"The Four Schools of Chinese Cooking" - Dinner at China Islamic

A few months back, I came upon this online article on the Cooking Light website simply entitled "The Four Schools of Chinese Cooking" and as the title suggests, it talked about 4 different types of Chinese cooking based on schools or more likely "regions": East, West, South and North. Given the fact that I'm lucky enough to live in the San Gabriel Valley where the breadth of Chinese cooking is unparalleled, I thought I'd start a new dining series for Pleasure Palate where we would dine at restaurants representing each school. Our next visit focused on the Northern School.

Taken directly from the article, "The Northern School is the most eclectic, incorporating the refined cooking of palace kitchens and Shandong province (where classic Chinese cuisine originated), as well as Mongolian and Muslim dishes. acclaimed for its spicy dishes, includes Sichuan, Hunan, and Yunnan provinces." Look below for more info.

What the North is known for: Noodles, Steamed Breads, and Pancakes are served instead of rice.

Styles of Cooking: Stir-Frying, Pan-Frying, Braising, and Barbecuing

Common Seasonings: Garlic, Chives, Leeks, Star Anise, and Sweet Bean Sauces.

Representative Dishes: Moo Shu Pork With Mandarin Pancakes.

To represent the Northern school, I chose China Islamic in Rosemead and I tried to choose dishes, with the help of the staff, to best showcase what the Northern School was all about. For our meal there, we shared 12 dishes.

Starting our meal was the Dabing, which is a thick sesame and green onion pancake. I've only had the thinner versions of this pancake before, so I was interested in tasting the difference. The Dabing is definitely quite filling on its own. When you cut into and see the cross-section, it looks like a pancake within a pancake.

After taking a few bites, it didn't do much for me. I found it too dough-y and preferred the thinner pancakes that we ordered later in the meal. Of the remaining items, I have to say that everything was pretty good, but some were more memorable than others.

The first dishes to arrive were the Lamb with Green Onions and the Beef with Pickled Cabbage. I enjoyed how the grassiness of the green onions complimented the stronger flavors imparted by the lamb, which by the way, was tender to the bite.

When it came to the Beef with Pickled Cabbage, I was one of the few at my table or maybe, I was the only one at my table who loved this dish. Compared to some of the other items which were bolder in taste, this dish was pretty mild. What drew me to this dish was my Filipino palate which favors foods that have a sour/vinegary tang to them. I liked the combo of the cabbage, which was almost like sauerkraut and the meatiness of the beef. I would definitely order this dish again.


Although some kind of green bean dish is seen on most Chinese restaurant menus, regardless of the region that the restaurant represents, I have to say that their Dried Shrimp and Green Bean dish is better than most. The addition of the dried shrimp gave a nice hit of saltiness and overall, the little bit of heat coming from the sauce that the beans and shrimp were sauteed in was very appealing to my taste buds.

Like the green beans, noodle dishes are also standard Chinese dishes, but the Three Flavor Chow Mein that we ordered was exceptional in that the noodles were hand cut and had a nice slightly chewy texture that really did it for me.

The two dishes that wowed me the most arrived last. One was the oxtail in brown sauce. All I have to say is "Mama Mia!" and I'm not even Italian and I'm not even dining at an Italian restaurant, but that brown sauce was so good, I could have dived into it. It was thick and had a smoky, slightly sweet heat taste to it. I can't say enough good things about it. The added bonus was that they didn't skimp on the oxtail, which I found to be meaty and also quite tender.

Finally, there was the Lamb in a Warm Pot dish. The broth was just so goooood. Notice the extra "o"s in the word gooood. There was so much flavor in that soup plus it was rich and hearty. I loved the addition of fresh cilantro. It's a dish that's perfect cold weather comfort food. The lamb was also tender and in general, the running theme is that this restaurant really knows how to prepare their meat dishes. There wasn't anything I had where the meat wasn't cooked just right.

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at China Islamic and I can see why it's gotten consistent raves from bloggers, food critics and regular dining folk alike since it's opened. My second visit there happened a month or so later and this time we ordered different dishes and the meal was still just as good as the first time. China Islamic is definitely a must visit for anyone who enjoys Chinese dining and even more so, if you're interested in checking the Northern Style of Chinese Cooking that China Islamic represents so well.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157613063801490/

China Islamic
7727 Garvey Ave
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 288-4246
http://www.chinaislamic.com/

Sizzle and Fizzle at Hunan Seafood Restaurant

A couple of years ago I had my first experience with Hunan cuisine at Hunan's Restaurant in Alhambra. Overall, it was a tasty foray into this new food and I was looking forward to trying more. Unfortunately, several months later, it burned down, but like a phoenix rising out of the ashes, Hunan's Restaurant re-invented itself as Hunan's Seafood Restaurant and moved from Alhambra to Rosemead.

For my dining group's second return, we opted to share 8 dishes. Of the 8, only one really knocked my socks off, one in a "Damn, this is so hot, my lips are burning" kind of way, but also in a "Damn, this is hot, but it's so good, I can't stop eating it" way. So what's the name of that dish? It's the House Special Lamb Rib with Spicy Sauce. All you have to do is look at it to see why it's so incendiary.

First, the lamb ribs are completely covered with a mound of red peppers and than there are the seeds and I'm talking chili seeds plus the peppercorns. Yikes! At first, I thought everything was for show, but one bite of my lamb rib and I knew that this was one show that wasn't going to have a closing night. It was such a hit at our table, we actually placed another order for it. Suffice to say, we were gluttons for punishment.

As for the other menu items, there was a running theme among some of them that bothered me a lot. For example, the Clams with Black Bean Hot Sauce was the first to land on our table. The slight saltiness of the black bean sauce along with its heat went well with the clams, at least when there were clams. I'd say 1/3, if not more of the shells were empty of clam meat. The House Special Chicken with Hot Sauce paired well with the earthy mushrooms that came with this dish, but the chicken itself was quite bony. Forget "Where's the Beef?" It was more about "Where's the Chicken?"

The Steamed Hunan-Style Fresh Fish that I absolutely was gaga over at Hunan's Restaurant stilled packed lots of flavor punch, but was about half the size of what I had before and like the chicken, the fish was too bony and didn't have enough meat to it. Even as we were digging into the lamb ribs, I almost like using a shovel so that we could find that meaty goodness underneath all the peppers. It wasn't as if I was expecting a lion's portion of food, but how can bony chicken and fish and half-empty clams be acceptable by any restaurant standard unless you're a restaurant that cares more for the bottom line than feeding your customers and making them happy.

As for the rest of our menu for the evening, the Stir-Fried String Bean and Ground Pork was nothing spectacular, but at least, the restaurant was generous with the beans. I found the Steamed Hunan Ham we ordered to be a little too salty for my palate, which is a problem I had with in the past with other dishes that I tried at Hunan's Restaurant. The Boiled Fish with Hot Sauce was a bit of a mystery. It looked like a soup intially, but the "sauce" was actually very oily. Some of the group just ate a little bit of the fish and left it at that. I actually poured that sauce over my white rice and ate the fish with it. The rice became a little greasy; yet, it worked for me.

For the most part, I enjoyed the flavors of the food. Those lamb ribs were spectacular, but for a restaurant to be so spare and scant in the meat portions of some of their dishes, it doesn't serve themselves well and literally, doesn't serve their customers well either. Maybe, I'll make my way back to Hunan Seafood again, but for now, there are still so many other restaurants to check out that it'll probably take another year or two before I do a return visit.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157605008831699/

Hunan Seafood
8772 E. Valley Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91772
(626) 289-8389

"Banh Mi Quartet" - a tasting of 4 different restaurants

In early 2007, I organized my quarterly "Quartet" dining series for my group and this time around, we focused on checking out 4 Banh Mi restaurants in February and March. The four places we visited were Mr. Baguette, Banh Mi & Che Cali, Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery & Lee's Sandwiches.

Before starting this series, I have never had banh mi before so this was definitely going to be a new culinary experience for me. I started the "Banh Mi Quartet" with Mr. Baguette in Rosemead primarily because I remembered seeing it featured on Huell Howser.

Walking into Mr. Baguette at 10:30 am, I was surprised at how busy it was. After finally getting a table with my dining buddies, we finally walked up to the counter to place our orders. When placing your banh mi orders, you have a choice of either having the pickled veggies on the side or in the sandwich. I opted for the side so that I could customize my sandwiches to my taste.

I went for the Avocado Shake and ordered two sandwiches, the Special Banh Mi with the ham and pate as well as the Smoked Bacon on the Sesame Roll. Being an avocado lover, the shake was an instant hit. It was rich, creamy and filled me with avocado love. As for the sandwiches, let's start with the Special Banh Mi.

While I liked the bread, I didn't think it was anything to write home about. It had a nice crust to it, but the inside of the bread wasn't soft enough, which disappointed me. As for the cold cuts, I wasn't that impressed. On their own, the meats were kind of bland and it was only the pickled veggies that gave the sandwich any flavor at all.

I actually preferred the Smoked Bacon on the Sesame Roll. Yes, it's more like a Subway sandwich in that it's a bigger roll and it comes with lettuce and tomato, but the bread was really good. In fact, in this scenario, I just liked this bread better than the more traditional Vietnamese banh mi bread of the other sandwich. Of course, it didn't hurt that the main ingredient was bacon in all its fatty, smoky goodness. I think it just may be true that everything tastes good with bacon.

Based on my meal there, I'd probably go back to Mr. Baguette again. I would definitely like to try a different banh mi from the cold cuts as a point of comparison. If nothing else, there's still that avocado milkshake to look forward to. Mmmm.mmm...good!

Second on the rotation was Banh Mi & Che Cali at the Rosemead location. Before I even start talking about their banh mi, I have to give kudos for what I consider are the best spring rolls I’ve ever had. The vegetables were extremely fresh but what stood out for me was the crunch aspect of these rolls, which I think was pieces of a deep-fried spring roll wrapper, but I’m not completely sure. Whatever it was, it added a different dimension in flavor which was comprised of a little salty and a little sweet.

Ok, let’s get back to the banh mi. Compared to Mr. Baguette, the bread at Banh Mi & Che Cali was definitely superior. For my visit there, I only had one sandwich, a BBQ Pork Banh Mi. The bread was outstanding - crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, just the way I envisioned what a French baguette roll should be like. As for the BBQ pork, it was absolutely delicious. Both sweet and a little smoky, the flavor of the pork was dancing up and down my taste buds. The pickled vegetables made the sandwich that much better and by the way, these veggies can also be ordered on the side or not. Based on that one sandwich alone, I’d go back to Banh Mi & Che Cali in a heartbeat, but the desserts that were also offered by this restaurant sealed the deal.

The Che part of the Banh Mi & Che Cali restaurant name is a general term is for a Vietnamese sweet dish or dessert. Che is usually soupy and is generally served with sweetened coconut milk and ingredients will include any combo of starches, fruits and/or jellies. We went to town and sampled 7 different kinds of Che. One of my favorites was the Che Thai, a chilled coconut milk drink flavored with pandan and featuring jackfruit, longan and agar-agar. This was an extremely refreshing dessert drink. I also really liked the sticky rice balls in the ginger syrup. Overall, Banh Mi & Che Cali is a banh mi keeper, but these wonderful desserts really stepped up its appeal even more.

After my great dining experience at Banh Mi & Che Cali, I didn’t think it could get any better, but it did and that came in the form of Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery in Westminster. The only downside is that it’s a take-out place, but on a pretty day, the park across the street is a wonderful substitute for a sit down restaurant. Walking into Banh Mi Cho Cu, it's quite apparent that it's a hopping place. Throughout our stay, there was a constant hustle and bustle of people coming in and out ordering their food. Other than banh mi, you’ll also see the variety of Vietnamese foods for sale other than the banh mi, which explains this small shop's popularity. From cold wrapped dishes to various filled hot pastries, you certainly had your pick. But do you know what really made me smile? The price of the banh mi sandwiches.

Up to this point, the sandwiches at Lee’s and Banh Mi & Che Cali were between $2.25 to a little over $3.00 in some cases. At Cho Cu Bakery, the prices were a steal at $1.25 and $1.50. Wow, my jaw almost dropped. I’ve heard that banh mi sandwiches were supposed to be around that range, but the first two restaurants I visited didn’t live up to that at all.

Other than the banh mi sandwiches, we all actually ordered some of the other wrapped items to share. There were definite hits and misses. Of all the ones we tried, I did like the more straightforward rice topped with dried fish, especially with soy sauce poured on top the best. The rice was a little sweet, but it really balanced well with the saltiness of both the fish and the soy sauce. Some of the other food items were just too glutinous for my taste.

So enough of the lolly-gaggling, let’s talk banh mi. I have to say that while I loved the banh mi at Banh Mi & Che Cali, I love the banh mi even more at Cho Cu Bakery. An intriguing thing to note about their exceptional bread is that it seemed hollowed inside, which meant that the baguette actually "cups" the filling as opposed to the filling just lying flat against the bread and falling out. With each bite, you get the delicious light-crispy-crusty bread, the delicious filling and the pickled vegetables all at one time. Now that's tasty efficiency.

A friend and I shared two sandwiches, the BBQ Pork Banh Mi and the Pork Meatball Banh Mi. As mentioned already, I thought the bread was absolutely wonderful and thankfully, the fillings were just as amazing. The bbq pork was charred to the point that it looked like beef jerky, but wow, the meat was tender, moist and had an intense caramelized flavor that just did it for me. As for the meatballs, my only complaint was that I didn't get enough of them, but what I did get was juicy and yummy.

I also really enjoyed the addition of sliced cucumbers to the veggie mix because they added refreshing notes to the overall flavor of both my banh mi sandwiches. One thing to note is that unlike Mr. Baguette or Banh Mi & Che Cali, there was no option to have the veggies on the side at Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery. My only regret about this tiny bakery all the way in Westminster is that it's so darn far from where I live, but then, what are gas prices and the 40+ miles I'd have to drive for even just a bite of one of their spectacular sandwiches. I wish I had one in front of me right now. (big sigh)

To end this "Banh Mi Quartet" series, Lee's Sandwiches was our last stop. Lee's has been around for a long time and I think it's fair to say that by virtue of having stores that have multiplied like bunnies all over the US; they've done a great job introducing banh mi to the mainstream public.

Given their place in banh mi "history", I was curious to see how what the banh mi sandwiches would taste like from what many consider as the "McDonald's" of banh mi sandwich shops (and not necessarily in a positive way).So in anticipation, I ordered a Grilled Pork Banh Mi and a Sardine Banh Mi. Like Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery, the veggies were not offered on the side, but came with the sandwiches. When my sandwiches arrived, I gravitated towards the Grilled Pork Banh Mi first. In taking the first bite, one thing I noticed right away was the bread and that wasn't a good thing. I was very disappointed in Lee's baguette.

It was sweet in a weird un-bread-like sort of way and the texture was chewy. Sweet and chewy is okay with a caramel candy, but not bread. I wouldn't say it was horrible but with recent memories of Cho Cu Bakery still floating in my mind, it's hard not to compare the two and find Lee's bread lacking.

The grilled pork filling was okay, although it reminded me of Chinese pork in that it erred on the sweeter side. "Sweet" bread and now a "sweet" filling? This combination wasn't quite working for me. Now the Sardine Banh Mi was fairly successful. I think the saltiness of the sardines cancelled out some of the sweetness of the bread and that's why I enjoyed it more.

In general, it was really the bread that brought everything down for me. The meat fillings, though not spectacular, were fine, but a sandwich without good bread is pretty much worthless. You might as well just take the filling, put it in a bowl, add lettuce and dressing and just make a salad out of it. I wouldn't say that I'd never go into a Lee's Sandwich shop ever again, but if I were in a part of the country where Lee's was the only place I could get a banh mi, I'd make the walk inside. Sometimes a burger just doesn't cut it.

Overall, this was a wonderful "Quartet." It was a great way to compare similar foods and to see how much the same or different they are from each other and the same goes for the 4 restaurants where we did our "Banh Mi" tastings in early 2007. In the end, what I really learned is that the baguette makes the "banh mi" and based on that, you'll definitely see me returning to Banh Mi & Che Cali and maybe, even making the drive to Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery whenever I need a Vietnamese hoagie fix.

Mr. Baguette
8702 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 288-9166
http://www.mrbaguettesandwiches.com/

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594566591159/

Banh Mi & Che Cali
8450 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 288-5600

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600037602651/

Banh Mi Cho Cu Bakery
14520 Magnolia Street Suite B
Westminster, CA 92683
(714) 891-3718

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600048279878/

Lee's Sandwiches
8779 East Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 291-2688
http://www.leessandwiches.com/

To see pics, go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600048206471/

"Dim Sum of the Month Club" at Sea Harbour

In March, Sea Harbour was the third place I visited as a part of my year long odyssey checking out a different Dim Sum restaurant a month all over LA County. The first two dim sum restaurants were Triumphal Palace and Capital Seafood. I have to say that of all the Dim Sum restaurants I've been to in the past, not including the two I mentioned above, this is the first time I have ever experienced Dim Sum Nirvana.

Now I can't say that I was in love with each and everyone of the 17 different items our group ordered, but except for 2 noodle dishes which I found to be too greasy, a cold cut platter which I wouldn't normally order on my own anyway and prawn skewers that I found to be bland, everything else was absolutely delicious.

Of the remaining 13 dishes, 5 really stood out for me. First, there was the baked BBQ buns. Usually, I don't go out of my way to order baked BBQ buns unless it's a group consensus. You can generally get those buns at most Chinese bakeries so I don't consider them a big deal. What I don't tend to like about BBQ buns is that the bread portion of the meat bun can be a little heavy at times and generally, you get more bread than actual filling.

However, the Sea Harbor version's meat bun had a bread that was surprisingly light and there was something almost more delicate about these BBQ buns than I've seen elsewhere. Also, when you take a bite, you immediately get a bite of the delicious meat filling unlike other BBQ buns I've had in the past where I had to take a couple bites of bread before even getting close to the center of the bun where all the action really is.

The second dish was something I've never had before and it was eggplant stuffed with shrimp paste. This was actually my favorite dish of the morning. Since I love eggplant, this dish already sold itself before I even tasted it, but when I took my first bite, it was heavenly. The creamy texture of the cooked eggplant and the shrimp paste which had a slight pungency to it was just a great combo. I could have easily polished off a couple of plates on my own without any thought to sharing them with anyone else at the table.

Along with the BBQ meat buns and eggplant dish above, I also really enjoyed the sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf. Between the sweetness of the rice and the slight saltiness of the pork in the rice, I got the the perfect world of sweet and savory in every bite.

The last two items on my highlighted list are two desserts. The first is the Chilled Coconut and Taro Pudding. What I liked about this item was that it was really cool and refreshing and that it was delicately sweet. I really think it's a great summer dessert for those days when it gets so hot that this little dessert may actually be a sweet way to cool you down (at least for a little while).

The last dessert was the Glutinous Rice Ball with Bitter Melon. As soon as I saw that dessert, I just knew I had to try it. Having had bitter melon before and knowing that it indeed can get bitter, I was interested to see how it would turn out as a dessert. I'm assuming that the bitter melon was incorporated in the rice ball itself since the filling of this rice ball was a sweet sesame paste. What was interesting was that I could taste the bitter melon but I didn't taste any of its bitterness. Instead, there was kind of nutty flavor to the rice ball that was interesting, but very appealing. All I know is that when I return to Sea Harbour, I'm definitely going to order this bitter melon dessert again.

Overall, I absolutely loved Seafood Harbour and it definitely is tops on my list. I can see why it's a Dim Sum restaurant popular with so many other people as well. I'm just glad to see that in this case, I actually visited a restaurant that lived up to the hype.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600174272649/

Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant
3939 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 288-3939

Dinner at Phong Dinh - CLOSED

I've been hearing about Phong Ding off and on for years now, primarily for the "famous baked catfish", but also due to their extensive menu featuring more unusual meats. When I posted a dinner outing to check Phong Ding out, I jokingly mentioned that while I don't necessarily want to eat the entire zoo, I'm open to trying some new things.

Upon being seated and given the menu, we were overwhelmed with all the choices. There were various dishes that featured everything from boar to kangaroo, from ostrich to quail, from snake to frog legs and so much more. It was amazing that we were even able to settle on the 10 dishes we finally ended up ordering.

Of course, I had already called and pre-ordered the baked catfish and wow, what a feast that was. We could have easily just had the catfish for dinner without anything else. First, came out all the fixin's which included all sorts of veggies as well as vermicelli noodles and the wrapper. Soon after, the catfish arrived in all its glory and in what seemed like moments, was stripped clean.

The fish was delicate, moist and tender and I really enjoyed the group's interactive eating. There's just something about eating with your fingers and hands that seems so liberating.

We were all getting kind of full with the catfish, but there were still 9 dishes to go. Of the other 9 dishes, two really stood out for me.

First, there was the charbroiled goat spare ribs glazed with spicy bean curd marinade. I've never had goat spare ribs before and my thought that the ribs probably wouldn't have much meat to it, but surprisingly, the ribs weren't as lean as I thought they would be.

The marinade for this dish was amazing. There was a little bit of heat, but it was a sweet heat. It also had a subtle smoky flavor to it that made it even more appealing. Other than the catfish, this was one of my favorite dishes.

Second, there were the quail eggs wrapped in shrimp paste and battered with crispy sweet rice flakes and served with ginger plum sauce. Once you get over the surprise of seeing green eggs appear before you, this is a really tasty dish.

Quail eggs to me, generally have a gamier taste to them than regular chicken eggs, but the combo of the strongly flavored shrimp paste and sweet rice really cut a lot of that gamey flavor out and just left an egg with really interesting flavor profile.

Another dish that I liked included the kangaroo sauteed with black and pepper and prepared flambe style with wine. This was my first time having kangaroo and it reminded me of goat or lamb just because it had a strong taste to it. I would have preferred less wine but overall, I thought the meat was tender and cooked well.

Overall, we didn't stray too much into the real exotic meats, except maybe for the Kangaroo, but still this was an enjoyable meal and I know that if I ever want to host more of a "Fear Factor" kind of dinner, Phong Ding is the place to go.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594429181266/

Phong Dinh
2643 N. San Gabriel Boulevard
Rosemead, CA 91770
626-307-8868