Elite Restaurant

Elite Restaurant
700 S Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park
626-282-9998

When it comes to dim sum, I am a very picky eater. I don't eat chicken feet or many other items served during dim sum. But, to my way of thinking, any dim sum restaurant has to have good pork shui-mai and steamed BBQ pork buns. If they don't, I'm not going back.

If you ask foodies who has the best dim sum, Elite Restaurant will be mentioned frequently. So, I finally decided to give them a try. I got to Elite around lunch time, which was perfect because the wait was about ten minutes long. It may have had to due with the overcast day and a forecast calling for rain. But, either way I was happy for the short wait, because I was warned the wait times can run close to an hour at Elite.

Elite is different than other dim sum restaurants, they do not have the carts!! You know the drill, the carts are wheeled around and you pick what you want. Instead Elite makes you select how many orders of each item you want. Most of the servers, those taking your order, not the people bringing you the food, speak English well, so it's easy to place your order or if you have questions.

Pork shui-mai-$3.38. These pork shui-mai were huge, maybe the biggest shui-mai I've seen. Well worth the price tag. The pork was very well seasoned and tasty. The shrimp was a medium sized shrimp, that actually worked well with the pork. Though, I don't think I like the trend of pork shui-mai having shrimp in it! This came out hot, with plenty of steam coming out. The wonton is a bit thicker than other shui-mai I've had, but this is a very good example of shui-mai.

Crystal shrimp har gow-$3.38. The first piece of this shrimp har gow was a sticky gooey mess. The outside just attached itself to my chopstick and never let go. The first piece I had, torn apart and I had to eat the shrimp and wrapper separately. The second piece I had was fairly good, the shrimp fresh, well steamed, good sized, and the wrapper was light and with a good texture.

Fried shrimp dumpling-$3.38. Frankly this dish was terrible. The outside did have a nice flakey texture, was fried very well. But, the inside was a doughy mess. There shrimp was ok, but all the veggies-cabbage and green onions just didn't work for me.

Steamed BBQ pork bun-$2.38. This had to be among the worst steamed BBQ pork buns I've ever had. The small amounts of BBQ pork was fatty, too sweat and just not good at all. The bun was too chewy and tough for me.

Service is good. The orders come out quickly and the servers are nice. At least when I was there, they didn't rush you. But, that maybe different when the wait times are over 30 minutes.

For a place that comes so highly recommended, I was very underwhelmed!! The pork shui-mai was good, but I wouldn't order anything else, that I ordered today, again!!

Cook's Tortas

Cook's Tortas
1944 S Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park
323-278-3536

I heard that Cook's Torta had a wide variety of torta and not the usual meats you get at most Mexican restaurants. I have heard Cook's Torta described as a Mexican fusion, but whatever. I just wanted to see if the tortas were good.

Cook's Torta has no sign on the front or west facing part of the store. I was coming south on Atlantic and missed it, because the only sign is on the south side of the building, and not visible when driving south on Atlantic. Anyways, a quick legal u-turn and I was there. From the looks of this building, this was an old Kentucky Fried Chicken.

I looked at there wall menu, the north side wall, has their entire torta menu. All tortas are $7.79 and includes one side. I got the shrimp Po'Boy-spice battered shrimp, avocado-red onion remoulade, and lettuce.

WOW, was this great. The torta was bursting with shrimp, always a good sign when they pile on the meat. The bread was a soft chewy, almost ciabatta like bread, that was slighty and perfectly toasted, and stood up very well to all the remoulade and shrimp. The avocado-red onion remoulade was mixed well with mayo and added a subtle taste to the torta. But the best part was the shrimp. It was so fresh, it may have been in the Pacific Ocean that morning. It was well seasoned with some chili power and cumin. It was lightly battered and fried to perfectly.

Service by the cashier was OK. She just went through the motions. She wasn't the most friendly or welcoming person. Service by the girl who brought my food, was good. She was nice and friendly. They call out the number, as they are walking to the table. When they called my number, I was looking around for my receipt, which had dropped to the floor. I kind of raised my hand, she came over and gave me my order. I told her I can't find the receipt, but she said don't worry about. I did find it as she was leaving.

I would go back just for this shrimp po' boy, but I do want to try a couple of their other tortas.

Noodle House

Noodle House
958 E. Garvey Ave
Monterey Park
626-280-0831

While I was searching for good dumpling places, Dumpling House and Noodle House both came with raving reviews. I already went to Dumpling House so I decided to try Noodle House.

I ordered the:

Steamed dumpling with pork and leeks, made in a pot sticker style. $5.99. The first thing I notice was only one side of the dumplings were fried, so that gave two different textures when taking a bite. I didn't like that at all. The other thing I didn't like was the filling. The pork wasn't flavorful and they were a bit small, especially compared to the dumplings from Dumpling House.

Steamed shrimp with leeks dumpling, $5.99. There was so much leek, you can see the filling through the skin. Not good. The shrimp was just one small sized shrimp cut in half. The leeks just overpower the flavor of this dumpling because there is just so much of it.

Combination seafood bun, $6.99. The good: Nice texture of the bun. The bad, the filling. Not much of it and just bland and lacking any flavor. The seafood combination was pork, shrimp, and green onions. Not good and not worth the price.

Service was good. Nothing outstanding but nothing bad either. This is a cash only restaurant.

I was very disappointed with Noodle House. It did not live up to the hype and can't hold a steam tray to Dumpling House.

Little Fat Sheep-Closed

Little Fat Sheep
120 S. Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park
626-282-1089

An interesting name for a restaurant. Little Fat Sheep is a Mongolian Hot Pot restaurant. What you do is choose what type of brooth you want, spicy, mild, half and half and veggie. I sat at a table with half and half. They ask you how spicy you want the brooth, scale of 1-10 and Fear Factor. We decided on 6 and it was a good thing. The longer the brooth boils, the spicier the brooth becomes. Brooth is $3.50 a person but they max out at 8 people. So our table of ten was charged $28 for the brooth, $2.80 a person. They will refill the brooth the entire night.

Then there is a menu that includes, meats, veggies, noodles, and seafood that you can put into the hot pot and cook. They also have cooked items like fried rice and a great scaliion pancake, $4.25. My table ordered about 4 plates of the scallion pancakes. Though a bit greasty they were very good. A flakey pancake with some scallions inside. I would use the pancake like a pizza crust, top with with some meats and veggies, that were cooked in the brooth, and I chowed down.

Our table ordered the sliced beef, $3.75, sliced chicken, $3.75, sliced lamb, $4.25, beef and lamb meat ball, $3.95 each, imitation crab meat, $3.95, fresh corn, $2.25, shitake and oyster mushroom, $3.25 each, spinach, $2.25, white noodle, $2.75, and hand made noodles, $2.75.

The meats and veggies come out in a small cart, which is placed next to your table.

I thought all the veggies were very fresh and worked well with the brooth. The veggies except the fresh corn cooked quickly, about 2 minutes. The corn about 5-7 minutes. While the corn was fresh and tasty, they only cut the corn, on the cobb, into two inch sections. They could be a little bigger. I especially like the spinach, super fresh, and both mushrooms.

The sliced meats were great. Thinly cut pieces so they will cook quickly, the meats were great with the brooth. The imitation crab meat took awhile to cook in the brooth but they were good when finished.

The noodles also cooked quickly and worked well. Next time I go, I will make this more of a noodles soup. Put in the noodles first, followed by meats, then the veggies. Putting those in the brooth in that order, allows for the slower and faster cooking items to be done at the same time.

Service is pretty good, the meats and veggies come out very quickly. The brooth was also refilled quickly. But getting refills on water and hot tea is a bit slow.

I would go back to Little Fat Sheep anytime, especially when it is a cold night. If you like spicy brooth, I would start at about 7 or 8. You can always increase the spice.

NBC Seafood

NBC Seafood Restaurant
404 S. Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park
626-282-2323

Dim Sum at NBC Seafood is served by ladies who have food carts and you pick and choose what you want to order. When it comes to Dim Sum, I usually just stay wit the basics, shu mei, dumplings, and steamed pork buns.

NBC has some of the best Dim Sum around. As you can see from the picture, NBC is going through some renovation but is still open for business. We saw bare dry wall inside the restaurant.

The shu mei is full of fresh pork and shrimp, then steamed to perfection. Each plate of shu mei is $1.90.

The steamed pork buns are also $1.90 per plate. They are fairly small compared to other places I've gone to. But the pork was nice and tender. The bun was soft, with a good texture and had a nice sweet taste to it.

The last picture is pan fried dumplings with pork and shrimp. This was very tasty, though the outside was a bit tough and chewy.

Service is good. The ladies with the carts come at your in waves. They may not speak English that well but point and choose works. Be warned though, this is a very popular place for dim sum and on weekends you may wait over an hour to get a table. It can also get very noisy in the restaurant.

I would go back to NBC again and again. Next time I go, I want to try their regular menu.

Bollini's-Closed

Bollini's
2315 S. Garfield Ave
Monterey Park
323-722-7600

In Monterey Park you think of Chinese food. But to my surprise there is a great pizza place that has been opened for four months, Bollini's. They serve what is called Neapolitan style pizza. They are strict requirements for this style of pizza, one of them being a wood burning oven and as far as I can tell Bollini meets all these requirements. For me, as long as the pizza is good, I don't give a damn.

I got the Rocco, sauce, cheese, pepperoni and basil, $8.50 for the small 12" size. Well this pizza was so good. Gooey melted cheese with spicy pieces of pepperoni on a very thin crip crust. WOW, WOW, WOW. I have found the best Neapolitan style pizza in LA. I wasn't crazy about the basil but otherwise this is a great pizza and what a steal at $8.50!!!

Service is OK. They were a little slow in getting our pizza ready. It took about 30 minutes. This is a small, narrow space and when we were there, it was noisy as hell. Two guys were yelling at each other and they were sitting across the table from each other. Lower your damn voices. There was also a party of 6 or 8 and another party of about 5 people that seemed to slow the service down. The girl who took the order and the guy, who I think is the owner, we both friendly and helpful but they didn't seem to be able to handle this crowd too well.

I would go back to Bollini's but I think I would get my order to go. Dining in is too noisy and hectic. Not relaxing at all.

Joe's Pizza-Closed

Joe's Pizza
2412 Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park
323-724-4324

When you think of Monterey Park you think of Chinese food. You rarely think of pizza. But what a surprise when I found Joe's Pizza. This is a no frills pizza place. Just good qualtiy pizza at good prices.

Pictured is a small pizza with half pepperoni and Canadian bacon and half pineapple, $11. The crust is thick and has a nice chewy texture. They piled on the pepperoni and Canadian bacon. I thought the sauce was the perfect compliment to the toppings and crust. It didn't overpower pizza. Good quality toppings, good solid crust makes a good solid pizza.

The hot wings, $6.95 were baked instead of fried. They also weren't hot but very mild. It's not too bad but I prefer wings fried. But they were also very meaty. A good chicken wing but they could fry them and increase the spicyness of the wings.

Service is good. When I went, they were either renovated the restaurant or just moving in. There was construction going on and you could see and hear hammers and power tools being used.

I would go back to Joe's Pizza again. Good quality pizza at good prices.

NYC Seafood

NYC Seafood
715 Garvey Ave
Monterey Park
626-289-9898

My girlfriend loves lobster and I wanted her to try lobster from a Chinese restaurant. I've heard good things about NYC Seafood and nice my girlfriend is from New York City, I thought it would make a good dining experience.

We ordered the hot and sour soup, $8.45. Very good stuff with lots of tofu and mushrooms. I think this was the perfect combination of hot, about medium, and sour.

Next came the lobster. We just had the lobster steamed and dipped it in drawn butter. The lobster was tender and flavorful. I enjoyed every bite. But one thing, they bring a live lobster to your table and tell you how many pounds it weighs. Our lobster was about 3 pounds, which looked huge live. But when they brought it to our table it was less than impressive. I'm all about the food. I don't care that much about presentation. But this time the presentation of the lobster was terrible. It would have looked much better if they gave us the entire lobster. Lobster is basically $13 a pound.

The last picture is shrimp fried rice, $7.95. The shrimp were big but there weren't that many in the rice. The rice was basically mixed with some green onions and cooked in oil. There wasn't much to the fried rice. The shrimp is just folded into the rice. Nothing special.

Service was good. They were attentive and provided us quick service.

I would not go back to NYC Seafood, since in Monterey Park there are many other Chinese seafood restaurants to try. The food isn't bad but there's nothing really that outstanding about it.