Lucky Noodle King

Nothing satisfies a craving for Chinese food quite like a trip to the San Gabriel Valley. For the uninitiated, the SGV, which lies just northeast of downtown LA, is a mecca of Chinese cuisine, offering everything from bite-sized Cantonese dim sum to thick beef rolls hailing from the Shandong Province of eastern China. What inspired this trip, however, was a hankering for noodles. Undeterred by an apparent monthlong closure at our intended destination (I’m looking at you, Tasty Noodle House), we headed to Lucky Noodle King to get our noodle on.

Lucky Noodle King specializes in cuisine from the Sichuan Province, an area known for its liberal use of mouth-numbing, tingly chilis. For our inaugural visit, Justin and I gravitated towards the spot’s signature dishes. In fact, our smiling server correctly predicted our order, which was helpful given the language barrier. She even assured me that everything could be prepared with less heat since I’m a big wuss when it comes to spice.

First to hit the table was a bowl of Wontons in Chili Oil. The plump, meat-filled won tons were topped with crushed peanuts, a generous layer of minced garlic and a thankfully less generous serving of spicy chili oil.

Everything about these were just right. I particularly liked the crunch that the peanuts added to the silky won tons.

The Braised Beef Noodle Soup also impressed. Thick, chewy noodles swam in a spicy red broth and were accompanied by beef braised to falling-off-the-bone tenderness. Green veggies brightened up the bowl and added some crunch.

When we hit the bottom of the bowl, we ordered a side of rice to soak up the last bits of spicy goodness.

The piece de resistance of our meal was a bowl of Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles, Lucky Noodle King’s most famous dish. Here, the standout noodles served as a base for ground pork in a creamy, garlicky sauce, crushed peanuts, and, of course, those tongue-tingling Sichuan chilis. The dialed down heat still delivered a powerful but pleasing punch. Even this wuss now fully understands why people rave about these spicy noodles. 

With a menu of delicious plates nearly all under $10.00 (all three of ours were actually under $7.00), there’s a lot to love about Lucky Noodle King– even for those who can’t take the heat.

Lucky Noodle King

534 E. Valley Blvd.

Suite 10

San Gabriel, CA 91776

(626) 573-5668

Yai Restaurant

I am a pad thai fanatic. About every other week, I ask J, “You know what I’m craving?” and he, knowing the answer by now, responds, “Pad thai?” Indeed, my good man. Indeed.

As a result of my obsession, I am always on the hunt for new Thai restaurants and always game to try any place that people claim has “the best pad thai (!!!).” I’d heard good things about Yai Restaurant and decided to branch out from my favorite Thai restaurant–Pailin Thai Cuisine–to quell my most recent craving.

Yai Restaurant is located in Hollywood, in an assuming corner location next to Natalie Peruvian Seafood Restaurant (which is hear is quite yummy) and a 7-11. I’ve driven past the restaurant a million times and never noticed it, but now it was time to give them a try.

Any Thai meal is incomplete without a Thai iced tea ($1.50). Yai’s version was good but the flavor of the tea dominated the taste of the milk, and I prefer a creamy, milky Thai iced tea.

Because we were starving, J and I ordered egg rolls ($4.95) as an appetizer. I don’t love eggrolls and believe that, if you’ve tried one, you’ve tried them all. These were fine, and I was glad to have some food in my stomach.

J ordered the Panang curry ($8.95). I don’t know if it’s because the curry was served on a plate rather than in a bowl, but it seemed like there was a mountain of chicken. Score. The chicken was delicious and tender, and the curry had the perfect amount of spice which worked beautifully with the rich peanut-y flavor.

And now, the piece de resistance: the pad thai ($6.95). For as hungry as I was, the first thought I had was, “The bean sprouts and peanuts take up half the plate!” Sad. The shrimp were lovely, plump and perfectly cooked, but the noodles were oddly wet and juicy, and the overall flavor of the dish was a little weak. The pad thai wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t all that I hoped it would be. I sort of wished that I had stuck with Pailin Thai.

Yai Restaurant is a lovely hole-in-the-wall with great prices, friendly service and yummy food. However, until I find another Thai restaurant that has supposedly the “best pad thai,” I’m sticking to Pailin Thai Cuisine.

Yai Restaurant

5757 Hollywood Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90028

(323) 462- 0292

Dim Sum Truck

Foodie friends, there’s a new truck in town. Everyone, say hello to The Dim Sum Truck. The Dim Sum Truck has yet to officially launch but got its start in the VIP Lounge of the LA Street Food Fest and has been slowly rolling out ever since with private tastings and afternoons at the T-Lofts, which is where I got a taste.

The brainchild of USC alum Alex Chu (’09), the Dim Sum Truck is the product of a BA in Entrepreneurship (and International Relations), an interest in the restaurant business, a love of dim sum and an acknowledgment of the hellish drive time required for most Angelenos to get to any delicious dim sum.

I’ve been dying to try their food ever since I first heard about them and was glad to get to visit before the crowds of hungry dim sum-lovers descend upon it!

The Dim Sum Truck has its dim sum pre-made for them and steams them fresh in the truck since, as Alex said, “I don’t know how to make this!”

Pork and Shrimp Shu Mai ($2.50) are dim sum staples, and these were delicious. Moist and wonderfully flavorful, it was love at first bite.

The secret sauce was also a nice touch, adding a sweet and spicy kick.

The har gow (shrimp dumpling, $2.50) was also great–fresh, tender and everything I hoped it would be! Again, the secret sauce’s tang played nicely off the mild flavor of the dumpling.

The last dumpling we sampled was the shrimp and chive dumpling ($2.50). I would have liked just a little more shrimp in these, but, overall, they were wonderfully plump and had great flavor.

The BBQ Pork Bun ($3) was the only dish that wasn’t a home run for me. The buns weren’t as hot as they should have been and had a low filling to bun ratio. Also, the buns weren’t as sweet as those I’m used to ordering off of rickety dim sum carts.

Finally, we ordered the Lotus Sesame Balls ($2.50). With the crunchy sesame seeds on the outside and the delicious, sweet filling on the inside, every bite was full of wonderful flavors and texture contrasts.

I’m glad to see that the Dim Sum Truck went the traditional route with most of its dishes; good dim sum doesn’t need a “twist”…it just needs to be devoured.

The Dim Sum Truck will also serve specials such as a Spicy Tofu Mulita (inspired by La Taquiza, a favorite among USC Trojans) and a Peking Duck Taco.

The Dim Sum Truck serves delicious food of a great quality at a great price. I’m also glad to see a Trojan who graduated in ’09 working. Let’s keep it that way: visit the Dim Sum Truck.

The Dim Sum Truck

www.twitter.com/dimsumtruck

www.thedimsumtruck.com

Tasty Garden and Fosselman’s

Periodically, someone will tell me that the place for Chinese food is Alhambra. I then Google Map “Alhambra,” see how far away it is from me and then go, “Ohhhhh, that’s why I’ve never been there.” Recently, however, I decided to make the trek (an hour in gridlocked traffic that made me want to kill myself) in search of some delicious Chinese food and to catch up with some friends at Tasty Garden.

I had heard that, despite Tasty Garden’s pretty ample seating, there is usually a wait, which I took as a good sign. Arriving at 8 PM on a Friday night, we waited for around 15 minutes for a table for four, which I thought was very reasonable. Plus, we had the picture-filled menu to keep us occupied while we waited.

As a side note, if you’ve never ordered “family style” at a Chinese restaurant, I highly recommend it. Because Chinese dishes aren’t served with sides and usually come in large portions, it’s a great idea for everyone to order one thing and then share with the table. Everyone’s tummy wins!

J and Anthony started with the Won Ton Soup. Expecting a tiny bowl of soup with a couple of crispy won tons thrown in, I thought that the $5.50 price tag was a little steep. Little did I know that the soup was served in a huge ramen bowl and was more than enough for two. Tasty Garden also does one better than crispy, calorie-but-not-nutrition laden wontons and adds dumplings to their soup. These were awesome! They tasted like a combination of shrimp and pork, and I had to stop myself from filling up on soup before the rest of the food came.

Anthony ordered spicy fried chicken wings. I’m not a huge fan of fried chicken, but these had a thin layer of delightfully crispy and flavorful skin and tender meat. They also weren’t too, too spicy.

Jamie ordered the Honey Ginger Chicken Hotpot. The chicken had a great sweet flavor, and there was more than enough chicken for four people to share. My only complaint is that there were bones in every piece of chicken (which were small pieces) and, at some point, I stopped eating them because I was tired of having to nibble around the bones.

I ordered the Honey Walnut Shrimp, which I’d heard was awesome and was the reason I not-so-arbitrarily chose Tasty Garden out of all the other Chinese restaurants in Alhambra. This dish was exactly what I wanted. It had a nice, thick layer of crunch on the outside and a generous covering of the mayo sauce. NOM!

J ordered the Beef Chow Fun, which was also delicious. I was glad that the dish was liberal with the amount of beef included! You can also get the dish with gravy, but I’d advise against it. The chow fun has enough flavor already.

Tasty Garden delivered exactly what I wanted–delicious Chinese food that tasted like the food I grew up with. Mission accomplished.

At some point after our meal, while the four of us were sitting around letting our food settle, we realized, “Isn’t Fosselman’s nearby?” Dessert time!

Fosselman’s is an old-fashioned ice cream shop that makes all of its own ice cream and sorbet…alllll 40-something flavors.

As you can see, they have a pretty extensive (and delicious) list of ice cream flavors.

I ordered chocolate-covered strawberry. YUM! The chocolate chips were teeny tiny, like those in Baskin Robbins’s mint chocolate chip ice cream. The strawberry base was also awesome.

J ordered taro, which tastes a little coconut-y and is, basically, mind-blowing. For those of you unfamiliar with taro, it is a plant grown as a root vegetable that is used to make the Hawaiian dish poi. Fosselman’s also makes ube (purple yam) ice cream, which tastes suspiciously like the taro but whatever. It’s good. Order it (or, well, either one, I guess).

I’m not sure exactly what the prices were, but my cone and J’s cup together cost $5. Not too shabby…

Anthony ate his scoop of Cookies n Cream before I could snap a pic and Jamie ordered… vanilla. Wah Wah.

If you like delicious ice cream, then I highly recommend that you visit Fosselman’s and try one of their amazing, unique flavors. (Don’t be like Jamie 😉 ).

Tasty Garden

www.tastygarden.us

288 W. Valley Blvd, Suite 110

Alhambra, CA 91801

(626) 300-8262

Fosselman’s Ice Cream

www.fosselmans.com

1824 W. Main St.

Alhambra, CA 91801

(626) 282-6533