Fat Dragon Review: Upping Silver Lake’s Chinese Restaurant Game

A communal table sparks conversation at Fat Dragon

Residents of the Silver Lake and Los Feliz area have spent decades waiting for good Chinese food to hit the area. Tired of hearing “Just go to Chinatown,” or “Monterey Park is only 15 minutes away,” we were thrilled when Pine & Crane opened a few years ago and significantly upped the Chinese food game.

Now along the same stretch of Sunset Blvd., Fat Dragon has joined the party, adding those guilty pleasure dishes like orange chicken that so many people crave, but with a light and modern approach.
Located in the same mini-mall that houses boho brunch spot Trois Familia, Fat Dragon has no lettered sign, just a neon dragon glowing above the storefront. As at Pine & Crane, you step up to the counter to order and the food is then delivered to the table. Some people are confused by the prominence of the tea menu on the board behind the counter, thinking it’s just a teahouse, and Fat Dragon does have a wide selection of teas. But don’t be fooled. There’s a full menu of crowd-pleasing Chinese dishes carefully prepared using high-quality ingredients like Mary’s chicken and Angus beef.

This isn’t San Gabriel Valley-style Chinese -- spice levels are on the subdued side, and there is no toothpick lamb or braised eel to be found (five-spiced quail is probably the most adventurous dish). Most dishes are clean-tasting with lots of fresh vegetables, though there are still plenty of indulgent and/or deep-fried choices. Honey walnut shrimp is almost dessert-like and too rich for just two people, but a few bites of the beloved banquet dish are just right. Orange chicken is deep-fried like the familiar mall version, but fresh orange slices and a light touch with the sauce keep it from being cloying.

Ma-po tofu at Fat Dragon

Some less common dishes well worth trying include Dragon fried rice, with Chinese sausage and bacon combined with the unusual addition of kohlrabi; and pork jowl stir-fry with dried tofu. Mapo tofu and Szechuan eggplant are both exceedingly solid versions. Mild-flavored moo goo gai pan and pan-fried noodles include plenty of vegetables, while dry-fried string beans, cauliflower and orange tofu are among vegetarian choices. The menu isn’t large -- hot and sour soup and more dumplings would probably be popular additions. And the Szechuan spicy wontons are perfectly good, but won’t make anyone forget the ones at Chengu Taste.

Crucially, Fat Dragon, which is part of the Sticky Rice group of restaurants, works with a number of delivery services including GrubHub, Caviar and Postmates, so that Holy Grail of good Chinese delivery is now accessible to the Silver Lake-Los Feliz area. But the food, especially fried items, is even better when eaten in the restaurant, which has a large communal table in the center as well as tables along the wall. There’s no beer and wine, but cold brew wild berry hibiscus, lychee lime green tea, and Hong Kong milk tea keep the drinks interesting. And not to be ignored: the housemade fortune cookies with irreverent sayings blow any mass-manufactured ones out of the water.

Upscale ingredients and a central location mean a meal for two will run at least $50, but the quality and flavor makes it well worthwhile.

Pine & Crane: Silver Lake's First Good Chinese Restaurant, Like, Ever

Let us thank the restaurant gods that the space on Griffith Park Blvd. formerly occupied by Cru has been taken over by Pine & Crane, a restaurant that believes in actually applying heat to their food. Whenever the raw restaurant Cru was mentioned, the conversation always went like this: "I tried Cru. It's really not that bad. The salads were good." Well, aren't salads normally raw anyway? And isn't kind of fishy when "not that bad" is all most people have to say?

beef noodle soup

Fortunately Pine & Crane has arrived and remodeled the space with clean pale wood ceilings, modern furniture and vintage photos of the owner's grandfather at Taiwan's Pine Crane Noodles. Still in a soft opening stage, Pine & Crane has a short and simple Taiwanese menu that concentrates on dumplings, noodles and a few main dishes and sides.

Don't be put off by the line

Prices are quite reasonable and there are even six taps of draft craft beer and several bottled selections from Taiwan and California as well as wine and sake.
There's a line to order at the counter but it moves fairly fast and we were able to grab a table. With the street in front closed off anyway, I'm sure there will be tables outside as it gets warmer too.

Mapo tofu with pork

Soon our Taiwanese cabbage, scallion pancake, Taiwanese sausage, beef noodle soup and mapo tofu dishes started to arrive. The noodles in the soup were nice and chewy and it had a clean flavored broth with a hint of anise that wasn't quite as deeply funky as some SGV soups, but was still nice. Mapo tofu had a hint of heat and there were plenty of condiments to doctor everything up to your taste.

This is Taiwan-style comfort food -- no crazy amped-up flavors or bacon this and that, just fresh, well-priced regional food in an exceedingly pleasant room. And that's a big plus for Silver Lake. I'm looking forward to popping in again for some dan-dan noodles or potstickers, the beef roll and Jidori chicken. Plus, you can pick up some baby bok choy or pea shoots to take home from the restaurant's garden.
And don't forget, just like the places in the San Gabriel Valley, they're closed on the unusual-for-this-side-of-town day of Tuesday.

Pine & Crane
1521 Griffith Park Blvd.
Silver Lake
323.668.1128

The Palace: How Many Forks Did the Los Feliz Chinese Restaurant Get?

The Palace's bar area

Everyone would love to have a reliable Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood -- so how does The Palace on Hillhurst measure up? See how many forks it rated and read the full review in the Los Feliz Ledger.

Dan dan noodles

Start with a potent, not-too-sweet mai tai, or a Chinese beer (“Double Happiness” hour runs 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday). Skip the stale-tasting pork potstickers and the watered-down Old-Fashioned. (If it’s an Old-Fashioned you’re after, the one at Mess Hall across the street is excellent.) 

Among the more authentic dishes on the menu are boiled sliced fish in hot sauce and Hunan sizzling fish, both with a moderate punch of tingly Szechuan peppercorns and a touch of heat. Available with a choice of chicken, pork or beef, hot and sour soup is satisfying for a chilly night. Dan Dan noodles are made with spaghetti instead of chow mein noodles, or try old-school chow fun or lo mein. Get your vegetables in with baby bok choy with hitachi mushroom, a mild, green counterpart to some of the sweet, saucy and mild spicy plates.

Wouldn’t it be sweet if some place like the Palace decided to update the menu and decor a bit and recognize that Los Feliz is ready for a fresher, modern take on a Chinese restaurant, with vibrant, interesting flavors?

Quick Bites: Yujean Kang Re-Appears at Chi Lin Under a Flock of Butterflies

a striking red door marks the entrance

What: Chi Lin

Where: 9201 Sunset Blvd., 310-278-2068
Why: You've run out of places to take your agent or you got kicked out of Soho House for talking on your phone at dinner. 

the walls are covered in reflective glass butterfly tableaux

The goods:  Yujean Kang, whose Pasadena restaurant was one of the area's only upscale/fusion Chinese restaurants for nearly 20 years, has landed as executive chef at Chi Lin, an upscale fusion Chinese spot on the Sunset Strip. Adjacent to RivaBella, they're both owned by IDG.

shrimp toast

The look: The spiritual heir to previous celeb-infused Strip spots like Roy's, Chi Lin has a stunning design of reflective butterfly tableaux enclosed in glass walls surrounded by lots of black lacquer, with servers in long columns of gold gowns. It's a pretty glitzy scene, with a menu that hits current crazes like kale salad, old-school Chinese dishes like Hong Kong Pineapple Rice and and dishes that might be found in the SGV like minced lamb with pickled mustard greens.

Peking duck

What to order: Peking Duck is classic and crispy; shrimp toast is a fun appetizer; there's plenty of vegetable choices like wok-charred green beans, kale and mushroom salad and garlic chile Brussels sprouts.



(I attended a press preview for this restaurant.)

Pingtung Eat-in Market: Dim sum and a swell patio on Melrose

Asian snacks line the walls, but there's also a bar and plenty of tables

Decent Chinese food is tough to find west of Downtown -- maybe even west of the San Gabriel Valley -- so Pintung Eat-In Market is a very welcome addition in the heart of the Melrose shopping strip. Just a few doors down from where Tommy Tang married New Wave to Thai food, Pingtung is a new wave restaurant of this era: Fun Asian snacks and loose-leaf tea in jars line the wall (that's the "Eat-In Market" part), the back patio offers a couch for lounging, iced coffee is bottled Stumptown cold brew.

spicy shrimp dumplings aren't often seen east of Downtown

About two dozen varieties of dim sum are the star of the pan-Asian menu, which also offers ramen, rice bowls with meat and tofu toppings, sushi and "flatbread" - similar to the beef rolls seen at dumpling houses in the San Gabriel Valley. On a recent lunch visit, we tried pleasant crystal spicy shrimp dumplings, with larger pieces of shrimp than in the typical har gow, drenched in a mild chile oil.

Homestyle tofu is slicked with a mildly spicy Szechuan peppercorn sauce

A spicy bean curd homestyle rice bowl came with a nicely peppery bowl of hot and sour soup and tofu with a decorous but still lightly numbing amount of spicy peppercorns. Chicken flatbread roll slicked with hoisin was even better later that day when the flavors had melded.

hot and sour soup and chicken roll, at rear

 This was all a very promising start for an Asian restaurant in that area, and I'll return soon for some pan-fried pork buns, crispy shrimp balls and soup dumplings.
To drink, there's a large selection of tea, coffee, sake and shochu, beer and Asian sodas.
Pintung Eat-In Market
7455 Melrose Ave.
(323) 866 1866

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village: Dim Sum Also Stands Out at 'L.A.'s most ambitious Chinese Restaurant'

shrimp dumpling with chives

By now most Chinese food lovers have made a pilgrimage to Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village, which Jonathan Gold called "the most ambitious Chinese restaurant to open in Los Angeles in a decade -- maybe ever" when it opened a little over a year ago. It earned a spot on his 101 Best Restaurants list, but he specified that the Cantonese-style daytime dim sum is made a by a different crew. That may be, but the quality is up there with places like King Hua and Elite, and the ability to make reservations and eat under crystal chandeliers should not be underestimated.

one giant special soup dumpling feeds three or four people

With its ornate decor and huge, lavishly photographed menu, Shanghai No. 1 makes a great dinner destination when something more special than a dumpling shop is on the agenda.
But weekend morning dim sum is also a real treat there -- and considerably more afforable than a seafood banquet at dinner.

steamed rice noodle with crueller: combines noodles and donuts

It's order off the menu (sorry, no carts, for those who like that), making for an exceedingly civilized experience. The only thing that's not civilized will be you, trying to cram a copiously-stuffed har gow (shrimp dumpling) into your mouth in one piece.

deep-fried shrimp taro roll was a delight

When ordering dim sum from the checklist menu, it's best to get a few familiar favorites and then take some chances with less-familiar plates. There are no photos, so it's not always clear what plates will end up being the best, but at $1.98, $2.98 and $3.98 a plate, it's hard to go too wrong. The variety might not be quite as big as Sea Harbour or King Hua, but nearly everything was nicely balanced, generously sized and freshly made.

these puffy pancakes are filled with durian-scented whipped cream -- for durian lovers only!

Among the less-usual dim sum were peanut pork and chicken celery dumpling; shrimp dumpling with chives, steamed crab meat dumpling, deep fried shrimp taro roll, tofu with abalone sauce and steamed rice noodle with crueller.

Gelatinous tubes stuffed with red bean paste? Sure, I'll try one.

Desserts are interesting too, including an odiferous, yet delicate, durian cream stuffed pancake, wobbly honey sponge cake and tubular osmanthus (lotus) with red bean sliced cake. 
Where to go for dim sum? If you haven't tried Sea Harbour, you certainly should. And don't shed too many tears over the demise of Empress Pavilion, which hadn't been good in years. Give Shanghai No. 1 try instead.



Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village
250 Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel
(626) 282-1777

Tasty Noodle House: Dailin' in to cleanly-flavored Chinese

cold sesame chicken noodles, Tasty Noodle House

It can be strangely difficult to find a good-quality, straight-up place for a relaxed Chinese dinner in the San Gabriel Valley. Dim sum is out; the dumpling houses are great, but the menu can be limited for several people dining together. Newport Seafood and its like is good for a group but gets pricey fast if the group likes lobster; the Sichuan places are likely to alienate at least one of your friends. Noodle Planet or Tasty Garden and the Hong Kong-style cafes tend to be heavy, greasy or bland or all three. Something like Mandarin Noodle Deli is about the right speed for a varied group of eaters.
This time our search led to Tasty Noodle House, one of Jonathan Gold's finds of last year, located in San Gabriel just a few doors down from Golden Deli. The small but comfortable minimall spot specializes in seafood-intensive dishes from Dailin province, but we were feeling less jellyfish and pork kidney-ish and more Chinese comfort food-ish, so the Dailin specialties like oyster soup and jellyfish head will have to wait for another time.
Tasty Noodle is one of a very small group of Chinese restaurants that aspires to higher-quality ingredients and lighter, less-greasy preparations, and it seemed like everything we ordered was a winner.

Jalapeno beef, Tasty Noodle House

Scallion pancakes (seen behind jalapeno beef in the foreground) are a million times lighter and less greasy than the usual version, though the scallion flavor isn't very pronounced, the flakiness more than makes up for it. Jalapeno beef wasn't especially spicy or complex, but the straightforward dish had clean flavors and the meat lover in our threesome claimed it as his own. Braised green beans were again much less greasy than usual, but still had the slightly charred wok hey that makes this dish work so well. Hot 'n sour soup gets an unexpected jolt of flavor from dried shrimp and sea cucumber, putting it right up there with the top hot 'n sours in the city.
Northern dough-intensive dishes like dumplings and bao are stars on the menu, and our pork/shrimp/leek dumplings somehow became twice as wonderful after sitting for a few minutes while the medium-thick, rustic wrapper rested and the flavors coalesced. Since it was a zillion degrees outside, we chose cold sesame chicken noodles over dan dan noodles, and the simple dish was perfect for a summer night. This was one of the most enjoyable meals I've had in a long time, and we'll be returning soon to try pan-fried pork buns, seaweed strips in garlic and vinegar, ma po tofu, and perhaps the sea snail with jellyfish and fungus.
Tasty Noodle House
827 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel
(626) 284-8898

WP24: Pitting Wolfgang Puck against the SGV's Chinese food

Shrimp toast: WP24 or your neighborhood Thai restaurant? WP24 for sure -- no one else uses spot prawns, and this is a Thai delicacy that isn't as popular as it once was.

WP24, Wolfgang Puck's latest restaurant on the 24th floor of the new Ritz-Carlton Hotel next to Downtown's L.A. Live, has one of the best views in town, and one of the few places with food to match the view. I was invited to try WP24 Friday and thought the food was fun, accessible and excellently-prepared, though I'm more used to ground-level dim sum than dumplings priced as high as the view.
The room is rather somber, with dark leather chairs tones of brown and gray enlivened by rectangular punched metal light fixtures meant to mirror the lighted skyscrapers outside.
Service is on the formal side -- appropriate for the setting, but it would be even more relaxing if the servers were a touch more laid-back and friendly. Personally, I liked the strange covers of the Cure and David Bowie that played all evening, but they were probably a little loud for the older businessman crowd that made up about half the diners. The other half were couples of all ages celebrating birthdays or on dates-with-a-view, and a younger after-work crowd in the large lounge area.
People accustomed to dining in the San Gabriel Valley's dim sum parlors and noodle shops will probably wonder why anyone would pay far more just for a view of the Staples Center, but they're missing the point. So we'll run down the dishes we had and decide whether they're worth trying at WP24. Let me know if you know of anyplace to get worthy similar dishes.
Here were some highlights of the tasting menu we were served -- everything is on either the regular menu or the lounge menu, where a full sushi menu is also available.
At top are lobster-stuffed spring rolls, and the sesame-encrusted dumplings are filled with spicy curried beef with just the right heat level. While these dumplings resemble something from a top dim sum spot, they're even better for the most part -- even Sea Harbour doesn't use spot prawns and organic chicken.
WP24 or Sea Harbour?: WP24's appetizers are worth the splurge once in a while.
Pork belly buns with Chinese honey-garlic glaze are high on the list of decadent, rich, sweet, doughy, salty things you can put in your mouth. You could sit in the bar, order these and a few more dim sum along with the Dragon's Fire tequila-jalapeno cocktail while gazing at the skyline, and be a happy person.
After that came duck liver buns -- also decadent, but maybe even too rich, whereas the pork belly was just right.
WP24 or SGV? I've never had the famous Momofuku pork belly buns or the one at Gorbals in L.A., but Flying Pig's were nothing special, so WP24 takes this round.


Hot and sour soup with King crab, roasted corn and sweet prawn wontons was perhaps the least successful dish for me -- there was just a little too much going on, and the corn made the dish sweet instead of bracingly vinegary. I wouldn't turn it down as a light supper on its own, but it's a little heavy for a multi-course dinner.
WP24 or SGV: Stick with 101 Noodle.

Then came a parade of adorable petite dim sum, with a perfect har gow and several more well-balanced dumplings like lobster-shrimp sui mai and dan dan dumpling with organic chicken. Next up was a square of excellent crispy suckling pig. Still, having this many appetizer-type dishes meant a lot of hoisin and Thai chili-type sauces, which means many flavors lean towards the sweet side -- a common occurrence in pan-Asian restaurants, but one that can be remedied with careful ordering. For two, I'd recommend a rich appetizer, then a whole fish, lobster or beef entree, a noodle dish and some vegetables, for example.
The other dim sum were quite nice, but not exceedingly better than, say, King Hua or Elite.

Though other diners were tucking into impressive lobster and whole fish presentations, we were ready for a break from seafood and went with sliced Szechuan style Kobe steak from Snake River Farms, Idaho, with smoked chili-shallot sauce and chili oil. At $46, this is certainly an indulgence, but since I could easily keep my beef consumption to a few carne asada tacos a month and Kobe steak once a year or so, it would be worth it to me. This buttery steak had a mild, rich flavor, and my tasting portion was just right.
With the beef, we had a side of Hong Kong noodles ($12), which are very thin Chow Mein noodles, expertly stir-fried with wild field mushrooms. It was every bit as good as some noodle dishes found in the SGV, and with much higher-quality ingredients.
WP24 or a "real" Asian restaurant? I've never had beef this good at a Chinese or Japanese restaurant, so I'll go with WP24.
Dessert wasn't on the menu, although I enjoyed the Calamansi Vacherin at the opening party. Our dessert was yogurt-pistachio ice cream paired with a fragrant pistachio cake and fresh cherries. We weren't convinced at first, but I've been craving that ice cream, made with candied pistachios, ever since, and all the flavors paired perfectly.
WP24 or elsewhere?: I happen to like real Asian desserts just fine, but WP24's are Western-style with Asian accents. They stand just fine on their own, so I'll vote for WP24 here.

The tally? It looks like WP24 took every round except the soup and the assorted dim sum. If you're after a view, want to impress out of town guests or are on an expense account, WP24 is well worth checking out. If you're not, hit the bar and try the pork buns anyway.

WP24
in the Ritz Carlton Hotel, 900 W. Olympic Blvd.
213-743-8824

Spring Wave: Great Mall of China gets Shanghai'ed

The most unusual dish we tried was salted pork with bean curd sheets.

The Great Mall of China seems to be Shanghai ground zero these days, despite the sad departure of nearby Green Village.
Spring Wave is just a few doors down from Shanghai restaurant and across the street from the more well-known Mei Long Village. Spring Wave, which describes itself on its rudimentary website as "South East Asian fusion," isn't too crowded on a Saturday night. It's a kind of plain, modest-sized spot, with the usual glaring fluorescent lights and a medium-sized menu -- not as long as Green Village, but packed with plenty of Shanghai specialties.
Though I had heard the fish with pine nuts was good, we had to skip it since I'm terrified of pine nuts now -- I spent all last week with a horrible taste in my mouth, possibly the dreaded "pine mouth."
We passed up the usual Shanghai specialties like chicken with chestnuts and Wuxi spareribs to try a few other dishes. Pepper beef is exactly what it sounds like, tender slices of beef in a soy glaze with plenty of black pepper, a very simple but well-executed dish similar to Vietnamese shaking beef.House special crispy tofu starts with pillowy fried tofu cubes, then adds sliced leeks, preserved black beans, and a medium-spicy sauce. The result is irresistible spooned over rice -- I only wish there had been enough for leftovers the next day.

A steamer full of dumplings arrived, on the house. They weren't the very best xiaolongbao I've ever had, but they were definitely the best free ones! We were pretty hungry, and though the wrappers were a bit thick, they tasted just fine.
I love bean curd sheets -- they feel like eating noodles without the doughy fullness -- but I had no idea how salted pork with bean curd sheets (photo at top) would be presented. It turned out to be slices of smoky ham atop a pile of bean curd sheets, sprinkled with sliced red peppers and scallions in a refreshing clear broth. It didn't resemble any Chinese dish I've had before, and yet it tasted hauntingly authentic, a pure representation of Chinese cooking with no influence from the West at all. The simple but flavorful dish perfectly complemented the other two dishes which had more familiar soy-based sauces.
I have no idea if Spring Wave is one of the best Shanghai restaurants near the corner of Del Mar and Valley, but I know we were quite pleased with everything we had and will definitely return -- hopefully with a large group like the dozen hungry teenagers next to us who seemed to order everything intriguing on the menu.
Spring Wave
140 W Valley Blvd., Suite 209
San Gabriel
(626) 571-1178

New Chong Quing: Going beyond the hot pot

A darn fine bowl of dan dan noodles for $3.99

Will it displease the gods of Chinese food if we go to a Sichuan hot pot restaurant and do not order a hot pot? Perhaps, especially since the requisite framed Jonathan Gold review on the wall of New Chong Qing is titled "New Hot Pot Spot." But after an 80 degree winter day, we're not in the mood for hot pot, so tough. What we are in the mood for is dan dan noodles, and New Chong Qing is said to have some of the best in the area. New Chong Qing is in a modern mini-mall, and with a brief laminated menu and wall decorations of empty Ikea frames and neon post-it note doodles, it has a slick, yet improvisational quality. The menu translations are some of the most amusing around, from pig waist to a drink called something like Manifold Destiny.
Dan dan noodles are just $3.99 a bowl, so order two -- it's not a large portion, and though they're rich and greasy, you'll likely want more of the nutty, slightly numbing, slick herbal mixture. If the gods are angered because we ordered Kung pao chicken (above), then so be it: This is a tangy dish of chicken, garlic and chiles with no peanuts or sugary, goopy sauce to be found. Ma-po tofu over rice has a similar flavor profile to dan dan noodles, so maybe we should have tried green beans or other vegetables instead. But since that profile is complex, spicy and flecked with alluring Sichuan peppercorns, there's no cause for complaint. New Chong Qing doesn't have the hottest food around or the largest menu, but for a quick bowl of satisfying noodles at lunch or dinner, it's just the spot. There's no beer, but Matt was happy with a blueberry slushie. We'll take more people and try to balance the dishes better next time -- oh yeah, and maybe even a hot pot.
New Chong Qing
120 N. San Gabriel Blvd.
San Gabriel
626-309-0836

Lunasia takes dim sum in new directions

Foie gras dumplings appear on the menu as fro gura dumplings; they're earthy, nicely packaged and worth the upcharge.

If you're like me, you probably started eating dim sum at a vast banquet hall like Ocean Seafood Downtown or Harbor Village in Monterey Park, where stern ladies pushed carts around the room, laden with greasy, delicious, but often lukewarm puffy pork buns and the slippery goodness of har gow dumplings. Maybe you moved on to start ordering from the menu of sophisticated dim sum at Sea Harbour, which made a trip to Rosemead well worth the effort.
Lunasia in Alhambra, a descendent of Triumphal Palace formerly in the same spot, adds several more items to the canon of nouveau style dim sum, for a mostly pleasing result.

Salt and pepper squid with garlic is better than most other versions of fried calamari, though the briny ocean flavor is more pronounced than most.
Crispy duck pie in a flaky puff pastry is a more sophisticated take on the bbq pork bun, but with a similar interplay of sweet, meaty and doughy.
Shark's fin dumpling is a ginormous specimen floating in a light broth, sort of a won ton on growth hormone. This one didn't wow me, with almost too-subtle flavors, but it's hard to share a dumpling the size of a kid's head with your fellow diners.

Marshall from Fooddigger came along with two red wines, I think a Barolo and a Nebbiolo, as he wanted to see how Italian reds would pair with dim sum dishes. They might have overwhelmed the more delicate seafood dumplings, but were perfect with pork belly and sliced char siu pork. We also liked the traditional har gow and shu mai, shrimp noodle and a thin, crispy bacon scallion pie (right) that should really be a bar snack served everywhere.
Lunasia has a nicer atmosphere and prices are slightly higher than the sling-the-buns on your plate kind of place, but it's worth it to have a less frenetic experience. Plus, they accept reservations for groups.

Lunasia
500 W. Main St.
Alhambra
626-308-3222

JTYH Restaurant: Where to get your mu shu cat ears, chicken paws and noodle pimples

When Josh told me JTYH Restaurant was descended from the famous Heavy Noodling, which I never went to before it closed, I was all like, "Hand cut noodles! Sign me up!" Driving east towards Rosemead, Valley Blvd. becomes increasingly Vietnamese, but the inscrutably-named JTYH is Chinese, with a page of the menu devoted to Shanghai and Sichuan dishes as well as the signature noodles. Sinosoul has already waxed over this place at length, so I'll boil my noodle broth down to the essence:



JTYH is a small place in a minimall with plenty of parking. Its large ceramic chicken looks to have flown the coop from Sea Harbour down the street. But the menu is much broader than most noodle joints, so it could work for full dinners as well. There are entire sections devoted to soup noodles, fried noodles, dry noodles, pancakes, dumplings and buns. There's also a Chinese-only "snack" box. Sinosoul says it features Chicken noodle pimples, which sound akin to spaetzle. Appetizers include spicy chicken paws (feet, I would guess) and the usual cold seaweed, dried fish and cucumber dishes.


Everyone seems to get either the Beef stewed noodle soup or the Lamb noodle soup. We chose the beef, with tender brisket, a decent broth and oddly-shaped, beveled handmade noodles with a great rustic texture.

I had to try Mooshu "Cat Ears" -- there's no pancakes involved, just the Chinese version of orrechiete noodles topped with scrambled egg and pork. A very comforting dish that would be great for breakfast.

When I ordered leek dumplings, the waitress made a swooping motion with her hands that I took to mean "These aren't your normal dumplings, they are large like a plate." And that's exactly what they were, more like a pie stuffed with chopped leeks and bean thread noodles. Very cool, if not exactly dumpling-like. Mix up some chili sauce and black vinegar to dip them in, if you wish.

JTYH is open from 11-9:30 every day except Tuesday (why are Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants closed on such random days?)
JTHY Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd.
Rosemead
626-442-8999