Elite Restaurant - Monterey Park, California

新年快樂！恭喜發財！Happy Lunar New Year! Gong xi fa cai! May your new year be filled with joy, luck, health and prosperity! In honor of the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, a dim sum post for you :)


Address: 700 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754

Items Ordered:

• Pork siu mai, shrimp har gow, spare ribs, bean curd wrap, chicken feet (small items)
  
• Shrimp rice roll, steamed turnip, sticky rice in lotus leaf (larger items)
  
• Crispy snow bun, golden cream bun, bbq pork buns (dessert/buns)

Elite Restaurant is an order-off-the-checklist-menu dim sum restaurant, which I prefer since the food is more fresh and you don't feel as bad turning away the Chinese ladies hawking their food. My group of 5 arrived around 10:30am and the wait was only about 10 minutes long--come any later though, and your wait time can be up to an hour plus! I was really impressed with the quality of the food coming out of the kitchen and the pace of their service too. This was some of the best siu mai and har gow AND chicken feet I've had anywhere, and I've been itching to return to Elite Restaurant. The only thing that I wouldn't order again is the steamed turnip since I like the pan-fried version. Maybe it's the fatty inside me talking. Otherwise, I enjoyed everything from the food to the company, and hope you can make it out to Chinatown for a delicious visit sometime!

--y

Tasty Garden - Alhambra, California

Address: 288 W Valley Blvd, Ste 110, Alhambra, CA 91801

Items Ordered:

• Walnut Shrimp
• French Style Filet Mignon
• Chicken & Mushrooms with Rice in Hot Pot
• Sauteed Fish Fillets
• Deep Fried Tofu with Dried Scallop
• Salt & Pepper Squid
  

Tasty Garden is my go to place for Chinese food in the San Gabriel Valley. One of my favorite Chinese dishes is the Honey Walnut Shrimp, and this is one of my favorite places to get it. The shrimp is crispy and has just enough flavor to go great with rice. My second favorite dish here is the French Style Filet Mignon. It is wonderfully marinated and a perfect level of tenderness. All the other dishes were good and went well together. It is great for a family style dinner. Every time I come here, I want to order everything off the menu, especially because the leftovers are great. Good thing I have SOME sense of self-control.

--v

Beijing Noodle No. 9 - Las Vegas, Nevada

Address: Inside Caesar's Palace at 3570 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Items Ordered:

• Beef noodle soup with hand-pulled noodles (L) & knife cut noodles (R)
• Dry pork noodle
• Wonton noodle soup
  
• Soup dumplings (xiao long bao) and steamed buns

I never expected to find decent Chinese food in a Roman-themed hotel in Las Vegas, but Beijing Noodle No. 9 was a nice surprise. After spotting a sign for hand-pulled noodles inside the casino, we were hooked. The restaurant was actually quite difficult to locate, and after stopping 3-4 times to ask for directions, we finally found this lavishly (but nicely) decorated restaurant near the entrance. Everyone who worked here spoke Chinese and the food/menu was pretty authentic, but we were still the only Asian people inside the restaurant. The favorite was the beef noodle soup with hand-pulled noodles, which were springy and had a nice bite. The steamed buns and dumplings were also delicious. Overall, the restaurant gave us a good semblance of Chinese New Year celebrations to come.

--y

Hot Pot Hot Pot - Monterey Park, California

Address: 120 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754

Items Ordered:

• Half medium spicy, half mild broth
• Veggies: Spinach, soft tofu, enoki mushrooms
• Meats: Beef meatballs, egg dumplings, tripe, meat-stuffed fishballs, beef & lamb slices
  
• Homemade noodles (green) and regular noodles
• Green onion pancake (not pictured)

I love this place! Even though it's never really cold enough in SoCal to justify eating hot pot, the herby, flavorful broth and expansive selection of veggies, fungi, meats, and seafood always draws me back. The must haves for me include: spinach, tofu, meat-stuffed fishballs, and homemade noodles. Also, the green onion pancake here is so flaky and delicious that I always contemplate taking the last piece for myself. I've probably tried 80-90% of the menu and the only disappointments were the fried rice (weird herbs inside) and the scallops (small, tasted frozen). They also have dipping sauces that remind me of eating hot pot on Thanksgiving Day when I was younger. Lastly, the owner/manager seems to be a Bruins fan even though the restaurant is located in USC's hood. Sigh, what's not to love about Hot Pot, Hot Pot?!

--y

Savoy Kitchen - Alhambra, California

Address: 138 E Valley Boulevard, Alhambra, CA 91801

Items Ordered:

• Hainan chicken rice (darkmeat) with sweet soy sauce, ginger sauce and chili sauce
• Baked escargot
  

Savoy Kitchen is delicious!! It's been a while since I've ordered Hainan chicken, but coming here, you just have to order it. That's what they're known for and it certainly did not disappoint. I prefer dark meat so I got that. The ginger sauce was my favorite - drenched each piece of chicken in it and had it with the rice. The rice isn't just regular rice - it has a slight flavoring to it. Overall, great combination of rice, chicken and sauces. The place is pretty small, but there was outside seating too. In addition, we got the escargot that came with bread. The bread, I could pass on, but the escargot was decent.

Go there for the Hainan chicken rice!!

--v

Newport Tan Cang Seafood Restaurant - San Gabriel, California

Address: 518 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Items Ordered:

• Ong choy
  
• Clams with black bean sauce
  
• Beef loc lac (French style)
  
• 8-lb whole lobster with ginger and onions
  
• Deep fried tofu
  
• Crispy fried squid with salt and pepper
  

Whenever I get the craving for authentic Chinese food, I will sacrifice my sanity and sit in L.A. traffic on the long arduous trek to San Gabriel Valley or Monterey Park/Alhambra for the good stuff. On this visit I was more willing b/c I have been waiting to try Newport Seafood Restaurant for over a year. If you visit their website on Yelp you will see pictures of glistening delicious lobsters and even a 13.5 lb monster lobster! The lobster that arrived at our table looked spectacular and even though it weighed in at almost 8 lbs, it was so delicious that our table of 7 finished it all off. The clams with black bean sauce and beef loc lac was satisfying with rice and the vegetables were oily and garlicky just the way I like them. As far as the deep fried tofu and crispy fried squid, they were good, but I could do without them in my regular repertoire. Newport Seafood is the type of great, authentic Chinese restaurant that even my parents would love.

--y

Feast from the East - Westwood, California

Address: 1949 Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025

Items Ordered:

• Sesame Chicken Wings
• Spicy Tofu with Shrimp
• Chicken Potstickers

I've heard about their Sesame Chicken Wings for so long and they did indeed live up to expectations. They were just the perfect level of crispiness and flavor. It was an Asian fusion type place - the entree I ordered was the spicy tofu with shrimp. That was decent. The place is pretty spacious and there was plenty of seating when we went for dinner. You order at the cashier and they bring the food to your table.

--v