Next up Dumpling 10053 in El Monte. After reading rave reviews about their pork, shrimp and sea cucumber dumplings, Sis and I were very intrigued. We’ve never eaten sea cucumber before and thought this could be a good low risk way to pop our cherry. Well, the aforementioned dumplings did live up to the hype. We ordered them boiled and they were indeed excellent. I’m still not sure exactly what sea cucumber tastes like now but it seemed to add a nice creamy like texture to the mix. I am now curious to try it alone.
Crispy Pork Dumpling- good not great we’ve had better
Boiled Sea Cucumber, Crab and Pork Dumplings- The star of the show, a must try.
Steamed Shrimp and Pumpkin Dumplings- disappointing, too much pumpkin. They used a puree instead of chunks and it overwhelmed the mix.
We love our food, we love our wine and sake, but we don’t always love the 2-3 times markup on wine and sake in restaurants. With the state of the today’s economy, who isn’t looking for a way to save a buck. Well fear not, there is a way to enjoy a night out without breaking the bank; bring your own bottle! Here’s a list (with links) of restaurants with no or low corkage fee. Please call to confirm as things change on occasion
Alegria
Alejo's Presto Trattoria Italia
At Last Cafe
Barnacles Bar & Grill
Beach City Grill
Bistro K
Buona Vita
Caioti Pizza Café
Cafe Du Village
Colori Kitchen
Craft Sunday's only
Creme de la Crepe
Cube at Divine Pasta Company
Daisymint
Domenico
Elf CafÈ
Girasole
Grace Tuesday's only
Gypsy Way
Houston's
La Grande Orange Café
Madame Matisse
Malibu Seafood
Mantee
Mao's Kitchen
Metro Cafe
Nakkara on Beverly
NBC Seafood Restaurant
Patina Restaurant Group
Pazzaz Sushi
Providence Monday's only
Q-Cina's
Roy's Hawaiian Fusion chain
Speranza
Sushi Central
Totoraku Teriyaki House
Viet Noodle Bar
6th Street Bistro- $10
Angeli Caffe- $10 per bottle
Baby Blue's Barbeque- $10
Beckham Grill- $2
Bistro De La Gare- $10
Bistro Provence- $6
Bluewater Grill-$10
Blue Pacific- $8
Cafe Bella Roma SPQR- $4
Cafe Bizou- $2
Cafe La Fornaretta-$10
Camilo's- $2
Casa Bianca-$5
Chez Jay- $10
Chez Melange- $10
The Copper Room- $10
The Crepe Vine-$8
Cucina Bene- $10
El Caserio- $10
Gio Cucina Napoletana- $8
Guelaguetza- $4 per bottle
Honda-Ya-$10
Il Capriccio- $5
Il Tiramisu-$5
Jackson's Village Bistro- $3
The Kitchen- $3
Lawry's- $10
Marouche- $8
Musha-$10
Musso & Franks- $3.50 per person
Pizzicoto- $8 per bottle
Purans-$4
Restaurant 2117- $10
Sor Tino- $8
Taylors- $10 per bottle
Teru Sushi- $8
Yujean Kang-$10
Z Sushi$10
Zelo Pizzeria- $8
Next on the Sister’s tour of San Gabriel Valley is… Dumpling House Restaurant (Temple City) (nice website). Dumpling House Restaurant serves authentic northern style Corten Chinese food. Northern style Chinese cuisine is known for its noodles and dumplings. This is because the cold climate of the north is much more suitable for wheat while rice flourishes in the warm southern climate.
Wow, we loved the big comfortable room and the large menu selection. We were excited to find a place we could bring the dumpling-phobic members of our family; there’s something for everyone here. But the big bonus was… BEER AND WINE! (Next girls night out, yeah)
The food? Great. I can comfortably recommend this spot. We’ll definitely be back and try some more of the non-dumpling options.
Garlic Vinegar Cucumber Salad- fresh, light, good starter
Kim Chi- solid
Fried Pork Dumpling- OMG! Excellent.
Boiled Fish Dumpling- very good but no one holds a candle to our beloved Kingburgs.
Green Onion Pancake- Soo good I forgot to snap it before we dove in. I think this is my favorite GOP; crispy, flakey, chewy!
Mandarin Style Beef Chow Mein- Lovely; not oily or over sauced, great balance of light and hearty. This made me want to try some of their other options. Can’t wait to bring my noodle obsessed daughter.
Can you guess?
Saké, it’s the new black! Seriously, saké seems to have come into fashion in the US as of late and rightly so. Once you dive into the world of saké you see that it is as interesting, complex and varied as wine. For a short and concise quick-start guide to saké from the world’s leading non-Japanese saké guru John Gautner, click on the sidebar to the right and get a free download.
The Mr. and I have been afficionados for years and have come to take our love rather seriously. We often get asked by curious friends about our favorite saké. Below is one of our old faithfuls; relatively easy to find, mid priced (retail; price is often doubled in a restaurant) and always delicious. Now remember, premium saké is meant to be enjoyed chilled and this one is very easy to drink; dry, floral bouquet with a hint of melon. Enjoy!
Hurray Hurray for Dumplings! Next on our San Gabriel journey for Dumpling Nirvana is Michelle’s Pancake. Now, a chinese pancake is different from what we Americans think of as a pancake. Chinese pancakes can be sweet or savory, they are made of dough not batter and they take many shapes. Michelle’s pancakes offers many different types of pancakes and dumplings and touts itself as being fresher, healthier (no MSG) and less oily than it’s neighboring counterparts. We concur that indeed the overall meal was fresh and less oily. Healthy? Well, I’ll say as healthy as possible…
As with all of our stops we find that each place has it’s shining moment and in the case of Michelle’s Pancake I would say the Smoked Pork Pancake was the highlight. If you go don’t miss this one. I also really enjoyed the shredded tofu salad and am now on the hunt to find a grocer that sells them. UPDATE: I found them @ 99 Ranch Market!
Free Boiled Peanut appetizer
Fermented Garlic Paste- Sis and I were fascinated by this unusual condiment. I’m not sure if it is in fact fermented but it sure packed a punch. Anybody know what this is let me know.
Cold Shredded Tofu Salad- light and refreshing dressed with a bit of garlic, vinegar and sesame oil
Smoked Pork Pancake- Chinese version of a taco. Assemble the goodies, add a touch of, hoisin, vinegar and garlic paste…sooo good. Along with East Dumpling King’s Beef Roll, I CRAVE these things like BAD!
Tomato Egg Handmade Noodle- this was another assemble it dish. These noodles were amazing and the mixture was a perfect compliment to the rest of the meal.
Beef and Carrot Pancake- beware these guys squirt. OK, not my fave but oddly enough they tasted better once they cooled down considerably.
Pan Fried Fish and Pork Dumpling- I think these would have been better if we chose to have them boiled however they don’t hold a candle to our beloved Kingburg’s Sole Dumplings (show and tell soon)
The Mr. and I have recently discovered the joys of California’s Central Coast wine country. I know, what took us so long. Just two hours away, in our own backyard, lies an oasis of calm, beauty and peace. It’s become our new favorite weekend destination. The perfect day starts with a morning bike ride followed by afternoon wine tasting and a picnic lunch.
One of our favorite vineyards in the Santa Rita Hills is Melville. The comfortable Mediterranean villa style tasting room offers some beautiful wines some at very affordable prices. Last time we picked up a couple of bottles; one being the 2008 Pinot Noir from Verna’s Estate, a great value @ $24. One word I would use to describe it would be elegant. This would be a lovely addition to Thanksgiving dinner and you don’t have to tell your guests how much you paid, they’d never guess.
2008 Melville Pinot Noir Verna’s Estate
Over the last 5-6 years Melville has consistently been producing some of the best Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay the Central Coast has to offer. Better yet, the wines are completely affordable and generally ready to drink on release. The new Verna’s Estate Pinot Noir is a perfect example of the frugal drinkability Melville has to offer. From the get-go the nose tells you that you are going to be in for a wildly delicious ride. Strawberry, lavender, Rainier cherry are all presented on a crisp, vibrant frame. The lightweight nature here is nothing to fear, remember this is Pinot and Greg Brewer, more prominently know for his work with Brewer-Clifton and Diatom, makes some of the most feminine, and yet flavor-packed Pinots in California. Using 12% new French oak and 33% whole cluster fermentation, Greg keeps the raw materials in full view. The red fruited nature of this wine resonates throughout backed by echoing flavors of beef carpaccio, flowering thyme, spearmint and Asian plum. Is it too early to start thinking about turkey? (Bryan Brick, K&L) tasting notes courtesy of K & L Wines
After our visit to the food court Sis and I went for a stroll through Square Market (formerly 99 Ranch ) in Rosemead. I hear this is smaller and less glorious than 99 Ranch in San Gabriel but it was still quite exciting to me. Check it out…
Oooh Shrimp balls!
Fresh Sashimi!
Large Live Maine Lobster $6.99 a pound! I’m so tempted to get a lobster pot but still squeamish about having to actually kill it. I may have to get over that.
After an untamed year of wining and dining mischief, I realized that I needed to do something about my new buffet sized booty. Gotta streamline the junk. I’ll never fully give up my epicurean ways but there must be some balance and at times a bit of damage control is in order. So I stumbled upon the Ultrasimple Diet, sounds good I can hang with simple (and often do). I won’t go into all the specifics, you can look it up but it’s basically a dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, alcohol free, preservative/additive free, clean food kind of diet that lasts a week (I’m stretching it out a bit longer with cheat weekends). So far it’s worked out nicely for me and I am incorporating elements of this into my daily life. Lucky for me I live with a fisheterian who likes to eat healthy. Here’s a sample of one of my diet dinners…. Asian style steamed black cod with baby bok choy and mixed mushrooms.
Bottom tray of bamboo steamer- Black Cod, garlic and ginger slivers, green onion, pinch of sea salt, pepper and Braggs liquid amino’s
Upper Bamboo- Baby Bok Choy
On the side- Shimeji, baby king oyster and shitake mushrooms sauteed in garlic olive oil and Braggs liquid aminos
Steamed for 12 minutes and topped off with a touch of sesame oil. Mmm Mmm Good
