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

Los Angeles's Best Eats...Eastside Edition - Part 2

See Part One here...

The Best of L.A. food lists seem to stop at downtown. We're trying to rectify that by building a "best of list" for the east side of things...

Southern California is teeming with food variety. It helps that we're such an assortment of the world's ethnicities. In fact, we documented all the ethnic food varieties we could find in the San Gabriel Valley a few years ago.

A lot of it is a vast collection of mediocre establishments but a few rise above the fray. In the eastern portion of the area, it helps to have a guide...and that's what we're here for.

In downtown Los Angeles, the Little Tokyo neighborhood is a warren of great, Japanese cuisine. To the east, it can be just as good...just a little more separated by distance.

Right now, our favorite Japanese establishment also has the confusing name of Little Tokyo. No, it's nowhere near downtown but in the for-now Western themed downtown of San Dimas. You remember San Dimas, don't you? Home of Bill and Ted, where the Circle K was actually a time portal and they had the excellent adventure with Rufus (George Carlin) and became the legendary Wyld Stalyns?

Yes, it really does exist. At least the town, not so sure about that time portal.

In a strip mall next to an Alberstons and a Dollar Tree...on the corner of San Dimas Avenue and Bonita...is where you'll find Little Tokyo, sitting in the shadow of a cell phone tower disguised as an old west water tower.

We've always been partial to the excellent and fresh sushi here. The list is daunting, lengthy, and creative. Fatty tuna, roe, eel, squid, yellowtail....it's all here and very fresh and tasty made by a Japanese sushi master.

My wife now raves about the poke bowl they've added, which is the best she's found in the entire L.A. area. Salmon and spicy tuna sit atop sushi rice and a bed of vegetables which is like a whole sushi entree.

Not being much of a fish eater, I'll go with their excellent beef teriyaki which, even in the a la carte mode, comes with a fresh salad with their exquisite sesame dressing and the best miso soup I've had.

The savoriness of that miso, the chewy and slightly gelatinous tofu, and seaweed combine for such a shot of comfort food flavor that I could easily sit here on a cold winter night eating nothing but that soup.

In El Monte, which is beginning to feel the Asian pressure on it's west side from the fine Vietnamese restaurants of neighboring Rosemead, Daikokuya feels a bit out of place between the Pho and Bahn Mi places marching ever eastward on Garvey and the long established Mexican restaurants that have forever been a fixture in this town.

This outpost of the original in Little Tokyo is new to this avenue of gangbangers, trailer parks, and hourly-rate motels but is a little oasis of great cuisine among the lovable riff-raff of my hometown.

While you can come here for sushi and such nuggets as shrimp lollypops and tofu nuggets, the real reason is ramen...that brothy, noodle soup perfected by the Japanese.

This is not the cheap, sustenance, instant ramen of your college dorm days. Here, exquisitely brewed soy-infused miso broth cradles medium boiled eggs (with the jellied yolks), floating pieces of kurobuta pork belly, bamboo shoots, and green onions all sitting on the perfectly textured ramen noodles. A large bowl is $11.00.

For an extra dollar we'll go with the spicy option, which adds very little spiciness actually, that uses three different kinds of miso that adds a deep, savory taste to the broth.

It is a very delicious, satisfying, and filling way to part with just a little over ten dollars.

We'll continue on this list another time, I've already made myself hungry enough today.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Los Angeles's Best Eats...Eastside Edition

You can find a lot of lists of the best restaurants in Los Angeles such as Jonathan Gold's 101 Best Restaurants, the L.A. Weekly's 99 Essential Restaurants, and Eater LA's 38 Essential Restaurants. All good lists but also very heavy on Central Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, and the Westside.

What's missing are places most of those people pretend don't exist like the non-Asian parts of the San Gabriel Valley, the Inland Empire, Orange County, and more.

We're going to do our bit to rectify that here at the World on Wheels as we present our top restaurants...the inclusive report.

We'll start with pizza...while Casa Bianca is a very good, old style pizza parlor and deserving of it's place on the lists above, it's also hard to find parking, you have to endure a wait (probably on the sidewalk) to get in, they don't deliver, they don't take credit cards, they don't open for lunch, they are only open five days a week, and tend to take a 2-week vacation whenever the urge hits.

Celebrate Wine of the Month Club's 45th Birthday!

La Verne is a pizza mecca in the Inland Empire, just over the hill from Glendora and San Dimas. Locally legendary pizza joints include Warehouse Pizza (adjacent to University of La Verne), Pizza Barn, Pizza 'n Stuff, and the similarly named Pizza 'n Such down the street in Claremont.

The star of the La Verne pizza scene, though, is Joey's Red Devil Pizza in a shopping center at the corner of Wheeler and Foothill Boulevard. Red Devil used to be a chain, like Domino's or Papa Johns, but eventually collapsed leaving franchise owners with the name. There are still a few Red Devils around but they have no connection to each other.

The Monaco family's franchise in La Verne soldiered on with dad Roland mixing his wife's hot and spicy sauce and some of the best old-school pizza around.  A fresh tomato sauce on top, great dough with that olive oil savoriness to it, topped with a thick layer of mozzarella and your toppings.

We go with the pepperoni, bacon, and sausage version.  It's our favorite pie in Southern California and, yes, they're open everyday, take credit cards, deliver, and have plenty of parking.

Tony's Little Italy, down in the Orange County town of Placentia is another favorite of ours. We have to go sparingly, however, since a slice of their Chicago deep dish pizza comes in at well over 1,000 calories.

Saving up our calories and working up our appetites can make it all worth it. This is about as authentic a deep-dish pie you'll find in this area.  We like the stuffed version with has the sauce, cheese, and toppings under a thin layer of crust then they do it all again with another layer of sauce, cheese and toppings on top of that. The pies are so thick, it takes around 45 minutes to bake.  Call ahead and they start it up. Time it right and your pizza will be done just as you arrive.

Not only are the pies massively thick, all the ingredients are top-notch, fresh and tasty. That's the problem...you'll definitely want more than one slice. Better have two or three thousand calories you can spare for this one.

Bakersfield is known for great, Basque restaurants, none more famous than Noriega's with the Pyranees nipping at their heels. Our favorite, Benji's sits across town from those and Woolgrowers. There are differences but the experience is very similar...start with a picon punch and a little socializing in the bar. Move to the dining room, where cheap red wine either sits on the table for pouring or is easily available. Massive tureen of the day's soup to share with bread, butter, and maybe some salsa for dipping. Another big salad bowl with jack cheese and pickled cow tongue. The entry, a side of potatoes, some vegetables, maybe some pasta. Dessert, if you have room.

In the L.A. area, we drive a little less than a hour east where farms clash against tract housing in Chino to dine at our best Basque experience south of the Grapevine, Centro Basco on Central Avenue on the south end of downtown.

Park in the shadow of the giant handball court and make your way into the cozy dining room. Or wait until 7:00 on Friday or Saturday to sit at long, communal tables in the front dining room where you can make some new friends.

Either way, the friendly folks here will not let you leave hungry. Choose a succulent rib eye, covered with red wine mushroom gravy; roasted garlic chicken or chicken done Cordon Bleu style; lamb is always a specialty of these sheepherder families.

Don't come for a quick meal, though. A Basque dinner is meant to linger. Savor over the hearty flavors and good company. There's no need to rush here. Ask for seconds if you think you can handle it. They'll be fine with it...just don't go hungry.

Not too far from Centro Basco, at the edge of Chino and Ontario, is a certified truck weigh station. Parking in the dirt lot, you can smell the nearby cows of the dairy farms and the grease from the neighboring truck service center.  A nearly windowless building sits next to the scale, it's yellow sign blown apart by too many windy days.

Inside, you'll find a divey bar along with some utilitarian tables and chairs.  Between 6am and 3pm, you can sit there and order some fabulous and cheap rib eye or tri tip.

It's nominally Basque but the owner married a Mexican so you'll get her influence on food, too.  It doesn't come out family style at Taylor's Cafe, more of a delicious greasy-spoon/dive bar style, but the portions are still massive.

We came here for the rib eye, a local cheap eats legend.  It's good, succulent, and delicious but still doesn't hold a candle to their smoky and juicy tri tip, served on Saturdays with a heaping helping of eggs, potatoes, and beans.

More than these three big eaters can fit in, a take home bag means we can repeat this meal at home the next day.

Stay tuned, there's more to come...




Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Riding the Rails in the SGV: What to do Along the new Gold Line Foothill Extention

Residents along the foothills in the eastern end of the San Gabriel Valley have been waiting decades for this day. The Gold Line extension has finally opened, bringing light rail east from Pasadena to the edge of Glendora.

As the traffic woes of Route 66 and the 210 Freeway continue to build, this will provide just a bit of relief valve for those crowded roads as workers can now commute easier to jobs in Los Angeles, Pasadena, and beyond without having to drive.

This also opens up many more opportunities to get out and enjoy our region without the hassles of traffic, worrying about having too many drinks or finding a place to park. You can find dozens of articles this week about what there is to do near the new Gold Line stations but a problem I've found with them is that nothing they list is remotely within walking distance...Din Tai Fung is great but it's two miles from the Arcadia station and the Santa Anita Racetrack is almost as far; we love Old Town Monrovia but that's another mile hike and uphill at that; Slaw Dogs is one of the few good places to eat in Duarte but be prepared for another two mile jaunt.

With that in mind, here are our suggestions of attractions, sights, and places to eat and drink within walking distance (our limit is two blocks) of the new stations (follow the links for more information)...

Arcadia - Going east from the former eastern terminus of the line, the first station is in the town that Lucky Baldwin built.  Santa Anita Racetrack is here but that's about a mile slog from the station.  Nearer is Arcadia Regional Park (formerly known as Santa Anita County Park, two blocks south on Santa Anita Avenue) where you can picnic, climb trees (really, a place you can still do that!), lawn bowl, and even golf 18 holes.

Outdoorsy types can hit up the REI store, right next to the station, for all their equipment needs.

I'm Hungry, Where Can I Eat? - Nearer the station, you can grab some Mexican food and a margarita at Villa Catrina, just west of the station, across Santa Anita Avenue.  Of course, Arcadia is known for Chinese restaurants but the pickings are slim around the station. Asian food fans will love the Korean barbecue at Young Dong Garden, on Huntington Drive just west of Santa Anita. There's an old-fashioned, double-drive thru In 'n Out just northwest of the station at Santa Anita and Colorado Boulevard.  You can pick up sandwiches at Claro's Italian Market and Deli and have a picnic across the street in the park. Don't forget to have an incredibly good Liege waffle, some ice cream, and a great cup of joe at Taza, just west of Santa Anita on Huntington next to the Jiffy Lube on the corner.


A block or two to the east, on Huntington Drive, a lot of people like the beer and sandwiches of Matt Denny's Ale House (I'm not one of them) and there are a number of chain restaurants like BJ's Brewhouse, Claim Jumper, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, plus a very solid Chinese restaurant...Gold Dragon.

Monrovia - The city has big plans for it's station and will eventually develop the entire stretch on Myrtle to connect it to Old Town Monrovia about a 1/2 mile north.  For now, a new park and plaza at the station provides occasional entertainment at the attached amphitheater and kids can burn off energy at the new playground.

The old train station is yet to be developed but it should be a very nice place to stop in a few years.  Bill Monroe (the town's namesake) and other names from local history are buried at Live Oak Cemetery, one block west on Duarte Road.

I'm Hungry, Where Can I Eat? - For now, places to eat are very limited within walking distance. Aside from the Jack in the Box, across the street, there's a taco stand next to the adjacent car wash; a donut shop and burger stand a block south, and a dive bar that serves a better than expected breakfast (Tall Pines) a block north, near the 210 Freeway.

More is planned.  Expect to see food trucks take up the slack soon and Paul Kalemkiarian, owner of the Wine of the Month Club, has secured the right to develop the area around the station parking lot.  Expect a wine bar and cafe in the near future.

One block south, just past the donut shop, is Pacific Plate Brewery, a small purveyor of some mighty fine craft beer to wet your whistle.

Continuing on from Monrovia, be sure to look on the left side of the train before it gets to the next station to get a glimpse of the massive train yard for the Gold Line trains.

Duarte - This is a 'waiting for future development' station but there's still a little bit here.  Directly across the street is the City of Hope, one of the worlds premiere cancer research and treatment hospitals.  Between the station and the hospital itself is an outstanding rose garden to wander through.

I'm Hungry, Where Can I Eat? - Not too much around here but there are a couple of Mexican restaurants and a decent burger stand a couple of blocks west at the corner of Duarte Road and Buena Vista Avenue. On the other side of the 210 Freeway at Buena Vista is an outlet of the Old Spaghetti Factory housed in an historic Duarte schoolhouse.

Irwindale - This is mostly just a commuter stop and start point. Thousands of workers are expected to commute to jobs at the adjacent Miller Brewery (no tours, sorry) and the large Southern California Edison complex. The giant parking structure is in hopes that a lot of other workers will start their commutes to Pasadena and Los Angeles from here as well.  It would do well to get those cars off the 210 before clogging up the choking points at the San Gabriel River.

I'm Hungry, Where Can I Eat? - You're in a decidedly blue collar neighborhood here but that doesn't mean there's nothing to eat. McDonald's and Farmer Boys sit next to each other across the freeway. Callahan's is a decent watering hole with decent food, as well, a couple of blocks south. Picasso's server some more upscale food at it's deli one block south but closes before dinnertime as does Chica's Place across the street.

Azusa - Humble Azusa is primed to give the other stations on this segment a run for it's money in the dining and drinking sweepstakes.  Just a few blocks south of the entrance to the new San Gabriel Mountains National Monument (or Azusa Canyon, as it's known to locals), the train lets you out at the entrance to a monumental sized Target store and a block east of the pretty, old City Hall and Civic Center.

I'm Hungry, Where Can I Eat? - Right now, Azusa probably has the best and most varied selection of great places to eat within walking distance of the station.  A block south on Azusa Avenue is a burgeoning restaraunt row featuring City Cafe, Congregation Ale House, Bambino's Pizza, and Max's Mexican Cuisine who also serves one of the best margaritas in Southern California.  On the other side, a very short block west, you have Canyon City Barbecue, a donut shop, Cocinero's Express (for tacos and such), and Flo's Coffee Shop for breakfast and lunch.  On the other side of City Hall is California Grill...an excellent slightly above fast food place with beer and wine on tap...Taco King, and Tom's Burgers. Adjacent to the station is Tardino's Italian Deli and Kanpai Sushi.

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia

Simon Sheck under CC BY 2.0 license

Azusa/Glendora - Won't anyone think of the kids? Well, Metro did here by putting the last station on the line here, across the street from two colleges. Students of Citrus College and Azusa Pacific University can now take the train to classes helping to ease up congestion in their massive parking lots.

I'm Hungry, Where Can I Eat? - Other than college cafeterias and snack bars, there's really nothing adjacent to the station. A burger shack sits two blocks east on Foothill Boulevard and you can walk two long blocks south to Citrus and Alosta where you can find many chain outlets like Chick Fil A, McDonalds, and Applebees.

There you go, all the good places you can hit with your $1.75 basic fare.  If you've got more time and a thirst for more, you can go beyond to Pasadena, downtown L.A., Long Beach, Hollywood, and beyond.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - 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

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

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

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
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