Monterey Park

Half & Half Tea Express Opens a New Location in Arcadia

The coffee culture in Los Angeles may be stronger than ever, but over in the San Gabriel Valley, teahouses are clearly dominating the caffeine scene. Taiwanese boba joint Half & Half Tea Express, a popular hotspot known for their milky teas, has opened another location in Arcadia on Foothill Boul ... More >>

The Fung Brothers: The O.G.s of the SGV

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. Brothers David and Andrew Fung were raised in Seattle but as kids frequently visited their cousins in the San Gabriel Valley. "Those were some of my fondest memories," says And ... More >>

Happy Hour: Pour Haus Wine Bar in the Arts District

Place: Pour Haus Wine Bar, 1820 Industrial St., Los Angeles; (213) 327-0304. Hours: Daily 4 -7 p.m. Deals: All food and drink options are $5 each. Five drink options -- red, white, sparkling, beer, or soju mojito -- rotate, while six food selections, from bruschetta to roasted pee wee potatoes wit ... More >>

Happy Hour: Shin-Sen-Gumi Yakitori & Shabu Shabu in Monterey Park

Place: Shin-Sen-Gumi Yakitori & Shabu Shabu, 111 N. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park; (626) 943-7956. Hours: Beer special runs from Mon.-Thu., 6 p.m.-7 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. For the rest of March, yakitori specials are available Mon.-Thu., 6 p.m.-11 p.m. In April, the specials will only b ... More >>

Where The Chefs Eat: Night Market's Kris Yenbamroong (Otherwise Known as Banh Mi Santa Claus)

Where the Chefs Eat is an ongoing series in which we ask a local chef to give us his or her favorite dining options. This week, we talk to Kris Yenbamroong, chef and owner of Night Market, about his regular spots. Bánh Mì My Tho / Bánh Mì Buu Dien: "There's this thing I do -- it involves dri ... More >>

Chuan Ma Noodle House: No. 1 Noodle House's Offspring

If you were to head eastward along the Pomona Freeway, about two dozen miles or so from downtown, eventually you would find yourself in the vast hinterlands of Rowland Heights, a strange land where the parking lots seem to stretch for miles and the shoebox-sized stores, specializing in any type of i ... More >>

68: Lamb Pie at Beijing Pie House

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 68: Lamb Pie at Beijing Pie House. See those xian biang, those hefty, puck-sized, round meat pies known as a popular roadside snack in northern China? They mig ... More >>

Huge Tree Pastry Featured on the Cooking Channel: Breakfast of Champions

An early-morning breakfast at Huge Tree Pastry, filled with steaming bowls of soymilk and oversized fried crullers, is about as quintessential as it gets for Monterey Park's Chinese community -- kind of like a San Gabriel Valley version of the plate of ham and eggs at Nick's Cafe downtown. The Liu ... More >>

Farmers Market Watch: Altadena and Monterey Park Markets Reopen

It looks like 2012 is quickly becoming the Year of the Farmers Market for many L.A.-area communities. Along with new markets opening at Griffith Park and the Sunset Strip, two more markets will be reopening this summer.

Tempest in a Teacup: Cup Controversy at Half & Half Tea House

To call the tea bar scene in the San Gabriel Valley vibrant is a vast understatement. Dozens of perpetually crowded small cafés across the 626 serve teas and boba drinks while providing socializing and studying spots for those not old enough to drink alcohol or those not so inclined. It's precisely ... More >>

Spicy With Spicy: What the Dish Is Where to Find It in the SGV

If you've frequented Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, you've perhaps noticed a menu item intriguingly translated as Spicy on Spicy or Spicy With Spicy. Maybe you've wondered exactly what it is. The dish is made up of ground pork seasoned with pepper, which is then topped with a vari ... More >>

Eat This Now: Fried Fungus Tofu from V.P. Tofu

We've written about V.P. Tofu before, and with good reason. When it comes to all things soy, it's hard to top the small Monterey Park storefront. We've featured their soy puddings, ranging from plain with ginger syrup, to pandan and black sesame flavors. But, until now, we've neglected one of the ... More >>

Cook's Torta's: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 23)

Guzzle & NoshTorta Cubana at Cook's Tortas.​Monterey Park may seem an unlikely locale for a top-notch torta shop, but Cook's Tortas, with its diverse and clever roster of sandwiches, has made itself a home amid the dim sum houses and dumpling shops of the San Gabriel Valley. Located in what wa ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Beijing Pie House

Eat This Now: Soy Tofu Pudding for the Soul

Matthew KangPandan tofu pudding at V.P. Tofu​ Grandma's chicken soup may have the general public snowed, but we know the truth: There is no food on earth more comforting than a freshly made batch of tofu pudding. Especially when said pudding comes from cult favorite soy purveyors V.P. Tofu (in ... More >>

Want Coffee? Tea? With 3:15PM, There's No Need to Choose

B. HansenA cup of coffee tea at Phoenix Food Boutique in Arcadia​ It's 3:15 in the afternoon, and you're dragging, half unconscious, unable to navigate the Web or anything else. What's the remedy? Why 3:15PM, of course. Designed for the afternoon slump, 3:15PM blends coffee, tea, milk and su ... More >>

Car-Free Eating

Nondrivers should look to downtown

Ask Mr. Gold: Where To Eat & Live In L.A. If You Don't Have A Car

Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menu​Dear Mr. Gold: What's the best neighborhood in L.A. to live in if you don't have a car? Purely within the gastronomical interest, of course. --Sophia Lee, via Facebook Dear Ms. Lee: Although my first impulse was to nominate San Gabriel or Monterey Park ... More >>

EPA Getting $17 Million From Polluters to Help Cleanup Toxic Landfill in Monterey Park

​A long-standing toxic landfill in Monterey Park, 10 miles east of Downtown LA, is on the verge of getting another multi-million dollar cleanup. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it is working on a settlement with 275 former polluters who would pay $17 million toward cl ... More >>

L'il Bao Wow: Soup Dumplings at Dean Sin Noodle World

Xiao long bao -- the dish at the center of the San Gabriel mayoral mistress scandal -- is such a popular item with so many variations that in some stretches of the San Gabriel Valley, you can sample three top-tier dumpling houses in a two-block radius. On Monday, that's just what I did on an XLB ... More >>

Ask Mr. Gold: Eating the Obvious, or Chinese in Downtown

Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menu​Dear Mr. Gold: I have a dear friend who spends a lot of time in Beijing and loves Chinese food. Is there a place downtown or in Chinatown that has excellent cuisine from that region? I want him to have a good meal! --B., Echo Park Dear B.: There are fe ... More >>

Following Post-Rave Death Of Teen, U.S. Attorney's Office Cracks Down On Alleged Ecstasy Ring; $17 Million In Pills Seized

U.S. Attorney's OfficeTuan Vu, at-large.​Fifteen suspects were indicted this week following a federal investigation in the Los Angeles area that led to the seizure of 1.1 million tablets of ecstasy -- $17 million worth, the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A. announced Thursday. The U.S. Attorney i ... More >>

May Wah Inc., the Vegan Restaurant's Secret Weapon

May WahThe many flavors of fake​ The vegan chef de cuisine has three options when planning his animal-free menu. First, ignore mock-meat entirely and serve tofu as tofu and vegetables as vegetables, without subterfuge. Such is the approach at M Cafe de Chaya, those green tendrils sprouting fro ... More >>

True Grit

99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die

Fugu to foie gras, pizza to panuchos

Home Invaders Flee In Porsche

2001 Porsche 911 Turbo.​For nearly 45 years the Porsche 911 has been everyman's object of desire in the U.S., an exotic and sometimes super car for a fraction of the cost of a Ferrari. Despite its quirky, rear-engined configuration and back seats that could only comfortably accommodate Oompa-L ... More >>

Philippe Is Not Your Daddy's Chinese

It's Diddy's

Riled Over California's High-Speed Rail

It sounded like such a good idea. But the highly disruptive routes anger many

JTYH Restaurant: Heavy Noodling II

Knife-shaved pasta, the next generation

Best of L.A.: Food and Drink

Ask Mr. Gold: Is San Diego a Food-Impaired City?

Dear Mr. Gold:   My friend Oliver says you would know where to get lunch in San Diego! Can you recommend a cool place? Merci! Gaelle, Montreal    

Eating for the Adrenaline Rush at Hengyang and Hunan Chilli Kings, plus Yunnan Garden

More Hunan than Yunnan

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Charter School Teachers Talk Union The L.A. Times reports that nearly 80 percent of teachers from a respected Los Angeles charter school have signed cards requesting union membership. Teachers at the Accelerated School say in the story that the school's administrative decisions have become "opaque a ... More >>

"Man Bites World" Writer Running Out of Cuisines, Asks Mr. Gold

Is it the end of the world?

Best Pizza: Pizzeria Mozza

All Too Hunan

Dong Ting Chun brings the heat

Soy Good for You

10 Best Dishes of 2005

The Big Pull

From Motown to Rimtown

The blinging of Los Angeles

Young, Dumb and Full of Cumin

Gray's Vetos

Chile Scenes of Summer

O Brodard, Where Art Thou?

Spicy With Spicy

Duck, Duck, Goose...

Fowl play

With a Name Like . . .

. . . it's gotta be good

Mixmasters

Around here, we call it street-level multiculturalism.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam. . .

Hawaiian musubi in Monterey Park

The Best of Counter Intelligence

Tanks for the Memories