Posted July 2nd, 2011 by Meg
Naturally after saying I had free time to update this site, my life became exponentially busier. But, I will try to keep up. Here are the highlights from my recent trip to Chinatown.
Out of my almost 10 years in Los Angeles, I have (to the best of my recollection) never been to Chinatown.
The purpose of the trip was to go to Golden Dragon for dim sum. I was able to try my first fried chicken foot. Sadly, I didn’t get a great picture of the said chicken foot, but you can see it in the photo in between the greens and the dumpling towards the top of the plate. Similar in color to a chicken wing, but a unique and different (crispier) taste. I don’t know how often I will order it again in the future, but I am glad to say that I have lived this crazy world and ate a fried chicken foot.
Also, I stopped by Amy’s/Amay’s Bakery and picked up a box of their popular almond cookies. I love the trade dress of the box and the cookie ain’t so bad either.
The cookie looks like this:
Golden Dragon
960 North Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-2039
Amay’s Bakery & Noodle Company
837 Commercial Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012 U.S.A.
Tel: (213)626-2713
Posted June 18th, 2011 by Meg
One fine afternoon I was able to make it to Chinatown for lunch at Philippe. Philippe, established in 1908, claims to be home of the original French dip sandwich.
When I entered around noon, the place was packed with lines to the wall opposite of the display counter. Food is ordered and served in a unique manner: along a display counter exists about 10 servers who are called “carvers.” Each carver has everything they need to prepare your meal right in front of them so that they can take care of your whole meal.
Not surprisingly, this place is CASH ONLY (but there is an ATM (or what east coasters call a MAC machine - acronym for money access center). Seating is family style and there is an upstairs floor with many different rooms. The floor is covered in saw dust - which is presumably to absorb the many liquids that fall in this busy establishment.
A French dipped sandwich consists of either roast beef, roast pork, leg of lamb, turkey or ham served on a fresh baked French roll which has been dipped in the natural gravy of the roasts (au jus). ($6.00) Swiss, American, Monterey Jack or Blue cheese may be added. I chose the turkey French dip, no cheese!
Although Philippe’s serves close to 300 pounds of pigs feet every week, I opted for the potato salad as a side. ($1.20)
Philippe is also known for its hot French mustard. At every table there is a squirt bottle of the mustard for you to use at your discretion. The heat is more like a horseradish/wasabi. I hope to buy a jar and send it to my parents someday.
My biggest regret? Not double dipping! Double dipping is when the completed sandwich is dipped in the jus. One can also order the sandwich “wet” which I am guessing is a more serious kind of double dipping in the jus.
“You dip the way you want to dip, I’ll dip the way I want to dip.” - George Costanza
Philippe
1001 N Alameda St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 628-3781
Daily Hours: 6AM-10PM
Twitter: PhilippetheOG
Posted August 8th, 2009 by Meg
Although completely unplanned, my first morning meal in San Francisco was in China Town at my friend’s favorite Dim Sum restaurant, Dol Ho. Unfortunately, I don’t know Dim Sum well. But, I do know that I did enjoy this Dim Sum.
Having spent a good hour traveling, I was ravenously hungry. So I didn’t really write down the names of everything we had at our table. I know we had a lot of shrimp dishes though. My table did agree that the vegetable dumpling was the best.
Below on this dish is a fried shrimp ball (left) and some sort of eggplant shrimp cheese delightfulness. I love eggplant, period. So to add two other great ingredients: cheese and shrimp. It’s a trifecta of perfect.
Dol Ho
808 Pacific Ave
(at Stockton St)
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 392-2828
