San Gabriel Valley

Breaking: White People Tend to Live Closer to The Beach

No big surprise here. As we bid adieu to our May heat wave, new research has "discovered" that minorities tend to live in hotter communities throughout the nation. Why is this no big surprise to us?

626 Night Market Returns: Summer Nights Beer Garden

Mark your calendars for June, July and August. The 626 Night Market is coming back to the San Gabriel Valley. Think sticks of cumin-sprinkled lamb skewers, bucket loads of putrid tofu marinated in day old brine and cups of bubble tea brimming with foam. What's new this time around? A 350-foot terrac ... More >>

10 Great Restaurants Open on Christmas Eve

For those inclined to have someone else cook on Christmas eve, there is an incredible assortment of fine options available, but reservations are going quickly, so you'd better make one, soon, if that's your plan. Most hotels offer a standard up-scale Christmas dinner and pretty much every restauran ... More >>

Q & A With Spirit House Chef Johnny Lee: The SGV Bar, Panang Curry Fries Plans For The Future

Johnny Lee started using a wok at the age of ten. The San Gabriel Valley native studied business administration in college, but ended up taking a job at a Chinese restaurant in Colorado after graduation. He moved back to Los Angeles, did stints at the Flying Pig Truck and Rivera, and is now the chef ... More >>

Marijuana Grow House Bust Worth $6 Mil in San Gabriel Valley; Binh Ly Arrested

If you wonder where at least some of that fine kush at L.A.-area marijuana dispensaries comes from, we don't. There has been a rash of busts involving indoor grow houses in the Los Angeles area in recent years, including a three-house take-down yesterday in the San Gabriel Valley. (In the meantime, ... More >>

Meet David R. Chan: The Man Who Has Eaten At Over 6,000 Chinese Restaurants

David R. Chan can't use chopsticks. "I can't hold them properly," Chan said. "It hasn't really been a problem though. Chinese restaurants usually have forks available." 6,090 Chinese restaurants to be exact -- a number that just keeps on growing. An accountant and attorney by trade, Chan has been ... More >>

CicLAvia Route Map: Restaurants, Bars, Tips and Points of Interest

CicLAvia takes places on April 15, 2012; on that Sunday, ten miles of streets will close to cars--from Melrose to Boyle Heights--cutting three ways through the heart of Downtown. It's a perfect occasion to sample the fruits of our fair city. To aid that pursuit, we've compiled a map cross-referenc ... More >>

Earthen's Green Onion Pancake: The Joys of Flatbread

The green onion pancake is one of the most common items on Chinese menus around the San Gabriel Valley. Yet whenever the popular appetizer comes up, one restaurant is invariably mentioned first and foremost: Earthen. For one place to be singled out as having the best of something so common speaks ... More >>

Your Counter Intelligence Preview: In Which Mr. Gold Considers Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village

This week Jonathan Gold considers the study in ambition, cuisine and magazine-worthy menu art that is Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village in the San Gabriel Valley. Old Alley Pork. "Double tubes of squid." Jellyfish. Shark-lip casserole. One could go on. It is the Chinese restaurant menu equivalent of a ... More >>

Chinese New Year: A Feast of Symbols

The eve of Chinese New Year is often favored for its capacity to cultivate dreams and generate good will. Dining tables whereupon many Chinese families gather this Sunday evening will witness a brief, but sharp increase in property value as hopes for the new lunar year manifest in a symbolic feast. ... More >>

Crossing The Bridge Noodles: Yunnan's Signature Dish Where To Find Them

Yunnan cuisine doesn't get the kind of respect accorded to the cuisine from other provinces. It isn't included in the "Eight Schools" of Chinese cuisine, instead being relegated to a subset of its neighbor to the north, Sichuan. Adding to that, there are only 11 Yunnan-style restaurants in the ent ... More >>

Tianjin Style Special Cakes at Dean Sin World

Jim Thurman#34 Tianjin Style Special Cake at Dean Sin World​Dean Sin World is simply a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall place for xiao long bao, dumplings and other Shanghainese style snacks. You should know that by now. But, even if you're a regular visitor you're likely to have overlooked ... More >>

Neptune's Net: When You're in a Bad-ass Seafood Mood

N. Galutenclam chowder at Neptune's Net​When the weather gets cool, the surf gets big and the traffic on PCH dies down, Malibu once again belongs to us, free of the tourist hordes in their rented Aveos. And so we crank down the top, crank up the Suicidal Tendencies and bomb up the coast to Nep ... More >>

Japanese Curry House CoCo Ichibanya Opens in Rowland Heights

ProfessorSalt.comCoco Ichibanya's Katsu-curry​Do you love Japanese curry and need to fix that jones in the eastern San Gabriel Valley? We told you this summer that CoCo Ichibanya was coming to Rowland Heights, and we just found out that location opened two months sooner than we expected, on Se ... More >>

Mid-Autumn Festival: Time for Mooncakes

Jim ThurmanPlate of assorted mooncakes.​ Today marks the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival, an important holiday in China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and the time of mooncakes. Over the past few weeks in the San Gabriel Valley, bakeries have been busy cranking out tray after tray of mooncakes, with many o ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Noodle Boy

Your Counter Intelligence Preview: In Which Mr. Gold Visits Noodle Boy

Anne FishbeinNoodle Boy vermicelli​ This week Jonathan Gold reviews Noodle Boy. Because you can never have too many noodle palaces in the San Gabriel Valley. Because it is not the same thing as Noodle Guy. And because we are hungry. When you order just wonton in soup, you get six wonton. ... More >>

Pair of Sex Offenders, Steven English and James Spry, Found Working at L.A. Area K-12 School Campuses

Fox​Along with crap, out-of-date books, kids with guns on campus, and the most unhealthy food this side of the county fair, what you really want for your kids in public schools is a couple of sex offenders working on campus. Right? Thought so. KTLA News broadcast and published results of an ... More >>

Your Counter Intelligence Preview: In Which Mr. Gold Goes to New York City

Anne Fishbein​ This week's Counter Intelligence goes bi-coastal, as our critic travels to New York City -- there for the James Beard awards, of which he picked up a few more to stash in his overstuffed Altadena closet -- to check out the dinner scene. Man, or some of them, cannot live in San G ... More >>

Your Counter Intelligence Preview: In Which Mr. Gold Visits Noodle Guy

Anne FishbeinPhở at Noodle Guy​ As some of us have mentioned before, you can never have too many noodle palaces in the San Gabriel Valley, nor can you read too many reviews of them. And thus to this week's Counter Intelligence and Jonathan Gold's review of Noodle Guy, which is worth reading ... More >>

L.A. Homeless Count Gets Off to Morbid Start: Dead Guy Found Outside Criminal Court

Dennis RomeroRV dwellers included​Ever wondered how many bums live in Los Angeles County? (That is, if the number's changed since 2009, when the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority last released its biennial count. At that time, the total was about 48,000, with only one-third living under s ... More >>

R.I.P. Shu Feng Garden in San Gabriel

Jim ThurmanSteamed pork belly with mixed flour at Shu Feng Garden in San Gabriel.​An already dreary December day became downright bleak for lovers of Sichuan cuisine with the news, tweeted by food blogger Sinosoul, that Shu Feng Garden had closed their San Gabriel location. Just 14 months ago ... More >>

10 Great Restaurants Open on Christmas Day

Anne Fishbeinshellfish tower at Delphine​ What's our favorite thing to make for Christmas dinner?
 Reservations. Pardon us if you've heard that one before. But we know that sometimes the whole gather-the-family-for-a-huge-sit-down dinner isn't exactly for everyone. For those who would prefe ... More >>

Huge Tree Bakery

For You Tiao, Niu Ruo Shao Bing and all good things Chinese

Marijuana Grow Houses Feed L.A.'s Pot Shops: So What's Wrong With That?

norml.orgIt's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.​Grow houses. Lot of them lately. Authorities want to connect them to a burgeoning pot-shop business in L.A. and beyond. But is there a link? We reported Tuesday that a San Gabriel Valley grow house, believed to be connected to Asian organi ... More >>

'Excessive Heat Watch' Issued For L.A. This Week: Record Temps Expected

​An "excessive heat watch" has been issued by the National Weather Service for much of Los Angeles Tuesday and Wednesday, with "dangerous heat possible" and even record temperatures for the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, and the Santa Monica Mountains. A high-pressure system is ... More >>

$4 Million In Pot Seized In San Gabriel Valley

Dey​Authorities in the San Gabriel Valley this week seized $4 million in pot and arrested seven people in raids at four "locations" in the city of San Gabriel, Rosemead and Temple City, sheriff's officials said. Three of the locations were homes where "major marijuana cultivation operation[s] ... More >>

Web Surfing: A Roundup of Posts from L.A. Food Blogs

-- Creating Chinese cafeteria food at home. [Naked Sushi] -- 3 Los Angeles finalists make it to The Next Food Network Star. [Daily Dish] -- Clipping coupons in the San Gabriel Valley. [Sinosoul] -- Where to find hidden patios for warm weather dining. [Eat: Los Angeles] -- Osama bin Lager and ... More >>

Citrus Greening Disease Making Its Way North to Los Angeles?

The LA Times has reported that four Asian citrus psyllids, small insects often known to carry a nasty citrus greening disease, have been discovered in Santa Ana. The disease is called Huanglongbing, and while it may sound like the name of something delicious that Jonathan Gold might discover deep in ... More >>

Angeles National Forest Wildfire Rages

Google Maps/InciWebSite of Morris Fire​Many Los Angeles residents awoke this morning to blue skies whose horizons were muddied  by smoke from the Angeles National Forest wildfire 22 miles to the east. The air also bore a campfire scent. The latest wildfire broke out near Morris Dam in San Gab ... More >>

Of Cumin Bondage: Korean at Feng Mao

The improbable, cross-cultural carom

Blood, Dumplings, & Nicotine Gelato: Esotouric's Unusual LA Tours, With Food

It still feels like summer vacation, and whether you have guests, or just feel like exploring a bit, Esotouric isn't your cookie-cutter tour company and promises an "intelligent, unpredictable ride into the secret heart of the city we love." The tour's themes integrate literature, rock and roll, ar ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Is Home Shuling Next? L.A.'s Jewish day schools are facing big problems as the economy continues to teeter. L.A. TimesPrick Up Your Ears City officials are accusing mercenary dog rescuers of "cherry picking" their pound purchases based on later, lucrative resale value. L.A. Daily News Arboretum ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Mayor Levels With Base Antonio Villaraigosa painted a bleak economic picture for one of his largest constituencies, organized labor. The mayor suggested shorter work weeks and increased employee retirement contributions as ways to avoid city worker layoffs that could climb to seven percent of the mu ... More >>

Bamboodles: Packing a Rod

Master Kenny Chen practices the ancient Chinese art of bamboo-stick noodles

Hilda Solis Confirmed -- Finally

The full Senate has confirmed Rep. Hilda Solis (San Gabriel Valley) as the next Labor Secretary. For weeks Republicans had dragged their loafers during hearings, objecting to La Puente-born Solis' close ties to organized labor and even her husband's rather minor business-tax problems. Perhaps the re ... More >>

The Korean Taco Justice League: Kogi Rolls Into L.A.

From Rosemead side streets to Venice dive bars, hungry Angelenos have a new way to roll

Industry Stadium: Years Before Kickoff

Today City of Industry's city council rubber-stamped approval of a plan to build a football stadium on vacant land near the nexus of the 60 and 57 Freeways. The vote followed Tuesday's  victory of a $150 million bond measure, which was passed by 60 of Industry's 82 registered voters. The build- ... More >>

Restaurant Grades: "C Is for Chinese"

LAist offers a remedial glimpse into the Who and How of those restaurant letter grades posted by the county's Department of Public Health. Writer Caleb Bacon explains that, when he takes his Back East friends to a San Gabriel Valley restaurant, they "conclude C is for Chinese." He sets them straight ... More >>

Heads and Tails: Salt-Baked Shrimp

Rage Against...

Bruce Willis, Maxine Waters and Living Wagers, plus a new religion for Teddy “The Gay Hypocrite” Haggard

Clear Concept

Hi Concept

Heavenly Creatures

Young, Dumb and Full of Cumin

What To Eat Now: The Year's Best Dishes

Chicken Madness

Shafted!

A Where's Where of dead meat on a stick

Baca's Debacle

Sheriff Lee Baca Relied Heavily on two Controversial Campaign Supporters to Set up His Asian Crime Task Force. Now Both Men Have Drawn FBI Scrutiny, and the New Sheriff's Reputation is on the Line

Bone the Extortionist