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Favorite Chinese Places.

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It is no secret to anyone that knows me or reads my blogs that I absolutely adore eating and drinking. It is probably one of the top 3 passions in my life. Thus, I decided to create a little guide of the places I go to eat and drink in my hometown so that others can benefit from my personal experiences. I wouldn't go as far as to claim that this is some sort of definitive guide to dining in LA. These are simply the places that I enjoy. Happy eating!

Favorite Chinese Places.

Soup dumplings (pork) at Ding Tai Fung. Love these things!

Maybe it's because my mom is a phenomenal cook and I'm spoiled from all the yummy Taiwanese food my mom makes … but I'm appalled at how horrible Chinese/Taiwanese cuisine is in LA.  You can't get anything good until you get to Monterey Park, Alhambra or San Gabriel  - and that is far!!!  Chinatown is closer but nothing is particularly good there.  Empress Pavilion and Ocean Seafood have mediocre dim sum, but that's about it.  It truly is tragic.

 

I do have a list of places I go to eat to get Chinese or Taiwanese food, but I don't have exact addresses or names … but here goes:

 

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House (1108 S.

Shrimp fried rice (Ding Tai Fung)
Baldwin)(Arcadia)(Cheap) ��" home to the famous soup dumplings (pork or crab morsels housed in a puffy pillow of dough with amazing broth).  I can eat 3 trays of these things ��" so darn good.  They also have pretty good fried rice, stir-fried veggies, etc., but everyone comes here for the dumplings.

 


Newport Seafood (835 W. Las Tunas Dr.)(San Gabriel)(Average) ��" There is always a long wait here, but it's worth it to taste their famous spicy stir-fried lobster.  Other highlights:  fried calamari, stir-fried oysters, whole steamed fish, pea sprouts.

 

Happy Time Café (Rowland Heights)(Cheap) ��" I love this dive.  Perhaps it's because it was one of my high school hang outs, but the food is truly delicious and cheap and you get lots of it!  My favorites include: the fried pork chop with rice ��" a huge, tender, delicious chop served with rice, sautéed cabbage, pickled veggies and a roasted egg; fried chicken roll (not sure why they call it that since it's made of fish, not chicken, but whatever …).  Don't get me wrong ��" everything here is good, but the above are just my favorites.

 

Happy Harbor Restaurant (Rowland Heights)(Average for dim sum; Average/Expensive for banquet) - Really great dim sum restaurant and you order by selecting from a menu of color photos.  Everything's tasty here.  And service is pretty good for a chinese place, and most servers speak english. 

Soup dumplings (pork) at Ding Ta...
Shrimp fried rice (Ding Tai Fung)
Stir fried green beans (Din Tai ...
Sauteed rice cakes (Din Tai Fung)
This restaurant is located in the 99 Ranch Supermarket center in Rowland Heights. I don't want to buy into the stereotype that asians are bad drivers ... but here it's true, so be careful when you come. But come you should since the food is phenomenal (and you get to go grocery shopping at the chinese market and bakery nextdoor)!

I came here with my parents for dim sum. Unlike some of the places in chinatown in LA, which tend to be a bit rundown and grimy, this place was bright, cheery and a tad more upscale. Instead of carts of dim sum being pushed around, you order by selecting from a menu with photos of each item. Very convenient (and helpful if you don't read chinese).

We had a large assortment of items and ate until we were ready to burst! Everything was fresh, well-seasoned and delicious! We had:

sauteed chinese vegetable (no idea what the english name is, but it was so fresh and delicious; simply seasoned)

steamed tofu on a bed of mushrooms and lettuce (yummy - the light soy-based sauce was delectable)
spare ribs with jalapeno and abalone sauce (tender morsels of pork with a light hint of spice)

pork bun (soft fluffy buns filled with charsiu pork)

shrimp dumplings (har gow)(gorgeous plump shrimp; a tad on the salty side)

mushroom dumplings (with shrimp/scallop)(again, very fresh and flavorful)

soup dumplings (yummmmm, little pork morsels in a heavenly pillow filled with broth)(love these things)

fried dumplings (lovely mix of sweet and savory) ...

I think all of this with tax and tip came to about $55.

Service was attentive, but it was an extremely busy day and the staff seemed a bit harried and they did make some mistakes, etc., but were very apologetic and nice about it.
A shot of the easy-to-use menu.
Yummy pork spare ribs. Braised ...
Chinese vegetable - steamed - ve...
Steamed tofu balls with mushroom...
Shrimp dumplings (har gow). Plu...
Soup dumpling in its very own ca...
Mushroom dumplings (chunks of mu...
mellemel8 says:
OMG i miss GOOD dim sim.
Posted on: Feb 19, 2008
jenn79 says:
Yay for good dimsum!! Yummmm. =)
Posted on: Feb 19, 2008
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