When Chinatown Just Isn’t Big Enough: Eating Asian in the San Gabriel Valley

It used to be that when you wanted Chinese in Los Angeles you headed to Chinatown. Then Monterey Park became the ne plus ultra for those seeking authenticity. Lately, some of its surrounding neighbors--suburbs like Alhambra and San Gabriel and Rosemead, which stretch directly east from downtown along the edges of Interstate 10--have begun to rival the prominence of Monterey Park, making the San Gabriel Valley home to a virtual Chinese restaurant dynasty.

But there is more than Chinese food in these parts. Talented Asian chefs from around the world are flocking to the area. Now it’s possible to have good and authentic Filipino, Thai, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese, even Taiwanese food without once stepping west of the L.A. River.

Valley Boulevard is the equivalent of Restaurant Row in the San Gabriel Valley. Many of the best and most interesting Asian restaurants lie on it or in proximity to it. Here you will find cuisines from everywhere in Asia: small, medium-sized, and large restaurants of every shape and color. There are so many Asian restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, in fact, that it’s possible to sample a different country’s cuisine every day for a week and not make a dent in the local restaurant scene. But that didn’t stop me from trying.

Day One

We start the week Hong Kong-style with a dim sum lunch--what else would you expect at a restaurant called DS?

What makes this place unique is the health consciousness of the owner, Cindy Sun, who is also a doctor. Sun has done away with the traditionally oil- and sugar-packed recipes of classic dim sum , and in their place substituted dishes that the AMA would positively swoon over. Fun gor are little pockets of pliant rice flour dough filled with tiny peas, minced shrimp and spicy pork. The restaurant’s char siu bao, comforting steamed buns with a saucy stuffing, may be the area’s best--not at all sticky, and brimming with lean, cubed pork. Har gow, tiny shrimp dumplings in see-through noodle jackets, are totally salt-free.

The restaurant is also open for dinner when one finds the usual Cantonese and other regional specialty dishes prepared with similar moderation. Seafood comes straight from a small but well-stocked tank. Peking duck is crisp and unusually lean. Shrimp in spicy sauce is a revelation.

DS Dim Sum House, 5612 N. Rosemead Blvd., San Gabriel; (818) 309-9918. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Parking in lot. American Express, MasterCard, Visa accepted. Lunch for two, food only, $6-$12.

Day Two

We are in the Philippines, by way of a tiny, six-table operation called Pabling’s Filipino Foods. Everything is amazingly cheap. Adobo, a soy- and vinegar-based stew with pork or chicken, has a sauce so good you’ll want to lap up every bit of it. Fresh noodle dishes, such as pansit bihon (tiny rice noodles with minced meats and vegetables) are terrific.

Most of the dishes here taste homemade, not like restaurant food at all. Lumpia sariwa, what many Filipinos call “fresh egg rolls” in English, are not deep fried at all, but rather lightly steamed egg roll skins with a meatless filling of mushroom, egg, cabbage, bean sprout and spinach. Filipinos like to dip the rolls in Chinese plum sauce, served on the side. I find them vastly superior to their deep-fried counterparts. Chicken mami is a bowl of thick noodles in rich broth, with stewed chicken hiding somewhere below. Mami would approve.

Dessert is a must. Try the halo-halo : red date, lichee, grass jelly, young coconut and sliced jackfruit topped with vanilla ice cream and raspberry syrup. If that sounds too far out, you can always fall back on the excellent flan.

Pabling’s Filipino Foods, 534 E. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel; (818) 280-5533. Open Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Parking in lot. Cash only. Dinner for two, food only, $10-$15.

Day Three

On Thursdays, Shinta Garden prepares an assortment of Indonesian munching snacks with names like lemper, pastel, and kroket. Lemper is a sticky rice roll filled with tender minced chicken that has been slowly cooked in coconut milk; it is one of the most intoxicating delights in all Asia. Pastel is similar to an empanada , a crusty, Dutch-influenced meat pie with fluted edges and an exotically spiced meat filling. Kroket are even more European, little chicken and pork croquettes served warm with a spicy sauce.

With appetizers like these, you may never make it to the main courses. But if you do, there are several worth trying. Most popular is nasi rames, a rice plate with a variety of side dishes like ajam pedas, spicy barbecued chicken, rendang, beef stewed in coconut milk, and telur sambal, an egg curry. Gulai kambing is goat curry, a fiery hot version of the stuff, with a subtler, gamier flavor than its lamb counterpart. Bihun goreng are mouthwatering fried rice noodles mixed with pork and shrimp and then spiced with ground laos root, coriander and a touch of clove. Don’t leave without trying one of those unusual iced desserts. Es kelapa muda, shredded young coconut drenched in a raspberry syrup, goes down the easiest.

Shinta Garden, 301 W. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel; (818) 284-7517. Open Wed.-Mon. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Parking in lot. Cash only. Dinner for two, food only, $10-$15.

Day Four

Hungry for Japanese? The staff is Chinese at the elaborately designed Pine Garden, but never fear, both the chef and the outgoing sushi man are Tokyo natives. The restaurant, owned by a Taiwanese businessman, includes a cavernous dining room and an upstairs nightclub, but it’s best to sit at the sushi bar, where the widest range of food is available.

One of the sushi man’s specialties is moriawae nigiri, mixed raw fish such as yellowtail, tuna and snapper sliced loaf-style on vinegared rice. Another is tiger’s eye: cooked squid stuffed with salted salmon. His fine uni, sea urchin, and tobiko, flying fish roe, are served in little seaweed wrappers.

Besides sushi, there is an enormous menu with huge portions to match. Tempura is particularly good. Unlike many tempura bars, Pine Garden chefs don’t reuse oil in the frying process--the difference is obvious. Hamazaki mushi (steamed clams in sake) is delightful, with a clean, natural taste. The various lunch boxes (available at dinnertime, too) are huge and diverse. After dinner you can follow the Japanese to the piano bar, or go upstairs with the Taiwanese and dance to a live band.

Pine Garden, 323 W. Valley Blvd., Alhambra; (818) 289-1000. Open daily, 5:30 p.m. to midnight. All major cards. Parking in lot. Dinner for two, food only, $25-$50.

Day Five

Many modest family establishments in the area compete for the Taiwanese market, but I know of none better than Lee’s Garden. The menu is on the wall, with Taiwanese dishes posted in Chinese characters. These dishes aren’t translated, but you can ask the cashier to describe some of them for you (there is no waiter); he is very helpful. What you will find are specialty dishes quite unlike anything we know of as generic Chinese.

O-ah-jen, the oyster omelet with a glutinous rice flour bottom, is pure pleasure, blanketed with a sauteed Chinese green called tong au and a spicy red sauce. Ba wan is a sticky dumpling with bamboo shoot, black mushroom, and minced pork. Joong dze, a Chinese tamale, is sticky rice with a minced meat and vegetable filling. Lu danis is anise-flavored preserved egg. Oa gwey, a.k.a. bowl cake, has to be seen to be imagined.

There’s also a daily lunch special that at $2.95 is a steal. You get a plastic tray crammed with rice, pickle, green vegetables and at least two stewed or sauteed meats.

Lee’s Garden, in the Alhambra Plaza, corner of Valley Blvd. and Atlantic Blvd., Alhambra; (818) 284-0320. Open Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Parking in lot. Cash only. Lunch for two, food only, $7-$10.

Day Six

At Pho So 1, an always crowded San Gabriel watering hole, pho , the meal-in-a-bowl noodle soup, is done in style. Soulful Indochinese pop and excellent filter coffee are big draws here, too--you can soak up culture while slurping your noodles.

A giant sign proclaiming “Happy New Year” in English, Chinese and Vietnamese greets you as you enter, as does a tremendous blast of garlic and star anise. If understated flavors are one of your requirements for a good meal, this isn’t your place. There are almost two pages of pho specialties, but I like to be adventurous and try some of the more unusual offerings. Lau luon bap chuoi (eel with banana buds) is one of the most outrageous dishes in California. It’s almost sweet, and the eel has a mysteriously spicy aftertaste. De xao lan, cooked deer with curry, coconut and stewed onion, is another dish you won’t find in the Midwest, but it’s less exotic than you might think.

The restaurant has recently added bo 7 mon, the seven courses of beef which require a heifer-sized appetite, and there are the usual Vietnamese favorites as well. Cha gio, Vietnamese-style egg rolls with crab and glass noodle, are excellent. So is bi cuon, cold rice roll with pork, greens and bean sprout.

Pho So 1, 120 E. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel. (818) 571-7432. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Parking on street. Cash only. Lunch for two, food only, $8-$10.

Day Seven

Our last day, we’ve saved for Korea, a country with a much wider range of dishes than the tableside barbecue most Western diners are aware of. And despite its barbecue-dominant name, Manna Korean BBQ restaurant specializes in dishes found at all points on the spectrum.

It’s a well-appointed, cheerful place, with plush brown leather booths and silk floral arrangements just above them. On the tables are gas-powered barbecues used to prepare marinated short ribs, oxtail and other meats. But before you go for the burner, try the raw, seasoned crab, a wonderful appetizer flavored with red pepper and spring onion, which picks up where sashimi leaves off. Other appetizers you might try include seng sun jun, morsels of griddled cod in a light egg batter, and jap chae, glass noodles sauteed with mushrooms and finely minced pork. Hearty soups are wonderful here: Gom tang is a peppery tripe and beef soup. Gal bi chim is stewed spare ribs with various condiments. Gom tang is a chicken broth with egg and oblong shaped rice cake. And yes, if you must have it, the barbecue is great. Bulgogi, flank steak cut into leaf like slices, is best when washed down with icy drafts of OB, the house beer from Korea.

Manna Korea BBQ Restaurant, 2101 San Gabriel Blvd., Rosemead; (818) 307-5671. Open daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Parking in lot. MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $25-$40.