Food bites: Almansor Court Sunday brunch and Lee Kam Kee

This past weekend I experienced two contradictions: a new oldie and an not-often visited standby. How so, you ask? Let's start with the new oldie first.

A new discovery: Almansor Court Sunday Brunch

The new oldie in question is the Sunday Brunch at the Almansor Court banquet center by the golf course. It's new to me, but as some fellow Alhambrans can tell you, it's been around for years and years. My family and I went there this past Sunday to celebrate my mom's birthday. Going there was like a step back in time, with mimosas and colored napkins and patrons dressed up in their Sunday best. This is what you see upon entering the foyer:


The buffet is spread out into a few different rooms, which is visually interesting but confusing for my parents, who couldn't find everything they wanted because of it. Choices range from traditional breakfast (custom omelettes, hash browns, bacon) to Mexican offerings (do-it-yourself tacos, enchiladas, and menudo) to seafood (oysters and king crab).



Extensive variation is obviously their strength here. Where else can you put a chicken crepe next to your unagi sushi that's already sitting next to a barbecue chicken wing? Evidence is here on my plate:


I do wish that the seating area wasn't quite so far from the food, and that the seafood was fresher. For the price, it's not that bad. I would say that the breakfast exceeded my expectations but that the rest of the food was just satisfactory.


Hong Kong-style Vietnamese: Lee Kam Kee

In this case, the not-often-visited standby is Lee Kam Kee, a Vietnamese restaurant located on the far west end of Valley Blvd. It's not your typical Vietnamese restaurant, with a nice interior and beautiful plateware. My mom informed me that the owner is from Hong Kong, and so the food is catered to a Hong Kong palate. A quick look around the restaurant confirmed this: almost all the patrons spoke Cantonese, and nearly all of the waiters too.


We go there for the canh chua, a sour soup filled with catfish or shrimp, pineapple, tomato, bean sprouts, and some spongy-looking green stalk. It's slightly sweeter here than at other, more heavily Vietnamese places, but is still good. This time we also had a shrimp and pork papaya salad with nuoc mam and some lemongrass pork chops.


My mom thought that the nuoc mam needed to be a bit more sour as did the soup. I find that's a theme here, to tone down the loud notes of Vietnamese cooking to appeal to the Chinese clientele. Most people who eat at Vietnamese restaurants (myself included) don't really care if the plates match or if the ambiance is any good, which are two key things here. It's not a bad thing to know its clientele, and that's probably why I don't fault it as much as I would another restaurant serving Vietnamese food.


Almansor Court Sunday Brunch
700 S. Almansor St.
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 570-4600
10am-2pm every Sunday
website

Lee Kam Kee
2505 W. Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91803
(626)282-7720
11am-9:45pm, closed Tuesdays

Current food sampling: Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana and the Boiling Crab

Here's part two of my mental food blog clean out:

Italian in the SGV: Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana

Blogger Lyndsay mentioned she'd heard blog rumblings about a good Italian place in Monterey Park and that it seemed legit. Me? I was skeptical. She sent me the link to this post by Wandering Chopsticks, and a looksie at the pictures there and a quick look at the menu had me convinced that I had to try it. I convinced my sister it was the perfect place for her casual birthday lunch (evil aren't I) and so we went there yesterday. Owner Chris is out, so no pasta, but we did order salad and pizza. A sign inside said no photography (boo for this blog) but I managed to shoot one of the outside and of the cal bianco pizza once we got home.


We got the arugula salad with bacon, corn, baby tomatoes, mushrooms, goat cheese, and a red wine vinaigrette. The arugula was perfectly peppery and matched well with the other elements providing salty, sweet, or creamy notes. A cal bianco pizza (parmesan sauce, smoked chicken, garlic, basil) and salsiccia 3 pizza(mozzarella, tomato sauce, three-pepper sausage, red and green peppers, italian peppers, goat cheese, basil) were shared.


The pizza was super thin! All in all delicious, and the people were super nice. Merits a return visit for the pasta when Chris returns.

Another blogger recommendation: The Boiling Crab

While looking for crab places (don't ask me why) I came across Jonathan Gold's snippet about The Boiling Crab in Alhambra, almost literally down the freaking street from my house. I heard more while perusing food blogs and decided I needed to try Cajun-style crawfish as presented by Asian people. I convinced friend Vinh (pictured with such an enthusiastic look on his face and a crawfish bib) to try it out with me.


Inside is packed with stuff on the walls, televisions, fishing nets, and Mardi Gras beads. Not exactly your usual SGV restaurant. The clientele was mostly young and R&B blasted from the speakers. The menu is simple, with a choose-your-seafood then what type of seasoning, and various add-ons like corn on the cob and fries.

We were originally going to do one pound of crawfish and one pound of dungeness crab, but the latter was too expensive for our tastes so we switched it to shrimp. We added two corn on the cobs and some cajun fries, all with the "whole sha-bang" seasoning which means all the seasoning options thrown together. About 15 minutes later a clear bag showed up on our table with everything we ordered except the fries. Opened, it looked like this:


The seasoning was good and very garlicky and paired well with both the crawfish and the shrimp. We both liked the shrimp better because the payoff was better after all that peeling. the corn on the cob managed to be spicy and buttery at the same time. The fries were nice and crispy, but were the last to get eaten. This is what my side of the table looked like afterward:


$28 for all of the above plus a refillable soda with tip for the both of us for lunch didn't seem like a bad deal at all. As Jonathan Gold says, "I can hardly wait to return."

Bollini's Pizzeria Napolitana
2315 S. Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(323)722-7600
website

The Boiling Crab
742 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803
website

Brief return to the SGV: old and new favorites

I'm back in the SGV for a brief vacation and I thought I'd do a sampling of what I've eaten so far. Upon perusing my blog pictures folder, I also came across some restaurants from previous trips that I had yet to add to this blog. So, I'm going to lump them into two long "here I am again" posts to save room in my brain and because I'm too lazy to think of more post titles.

Up first, an oldie but goodie: Garden Cafe

This is my standby for cafe food when I'm at home. We usually stop by for late night drinks of the non-alcoholic variety and some greasy late-night food. About a month ago I stopped by with my boyfriend to take advantage of the late night eating option that doesn't seem to exist where we live. This particular night it was totally dead in there, which makes me thing Garden has fallen out of favor with the local late night crowd in favor of newer establishments like the Sunday Bistro.


I ordered the Hainan Chicken with rice, and he ordered pork chops with mushroom sauce. My dish came out with better presentation than I expected, and it was delicious, too. The soup was flavorful and the sauces were a perfect foil to the moist chicken., right on par with Savoy's famous Hainan chicken. The pork chops were greasy but big portioned, and somehow Garden's mashed potatoes were better than I remembered.


I hope that they don't close down due to the new, flashier cafes because it's still one of my favorites after all these years.

Another restaurant memory: Chabuya Ramen

In the same visit we went to the Sawtelle neighborhood for a visit with the BF's sister. After perusing blogs per usual I settled on Chabuya ramen. I was looking forward to their "Asian Bun Sandwich" and some ramen. I ended up getting a mini pork sandwich and a mini shrimp rice bowl. The sandwich came on a peking duck-type sandwich roll alongside a small salad. The rice bowl was not so mini with its huge mound of rice. I thought the flavor was good, but that with the amount of rice the rice bowl became bland.



My boyfriend got the special dipping ramen (tsuke-men) that came with two dipping sauces. He liked, but thought it was a lot of work since the noodles kept sticking together. His sister got the classic ramen with miso and said the portion was just enough that she felt satisfied without being too stuffed to ice skate, which we were doing later on.


We all agreed it was good, but not the best ramen we'd ever had.


Garden Cafe
228 W. Valley Boulevard
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 289-1833

Chabuya

2002 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

(310)473-1013

Gin Sushi

I can’t front: Gin Sushi serves the best sushi I’ve ever eaten. Complete with a sushi bar and photographs of happy customers sprawling across its walls, this restaurant’s food quality is hard to beat. Although the service varies highly, especially during the busy night hours, I do not recommend skipping this joint while in the San Gabriel Valley.

Here are photos that detail my latest splurge there:

Salmon sashimi: fat, smooth, and creamy.

Philadelphia roll: The cream cheese does not overwhelm the roll. Instead it complements well with the creamy salmon, making this dish a smooth and fresh delight.

Unagi roll (right): Served with a sweet sauce, this roll’s unagi boosts both freshness and flavor. The unagi itself was a bit crisp around the edges.

Spider roll (left): Crunchy and tantalizing. The mix of ingredients in this provided a light and cold feeling.

Baked scallop crab roll (BSCR): Wonderful! + Tastes heavy. The best verb I can use to describe this is “ooze”. The big amount of sauce on it just oozes out of the roll. The blended flavors just ooze easily out. This roll is such a mouthful that its ingredients just ooze out of your mouth when you bite into it.

Cherry blossom roll: I was informed by a regular of Gin Sushi that this was a new roll. The spicy tuna serves as the main flavor and the rice seems to taste extra sweet. The salmon was just as fat and smooth as the ones used as the sashimi dish.

Dragon fire roll: Filled with cream cheese and spicy tuna, the roll itself was excellent! The pepper was simultaneously juicy and crunchy, which complements well with its crunchy fried exterior. The spicy bang seems to fade the longer the roll sits uneaten, so be sure to eat this the moment it arrives!

Caterpillar roll: The fact that I somehow forgot to take a picture of this roll should not unjustly make you think that this roll isn’t memorable. This perfect combination of the avocado and unagi is one of my favorite dishes at Gin Sushi. It was a bit salty this time, but the avocado never fails to be fresh and the unagi never fails to be sweet.

Might I mention that the prices are also rather fair for such good sushi? Everything totaled about $65 (minus tip).

Don’t be fooled by the photos’ focus on sushi. Gin Sushi serves other kinds of Japanese food, such as noodles, rice bowl combinations, and delicious desserts (pictured: strawberry mochi ice cream and tempura green tea ice cream):

Gin Sushi
3589 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91107
(626) 440-9611
website
Sun - Thu 11:00AM to 10:30PM
Fri - Sat 11:00AM to 11:00PM

All India Cafe

My friend Diane wanted to try Indian food and I, being the nice friend I am, did a little research on what nearby restaurant could provide quality Indian food. Via some websites, All India Cafe has had some strong ratings, and I decided to take my taste buds (and Diane, my human bud) to the restaurant's Pasadena branch.

The food was mostly excellent. I shared naan with Diane. The bread came to the table fresh and hot. Steam wasn't the only thing emanating from it--so was a heavenly and delicious scent! Although it looked a bit too burnt in certain areas, it still satisfied me. With a taste heavily reminiscent of pancake, this naan was unlike any naan I've had before. However, the taste complemented well with the tandoori chicken salad.


The salad itself was beyond wonderful. Each ingredient in the dish provided an individual texture and taste that blended well together. Upon first glance, the cheese cubes looked like tofu and the vivid red color of ripe tomatoes dotted the salad of fresh and large green leaves. The cheese had a rather unique taste in that it was a sharp contrast to other cheeses I've encountered--its taste was incredibly mild. The most evident thing about it was its loose texture in the mouth. The mushrooms were excellent and succulent, as were the tomatoes, but the chicken pieces were a bit dry. The dish is saved by the smooth and cool feeling of the zucchini, which balanced out the overall texture of the chicken. The lettuce was tangy, thanks to the dressing, and the leafy greens rounded out the whole party of textures by being crisp.

I've seen this restaurant accused of serving Indian food that's ethnically diluted. From my limited experience, I would have to agree, but that should not deter any potential patrons. The food is still yummy, and the overall atmosphere of the place is resoundingly splendid in colors!

All India Cafe
39 S. Fair Oaks Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 440-0309
website

Mon - Thu 11:30AM to 10:00PM
Fri - Sat 11:30AM to 11:00PM
Sun 11:30AM to 10:00PM

Europane Bakery

I first discovered Europane Bakery while salivating over tasty-looking creations on the picturing_food livejournal community. A picture of an egg salad sandwich had arrested my wandering eyes. The sandwich looked small, but extremely appetizing. After hassling the owner of the photo for a couple of days, I found out which restaurant made the sandwich.

I arrived to find that Europane Bakery had outdoor seating on the street; inside was a short line of people trying to place orders. The line quickly grew to be a lingering snake inside the little bakery. There was a beautifully painted ceramic pitcher of free water balancing itself on a divider. I was impressed with the atmosphere almost immediately. It was hip and a perfect place to have a cup of hot chocolate on a rainy day. Not only that, but tantalizing loaves of bread line the shelves on the wall. I even found a loaf of bread intricately craved into a picture. The only drawback in the ambiance was its limited seating. It was hard to navigate (especially when the line got longer) and it felt as if I could not have a private comfort zone.

I ordered what originally enticed me there--the egg salad sandwich--on wheat, and also a chocolate dessert which caught my eye while I was waiting in line. Since I don't have photos this time around, I'll use my words to describe just how amazing the food was.

While I waited for my sandwich to be made and brought to my table, I dug into the chocolate dessert. It looked kind of like a cupcake, except it wasn't, and was topped with milk chocolate shavings and a raspberry. Honestly, the milk chocolate shavings were probably the best part of the dessert. Although it wasn't dry (but definitely not moist), I was offended by the lack of fudge or any other kind of filling inside the round dessert. I felt that it had too much flour substance, though I won't deny that the quality chocolate taste was evident and that that was the main reason for actually somewhat liking the dessert. Before I go on to rave about the sandwich, I need to say two more things about this dessert: it was more expensive than expected and locating its price prior to buying it was impossible. I could not find its price (nor the prices of the other desserts or the names of this and other desserts) on its display and I certainly couldn't find it on the written menus on the wall.

Let's continue onto the something more spectacular: the sandwich.

When the sandwich was brought to me, I was blown away. In addition to its tomato pesto sauce, and fresh, dark green lettuce, the egg's yolk was just oozing a bright yellow and orange. I will not lie: it looked--and I later discovered it was--delicious. Despite the fact that the actual salad dwarfed my wheat bread slices because the toasted bread was so small, I had no complaints about the sandwich. I could clearly taste the pesto sauce whenever I bit into the bread and the bold taste of egg yolk was rampant. It was so bold that I wondered if any egg white was even used. It was very very good.

My total for this meal came to $12.02, the sandwich being around $6.85, which makes the ambiguously priced dessert to be around $5.00. I would say this is a moderately priced bakery, but the sandwiches seem to be worth every cent, if not more, of their prices. Although I wouldn't suggest eating at the restaurant itself due to its seating arrangements, I do suggest stopping by even for just a cup of coffee. The quality of the food is mostly superb.

Europane
950 E. Colorardo Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 577-1828

Mon - Sat 7:00AM to 5:30PM
Sun 7:00AM to 2:00PM

Juquila

This is a wonderful little restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd. near Federal. And when I mean little, I really do mean little. It's a small restaurant that you would most likely overlook since it lacks any bright colors that advertises itself to death.

There's a comfy family feeling to it once you walk in. Aside from main dishes, they've got appetizers and even pan dulce (sweet bread). The prices are very cheap and the portions are huge. It's not a fancy restaurant, and it's never crowded. In three words: EAT THERE NOW.

You can get real authentic mexican food in addition to the main stream stuff. Horchata goes for about $2 and you get a large glass of it--there's no skimping of anything here. Burritos are stacked with flavor. The burritos are filled plump with fresh ingredients end to end. You can get tamales and mole on basically everything. There's even chile relleno. Everything.

I recommend the chicken tamale with chocolate mole. It's wrapped in a huge green leaf instead of the usual corn husk. In the tamale itself, you can barely taste the chocolate mole and the chicken individually just because the two blend so well together that a completely new and tasty flavor is created. And how's about a sweet tamale? Never had one? Try their tamale stuffed with pineapple. It's an utter dream. I also recommend their burritos mojados (wet burritos). They drape the entire burrito with melted cheese and sauce. It is amazing. And fucking good.

And don't worry about waiting too long for your meals. The waits are not usually long and if they do take too long, don't worry about staying hungry. To appease your appetite while you wait for your food, you get an unlimited supply of corn chips to munch on. And extremely spicy salsa to go with them.

Juquila
11619 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025 - 2907
(310) 312-1079

Mon - Sun 8:00AM to 12:00AM