Thanks @Dommy. We are very happy finding out about Ocean Island. The Bean Cure Wrap, Chiu Chow Dummpling and freshly out of the kitchen Sesame Balls are very good. Turnip cake is good. Hitting our limit, we bought a tray turnip cake and Chicken Bao for later. Only the Sticky Rice is a bit behind the curve. A big plus for us is items we saw are handmade as opposed to machine production in most places.
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I need to get that bean curd wrap next time!!! Glad you enjoyed it. We liked pretty much everything we have tried except for the fried taro dumpling. It was a little too much taro and not that much filling. The fry was perfect though.
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Morning Summit is a new Taiwanese breakfast spot in MP. Anyone been?
I’m partial to Huge Tree Pastry OG Yi Mei.
Noodle House 958 E. Garvey was a favorite of my dad who loved the bao zi and dumplings. Not so favorable Yelp reviews lol I’ll still go. Looking at the menu….thats a lot of different bao zi’s!!!
Learning about my dad thru my aunts. I wished I knew him on a more personal level. Like all of his favorites stuff. Retracing his steps and experience his favorites. That didnt really crossed my mind. Same with my mom. Now it’s important to me.
“Hey mom/dad what is your favorite _____??”
Such a simple question
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I noted its opening here a year ago and at the same time did an Instagram post which Jenn Harris picked up on in an article for the Times. Don’t remember what she said but that article is floating around.
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Morning Summit is Tianjin breakfast not Taiwanese
What dishes/items make that place distinctively Tianjin?
This is the bulk of Jenn Harris’s LA Times comment:
‘ Fan tuan and meat biscuits at Morning Summit
If you’ve never had fan tuan, this is your sign to try something new for breakfast. The sweet rice rolls can be found at a number of restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. They typically involve a thick layer of sweet rice wrapped around youtaio, a long Chinese doughnut known as “oil-fried devil” when translated from the Cantonese name yàuhjagwái.
When I’m craving a savory fan tuan, filled with salty dried pork floss, preserved vegetables, youtaoi and egg, I head to Huge Tree Pastry in Monterey Park or Pine & Crane in downtown L.A. For a sugar rush, there’s Morning Summit.
Listed as “Taiwanese purple rice roll” on the menu, the dish involves youtaio and crunchy peanuts encased in about an inch and a half of purple rice. The entire thing is wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and sliced down the middle, presented like two halves of a burrito.
Peel back the plastic wrap as you go. The rice is sticky enough to hold together, but you don’t want it to fall apart. And though the rice grains are firmly locked together, they manage to feel separate and not mushy.
果子煎饼 and 嘎巴菜 is a giveaway it’s northern Chinese and not Taiwanese, along with the extensive stuffed bun, cold dishes, etc
I tried their lamb leek stuff bun, gave me diarrhea, there are other Tianjin breakfast places on Garvey that are better
The menu does have a few Taiwanese style items, seems like that is what the LA times girl ordered. But I have a feeling they just throw in Taiwanese items to attract a wider customer base. Kind of the same model as Garage Kitchen.
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thanks for pointing the other nanjing duck place. i was unaware it existed.
beyond interesting: did they take over from their parents? usually immigrant chinese parents want their kids doing something more respectable/financially rewarding. and the most successful chefs in america are likely to tell you that they don’t do it for the money.
i had the impression that they were actually jiangnan in origin (and the taiwanese in a western influenced way assimilated it and called it their own, like with XLBs, etc.)
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I only been to Fortune No 1 for jianbing.
Is Fortune still the place for Tianjin breakfast and snacks in SGV
I think they might be family fronting for the owner chef, as with the online predecessors. But they’re clearly running the show.
Last I heard, yes. There’s Garage, which gets mixed reviews, at best.
While there have been a few Tianjin-style specialists, they are few and far between, even in the SGV. There was Tianjin Kitchen in San Gabriel; Chans Paris N in Arcadia, and a place in City of Industry whose name escapes me now. I also recall TonyC found a Tianjin breakfast place he raved about, but it somehow folded in less than two weeks! (if that). It was like a SGV restaurant version of Brigadoon.
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As mentioned above one of my pops favorite spot is a Tianjin baozi and dumpling specialist I think
Green beans in a baozi? That’s a lot of different baozi’s and dumplings being made here
How this place slip by the foodie media?
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What did you think of the place? We enjoyed our visit a few wks ago.
A lot of people are comparing it to Din Tai Fung. It was good but I wouldn’t go that far.
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First time I’ve seen ginger rice cakes, a Chinese New Year dim sum specialty, in the Los Angeles area,
at Ocean Island in Monterey Park.
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I love Ocean Island. They totally kill it with that kitchen of theirs and the variety of items they are pumping out! .
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My only criticism is that you never know what they will or won’t have on any particular visit.
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They always have the classics, Shu Mai, Har Gow, Ham Sui Gok, the Buns. Now, people order by the ton (Including myself!) so sometimes you have to wait for things to come in and have seen plenty of people do that. But since they have SUCH a wide selection, I can always find something or the other to sub or give a try for the first time.
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