I blame the communist talk… >_>
Oh that sounds good too, just think its overkill for three people. Another time
Ooh, I’ll have to make a note of it, though don’t think we’ll be able to make it this time around.
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The Langer’s versus THE WORLD pastrami debate is not only legendary, it seems to play out the same every time.
Many seem to feel that, while Katz’s may have a (very very) slight edge on the pastrami itself, Langer’s rye bread is comparatively so superior (or Katz’s is puzzlingly so bad) that Langer’s wins on total sandwich experience.
As for which pastrami sandwich to order? That’s literally a whole other debate. Please put Langer’s on your list for the next time.
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For a town built on Jewish delis its pretty shocking how bad the rye is in NYC
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did you ever try the savoy cafe on prospect by the old sohio building (back when it was still sohio)?
Hey everyone, just came back from LA, and I’ll do a few quick updates on my meals.
After flying into LGB, Had a great lunch at Kagura.
I tried their traditional cutlet and also the millefeuille porkchop cut. Both were fantastic and equally juicy, though a slight nod to the layered porkchop. Nice little side dishes, but the pork chops were the stars of the show. Accompanied by a nice soup as well (reminds me of some Cantonese soup actually). Sesame seeds were provided along with a mortal and pestle.
Walked around a bit at Grand Central Market. Bustling area, but we were too full from the lunch to really enjoy eating anything. Nice walk around the area, but we were not able to go up the city hall observation deck (closed for special event) nor the tour of the disney concert hall (available the next day). For some odd reasons, line for the MOCA and the Broad were extremely long, so just walked around those area and down towards Little Tokyo.
Finally headed off to dinner, stopping at Flame Persian Grill. I don’t know about you guys, but I do enjoy a nice kebab. This time around, I found their koobideh a little dry, but their chengeh was great.
Overall pretty fantastic for the first day.
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Glad you made it to Kagura. Great tonkatsu and the prices cannot be beat!
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Yep! Tonkatsu was great.
Anywho, Day 2.
In the morning, I went and grabbed a croissant at Chaumont Bakery & Café and shared it with my mom. My dad was too entranced by the hotel buffet… so eh… haha.
Very good croissant and a delightful offering of other pastries. I actually now do recall I tried to come here twoish years ago, but by the time I arrived they had sold out croissants. Nice crisp exterior and buttery soft interior, wonderful!
Following that, we headed off to SGV and decided to try China Red for lunch.
I thought the siu mai’s flavor profile was pretty good, just humongous in size.
The shrimp noodle roll was very good, soft and supple without falling apart.
The har gow’s wrapper was a bit thick and the shrimp inside wasn’t really juicy.
The Portuguese tarts were good (to be fair, I usually order egg custards instead though), just I wish they were served pipping hot.
The baked bbq pork buns were mm… not quite there. Served in a little muffin tin, the exterior wasn’t really crispy and was warm to the touch. BBQ pork fillings were fine though.
Lastly grabbed the shark-finless soup dumpling, a personal favorite of mine, the broth was good, and so was the dumpling skin. Fish maw and dried scallop were advertised, though I could not for the life of me find the fish maw.
Overall, a good lunch at China Red though I’ll likely try another dim sum parlour before returning. After lunch, we walked around Arcadia’s Botannical Garden. The peacocks are semi-delightful there, but gives a fascinating caw that reminds me of entirely different beasts. After dropping off our stuff and checking into our hotel, we decided to have a nice little uh afternoon snack.
VP Tofu had a pretty soft and nice tofu pudding. Downside, there really isn’t a seating area in the store so we walked across the street and had a quick tea time snack in front of a subway. Parents also tried the cold pandan tofu (dad wished it was more velvety) and cold black sesame pudding (pretty delicate flavor).
Heading back and walking around Santa Anita Mall (man that place is large), dinnertime finally approached. We preordered two dishes at Embassy Kitchen, the Fish Rolls and the flower chicken.
The soup of the day (not pictured) that we ordered was very nice and something that I rarely see in NorCal–dried sugar cane with pork/chicken broth, very good. Following that, we ordered tile fish with gai lan (also rarely seen around the bay). The tile fish gave a nice savory taste with the veggies, and a bouncy nibble as well. Very good.
Following that, the fish rolls came and my god that was a delight. The fish was filleted and rolled with a thousand year egg and red ginger. Parents quite enjoyed this (thousand year egg and pickled ginger was a dish they enjoyed quite a bit at Yung Kee.
The grand finale arrived at the end, this wonderful chicken.
It honestly reminded me of a piece of roast pork actually with the chicken and shrimp paste appearing like layers.
Very well done, though a bit much for the three of us.
Overall, I thought Embassy Kitchen did a fine job, especially on dishes that I rarely ever eat and encounter.
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Awesome reporting - thanks!
those chicken pictures are amazing - that skin looks like the second coming of christ.
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Yes they taste much better hot… I know you’re prolly not going back soon, but next time ask the server if you can get hot ones.
Thanks!
Haha yeah the chicken is pretty awesome, though probably a one time order for us. Bit much for three people.
I honestly thought they would be hot since we got there pretty early and it was a menu driven system. They didn’t have trays or carts going around. Alas, some other time.
Day 3.
Started off with breakfast at Kim Ky
Tried the rice cake omelette which I thought was interesting but didn’t quite hit the spot for our tastes. Came with a vinegary/fish sauce dipping sauce but for me, I just dabbed some soy sauce. Wanted something more on the savory side.
Also tried their leek dumplings (little special on the wall). Pretty good job, nice and crispy, though I thought there might have been shrimp inside (nope, straight leeks haha they didn’t lie).
Also grabbed their seafood ho-fun noodle bowl (not pictured) which hit the spot on a cool morning before our jaunt around Huntington Library.
Following our walk, it was late lunch and we decided to hit Dai Ho (think it was a little closer?) for a quick snack. I grabbed the beef noodle soup (very good! though as you guys mentioned, no pickled veggies) while parents tried the vegetarian and mince meat dry noodles (I uh… got hungry and was too busy eating my bowl for pictures) The soup definitely had a nice kick for me and parents liked their dishes enough.
After that, decided to check out Broth in Walnut, however that turned into a little disappointment. Thought I could buy the chicken essence as a nice little gift to friends and family, but A. we didn’t have a cooler. B. we weren’t flying out in that immediate night. C. they aren’t that cheap either…
But yeah, I thought the chicken essence would be in sealed tetrapaks that are okay for room temperature storage, but no they require refrigeration. Also, I didn’t realize how bad the traffic was going east of SGV towards City of Industry etc. Wow, big delays haha. Wandered around little plazas but overall, nothing truly interesting.
Heading back towards Rosemead for dinner, we decided to explore Seafood Paradise first.
An awesome seafood market, but sadly, no mantis shrimp today.
Impressively large abalone:
That relatively rare or just plain expensive coral trout.
Fun all around, but they were beginning to close so off we headed to Sea Harbour Seafood restaurant.
And honestly, the outside of Sea Harbour amuses me. The first time I drove past the restaurant during my search for dim sum cause it looked somewhat dilapidated. One of the top rated dim sum parlors can’t look that bad… right? Well, the outside remained unchanged but the inside still looks rather gorgeous.
Anywho, onto dinner! Surprisingly there weren’t too many people for dinner on a friday night, but that is never an issue. Ordered a nicely done double-boiled soup (I vaguely recall, but its one with a relatively boney fish, the name escapes me… haha). Also props to how they serve it, they scoop the soup and sieve it.
Second was basil chicken, a good dish with very aromatic basil, but probably something I won’t order again. Was tempted with half a soy sauce chicken but it seemed overkill for us three.
Our main dish of the evening, a Korean turbot served two-ways (sorta reasonably priced at around 30 a lb but an additional 4 dollar surcharge per lb due to it being two ways)! First one is a stir-fried filet with snow peas. Excellent and very fresh flavor from the turbot. The other fish in the tank was the coral trout priced at… 99 a lb (a little too pricey for our taste). Did see a table next to us go the whole nine yards, abalone and goose feet, coral trout where we saw slices steamed in a little dim sum steamer, lobster congee, geoduck sashimi, amid other dishes.
The second part was the fish steamed with black beans. Might not be too much of a looker but the flavor of it was fantastic. Combo of the fresh fish and pungent savory black beans steamed just right. Simply great.
Overall, had a fantastic if not expensive meal at seafood harbour. The little surcharge kinda irked my father, server mentioned it after we picked the fish… Sadly no mantis shrimp at Seafood Harbour. Overall nice dinner for our quick trip.
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Nice report back @Night07. 
We love the steamed fish at Sea Harbour as well (so good!). Did they have any Live Prawns that evening? Definitely a must order next time you’re there (not mantis shrimp, just the larger prawns). Get them steamed.
Did they have any Live Prawns that evening? Definitely a must order next time you’re there (not mantis shrimp, just the larger prawns). Get them steamed.
at ~$30/lb my MIL almost died when she heard the price.
Thanks!
Yeah no prawns at all (thought it was a bit strange, but I didn’t see any prawns at Seafood Paradise either). Steamed and dipping them in that spicy soy sauce is just fantastic.
Ha! My dad’s eyes certainly got a bit larger hearing the australian coral trout’s price. I recall eating at Koi Palace in the bay about… say ten years ago, we ordered that fish without asking for the price. 45 bucks a pound. My dad was not happy… hah… oops. Ask the price everytime!
Anyway, the 4th and final day:
Grabbed breakfast at Harlam’s kitchen. Pretty good cheung fun, very smooth though the fried cruellers were on the greasier side. Congee was on the thinner end (perfectly fine for me, but some prefer a thicker one). Fast, efficient, and probably my cheapest meal in LA haha.
After our nice breakfast, we headed off to Hsi Lai Temple. Nice view and refreshing breeze. Walking around my dad’s eyes and appetite was caught upon these little delights. Red bean and custard were the fillings (charriot/wheel cakes? I recall these in Taipei, but have no idea what they’re officially called). Pretty soft and fluffy, but I’m not exactly a sweets person so not a good person to judge. Dad liked them though so that’s always a plus.
Lastly we decided to grab lunch not at the temple but at Delicious Food Corner. Dad ordered the minced beef with egg and the flavors were pretty spot on but it was way too salty. Probably the chef was a little too heavy handed this time around.
Anywho, I ordered the HK style baked pork chops and they were a delight. Juicy, relatively thick, with a nice texture (not too chewy, but I tend to like chewier food items…) and the sauce was done that didn’t taste strictly like Heinz Ketchup. Parking is kinda terrible though.
After that, we headed away from SGV. Walked around Redondo beach and checked out Patisserie Chantilly. Grabbed a little bit of cookies, but we didn’t try any of the cakes as we were in a little bit of a rush to get to LGB (which as it turns out, our flight was delayed… ha).
In any case, I had a great time. Thank you FTC for all your suggestions and tips. I hope I get some great hints the next time I’m around.
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[quote=“wienermobile, post:6, topic:5336”]
Don’t Forget Langer’s Pastrami
[/quote]Was on Alvarado yesterday on our way to food fun somewhere else. When light turned red we were positioned right in front of Langer’s. I had this ridiculous urge to jump out of the Uber and order a #19 as fast as I could! I didn’t…
P.S. I was just looking at their site and they’re closed Sundays. They must do great weekday business, because not many delicatessens still close on a Saturday or Sunday.
I have no idea about most of these places or whether they fit OP’s bill - but I love when you get in the zone.
Uber? Do you not drive or own a car?
I think most people in L.A. do . Have a car, a bike, and an Uber account. Whatever works.
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When we use Uber, it’s to and from the airport. Why would one use it to go to lunch etc.?
Hi @catholiver -
What @Bookwich says.
It just depends on where you’re going. We were going to a street festival type thing - traffic, parking, nitpicking each other’s driving. They keep telling Angelenos the train is going to be a beautiful thing, but the construction is making people psychotic.
