The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus
Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘San Gabriel Valley’

6/27/2017 Alhambra

Previewing at Borneo Kalimantan

Things I can’t pronounce.

In preparation for traveling to Borneo, I wanted to get a taste of Bornean food. This, of course, is not an easy thing to do, but when you live in LA pretty much all food is a possibility. Thus, I found myself with my Bornean traveling companions at Borneo Kalimantan in Alhambra. This place is more focused on the Indonesian side of Borneo, and although we were heading to the Malaysian side it still seemed as close as we were going to get. Plus, it also had Singaporean and Malaysian, so we weren’t completely off.

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6/20/2017 San Gabriel

Home-Style Hot Pot at Lu Gi (CLOSED)

Portable!

Not long after paying a visit to the hot pots at Element, I went to essentially the opposite sort of hot pot at Lu Gi. Now when I say opposite, I don’t mean in terms of the food itself, but the general setting. Here, the stoves weren’t built into the tables, but were portable and brought out to each table after ordering. It felt like eating hot pot in someone’s home, except for the whole paying of money and whatnot.

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5/9/2017 Monterey Park

Hot Pot at Hot Pot Hot Pot

Rolls of meat.

The world of hot pot is a divided place. I am not simply referring to the fact that most hot pot spots support the idea of dividing the pot into two broths, but also to the fact that some offer all-you-can-eat and some go a la carte. Hot Pot Hot Pot, a ridiculously named restaurant in Monterey Park, is on the a la carte side of the pot, but I did not let this get in the way of checking the place out.

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4/26/2016 San Gabriel

Perfect Shanghainese at Emperor Noodles

Hen hao chi!
Hen hao chi!

There is a saying attributed to Jonathan Gold that goes something like “‘A’ is for ‘American’ Chinese food, ‘B’ is for ‘Better’ Chinese food and ‘C’ is for ‘Chinese’ Chinese food.” The letters, of course, are in reference to the health code and if you’ve ever been to China, you would know this to be true. Thus, when I heard great things about the dumplings at Emperor Noodles in San Gabriel and then found out it had a “B” rating, I got pretty excited to try it out.

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3/28/2016 Monrovia

A Belated Breakfast at Baja Mar

Mmm breakfast nachos.
Mmm breakfast nachos.

Sometimes you go to a Mexican seafood spot to get seafood. And sometimes, despite it being the middle of the afternoon, you go for breakfast. It wasn’t exactly the plan, but when I entered Baja Mar in Monrovia, I just couldn’t get my eyes off of the chilaquiles. Thus, I forewent shrimp and fish tacos for those delicious breakfast nachos.

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2/24/2016 San Gabriel

New and Juicy at Long Xing Ji

So juicy.
So juicy.

What’s in a name? A xiaolongbao by any other name would be just as soupy. Well, at least that’s what Long Xing Ji is banking on. You see, Long Xing Ji was once called Wang Xing Ji and was an incredibly popular dumpling spot in San Gabriel. Typically a wildly successful place would stick with a name that works, but for some reason that was not the case with Wang Xing Ji. Nonetheless, if the dumplings were as good as I had heard, I wasn’t going to complain about the name.

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1/20/2016 San Gabriel

Fried Cake at Shanghai Dumpling House

The main chow.
The main chow.

In my latest sojourn into the San Gabriel Valley, I made my way to Shanghai Dumpling House in the city of San Gabriel. I had heard this was one of the better spots to get authentic Shanghai-style dumplings a while ago and wanted to see if it could deliver. Of course, I went with a crew to ensure that I could try more than just that. The only hard part was ensuring they didn’t walk into Shandong Dumpling House, which is house in the same mini mall.

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1/13/2016 Alhambra

A Good First Szechuan Impression

Impressive!
Impressive!

When it comes to Chinese food, I typically seek out Szechwan (or Sichuan or Szechuan), Shanghainese or Cantonese, so when I heard about a great newish place called Szechuan Impression in Alhambra I knew I had to get there – and fast! Thus I found myself at the place just before 6:00 pm on a Saturday. The earlybird risk paid off and we were seated nearly immediately.

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1/6/2016 San Gabriel

Almost China at Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village

I have to braise you like I should.
I have to braise you like I should.

Living right at the edge of the San Gabriel Valley can be a beautiful thing. Especially, that is, if you love Chinese food. There are parts of the SGV that literally make you feel like you have been transported into the heart of China and Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village is one of those places. While it has supposedly gone through some management changes lately, it has been a regular on lists of LA’s best restaurants and has a menu the size of a long novel.

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9/22/2015 Rosemead

A Taste of Chengdu Taste

A taste of China.
A taste of China.

The San Gabriel Valley is full of countless restaurants that are incredible. Unfortunately, many of them are unknown to the outside world of non-Asian people because they are holes in the wall or simply have no English on their menus. Chengdu Taste is not one of these places. It is well-known in many circles and so popular that it spawned a sequel and even a line out the door in the middle of the afternoon. But despite this when I grabbed a meal there with my buddy we were the only non-Asians to be found. Granted, in Rosemead the odds of Asian ancestry are pretty high, but that is not the point. The point is that this place had a reputation to live up to, even though the original location was closed for health code violations.

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