Yang's Kitchen - Alhambra

Touted on LA's 101 best list and episodically headlining Eater LA as one of the SGV's best restaurants, Yang's very small kitchen sits on an Alhambra street surrounded by several powerhouses of Chinese cuisine. 

The first thing I thought when I glanced at their brunch menu was that it was not what I would expect. 

Despite the description of Asian fusion, there's nothing Asian about this Chicken Liver Mousse except the handful of chopped green onion. The mousse itself is rich and fatty, minerally savory with a hint of sweet, meant to be lavishly smeared across crusty slices of LA's best (Bub & Grandma's) bread.   

Yang's Fried Chicken Wings are so simple, skin stretched taut across firm flesh, finished simply with salt and pepper. 

Most people who don't like salmon have never had good salmon, and the Salmon & Ikura Bowl will silence any scorn. The salmon is melt-in-your-mouth quality, and the yuzu miso marinade makes it sing. Add gooey-fish poppin' bubbles of fresh ikura and a side of soft-boiled soy egg, and you've got yourself a feast. 

There's a basic Breakfast Plate for those who are just craving a good morning meal. The eggs have beautiful yolk, the super-crispy hash brown cake is the best in town, and the hanger steak is incredible.

There are more Asian-oriented items on the menu like sesame noodles and mochi pancake, but the westernized vibe is there. It feels to me like a representation of an upcoming generation of Asian children raised by more modern parents who celebrate their children's calling and might even support a chef. Instead of just kids who grew up running the family restaurant, future generations are combining classical training with what they learned from grandma, and if Yang's Kitchen is any indication of what's to come, the results will be spectacular. 

Ipoh Kopitiam - Alhambra

One of very few authentic Malaysian restaurants in Los Angeles, and I snagged three big bags of takeout. 

It's enough food for days and it all reheats beautifully, but I recommend getting sides with the Roti Canai as the best way to try more than one main without filling up too fast. The original curry dip sauce is surprisingly tart with tomato, a fresh breath on a fluffy bread. Eat that sauce-soaked okra with relish. 

The Beef Rendang is chunks of shreddy, tendinous beef. The braising melts the connective tissue to make it a gooey bliss. 

Chicken Curry is robust but smooth, a mild and savory delight. I'd order both again every single time.

But I wouldn't get the Char Kway Teow again - it's a generic drunken noodle done right, with small chunks of chicken and shrimp, emphasis on generic. 

Onto the main event, a Singapore Style Hainan Chicken Rice. The meat is tender, the skin has that delightful, almost-gelatinous slime. The rice is fragrant, and the sauces are boldly garlic, chili, and soy. Dip one, dip two, dip all three for the best of the bunch. 

Kaya Toast is like a dessert, a jelly spread that channels a tropical dulce de leche with a texture like red bean paste ending in coconut notes.

H.K Style Buns with butter are covered in a thick pineapple crust, cut and crammed with a mattress of butter so thick you think it's cheese. They're good buns, but I'd rather have more kaya toast. 

Yum yum, no wonder they made the Michelin mentions. I've had a lot of this stuff at Sampang, etc, but Ipoh makes them shine. The execution is exquisite, and their attention to detail is second to none. It's a street food-feel but with 5-star quality.  

Borneo Kalimantan Cuisine - Alhambra

They hope you like spicy because everything here has a little sass. Not enough to make you sweat but just enough to make you eat. 

Let’s be honest here, no one gets Chicken Sate for the chicken. Borneo’s sweet and savory peanut sauce is right on, simultaneously rich and deep. I do wish they had soaked the sate in it rather than keeping them separate - the meat was a little dry. 

Laksa is the curry king, like the khao soi of another country, sweet and smooth, with creamy coconut and a sniff of the sea. The egg noodles were like a dime-bag ramen so try any other instead. 

My favorite dish in any country is probably flat rice noodles, stir fried with a soy-based sauce. The Borneo Style at Borneo is wonderful, and I love the sweet sauce with a slip of shrimp. 

Roti Prata is bread and curry, competing for the title of best of Borneo. 

Nasi Lemak is a concurrent champion, with chunks of flavorful fried chicken, cabbage with a heated crunch, fantastic fried tofu and egg, and a spicy paste of peanut and tiny salty anchovies that will set you salivating.  Among all this, it's the rice that's the real deal. The coconut plays coy as the fragrant surrounding meats fill up the space. 

Delicious food, but I don't think it'd stand up to Simpang. I loved it all, and it didn't fall far, but I'm dying to try Ipoh as well.  

ACC Chinese Fast Food - Alhambra

Have you ever seen a mom-and-pop more mom-and-pop than ACC? It literally looks like a food stall inside a small strip mall store. Mom takes your order (brush up on your Mandarin), yells it to pop, and goes to the back to help him. 

They whip it all up real quick, and if you're lucky, you'll catch a glimpse of the juices running down your duck as they one back to chop. Two orders of Duck Rice are more than two people need, but their duck game is strong and you won't want to share. The skin is crisp even after 40 minutes in my car, and the meat is tender with roasted fragrance all the way through. It's an inexpensive plate, and you get a nice quarter with a breast or a leg. 

She sold me on a stew, made with roast pork, silky-soft tofu, carrots and broccoli simmering in an orange-brown gravy with the slightest hint of sweet and sour. It seems like it's made from the pork they didn't sell, and this pork lives up to the hype. Even through the stew-sauce, the savor squeezes through.

The stir-fried Pork Kidney is one I had to try, but my mom makes it better. Thinly but too-largely sliced, the viscous brown sauce preserves the texture, though it's a bit over-fried and dry. 

A-choy cooks down considerably, and they had to add some tender veggie hearts to make up the volume, (with my permission).

Mom is sweet in that Chinese-mom way and gifts me some salt water duck wings and feet, to be eaten with my favorite TV show, and I know better than to not obey. A cold dish, not to be reheated, it's the perfect snack if you're not squeamish. 

It's called fast food for a reason; efficient, inexpensive, but really quite effective. I got all this for fifty dollars and it's been food for days. 

The menu is overwhelming so stick to the main meats. Made to be eaten immediately and fresh so don't delay and order your duck today. 

Kang Kang Food Court - Alhambra

We walk in only 30 minutes before closing. The industrial kitchen is still steamy from a long day's work, but the atmosphere is icy as the woman behind the counter speaks bluntly to me in Mandarin, entirely ignoring my friend who is Vietnamese. "You can only order to go,” she says immediately, “We close in half an hour."

But we can order anything, she adds, even the Sheng Jian Bao which are a pain to make, take forever to cook, and must be made to order. Mine are still steaming and crunching when I get them home more than half an hour later. 

I also ordered regular XLB, which are absolutely alright but not the valley's best. 

The Sticky Rice Shumai are also just alright. The rice is moderately savory but you have to really like sticky rice shumai and even then these are middle of the pack. 

I always say that the food is good if the service is bad, but this isn't entirely fair here. Her manner is curt and she doesn’t waste words, but her actions speak louder than words. When my friend orders four pork-filled buns (through me), she slips an extra into the box. “Let’s give you one," she murmurs…to me. 

Then she holds out a styrofoam tray of mochi rolls with red bean filling. "Do you want one? $5 and we just made them. Still warm and haven't even gone into the fridge". I hesitate for a moment, and she repeats, more insistently, "They're fresh and they’re still soft". And I can see the plush mochi wrapper stuffed with flakes of coconut with the creamy-smooth red bean spilling out. Yes, one for each of us. They might be the tastiest thing I ever ate.  

I tell her we will pay and she says "But you want the Beef Noodle Soup too?" I said no thanks, I'd ordered a lot. 

"Are you sure?" She repeats. She tells me it’s one of their best dishes and I can’t manage to refuse. And holy moly, what a bowl of flavor. Fatty chunks of liquid meat are steeped in a thick brown broth with enough msg to put you into a coma. It reheats well for days, and I ate it with zero regrets. 

Come to Kang Kang for Chinese comfort, cash-only classics. They do a fantastic job replicating grandma’s neighborhood restaurant, and the service is consistent with the vibe. Be prepared to order with numbers and gestures if you don’t speak Chinese, but it’s a momentary discomfort in exchange for sheng jian bao and one heck of a soup. 

Xiang La Hui - Alhambra

 

Szechuan. That song-of-the-Chinese-south spice that simultaneously soothes while it singes, sending numbing shockwaves across all your senses.

When I see Szechuan, I see Toothpick Lamb. There's nothing like gnawing juicy little niblets of fire-game straight off the spear.

A real Szechuan dry pot is a very rare delight, and the Wok-Fried Spicy Pot Intestines are savory and supple, with an alluring afterburn. 

Garlicky green leaves of A-choy are a break from the burn, and they make their veggies well.

Don't pass up on the noodle soups just because it's take-out. These Wok-Fried Gizzard Noodles are cleverly packed so the soup steam warms the noodles from below without soaking them soggy. Here the dry-fried gizzard adds the texture to a radiant, red-hot soup. 

I'm surprised this place doesn't have more reviews. The food is fantastic, and it has a more home-made feel. I'm from the no-fun north when it comes to Szechuan spice, but the fiery flavors from Xiang La Hui are ones I will always crave. 

Therapeutic Chengdu Taste – Alhambra

I think every physician deals with one medical problem that defines bane of their existence. All problems are a pain in one way or another, but there’s always one that gives us more trouble than most. Mine is hypertension, and if I could do away with just one medical problem, that would be it. Because trying to control hypertension in an outpatient clinic is an absolute nightmare.

When treating newly-diagnosed hypertension, we almost always start at the second line because the first line treatment is miserable. Props to patients who try, but no amount of Mrs. Dash is going to substitute for salt, the saving grace of food…At least that’s what I thought until found the Wontons With Pepper Sauce at Chengdu Taste. The deep red sauce of numbing pain is the classic temporary taste-bud-obliterating broth that put Szechuan cuisine on the map. When you think of numbing the tongue, you usually recall the Novocain the dentist gave you to soften the blow of the repulsive root canal, but status post Szechuan food is different. You may be barely able to feel your tongue, but what you CAN feel is a strangely prickly taste that mimics the sting of salt.

But even the strictest diet can fail, and you’re left titrating dosages to no avail. You strike a balance between the diuretic, the ACE, and the kidneys like the perfectly-proportioned cumin crust of the tender Toothpick Lamb. Disrupt that balance and you may be throwing away the toothpick with the lamb still attached.

If only salt were the only culprit for hypertension; sometimes the culprit is me. Affectionately named “white coat hypertension”, my mere presence can skyrocket a normal systolic by 70. If you’re completely at ease with doctors, dip into the Boiled Fish in Hot Sauce and let the sweat tell the story. The fish is flaky and fresh, the cabbage is soaked through but still stays crisp, and the still-numbing sauce brings on the heat.

Sometime I think I AM a medical condition. People come to my clinic complaining of the bland food they eat and the white rice they replace with brown (which is NOT a suitable substitution if you’re Asian, BTW), and I sometimes think I made their lives worse instead of better. At least I can recommend Chengdu Taste to soften the blow. A single spoonful of pepper sauce makes the medicine go down… That’s my lie and I’m stickin’ to it.