Cook-Off @ Panda Express . . .

... or how I turned into a nervous wreck, sabotaged my team and possibly poisoned their head honcho.

But first things first, yes, I readily admit to occasionally eating at Panda Expresses. As far as fast & mall foods go, I find it pretty decent -- they have a slew of freshly chopped & cooked vegetables (a whole fridge's worth!) that gets incorporated into almost all their items, they let you sample up the wazoo before you have to commit to an order (try doing that @ a burger joint,) and of course the infamous Orange Chicken, a sinful dish that capitalizes on primal tastebud desires: something sweet, something meaty & something fried.

So when I was invited to participate in their Wok Star Challenge @ the Panda Restaurant Group HQ in Rosemead (as well as an opportunity to meet with their exec. chef Andy Kao,) I enthusiastically replied yes -- even if my own wokking skills are on the rudimentary side.

And when I saw the other bloggers I'll be competing with (Cathy of Gastronomy, her hubby Vernon of Stellar Recipes, Hong & Kim of Ravenous Couple, Patti of Worth the Whisk, Quyen of Kitchen Runway and Jenna of LA Canvas/Eater LA,) I was SO ready to raise my white flag, only to feel majorly relieved and thankful to discover the everyone's going to be randomly paired up, and that I'll be Hong's sous-chef for the night.

After our team's decided, we were escorted to their cafeteria and test kitchen (structured as a typical Panda Express restaurant) where we were given a brief history of the company, met Chef Kao, and watched as he demo-cooked their latest entree dish, the Firecracker Chicken Breast to coincide with the recent Lunar New Year.

After a quick lesson in cleaver chopping (again, thankful that I got to chop bell peppers and not the onions, or I'd be BAWLING w tears!) and a demo on wok handling & cleaning, we were shown the table of ingredients . . .

. . . given a quick rundown of each item, and then "you have 20 minutes to prepare and plate a dish to judge, starting NOW!"

Commence eight bloggers freaking out, trying to conceptualize a dish while grabbing ingredients like we're on Supermarket Sweep.

Photo courtesy of Panda Express, since we were all going mad prepping, cooking & plating

After a minute of discussion, Hong & I decided to go for some originality points and utilize kumquats in our chicken dish by infusing the cooking oil with thin slices of it. As Hong stir-fried away, I took on the role of expediter, shuttling back and forth between the ingredients table and the cooking station with extra components needed. Simple enough, right?

And yet, I still fail-whaled when Hong's request for rice wine turned into me dumping an ounce or two of LEMON JUICE into the wok. After sampling the puckery piece 'o poultry, I tried to compensate by squeezing a generous dose of honey into the stir-fry. Can't go wrong with sweet & sour, right?

Nonetheless, I am just glad we finished & plated in the 20 minute time frame. We named our dish "Fortune Chicken" as a play on ubiquitous - though not exactly Chinese - fortune cookies, to reflect the lucky yellow-red colors of the entreé and as an homage to the numerous good luck blessings that come around Lunar New Year (which I could use a LOT of for this cookoff.)

Let Chef Kao's tasting and judging begin. And I agree with Cathy the man's got quite a poker face . . .

. . . not to mention the diplomatic charm of UN ambassador when he ever-so-politely told us that the Chinese sausage in our dish was undercooked! Eeek! But I did love how he tried to assuage our fears of almost food poisoning him by saying, "I bit, but I didn't swallow!"

The winners of the night were Cathy & Quyen with their Spicy Jackfruit Chicken, which is was totally delicious (and I even packed some of it to-go!) And as winners, Panda Restaurant Group donated $250 to each of their chosen charities: Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue & Cooking Matters Los Angeles (formerly Operation Frontline, the benefactor of last year's BloggerProm.) Congrats!

And after all that excitement and tension, we relaxed over a Panda Express meal cooked by Chef Kao; which of course included plenty of their Orange Chicken. Woohoo!

Despite not winning (I knew my chances were slim anyways,) it was a wicked fun time to hang out and cook with other bloggers (without worrying about the clean-up too!) and get a little inside look about company. So thanks to Panda for hosting the event and the swanky parting gifts (including a wok, which worked out well for me since I was already shopping around for something to replace my skillet.)

Now that I got the cook-off out of the way, will I fare better at a Bloody Mary mix-off? Stay tuned...

More photos from the cookoff on my flickr here

Mini Foodventure #143: Michelle's Pancakes (San Gabriel)

While I often do my homework before checking out a place, there's just as many times when I pick a place on a whim without any prior knowledge. Such was the case with Michelle's Pancakes last week, when my mom and I got jonesing for dumplings on a rainy day and decided to meet halfway between our homes. Finding nearby Luscious Dumplings already out of several varieties, we decided to cross the parking lot to Michelle's instead, which I suggested only having remembered it as a skipped stop from the running food marathon. Only upon entering did I realize it's a LA Times' profiled restaurant -- thankfully, a few months have past since the write-up and we dine a bit late that night so the floor wasn't really packed.

We decided to split two plates of dumplings (pork/leek and shrimp/egg/leek) and the not-on-official-menu Shandong-style beef roll (spice-marinated beef wrapped with scallions, cilantro and hoisin sauce in a crispy pancake), and as a perk for ordering three dishes we got to choose a side from their fridge. We opted for a Chinese seaweed salad.

The beef roll here is decidedly a bit more elegant and delicate than say, the more robustly-flavored and rustically-presented ones at 101 Noodle Express. Overall, the taste is a bit lighter and less intense, the spices in the marinated beef are more subdue, and the onions in the roll and the pancakes aren't particularly overwhelming -- and I definitely love that I don't have to unravel the roll to pick out excess cilantro leaves (which I often do with other beef rolls.) To draw a Chinese food parallel, I likened Michelle Pancake's beef rolls to Din Tai Fung's xiaolongbaos, both more refined than the typical specimen.

As for the dumplings we ordered, the flavors were also lighter than the norm and bordering on bland for the shrimp/egg/leek one, but the filling was juicy and the wrappers were delightfully tender for being boiled and I totally believe their "No MSG" claim upon eating these. While I don't mind eating mild-flavored dumplings, I did mind that I can't use my requisite condiments to punch it up a notch as the chili oil container was all kinds of gross, lifting the lid yielded slimey strings that reminded me of natto strands. So not acceptable! My mom was wary of trying the other condiments there too, but alas, desperate to inject some extra flavor, we went with a vinegar/soy sauce/sesame oil combo to dip our dumplings in, and my mom asked for a side of raw garlic cloves, which we nibbled on alongside our dumplings to somewhat compensate for the lack of spicy and oniony tastes.

Our three mains and a side wound up to be $22-ish, slightly higher than I expected but not too bad. Despite the price, I'd likely make a return trip from time to time for the beef rolls if only to save my fingers from smelling like the cilantro I have to pick off. And hopefully the condiments' cleaniness improves or I may have to take a cue from mama and BYO Chili Oil.

What Do Others Say?
- The SGVN (Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News) finds it "hard not to order too much" here, but noted that they make great leftovers too.
- It is highlighted as one of Asian Dumpling Tip's favorite SGV dumpling houses
- Eat:LA pits their beef rolls against 101 and Mama's Kitchen, and mentions Michelle's "has the most pleasant atmosphere and service of the three."

Michelle's Pancakes
706 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776-1161
(626) 293-8098

Mini Foodventure #43: Wonton Time (Alhambra)

Sweater weather rolling in also mean it's an appropriate time to play homage to a Cantonese classic comfort food: the wonton noodle soup. Last week, my search for the delicious trinity of pasta, dumplings and broth took me to Wonton Time in Alhambra.
Like most other casual "everyday" Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, it's a no-nonsense operation with furniture picked for functionality and value. However, unlike other places with menus that runs above and beyond a hundred items, the selection here is pretty "keep it simple":
Basically, you choose your noodles, how it's prepared and what type/combination of toppings you want (wontons, fish cakes and/or sliced beef). For another two bucks you can get vegetables of the day in oyster sauce too. Quick and easy.

Since I wanted to catch the evening news at home and their dining area (which accomodates about 30) is pretty packed, I opted for a to go order of fish cakes & wonton hor fun soup. I paid my $4.50 + tax, waited five minutes, and I was sent my merry way with two styrofoam to-go bowls (noodles are typically packed separately to avoid becoming too soggy and to allow diner to eat them dry with the soup on the side). Thankfully, traffic was kind enough to allow me to get home to enjoy my grub still piping hot.
A little plain to look at, and overall somewhere between 'so-so' and 'kinda good': the chicken broth was flavorful and not too salty (or MSG'd); the big fish cakes were nice and pretty aromatic from the mixed-in parsley. The wontons, however, failed to impress (and shocking, given the restaurant's name)-- they were simply too large and too bland--these are supposed to be one-bite treasures packed with a savory filling, not something whose halves are nervously balanced on chopsticks while I season them myself, all the while hoping they don't slip and dive back into the bowl and splash soup everywhere. The filling was also too shrimpy for my tastes (it's basically three shrimps, whereas I would've preferred a *seasoned* pork-shrimp mixture.)

So overall, perhaps worth a try if you're large, shrimpy wontons and if you happen to be in the that area, but definitely nothing that calls for a special trip. I'd rather take my wonton business to Har Lam Kee.

Wonton Time
19 East Valley Blvd; cross: Garfield
Alhambra
(626) 293-3366

This Past Weekend: Elite Restaurant & Rule of S. Irene Virbila

Since Eat Drink & Be Merry's review of Elite Kitchen (formerly New Concept), I'd been waiting for a weekend when I'm jones-ing for dim sum to go. That came on today and I went on an impulse, totally forgetting that LA Times' S. Irene Virbila gave it a pretty positive review this past Thursday ~ 2.5 stars.

Thus, even arriving after 10 a.m. for a small table, there were already about 20 people lingering about and I waited 40 minutes before getting seated.

(Sorry, food pic-o-philes, forgot to bring my camera this time -- but I had many of the same items EDBM had ~ so check out photos there.)

Overall, the place matched my predictions almost too perfectly: upscale food and service reminiscent of Mission 261 before they downsized their creative and delightful menu (for a nostalgic trip - read J Gold's 2004 review here).

Like most other higher-end dim sum joints, things are ordered off a checklist menu (available in English & Chinese, with an accompanying picture chart to tell you what's what) rather than having to hail down a surly cart lady bejeweled with jade accessories.

The shu mai (pork-shrimp-mushroom) dumplings were among the best I've had in a while, which may have to do with them being topped with bay scallops. I was also pleasantly surprised by the lo mai gai (chicken & assorted meats wrapped in glutinous rice and steamed in a leaf), which had just the right amount of fattiness from the chinese sausage and delighted me with a succulent slice of abalone. All went well with the very nicely prepared chrysanthemum black tea, one of the most fragrant that I've had. Finishing off the meal were the flakey macau egg tarts, with a subtly sweet creamy custard that practically liquifies in your mouth.

I also had their har gow shrimp dumplings and their scallop rice sheet rolls, which was solidly good as well; too bad I missed that they had ja leung on the menu (chinese youtiao doughnut wrapped in rice sheet rolls, usually served with peanut & hoisin sauces and OMG good!)

Not so impressive-the macau roasted pork that's been raved about. It's good (crispy skin, great intermingling layers of rich fat and lean meat), but nowhere delicious enough for me to justify paying $6 for 11 miniscule slices -- where for the same price I could probably get a half pound's worth at a Chinese delicatessen. I don't regret trying it, but I doubt I'll ever get it again.

Asides from the roasted pork, all the dishes are worth its value even with the higher-than-normal price (expect about $15/person when dim summing here), and I expect to return again to sample more of their offerings.

And next time, I'll be sure to take heed to the rule of S. Irene Virbila -- if she reviewed any place with a two star or higher rating, avoid it for at least a month! (When I finished my meal around noon, there were at least 50 people swarming around the place.)

Elite Restaurant
700 S. Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 282-9998

Mini Foodventure #28: Lu Din Gee for Chinese New Year's

Since there were no giant Chinese New Year's feast about for me, I decided to do what any crazy Angeleno did -- make a reservation at a soon-to-be-fully booked Chinese Restaurant. And what better place to be packed like a sardine than one of the hottest spot for celebratory meals - Lu Din Gee.


For those not acquainted, Lu Din Gee is a San Gabriel restaurant famous for their Peking/Beijing Duck - which was featured in Los Angeles magazine in October '06 and a rave review from LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold, not to mention the point of discussion (generally positive) for countless Chowhound threads. Of course, like any place with significant good buzz, service is bound to be a bit shakey with influx of customers - so my friends and I weren't holding out much hope for being treated like V.I.P.s.

Alas, when we arrive (around 6:45p) the restaurant wasn't packed (soon to change) but there were several large parties already there - including an approximately 30-person group seated on three large round tables. And as such, we got very little love from the servers, who were busy trying to synchronize serving that large group before taking care of our lil party of three.

And this was also the reason why I have no food pictures (and thus not a full foodventure) -- we were so ravenously hungry by the time the grub arrived I didn't even remember to take photos, but the very least I can do is refer you to the LA Weekly photo of the wrapped up duck here. Anyways, our dinner menu included:

- Of course, the Peking Duck ($29.95) chopped up with skin separated from the meat, served with thin pancakes barely thicker than crepes, hoisin sauce, slivers of scallions, julienned cucumbers. Sweet-savory-fatty goodness overall, though my friends noted they preferred the version served with mantou-like buns instead of pancakes. Since there were only three of us and we wanted to try other dishes, we opted out of this dish being prepared "two- or three-ways" (which would include duck bone soup and/or duck meat + bean sprout stir-fry, for about $6-$10 extra.)

- Scallion pancakes ($4.95 for one, eight wedges)- warning for vegetarians, these contain strips of salted pork within - but were the crispy, flakey, drug scallion laced deliciousness that we expected them to be. Unfortunately, these arrived with the Peking Duck (we were expecting them as appetizers).

- Dragonballs, ($7.95 for 12 of them) and no, not these:
but actually breaded and fried fish paste meatballs with a mildly-spicy shrimp center, served with sweet-sour sauce. Interesting dish (that we were also expecting as apps, but came with the duck), and my friend got an extra order of this to bring home. (and no, we didn't have to travel the world fighting spiky-haired, beefy supervillains for them either.)

- Snow White Rice Wine ($8 for a light-bulb shaped bottle, enough to pour about 12 shots worth) - milky, smooth, sweet with a little grassy scent - though my friend thought it was a bit flat (I don't know much about rice wine, so couldn't comment on that part)

All in all, a filling and decadent Chinese celebration dinner that wound up about $20/person, which is not bad at all even for Chinese food standards. Yes, the service was kind of sucky but improved a bit after the large parties were taken care of (i.e. so drunk they're just making random toasts instead of bugging the poor servers for this and that.) And we at least took some mildly evil glee that by the time we left, around 8:30p, the restaurant was packed and there were dozens of salivating folks outside.

Note to people planning to go: If getting the duck, call at least an hour in advance - since it takes that long to prepare (I would even advise at least a day ahead of time.) Also one duck order (prepared one-way, by itself) is generous enough for two people to eat, but can adequately feed up to 4-5 if other "side dishes" are thrown in.

Lu Din Gee Restaurant
1039 E. Valley Blvd, B102
San Gabriel 91776
(626) 288-0588
www.pearlcatering.com

Foodventure #23: J & J Restaurant (San Gabriel)

Long before Din Tai Fung invaded Los Angeles and brought the thick-skinned, soup-filled xiaolongbao to the masses (not to mention some unbelievably long wait-times for a casual Chinese restaurant), there were restaurants like J & J, which has been serving this dumpling as well as other homestyle Shanghainese fare for well over a decade.

Located in Prospect Plaza, one of the few old plazas on Valley Blvd. in San Gabriel, from the outside J & J is a pretty unremarkable restaurant - and without prior word of mouth one would probably never be aware of the yummy treasures tucked within.

Just like the exterior, the dining area is nothing more than functional. There's about a dozen tables (mostly two- and four-seaters), all of the well-weathered and scratched. Likewise for the off-white floor, which has suffered years of foot traffic damage but otherwise pretty clean. Other indicators that is is a no-fuss, no-nonsense place: 1) The beverage fridge (which is on the dining floor) is being used as storage for vats of mystery sauces, boxes of noodles and plates of premade side dishes, 2) the tea, served not only in the most generic metal pot but also with a styrofoam cup! (see below) and 3) the quintessential "not-A" rating from the LA Public Health department (in J & J's case, a B - further research unveiled that it's a 82.)
After a quick look at the menu, whose lamination is practically falling off, I decided upon my meal - a three-course feast of Shanghainese comfort foods to keep my stomach and soul happy. Starting off this smorgasbord is Stir-Fried Nian Gao, Shanghainese Style:
For those not familiar, nian gao is a glutinous rice cake - eaten most frequently around celebration times such as Chinese New Years. Sometimes it will be prepared as a sweet dish, similar to Japanese mochi, other times it'll be used for something savory, such as the course above, where thick-sliced nian gaos are stir fried like chow mein with some greens, onion slices and meat slivers in oil & soy sauce. The taste is pretty much like any other stir fry, but nian gao's smooth, chewy texture makes this course extra fun to eat.

Next up is a snack I hold near and dear to my heart - scallion pancakes!
I swear this is what Hot Pockets' marketing department was eating when they figured out their advertising slogan, "crispy crunchy tender flakey crust" because that's exactly what this is -- and without the artifical tasting and sometimes gross stuffing. Pan-fried to golden perfection, every bite of this multi-layered pie releases the sweet aromatic smells of scallions. Mmmm...

And for the finale, crabmeat & pork xiaolongbaos.
Eight beauties that I had no trouble finishing off one by one, and I daresay is comparable (if not better) than Din Tai Fung's version. Yes, there's only 8 compared to DTF's 10, but these are substantially larger (practically spilling over the spoon) a bit less pricey too. As a courtesy to you readers, I even stopped long enough from pigging out on these moist, plump, juicy goodies to show you its wondrous interior.
Hiding beneath its thick but translucent dumpling skin is a succulent blend of pork & crabmeat mixed with carrots, ginger and other veggies in a pool of meaty broth. Just a little soy sauce and a little vinegar and it's a one-way trip to yum!

And having dined solo this time, I had plenty of leftovers to take home --

-- enough for another two meals! True, the pancakes were no longer crispy-crunch-flakey upon reheating, but they're still tender, and having them soak up all the stir-fry grease made them delicious in their own right.

Spread out the bill and each meal is about $5 -- I'd take this over burger and fries anytime.

The Bill:
Niangao stir-fry: $5.25
Scallion Pancake: $2.25
Crab & pork Xiaolongbao: $5.95
Tea: Gratis
Pretax/tip total: $13.45

The Rating:
Ambience: 2.5/5 (functional and fairly clean, furniture has seen better days; but otherwise, not much more to say about it)
Value: 4.5/5 (everything was well worth its price - esp. when it stretched into two extra meals.)
Service: 7/10 (no-fuss & no-nonsense; very speedy)
Food: 17.5/20 (only a tad too oily & fatty, but everything was consistently positive: flavorful, nice textures, good ratios in the mix of ingredients)
TOTAL: 31.5/40 (great place to swing by for casual comfort eats, either alone or with a small group of pals)

Other notes:
- Self-parking in the lot
- While they're known for Shanghainese cuisine, their menu have a variety of mainstream Chinese fare as well.
- The plaza also has a Lollicup & a Beard Papa, for those with a sweet tooth after the meal.

J & J Restaurant
301 W. Valley Blvd. #109 (in Prospect Plaza)
San Gabriel, CA 91776