WSGV updates

[JeetKuneBao]

Southern Mini Town.

Looking to explore more Shanghainese food. My father side is Shanghainese. He passed away last year. So eating this food helps me connect with him in a way. I love hearing the Shanghainese language. That also goes for Cantonese and Taiwanese as well.

Malan tou and snow veggie-tofu skin-soy bean (xue cai bai yeh). Quintessential Shanghainese veggie dishes.

You bao shrimp and lions head.

Fried seaweed yellow fish.

Will be back to try the Hanzhou pork belly and crystal shrimp.

My ancestral homeland on my father side is actually from Zhousan. He was born in Shanghai moved to Keelung Taiwan during the civil war. If anyone knows dishes from Zhousan and Keelung let me know. Or any deep cut homestyle Shanghai dishes. I appreciate it. I regret not knowing him more on a personal level. Food can cross cultural bridges but also connect you to the past.

[chandavkl]

Clay pot aside the changes seem quite downhill.

[JThur01]

Thanks for the update, David, disappointing as it is. The various tenants in that space have been a true roller coaster quality wise. As Tasty Garden, the quality was good until the original owner sold it off.

[avantbored]

My grandma used to really like this place when she was still around. I think their cong you ban mian is nothing to shrug at? I also love hearing Shanghainese. The film I Wish I Knew is full of it. Stream it on Kanopy!

Thanks for sharing that about your dad.

[JeetKuneBao]

Thanks for mentioning Kanopy . Had no idea that existed. Free to join with my LA County library card! 30 free tickets a month? WOW.

Will definitely try the cong you ban mian.

You remember other dishes your family got at Southern Mini Town?

Also right across the street is Wang Jia another Shanghainese place. Pretty good imo. I think the son that works there is hilarious af. Probably the most funny waiter in all of SGV or maybe even all Chinese restaurants in the US. I never encountered anyone like him in all my years eating Chinese. He was talking shit about his family and the restaurant right in front of his mom LOL.

Some places I am curious about

[avantbored]

I don’t remember; I think I went there only once with everyone. My mom is not the biggest fan. How did you like the malan tou and aster “salad”? Never know how to describe it in English.

For street food, I think my grandma really liked Dean Sin World for the SJB and XLB. I actually still have not gone!

The SGV Eats Facebook group had mixed reviews on Nanjing Salted duck. Never tried; I wonder how different Nanjing cuisine is from Shanghainese?

Yuan Fen looks interesting. There’s another place out that way whose chuan juan my mom really respected (got to say she makes the best though). S&W China Taste: S & W China Taste - Google Search

@JeetKuneBao

Wang Jia another Shanghainese place.

Before it was Wang Jia, it was another Shanghainese place. We got a cai fan, hong shao rou, and probably a soup. It was okay? Maybe that place breeds shit talking because my mom started in on the hong shao rou and the owner was at the next table having a nice dinner with his friends. Embarrassed was I much?

Haven’t been since it’s Wang Jia, or returned to Wang Jia. Aren’t the owners the same who closed it down and opened it up again?

[J_L]

@avantbored

my grandma really liked Dean Sin World for the SJB and XLB

She has good taste!

[JeetKuneBao]

626 Hospitality Group.

Love this lychee soft serve!

@hungryhungryhippos its a long ways from us but if you are in the area this soft serve is pretty good.

[CiaoBob]

@J_L and I had a B to B+ meal at Wang Jia. That waiter is indeed a character…

[JThur01]

Too late to get to Dean Sin World now

IIRC, ipse touted S&W China Taste as being an overlooked spot. Or was that David? Or both?

@avantbored

Before it was Wang Jia, it was another Shanghainese place.

Emperor Noodles? That was the main one, though there have been others in that space. My main memory of Emperor Noodles was the waitress being gobsmacked when I both ordered the dishes and asked a question in Mandarin.

@avantbored

Haven’t been since it’s Wang Jia, or returned to Wang Jia. Aren’t the owners the same who closed it down and opened it up again?

That’s how I understand it. Reminds me that I’ve never gotten around to contacting Bill Addison that it isn’t exactly a “new” place. New location, yes. New restaurant, no. I had a New Year’s Eve dish or two at the old Wang Jia on San Gabriel.

[chewchow]

Very sorry to hear about your father . Glad you are able to connect with him through your ancestry.

[robert]

@avantbored

I wonder how different Nanjing cuisine is from Shanghainese?

Peter Fong of House of Nanking in SF told me shortly after he opened the place (which was great for its first month or three, before Patricia Unterman’s rave review drew crowds) that the only difference between Nanjing and Shanghai cuisine was the salted duck, which he didn’t speak highly of.

[avantbored]

@JThur01

That was the main one, though there have been others in that space.

It wasn’t Emperor Noodles, no; I remembered I heard about it because the comedian Jimmy O. Yang was a guest on some YouTube show about Shanghainese food. The restaurant in the current Wang Jia location was called Q38.

[avantbored]

@robert

Nanjing and Shanghai cuisine was the salted duck, which he didn’t speak highly of.

Bummer. I should still try!

[JThur01]

@avantbored

It wasn’t Emperor Noodles, no; I remembered I heard about it because the comedian Jimmy O. Yang was a guest on some YouTube show about Shanghainese food. The restaurant in the current Wang Jia location was called Q38.

Yes, Q38 was what it was before Wang Jia Before that, it was Emperor Noodles, which (doughy SJB aside) was a pretty solid Shanghainese place.

[chandavkl]

Correct that Emperor Noodle was in that spot. Q38 followed them.

[JeetKuneBao]

This San Gabriel Valley Bakery Is Bringing a Tech Startup Mentality to Cake

Same plaza as 626 Hospitality Group (soft serve ice cream). I think they are on opposite schedules though

[WireMonkey]

That headline made me hesitant but after reading the article it seems like an interesting place. Cool that they take a day for recipe development (among other things)

[hppzz]

we had one of their cakes a few months ago… it was fantastic. highly recommended.

[secretasianman]

@JeetKuneBao

Some places I am curious about

the nanjing duck place used to be in the same mall as hui tou xiang. the duck is salted and served like so:

other dishes include (it was ten years ago so i don’t remember the details):

but we never thought of going back so it probably wasn’t that memorable

@avantbored

Before it was Wang Jia, it was another Shanghainese place.

ten years ago that would have been emperor noodle. the SJB were pretty to look at, but that was about it.

the XLB leaked

and this noodle dish had a gritty texture i found most displeasing (enough that i remember this ten years later)

though i really enjoyed the shiitake mushroom and what appeared to be puffs of gluten

enough so that i took an extra pic with my lousy flip phone

these last two pics were taken to show that i left leftovers - which i never do unless the food was considered really that bad.

@avantbored

The restaurant in the current Wang Jia location was called Q38.

heard bad things about the place so i never tried it. IIRC it also once housed a place known as “whatever” which would have appealed to slackers as in:
“where do you want to go?”
“whatever”

@JeetKuneBao

Southern Mini Town

haven’t eaten there in a while. i recall their XLB being kinda… lumpy

i wanted to try the eel dish but was voted down rather vehemently by the rest of the group so we ended up getting

which wasn’t bad but they might have been the least… exotic dishes on the menu.

that seaweed fish looks pretty good. ahgoo’s kitchen makes the best rendition i’ve had in the SGV.

@tdonline

may as well go to Sam woo

i actually had their (valley & 5th) seafood chow mein to go a couple months back. granted, it was takeout, but it was still pretty soggy.

@JeetKuneBao

No thanks this is oily AF.

well it is fried and someone else likened it to eating (unctuous) pork belly, so a little bit goes a long way.