Pull right into a parking zone in San Gabriel Valley, then take a whiff: Is that 5 spice tickling your nostrils? Hoisin wafting out that window? The scent of dumplings scorching in a skillet? As anybody who’s traveled to this nook of Southern California is aware of, hiding among the many drab, sand-colored strip-mall storefronts are a few of the nation’s most excellent Asian eating places.
Located quarter-hour from downtown Los Angeles, these eateries usually catch diners’ eyes with shiny neon indicators and “Finest Of” stickers pasted on the doorways. Step inside, and also you may discover soups brimming with braised meats and handmade noodles, baskets of steamed baos, or dim sum carts overflowing with dainty mouthwatering morsels.
Within the mid-1800s, the California gold rush introduced the primary wave of Chinese language immigrants to San Gabriel Valley (aka SGV). They have been principally from Guangdong (previously Canton), which led many People on the time to imagine Cantonese meals was consultant of all Chinese language meals. That misunderstanding was cemented by the Chinese language Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred immigration from China altogether. It might be practically a century earlier than SGV acquired its subsequent main inflow of Asian immigrants—primarily from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Vietnam—who joined the Mexican, Filipino, Japanese, and South Asian People who had already made the world their house.
Within the Nineteen Seventies, new eating places started cropping up celebrating the cuisines of Hunan, Sichuan, Shanghai, Taishan, Taiwan, and past. And just lately, rich Chinese language traders have additional modified the face of SGV’s meals scene by opening a smattering of high-end eating spots.
An Angeleno of 27 years, I started my exploration of the world’s meals scene in school with late-night rides to boba tea retailers and to Hong Kong-style cafes to review for midterms. Nowadays, you’re extra prone to discover me devouring Emperor’s jar soup, Uyghur massive plate rooster, or Asian American mashups like Bopomofu’s honey-walnut shrimp burger. No matter you’re within the temper to eat, you possibly can in all probability discover it in SGV. Listed here are the Asian eating places I’m head-over-heels for.
This standard and environment friendly Taiwanese noodle home opens simply three hours for lunch as a result of its handmade threads are offered out by the afternoon. After beginning with refrigerator-case appetizers resembling shredded tofu with celery and carrots and smashed spicy cucumbers, transfer on to the meat noodle soup (the nationwide dish of Taiwan, natch), whose springy noodles relaxation in a posh broth and are available topped with flank steak and shiny inexperienced spinach. If you happen to’ve acquired room for extra, order extra noodles—ideally those topped with minced pork and fermented bean sauce. (Make sure you carry money, or be able to pay through Venmo or Zelle.)
Hui Tou Xiang serves tender dry noodles and wealthy noodle soups, however pan-fried pork dumplings are their strongest go well with. They stand out for his or her rectangular form, which makes for extra crispy floor space. The pork filling is equally pleasant with its contact of surprising sweetness. Then there are the soup dumplings, with their spectacular variety of pleats, delicate but sturdy wrapper, and gloriously splurty middle. Fundamental ambiance and decor—pleather cubicles, hardback chairs, fluorescent lighting—let the meals do the speaking.
Many pho spots look alike on this nook of SoCal, however it’s a blended bag in terms of how good the broth is. At Golden Deli, it’s good—the clear soup sweetly beefy and fragrant with ginger, onions, star anise, cloves and cinnamon. High your bowl with tender slices of rib eye and brisket, and should you like, tendon and/or tripe. A must-order pho precursor is chả giò, fried spring rolls, that are spectacularly crispy. One of the best ways to eat these is by wrapping them in a lettuce leaf and herbs, which make a crisp, cool counterpoint to the juicy filling of pork, carrots, mushrooms, and glass noodles. Since its first location opened in 1981, Golden Deli has turn out to be an SGV establishment, with lengthy strains which can be well worth the wait.
Newport Seafood is understood for its high quality seafood, usually seen swimming in its tank earlier than you order it. The signature dish is wok-fried, sauce-coated lobster with inexperienced onions, garlic, jalapeños, black pepper, and butter, a recipe developed by co-owner Ly Hua paying homage to his childhood in Phnom Penh. An in depth second is the baked shrimp and crab, served crisp and eaten shell-on. Talking of shells, one among my go-to orders is clams with “spicy scorching sauce” whose identify is as deceptive as it’s redundant, since there’s little warmth to report however loads of aromatics like basil, garlic, and ginger. Hua and spouse Wendy Lam have roots in Guangdong however have been born in Cambodia; each sojourned by way of completely different international locations to ultimately land in Southern California, the place they met. Via their journeys you possibly can style your method by way of the restaurant’s menu stuffed with Chinese language, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cambodian influences.
Dim sum in SGV has come a good distance, ranging from roving dim sum carts and transferring into made-to-order dishes introduced scorching from the kitchen. NBC Seafood Restaurant is among the few remaining push-cart holdouts. You recognize the sort: white tablecloths, lazy Susans, satiny gold chair covers that drape over the carpeted ground. I like the bustle and hum of the place—the servers hawking their wares, the whine of turning cart wheels, the din of diners’ conversations. The classics are all you need at NBC, and the classics are what you’ll get: crystal shrimp dumplings; open-faced pork, shrimp and mushroom dumplings; steamed pork ribs; steamed and baked buns stuffed with rooster or pork and pan fried radish desserts. Simply be able to wave and level when a dish catches your eye—that is no time to be shy.
This second-generation restaurant by Chris Yang and Maggie Ho is a brunch hotspot 5 days every week and a dinner vacation spot for 4, however you possibly can all the time depend on merchandise from native purveyors: This time of yr, it’s all about kabocha squash from Yao Cheng Farm and dry-aged barramundi from The Level. Conventional dishes like congee and chilly sesame noodles are my go-tos, as is the strawberry amazake smoothie made with Chavez Farms strawberries and oolong “Fresca.” At dinner, Hainan fish rice is a artistic spin on what’s normally a boiled rooster dish, with added crunch because of crispy fish pores and skin. Dan dan campanelle delivers excellent QQ, and the smoked char siu pork jowl is completely tender and candy, capped off with an outer char. Yang’s wine record is singular and thrilling, that includes surprising bottles resembling Domaine Bükk’s “Litro Libre” made with zenit grapes from Hungary. A terrific purpose to make a reservation for the weekend is wine nights: Flights are $34 and encompass three beneficiant pours.
Bopomofo is the quintessential SGV Cafe: It’s an off-the-cuff cafe by and for second-generation Asian People and a facet mission of YouTube sensation Philip Wang of Wong Fu Productions and Eric Wang. They serve creative drinks like mint matcha lattes and lychee berry bliss, the latter made with calamansi juice, strawberry purée, and coconut milk. If you happen to’re peckish, contemplate my favourite menu merchandise, the honey-walnut shrimp burger slathered with wasabi-yuzu sauce and topped with candied walnuts, pickled jalapenos, and crimson onion. There’s additionally your customary number of popcorn rooster, crispy niblets dusted in home seasoning, accessible in white or darkish meat and furnished with Thai basil aïoli.
SinBala has lengthy been the native standby for Taiwanese consolation meals and desserts. The traditional order (from the big menu) is the pork chop over rice, a battered-and-fried behemoth with a crunchy layer that offers method to tender, juicy meat. There’s additionally the glutinous meatball, a staple of southern Taiwan, topped with a candy, orange-tinged garlic soy sauce. Each chew is a tasty mixture of pork, wood-ear mushroom, and lip-smacking sauce. In spite of everything that richness, a refreshing dessert is so as: Shaved ice topped with condensed milk and your selection of mochi balls, grass jelly cubes, crimson beans, and boba.
Bistro Na’s launched SGV to the Imperial delicacies of the Qing Dynasty, representing a brand new period of deeper-pocketed Chinese language immigration to the world. Inside its red- and gold-walled eating room, company can feast on dishes that have been actually made for royalty. Dishes by Bejing-born chef Tian Yong embody terribly crispy shrimp in its rendition of walnut shrimp and Emperor’s jar soup, a mix of beef tendon, mushroom, fish maw, quail egg, and sea cucumber suspended in concentrated rooster inventory. The restaurant serves solely eight Peking geese per night time, and to say one, you’ll need to name forward. The chicken’s pores and skin has a uniform thickness that just about shatters whenever you chew into it. Chef Yong carves it delicately and serves the dish himself in two levels—first with solely sugar, then in hand-rolled wraps stuffed with cucumber, inexperienced onion, and do-it-yourself plum sauce
Earlier than this Alhambra restaurant opened in 2019, there have been hardly any Halal eating places serving SGV’s Uyghur group. Right here you’ll discover dishes seasoned with star anise, cumin, black pepper and cardamom—signature flavors of China’s Turkic Muslim minority. Large-plate rooster, the standout predominant, options flat noodles, potatoes, bell peppers, leeks, and chiles in a spicy, hearty sauce. Equally laborious to cross up are the hand-crimped beef and onion manti and the hand-pulled laghman noodles with stir-fried beef and greens. Televisions present panorama photographs of the huge and various panorama of Xinjiang province, and make you replicate on this deep-seated tradition combating eradication.
This Pasadena gem that opened in 2022 brings SGV Cantonese delicacies full circle. Although you’ll spot traditional preparations—resembling dim sum staples like juicy pork dumplings and egg yolk buns or salt and pepper tossed calamari—there’s a brand new emphasis on seasonality and high quality of components. A working example is chef Peter Lai’s rooster full of shrimp paste distinguished by phenomenally crispy pores and skin. Don’t miss the stir-fried greens, together with savory luffa tossed with salted egg yolk, and wokked chayote with minced pork and pickled olives. If you happen to’re feeling adventurous, ask your server what the specials are, however don’t veer too far off: Whereas the menu is huge and consists of fashionable takes, expertise has proven me that the classics are the place it’s at.
Within the Easter SGV enclave of Hacienda Heights lies one of many largest Buddhist temples in North America. Hsi Lai, which suggests “coming west,” is a panoramic, 15-acre complicated with gardens and temples in-built Ming and Qing dynasty architectural types. Daily, they put out a humble $10 vegetarian buffet as a service to the group. You’ll discover pretty customary dishes resembling tempura greens; sesame tofu salad; vegetable broth; stir-fried noodles and reduce fruit. The meals is nothing to put in writing house about (and could also be bland to some, because it’s allium-free resulting from non secular restrictions), however the compound is price visiting for its meditative serenity alone. The temple encourages guests to take solely what they will eat, so be aware of waste.
