Six Two Six

I live in an area which many people refer to as the San Gabriel Valley, also known as the "626" within our community. It's given itself a reputation for good and authentic Chinese food, boba milk tea, and large Asian neighborhoods. It's a bustling jumble of culture! I'm what anthropologists called: "parachute kids", but instead of being a child shipped from Asia living in the United States, it's vice versa for me. For a good part of my childhood I've resided in different areas of Asia, Guang Zhou, Shang Hai, Hong Kong, you name it. I was then brought back to the United States to attend grade school when I was older. So, I was lucky enough to be brought up with a palette for Asian and American food. But I find that living within these two cultures, I'm still more amazed at the versatile use of ingredients within my own culture. Here's just a few of the dishes that I enjoy the most when I go out to eat:

First, we have the famous, Minced Pork over Rice or sometimes referred as the Pork Stew over Rice. Whenever I went back to Taiwan I was notorious within the apartment building as the girl who inhales bowls of these! It's relatively cheap, usually $3-$4 within the SGV. It's just your basic marinated pork pieces drizzled deliciously over white rice with a side serving of tea marinated egg and slices of yellow pickled radishes.

Here we have Hainan Chicken with Rice. Tender chicken with lightly oily rice, oil that originates from the chicken itself when they prep it. I really like the one from ABC Cafe and one from Savoy Kitchen whom are quite famous for them. This dish usually ranges from $7-$9 depending on which restaurant you go to.

For more dessert-like dishes, my favorite would have to be the Brick Toast (cinnamon or the coconut butter flavors are my favorite). The one from Tom n Toms is the best from the ones I've tasted so far and it's super close to my house so there's no fuss on how far I have to drive to get one. Although TnT is usually located in DTLA Korea Town... The closet one near the Walnut/DB area is on Goldensprings. These usually range from the $5-$7 give or take.

Those are only just the tip of the iceberg from the massive list of my favorite dishes but drop by the SGV if you're ever in the area or if you're craving good Chinese food! :) Until next time!

Ciao!
Kitty~