The Ethnic Melting Pot of Southern California: The San Gabriel Valley

Now that baseball season is over, it's time for me to figure out a new mid-week feature to replace the Fields of Dreams until next season.  I don't have to look far.

I am a big believer in the concept that the more you get to know people, the more bigotries and prejudices are starved for lack of oxygen. Yes, I love diversity and I love getting to know the different cultures in our world.

Thankfully for me, a good portion of them can be found within 10 miles of my home...the San Gabriel Valley...just east of Los Angeles proper.

Already becoming well know for it's large Asian population, it's also the home to a lot of African Americans, Latinos, and Caucasians that settled this area. Formerly a part of Mexico, at the time of the Gold Rush, many people migrated here from the eastern half of our country. Beyond the four biggest ethnic groups, there are also dozens more in smaller number.

In the recent past, it was known as an industrial land. Factories, gravel pits, landfills, warehouses and more dot the landscape. There's even a city here that is literally called Industry.

Perhaps, because of this, land prices tended to be lower here in years gone by and many immigrants flowed into this basin. 

Not all of the land was cheap, however. Some of the nation's most expensive real estate is also located here. San Marino has long been home to much of the 1%. Pasadena, San Gabriel, and Arcadia all have some grand homes on leafy streets. The foothills above houses what Forbes called the most expensive zip code in the country, Bradbury...which houses Chinese billionaires, rich athletes, top jockeys and trainers, and the youngest female billionaire, Linsdey Torres, owner of the In 'n Out chain...and sits behind a wall and armed guards at the edge of the mountains.

Mostly overlooked by travelers more intent on seeing Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Hollywood, and Disneyland, the residents here know there are some special places we get to enjoy without the traveling hordes.

Santa Anita is one of the world's premiere horse racetracks. The Tournament of Roses Parade and the annual Rose Bowl football game takes place here. The Los Angeles County Fair takes place at the end of each summer on the valley's eastern edge where the NHRA's two biggest races of the year also take place.

The valley is the gateway to the mountains that many locals use to escape the pressure of the city. Thousands of miles of trails lace the San Gabriel Mountains, which form the northern boundary of the valley.

A two century old mission anchors the heart of the valley and, yes, some of the best and most authentic ethnic food can be found withing its confines, thanks to the rich tapestry of its residents' backgrounds.

A foodie can spend weeks here sampling the fares of the world without driving more than half an hour. Recently, we tried to come up with how many different types of ethnic foods we could identify within our little valley.

So far that is is up to 38.  That's right, almost 40 different and unique ethnic foods...many quite authentic and not dumbed down for American tastes...right here.  Maybe we'll find a few more.

Starting this week, we'll be investigating all those different tastes to be found here in the San Gabriel Valley...you can call it the SGV for short...and running a new weekly feature, The Ethnic Foods of The San Gabriel Valley, here on Wednesdays.

See you then, come hungry!

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl
All Rights Reserved

The Ethnic Foods of the San Gabriel Valley: The 800 Pound Gorilla

Cuisines covered in previous posts: Mexican, Cajun, Nepalese, Lebanese, Thai, Basque, Argentinian, Cuban, Vietnamese, English, Belgian, Spanish, Jewish, Greek, Greek Diner, Hawaiian, Salvadoran, Iranian, Armenian, Afghani, Indonesian, Korean, Cambodian, American, California Cuisine, Soul Food, Japanese, Filipino, Barbecue, French, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Pizza, Mongolian Barcbecue, Pakistani, Indian, Peruvian, Malaysian, Burmese

We've covered 40 different ethnic cuisines, depending on how you slice it. The San Gabriel Valley has proven itself an food diversity powerhouse will all these different cuisines...

...yet we've been holding off on one til the very end.

While most visitors rarely venture east of downtown, and only to Pasadena on New Year's Day...if that...the valley is world renown for one type of cuisine. Yes, it's finally time to talk about the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

You would be hard-pressed to find a larger population of Chinese people anywhere in the world outside of the San Gabriel Valley unless you're talking about China or Taiwan. It stands to reason that the biggest slice of the ethnic food pie in the SGV is covered by the various varieties of Chinese Food.

While most of America has Chinese restaurants in their towns, it's mostly of the Americanized "with six you get eggroll" kind of food. We have a few of those here, notably Wang's Palace in Monrovia which is a very nice representation of that old-school type of restaurant, but it's quickly being supplanted by something more original, authentic, daring, and...most of all...very tasty.

Not to knock the sweet 'n sour pork and chop suey of the older establishments but they just don't compare with what we can get now.

The variety is staggering. You have your Hong Kong style coffee shops; Taiwanese dumpling houses; the steamy Szechuan dinner houses...even Islamic Halal Chinese food and vegetarian places. Starting in Monterey Park through Alhambra, San Gabriel, Rosemead...reaching up into Arcadia with tendrils running along the Puente Hills to Rowland Heights and Diamond Bar, there are hundreds of places to get great (and not so great) Chinese food.

As much as we've tried, we still have a long, long way to go before we get to it all.

A good place to start is the famous Taiwan dumpling chain, Din Tai Fung. The location on Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia is America's first outpost of this Taipei-based chain.  With an extensive menu that is mostly ignored for the star of the show. You come here to get Xao Long Bao...steamed pork soup dumplings.

Very delicate, hot, juicy and tasty. Just how they get all that pork and broth goodness into those soft balls of thin dough is a mystery. Eating them is not.  I like to mix a little rice vinegar in a bowl with a good dose of chili oil...both of which sit on each table.  Poke a hole in the shell of the dumpling, put it into my mixture, roll it around for a few minutes so that the surface and the interior are throughouly mixed with the vinegar and oil.

Pop it into my mouth, whole, for an explosion of juicy, spicy, and incredible flavor.  A serving of 10 dumplings...just enough for me...is around eight dollars.  Come early to avoid the crowd.

Arcadia is also the home of Andy Cherng, who opened a small chain called Panda Inn starting in Pasadena.  You might know of the take out version of the Panda Inn he also started that now has nation-wide outlets bringing their signature orange chicken to the masses, Panda Express.

For a more traditional feast, we'll head to the Golden Dragon...also in Arcadia...to get their incredible, crunchy Mandarin orange beef. It's flash cooked in a wok full of hot chilis and orange peels.  It is similar to orange chicken but much crunchier and with a deeper, savory taste.

One of our best Chinese delights is hot and sour soup.  This tasty broth with both a sour vinegar component mixed with hot chili is what we crave when we have a cold or sore throat. Nothing gets our sinuses clearer or soothes our throats faster. While many passable to very good renditions exist in the valley, it's the fiery broth of Happy Noodle in El Monte that fits the bill for us.

Some of the best Chinese cuisine exists with ingredients your mom told you to avoid. Intestines, feet, rotten eggs, stinky tofu...all can be great in the hands of a good cook.

These are the kinds of foods we make the trek over to Rowland Heights to eat at Remy's Noodle Palace, next to the Home Depot just south of the 60 freeway.

While I've tried a lot of those offal offerings, the best is the gelatinous bits of cow tendon floating in hot broth with soft noodles. Similar to the taste of ossu buco marrow, you will not think there's enough in the giant bowl they serve you.

My wife and I also like to get the half-foot long pot stickers they serve here on the side. Like most really good versions you have had only much, much bigger.

So there you have it. A celebration of diversity with over forty different ethnic cuisines in one, small valley. Next time you're in Southern California, you owe it to yourself to jump just a bit east of downtown L.A. (take the Gold Line if you don't want to drive) and try one of these deliciously different foods.

Chow!

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Ethnic Foods of The San Gabriel Valley: Pizza

Cuisines covered in previous posts: Mexican, Cajun, Nepalese, Lebanese, Thai, Basque, Argentinian, Cuban, Vietnamese, English, Belgian, Spanish, Jewish, Greek, Greek Diner, Hawaiian, Salvadoran, Iranian, Armenian, Afghani, Indonesian, Korean, Cambodian, American, California Cuisine, Soul Food, Japanese, Filipino, Barbecue, French, Italian, Polish, Hungarian

Last week, we finished off the European cuisines that can be found in the San Gabriel Valley but we must add an addendum...pizza! 

Of course, when we talk about pizza here, what can be found is American pizza. Although mostly made by Italian Americans, it really bears little resemblance to the pizza you'd find in Italy. Our pies have evolved into several regional varieties like New York pizza, Chicago deep dish, and so on.

Actually, the best pizzas around here are found outside of the SGV, such as the pie at Red Devil (at the top of the page) in La Verne, Casa Bianca (just above) in Eagle Rock, and Tony's Little Italy down in Placentia for deep-dish.

It's not to say we don't have pizza here in the valley, there's lot's of it, just not a lot that rises above bad or mediocre.

We do have two we can recommend, each with two outlets in the San Gabriel Valley.

Carmine's in South Pasadena and Arcadia has some great pizzas. Each location is a comfortable, classic Italian dining room with friendly staff and great food. Beyond the pizza, the rest of the menu is good too.

Petrillo's...either at the very old school original location on Valley Boulevard in San Gabriel or at the newer outlet on Route 66 in Glendora...is the pizza all of us old-time San Gabriel Valleyites grew up with.

Cheesy, generous with the toppings, and...if you eat in the dining room...served with that great, freshly baked Petrillo's bread.

While I'd drive a little farther for the best pizza in Southern California, you can't go wrong with Carmine's or Petrillo's either.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Ethnic Foods of the San Gabriel Valley: 626 Night Market

Cuisines covered in previous posts: Mexican, Cajun, Nepalese, Lebanese, Thai, Basque, Argentinian, Cuban, Vietnamese, English, Belgian, Spanish, Jewish, Greek, Greek Diner, Hawaiian, Salvadoran, Iranian, Armenian, Afghani, Indonesian, Korean, Cambodian, American, California Cuisine, Soul Food, Japanese, Filipino, Barbecue, French, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Pizza, Mongolian Barcbecue, Pakistani, Indian, Peruvian, Malaysian, Burmese

We're almost there...this is the penultimate post in this series. Next week, we'll tackle the 800 pound gorilla of the San Gabriel Valley ethnic food scene but this week, we'll take one little detour before wrapping it up.

In Asia, night markets draw lot of people late at night to gatherings of food booths mingling among other merchants, kind of like a late night flea market.

Taiwanese immigrant Jonny Hwang missed the markets and thought the SGV, with it's large Asian population, would be ripe for such a venue. The 626 Night Market was born (the name is taken from the area code of the San Gabriel Valley).

While the first version got off to a shaky start in Pasadena back in 2012, the night market has had much more success after moving to Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia.

It's a mostly Asian flavor, although there are some food trucks bringing in other cuisines.  Stands ranging from cheap to expensive sell all kinds of different Asian goodies.

There's Indonesian roasted chicken, stinky tofu, intestine stew, Sriracha lobster balls, and even a Chinese stand selling incredibly delicious Belgian Liege waffles.

Starting at it's afternoon opening time, the market steadily crowds up. After dark, it can get quite crowded and is very busy. If you like that kind of Asian nightlife, you'll love it. If you're more of a quiet, reading-a-book-by-the-fireplace kind of person, come early and you'll love it too.

Since it takes place at the racetrack, you are free to slip over to the grandstand, partake in a little off-track betting, get a drink at the bar, and even eat at the racetrack restaurant but most come here to eat the myriad varieties of Asian cuisines and try their hand at new, exotic, and sometimes scary new stuff.

It's highly recommended. Parking is free and the general admission price of the racetrack, which is less than $5, is all it takes to get in.

Come try a nice slice of Asia plopped right into the middle of the San Gabriel Valley.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Ethnic Food of The San Gabriel Valley: From South of the Border to the Top of The World

We've counted almost 40 different kinds of ethnic foods in our home of the San Gabriel Valley, just east of Los Angeles, and we're going to highlight a few here each week.

The grandaddy of them all has to be Mexican food. They say there's a Starbucks on every corner. Here, there seems to be a Mexican restaurant on every corner, plus a couple more in the middle of the block.

While you can find Mexican restaurants in every city in the county, here in the valley you can find them in the biggest numbers in the neighborhoods that have a high concentration of Mexican families like El Monte, Baldwin Park, La Puente, Bassett, and Azusa.

There are sit down restaurants that cater to more gringo tastes like El Torito and there are those who go for a more authentic palate like the goat stew called Birria at La Barca in El Monte.

You can get tacos made from almost any part of the animal...guts (a particular favorite of mine), brains, cheeks, tongues...and from nice places with waiters & margaritas, to hole-in-the-walls, to taco trucks on a late night corner. Most of it very reasonable in price, too.

Beware that there are many mediocre and lousy places but some of our favorites include Max's (in Azusa and Monrovia) and Rudy's in Monrovia for nice sit-down dinners (Rudy likes to break out the more exotic authentic fare on Friday nights) and drinks; La Barca and Guacamoles in El Monte and Mariscos Uruapan in Irwindale for a more boisterous, diner-like experience; Rincon Taurino in La Puente, El Picoso in Azusa, and Tacos del Chino in South El Monte for great taco stands. The King Taco chain also makes some pretty good tacos. For hard tacos, it's hard to beat Pepe's, with locations in Azusa, San Gabriel, and Alhambra.

One of our favorite restaurants was Cajun Way (AKA Frank and Joe's) in Monrovia. It was an extremely good example of Cajun cuisine. There is still some cajun left in the valley, mostly of the Chinese Cajun variety such as Boiling Crab, but nothing compares to Frank and Joe's. For really good Southern food with a smattering of Cajun, you need to leave the valley a bit and go to Spoonful in Studio City. Try to get there when they're having  Cajun boil, pictured above.

One of the more obscure cuisines we have is Himalayan food or the cuisine of Nepal and Tibet. On a quiet street in Old Pasadena sits Tibet Nepal House, serving the very hearty food of the high-altitude Himalayas.

It's quite delicious and very filling with lots of protein like eggs, beef, and...of course...yak. Above you can see a bowl of thupka (a hearty stew), Tibetan bread, and fried rice.

Next time you're in Southern California, slip on over to the SGV and give some of these cuisines a try. You'll love it.

More to come next week!

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

Ethnic Foods of The San Gabriel Valley: Representing the Far East

Cuisines covered in previous posts: Mexican, Cajun, Nepalese, Lebanese, Thai, Basque, Argentinian, Cuban, Vietnamese, English, Belgian, Spanish, Jewish, Greek, Greek Diner, Hawaiian, Salvadoran, Iranian, Armenian, Afghani

See that above? That's 20 different ethnic varieties of food. I'm guessing we just crossed over the half-way point of our survey.

Last time we were in the middle east and drifting farther east. Today, we'll be back to what the SGV is really know for...Asian.

Fried noodles, little tiny egg rolls, minty milkshakes...even durian, for Christsakes!  It's from that island archipelago and we've got it...Indonesian Food.

There is not a whole lot of Indonesian in the L.A. area but what we do have is mostly concentrated in the valley with an outlet in West Covina, two in Alhambra, and the one we sampled, Chicky BBQ and Grill in Duarte.

Just off the corner of Huntington and Buena Vista, behind the El Pollo Loco, lies a little bit of this Southeast Asian culture. In the strip mall, there is an Indonesian grocery store, beauty salon, an Indo TV studio, cultural club, and a motel...the Duarte Inn...where each Saturday, an Indonesian food fair sets up in the parking lot.

It's between the market and the TV studio that you'll find Chicky BBQ with just a few tables where large Indonesian families push together to enjoy weekend meals together.

The menu has a large range of products...glazed shrimp that look like little glazed donuts; soto ayam (a chicken stew); nasi timbel (fried chicken and tofu)...and much more...but their specialty here is satay, skewers of grilled meat (chicken, pork, or lamb) cooked over an open flame.

This little combo of chicken satay, rice, salad, and egg rolls with peanut sauce and sweet chili is not only very juicy and delicious, it's only $6.50.

Going west on Huntington, it won't be long until you get to one of the jewels of the valley, Santa Anita Racetrack. Just before you get there, however, you may notice a funny named restaurant, Young Dong Garden.

Korean Food is making a big splash in the Los Angeles area these days. You can find all you want in Koreatown, just west of downtown L.A. and centered at Wilshire and Vermont, but we have quite a representation here in the valley as well.

At Young Dong, it's Korean barbecue. You pay one price and get all you can eat.

A propane grill is built into each table and a waitress brings you plates of meat and some pork fat. You coat the grill with the fat and cook the meat as you go on your personal hot plate.

Besides the meat, there is an awesomely huge array of condiments and side dishes to choose from, all set on your table. Kimchi, onions, garlic, several sauces, chiles...

It's a different way for us to barbecue. The meats are good, the selection vast, and you get to choose how much taste you want on it.

Did you know that when you go to our local donut shops, more than likely you're enjoying Cambodian Food? That's because it has become a traditional business for Cambodian immigrants to get into. They are very good at it, too (our favorite is run by a very nice family just outside of the SGV, Miss Donuts in La Verne).

Beyond that, though, there is one traditional Cambodian restaurant that I could find in the San Gabriel Valley. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to try it but will include it here for reference. 

It's Battambang Seafood Restaurant in San Gabriel. It looks real good and we hope to try it out soon.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Ethnic Foods of the San Gabriel Valley...What You Can't Find.

Cuisines covered in previous posts: Mexican, Cajun, Nepalese, Lebanese, Thai, Basque, Argentinian, Cuban, Vietnamese, English, Belgian, Spanish, Jewish, Greek, Greek Diner, Hawaiian, Salvadoran, Iranian, Armenian, Afghani, Indonesian, Korean, Cambodian, American, California Cuisine, Soul Food, Japanese, Filipino, Barbecue

I love a good chicken Kiev. It's one of my favorite dishes. It's also a dish you're not going to find here in the San Gabriel Valley.

This week, we're taking a little break before moving over the 30 culture mark in our list to note some ethnic foods you, unfortunately, will not be able to find in the SGV.

I'd hoped to highlight Roxilana in Pasadena, which served Ukrainian food specialties like the chicken Kiev you see above. Heck, they even had a $10 lunch version but, alas, they went out of business before I could list them.

Now, the closest place you'll find it is one of the many Russian restaurants in Hollywood like Robert's Russian Cuisine on La Brea but our favorite is on the water at Redondo Beach Pier, Gambrinus, pictured above.

Want a good Weinerschnitzel or sauerbraten? You'll have to travel down to Anaheim and visit one of our favorite places for German food, the Phoenix Club. It's a private German cultural club with a restaurant open to the public.

Looking for Portugeuse food? Not here but just over the line in Claremont is a fine, Portugeuse diner...the Euro Cafe in the Von's strip mall on the corner of Mills and Baseline.

Green wine, an extensive array of desserts, pastas and paninis...my favorite is the bife a Pourtuguese, a juicy flank steak sitting on the bed of fries, with a fried egg, tomatoes, and a hearty sauce on top.

You won't find these cuisines in the San Gabriel Valley but at least you don't need to go that far.

 

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Ethnic Foods of The San Gabriel Valley: ...and All The Rest.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia

Matthew Levine under CC BY 2.0 license

Cuisines covered in previous posts: Mexican, Cajun, Nepalese, Lebanese, Thai, Basque, Argentinian, Cuban, Vietnamese, English, Belgian, Spanish, Jewish, Greek, Greek Diner, Hawaiian, Salvadoran, Iranian, Armenian, Afghani, Indonesian, Korean, Cambodian, American, California Cuisine, Soul Food, Japanese, Filipino, Barbecue, French, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Pizza

Before we get to the 800 pound gorilla of San Gabriel Valley's ethnic cuisine, I just want to go over what's left on our list.

These are cuisines that you can find here in the Valley except we haven't had a chance to try them yet, save for one. Let's start with that one...

I don't think what we know as Mongolian Cuisine is anything like you'd actually find in Mongolia. From what I can gather, it's something that actually developed in Taiwan. Nevertheless, it is an ethnic food and it is served here.

There are several Mongolian barbecue places scattered around the valley. It's been a long time since we've tried any of them but the setup is basically the same. You walk down a buffet of ingredients and take whatever looks tasty to you. At the end of the line, you give your ingredients to a chef who stir fries it up for you.

Not bad but nothing we'd keep going back to.  Golden Palace at Colorado and Rosemead in Pasadena and Mongolian Hashen in Duarte are the two we've tried.

Now, on to the cuisines we have yet to try...

Pakistani Food is usually served alongside Indian food at many restaurants. In fact, in searching, I cannot find one standalone Pakistani restaurant in the valley but there are several Indian restaurants that serve it.

Which brings us to Indian Food. My wife is a big fan but I'm not so much. Noor's Indian Bistro in Monrovia is her favorite and people rave about Nirvana in Arcadia.

Borneo and Yazmin restaurants in Alhambra serve Malaysian Food.

There are a handful of places serving Burmese Food such as Daw Yee in Monterey Park and the Golden Owl in La Puente.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia

Hugomon under CC BY 3.0 license

I have loved what little Peruvian Food that I've tried at Inka Trails, outside of the SGV in Claremont, such as the classic lomo saltado. In the SGV, you can find it at Choza Mama in Pasadena.

We're almost there, we have two more entries in this series before we get to the end...

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Ethnic Foods of the San Gabriel Valley: Say Goodbye to Europe

Cuisines covered in previous posts: Mexican, Cajun, Nepalese, Lebanese, Thai, Basque, Argentinian, Cuban, Vietnamese, English, Belgian, Spanish, Jewish, Greek, Greek Diner, Hawaiian, Salvadoran, Iranian, Armenian, Afghani, Indonesian, Korean, Cambodian, American, California Cuisine, Soul Food, Japanese, Filipino, Barbecue

This week, we're going to finish the European cuisines that can be found in the San Gabriel Valley. 

While there's not a real big representation of eastern Europe here in the valley, you can find an outpost of Polish Food and Hungarian Food at the European Deli in Glendora.

There, you'll find an array of exotic sausages along with goulash, pierogis, bigos (a stew), and flaczki (a tripe soup).  

It's a regular deli, too, so you can get an array of sandwiches and everything is served quick and cheap.

French cuisine is pretty easy to find here in the SGV. What's hard to find is reasonably priced French Food.  There are good and expensive French restaurants all over Pasadena like Maison Akira, Cheval Bistro, and the highly regarded but seldom patronized Devon in Monrovia.

While in France, you can find delicious and cheap French food on every corner, here not so much but with a little digging, you can find a bit.

Crepe shops have been popping up with regularity lately. There's the very good Crepes de Paris chain in Orange County and the Inland Empire, Old Town Bistro in Monrovia with some decent food but slow service, and the forgettable Cafe LuMar in Monrovia. 

The best Creperie that we've come across is Monsiuer Crepe French Cafe in Sierra Madre, run by a nice Parisian ex-pat and his American wife, with a nice array of savory crepes, sandwiches, croissants, and desserts but the best thing is their sweet crepes like their salted caramel crepe or their crepe la rouge with raspberries and Chantilly cream. Heavenly, not too sweet, and very reasonable in price.

For a sit down, waitered French place, your options are basically three places that I know of.  Cafe Massilia in Monrovia is not too expensive and has a dedicated fan base. They're OK but I have had better. Remembering that Vietnam was a French colony in the past, it makes sense that a Vietnamese family could run an excuisite, white-linen, French restaurant with fantastic food at reasonable prices...you find that at La Vie in Rosemead.

Our go-to French restaurant for great food without breaking the budget is Cafe Bizou in Pasadena. Steak au poivre, Nicoise salad, steak frites, and bouillabaisse are some of the great dishes they have here. Bring your own wine and they only charge a $2 corkage fee.

The last European cuisine we have to cover is Italian Food.  We are well represented here in the valley with the Bitonti family's Domenico's chain, Carmine's in both South Pasadena and Arcadia, Petrillo's in San Gabriel and Glendora, and Caffe Opera and Bella Sera in Monrovia 

There are many more including some big name chains with "olive" in the name but our favorites are listed above. Carmine's and Petrillo's are great examples of family style red-sauce restaurants while you can find more refined cuisines at the two restaurants in Monrovia.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved