 The St. Gabriel Valley aka the 626 is one of the Asian food mechas of the world and a new list just came out talking about the best restaurants David as 626 veterans. We got to talk about whether we agree, disagree and what they left off. Yeah I mean I think as people have eaten at literally thousands of Asian restaurants in their life made the 626 song it's only fair that we give our evaluation of their evaluation so let's get into number one on the list. All right everybody here we got 22 essential St. Gabriel Valley restaurants the 2022 edition starting off the list in no particular order we got Lawn Noodle. Oh this spot is brand new only a couple years old I actually have not been here yet but I will say Andrew Biss based off that photo that literally looks like the best looking bowl of Lawn Zoola Mian that I've ever seen in my life. Andrew I know you got some interesting perhaps controversial opinions on how you feel about Lawn Zoola Mian. I mean it's really good I just feel like it's not the best beef noodle soup I think that Andrew you'll have to say it in Chinese or also I don't believe I cannot understand what your slander is. Okay you know what you said it in at least you know I would say I think an alternative Andrew that actually is a chain from China is 1919 beef Lawn Zoola Noodle and that actually is from Lawn Zoola but I will say this lamb beef noodle looks even better it looks like they elevated it made it just you know added some more chef-like elements and of course the photos are really good because in China it's more of like a staple food to just keep you going. All right that does look pretty good we gotta try it when we go back next. All right next on the list we got Din Tai Fung David this is the great Din Tai Fung but a lot of people say Din Tai Fung they expanded too much the quality fell off it's overpriced what do you think? Listen man if something was a 9.5 out of 10 and they dropped to like a 8.75 out of 10 they are still at 8.75 despite the drop in quality would you agree with that like I don't like the Din Tai Fung slander because like it's still got the 18 plates on top and the robotic computer systems to make sure the Shaolin Bauer cooked on time yes do I think they possibly over expanded and gave franchises to people who don't run them at the same quality as obviously the ones in Taiwan are sure but I'm not here for the Din Tai Fung slander. All right first of all here's my last word on Din Tai Fung dollar for dollar you might be able to get a better deal on Shanghai knees and Taiwanese food that's fair but they are still the gold standard and still everybody is comparing their Shaolin Bao to Din Tai Fung even to this day. Yeah they're the Nike I mean at the end of the day I would say that you know Shanghai dumpling house which is an alternative one much cheaper they got some interesting flavors you can get a mala Shaolin Bao there you can get like dan huang which is like egg yolk flavored ones but at the end of the day listen guys just because there are valid competitors it does not mean that the big dog sucks at all all right guys ooh newcomer newcomer chef Tony we actually went to their location when it was in Pasadena but now it is moved yeah well I think that they discovered that being on of old town Pasadena at the end of the day Andrew not that many people want to like eat this all the time in that district they move to Arcadia um this is delicious it is a little bit more modernized they do have the truffle they will take you know some more liberties and putting mayo you know like recipes that are we're not from that that's a truffle uh that's a truffle guy which is a house special chicken I guess what I'm saying is they are like being more Hong Kong with it yeah I mean I think it's uh cool I think that honestly if you're thinking about big large dim sum spots that are going to give you some type of Hong Kong experience you've got to think about chef Tony yeah Andrew I think a substitute would be bistro 1968 which is a brand new dim sum spot but um I'm not gonna lie David the little bit of uh truffle on top of the sumai it's a little overrated that's my aspect I'm like I don't need truff on sumai maybe it's because I've been eating dim sum the same way for like 25 years I'm ready for a switch up so for me at the end of the day I am in support of this new like modern age dim sum spots because you know like you know they're doing gold so you about the truffle dim sum and the black button I just think it's a nice switch man I've literally been eating at the same way for like 25 years man sure man all right next spot on the list die hole restaurant yeah I think we've tried to go here Andrew literally like five or six times they're only open for three hours a day like four days a week or something like this is the beef noodle soup I was looking for the neuro man wow all right Andrew I got a sleeper alternative pick that a lot of people would not think of 88 beef noodle in Arcadia yeah that's really good really kind of like I guess dingy for Arcadia goes but man that that spot has a very good neuro man too but it's very interesting you know different people make neuro man completely differently some people's broth Andrew is very red and some people's broth is very brown which one are you in more supportive personally oh man I go with red I like the Taiwanese like Hong Shao new roman for me I generally like to think the deeper the broth the more the flavor but you know it's hard to say I mean I can just tell you this the the food looks great here yeah oh yeah that's a that's a good pick all right moving on we got bistro Naz David funny story dad actually went visiting LA once he ate here bistro Naz and he said I quote yeah I think this might be the best Chinese restaurant I ever went to in my life yeah whoa and you know I don't think that's wrong to say because bistro Naz is so good at a lot of things however if you've eaten out a thousand places you know that like each place could get known for like one dish yeah so that's how it more is in China whereas like in America it's more like one place cooking like a hundred dishes yeah I think what my dad was referring to first of all this spot is really good and it's imperial Beijing cuisine and it's also kind of expensive it is inspired by the imperial Beijing cuisine however but I just think the whole experience and the decor and the service and presentation is next level and that's what my dad really was impressed by and you know by the way like my dad you know he often eats out a lot of China towns and you know what I think is so interesting about it is because if you study the imperial history of like the banquets in Beijing they were always about bringing all the best chefs from around China specifically like the Hongzhou Suzhou Shanghai region and bringing them to Beijing to like do a fusion of flavors and I think that that's why bistro Naz is so interesting because you definitely see some of that Hongzhou influence I'll tell you this for bistro Naz though you want to come with a party I think you need four or more people to really enjoy it because you're going to save a little bit per person and you're going to get to try more dishes I don't think if you come here and you only have two dishes necessarily you'll get blown away but if you have their top five or six dishes then you're starting you're looking at over a hundred dollars a person here though like realistically yeah especially if you get the fish I would say a substitute Andrew that you know would not make this list for outsiders is Qirong Qirong is really really good they actually have a similar like northern southern hybrid thing I think the owners are actually from Dongbei but they kind of make it a little bit fancier obviously than your average Dongbei spot um moving on Andrew what else we got next oh my gosh the Chongqing special noodles this is 100% agree this needs to be on everybody's list this is delicious it's fairly price it's cheap it's a small spot I guess you could call it a 626 hole in the wall yeah because it's kind of dingy oh I actually really like the uh hot pot spot the Taiwanese hot spot spot that used to be here oh lose lose hot pot yeah that was really good back in the day anyways I'm glad that Chongqing special noodle also took a spot look at that yo Chongqing special noodles honestly for this type of like wades who like muslim influenced Chinese food is a 10 out of 10 dude it is a 10 out of 10 I would say maybe another substitute for that's more deep cut is noodle art noodle art in Monterey park maybe like very similar in terms of uh matching dishes yeah I mean there's some other spots that are somewhat similar there's a Chongqing special noodles gosh it's on main yo this last two minutes this bian bian noodle with the tomato egg mixed in with kind of your spicy jajangmyeon you know why bian bian mian is so good Andrew because it's like a fan xiaqiao dan right which is the tomato egg it's like a luro fan and it's like a jajang mian all together you get three of the jiang's the three sauces my gosh David they even have the big plight chicken top hard yeah and they do a good version of top on g2 honestly that from the Xi'an region Andrew I have a lot of top on g from a lot of different regions in china that were influenced by the silk road Andrew in the road to Iran or Saudi Arabia you a big plate dude Xi'an might be the best I might have the best version man wow moving on David non-chinese food golden deli sangabriel location let me tell you this guys when it comes to and especially the egg rolls the jazzo I think golden deli's still up at the top bro might have the best and I'm sorry for the pronunciation I know different provinces pronounce it differently the jazo Andrew yes they might have the best that I've ever had in the world yeah you know what's funny I've tried to look for better ones and how crispy and chewy this one is and the lettuce is nice and you wrap it up right the double double double fried this is one of my favorite dishes to eat in the 66 I would actually say to be honest they're chinese viet noodles like who and some of the one ton viet chinese viet noodles are the best there that of you know because I think they're chinese viet at golden deli but I would say David what you mean man the full not the best no it's the fall is really good at full filet and rosemead yeah I think you got to go to the viet viet sections of 626 to get the best for you can get hanoi style you can get a saigon style but I would say full filet and rosemead is like more preferable to me for beef a little side note five years ago they were serving cupcakes here and those cupcakes were fire but they were coming out of somebody's kitchen I don't know I don't think they serve them there anymore but those were some of the best cupcakes I've had honestly they have the best who till one ton chinese viet noodles and best cupcakes I ever had in my life with the crab go back to the crab claw photo you could get this with like a clear noodle my goodness it is golden deli still good it's still good guys these are all very accessible like spots that a lot of tourists also like but we're trying to give you like a real perspective on whether it is actually tourists I'll tell you this in they're not gonna want to go to where full filet is now guys oh classic new port seafood restaurant David so this one is really good it kind of led the way as far as doing that like chinese cambodian pepper crab um which is delicious by the way however a lot of people feel like new portang is kind of like the din tai fung where it's kind of falling off over the years but what's another alternative all right to me if it fell off it fell from like like I said like a 10 to a 9 well 10 to a 8.5 even a 1.5 drop it seems like a lot but when you're out of 10 it's only a 6 my only thing about this is because I've been there while it was busy and they just make a lot of the main dishes in bulk because they know everybody's ordering them right so it's a system process so so like waiters are coming out flying out with like four plates going to four different tables at the same dish so you know they could have cooked it together i'm not saying they did anyways uh boston lobster boston lobster is probably a little bit better but in terms of like entertaining your family business clients obviously you're gonna take a nicer ambiance you know like but for just pure flavor i think boston lobster is honestly like maybe five percent better i mean david i heard that this family who started newport tang did kind of basically invent that lobster dish yeah well i believe the dad is chill gel from cambodia and the mom was chill gel from vietnam and they had both spent time in thailand so if you guys know about chill gel people because they're so heavy in southeast asia but they also like maintain some i guess like tightness because of their tight closeness because of their chill gelness that's what creates these like hyper unique products let me just tell you this this lobster noodle dish is probably one of the best dishes the 626 has to offer yo that's actually probably one of the best new asian dishes that got invented in the past like 30 years like just in the globe wow david award-winning jong nan spring and why do i say award-winning because people were raving about its scallion pancake no because it got a michelin recommendation i believe the scallion pancake here is pretty good i would say it's maybe not even the best one i've had but it is top tier yeah it is top tier but it's just a weird i guess tunyo bing is not like a topic that i fully like always discuss with other people like yo man where do you get the best tunyo bing but you know i know some people are really into it you know it's like i would also like jong nan spring for shanghai niece food it's pretty good though i would say try shanghai number one seafood in san gabriel as well i know my parents go there uh a lot but david what do you think about jong nan it's kind of a catch all chinese spot like it's i think it's mostly shanghai niece dishes but i'll have a little bit of Sichuan dishes some kanto dishes a little bit of dim sum it looks like i think that if you really understand like chinese cooking and i didn't even learn this to recently jong nan like huayang tai it's almost like in an imperial way of looking at everything so even if at jong nan spring they start to cook like kanto restaurants there will be a certain approach to it you know what i mean like a certain mindset you mean attention to detail knife work you saw a subtle flavors shanghai niece is a mindset it's a lifestyle it's a culture yeah i think you can see it i think you can see like it's a way of living i mean people always want restaurants out of the momofuku camp 11 madison park camp because it shows something about the way you've been taught and it's kind of weird to create you know reference something that's like 4 000 years old with something that's like 20 years old but yeah david do you agree with this next pick yang's kitchen over on main street yeah i gotta give them props because these were the first people andrew i believe that we're thinking about opening the restaurant in like silver lake or echo park or highland park which are very hipster parts of la and they decided let's bring hipster style food like this uh you know this sholdwa being that has like beef and like uh farm to table carrots on a tunyo being to the enclave area because typically you think of the enclave area it's people they don't care about gluten they don't care about sodium msg right but like obviously in the hipster areas like silver lake or that's really what they care about so what do you think about people bringing these i guess hipster zone concepts to the enclave this is definitely a weird mixed plate right here because you have like your pepper prawns and then you have uh some pancakes some like i-hop pancakes i would say i think the spot is pretty good and i think why it's on the list is because it's indicative of the 626 being where it's changing right that it's taiwanese like american but it's done well um i i would say it is also kind of pricey you can easily rack up like these are like it could be 70 dollars a person for like they kind of got like la brunch prices here so on main street alhambra so i would say it's a little pricey for alhambra but overall the quality is there yeah for sure i mean i think shout out to them for like just having more of that thinking i know summer rolls has a little bit of that like west la thinking bringing it to the sand gabriel valley now andrew the interesting enough some people have mixed feelings about it but my whole thing is like inclusion to like multiple tiers of asian food or chinese food is is better because it's like you can't be offended by the presence of this hipster spot just don't go there if you're you're more like keeping it with uh dean sin world and all these like old school spots exactly next up we got kogane wow this is sort of in the same vein as yang's kitchen in the sense is this is something from the west side 200 300 dollar 100 dollar omakase is but coming to the enclave zone and i think that goes to show you how much people are starting to perceive the 626 as a place that has a market for everything you know i mean 300 dollar omakase well i'll tell you this guys you know we do know the 626 is of the asians primarily chinese but chinese people love all types of asian food very very very pain in terms of japanese food they love korean food and they love vietnamese food and they love thai food even like they just chinese people eat all types of food actually i would say overall so obviously david what do you think about these high-end omakase i mean um obviously we haven't been here because this is fairly new and also fairly expensive so i'm gonna go back next time we go back i'm gonna go i you know what's surprising every time i see new sushi spots open up i'm like yo how much uni and fish are people eating out there yeah i do think the world's resources for tuna uni are i would imagine are being depleted yeah i mean they they're having to farm raise a lot of this stuff obviously but i'm like yo how much uni is on everything nowadays anyways guys i think it's always cool to see like we said just like yin's kitchen whether that's for specifically for you or not i love to see it within like a you know a five minute drive 10 minute drive of where you live david our first non asian spot on the list is claros italian market this is uh said to be an essential spot you got to go to when you're visiting the 626 is this a token non asian spot or is it legit all right yes and no i think the claros italian market you absolutely have to go there because you're just like whoa why is there like a little italy inside of like chinatown it's almost just like new york how like there's a little italy and and a lot of the workers at claros are actually albanian but they do speak italian so you know you just wouldn't expect to see it but i know that saint gabriel valley i believe 50 years ago andrew used to be quite italian well albanian that speaks italian david that's actually a lot of the people who work in new york's little italy right now and i will say this chinese people do like italian food that is definitely a food that asians like yeah and is it because italian food with marco polo has a lot of asian influence obviously that is scientifically not confirmed but it is a theory um i would say in terms of western food outside of like burgers like mcdonald's italian food is the number one western food accepted in asia that's from what i have seen and this is traveling all around asia um andrew i actually prefer pulsiano sandwiches though wow pulsianos is a little bit more you know it's italian american that's italian italian but a pulsianos to me is even uh better tasting but claros is certainly an experience when you go there all right next up we got shanshi garden david this spot oh my goodness yeah man yeah man it's good it's good this deserves to be more higher and shian food not focusing on the express concepts this is like food food man this is like yo andrew say it say something that you want to say about the roja more that the the chinese i'm gonna tell you this right now you see how white this uh this this monto is the more or the more is i think that's too white i think it's too white it's got to be a little bit more clear and have a little grayish color that's when you know it's more tasty i think they need to put more peppers in it i do like the feeling that shanshi garden does for their roja more but i wish the more was was different and more flaky you know what i noticed andrew and it's not just like shian famous foods here in new york and it's not just like uh roja more spots but man andrew food from shian is just blowing up across america uh they got this whole chain dunhuang dunhuang obviously it's more from lanzo but anything just basically what i'm saying is silk road type foods is just bananas i mean guys i don't know how you can look at this picture right here and not feel like you want to eat it what do you think it is andrew about the mixture of like you know interesting almost middle eastern influences in along the silk road whether we're talking about shian whether we're talking about lanzo gansu well i i can see why a lot of people say that these restaurants are some of their favorite because you have a mixture of everything you kind of have the east super eastern asian like soy sauce braises oyster sauce flavor you still have some of that there which is generally known as like you know shanghai knees cantonese coastal just everything that's coastal yeah on china right but then you have the western side that comes from the dry lands comes from the spice lands comes from the western part of china right the middle eastern the the little cumin the little more jalapeno peppers um yeah i mean honestly like yeah i mean i i can see why people love this food it's great yeah and i think that it has like a very wide appeal like you said to like a lot of people who are born with a lot of different taste buds from different guys by the way i will try bian bian noodles everywhere i go because i think having that mixture i love it because guess what david i'm also a mixologist i would take two dishes and maybe mix them together so that's why i like bian bian maybe i'm a bian bian guy yeah shanshi garden man i'm really bullish on this style of food you know just blowing up more oh next spot man from chendu taste guys we got mian this is actually kind of like a little chain that's going around that's opening up different locations i think they have some in the city of la now man is owned by chendu taste yeah so clearly these people know how to mainstreamize like Sichuan flavors from chendu Sichuan i would say for a casual spot it's good um i don't i mean overall it's pretty good like honestly this steamed egg is one of my favorite things to eat there honestly and uh overall it's great for a casual like date or lunch what do you think about this versus more mom and pop spots like noodle harmony in monorail park like i know that mian though and they got it in las vegas there's people partying at the venetian and then getting uh mian now like what do you think i mean this is like they're the first people to figure out how to have 20 of them and look modern and ancient at the same time around i mean i mean aesthetic service uh kind of the crowd obviously i think it's super more accessible for like i know abg's who go to mian abg's yeah you would not think that abg's are going to do the noodle art the first time if you guys know uh instagram or an actress kirsten lei that was the first time i met i bumped into her here adam yin so everybody goes there shout out to kirsten uh next spot on the list met on kitchen wow this is a brand new indonesian spot david we actually have not been here but i have a lot of opinions on indo food i love indonesian food i think there's so many different sectors of it it looks like for me she's cooking like real indo indo food even though i believe the chef is indo chinese um you know wang's java house is pretty good in alhambra as well for indo indo food but then i have a pic andro borneo calamantan which is chindo food like chinese indonesian food that is super super good too um there's also something you know bali type spots yeah i mean the chinese diaspora is pretty big but i i like it when they cook you know like native indonesian food i really like it oh my gosh they got beef rendang and the fried chicken moving on to our next spot guys we have 101 noodle express this is also another chain with multiple locations i think some people would say over the years the quality has gone down but it's still a staple and still very indicative of the 626 andro this place i gotta what do you think of like how it became less shandong over the years though andro because they used to have de joji shandong xiaoji um they used to have all these like deep cut like you know you gotta be from like Qingdao area you know again i think 101 noodle express is a great gateway for a lot of like non-chinese or non-asians that are trying to get into this type of food uh that are trying to get away from like you know your Cantonese fare i think this is a great place to start and i do think the beef roll the neuro dream being which is one of my favorite dishes of all time is very very solid here i like how the chung yo bing is not too thick it's not too much to choose so that's why i think they do a good job and that's why it's still popular i gotta tell people about the history of the neuro dream being because a lot of people don't know unless you from you know have roots in shandong people in shandong andrew they just take a da chung da lu chung they just take a big-ass piece of like green onion and they just wrap it up in a like a chung yo bing pancake and just eat that yeah without the beef without the hoi xin without the tian mian jiang yeah that's what the that is the root and obviously in america it became like to be honest it's probably like way more accessible to eat the yeah i i do think the beef roll was something that got really developed in america but last dish i would try here is this cold chicken right here this mom used to make that growing up that's true hey that's shandong i will say this you kitchen next door is really good and the owner um the auntie is from dalian dalian is like kind of a sister city to like you know coastal shandong too so yes definitely check out you kitchen guys we've made a whole video and actually you kitchen is in the same plaza so just go a few doors down all right chundu taste of course i think uh going back to it whoever's the guy tony shoo man from chundu taste smart guy knows everything this is one of their their top dishes is the lamb with the toothpicks inside yeah and uh chundu taste is famous i know i've heard a lot of like hollywood celebrities jonahill that come to uh chundu taste and you know not to say like jonahill like you know as an expert in chinese food but by all means this spot is popular dude a lot of honestly like jewish americans are of chinese foodies oh yeah like that's like a disproportionate amount um that is definitely an observation i would say that um hibiscus tree is also good hibiscus tree is not going to get the celebrity crowd but um there's a lot of good situan spots but in terms of like overall experience having servers that can speak english deliver an even a half american style like tier of customer service you these play into like when people pick essential restaurants right and it's not just about the flavor of dish to dish no i mean i would just say the way that they do business is great and shot at the chundu taste it is one of the stables of the 626 moving on we got situan impression um also has multiple locations it does have one out in west side we went there with jon shu the director of crazy rotations yeah jon shu the director we ate there with him um it's pretty good too i mean again it's uh gonna offer some of the same dishes as chundu taste but these this lamb rack oh man this lamb rack i gotta tell you this man i i think that a lot of people need to really check out chinese lamb and the way that the asians do it especially the ones out in the western part of china and the situan lamb uh that stuff's delicious i would say an alternative that's gonna have less of the celebs here is the shang la hui on main street so that's like your uh deeper cut spot if you don't want to wait uh moving on and we've got babita mexican cuisine i got to say i actually have not been here yet um but they do like this is almost like a mom and pop they run like advanced like mexican cuisine um yeah no i mean it definitely i would say i've looked at pictures of restaurants in like mexico city and like to loom to loom like this kind of looks like it so i think that i'm going i'm going next time we're going back i will say this though i really do like spanglish kitchen so spanglish kitchen is in alhambra and it was opened up by second generation mexican americans to like sort of like mainstream eyes the flavors without compromising on the flavor so i gotta give a shot at the spanglish kitchen oh yeah guys one little note of history the caesar salad was actually invented in tijuana at a mexican resort hotel wow anyways just thought i'd throw that in there uh huge tree pastry yes yes yes this is a go-to do we film the commercial here yes we filmed a lot of videos here it's loved by many many people the font one is top tier aka these sticky rice rolls the guys if you've ever had them um the way they cook their eggs at huge tree pastry for the taiwan zhao fan is it's just really really really really good their font ones are good the ratio between the uh the meat the rice and the things and the the yo-tows are fresh and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside everything at huge tree pastry is really good i would say for a more corporate chain version yi may is not bad yi may is very good as well but huge tree pastry um shout out to our whole family man because they just been running that dude the breakfast shalom bows are interesting too because they give you the bai tu the white vinegar specifically that's like only for breakfast shalom bows which are like smaller less juice uh david one of our favorite dim sum restaurants elite restaurant in my opinion now i don't know if the quality has changed since the last time i went it's still my favorite dim sum spot in the 66 and that chashu bow the mini miniature one super soft glazed with a little bit of honey on top it's top tier people would always compare elite with uh sea harbor in rosemead um generally yeah i would say elite is better than it but like i said for me in 2022 andrew this is just my opinion you want the new dim sum i want the new stuff man david give me the truffle give me the mayo give me the aiolis i'm not saying you throw it on everything but just give me as an option aside give me a gherng cheong dip i know gherng cheong only goes with gherng cheong guy give me the gherng cheong aioli like just give me some new i mean david come on the spot is called elite they gotta be elite yeah you cannot be in chinese food like needs like you just need the options to be more modern and not only with the old ways oh you want the new dim sum i want to travel with your crew dim sum i don't want you want the bows that are blue dim sum wow yeah just give me some gold leaf just a little bit of gold okay okay well you and your maybe are you more of a dim sum traditionalist uh i don't want to say i'm locked in i always try the new stuff but i think elite does the traditional stuff i don't think that they should change i think other new spots can change okay yeah because you have to have like the personnel to even be able to make okay david you want you want a little bit of a spoonful of truffle on top of your sea umai that's what you need okay yeah go to man that's how i feel man all right next spot delicious food corner david this is a what would you call this is a tang tang it is it is but it's almost like a a mixture between a tang tang and more of a like a traditional canto spot right it's like a hybrid i mean i would say delicious food corner on a good day and i've been there on a mediocre date and it was okay but if you get the right dishes this spot is good and this is very indicative of the 626 because it's focused on hong kong food right you have your chicken wings you have just salt and pepper you got this pork and rice dish that's actually really good it's kind of sweet it has a little nori on top and uh yeah i mean overall guys i mean this is feeding all the cantonese people yeah yeah very very very very solid i see why it's on the list because it gives you a good experience big windows natural lighting etc david do you think that this is the best tang tang like in the 626 i actually like alice's kitchen but alice's kitchen it's way harder to get to and it's just not like the same you know what i mean like you know there's other old school traditional spots you know it's another canto spot i think it's not a cha chan tang but i love is hokey hokey is more focused on seafood yeah but that that's a really good canto spot oh hokey is it man the hokey empire is delicious they're like pretty much batten 10 for 10 oh hokey noodle cart spot is okay yeah the the chance i mean is not that good but um i would say that man hk cafe is like a really good old school old school one this is a more new school all right so that's the end of the list david overall andrew what did you think of uh you know these people were not from the san gabriel valley but they were food writers they do their research what do you think of their essentials list for san gabriel i think if you make it the essentials and how i read the title was essentials not necessarily the absolute best restaurants but the essential restaurants that define the 626 i don't disagree yeah i don't disagree like uh if you if you're like yo i can only go to 20 restaurants and you're like i just want to get to know the 626 i think these are fine it's missing some other types of chinese food like it had no dongbei dishes like northeastern chinese food dishes uh shen yang restaurant is amazing right we know that but yeah i do think there was a few things missing but overall hitting the essentials i get it i get it it was cool yeah moving on though andrew what did they leave off the list this is what people come here for because you know you spend so many calories eating at these spots you got to release the expertise to the people um obviously hui tou shang hui tou shang andrew are pork hui toes which are like uh it's very difficult to describe it came i think from i want to say almost like it's like a ethnic minority food from the north and uh man the pork hui toes are really really really good there they got beef ones too uh hokey like we said very delicious i would say definitely check it out you got dolens ulger cuisine this spot's really good as well and i'm glad to see it around yeah i like omars in a way some of the dishes at omars shen yang better but dolens it's got like it's brighter you know it's just a whole different experience obviously makes it more accessible for your crowd of people who really like things to feel like you know i guess very modern and accessible oh alice's kitchen man uh i do think that this is probably better than delicious food corner um so you guys got to check it out if you guys are into this type of food yeah i think a lot of times it's like what you live by you know for some people it's like the extra 20 minute drive to get something that's like one point better is not worth it this was this was left off the list this was really literally needed to be on the list and i do want to say that if you don't have safari kitchen on one of your essential six to six lists this yeah you made an error yeah this was but i definitely think you know maybe because people are thinking oh i didn't make the drive out to try like an eight dollar nine dollar spot you know what i mean like maybe people are thinking but yeah obviously especially if you live in the six to six there's no better place to get a cheap delicious lunch with a good outdoor seating vibe than savoy they do their own style it's their own take of the singaporean style but i would say savoy style is almost like just his own genre at this point oh david this is a new one that we went to recently chow wei zhu this is a chiu jiao spot right not chiu jiao chiu jiao spot yeah from chow zhou not necessarily like of the chinese diaspora which there's nothing wrong with because and this is a chain from tau zhou and i think it's really interesting because you get to see the root dish of a lot of chiu jiao southeast asian dishes but you get to see how like it stayed the same in tau zhou shantou specifically yeah and chiu jiao people are credited for making sacha jiang by the way um here we go we got borneo kalamata you mentioned this earlier in the video let's just show them some pics oh man i'm telling you guys i think the disc deserves to be on the list for the best indofood in america and obviously like wow indonesia is huge there's a lot of different languages and a lot of different like food identities in indonesia but man i'm telling you this one's really really good man lose garden one of my mom's favorite places and actually i love this spot too however it can actually surprisingly get expensive when you order a bunch of these side dishes guys this is a kanji spot where you get kanji and you get all these pumpkin in it you would get all these side dishes and then you eat it with the kanji it is delicious delicious yo that's like you know how dad said bistro naz was his favorite mom said that lose garden is where well well you know our mom and dad are different people uh use kitchen yes like we said guys this is in the same plaza as 101 noodle express and i would say you know these dalian uh dumplings they have some dongbei influence they got some shandong influence i would say the dad's way being right there go back to the dad's way being the big mouth pockets oh this is something man you got to try a you kitchen and you got to try the fish dumplings the fish oh my gosh these dumplings right here bao yu jiaozi bao yu jiaozi is very typical of the dalian you know yantai qingdao region so good very delicious uh boston lobster as we mentioned this is an alternative for new port tang guys the vibe may not be the same it looks like they redid it on the inside oh yeah oh they remodeled yeah they had to they had to the parking lot is a little bit you know it could be a little crazy every parking lot in the 66 is on ideal david for korean food which we didn't talk about arirang tofu house andrew i am tired and i'm not saying that everybody does i actually think the 626 has better korean food than people give it credit for i believe the owners of arirang are uh chinese koreans or they're koreans from china or chinese from korean i just know they speak chinese and they speak korean i think they're from yambian um andrew i got to give a shout out to san angdang yuk dae jang gamja top uh you know i mean i just think there's a lot of like chains from korea town and korean areas that are in the 626 now uh but arirang's like that's like one of the best su nebu houses i've ever been to oh benten ramen for ramen david we didn't talk about ramen yet you know we had a lot of men but no ramen benten is underrated it's in the same plaza as uh bulpo more for yeah because a lot of people think andrew that ramen in the 626 is not going to be very good however benten was opened up by people from japan if uh i remember yo i'm gonna be honest guys can i be honest this sukemen is not to be overlooked it is not to be overlooked i've had great sukemen in new york city and i will tell you this this benten one is pretty damn solid very very competitive with even some of the best sukemen from chains from japan yes all right sujeeta ramen obviously over in the west side is better but this as far as this particular one definitely try it um uh kan kan food court guys this is obviously a to-go spot this is a classic also known as xiao mei in different parts of the 626 but i think that the uh uh oh my gosh sheng jin pao sheng jin pao you gotta try i know that david uh chang is a huge kankang food court guy yep i think this is a great way for people who want something divey you know i know that different people want to engage with asian food exploration in different ways some people want it really cheap so they could try a bunch of things right some people only want divey atmosphere some people want fast casual feeling atmospheres some people only want elevated you know expensive foody looking things oh my gosh i guys i wouldn't say kankang is a spot that if you're a tourist you're gonna drive all the way out there to get but if you live in the 626 you know i would kind of compare it to uh in some ways bun mi che khali which is a really cheap vietnamese chain which is really good as well oh my gosh we're still going guys we're almost 48 minutes into this video but let's keep it moving and we're in the azn section this are spots where you can find a souped up jdm whip or a souped up bmw and you can find abg's you're talking about pepper and david you know why because a lot of these spots they're very appealing but i have to be honest pepper lunch is it's okay like it's cool but it's not like the greatest in my opinion that is how i feel about yeah it's a it's a fast food chain from japan and a lot of like sort of cheap fun fast food chains from japan whether that's like a genki sushi or something like that kai ten they're popular in the 626 all right guys next up classic you know what it is jj's hong kong cafe jj's um you know i would say this they got the smelt roll fried rice this place is like very very classic you know jdm meetups just all types of debauchery going on after the club people potentially throwing up in the bathroom i don't know if it's still like that anymore but like man still still just a very emblematic of the 626 is it the best food no but is it is it bad at all no definitely not is it open late and is it there when you need it is it reliable then yes i think it's been popping for like 25 years oh another overlooked spot is big catch seafood david contrary to what people may believe they actually have a ton of chinese dishes they got a lot of Cantonese and shanghainese dishes yeah i mean i think that this is also sort of like people that started concepts on the west side coming in and trying to adapt to the local demographics but still maintaining some of the west side fanciness and elevation and you know presentation and customer service so you know always interesting like we said we're still in the azm spots and what's the next azm happy hour there at big catch is good here we have seven leaves cafe this is a boba shop we're not talking about too much of boba and drinks in this video but seven leaves is an oc chain and it's got a lot of cool drinks so enemies owned and they do a pandan boba mung bean boba you know certain things that obviously like a boba shop doesn't have another classic is boiling point surprisingly the reviews are i don't know what happened to the reviews three out of five yeah i think it's because they kept raising their prices to be honest to you and you thought that a little slice of cheddar on top of the the solo posh was going to save him um yeah i mean i think a lot of people do this style now but for some reason i think people are falling out of love with it now there's more like malashanguo malak you know ganguo and mala tongs and stuff like that i just think that you know at one point this was like the apex of personal hot pot and do you still feel like it is and it's still really good like honestly like every time i come here i will say hey like this is still ranks in the top top tier of this particular style of hot pot but yeah i mean hey there's a lot of other great food out there now too so i think i remember when it was like 16 and now it's like 25 real quick bit on bummi chakali it's a great uh lunch spot for vietnamese food very cheap has a ton of different dishes and they do make fresh fresh bun koon their bun koon is it's freshly for the price you cannot find better bun koon until i'm sure you get to a vietnamese enclave like the osti sandals at houston i seen the lady steam in the bun koon the rice rolls literally it's solid anyways guys moving on towards the end of our last yoma mayanmar for bermi's food i'm glad to see it's still open it's been open for years and it's going to continue the tea leaf salad is amazing decades if you have not had bermi's food at all please come here and try it it's not you got to get the tea leaf salad and then my last pick my last pick is actually veggie paradise because i like vegetarian chinese food this is one of the best spots for those families who are buddhist or just want to eat some more vegetarian food like to be honest this spot is good yeah delicious very very good vegetarian food and the interesting thing about chinese vegetarian food is they try to imitate meat whereas like even depending on like where you are in veganism that's even like could be semi-controversial andrew i got to get into a few spots that we don't have the yelp up for that we're gonna pop up summer rolls summer rolls shout out to tony yep i mean he's doing his thing man it's like elevated summer rolls is one of those spots that i feel like a lot of like even non-asian celebrities like to go to you know or like you know well no i when i say celebrity doesn't mean yeah i feel like it's elevated but also in there's maybe g's there um moving on into tau's kitchen ching dal kosho ag tau's kitchen love it this is a 10 out of 10 for me yeah i they mixed it with some california lime look it up guys ching dal kosho ag look it up please chung ching yaume and pasadena probably the best chung ching hotpot spot i've ever been to last time i was there she had like a little corner where she was growing her own mushrooms on a log and then she came over brought the log over to your table and then cut the mushrooms off the log i've never had such fresh mushrooms in my life dan don uh dan dan's gweyland rice noodles this was a gweyland rice noodle chain and i think they all split up because the ownership had beef with each other but they have an ultimate noodle with bacon andrew that is not traditional i'm not the biggest fan of traditional gweyland miffin it tastes very medicinal to me i'm telling you this ultimate noodle with the bacon andrew it's something that it's a 10 out of 10 oh ipo copy team probably the best malaysian pinang style spot in 626 yo that one's really popping guys um we're just gonna end it there honestly i think that we could keep going for another hour about food in the 626 this video already went on way too long i'm not gonna lie and if you guys are still watching well now you got to know the 626 food pretty well no cuts guys we just had it off the top of the head yeah um thank you so much for watching guys let us know what your favorite spots are if we missed any hopefully this can be kind of like a guide for you in the 626 because you know we all we always go back wherever we hang out we go see nelson nelson chain aka hooping life and then we're headed out of the 626 all year round so anyways we keep up with what's going on over there but thank you so much for watching guys that is your guide to the St. Gabriel Valley oh and i get a give a shout out to christy hang david chang sino soul the other food bloggers local to the 626 uh yeah they do good good stuff if you follow them on twitter until next time guys let us know what you thought of our evaluation of eater's evaluation i'm sure there was some stuff that we left out whether you agree or disagree with us let us know in the comment section below hop hop boys that was our review of 22 essential 626 restaurants along with our additions until next time we out peace