No. 1 Noodle House, Rowland Heights: 1 of 10 Reasons My Job Is So Cool

A Daily Gluttony blog just wouldn't be a Daily Gluttony blog without the irreverent food/work combo posts so here goes.

My job kinda rocks.

But interestingly enough, not very many people understand what it is that I do without having worked in the retail industry. My own mom to this day couldn't tell you exactly what I do. She still tells her old Chinese mom friends that her daughter works in Finance. Usually I am referred to as a Financial Analyst but I've heard myself being labeled a Financial Planner too. Her friends then nod in approval because it's something they can understand. No offense to any of you financial analysts or planners out there, but I didn't shed an insane amount of blood, sweat and tears for years in the retail industry for nothing. No way--my job is so much cooler because:

1) I get to work with fashion and other cool stuff.

2) I get paid to go shopping.

3) I get paid to stay updated on fashion, style, and pop culture news.

4) I am not required to travel.

5) I get to see a bunch of private music shows.

6) I get to listen to music and watch music videos all day.

7) I can wear jeans and 5" platform stilettos to work and not get reprimanded for dressing inappropriately. Visible tattoos and piercings are completely acceptable.

8) I work with a lot of both interesting and nice people.

My mom and her friends would totally not get why reasons 1-8 would make any one think they'd hit the job hunting jackpot. But they would totally get why I'd love my job because of reasons 9 and 10...

9) At the end of the day, I'm doing what I do best which is being a numbers and data nerd.

Things involving math have a decent position on the career totem poles inside my mom's and her friends' heads. High up on that same totem pole are stuff like "doctor," "dentist," "lawyer," "investment banker," "engineer." Bonus points if one had such a career and lived at home with their parents at the same time.

And finally...

10) I work near a bunch of good food.

If my mom was able to meet me for lunch one day, I'd skip having her meet everyone at the office and instead take her to lunch at one of my favorite weekday lunch spots No. 1 Noodle House in Rowland Heights.

No. 1 Noodle House is nothing more than a small space with a counter at Rowland Heights' Yes Plaza. The official menu is in Chinese but there are large photos and English names of the restaurant's most popular selections behind the counter. If, like me, you're not a Mandarin speaker and/or the person behind the counter happens to be English-challenged, just point or talk in broken Mand-glish like I have in the past. Find a table in the indoor seating area to the right or at one of the patio tables outside and someone will bring your order to you. I like sitting outside and being surrounded by Yes Food Court's faux Neo-Classical facades--it makes me feel like I'm on vacation at Disneyland. Or Europe. Or Euro-Disney.

Despite how much I like my job, there are still days where I feel like my head is going to explode from crunching too many numbers. My brow gets furrowed and my face gets all squished up from thinking too hard. On such days, I know I can count on the spicy options at No. 1 Noodle House to clear my head up and relax my forehead. Take that, Botox.

On colder days, I usually opt for their spicy beef noodle soup, niu rou mian, to warm my belly and clear my sinuses. I've heard conflicting reviews about these with critics saying that the soup's bland and lacks spice and/or depth which fortunately for me, has never been the case. Sure, it's not the best I've had, but its rich, beefy broth is fine by me. Tender chunks of beef and pickled greens help to round the whole thing out. If you're worried about the broth not being bold enough, be sure to tell the counterperson that you want it spicy. Usually they'll ask what your preferred level of spiciness is, but in case they don't, just tell them.

When it comes to wontons in chili oil and dan dan mian, my heart still belongs to Shufeng Garden (in the form of Zhong's Dumplings) down the street, but unfortunately, Shufeng Garden doesn't have patio seating where you can work on your tan whilst sweating out chili oil. That doesn't mean that No. 1 Noodle House doesn't make decent versions of the two dishes, however.

Their wontons in chili oil are perky porky pillows that really pack a punch in its glistening orange chili oil bath and sprinkling of scallions and peanuts. A word of advice though: don't take them to-go if you can help it, else the wonton wrappers tend to turn quite doughy.

On warmer afternoons, which is usually the case in Rowland Heights, my dish of choice is the dan dan mian--a bowl of warm chili-oil, ground pork and peanuts slathered over a bed of cool noodles. Mix it all up for a bowl of absolute carby goodness that packs a nice spicy punch. As with the wontons in chili oil, these noodles should be eaten on the spot.

Regardless of what size noodles you get (No. 1 Noodle House offers them in a small or large size), all three of these dishes can be had for under $20 which I imagine would make my mom quite proud of me for finding such a gem in the same neighborhood that my paychecks come from.

"My daughter's a financial analyst and really good at math, and she works near a lot of good, cheap Asian restaurants," my mom can say with a smile. Mom's happy. Her friends are happy.

And I'm happy because of numbers 1-10 above and because my mom and her friends are happy. And that's all that really matters.

No. 1 Noodle House
18180 Colima Rd. #B (Yes Plaza)
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 839-7093
Cash Only

Be sure to read Mmm-Yoso's, Naked Sushi's and Hungrybunny's reviews of No. 1 Noodle House too!

Popping My Nouveau Food Truck Cherry With The Nom Nom Truck

It's not because I'm a prude or anything like that.

I eat tamales sold out of some random lady's trunk at the supermarket parking lot. I eat animal feet and intestines and stomach linings.

So no, I have not waited this long to eat at a nouveau food truck because the idea of eating food made in a truck scared me. It is definitely not that.

I guess I just never thought it was a big deal.

Whereas all the other kids are doing it like it's going out of style, I was never in any kind of rush. I decided to wait until the time was right.

"But DG, evvvvvvveryone is doing it."

If everyone were jumping off a bridge, would I do the same? Um, no. If everyone had to follow someone on Twitter just to eat, would I do the same? No. If everyone waited in line for what seemed like an eternity, would I do the same? No, no, no.

No offense to food truck enthusiasts, but this whole gourmet food truck fad is just not my thing. I do not like the idea of having to track down my food only to find out the truck was forced to move. I do not like the idea of having to wait in a line of 35 hipster foodies who somehow found out the truck's new location before I did. Believe it or not, I have better things to do.

Unless of course, the truck was already there waiting for me.

Which is exactly why I gave it up for the Nom Nom Truck.

He just happened to be catering a gallery event we attended a few weeks ago. We got there and I spotted him from a distance looking all buff decked out in green and yellow hanging out by the sidewalk on South Pasadena's Mission Street. I made the first move. But being my first time, I was a little on the wishy washy side as I pondered everything this hunk of a Vietnamese fusion food truck had to offer.

Did I want a lemongrass chicken taco topped with Vietnamese vegetable accoutrements? Or perhaps a grilled pork taco or tofu taco?

Or would I find pleasure in the truck's banh mi?

"Screw it," I said. It was free, so I had it all.

Foreplay came in the form of canned carbonated beverages and kawaii Asian snacks like Hello Panda cookies, rice crackers and Pocky. Which were also free for the taking that evening. Needless to say, alot of foreplay was had.

Doing the deed with the truck's Grilled Pork Banh Mi wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, especially if 5 bucks is what they charge normally--an astronomical price considering the same can be had at a traditional banh mi shop for half the price. I'll give them credit for very tasty meat--juicy pork with the perfect amount of char--but other than that, the baguette was on the dry side and didn't have as much mayo/butter/soy sauce or whatever *ahem* lube combo as it should have had.

The tacos, however, did not fail to please the palate and were quite delicious. Warm, fluffy corn tortillas really showed off the truck's nicely done proteins. The lemongrass chicken, grilled pork and tofu were all tender and generous with great flavor. Pickled daikon, carrots and cucumber added a perfect crunchy texture and helped to bring out the flavor of those juicy, charred proteins.

So what did I think about deflowering my nouveau food truck virginity with the Nom Nom Truck? Overall, I'm glad I did it, and there were definitely as many high points as there were low points. Though my first time may be a little skewed from being too easy--not having to go on the prowl for it, not having to wait a long time, and not having to pay--the experience itself was enough to make me curious about all the fun I could have with all the other trucks out there. But I'm not planning on becoming a total food truck whore anytime in the near future; I'm just not that into chasing them down and waiting around just to get a little nouveau food truck somethin' somethin.' So I think I'll be picky about hooking up...I'll hold my own and maybe play hard to get a little bit. I may have popped that gourmet food truck cherry a little prematurely, but I still want to be in charge of my nouveau food truck consuming body.

The Nom Nom Truck
http://nomnomtruck.com
Follow the @nomnomtruck on Twitter

Bibimbapquinoa: A Healthy Twist on a Korean Favorite

Although Korean food purists will probably write me off after reading this post, I don't really care. Why? 'Cause I've lost 18 effin' pounds since embarking on this Biggest Loser journey and none of it could have been possible without creative modifications on some of my favorite dishes.

With some inspiration from some of those bougie healthy food places, I came up with a healthier twist on a Korean favorite and made bibimbap with quinoa. If whatever little knowledge I have of the Korean language is correct, I guess it would then be called "bibimquinoa" since I took out the bap (rice), but whatever you decide to call it, it still rocks. Although the caloric content of quinoa is about the same as rice and although both provide all the health benefits that whole grains offer, quinoa (unlike rice) contains all nine amino acids making its protein content complete. And more protein means more muscle maintenance. More muscle means more fat and calories burned even while you're sitting on your fat ass watching Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane on the Style Network. As an added bonus, for the price you pay for a "health-conscious" bibim bap at M Cafe De Chaya, you can make 3 of these at home. This dish turned out to be such a hit with me that I sneaked a container of it into Alice in Wonderland in 3D IMAX and ate it for dinner. No joke.

All you need is one cup of cooked quinoa, prepared bibimbap veggies (*see below), about a tablespoon (more or less depending on your personal tolerance for spiciness) of gochujang/korean pepper paste, a tiny swig of sesame oil and if you can spare the extra calories, a fried egg. I've personally been using fried quail eggs as of late because they have less calories than chicken eggs, make for a much prettier presentation than without an egg, and are so damn cute. Squee!

Prepare your bibimbapquinoa vegetable toppings according to this recipe, or if you're feeling particularly lazy, go the prepared foods section of your local korean market and buy some assorted seasoned vegetables such as spinach, daikon, beansprouts, carrots, fern brakes, and shiitake mushrooms. Sometimes they even sell all the vegetables together in a special "bibimbap pack" because they know that people like myself are too busy to get themselves involved in the ingredient- and labor-intensive job of cooking 5 different vegetables separately.

Put the quinoa in a bowl and arrange the vegetables on top.

If adding an egg, fry the thing up so that the yolk's still a little runny and put that on top of the quinoa and vegetables. If you want to be cute and use quail egg like I do, be aware that quail eggshells are a little more difficult to crack open cleanly than those on chicken eggs. I always have to use my fingers to pull that shell-membrane-thingy apart so the egg drops cleanly into the pan.

Take a picture or a good look at your pretty bowl of colorful veggie- and egg-topped quinoa because in a second you're going to mess it all up.

Add the sesame oil and gochujang, mix the shit up really well and you've got yourself a healthy, delicious meal that you, too, will love so much you'll want to take it into the movies with you.


Enjoy!

Nice Package: Sake Steamed Mushrooms En Papillote

If you're ever in the mood for a bunch of 'shrooms (the legal kind), give them a nice sake steam bath en papillote for a dish that's full of earthy and slightly sweet flavors plus health benefits to boot. Research has shown that mushrooms have anti-cancer properties, help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol and boost your immune system. Plus some of you who have had enoki mushrooms might already know that they are like nature's loofah and quite excellent at cleaning up the digestive tract. Hey, any additional weight I can lose between now and my final Biggest Loser weigh-in is a good thing if you catch my drift!

Sake Steamed Mushrooms En Papillote

-2 cups of assorted fresh mushrooms, trimmed (I usually use shiitake, enoki, shimeji, and oyster)
-1 tsp vegetable oil
-1 tsp soy sauce (preferably the light kind)
-2 tbsp sake or mirin

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
*Tear off a piece of parchment paper 12-15" in length.
*Brush or spread a thin layer of vegetable oil on to the center of the parchment paper and arrange mushrooms on a single layer over the oil.
*Sprinkle soy sauce and sake evenly over the mushrooms.
*Bring up two ends of the parchment paper and fold over a few times about 1/3-1/2 inch.
*Fold in the two open ends. The package should look something like the photo below. Use pins or staples to secure if needed. (You can also do the fancier, more traditional en papillote pouch by cutting a heart out of the parchment paper, folding up the middle and crimping the edges like a dumpling. I don't do this because I am too lazy to cut out the heart. Suit yourself.)

*Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. The package should puff up a bit.
*Let cool for a couple of minutes, carefully cut or tear open the package, and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Cheaters are Losers: A Spicy, Oily Indulgence at Shufeng Garden, Rowland Heights

I've been good.

I've pretty much kept my daily caloric intake to about 1400 a day.

I've been working out 5 days a week, some days at a pretty high intensity.

And I've lost 15 pounds since I've started this Biggest Loser challenge about 6 weeks ago. Not too shabby, eh?

But that 15 pounds lost hasn't all been a result of me being good. It is also, in my opinion, a result of me being very, very bad.

No matter how many tasty and healthy recipes I have up my sleeve, day after day of low calorie, low fat, low sodium, low carb, mayo-less, bacon-less, whole grain, high-fiber, sugar-free, dressing-on-the-side bullshit makes me want to eat the couch. So if I didn't allow myself to cheat on my diet once a week, I would literally consume upholstery. Topped with cheese and butter, of course.

One of my most recent cheat meals involved an oil-laden, fried, fatty, carbo-loaded feast at Shufeng Garden. And yes, this Rowland Heights mini-mall Sichuan did indeed do its job of fending off those late night upholstery cravings as well as punishing this unfaithful dieter with red-hot, spicy pain that hurt so much I liked it.

I'd remembered photos of an oil-slathered fatty pork dish on some local blogs and knew right away that this was exactly what I needed. Thanks to a Mandarin Chinese speaking coworker, printouts of photos of the dish from local blogs' jaunts to the restaurant's second location in San Gabriel, as well as an email from SinoSoul with the names of recommended dishes in Chinese, my non-Mandarin speaking, non-Chinese reading, Chinese self was able to get some Pork Butt in Garlic Mud into my now-smaller belly.

The cool, thin slices of half meat/half fat stripes bathed in spicy chili oil definitely satisfied my fat-covered-in-more-fat craving. I'd imagined them to be a little thicker and served warmer, but the dish was good nonetheless.

The large pot of Water Boiled Fish we ordered looked like something out a movie: a virtual sea of orangey-red angry with red pepper flakes, like a vast body of fluid over which you'd be rowing a decrepid boat in hell. The cauldron of white fish fillets and assorted vegetables soaked in a spicy red bath wasn't as spicy as I thought it was going to be, which is either good or bad depending on your tolerance for spice. I personally would have liked it to be spicier and perhaps a little more tangy, but it was still a nice accompaniment for a hot bowl of steamed rice.

Zhong's Dumplings were al dente pillows of pork-filled goodness served with a healthy dose of (you guessed it) chili oil. A sprinkling of sesame seeds added a nutty bite to these smoky and spicy little pouches.

It was perhaps the restaurant's Dan Dan Mian that put Shufeng Garden on LA's foodie map to begin with--what with having made Jonathan Gold's Best Dishes of 2009 list--and for good reason. It looks like a none-too-exciting small bowl of noodles topped with ground pork and spinach upon first glance, but after mixing the al dente noodles up with all that's in that bowl and taking a slurp, it's a multi-dimensional flavor experience that will both enlighten and numb your tastebuds. It's spicy, acidic, herbal and smoky all at the same time, with flavors that work together but that are distinguishable separately as well.

A cheat day can't be called a cheat day without something fried, so infidelity in the form of the restaurant's Shufeng Spicy Chicken and Intestines in Chili & Wild Pepper were pure guilty, spicy perfection. Fried meat morsels are fun, but not as fun as when they're fried with as much chilis and pepper as there were pieces of meat. I especially liked the fried intestine which were fried to a beautiful golden crisp on the outside which gave way to a slightly bouncy funkiness on the inside--a funkiness that only offal enthusiasts can appreciate.


After having inhaled three bowls of hot, steamy rice and five tongue-tingly good dishes with enough chili oil to grease up my newly toned biceps, I was more than ready to go back to 400 calorie a meal "budget." Until the next cheat day, that is. Sometimes you just have to be bad to be good.

Shufeng Garden
18459 Colima Road
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 839-7589

Sunomono: Another Foodie-On-A-Diet-Friendly Food

So what do you know, I've lost almost nine pounds since starting this Biggest Loser challenge! Not bad for a food blogger on a diet, eh?

I guess trying to lose weight while being a food enthusiast has its disadvantages as well as its advantages. It's pretty clear what the disadvantages are. It's even worse when you're so tied in to what other food perverts are up to; it takes a lot of self control not to want to eat everything in sight after reading about every one else's food adventures via blogs or Twitter. The advantage of being a food enthusiast trying to lose weight is that I can use my knowledge of food to come up with a wider variety of healthy yet delicious things to shove down my gullet.

Take that salad that I featured in the last post, for example. Now you just bought all this wakame seaweed and shaved bonito, but as tasty as it is, you're not going to eat that salad everyday, right? So what to do with all those ingredients? Luckily, this food lover can tell you right away that you can use both to make sunomono--a light, refreshing Japanese cucumber salad that (you guessed it!) tastes good and is good for you!

The best cucumbers to use for sunomono are Japanese cucumbers because of their minimal seeds and thinner and less watery makeup. Japanese cucumbers can be found at Japanese or other Asian markets, but if you can't find these, you can always substitute English or Persian cucumbers; just keep in mind that your salad may turn out a little less crisp.

For a little extra protein and pizazz, I added some octopus/tako (available already boiled at most Japanese markets) to my sunomono, but if you can't get your hands on any or if tentacles gross you out, the salad is just as good without.



Sunomono
(makes about 4 servings)

-4-5 Japanese cucumbers (use 2 English or Persian ones if you can't find Japanese ones, but really, Japanese ones are the way to go; find them at a Japanese or other Asian market)
-A few pinches of salt
-2 teaspoons dried wakame seaweed
-1/2 cup rice vinegar
-1/2 cup dashi (see below) or water
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 tablespoon sugar
-A few slices of boiled octopus or other seafood (optional)
-Sliced lemon wedges for garnish (optional)
-A pinch of sesame seeds (optional)

*Use a mandoline or knife to cut the cucumber into ultra thin slices.
*Toss with a couple of pinches of salt and let sit for about 15 minutes.
*Soak the dried wakame seaweed in enough hot water to cover. Let sit a few minutes to rehydrate.
*Meanwhile, mix rice vinegar, dashi, soy sauce and sugar together until well blended.
*Quickly rinse cucumbers and wakame with cold water and squeeze out excess water.
*Arrange cucumbers and wakame in small bowl or dish, add octopus if using.
*Spoon a couple spoonfuls of vinegar dressing onto the salad, adjusting quantity to your liking.
*Garnish with lemon & sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

*Since this post isn't about making dashi (a post for another day), here's a quick down and dirty version with no pics. Put a 4" square of kombu/kelp in 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil and remove kelp as soon as water boils. Remove from heat. Now remember that shaved bonito you used for your tofu salad? Well take a cup of that and put it in the kelp water and wait until it sinks. Strain, and you've got yourself some dashi stock! (You can also buy the instant kind, but you needed something to make with that leftover bonito, right?)

My Favorite Childhood Dish, Loud and Proud: Steamed Pork With Salted Duck Egg

Coming from where I come from--a podunk little suburb about 25 miles outside of San Francisco--growing up Chinese-American back in the 70’s and 80’s was tough work. As one of a small handful of ethnic minority kids in my grade school classes, I was always guaranteed that anything I did that was remotely culturally diverse was a free pass for taunts, teases and hurt feelings. Had I known then what I know today, those Slant-Eye-Ching-Chong-China insults would’ve been met with the finger and a resounding “Fuck You” from that little Chinese girl with the bowl cut. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that self-confident back then and resorted to taking the “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude in order to avoid being the laughing stock of my school.

I watched shows like the Brady Bunch to figure out how a stereotypical American family lives. Easy enough, right? Everyone calls each other "dear", they eat roast beef for dinner every night and they like to go camping. It would be my job to convince my classmates that these kinds of things were what my family liked to do too.

So when my 6th grade class was studying nutrition and had a homework assignment to keep a food diary and categorize those things into the four food groups, I was determined to replace stir-fried pork intestines and pickled mustard greens with pot roast and potatoes. I didn't think anyone in my class would understand that at my house, we ate from the vegetable, meat, and bread/grain groups as well as the offal group, the soy group and the various-preserved-foodstuffs group.

It was a total shame because my embarrassment and cowardice led me to leave some of my all time favorite dishes off of this food diary. What's worse, my parents somehow got a hold of this project and were crushed that I'd rather show people that I ate meatloaf instead of my favorite dish that they'd prepared with so much love: steamed pork with salted duck egg, or hahm dahn jzing jee yook.

I've been kicking myself in the ass for that food diary incident for as long as I can remember. How could I have been so stupid as to lie about something that made me feel so good? Knowing that it was my favorite dish, my parents always let me have the first scoop, and I strategically dug my spoon into the center every time so as to get some of the salty, velvety egg yolk. I'd plop the spoonful of this porky, eggy Cantonese village dish onto a steaming mound of rice, mix it all up, and start shoveling the stuff into my mouth. My parents would also purposely leave a little bit of the hahm dahn jzing jee yook in the dish because they knew I liked to dump the last bit of rice from the rice pot into it and scrape up every last juicy pork and egg bit.

I therefore made it my goal to make sure I knew how to make this dish for my own children. Even though my son is a little too young to be eating such a sodium and cholesterol bomb right now (hey, I never said this dish was healthy), it's comforting to know that I can one day make this dish for him the same way that my parents made it for me. And being that he's mostlikey going to be growing up in the Chinese-heavy San Gabriel Valley, I don't think he'll have a problem putting steamed pork with salted duck egg on his own food diary.

The basic recipe follows; sorry I don't really use exact measurements. Do like I do--trial and error until the taste and texture is to your liking. You'll be surprised at how super-simple it is!

Steamed Pork With Salted Duck Egg/Hahm Dahn Jzing Jee Yook

Ingredients:
-A large handful (about 1/2 lb?) of ground pork butt preferably chopped by hand for a coarser texture
-Sesame oil
-Soy sauce
-Shaoxing rice wine
-Cornstarch
-1 large chicken egg, beaten
-1 uncooked salted duck egg (available at Chinese markets such as 99 Ranch)

Put a swig each of sesame oil, soy sauce and wine onto the ground pork. Sprinkle with a little bit of cornstarch. Mix it all together with your hands.

Add the chicken egg and mix again with your hands.

Separate the salted duck egg--the big bulbous orangey-yellow yolk will remain intact.

Combine the salted duck egg white with the pork & chicken egg mixture and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Pour the mixture into a shallow dish and put the salted duck egg yolk in the center of the mixture.

Steam for approximately 20 minutes or until the pork is no longer pink.

Serve with steamed rice and enjoy!

Note to parents: I recently started cooking an alternate, lower-sodium version of this for my toddler. I simply omitted the salted duck egg and added an additional beaten chicken egg. It won't have that subtle salted flavor that the duck egg lends to the dish, but at least my kid can enjoy something similar now. It still has that wonderful aroma of steamed pork and sesame oil and the custardy texture of the steamed egg. He's already been eating it at daycare and loving it--he makes mama so proud!

Back Where I Belong: Wonton Forest, City of Industry

It sucks to be lost.

Like the time we got lost in the Northwestern tip of Maui and were driving on a one lane road on the side of a mountain next to the ocean.

Like the time I made one wrong turn and got lost in Downtown LA's skid row for the first time. (*Disclaimer: Notice I said first time. Don't think I'm I big ol' priss; I drive through it all the time with no problem now.)

Like the time I got lost in Anaheim for oh, 27 months???

OK fine, so what if it's only figuratively speaking? Sue me. Since October 2007 until the day I was let go, I took at least two hours out of my day to drive to this place where I worked around beach people all the time (sorry beach people, I love the beach but I'm a city girl at heart so I've never understood the whole beachy lifestyle thing), where with the exception of a few friends the people I worked with were complete two-faced assholes, where all these two-faced assholes' idea of real Mexican food is Chipotle, and where the nearby dining options were limited to chain restaurants and one mediocre pho joint. I mean, where the hell was I, the Twilight Zone??? Two fucking years I was lost in this hell hole! Two fucking years!

With one hand on the steering wheel and one hand holding my Google Map (I don't do Nav- Systems either--I'm a map girl. Nav-Systems are for sissies), I exited the 60 Freeway across from Diamond Plaza in Rowland Heights on my way to my first job interview for the company I work for now. I think I felt my heart jump out of my mouth when I saw the Chinese restaurant signs. Could it really be true that this potential employer was located close to some actual non-chain Asian restaurants? With the much improved food choices as my incentive, I pushed myself to do extra, EXTRA well at that interview. And guess what? I nailed it and landed that job in three days. Sweet.

So yeah, you bet your ass that the first thing I did upon getting that job offer besides going on a rock star lunch tour was do some serious web-tective work as far as where to eat near the office. Thanks to a four star review on Yelp, an inquiry on Chowhound and a very favorable post from the blog Go Ramen, Wonton Forest would be the first of a long list of local restaurants to try. This little restaurant, located in a railroad-track adjacent Smart & Final mini-mall in the City of Industry, would also represent all the positive change that was happening in my life.

When I was lost in Anaheim, I felt like I had the life sucked out of me. Constantly angry. Always tired. Never had time for myself. Looked like shit. Felt like shit. Every day that I was there could have been tagged with the infamous FML. Since I found my way out, er, I mean got booted out, I feel like I've gotten a piece of my life back.

When I was lost in Anaheim, I became somewhat disconnected with my passion for food for a few reasons. One, as I mentioned before, there was nothing great to eat around the office, at least nothing that I could drive to, eat, and drive back from within reasonable time limits. And two, my job was wearing me out so badly that I lost both time and desire for much of my gastronomic pursuits.

When I was lost in Anaheim, the simple goodness of a bowl of wonton noodle soup was nowhere to be found. A few visits to Wonton Forest later, and I realized what I had been missing.

Being Chinese-American, wonton noodle soup is and always has been a staple for me. Maybe it was because my parents secretly put the stuff into my baby bottles, but whatever the reason, I've looked to this dish to warm my stomach and soothe my soul since childhood. Sometimes, my parents would treat me and my brother to a steaming bowl of wonton noodles soup at some Oakland Chinatown restaurant (usually Gum Wah) after we spent the morning lugging several plastic grocery bags and following our parents closely as they weaved in and out of Chinese markets. But more often, my parents would make noodles for us at home. Everything, with the exception of the noodles, was homemade--the soup, the wontons, the toppings--all made from scratch and all made from the heart.

With its minimalist modern decor, Wonton Forest looks more like a mainstream fusion sushi roll joint than a place I'd be able to find a bowl of noodles that is not far from those noodle lunches at home with my family. Like anything made by hand at my family's house, there's always something about small batch operations that lends a certain coarseness to the final product; the wontons that Chef/Owner Paul makes fresh daily are no exception. At my parent's house, no food grinders or mills were used to make their wonton fillings; the pork and shrimp were chopped by hand at my house and though I'm not sure of the exact method to Paul's wonton madness, his wontons' textural imperfections (which trust me, are a good thing here) tell me that there's minimal machine or mass-produced intervention here.

Same goes for their soup which, rather than tasting of MSG and being strained to the hilt as is the case at many larger scale restaurants, has the clean, pure taste of chicken or a beef/chicken combo and made even better by the tiny bits of meat or luscious fat globules that made it past the strainer.

Sit at Wonton Forest's counter and watch as Paul preps each bowl of noodles himself, separating and plumping up the springy egg or rice noodle strands with long chopsticks. Each bowl of noodles' toppings are carefully arranged atop the noodles (something that my parents also always took the time to do) before the soup is poured in. Order their signature Wonton Forest Noodle Soup and you'll get an array of goodies including wontons (duh), yau choy-sum, a soy infused boiled egg, tender slices of pork, scallions and cilantro and fried garlic bits atop the noodles. Or, you can order the Chiu-Chow Noodles and get a slew of meaty and seafood-y goodness arranged carefully around your bowl: shreds of chicken, minced pork, plump shrimp and springy fish balls. Add some of Chef Paul's homemade chili garlic sauce (which is supposedly made in a three-day process and is actually available for purchase, by the way) to your steaming bowl of noodles before you start slurping and add in extra dabs as needed. It's an extra kick that actually enhances the flavor of the soup and all the tasty bits within rather than detracting from or overpowering it. Really good stuff.

Food-aside, this little City of Industry gem has played an important role in bringing me back to my blogging life. The delicious food and super friendly vibe of the first restaurant in my must-try-restaurants-near-work list helped to kick start this part of my life that I had become so detached from. "This is totally doable," I thought to myself after my first visit to Wonton Forest, "Back in Anaheim...not so much." Subsequent lunchtime visits to Wonton Forest for me would include an interview for a foodie documentary (story for another post) and a meetup with fellow bloggers Go Ramen and Pepsi Monster. Would I have ever been able to do that in my previous LOST life and still get all my work done? Hell no.

I was lost, and now am found. Thanks, Wonton Forest, for bringing me home.

Wonton Forest
18230 Gale Ave.
City of Industry, CA 91748
(626) 435-1430
Cash only

MEOW: House Chicken and Green Onion Pancakes, Earthen, Hacienda Heights

I'm really proud of my homegirls at work for branching out into non-Americanized Chinese joints. Recently, I took them to Earthen in Hacienda Heights where I ate my latest MEOW (that's MEal Of the Week for those of you joining us late) and although they each ordered chow mein for themselves, they did try some of the delicious house chicken and green onion pancakes that I ordered.

"Try some," I said, pointing to the perfectly golden brown pancake in front of me,"it's a green onion pancake."

"Do you put syrup on it?"

Whether or not that question was a joke I don't know, but I simply led by example and took a bite of one of the triangular slices sans syrup. Thin and crispy, the pancake glowed with hints of scallion and fresh oil. My friends followed my lead, and ended up thoroughly enjoying this savory Chinese staple that I had introduced them to.

Since cold chicken anywhere outside of a salad was a novel concept to my coworkers, I don't think they quite got that the House Chicken I ordered was supposed to be chilled. Marinated in a spicy-garlicky-vinegary sauce and laid over some crisp cucumber, the cool temperature of this Shandong-style chicken dish actually enhances its flavor. A perfect dish for a typical hot Southern California day.

We got back to the office and I heard that my friends had told some people about Earthen and that they liked it. Another day, another job well done.

Earthen Restaurant
1639 S. Asuza Ave.
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
(626) 964-1570
Cash only; Closed on Tuesdays

Turning It Up To Eleven: Jitlada

Since I am so late posting about the latest Jitlada southern-Thai food fest, I'm not going to include a ton of detail. I'm just writing this post to convince my friend B that he needs to make the trek up to LA from Orange County to try this place out.

B is a white boy and is also the Thai-est white boy I have ever known (not that I know many, but still) because he used to live in Thailand and he can speak Thai and everything! For one, he's always on the prowl for good authentic Thai food; he's been to most of the places on the Hollywood Blvd stretch of Thai Town, but I'm pretty sure he hasn't been to Jitlada yet. More importantly, B is a self-proclaimed heat-whore. I used to think something was wrong with him 'cause he loves extreme hot weather and when it comes to food, the spicier the better for him. I've personally seen him order a ten on a one to ten scale of spiciness before and he was fine.

So B, you gotta go here because not only is this place the anti-pad-thai-and-wing-of-angel type of establishment that you seek, but to quote This Is Spinal Tap, they turn it up to eleven! Dude, did you hear me? ELEVEN!

Don't believe me? Check out what some of my fellow dining companions had to say about that night's dinner:

"I cannot express to you enough the fire that was burning my tongue. I was not alone. While not taking pictures of me in various states of distress, Sly was also practically convulsing in chile-fueled pain. But it was a good pain." B-Side Blog

"'OMFGMYMOUTHISONFIRE', and the fire in your mouth and on your lips lasts about 15 minutes." Food, She Thought

"Jitlada is known for its punishing and astounding spicy heat (hello, jungle curry!)" Starchy Marie

"A fifteen-course dinner that seared our tongues and pushed our stomachs to the limit." Gastronomy Blog

"This will result in your needing a fire extinguisher shoved up your ass." WeezerMonkey

And look at what a bunch of smart looking people we are. Obviously we have to know what we're talking about, right?

Not everything is ass-burning spicy though, which was a godsend for all of us sweating our faces off that night; hopefully you won't mind the level seven-and-below heat on some of these other dishes; what they lack in extreme heat, though, they make up for in flavor.

Take a look:

Puu Plen Pla, raw blue crab with lemongrass, mint, chili and mango salad. This dish was more tasty than hot but still had a nice slightly spicy tang to it.

Then came the Crispy Morning Glory Salad which was one of my faves of the night. First of all, I love morning glory, aka ong choy. Second of all, it's fried. How can you beat fried ong choy??? This dish with its shrimp and spicy dressing was tastier than it was spicy, and had tons going for it in the texture department as well.

After that we had Kung Phae Chup Krung Thawt, a dish of fried shrimp and fried basil with a sweet chili dipping sauce. Tasty.

The Black Pepper Drumsticks, marinated with tumeric and fried with garlic bits, and served with a green mango salad & sweet chili dipping sauce, were a little over-salty for me, but had a great crispy texture.

I don't have a photo of the Papaya Salad, but I'm sure that since you're a seasoned pro at Thai food, that you already know what one looks like. The crunchy green papaya shreds, cashews and tomatoes on this particular one were kicked up in a limey, fish-saucey, chile-laden dressing that was probably a six on the spiciness scale for me. Quite good.

Oxtail, probably one of the most underrated cuts of meat around, came next in a soup called Sup Hang Wua which had wonderful notes of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves. Again, not at all intense on the spicy scale.

Which was good because...

...the Phangga Jungle Curry, our next dish consisting of pork spare ribs and Thai eggplant bathed in, uh, FIRE, and garnished with entire BRANCHES of peppercorns managed to cause a five-alarm fire in everyone's mouths. Fortunately, some veggie crudité was provided to douse the flames on our tongues with some much needed coolness. You, being as masochistic as you are with spicy foods, would probably be able to drink the Jungle Curry sauce with a straw. Freak.

Phat Luuk Taw "Meung Khong" was a dish of sator beans stir fried with shrimp, ground pork and squid and was supposedly spicy, but seemed like a two on the spiciness scale after the inferno we had just experienced with the jungle curry. Again, no picture. Sorry, man.

Then came the Basil Frog Legs which had delicious garlic, chili and basil aromas and not to be cliché, but also tasted like chicken.

Mango Soft Chell Crab was crispy and sweet, slightly spicy and just plain yummy.

A salad then came to the table garnished with Pringles. Yes, Pringles. Strange as it was, the Pringle garnish was totally something my Grandma would have done. Kind of like the times she tried to make pizza out of mantou dough and ketchup. So un-Asian, yet so completely Asian at the same time.

Just when we thought the heat was turned down to about a five, Jitlada turned it up to eleven again with the khua kling salmon--salmon in a dry-style curry with tumeric and green beans. After eating this, I downed what was left in my Singha beer and water glasses and looked around the table for more water. I didn't care whose it was...the fucking fire in my mouth had to be extinguished. Again, you'd prolly be rubbing your hands in delight, you weirdo.

Kaeng Jeut plaa meuk yat sai saved the day after that major conflagration. Veggies and chicken-stuffed-squid in a mild, clear broth was quite the palate cleanser (and fire extinguisher) Sorry, no photo. But I do have a pic of the cute-as-a-button rice cozies that contained some delicious sticky rice that I kept shoving in my mouth along with jasmine rice to try to neutralize the burning.

Another one of my fave dishes of the night, Kaeng tai khai "Mang Kon," arrived next. I happen to love salted duck egg and I also happen to love fish balls so any dish containing the two, especially when the former is stuffed into the latter in a rich, southern-style curry with jicama, is a friend of mine.

One of the reasons B and I get along so well is because we both have shameless potty-mouths, so if I were to describe the next dish to B in a normal conversation, I'd say it smelled like ass. Fortunately, B, the kaeng leung "Thalaa"--a dish of catfish and fermented bamboo in a coconut milk-less curry--did not taste like ass. In fact, it was quite the opposite: the pickled bamboo and mild curry was refreshing paired with some steamed jasmine rice.

The next dish was another one of my faves: Narathiwat green curry was coconut milk green curry and chicken over a bed of steamed rice noodles. This dish was exemplary of my favorite kind of comfort food--tasty, spicy (but not too spicy--probably a seven?), and really, really hearty. I loved it.

We finished off our feast with a dessert that I really wanted to like since Jitlada proprietress Jazz Singsanong mentioned that it was a childhood fave of hers, but unfortunately wasn't all that into. A bowl of shaved ice, chickpeas, grass jelly, bread (yes, bread!) and jackfruit and colored a bright shade of Pepto-Bismol pink reminded me of the concoctions that ensue when the busboy dumps all the table scraps, including the ice from the water glasses, into one big bowl. It tasted like bubble gum in case you were wondering.

In the movie This Is Spinal Tap, rockumentary director Marty DiBergi asks rockstar Nigel Tufnel why his amp's loudest setting is eleven instead of just increasing the usual ten setting to be louder. To which Nigel pauses and answers simply: "These go to eleven." The same goes for Jitlada. To say they just go up to ten would be putting them on the same level as every other Thai restaurant out there that asks you how spicy you want your food on a scale of one to ten. In spiciness, in flavor, in texture, in hospitality, Jitlada simply takes it a notch further. B, you heat-whore, eleven is where it's at.

I'm sure my dining companions that evening (Oishii Eats, Eat, Drink & Be Merry, WeezerMonkey, Glutster, Gastronomy Blog, Kung Food Panda, Wandering Chopsticks, Food, She Thought, Infinite Fress, B-Side Blog, Starchy Marie, Life With A Whisk, Delicious Coma, Beja Beja, and more than a dozen other food freaks) would agree.

A big "Eleven" Thank You to Tony C. of SinoSoul for setting up this wonderful dinner and to Jitlada's owner Jazz for taking such good care of us!

Jitlada
5233 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-3104