soups has a vaguely toisan vibe enhanced by “hoisan” (as in “gong hoisan wah-a!”) dishes listed among the noodle soups & chef specials. but then there’s a chongqing chicken dish, not to mention a deep fried egg with vegetables dish which sounds very mainland cantonese…
the minced steamed pork
prompts me to consider schlepping out that way.
the mexicali taco location in the old wienerschnitzel closed this week. DTLA remains open.
not enough people interested in the char-siu al pastor?
i tried it, along with the fried with mustard version and i wasn’t overly enthralled by/with it. i think you get more flavor penetration with smaller pieces of meat & more surface area vs. an al pastor approach (i find an irony there as al pastor is originally lebanese) to char siu. chacun à son goût. i suspect that the overall lack of seating may have had something to do with it. you patronize a truck and you expect to eat standing up. you go to a brick & mortar location and you kinda expect to be able to sit - like the new carnitas el momo location in monterey park (if you haven’t tried them yet, you should, BTW). they had a few tables, but people (especially families) tended to linger. the few tables worked for the expectations one might have for a wienerschnitzel. and even the carnitas el momo truck is located outside their home, and they had patrons eating inside the house as the one picnic table they have really isn’t enough seating for servings that require plates.
Taisiu Lucky moves from San Gabriel and replaces Hunan Maojia on Valley Blvd. in Rosemead. And Boston Lobster has finally made the move into their new space in Rosemead, historically occupied by Bahooka. Meanwhile, the San Gabriel branch of Monterey Palace (??) is now called Le Yuen BBQ, in the continuation of a name game that started decades ago. Le Yuen is the Chinese name for Monterey Palace, and before becoming Monterey Palace in Monterey Park, they called themselves Le Yuen (and a couple of other things before that), all without any basic change in operation.
I’m wondering what the current state of Hunan cuisine is in the SGV. Anyone?..Bueller? There was a time when Hunan Mao was perhaps the “(b)est”, but when the original owner sold it, the quality noticeably dropped. When I looked into Hunan restaurants in 2019, it was kind of depressing as items had recently been dropped from menus at some places and the quality had fallen at others.
Hunan Chili King by default now?
i can think of only three places off the top of my head: besides HCK, there’s hunan & dong ting chun. i kinda liked xiang for the brief time it was open, but i can’t swear that i’ve experienced authentic hunan cuisine, so you can take that endorsement with a grain of salt about the size of a baseball. and with the pandemic’s impact on the restaurant industry in general i’d hesitate to offer any endorsements based on pre-pandemic knowledge/experience.
The only place I ever had Hunan was at Henry’s Hunan Restaurant in SF, but that was long ago. It was good. I think I even bought his cookbook.
