Dish of the Month (DoTM) -- AUGUST 2016 -- COLD (POSSIBLY FROZEN) NON-DESSERT DISHES

[TheCookie]

Tumanyan Khinkali Factory (Armenian) in Glendale.

Complimentary Garbanzos - Chilled, lightly salt cured (tasty) & an inexplicable bowl of croutons.

Pepper & Grape Leaves Dolma, stuffed w/grains & spices. Love these.

Ghavurma - Beef cooked & lightly fried in butter, then served cold. It tastes a little like dried corned beef coated w/ghee. I’ve never had anything like this before, and very much enjoyed it, on it’s own or inside a piece of lavash w/a slice of red onion.

Full meal on my weekend rundown.

[Chowseeker1999]

Cross posting from my weekend post (more details there), but these are all the Cold / Chilled dishes we had this weekend.

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village

This place still cracks us up. We last stopped by this place in the San Gabriel Valley maybe 3 years ago? It still looks like a bordello or something really gaudy.

Broad Beans with Scallion Sauce (Chilled):

I really like Broad Beans normally, but this version was a bit too sweet(!). It was strange since the Scallion Sauce was salty and onion-y, but the Broad Beans were strangely sweet. So it made eating this dish feel like it was dessert. If they were salty, this chilled dish would’ve been really good.

Old Shanghai Wine Chicken (Chilled):

I remember hearing a Chinese friend tell me that this is a classic dish in Chinese cuisine. We’ve had it before like 3 - 4 years ago at one restaurant when we visited the SGV. The Shanghai No. 1 version was boozy (you could taste the alcohol), but it was a fragrant, non-burning type. It had a nice amount of salt and they even added some fermented Rice(?) on top. This was pretty good.

Green Cucumber with Ginger Juice (Chilled):

The Cucumbers were crisp and crunchy, and whereas normally there’s a heavy amount of Sesame Oil and Vinegar, this version really did have a more tangy Ginger-Garlic Sauce, with a light drizzle of Chili Oil. It was quite refreshing for this warm Summer day.

Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village
250 W Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Tel: (626) 282-1777

Beijing Restaurant

Thanks to @TonyC’s SGV Guide, we bookmarked this place to try for a while now, but realized it was right next to Shanghai No. 1 Seafood when we walked out! So we decided to stop in.

Spicy Pork Kidney (Chilled):

I’ve had Pork Kidney once or twice a long time ago, so I’m not an expert (paging @theoffalo ), but this was pretty good! The Pork Kidney was firm, meaty, and the Chili / Spice that they used was similar that red liquid hell in glass jars in many Chinese restaurants, LOL, not like the fresh Chilies seen in Szechuan / Hunan places.

Beef Shank with Soy Sauce (Chilled):

One of my friends really loves Beef Shank, but this version was a bit too dry. The actual flavoring seemed fine.

Shredded Pork with Rice Noodle (Chilled):

The waitress said the Noodles were made with Mung Beans, so I’m not sure why the menu said “Rice Noodles,” but regardless, this was pretty tasty. I’ve never had this type of preparation before (not sure how good this is compared to the best?), but the crunchy bits of Cucumbers, Carrots, Egg strips, and Cilantro all worked pretty well together with the Pork and the blast of Chinese Yellow Mustard was pretty awesome to make this a nice cooling Noodle dish on a hot day.

We got sidetracked by the Dish of the Month theme, or else we would’ve ordered other dishes (so many interesting dishes there). TonyC and others have some recs?

Beijing Restaurant
250 W Valley Blvd., Unit # B2
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Tel: (626) 570-8598

Bull Demon King

I LOL’d when I first heard about this restaurant name last year. I have no idea what significance it has for Chinese food, but we stopped by here to finish up a DOTM hunt.

Spicy Seasoned Tofu & Seaweed (Chilled):

I’ve had better versions of Chilled Chinese Seaweed. This one tasted a bit average and too salty. The Seasoned Tofu was the firm type, and was OK.

Chicken Cold Noodles:

Thanks to all the suggestions in the Nominations thread this month, we looked into a variety of Chinese Cold Noodle dishes and found this one. Listed as “Chicken Cold Noodles” on the menu, it’s a refreshing chilled Noodle dish, with slivers of Cucumbers and sliced chilled (cooked) Chicken. Bull Demon King (LOL) gives you 2 types of sauces to add to the mixture, a Sesame Sauce, and a Soy Sauce-based Sauce, that was salty and slightly piquant.

Mixing both of them together and you get this cooling, nutty Noodle dish with a ton of seasoned Chicken slices with a slight crunch from the Cucumbers. It was pretty addicting!

If anyone has suggestions on better versions of this dish, please let me know!

Bull Demon King
5953 Temple City Blvd.
Temple City, CA 91780
Tel: (626) 286-4788

Bistro LQ Pop-Up “Ma Maison”

French Morning Melon | Cold Chicken Consomme Gelee | Salmon Roe (Ikura) | Tomato Pico | Jamon Iberico:

A great, classic French Consomme seems to be more and more uncommon in L.A. Clear, see-through Chicken Consomme is chilled into gelee form, and it is fragrant, delicate, pure Chicken flavor. The Salmon Roe is a great match; the Jamon Iberico is also a great pairing, and then eating all 3 of those elements with a bit of sweetness from the French Morning Melon is even better.

Bistro LQ Pop-Up “Ma Maison” (and other events)
https://twitter.com/bistrolq

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[Happybaker]

Not my pic but, a top choice in these hot days - Zaru Soba at Suehiro Cafe.

Cheapish, tasty, and so refreshing!

https://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/suehiro-cafe-los-angeles?select=FLWCeTX_Js4qi4O5Vt3FuQ

And, the bun at indochine vien. So flavorful and cooling, it inspired me to recreate it at home! (Not as good as theirs but still quite nice.)

http://www.indochinevien.com/menu.html

[Bookwich]

@Chowseeker1999

A great, classic French Consomme seems to be more and more uncommon in L.A. Clear, see-through Chicken Consomme is chilled into gelee form

I love consommés and bouillons and always order it if I see it on a menu. It’s hard to find not just in L.A., but anywhere.

However… chilled consommé gel? I can’t.

[OCSteve]

Started with a dozen at Shuck last night…

Moved on to Pueblo after that for a little foie torchon goodness…

[TheCookie]

…Like minds @OCSteve.
Blue Plate Oysterette on Third St. in the Beverly Grove area.

A Mint Julep and the delicious happy hour cocktail Aperol (bitter orange liqueur) Spritzer.

Sol Azure Oysters - I’m always skeptical of happy hour or $1 oyster offerings. Plus these go against everything I usually like in an Oyster. But I loved them! They were from Baja, huge, incredibly briny. Normally these features might indicate toughness… Nope. They were in your face goodness. The badass of oysters. Great naked, but also held up to sauces.

Look at this hunkin’ barnacled shell.

For comparison we ordered the Grand Cru (meh) and the always sweet & delicate Wellfleets.

Compared to those Sol Azurs, the Wellfleets were wimps. We ordered more S.A.

Cold Plate (raw) - Very fresh Shrimp Cocktail & Ceviche Mixto and a surprisingly unfresh Tuna Crudo.

This is not part of the cold agenda. A trio of Fried Calamari (tender), Fish Taco (tasty) and a Mini Crab Cake Slider (not pictured)

The only complaint about service (friendly) is they weren’t busy yet, but didn’t pace the servings. So we pretty much received our initial order at one time.

It was a very nice time.

[JeetKuneBao]

New Fortune Gourmet, White Cut Chicken with Scallion Sauce

Santa Monica Seafood, Happy Hour Oysters

[Sgee]

@JeetKuneBao

Santa Monica Seafood, Happy Hour Oysters

what are times and prices for the happy hour oysters?

[JeetKuneBao]

Monday-Friday, 2-5pm, Oysters are $2.

I know the Happy Hour times suck!

17 Spots for The Best Oyster Happy Hours In Los Angeles

[Bookwich]

SUNNY BLUE

These omusubi are more room temperature than “cold,” does that count? The inari is definitely cold.

Mushrrom omusubi, eggplant omusubi, and inari

The mushrooms were a bit salty today, the eggplant was sweet and spicy, rice was just the right sticky. The inari was really good, soba noodles perfectly cooked, mixed with a very light sweet sauce in chewy tofu pouches.

I know it’s not the omusubi you find at gas stations and 7-Elevens in Japan, and no, you can’t walk down the street eating it, and yes, they use the wrong seaweed. But I don’t care. I like it.

I almost forgot to mention the seating. What the heck? You have to sit sideways on the bench because there is no way to put your legs under the table. I cannot fathom who came up with this brilliant design.

Sunny Blue
12608A WASHINGTON BLVD
LOS ANGELES, CA 90066310.751.6306

[TheCookie]

[quote=“Bookwich, post:43, topic:3920”]
I know it’s not the omusubi you find at gas stations and 7-Elevens in Japan, and no, you can’t walk down the street eating it, and yes, they use the wrong seaweed. But I don’t care. I like it.
[/quote]Not everybody would know that . It looks and seems like something I’d like too.

[TheCookie]

P.S. Did you have a kale salad in that purse?

[Ns1]

Do acai bowls count as non-dessert?

[TheCookie]

No… But thanks for the adorable picture. I hope you gave your faithful friend a lick.

[paranoidgarliclover]

How was the acai bowl intended??? Did you use it as a coda to a meal??? And I’m thinking that the bowl and spoon themselves (which look suspiciously like those associated w/ froyo) is not helping…

[PorkyBelly]

#Kinjiro

Cold uni tsukemen with inaniwa udon noodles #unijuice

[J_L]

Uni gazpacho with late summer momotaro tomato, from Kiriko… Brilliant in texture, concept & taste!

[Ns1]

They bill the acai bowls as breakfast, but I had it at 3p so…

[TheCookie]

It’s a liquid uni throwdown. Is this a common preparation or chef brilliance? Whatever it is, it puts or should put Kinjiro and Kiriko in another realm.

[Ns1]

I had this as a lunch substitute, and there is spinach and kale somewhere in here. Therefore, it counts.

The Juice Parlor
5658 Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 91601
North Hollywood

This was the “clean green”