Eat, Drink + Be Merry. Food, Travel, Photography, Design + Music in Los Angeles and Other Parts of the Earth.

Finally, we are going to Paris. We were supposed to go two years ago but due to the severe snowstorms in Europe, we flew to Spain instead. Versus staying in a hotel, we’re going to try and pretend we live in Paris and take it easy. No rush to see the Louvre or Eiffel Tower. We rented an apartment out for a week through Air BnB and the listing says there’s a market, bakery and cafe right downstairs – perfect. One of my favorite things to do when traveling is cooking our own meals with local ingredients. Can’t wait to make an omelette with 163 varieties of mushrooms and morels. I don’t update the site as much when traveling but if you’d like to see what Jeni and I are up to, find me at Instagram (username: eeddbbmm). Thanks for listening/reading, Au Revoir!

This mix features…
Air, Apparat, Bahamas, Beach House, Bear In Heaven, Body Language, Cut Copy, Epic45, I Break Horses, Korallreven, M83, MMOTHS, New Order, Nouvelle Vague, Of Monsters and Men, Peter Bjorn and John, Phoenix, Poliça, The Radio Dept., Sbtrkt and Tanlines.

Download WonderTune Paris II
Listen to WonderTune Paris II via Spotify

*I’ve started a new section on this site called I Heart SGV not only to celebrate my obvious love for one of the best Asian enclaves for food in Southern California, but to keep you guys informed with the latest and greatest dishes it offers. San Gabriel Valley is extremely dynamic with its constant grand openings, ownership changes and chef departures. I’ve seen it happen in my 30+ years of living/eating in the SGV – what you enjoy one day can be completely different the next month. It only takes one person to mess up the food in the kitchen. Customer service aside, SGV is a wonderful, exciting, cash-only place to eat. This is time sensitive content, so I hope you’ll eat at the I Heart SGV places as soon as you can. Let’s eat!

Lucky Noodle King, San Gabriel
I have a hard time eating spicy Thai food as most people do, but for some reason, I can handle spicy Northern food just fine. I love this food and if you haven’t tried it, now is a good time to try all the Sichuan, Hunan and Yunnan restaurants all over the San Gabriel Valley because they are popping up all over. Lucky Noodle King has been around for a year already and its been one of my go-to Mainland Chinese restaurants. It’s a larger, more popping reincarnation of the dinky restaurant in Alhambra formerly known as Chuan Yu Noodle Town (closed). One day they were there, the next they were gone. This is exactly what I mean by ownership changes/chef departures. One day, to my surprise, I got a call from Mrs. Ho, the owner of Chuan Yu Noodle Town, telling me about her new restaurant – I had to try.

Chef Ho and his wife, from Chongqing, had built a following with their dan dan mian and many other Chongqing-style dishes. Chongqing is also written as “Chung King” for Westernization and you may have already been to Chung King Szechuan restaurant in San Gabriel. I also learned that Chinese hot pot is originally from the city of Chongqing. I’ve never been to the Sichuan province but for anyone into Chinese cuisine, know that they along with the Hunan and Yunnan provinces are notorious for using copious amounts of chile and red peppercorns in their dishes – like they were trying to rid the world of it. The red peppercorns, also known in powder form as prickly ash powder, when cooked with chiles and garlic, produce a numbing taste (ma2 la4) that is delicious with virtually all meats and fish. It was so aromatic that it was said to have drug-like effects, which forced the USDA to temporarily ban imports until further investigation had been conducted. Luckily, the peppercorns passed the test and we’re not stuck with Panda Express.

Deep Fried Intestines with Chili
If you’re a fan of deep-fried intestines, this may do it for you. Slivers of intestines are lightly battered, deep fried and tossed in last-minute into the glowing red heap of dried chiles, Chinese celery, garlic and green onions. It looks like Christmas on a plate. The intestines are fried beautifully with the perfect amount of red peppercorns and prickly ash oil. My only concern is that the actual amount of “meat” offered is very slim and you’ll find yourself scouring the pile of chiles like you’re at a yard sale. Even towards the end of the meal, my sister and I caught ourselves picking through the dish like vultures. It’s that addicting. If I recall, this dish isn’t on the menu, so you’ll have to request that the intestines are deep-fried.

Fagara Hot Pot (麻 辣 烫）
By far, this is the proud breadwinner at Lucky Noodle King. It is the 4.67 GPA, heart-throb Prom King/High School valedictorian in every single social club and athletic team. Hot pot is historically from Chongqing, so you can expect this dish to be delicious. The past few times I’ve eaten here, I’ve stuck with the fish version known as “Boiled Fish in Chili Pot”. The version at Chung King is what got me going on this and Lucky Noodle King’s is also delicious. But Mrs. Ho was tired of me ordering it and insisted that we try the Fagara Hot Pot instead. This is basically the same concept but with additional bonus ingredients like pork, shrimp, tofu, seaweed and vermicelli. Fans of the Korean army stew (부대찌개) may appreciate this solely because of the random sprinkling of hot dogs!

And I’m glad Mrs. Ho convinced us to switch over to the Fagara Hot Pot – it’s absolutely delicious. So good that we end up taking the broth back for a second meal. The assortment of goodies offers various flavors and textures, each one affected differently by the broth, which is your basic chicken stock loaded with red peppercorns, chili oil and prickly ash oil. The soft tofu acted like sponges and kept in all that flavor and heat, forcing us to cool out our mouths with our own breath.

More digging is required as you search for the tasty strands of vermicelli, beaded with dried chilis, spices and other delicious artifacts.

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*Pointers for Lucky Noodle King*

1. If you’re ordering the intestine dish, you’ll have to special request it as I don’t think it’s listed on the menu. Show Mrs. Ho the photo and she’ll know.

2. Never wear light colors when eating spicy/oily Mainland Chinese food unless you want polka-dotted clothing.

3. The numbing sensation caused by the red peppercorns and prickly ash oil can be addicting, yet overwhelming. Eat as much as you can handle, give your tongue a break and drink water/tea. Repeat.

4. All dishes can be requested with less spice (少 辣)  and less oil (少 油). You should specify.

5. Few other dishes I recommend: to cool the mouth – cold cucumbers with garlic, cilantro and prickly ash oil (小 黃 瓜), twice-cooked pork (川 味 回 鍋 肉) and red chili oil wontons (紅 油 炒 手). The red chili oil wontons are excellent and compared to Sichuan-style, offers the same broth from the Fagara Hot Pot with chili oil dumped on top versus solely adding chili oil. Because the wontons are served in a broth, they will become soggy if you don’t eat them right away.

6. Dan Dan Mian (擔 擔 麵) is one of their more popular dishes, but I find the dish to be generally too heavy. You may like it though.

7. The menus at Mainland Chinese restaurants may be disorganized, in major need of spell-check or straight up elusive. If you see something delicious at another table, don’t hesitate to ask what it is. I always search for the most “authentic” group of diners and spy on their dishes. Hint: diners wearing fanny packs or facial sun visors are promising. It’s the only way to learn about hidden gems. Enjoy!

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Lucky Noodle King
534 E Valley Blvd. Ste. 10
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 573-5668
Monday – Sunday 10:30 AM – 9:30 PM (Closed Tuesday)
CASH ONLY, of course
www.luckynoodleking.com

For my birthday this year, Jeni surprised me with yet another weekend birthday trip. Last year she took me to Austin to traverse the smokey Texas BBQ Trail and it was amazing. But this time she decided to have a little fun and punish me by withholding the destination for THREE WEEKS. These were her hints:

(1) The flight is 2 hours 55 minutes from LAX.
(2) It is domestic.
(3) The destination has two syllables.
(4) Could be cold.
(5) My friend’s reaction to this destination: “Uh, what the fuck?”

She even had all of my friends guessing and we all came up with destinations such as Dallas, Phoenix, Denver and Boise. – only to find Jeni shrugging her shoulders with a smile every time. I didn’t find out where we were going until the LAX shuttle dropped us off in front of Terminal 6 – Alaska Airlines. Hmm. But you know, I have a good attitude. Even if it wasn’t the most popular destination for a weekend getaway – I’d have fun. And it turns out… she completely lied to me after I had originally guessed the destination right from the start. We were actually going to Vancouver! I loved Montreal and Toronto… chances are I’m going to love Vancouver as well. This list was compiled by trustworthy Vancouver and Los Angeles foodies. I was in San Francisco a few months back and did a round up of all the places we ate at and got a good response. Here’s a super weekend eating guide to Vancouver if you’re clueless on food and in a pinch for time!

We flew into Vancouver International (YVR) around 9:30 pm and most of the nicer restaurants were closing at 10. We happened to be staying at the Hotel Rosewood Georgia right in the Downtown area and luckily, one of more popular restaurants in Vancouver, Hawksworth, is located right inside. Chef David Hawksworth was formerly at West, another Vancouver favorite, and left to open up his beautiful, namesake restaurant highlighting local Vancouver ingredients with a French touch. I choose this over Chambar, another tasty Vancouver French restaurant.

The cocktail scene in Vancouver is just as hot as it is in the U.S. with bars serving creative cocktails made with American whiskey, Peruvian Pisco and even Mexican Mezcal. The bar at Hawksworth proudly displays the largest collection of American whiskeys in the city of Vancouver. I learned from the bartender as I ordered my Pappy Van Winkle 20-year Bourbon at $35 CAD ($22 in the U.S.) that Canada has to pay a shocking 75-80% tax on alcohol. A bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20-year will cost you $110 in the U.S. (if you can get a hold of it), but in Canada it’ll set you back $190. The bartender also told me that it was common for people to drive down to Seattle to buy liquor and haul it back to Vancouver. Some cocktail/wine bars we didn’t get to check out: The Diamond and Uva.

Seared Qualicum Bay Scallops with Tomatoes and Chowder Foam
These scallops were delicious and subtly sweet. Whenever I’m visiting a city, I’ll go straight for the local seafood in hopes of trying something I can’t usually get. In Los Angeles, we can usually only get diver scallops from Maine which are great of course. These had a different sweetness to it.

48 Hour Braised Short Rib with Black Pepper Jam, Green Papaya and Thai Basil
Anything braised for this long is probably going to be pretty delicious unless it was a fast food hamburger. The sauce on the bottom reminded me of Chinese BBQ satay sauce. Really light and flavorful overall.

Pan-Roasted Sablefish with Chanterelle, Chayote and Tom Yum Broth
Again when it comes to seafood, you should definitely try anything local – sablefish being one of them. The texture is firm like halibut but since it was beautifully cooked, it was tender and moist. The crispy-like object you see was amazing – panko-breaded “hash brown” made from sushi rice. The sauce brought everything together nicely. This was our favorite of the evening.

After our first glimpse of Vancouver cuisine at the beautiful Hawksworth restaurant, we went to asleep to prepare for what would be some really amazing eating this weekend.

Hong Kong is a 12-14 hour flight from Los Angeles, but for those that live on the west coast, you could pretend you’re in Hong Kong in under 3 hours. Before coming to Vancouver, I had heard that Vancouver was considered a satellite of Hong Kong, second to Toronto, and I would come to agreement with it after eating dim sum here. Though, here in Canada, Hong Kong is also known as Richmond – which is only about 15-20 minutes south of Vancouver. Why this city? The joke is that when Richmond is pronounced with a Cantonese-English accent, it sounds like “rich man” (“weech mun”). And yes, the Chinese love good fortune, wealth and prosperity. You won’t find them moving to places like Death Valley, Brokeville or San Juan NoTengoDinero.  Silly people.

Historically, there have been several influxes of Chinese entering Canada and U.S. beginning with the gold rush and construction of the Canada Pacific Railway. But by far, the most crucial of them all was during the handover of Hong Kong to China by the British. Invariably, the Chinese brought along their hopes of prosperity and of course, culinary skills. The dishes we had at Kirin Seafood, although common, were just prepared at a higher level. Looking at their website, they list not one executive chef, but four chefs that each specialize in regional Chinese cuisine. Collectively, you get this massive menu of common, creative and amazing cuisine. Everything was cooked to order and nothing was over-steamed. These are just a few of the dishes we ordered but I remember seeing very creative, never-seen-before dishes such as geoduck porridge and steamed black bean garlic pork jowls on the menu. The hit of the day was the two-foot long, rice noodle-wrapped Chinese cruller – awesome. You could hit people in the head with it.

Chinese food, aesthetically, may not be as visual as Japanese food, but it’s all about the unique sauces and combinations in the seafood dishes. Most of us are accustomed to eating basic dim sum, noodles and common dishes. Exquisite Chinese seafood dishes on the other hand are on another level. As part of the laymen, I don’t get to eat the $200+ per person meals. The finest Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong even provide translations for their food in Japanese, Korean and sometimes French because they are internationally acclaimed. We’re not talking about kung pao chicken, we’re talking abalone, shark fin and Chinese ham dishes that can be as high as $400. And I think that’s where Kirin Seafood shines. I’m coming straight here from the airport on my next visit to Vancouver! Four locations in the Vancouver area.

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