Have tickets for RISE of the Jack O’Lanterns this Saturday evening. I don’t get out to the SGV much, so I’m thinking this is a good time for a Chinese-food fix. Does China Red have dim sum all-day? I’m also looking at SinBaLa, LaoXi Noodle House, and Chengdu Taste.
No. China Red has dim sum during regular dim sum hours (i.e. 10-3, or thereabouts)
I suggest you try Duke’s Bakery for a different take on Asian style breads.
Yi Mei and Four Seas are good options for Taiwanese breakfast items (savory and sweet)
Lastly, you would do yourself a great disservice if you did not stop in at Taza. A true gem of a coffee shop in Arcadia. But the real reason to stop by isn’t so much for the coffee, but the baked goods from Sharon Wang of Sugarbloom Bakery. My favorite is her Kimchi Spam Musubi Croissant, and offered only on the weekends. Lucky you!
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Or Donut Snob on Mon and Fri until supplies last!
edit: looks like you are going Sat. ignore my idiocy.
Maybe they’ll be leftovers from Friday? Day-old dozen Donut Snobs for $10?
There won’t be if I have anything to say about it. lol
They do get deliveries every once in a while on Sat but not consistently. But a Spam kimchee croissant and a nitro cold brew is a very sensible option. Now if they had both donuts and Spam consistently, I may be there all the time. I love Spam and my affinity for donuts is without question.
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Maybe Sharon will concoct a spam donut for you?
Call it the “A5SpamNut”?
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Just realized that the first post might’ve made it sound as if I’m favoring breakfast items; I’m not. 
Just didn’t know if China Red turned into typical Canto seafood place at dinner.
Thanks for the recs! Not sure if we’ll be able to get to Taza b/f the pastries run out, but partner loves good coffee, so it’s a win-win regardless. 
Is Four Seas on Duarte comparable in quality to the one on Las Tunas?
Yup
IIRC a second branch of shaanxi gourmet opened up recently in the 900 block of baldwin.
look for the temporary “noodles king” sign coverng ‘chong qing’
The best dim sum in the SGV is Elite Seafood in adjacent Monterey Park. If you forego the rolling cart brunch on weekend mornings and just order off the menu, you won’t face the hour-long wait that you will otherwise have to endure. This is Shanghai style dim sum, not Taiwanese (like Din Tai Fung–which is still one of my favorites though the prices have doubled in the last two decades).
A couple of questions about your post:
- I didn’t realize that there was a Shanghai style of dim sum.
- Does DTF serve dim sum? And isn’t DTF a chain of Taiwanese origin that serves Shanghai-style food (e.g, XLB)?
- Is the cart thing new at Elite? I was last there maybe 6 mos ago, and I’ve never seen a cart there. I thought Sea Harbour, Lunasia, and Elite were all famous for NOT having carts…?
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All great points, paranoidgarliclover…
And the breakfast stuff is served all day long? I’d love that, although having fan tuan and warm soy milk in the afternoon would seem… almost subversive. Edit: never mind, took a look at the on-line menu.
@J_L: I grew up in the SGV and am Chinese myself, although neither is a necessary nor sufficient condition for understanding the SGV scene (and I so rarely get back nowadays that I haven’t tried any of the “newer” places… esp since the parental units are older and way less tolerant of a long wait).
Why do you consider Elite to be Shanghai-style dim sum? Have they removed the Cantonese items from the menu?
Almost all of the staff had a Shanghainese accent (at least they did the last time I was there, and the three times before that). They still have Cantonese items, and Taiwanese specialties, but this is not Hong Kong family-owned restaurant and the flavors are very consistent with restaurants I’ve visited in Shanghai.
[quote=“PanikMK, post:10, topic:1506, full:true”]
The best dim sum in the SGV is Elite Seafood in adjacent Monterey Park. If you forego the rolling cart brunch on weekend mornings and just order off the menu, you won’t face the hour-long wait that you will otherwise have to endure. [/quote]
There are no carts at Elite, at least not as of last weekend.
No, this isn’t Shanghai-style dim sum. And Din Tai Fung is not Taiwanese dim sum. Or dim sum, period.
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Ownership is neither a sufficient nor necessary condition in determining the style, or regional focus, of a restaurant.
For all intents and purposes, the largest interest in 85C Bakery is held by non-Asians, and Sea Harbour is no longer wholly-owned by Hong Kong expats, or those of Cantonese origins, but yet they still put out mighty fine dim sum, of the Cantonese/Hong Kong variety no less, although for how long is anyone’s guess these days.
As to restaurants in Shanghai, nowadays there are as many non-Shanghainese restaurants in the city as there are Shanghainese ones. And the former is quickly outnumbering the latter, as is their pedigree as well.
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Have you tried Sea Harbor recently ???
Yes, why?
i’d expect that like in HK - when you have $ufficiently endowed cu$tomer ba$e, the food will follow.