spicy food – Noshing with the Panda

Return Visit for More Sichuan at Best Noodle House 重慶小面 in Rosemead, CA

Second dinner here revisiting some of the dishes that we enjoyed during the last dinner and trying a few new dishes as well. Most of the dishes were excellent. Aside from the dried red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns, their usage of a chile bean paste (combination of red chiles and broad beans) was what made many of their dishes stand out, particularly with their Szechuan Dumplings.

The chile bean paste also provided a very bold and rich flavor to the broth that was served with their wontons. Every drop of that broth was devoured.

Their Spicy Cold Jelly (noodles) were good as well. The only fault with the execution of this dish is the temperature of the jelly. Would be perfect if the jelly was cold and firm to the bite, but it was room temperature, giving it a less pleasurable taste.

Their Kung Pao Chicken had a great flavor with a hint of sweetness from the sauce, and a bit of crispiness from the flash fry of the chicken cubes. Wished they had used a better quality of roasted peanuts as the ones in the dish didn’t have the crunchiness I’ve experienced with Kung Pao from other restaurants.

If you want that good smokiness from the Mala flavor (combination of the spiciness from the dried red chiles and the numbing effect from the Sichuan peppercorns), then the Lamb Chops have that.

We ended dinner with what appears to be the only dessert offered on the menu: Black Sugar Ice Jelly. Clear gelatin cubes in a slightly sweet broth made with black sugar, which is an unrefined sugar that has a darker brown color than brown sugar, and fermented rice that floats on top of the broth. Nice palate cleanser and very refreshing.

If decide to eat at Best Noodle House, bring CASH, or arrange to pay them via PayPal or Venmo.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photo.

Yanbian Beef

Cold Steamed Chicken with Chili Sauce

Chungking Pickles

Spicy & Numb Cold Jelly

Chungking Dan Dan Noodles

Spicy & Sour Noodles

Chongqing Noodle (Red Soup)

Szechuan Style Dumplings

Wonton with Chili Bean Sauce (in Broth)

Kung Pao Chicken

Lamb Chops with Spicy Sauce

Black Sugar Ice Jelly

Another Sichuan Feast at Hop Woo 合和 in West LA

Came back for a hedonistic feast with a group of about 22. This time, we wanted to sample more dishes on their Sichuan menu, as well as offering a couple of familiar Cantonese dishes to give our palates a rest from the barrage of spicy, mouth numbing food. And in this meal we got quite a bit of that numbing quality from the Sichuan peppercorns used in the Boiled Fish with Rattan Peppers, and Rock Cod Fish.

Food was excellent as before, but many in our group enjoyed the shrimp, cauliflower and eggplant dishes a lot.

So glad that the former owner of Meet in Chengdu in Monterey Park sold off the restaurant in order to join forces at Hop Woo, bringing with him one of his better chefs.

Spicy Chicken

Steamed Chicken (Cantonese)

Off Menu Item: Cold Noodles in Peanut Sauce

Hop Woo Signature Roast Rock Cod Fish in Spicy Flavor

Toothpick Lamb

Spicy Lobster (1 1/2 Orders)

Pork Slices in Chile Sauce

Blue Crab with Chile Sauce

Griddle Cooked (Taiwanese) Cauliflower

Braised Eggplant

Water Boiled Beef

Mapo Tofu with Pork Brains

Sauteed Cabbage with Red Peppers

Boiled Fish Filet with Rattan Peppers

Normally Fried Diced Chicken, but I asked them to use the preparation with whole shrimp

Sesame Pork

Salt Pepper Calamari (Cantonese)

Dinner at Sichuan Impression 镍城里 in Alhambra

Though their sign still reads Szechuan Impression, somehow, over the years, they’ve decided to stop using the American romanization of 四川 and started using the Pinyin spelling instead. And you can see that on their claimed Yelp page and Facebook pages.

The food here was solid but not as good as when they first opened, and Los Angeles Times food critic Jonathan Gold was patiently waiting outside for a table with his son.

While the highlights of the dinner were the Bobo Chicken of Leshan (bowl of skewers of chicken innards, seafood and vegetables), Fish Filet with Rattan Peppers (spicy and mouth numbing – so good, my dinner mates kept fishing through the broth for any last bits of fish meat), and, especially the Tea Smoked Pork Ribs (which was wonderfully seasoned with a nice smoky flavor – heavy on the garlic but not the spiciness), there were some dishes that disappointed me.

Their cold jelly noodles had a nice touch of heat, but there was a bit too much vinegar in the sauce. In my first bite, I got this huge hit of tartness from it. Only when it subsided did the spiciness rolled in a little.

Another disappointment was their Wontons in Chili Oil. Though it was a little spicy, but that was overshadowed by overly sweetness of the sauce. Similar issue with the Kong Pao Chicken. It was just a tad too sweet. Ironically, what wasn’t sweet enough was the Cinderella’s Pumpkin Rides. Pumpkin cakes filled with red beans, and not a lot of red beans, nor sugar. Had they used sweet red bean paste instead, that might have made the difference.

Lastly, the Sauteed Shredded Potatoes were bland. It was the only dish that hardly anyone at our table opted for a second serving. Upon leaving the restaurant, I notice the same dish at the next table. Only theirs had red and green chilis pieces stir fried with the potatoes, whereas our order only had scallions. I found it odd that they would make such error preparing our order. No wonder it was plain bland.

For the number of really good dish, there were equally the number of disappointing ones for me. Even so, there’s so much more of the menu to explore. So, another visit will be warranted. However, there are newer hole-in-the-wall Sichuanese places that have popped up around the San Gabriel Valley over the last year that are making much more flavor forward dishes than this place now…

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the photo.

Sichuan Impression

Impressive Bean Jelly

Bobo Chicken of Leshan

Sauteed Shredded Potatoes

Boiled Fish with Rattan Pepper

Lamb with Cumin

Sauteed Mustard Leaf

Original Kungpao Chicken

Wontons in Chili Oil

Tea Smoked Pork RIbs

Mutton Noodle Casserole

Free Range Chili Chicken

Fried Rice Cake with Brown SUgar

Cinderella’s Pumpkin Rides

Red Beans inside Cinderella’s Pumpkin Ride

Delicious Sichuan Fare at Best Noodle House 重慶小面 in Rosemead

A true hole-in-the-wall found on the eastern end of the city of Rosemead where Valley Boulevard and Mission Road intersects, where the food is mouth-numbing from the aggressive use of Sichuan peppercorns as well as the spiciness from the dried Sichuan red chili peppers and chili oil. Then tastes the layers of flavors found in each dish, and you have a delicious meal, and for me, it’s some of the best Sichuan food in the Los Angeles area, and at a price point that’s lower than many of the well known Sichuan restaurants such as Chengdu Taste and Szechuan Impression.

Place is CASH ONLY, and their servers speak Mandarin, Cantonese and English.