Earthen

After too many days of eating the white man's food, I really was craving something Asian.  I can't go too many days without eating Asian food.  I crave chocolates and sweets, but my want for Asian food runs deeper than simple desire.  It's like it's ingrained into my genetic makeup to optimally thrive off of Asian food.  With any other foods, sure I'm living, but who wants to just live?  

It probably didn't help that I spent the whole day sweltering under the unforgiving sunshine of the desert to watch the BNP Paribas Open.  When I'm stressed mentally or physically, I turn to food for comfort.  That day was no exception, and I was happy to be out and about with Old Soul, who is definitely a food fan.  He asked what I wanted to eat after our long day.  I said "Asian" and he obliged.  Simple as that.  I don't think I could be friends with anyone who would put up a big stink about what or where we ate.  We really went to town on the ordering and the waitress laughed in disbelief when she confirmed our order of 6 dishes for 2 people.

House Chicken
I've had chicken like this before and it was called Shan Dong chicken.  Old Soul, being the unusually helpful China man that he is can read Chinese and the Chinese description of this dish, which was none other than Shan Dong chicken.  This dish is quite popular here, but I was actually disappointed. The chicken wasn't as flavorful as I've had before and the cold cucumbers nestled underneath the chicken wasn't as marinated as I would have liked.  You should have seen Old Soul turn his nose up at the site of those green cucumbers.  He's allergic to all things green apparently.

Ong Choy
Old Soul turned his nose at the cucumbers, but he had a look of horror when I pushed for an order of ong choy.  I loved how the veggies weren't sitting in a big puddle of its own juices.  They must have been cooked at very very high heat.  I could never get my vegetables this way at home.

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Dumpling Dinner Party

It seems like I've been ho-ing it up with Hobag a lot lately.  Well maybe it's because none of the rest of my so-called "friends" ever asks me to hang out hmmm???  It's likely your loss because if you're not hanging out with me, you're probably not eating all that well.  Hobag's donut and my food baby speak to the very fact that when together, we eat REALLY well.  For a change of pace, Hobag invited me to a little dumpling making party.  The original party was getting out of control with the head count going upwards of 10 people.  So that was scraped and a new party was planned with just 4 of us, 5 if you include the dog.

I missed most of the prep that went into the dumpling filling making.  Hates Food Porno gave me a rough rundown of the ingredients.

Shrimp, Pork, and Chive Dumplings

(makes ~100 dumplings)

2 lbs shrimp

1 lb ground pork shoulder

2 big bunches of Chinese chives

1 egg

1 tsp cornstarch

1/3 of a 16 oz bottle of sesame oil

Salt and chicken bouillon to taste

I've made plenty of dumplings at home, but this by far had to be the best tasting one.  Paucity of ingredients?  I guess most other dumpling recipes have soy sauce, cooking wine, and ginger from what I've noticed.  Ground pork is usually used and the ratio of shrimp to pork is way higher than what I've seen.  Lastly, Hates Food Porno's recipe uses way more sesame oil than I've ever seen before as well.  Though, maybe it was the chicken bouillon powder that added that specialness.  It's a ragtag recipe, but I'm saving it to try on my own one of these days.

I think the tip I picked up here was to stop overstuffing my dumplings.  I think I get super greedy and want to put a ton of stuff in each wrapper.  Each wrapper can only accommodate so much filling and will usually tear when pushed to its limit.

To give you a point of reference, the almighty and ubiquitous Yogurtland spoon was used to fill our dumplings.  Hobag was all out of silver spoons that night.

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Shanghai River

Our next dining destination in Vancouver was going to be West.  We thought one fancy dinner would be a nice highlight for the weekend.  When it came down to it, we felt a bit foolish not eating more Chinese food while in Vancouver.  I mean, it's called "Hong-Couver" right???  So at the last minute we cancelled our reservations at West and opted for Shanghai River.  Yelp directed me here during my search for "dumplings."  It's outside of Vancouver in the nearby suburb of Richmond.  Apparently, the suburbs of Vancouver are just teaming with the Ching Chong Chang-ers.

We were quite impressed at how new, modern, and clean the restaurant was.  You have to give it to Asians and their love for all things new and shiny.  I approve of such superficiality!

Like Din Tai Fung, they show you the dumplings being made.  The big difference is that slanty eyed people are making your dumplings here and not some Hispanics.  Not that I feel there is any difference, but maybe its harder to come by Hispanics this far north.

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Michelle's Pancakes

Michelle's Pancakes is a restaurant that's been around for a few years I think, but the reviews on Yelp were never that impressive.  It's located in the same plaza as Luscious Dumpling, so maybe it gets some overflow from them.  When I attempt Luscious Dumpling, I just make the commitment to wait and wait and wait and wait.  It was only after being smacked in the face by the hour long wait for dinner at Din Tai Fung on a Sunday night when Luscious Dumpling is closed that we decided to go for Michelle's Pancakes.  Lo Ma-Linda and Big Head Talks ALot, being "anything Asian-philes" graciously joined us for our first meal of the new year.

Pickled Cabbage
Spicy and sweet.

Pickled Cucumbers
I'm not sure if you can tell, but these were some sad limp cucumbers.  Flavor was ok.

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Din Tai Fung (Seattle)

Portland is a nice place to live.  The people are nice.  There's not much traffic.  Most everything you want is here sans tax (there's a Target and/or Trader Joe's every which way you turn!).  The very obvious thing it is lacking is great Asian food, especially good dumplings.  Lucky for us, the world famous Din Tai Fung has opened up a new outpost!........................in Seattle. 

Now we don't have to fly to get our dumpling fix!  We need only drive 2.5 hours one way, so that we can wait another 1 hour for a table, and then fight the food coma back to Portland another 2.5 hours, while maintaining a keen watch out for cops trying to stick you with a speeding ticket for going over 65mph.  No joke.  Who would attempt such a ridiculous trip?  On a whim no less?  Well, that would be Dumpling Man and his trusty sidekick, moi. 

The restaurant is located in Bellevue, which seems to be a pretty posh area of Seattle.  Din Tai Fung is in the top level of a new, modern, non-Asian, non-ethnic, All-American shopping complex with a Nordstroms, Crate & Barrel, and PF Chang's.  It's on the same floor as Lucky Strike.  Yes folks, you can bowl and get your dumpling on at the same time!

It seems like they've spared no expense at this outpost of DTF.  It's a striking contrast to the cramped quarters of DTF in Taiwan.  This one is sprawling with high ceilings and modern finishings.  It's easily double the size of the 2nd Arcadia location and even has a private room with an all glass wall and door.

The stand out feature of this location is the full stock bar where you can wait for your table or even eat.

And of course, the droves of hispanics industriously working the dumpling line.

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101 Noodle Express (Lu Wei Ju)

We all know Irvine is missing a solid dumpling and noodle house.  A&J makes a decent attempt, but it still leaves a big void.  I mean, if I knew how to make awesome dumplings, I would totally open up a joint in Irvine because I knew it would win big.  I'm talking lines out the door folks!!  Let's step outside my imagination for now, and talk about Irvine's newest dumpling and noodle house, 101 Noodle Express.

101 Noodle Express' original location in Alhambra has been on the SGV dumpling scene for a long time.  Unfortunately, Dumpling Man and I were not particularly impressed with anything there when we tried it many moons ago.  Somehow, transplanting the restaurant to Irvine has changed my opinion.  Maybe because there's just not many options in Irvine when it comes to noodles and dumplings.

Cold Mix of Cucumbers
We all know I love a good pickled vegetable, and cucumbers are no exception.  These were a tad on the sugary side but it was refreshing for a warm summer lunch. 

De Zhou Chicken
Apparently this dish is quite special at 101 Noodle Express.  De Zhou chicken is a special dish from the Shandong region of China.  The bird is first deep fried before it is braised in spices, soy sauce, and sugar.  The dish here was served cold with a soy dipping sauce.  It was pretty darn flavorful and moist.  Surely something I would order again.

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J&J

For all of those tired of the updates about Thailand, this one's for you...

The San Gabriel Valley has no shortage of dumplings.  In my experience, most of the dumplings are just OK, never really achieving that yum-inspiring lip-smacking deliciousness of Luscious Dumpling, which I am convinced has to use MSG.  Most taste like something you could have whipped up at home.  As for soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung simply reigns supreme.  J&J makes a good attempt at putting out regular and soup dumplings that taste better than something home made.


Snow Pea Leaves sauteed in garlic
I would love it if I were able to buy these vegetables in any market, Asian or non-Asian, at the same quality as the restaurants.  I've purchased these once in NYC Chinatown and while I did not prep them properly, they still did not have that same freshness or tenderness.  Here the veggies were plentiful, and although not top quality like at the pricey Chinese seafood restaurants, still pretty delicious.

Niu Rou Mian beef noodle soup
I thought the concoction at this particular place was a tad on the bland side but Dumpling Man likes his food to be tame and simple, while I tend to lean toward food with kick and punch.   The portion was certainly more than generous for the price, not an uncommon finding in the SGV.

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A&J

Even though Irvine is packed with Chinese people, the Chinese food is still inferior to that in the San Gabriel Valley.  The SGV is more like bleeding Chinese people, so that probably explains the difference.  This was my first time at A&J which is a Taiwanese restaurant, I think.  They serve dumplings, noodles, small cold dishes, fried pork chop, etc.  All the things that those little rascals from the island formerly known as Formosa love to eat.

Cucumber Salad hot garlic sauce
I think I was expecting a more pickled taste, but these were more sweet and spicy than anything else.  Oh, they were also garlicky.



Spicy Wonton with Hot Red Sauce szechuan style
I absolutely love the version of this at Din Tai Fung.  These were actually quite good here too.  There could have been more filling to the wontons, but overall, pretty tasty with just the right amount of heat.

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Luscious Dumplings

I have a love-hate relationship with Luscious Dumpling.  I LOVE the dumplings, and HATE almost everything else about the place.  Ok that last part may be an exaggeration.  I mean, the place is small, but clean, the service is typical for FOB Asian, the prices are cheap, but on par with most everything else in the San Gabriel Valley.   What I really HATE about the place is the hours, the wait, and how they consistently run out of food.  It's like the place doesn't even try to make enough food for all the hungry customers.  You'd think the owner was in the back thinking, "I feel like going home at 7:30pm tonight.  Let's just make 100 dumplings today.  And I only feel like making 3 types.  Don't make too much noodle soup either.  We wouldn't want customers to be happy and satisfied."  It's no joke.  If you don't show up by 7:45pm, you are sh*t outta luck.

Take a good look at this menu.  It may be one of the very few times you won't see half the items crossed off.


Small Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce
The vegetables are fresh fresh fresh.  You won't taste anything chewy or bitter about these bok choy.  They are crisp, and interestingly prepared, or so I think.  It doesn't taste like the bok choy have been stir fried in the traditional fashion, which would result in the bok choy sitting in a pool of its own watery soy sauce.  Perhaps they are blanched, and then just lightly tossed in oil in a skillet?  I can't figure it out, but I do love the veggies here.

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Portland Food Carts

LA has food trucks. Portland has food carts. What's a food cart? At first, I thought it would be cheap fast food to go, that was not so good, but its more along the lines of the food trucks. Really good food to go, but probably not as innovative as the LA food truck scene. However, it does have one advantage in my mind. The food carts don't move! I'm a foodie, and I'm first to try whats new and hot, but as far as the LA food truck movement goes, I've only tried Kogi. I've totally wanted to hit up all the other trucks but I really cannot handle the fact that the trucks move! I just wish they stayed in one place. It's just a hassle to go chasing these trucks around and then have to find parking at the same time. RIDICULOUS! Carts on the other hand are there when you want them. They're in the same place everyday with predictable hours.

Food Carts Portland is a very comprehensive blog mapping out all the food carts. They're all over the city, but I just stuck to the carts that were within walking distance to me. I was too scared to hop onto the public transportation. Me and public transportation do not get along.

Below are the food carts on 10th & Adler. Its seriously a block full of carts, maybe over 20? Some of the carts have not so good food, and some have pretty solid eats. The prices are reasonable, but not dirt cheap or anything. Like a Vietnamese sandwich is probably ~$3-4 while its 2 for $3 in OC. I would say $6-7 + drink will buy you a solid lunch.


With the nice weather in Portland right now, you will find crowds of people out and about enjoying the sun and warmth during their lunch breaks. That would be a downside to the food carts. They are mostly open for lunchtime and closed by dinner =(








So my first day I just went sorta blindly. Just trying the carts willy nilly. Although this did not seem that promising from a taste perspective, I was just attracted by the name.


The problem with Food Carts Portland is that they do not review all those food carts, so its hard to figure out which are the good ones. I just had to try this place because of the concept, dumplings!!




I ordered the sampler. What's interesting about the food served by these carts is that the to go boxes look like they're made from recycled paper. There is no styrofoam used here. Is that just a Portland being green thing? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised. At the airport, they have special water saving toilets. Pull the flusher handle up for "liquid waste" and push it down for "solid waste."

The dumplings taste like they have been sitting in the steamer for a while. The skins take on this dried out chewy quality, but its not a huge deal. When it comes to dumplings, its all about the fillings.


This is the traditional dumpling with pork, scallions, and ginger. I read that one of the proprietors actually spent time in Beijing and learned to make dumplings from a couple who owned a Chinese restaurant close to her home in the States it sounds like. I think the owners need to spend some time in the SGV to taste better traditional dumplings. This dumpling had waaay too much ginger, but it was a good attempt. Tastes as good as any dumpling I can make.


The cheeseburger dumpling really tasted like a cheeseburger. It wasn't oozing cheese, so I'm not quite sure how they incorporated that flavor in it. You could definitely taste the beefiness of a burger in this one. The special sauce had the kick of cocktail sauce that was reigned in with the creaminess of mayo or something, I can't be sure.


The potatoe curry dumpling tasted like a samosa. It was served with a coconut sauce which was pretty sweet. It was interesting for sure. I think the last dumplings just shows you that really anything can be folded in a dumpling skin and sold as a dumpling.


With so many truck choices, I don't think I'd waste my stomach space on any more Dump Truck offerings anytime soon.

So with 6 dumplings down, I felt like I had room for more. There were just too many choices and I was walking around and around trying to listen closely to what my stomach was saying. I would definitely say theres a majority of Asian food choices. I joke that if there are any Asian people in Portland, they are probably working out of the food carts. Tons of Thai and Vietnamese food carts. Japanese and Korean come as a close second. Then Indian, Mexican, Eastern European, and American varieties.

So the Korean taco fad has not bypassed Portland. In fact there are plenty of Korean food carts that serve all the usual in addition to tacos and burritos. There's even a Korean taco truck up there that is quite popular. So I had to have a try. I went to Korean Twist on 10th & Adler. For $7 you can get a trio of beef, pork, and chicken tacos served with a side of fried rice and salad or kimchi.


The tacos are served with a "special sauce." Any guesses as to what this special sauce could be? Gojuchang! Thats the spicy bean paste sauce that goes in bimbimbap. I am not a fan of this sauce in large quantities. The tacos were slathered in it. It was totally overwhelming and after 3 bites I was already tired of eating the tacos. The meat itself doesn't taste that special, like any pre marinated meat you get at the Korean market. The taco was also too thick. My favorite part of the combo was actually the fried rice which was pretty light in oil and in taste.





I could not figure out what sort of dressing was on this salad. I don't know anything that's purple except taro. I couldn't even figure out what it tasted like. I think my tastebuds were dulled by all that gochujang.


Despite the disappointing first lunch at the food carts, I had high hopes for day 2. There was one cart that had much potential, Nong's Khao Man Gai.



Look at all the publicity!


It's seems like one model of the successful restaurant is having a small menu that focuses on perfecting the few things offered. Take In & Out for example or Luscious Dumpling. Nong figured this out too. All she serves is the Thai version of Hainam Chicken, which apparently is found very commonly as street food in Bangkok.



She makes a point of serving it the same way they do in Thailand, simply wrapped in butcher paper.



I like that its served with soup, although I was hoping it would be a chicken stock, but this was a soup of pickled mustard greens. It's a familiar flavor since Vietnamese pickle mustard greens too, but I can't imagine all people liking this.


The chicken was all white meat and quite moist. The rice was delicious but could have been more flavorful. All was forgiven after tasting the sauce. MMMMM!!!


The sauce was definitely the winning component to the dish. I was racking my brain trying to figure what was in the sauce. I could definitely taste ginger, sugar, maybe garlic and onions, and after that I was at a loss. I would assume fish sauce but it didn't have the right color or consistency for just fish sauce. Of course google filled in the blanks. It's fermented soy beans of course! Next time I make my Hainam chicken I am making this sauce!



After feeling quite satisfied with day 2's winning lunch, I was anxious to see what could possibly follow-up Nong's delicious khao man gai. Thai papaya salad was on the menu for day 3.


Again a relatively simple straight forward menu.




I love Thai salads for their tangy, savory, sweet and sometimes spicy dressings. This one was especially well balanced. The shredded papaya and carrots makes for some good crunch. The chicken was forgettable. The sticky rice was an interesting variation. Some of the Oregonians were complaining that the sticky rice came wrapped in a plastic baggy. I think it offended their go-green sensibilities. Apparently its served in a plastic baggy in Thailand too. Overall it was a perfectly balanced lunch. I would highly recommend it.



This won't be my last post on Portland food carts. I have plenty more I need to try. Let's hope they'll be winners like the last 2 carts. I think I forgot to mention how Portland is such a nice, clean, and green city. It really reminded me of SF. It has a laid back vibe, but still metropolitan. It's just a tad on the small side.

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Mama's Lu Dumplings (That's NOT a Typo!)

We are always in search of new dumpling places. I stumbled across this place on yelp a while ago, but there weren't that many ratings at that time so I was not willing to take a risk on a potentially crappy restaurant. Since then, this place has amassed a good following for being good and cheap. I think when the place first opened up they had some crazy deal for the XLB, maybe buy one get one free or something? Triple T and RCM went and they weren't that impressed, but Dumpling Man and I decided to give it a try.

The place is pretty typical of a fobby restaurant, shoddy service and dingy conditions, but tastey and cheap food. All the portions were pretty great! Plenty of leftovers to take home. We coulda gone with 3 dishes instead of 4 and been completely satisfied, but we over did it.

The shanghai rice cakes were my kinda rice cakes. They were disappointingly pale, but had great flavor mostly because of the fabulous "wok hei" taste. Dumpling Man very much dislikes anything that has that "wok hei" taste. Sometimes I wonder if Dumpling Man really is Chinese at all. Aside from the taste, it had a nice plentitude of veggies, mmmmmm!


I dunno why we ordered this. I like this dish at Dumpling 10053, but I agree it is quite heavy and too much for only 2 people to eat. This dish was certainly subpar, and a waste of space. First you gotta start out with a great onion pancake which this certainly was not. It was just greasy and soft. We had a lot leftover of this one.


I love snow pea leaves stir fried with garlic. I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE. Once upon a time I tried buying and making it myself. I learned that the quality of snow pea leaves sold in the market is not the same sold in the restaurants, which makes sense since whenever you order this in the restaurant its freaking in the double digit range! Who charges double digits for a mound of greens??? Sometimes it can be more expensive than the protein! Anyways, its usually worth it because the vegetables are so tender and really pick up flavoring nicely without becoming mush piles. Anyways, when I tried making it at home I realized that you end up throwing a lot of it away because part of the snow pea leaf is very tough and should not be cooked. It was a tiring effort that I decided not to undertake ever again. This dish at Mama's Lu was maybe about $6-$7? I was shocked, but I could tell there was a difference in the quality. It wasn't as tender as the kind sold for like $14-$16, but I really enjoyed it anyways. You just can't get snow pea leaves outside of a Chinese restaurant.



I forget what was in these dumplings. They weren't that special. I'll give anything to know what Luscious Dumplings puts in their dumplings cuz no other place compares. Most places serve dumplings that you probably coule make at home. Dumpling Man is not impressed with home made tasting dumplings. Unlike most people, he does not want to feel like his grandma made the dumplings.



Lastly, the XLB! These were pretty tastey in a homey way. Nothing like the DTF xiao long bao, but flavorful without tasting like there's MSG in them like the XLB @ Mei Long Village. They had a good amount of soup in them and decent crabbiness. Skin was a bit thick, but I sorta prefer my dumplings that way. Not the most impressive XLB, but certainly meets my minimal standards and certainly worth eating since its so darn cheap.


All in all, I would certainly come back here. I dunno if I can convince Dumpling Man to come back though! I think the total bill came out to $25 including tip ?? Pretty good if you ask me!


Mama's Lu Dumplings
153 E Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 307-5700




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Myung Dong Kyoja

To my 2 readers,
I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been "overworked" and I've been forgetting my camera like crazy. It's very hard to document everything that you eat. Props to all the real food bloggers out there. Now on to the good stuff!

Apparently Myung Dong Kyoja is actually a restaurant chain in Korea, very popular for the "knife cut" noodles also called "kal gook soo"...i think. Whatever, I'm not Korean so don't quote me. Anyways, you will soon find out I love noodles and, well, you know who loves dumplings and this place has em both. What I don't like about this place is the lack of panchan. You go there and you get 2. Their infamous kimchi and some other pickled cabbage/raddish thing. I really love going to a Korean restaurant and getting like 5 or 6 diff things, oh heaven!

So let's start off with their kimchi, rumoured to be a first date's worst nightmare. It is true that this kimchi has two main ingredients, cabbage and GARLIC. Lot's and lot's of garlic. If you even eat just 2 pieces, you'll be burping up garlic fumes for the rest of the night. Despite the stinkiness, I still eat it, not as much as I would at any other korean restaurant but I still power through like the champion I am.





I guess that kimchi balances well with the next which is crisp, sweet/sour, and refreshing.





The mandoo cannot be compared to the chinese xiao long bao. Korean just make their dumplings different. This one in particular has a lot of chives as their base vegetable as opposed to cabbage or kimchi. There is a little bit of juice in the dumpling but I don't think its meant to be a "soup" dumpling. The juice seems mostly like fatty juices as opposed to soup. Some mandoo I've had have big garlic taste but these are pretty clean tasting. My one knock is that it comes in a plastic steamer! Really takes away from the "authentic" feel, but whatever.







Ugh, so the next dish was a hot mess. Ironically, it was a cold noodle dish which I had fair warning about after reading the reviews on yelp. After reading the description as an "acquired taste" or as a "soybean milkshake" with noodles, I wasn't really looking forward to trying. In fact, I didn't want to order it at all, but after 5 trips to this place, the Dumpling man insisted we order it out of undying curiosity. I expected soymilk with noodles, but it really was more like a gritty thick soy shake with noodles. I had 2-3 bites and after that I couldn't pretend to like it anymore.




I spent most of my time eating the "knife-cut" noodles. The noodles are pretty soft and chewy, and ppl say the soup is made with MSG, but my MSG-ometer says the MSG content is very low to non-existent. I'm not screaming for water 30-45 min after dinner. I also enjoy the veggies and ground pork that seems pre-sauteed and then added to the dish. I can never finish one bowl, so it's pretty big. It also comes with dumplings that have the same filling as the steamed dumplings.




The place in general only has like 8 things on the menu, which has been revamped to include pictures of all the dishes. The place is pretty affordable and street parking hasn't been a problem.

Myung Dong Kyoja
3630 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 385-7789
Find it on Yelp

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