the recession brings me to rosemead...again

when i studied abroad in hong kong, those nine months were a blur...not cuz i drank a lot, but because every single minute there was a desire to experience something great and to travel to somewhere different. boy it was fun...minus the near drowning experience in thailand...and the awkward 2 hour convo about jesus with two pilipino men during a bus ride to manila (even though i'm buddhist)...or getting lost in malaysia...ah, good times, good times.

i have a lot of memories about hong kong too, like getting shoved by grannies when i got on the train, street vendor eats, and endless shopping for cheap shit. holy smokes. and the portion size for food too...i will never forget the day i first looked down at my big mac (yes, i sometimes ate mcdonalds when i was there) and wondered why it was so small...and then i looked at my reflection in the windows and was reminded that i'm pretty obese by hong kong standards. i guess if i ate less, then i would have been able to fit into child size clothing like everybody else there. but did that thought stop my belly?! hells no!

i also remember eating at many hong style cafes. cafes are like glorified cafeterias where you can pick and choose from a really extensive menu, which normally means a variety of choices but a decrease in quality of food. when i had dinner with my family this past weekend at ledo cafe in rosemead, i was reminded of this once again.

we started off with their greasy spicy pork chops. the flavors were good, but wiping your greasy mouth with a napkin was not. i think there is a place in the food pyramid for foods like this and we checked that one off quickly.

stir fried green beans with fish cake. tasty, but must be eaten quickly because of the conjeel factor. yes, that is a bone fide factor in foods.

roasted chicken with a side of corn and rice. NNNNOOOOOOOO! ill. i took a bite and left the rest of my portion on the plate. it was cold and pink looking inside. thanks to buddha i have an iron belly or else i be running to the wc.

short ribs in burgundy sauce. this was actually pretty tasty and if i find myself at ledo cafe again wanting to reminisce about hong kong eating, i would totally order this again. the meat was extremely tender and the burgundy sauce was light. it went well with rice.

we also ordered a salmon dish which was quickly pulverized before i could take pics. i dunno, but salmon with mayo sauce does not speak to me. anyways, my family killed the meal and for roughly $60 with drinks, it was a cheap death indeed.

i think the food is decent here, that you will get a variety of items to choose from, and it is tres cheap. service is straight up sgv style, so if you get angry with bad service, then perhaps this is not the place for you. but if you don't mind because you're hardened to sgv service like a soldier wounded by war like i am, then by all means, ledo cafe is quite alright.

Ledo Cafe
8158 Garvey Ave
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 573-8998

price: $
verdict: it's aight

meeting my dimsum needs at east gourmet

going to dimsum for chinese people is like a picnic of hamburgers and hot dogs for you americans, except we have chicken feet, tripe, and other awfully delicious, offalicious things to eat. it is also a great time to sit around with all the old people and have them ask you embarassing questions about your relationships, double chin, marriage, and for me, my old eggs in my dusty, ancient ovaries (how can the eggs be viable with ancient ovarian walls crumbling all around them you might wonder? yep, they wonder too). and yes folks, it just got personal. like monthly thanksgiving dinners that start off with feel-good vibes, the convo always turns a little wacko. why do family do that?

normally, my family stick to ocean seafood in chinatown, but once in a while, we brave the 10 east and find ourselves in rosemeand at east gourmet seafood restaurant. this place has sorry reviews on yelp, but it's also packed up to the hilt for dimsum during the weekends. i can't imagine a billion chinese people to be in the wrong about this (ok, maybe not a billion, but definitely not wrong). methinks the dimsum is rather tasty.

we always start off with ha-gow which is a dimsum staple. they are shrimp filled dumplings wrapped in translucent rice wrappers. this is probably my most favorite dimsum dish EVER and they usually go fast, thanks to me.

phoenix claws aka chicken feet. mmm, also a favorite of mine. the feet are marinated in soy sauce and black beans and then steamed until tender. nothing like spitting toe bones onto your plate to bring sexy back.

sliced pig ears with chili sauce. delicious cold dish with a lovely crunch. chomp, chomp, chomp went me chompers and oink, oink, ouch went the pigs.

curry beef tendons. this was a lovely discovery at east gourmet and i don't see them often, but when i do, they have my name all over it. the tendons are slightly gelatinous and do not appeal to all folks, but if it appeals to you, it is really a delicious dish to try.

veggie meat gows which are NOT good. ack. i took a bite and "accidently" dropped the other half on the floor. whooops.

and a family pic of tripe, cheung fan (rice rolls), steamed pork ribs, and black been ribs. yummy.

the best thing about east gourmet is that EVERY dimsum dish is priced at $1.88 which is awesome. if you didn't already know this, most dimsum places have different price points depending on whether it is a "small" or "big" dimsum item. no mediums since you ain't buying a jacket yo. anyways, i like this place and i suggest you get here before 10am because it gets crazy crowded and the parking lot is stressful. it's literally like dimsuming in china with the amount of people that frequent this shopping center.

East Gourmet Seafood Restaurant

8118A East Garvey Avenue

Rosemead, CA 91770

(626) 288-9128

price: $$

verdict: tasty, try it!

getting cut @ JTYH

it's hard to say no to good food when you hear about it. it's even harder to say no when there's great company to boot....even if it means driving all the way out to rosemead (no insult to you rosemeaders but you guys live far!). on sunday, yutjangsah, a friend, and i met up at JTYH for some eating, gabbing, and kung-fu antics.

first off, the place is TINY and they speak only mandarin so i couldn't use my cantonese to curry any favors at all. shit, forget about currying favors...how about communicating PERIOD?! IN FACT, the little mandarin that i learned through a few college courses only took me so far as getting us a table for 3 and to say "thank you" when appropriate. to add insult to injury, the rambunctious convos we had at the sidelines eventually sparked a customer to tell the server to tell us to shut the fuck up....but of course i didn't know what the hell she was saying because she was smiling the whole time and since yjs is a korean momma (so no help there), i nodded my head and smiled and kept repeating "3" thinking nothing of it....it was only after asking this guy standing next to me that i found out what she ACTUALLY said. i am TOTALLY going to demand a refund from my mandarin courses!!! don't give me "A's" and give me this false sense of competence. it's like telling a fat man that he looks good in a speedo. meanie.

i had to take a spy pic of mr. cranky pants. he's the dude in white all the way to the right. after we were seated, i saw him yelling at his kid...dang, i would have hated to be a child of his loins...he must like to complain all the time.

so with my not so competent mandarin, i pieced together a few words like a sad ass language quilt and asked our server to recommend a few dishes. she immediately rambled a bunch of things and we nodded yes to all of it. i wanted to try the pig ears though and yjs was smart enough to point to the item on the menu as i sat there with my dazed look trying to convert my cantonese words into mandarin. then i resorted to pointing too.

sliced pig ears slicked up with chili oil. the pig ears were not as crispy as i would have liked it and the taste was bland to me. a few sprinkles of salt to season this appetizer would have helped up its tasty points.

beef rolls. i thought these were tastier than 101 noodle express. there is some hoisin sauce in it and the beef slices were super tender. i liked this a lot.

green onion pancake. TOTALLY skip. very bland though not as oily as other pancakes i've eaten.

the mooshu fried noodles topped with egg scramble, wood ear, meat strips, shredded cabbage, and green onions. i liked this dish a lot. subtle, light flavors and the knife cut noodles (their signature noodling style) were fun to eat. they were thick and chewy like gummy worms. i would heif this down again.

beef stew soup with knife cut noodles. the broth is light with very pungent 5 spice (?) flavors. i thought it was ok since i'm not much of a 5 spice fan.

at the end of the meal, like typical crazy asians, we fought for the bill and yutjangsah slipped HER credit card into our server's collar, near boob territory. shit, i can't fight with that so THANK YOU SOOK for a tasty meal. good convos, good eats, and total bewilderment that i can get a friend and i from shenzhen to beijing speaking mandarin but i couldn't handle myself in a restaurant. MAN my language skills were moldy!

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 442-8999

price: $
verdict: tasty, try it!