Bites and Bolts

Waking my arse up on a Saturday morning is like trying to calm down a hyperactive kid after eating a box of nerds. Waking up on a Saturday to go get dim sum? Slightly more motivation.

Thanks to a recommendation by Thao L., I got here nice and early (before 11am), found street parking right in front cause the lot was full, got my # at the host, and prepared myself for a long freaking wait. We waited for a good hour and 15 before our number was called and the wait was even longer at that point with people piling up in the lobby to catch some A/C in the summer heat. We were promptly seated at a clean tablecloth table in a side room near the already small main restaurant area. Due to the small nature of the restaurant, I don’t think it’s possible and definitely not advisable to have push carts.

Their picture and text dim sum menu was very complete and we found our favorites and many new items to try very easily. The only thing I don’t like about ordering off a menu is that once you order, it’s hard if not impossible to order a second time. As a result, we ordered more than enough and took some to-go.

Everything we tried was prepared fresh and was full of flavor! The har gow was tender, the skin translucent and slightly sticky.

The sui mai and shark fin with scallop was juicy and warm.

One of my favorites was a white steamed dumpling filled with soft shrimp and chives topped with 3 multicolored peas in 3 tiny holes on top. Beautiful and delicious! The beef tripe was cut into small pieces dipped in a light clear sauce.

We also tried pork & veggie crystal dumplings and chinese broccoli which was cooked to crisp perfection, dark green and tender.

We couldn’t pass up the pork steamed buns based on other’s recommendations and they were quite tender and scrumptious.

A shot of the bean curd roll:

And a green tea mochi-like dessert special:

The prices were reasonable for the high quality of food:
Small dim sum items were $2.28/each, large were $4.25, and speciality items (like the broccoli) were $6.66. It’s not even remotely convenient for me to visit Sea Harbour, but it’s one of the few places in the San Gabriel valley worth racing to in the morning for quality dim sum.

Being invited to a dim sum restaurant for a Yelp event is much like being asked to a school dance by the new kid. It could be very very good or you could awkwardly end up with vomit on your shoes. Mission 261 was somewhere in the middle. The beautiful building located in the San Gabriel Mission area is large and elegant. Parking was a breeze. However, once inside, little details like huge blue plastic totes in the main entrance hall and less than clean tableware, brought the initial grandeur down a notch.

Our group packed into a large round table with a huge lazy susan in the middle. Despite having reservations and the lack of business in the restaurant, service was rather slow and aloof. All items have to be ordered off a picture dim sum menu which is rather limited in offerings. There are interesting non-traditional selections to try as well as time honored favorites.

Although the dishes are brought out directly from the kitchen, they arrived already lukewarm. Also, instead of sampling one or two items at a time, everything generally showed up at the same time making table space a premium.

Among other things, we ordered har gow, pork sui mai, chinese broccoli, char sui pow, roast duck, meatballs, and rabbit dumplings(a dessert with mango paste inside).

While everything was palatable, it lacked flavor in a big way. The har gow and sui mai were standard tasting with no trace of spicy ginger or juicy pork.

Even the Chinese broccoli was a heap of poorly presented scrawny stalks drowning in a watery bowl. The rabbit dumplings were interesting to try, however the skin is akin to chewing on a rice flavored now-and-later candy and the sweet mango filling was a bit too much.

Split amongst all of us, the bill still came out to about $15 a person, which for literally trying about 6 sub-par items was far too much. I expect to be set back about $30 for dim sum for two people, and for much more savory items. The Mission will not save or satisfy your dim sum soul.

261 S Mission Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Yogurt-wise, the plain tart version was pretty standard, although a bit icey and bland. It just wasn’t hitting the savoury spot. The strawberry was much better, tasting slightly sweet and flavorful. Then came the caves. About 1/2 way though, we found huge spaces of air in our yogurt! CAVES! What a rip. With the yogurt softly melting its appeal away, we teamed up on the strawberry yogurt, polishing it off. The soggy fruit and empty flavor of the plain yogurt just wasn’t worth the little calories it contained, and properly found its resting spot in the garbage without regret.

7619 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Have newspaper and tea, will eat dim sum. This was the common image inside NBC on the early Saturday morning of my visit. Easy to find if one knows where to look, this popular SGV spot has its niche catering to locals looking for simple dim sum. The vast parking lot gives way to a large interior lobby complete with a pair of snowy arowana fish swimming round in their tank.

Shortly after opening at 8am, we were quickly seated in their dining area. The area was split into roughly 2 equal sections of tables, and our section was filling up steadily with customers. Pink dressed ladies pushed their carts around table by table. There was no sense of rush in this establishment. As usual, everyone ransacks the standard dim sum, while the porridge and dessert carts are parked and abandoned against the kitchen. When we had our chance with the cart, we ordered generously from what little selection was available. Learning from past experience, it would be awhile if ever before we saw the cart again. Double orders of haw gow and pork sui mai, beef tripe, shark fin gow, and bean curd rolls filled up our table. We got started on our dumplings, anticipating another round with fresher fare, servers peddling new selections, and of course, Chinese broccoli nestled crisply under a slather of oyster sauce. We asked a server about the broccoli and he said it would be out soon.

The har gow’s over steamed, transparent shells gave way to a bland ball of shrimp lacking the usual flavor bursts of bamboo, ginger and garlic. Overcooked pork sui mai was dry and tedious to chew, a far cry from the usual juicy tender morsels they imitated. The beef tripe was slightly overdone, however it faired much better than the dumplings and was palatable. The shark fin gow was very similar in texture and taste to the pork sui mai. The bean curd rolls were prepared juicy and steamed perfectly, probably the most flavorful dish of the morning.

About midway through, we flagged down a server and asked him again for Chinese broccoli. It was almost 9am at this point, and we hadn’t seen the cart roll through. About 5 minutes later, he returned and told us it would be coming soon. We dug into the rest of our dim sum with hopes that the cart would come around before we finished. After about 15 minutes later, done with our meal, we still didn’t see the cart. Not just the broccoli cart was missing, so were any more dim sum carts. Our worst hopes had been realized and we hadn’t seen another dim sum cart pass by us since the first visit. There was only one poor lady pushing around the standard dim sum. We could have snagged a couple sesame balls from the stagnant dessert cart parked next to our table the whole time.

When we closed our final bill it came out to nearly $30. Not a great value for low selection, over steamed dim sum lacking in flavor. The picture menu looks great, if only you could get half the things listed on there!

Perhaps it was the fact that we arrived so early. Maybe the chef prepared everything in advance and left it sitting too long so we didn’t get a fresh rotation of dim sum. Maybe they need to buy some more carts and hire more pink ladies to push them around. For the lack of flavor in the dim sum, it sure gave a nasty MSG hangover later! If you live in the SGV, NBC may satisfy your quick dim sum fix. Driving any more than 10 minutes to go to NBC is wasteful especially with so many dim sum restaurants to chose from in the LA Metro area.

Family diner food and Conrad’s go hand in hand. If you’re looking for a less corporate version of Denny’s, this may be your spot. It’s open 24 hours with full menu service.

The location is easy to find, right off Central Ave. There is plenty of parking in their lot. The dimly lit inside decor is homey and comfortable with little knicknacks and more potted plants than you can shake a stick at. They offer waiter service on the outside patio, which was a quite a hit on the night I went, especially with smokers.

After being promptly seated and drinks orders taken, we were left to wait for about 5 minutes until a new server introduced herself. Apparently ours went on a break. After our new server waited on us, we had no complaints. She was cheerful, polite, and prompt with refills and our final check.

The large menu provides a good selection of mostly American diner food: breakfast items like eggs, omelets, waffles, sandwiches, soups, burgers, wraps, salads, and entrees as well as a slew of side dishes and desserts. For the area, the prices are pretty standard for family restaurants, although the portions and quality of the food doesn’t make for a good value.

We ordered a variety of things including a broiled chicken salad, spaghetti burger, curly fries, and a bran muffin. As sides of curly fries go, they were just as expected, served with ranch and ketchup. And everything tastes better with ranch! The bran muffin was visually burnt, which made for a rather dry interior with melted raisins. Sans burning, it could be a pretty decent bran muffin.

The salad was fresh, made of iceberg and 1 quartered tomato, it was more of a broiled chicken breast on a green salad, than a balanced salad dish as it was portrayed in the menu. The chicken breast was juicy and tender, prepared just right. With such simple ingredients put together for the underlying salad, the texture and taste of the dish was lacking. The greens lived up to being nothing more than a big garnish to the chicken.

The spaghetti burger was an interesting concept. The patty was presented atop 2 thick pieces of garlic butter soaked bread, an oval dish of spaghetti alongside it. This was a messy DIY dish. It’s a shame that the plate real estate was already full, because my companion choose the clean route and just ate everything one-by-one. The burger and garlic toast was tasty. The spaghetti with commerical grade marinara sauce was lacking that made from scratch taste we were looking for.

At 10pm, this restaurant was buzzing with customers. Between hours, location, ease of parking, service, and menu selection, this Conrad’s will continue to be a hangout for locals looking for standard fare.

*Update: This business is now closed*

Beach Cities Yogurt + Gelato is everything one could want from a cold treats shop. They offer a good selection of delicious cold desserts with more toppings than the shoes in your girlfriend’s closet. Add to that a convenient location, ample parking, great hours, and a truly friendly staff.

The bright and spacious interior lends to a feeling of immediate comfortable exploration. 4 frozen yogurt machines are tucked away into the far wall waiting with anticipation for your selection. To your left, a myriad of toppings ranging from healthy chopped fresh fruit to decadent candy bars and millions of multi-colored sprinkles are displayed in an organizational heaven of clear containers and tiny scoops. To your right is a long counter housing the gelato fridge, cash register, and frozen yogurt scale.

I went solely for the frozen yogurt. There are 4 machines with 2 flavors each. 8 flavors, plus a swirl option for every machine. Don’t you love putting your own toppings on? At 30 cents an ounce, you’re getting more bang for your buck as well as power of choice. Mangos, oreos, snowcaps, and caramel sauce? No problemo. Coconut, gummi bears, butterfinger pieces, and strawberry syrup with 2 cherries on top? Sweet.

There are 2 bowl sizes to choose from, although even generously topping my small bowl of peanut butter and chocolate yogurt only came out to about $2.50. Rock on! The staff will pleasantly weigh your interesting yogurt invention quickly so you can start chowing down! And they offer a frequent shopper punch card.

The frozen yogurt here tastes like real frozen yogurt-creamy and flavorful with no milky aftertaste. The soft, firm consistency makes for equal scooping of toppings and yogurt without it turning into a pile of watery discharge in the bottom of your bowl.

Seating is minimal, but unless there’s a gaggle of high school beach girls inside talking about cute guys, the turnaround is relatively quick. With so many other options for frozen treats in the area, Beach Cities is carving out a delightful name for themselves. It’s worth the trip, and a great place to bring friends and family.

I originally heard of Shin Sen Gumi on Yelp, however after two Japanese friends mentioned it within the same week, I felt driven to try it.

We went on a Saturday night at about 7pm-prime California dinner time. We were politely told to add our names to the list outside the door. We gladly obliged, and spent the next hour and a half shivering in the ocean air as we patiently waited our turn. Finally, our name was called and we were ushered into the small restaurant to the bar.

The bar is surrounded by refrigerated glass displays full of raw meat for grilling. The chef, a skinny older Japanese man crouches over the charcoal grill in the center of the bar, flipping about 50 skewers. Occasionally, he tosses seasoning on them. He fans the charcoal with a simple stick fan tucked away conveniently on his backside under his belt. Every so often customers will order beer and the staff will join them, drinking a glass in one gulp as they shout cheers throughout the establishment.

Yakitori is an experience much like teppanyaki for instance. It’s interesting to be a participant in this loud culinary show. The experience is part of the overall product offered, not purely the food. The food was all tasty, although Japanese food can be a bit bland-of no fault to themselves of course. It’s their style.

We tried a number of things from both the yakitori and regular menu: bacon wrapped quail eggs, ebi, flank steak, chicken breast with wasabi, meatballs, chicken wings, squid and asparagus, and cheese and fish cake dumplings. Being later in the evening, they had run out of a few popular items on the grill menu and the regular menu. As a result, we weren’t able to try everything we would have liked to.

As we wrapped up our $50 check, we couldn’t help feeling a little like hitting up a pho spot on the way home to fill up our stomachs. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves. Although the wait was far too long we were glad we roughed it out to try SSG our first time. In the future, I would plan to go earlier as I feel that it’s not worth waiting that long for yakitori. However, I hope to return again in the future as it is a great experience made even better by the company of friends. Maybe next time we’ll buy the cook a beer!

One great thing about being an adult is the ability to have dessert before dinner! Places like Dots make it easy to spoil your appetite. The store is barely noticeable, on a corner end of the Pasadena Inn. It’s easy to drive by without seeing it.

It seems though most of Dots customers order to go as parking is awkward and the dining space is cupcake sized small. There are two tables outside if you wish to partake in your cupcake snarfing just adjacent to Arroyo Parkway traffic.

The store is tiny, so thankfully we found ourselves alone and able to more thoroughly peruse their offerings. The display is artistically designed in a honeycomb shape with cupcakes filling each hole. I’m still not keen on open air displays, but Dots only puts out a small tray at a time, so perhaps they don’t dry out as quickly. The decorated cupcakes were cute as a five year old girl in an Easter dress cuddling a bunny. The flavors were a mix of comforting standards and more daring culinary mixes such as PB&J, Cookies & Cream, and Pina Colada.

I tried my first Red Velvet cupcake here-truly the only food item utilizing red food coloring that doesn’t taste bitter. Although the cake batter was more dense and less sweet than I would have liked, it was partially moist. The vanilla cream cheese frosting was overload compared to the relatively bland cake it was perched upon. My friend tried a Chocolate Mint cupcake. Luckily, I scored a bite. The chocolate cake was more flavorful than the red velvet, but for a chocolate cupcake the richness of flavor wasn’t there. Light green creme de menthe frosting complemented it nicely.

As an occasional treat, or if you’re not equipped to make them yourself, Dots is a good option. At $2.75 a cupcake these puppies aren’t cheap. I wouldn’t mind paying that price if the cupcakes were a bit tastier or if the overall experience was unique. Considering there is little space to enjoy your purchase in the store, and the relatively bland, dense nature of these little desserts, Dots will remain nothing more than a cute little cupcake boutique in my mind.

Dots Cupcakes
400 S Arroyo Pkwy
Pasadena, CA 91105