Showing posts with label san gabriel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label san gabriel. Show all posts

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Chinese Porridge at Lu's Garden (San Gabriel, CA)

As it's getting colder where I live (and a tiny bit in LA too), I'm missing one of my old favorite SGV spots: Lu's Garden. I love getting porridge here and ordering all kinds of side dishes.

They have all kinds of dishes displayed in deli cases, which you can order with rice or porridge (go with porridge). There's grounnd pork, tofu skin, pork intestine, braised pork and eggs, various vegetables, Chinese sausage, and just so many more. You can pay for each item or get a 3-item combo (the way to go if you ask me).

Lu's Garden

My favorite combo to eat with the porridge is some ground pork with tofu skin and pork intestines, but of course, there are a lot of options for everyone. After all, the best thing with Chinese porridge isn't just the porridge but all the things you're eating it with. It's not for everyone, of course, with the more adventurous items on the menu.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Whole Baked Catfish at Vietnam House (San Gabriel, CA)

A quick pho trip turned into a lavish meal of whole baked catfish. We just couldn't help ourselves once we saw it on the menu. The whole catfish (around $30-35 depending on the size) came topped with garlic and scallions, the aroma carries to the edge of the table. This is perhaps the tour de force of Vietnam House's menu.

Baked Whole Catfish
The catfish is served with the usual condiments. Vermicelli noodles, herbs and lettuce and pickled carrots, rice paper to wrap it all in, and fish sauce for dipping. (I keep noticing how in much of Vietnamese food, you don't really eat rice but rice paper, rice noodles, and rice cakes).
Catfish and Condiments

Friday, March 13, 2009

Bamboodles and the $1 Noodles (I Kid You Not)

Bamboodles has kind of been at the periphery of my radar ever since reading Exile Kiss' post on it, but when Wandering Chopsticks told me they had $1 daily special noodles ($1 ???) I immediately asked her to take me there.

The draw of Bamboodles is the bamboo-made noodles, made fresh daily. When we got there the guy was still working on some noodles, but alas, he didn't mount the big bamboo for my enjoyment. WC got a video though so hopefully she'll blog (sorry, vlog) this.I know the green tea pork noodles is supposed to be the highlight dish here, but since I came to get $1 noodles, the green tea pork will have to wait.
Since I felt kind of bad coming in and just ordering $1 dishes, I asked for an iced lemon tea also and WC got a side of spicy wontons.

Here's the $1 chicken-green onion-noodles:
Pretty good, huh? I don't think I can get this for $1 even back home in Indonesia these days ... Wandering Chopsticks said that the last time she got it, they put less chicken meat, so I guess don't always expect as much meat. But still, for $1 this was quite a meal, and quite a deal.

The noodles are quite good, with a nice chewiness and firmness. There was light fragrance to it. Parts of it were still sticking to each other but I believe these would work wonderfully in a soup. Can't wait to try their spinach noodles also.

The Spicy Wontons ($1.95) contained of eight wontons lightly covered in chili sauce.
The chili sauce itself was nothing special, but the wontons were wrapped in a thin yet springy skin. The meat was also nice and of higher quality (more meat, less bad fat) than most. This was also a nice deal for the price.
(These wontons, plus the chili sauce from YunChuan would be zomg amazing!)

The most expensive item on our check ended up being my iced lemon tea for $2.45 (expensive for an iced tea but I guess they have to cover overhead somehow)!
I'm going to be back to try their other items, but in the meantime ... guys, if you're feeling poor, just come here, get your $1 noodles, but please be considerate and tip reasonably (the dish usually sells for $5.95).
Oh, and the $1 special only lasts while the daily supplies still last, so go there early.

Bamboodles
535 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 281-1226
www.bamboodlesrestaurant.com

Bamboodles on Urbanspoon

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Cheap Eats Under $5: Sam Woo's Wonton Noodle

More on good, cheap eats around LA! Unfortunately most of the ones under $5 will be around the San Gabriel area, but this one has branches all over, so you can find it in, say, Van Nuys too!

Sam Woo BBQ is pretty popular and has branches in downtown, Van Nuys, and of course, the San Gabriel area. They are usually popular for their roast duck and chashu (BBQ pork), but more on those another time! Right now I want to focus on their cheap wonton noodle soup: $3.95!This particular bowl is from the Alhambra location. It's a pretty big bowl and will definitely fill you up. They give you about 4 wontons, stuffed with pork and even shrimp. I really love the thin noodles - the thinness creates this wonderful texture in my mouth :)
The broth is pretty fishy compared to higher quality places, but it's flavorful and for the price, I think it's a great bowl! It hits the spot and doesn't hit your wallet that hard.

Sam Woo BBQ
514 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803
(626) 281-0038

Sam Woo BBQ on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Good Eats Under $5: Golden Deli

I'm starting a series of posts of cheap eats in LA. These will be good meals for under $5 (not including tax and tips - hey this is LA!).

First post is the Golden Deli Vietnamese restaurant in San Gabriel! I come here a lot since Caltech is pretty close. The standard dish I get is the 'bun thit nuong':Rice noodles with bbq pork, served with fish paste in the small bowl (just dump it all into your noodle bowl!). $4.75
****UPDATE! The current price is now $5.25 :( ****

They are really generous with their portions and also how much meat they give, especially considering the price! I guess it is not that uncommon being in the San Gabriel area :)
There usually is always a line, but if you're only a party of two you get seated pretty quickly.

I also got a cherimoya drink, which was $1.75. If you get a drink your meal won't be under $5 anymore though :P
AGolden Deli

815 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel, CA

Golden Deli on Urbanspoon

Friday, February 15, 2008

Chinese New Year! Hot Pot!

For the first time, I went to a gathering of all the Indonesian students at Caltech! There were more of them than I expected :P
We went to Mon Land Hotpot city in San Gabriel to celebrate Chinese New Year. The place was actually right by the 99 Ranch on Valley, I was surprised I never noticed it before.

We got there about 17 minutes late and they had given our table away to another big party, so they ended up putting us in a private room. Even better!

The reason we picked mon land is that we heard they had a non-spicy option that is more than just regular plain broth or water. As we were ordering they asked if we wanted spicy or non spicy. We asked for both. This is what they brought:As you can see, the pot was half spicy and half not. What makes it special is of course, all the spices you can see floating around in the broth. Chicken broth with lots and lots of garlic, ginger, cardamom, green onions and other things we don't even know what they are. The smell was amazing. We couldn't wait to dump the meat and veggies in it.

The meat and all other stuff had to be ordered a la carte. We didn't really see an option for big portions or group packages. So we got 3 orders of beef, 3 pork, etc etc. Also some veggies, enoki mushrooms, and dumpling.
They also have, if you guys so desire, fish intestines, etc.

I didn't touch the spicy broth, of course (if you know me, you wouldn't expect me to). But the non-spicy broth that I did eat, wow ... yummy. This was the first time I went to hot pot and actually kept drinking the broth and was maybe even more excited about it than the meat.

The meat and such were fairly standard, good quality. (the broth-infused meat was yumm ... hehe)

At the end they gave us a plate of red bean mochi. Free dessert is always good :)

Mon Land Hot Pot City
251 W. Bencamp Street
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Monland Hop Pot City on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Reviews: San Gabriel Valley

**** SAN GABRIEL VALLEY/ARCADIA/MONTEREY PARK ETC ****

Bamboodles (San Gabriel) - CLOSED
Boiling Point (Monterey Park)
Borneo Kalimantan Cuisine (Alhambra) | old review
Cui Hua Lou (Monterey Park)
Donut Man (Glendora)
Falafel Me (Azusa)
Golden Deli (San Gabriel)
Grill 'em All (Alhambra)
Happy Sheep Shabu Shabu (Rowland Heights)
Indo Kitchen (Alhambra)
JTYH (Rosemead)
La Casita Mexicana (Bell)
Lunasia (Alhambra)
Lu's Garden (San Gabriel)
Mon Land Hotpot City (San Gabriel)
Noodle House (Arcadia) -- CLOSED
Noodle House (Monterey Park)
Pal Cabron (Huntington Park) - CLOSED
Pho Filet (El Monte)
Pondok Kaki Lima (Duarte)
Raso Minang (West Covina) - CLOSED
Salju Dessert (Alhambra)
Sam Woo BBQ (Alhambra)
Savoy Kitchen (Alhambra)
Szechuan Impression (Alhambra)
Taza: A Social Coffee House (Arcadia)
Vietnam House (San Gabriel)
YunChuan Garden (Monterey Park)
Zelo's Pizzeria (Arcadia)

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