This may be the first time that in a blog post I’ve said, “more on that later” and actually followed up on it. So, Monterey Park. My new favorite part of Southern California. Asian food, Asian signs, and just the right amount of sketchiness that you know it’s authentic. And on tonight’s menu, the Yunnan style Chinese restaurant (literally called Yunnan restaurant) with a B health rating and limited English.
I’m serious. They really did have a B health rating. But it’s passing? And I’m not sick yet.
Yunnan cuisine is from Southwestern China and seemed to be somewhat related to Szechuan (or at least they served a lot of Szechuan specialties too). But there were a few things we got today which were unique and amazing.
First of these was the crispy rice shrimp. They took puffed rice, smothered it in a fish broth gravy, and added shrimp, carrots, and mushrooms. This created a unique but delectable texture with the puffed rice that was out of this world.
We also got garlic short ribs (not the best choice on our part but the first 3 tasted great until they got way too rich) and Yunnan style dry beef. The dry beef is another very interesting choice. It’s like a normal beef dish covered in peppers, except the beef is reminiscent of Asian bacon. That’s honestly the only way to describe it. It melted in the mouth, had a strange bacon-reminiscent flavor, and was very pleasant. Just remember not to eat the peppers, they have a very bitter taste and a mild spice (although Alexander thought they were very spicy).
Also, as a bit of an aside they had great tea. I think their base tea was a green tea with just the right amount of honey to take the bitterness away. I also ordered a jasmine milk tea which was on the upper end of all the jasmine milk tea I’ve had. The tea does make a restaurant.
We ended the night with a trip to a Mexican bakery in South Pasadena. It was a little more upscale than the Mexican bakeries I’m used to and honestly wasn’t quite as good. I give the tres leches cake a solid 6/10, the wedding cookies an 8. I’ll have to find some better panaderias around Caltech. I’m sure there’s one out there somewhere.
Completely unrelated but let’s be real, Taylor Swift peaked at Red.
-- Chandrew
