Same - got in a thin ziploc bag. Maybe next time I’ll transfer to a proper freezer bag. Glad to hear you had a good experience with the XLB, maybe I’ll give it a try next time.
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So funny! Mom doesn’t know I buy frozen dumplings, she would be all “ai-ya, you can make your own from scratch those outside people you never know what they put in it it’s all subpar meat” 
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I ate through the big bag of pork/ji cai wontons from Shanghai Grocery and needed to re-up. 'Fluenced by @MailbuT to try the Mini pork wonton soup at Qiu.
Happy to report theyre the right size. Sometimes a place calls these “mini” and theyre twice the size of Qiu’s. Skin is a little too thick though. But toppings were spot on: Egg threads, little shrimps (though not the kind Im familiar with in this dish), and seaweed. They added zha cai and that was a nice touch.
A little splash of black vinegar and thats a good soup. $20 for 40. The dish was $11 and had 15.
Not pictured: SJB eaten on top of my trunk. I destroyed the evidence.
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I did not drip! Id like to try pork chop and rice cake. Another old school Shanghainese dish
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Xianglalou finally opens in Alhambra on Valley Bl., replacing Nine Dining. Nice large, well appointed Hunan style restaurant with a number of interesting dishes, including turtle and frog items. Finally glad to see them open as this was under construction for many months. And strangely the interior isn’t much different from the predecessor Nine Dining. Nine Dining had not only taken over the space formerly occupied by Cafe Spot, and then later New Haojing, but took over the entire shopping center to build a large upscale skewer centric restaurant. That experiment failed fairly quickly, but hopefully this will work.
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Does anyone know whether the Arcadia loc of Auntie Qiu is as good as Alhambra’s? I don’t like to rely on Yelp but the reviews/ratings are significantly better for the latter. I wanted to stop by otw to Claremont today and the Alhambra one is just out of the way so I’m trying to see if it’s really necessary to make that trek or if I can do Arcadia with the same expectations.
Edit: Never mind, according to Yelp Arcadia doesn’t even have SJB?
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From what I’ve had. It is pretty much the same.
And they do have the sjb.
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Arcadia Qiu is a little more hectic to eat at – I am not sure if/how they use them, but most of the tables along the left side of the dining room have glass induction burners. Everything I ordered didn’t need it, and the plate just got in the way. It’s also significantly smaller than Alhambra, FWIW.
I don’t think I had SJB at Arcadia Qiu, but they are indeed on the menu.
Had chun juan (spring rolls) at both – I liked them better at Alhambra.
I don’t think you will be missing out on much by going to Arcadia over Alhambra, but my preference is the latter.
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it used to be a hot pot restaurant. The tables were bolted in so they didn’t remove them
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Signs of life in Atlantic Times Square in Monterey Park. Hacienda Heights’ Grab-A-Crab opens up in the abandoned Hip Hot space and MASSIVE lines outside the new Hey Tea location.
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Orange Bistro owner and chef are now at New Leaf Bistro in Monterey Park. 3 stars on Yelp due to a party leaving 1 star reviews for waiting 90 minutes with no food.
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A lot of the low-star reviews on Yelp used “90 minutes” or an hour and a half as their wait time. Exactly 90 minutes. Interesting. Not sure what to make of this observation, though…
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UGH. Hey Tea was supposed to open by USC… but that sadly does not appear to be happening now…
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they did buy 1 get 1 free.
could all be the same party
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Heard the Kagura on Garvey is open. See you there.
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one of the places inside the ranch 99/99 ranch/whatever on main in alhambra was advertising “marnated” food.
apparently, they realized the word was not spelled correctly and changed their sign.
i wonder if they’ll last long enough to try and correct the sign again.
i tried hengry earlier this year. they specialize in guizhou regional cuisine.
i recommend the fish in spicy soup. just about every other table had ordered this. feeds two.
i don’t remember what this was, but the seasoning was pretty much the same as one of seasonings that accompanied the fish in spicy soup. crunchy.
fried eggplant with a sauce that looked suspiciously like lao gan ma’s pickled chili sauce (lao gan ma does come from guizhou)
decor is very eclectic for a chinese restaurant in the SGV. the use of sofas for seating at a few tables gave it more of a lounge type feel, and during a conversation with the owner (who speaks quite fluent english) it came out that the prints on the west wall were done by a “south african artist living in brazil”.
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It’s 99 Ranch damn it! 
(Sorry, was just having this discussion yesterday so it’s still a sensitive topic.)
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They’ve only been around for 40 years.
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