Mountain House Rowland Heights 川山甲, Rowland Heights Menu, Reviews 216, Photos 16
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The crispy free-range laziji chicken is stir-fried with dried chiles, dried Sichuan chile peppers, spicy bean paste, garlic, ginger, and topped with toasted sesame seeds and sliced spring onions. The signature dish at Szechuan Mountain House is liang yi pork belly, Zhu’s modernized take on a traditional Chinese dish. Liang yi, which translates to “hanging clothes” in Mandarin, is intended to evoke the image of laundry hung to dry on a clothesline. Together with a slice of cucumber, the thin pork belly is dipped in chile oil with a wad of minced garlic. The translucently thin slices of pork and cucumber are presented draped over a miniature wooden rack above a minced garlic and chile oil dipping sauce.
Avi Cue Studio City
It is not out of the ordinary to use more than 20 different kinds of spices for a particular dish. “We are also dedicated to using free-range chicken and other seasonal ingredients and vegetables,” says Zhu. Szechuan Mountain House boasts a large fan base in New York, and its locations in Manhattan and Flushing frequently make the New York Times’s 100 Best Restaurants list and Eater NY’s list of 38 Essential Restaurants.
Cult-Favorite New York City Sichuan Restaurant Makes Its Los Angeles Debut
Aviad “Avi” Yalin’s Avi Cue pop-up, serving shawarma roasted on a spit imported from Israel, has taken over the former Tacos 1986 location in Studio City, running as a three-week pop-up with the possibility of permanent extension (follow Avi Cue on Instagram for updates). Yalin began pandemic-spurred Avi Cue roughly four years ago, consistently drawing lines of fans for fresh pita stuffed with shaved and ground wagyu. “Normally a shawarma place would basically choose the cheapest meats and count on the seasoning and other methods to make it tender,” Yalin said, “and here what we do is basically the other way around.” He prides himself on using wagyu for both his shawarma and his arayes — which stuff house-ground wagyu into a pita and are seared on a flat top. Both come garnished with tomato, parsley, tahini and amba, pickled mangoes. With a bricks-and-mortar location, Yalin is offering new, larger pita and additions such as fries, loaded shawarma fries and imported Israeli fruit juice. Avi Cue is open noon to 5 p.m., or until sold out, Tuesday through Sunday.
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Stephanie Breijo is a reporter for the Food section and the author of its weekly news column. Previously, she served as the restaurants and bars editor for Time Out Los Angeles, and prior to that, the award-winning food editor of Richmond magazine in Richmond, Va. To be the finest food city in the country and might be biased on that count but doesn’t believe she’s wrong. The 5,000 square-foot space inside the Pearl Plaza was a feat years in the making. The space sports similar designs to the NYC locations, with koi ponds, cascading waterfalls, bamboo groves, Chinese flower art, calligraphy, lanterns, and ceramics.
And who have a strong constitution for the wonderful world of seriously peppery Szechuan cooking. “I really wanted to stay true to our menu and not make any compromises just to please what we thought the local crowd would find acceptable. For us, this is what a modern-day Sichuan restaurant would actually look like in Sichuan,” says Zhu.
I did, and the ma-la prawns left my mouth on the edge of pepper overdose. The assortment is worthy of a small city — Ishi Sushi, Chili House, Lao Ma Jou Hot Pot, Gui BBQ, Tasty Garden, Beijing, Stew House, Eat Joy Food, Lobster Bay (“Best food, good food”) and behind a massive slatted door, under a carved wooden sign that looks eldritch, is Mountain House — a Szechuan destination unlike any other in the SG Valley. In the near future she hopes to use the Porridge + Puffs space for occasional community-minded events such as cookbook dinners for guest chefs or potential collaborations with the nearby People’s Pottery Project.
The Historic Filipinotown restaurant opened in 2018 but began years prior as a pop-up. Jonathan Gold called Phan’s porridge bowls colored with pickles, jammy eggs, flowers and other culinary delights “as dazzling in its complexity as anything coming out of the most famous kitchens in town.” After a pandemic-spurred closure in 2021, Phan reopened the restaurant this year. Restaurant is nearly two years in the making and features a transportive, serene aesthetic with fish ponds, trees, Chinese flower art, calligraphy and other touches inspired by Taoism utilizing harmonious layout and incorporating nature. The dining room is almost maze-like, with tables tucked into alcoves and in wooden structures; one table can be found under a small pagoda built for larger parties. Large paper koi float, suspended from the ceiling, above an actual koi pond. Zhu says that they take great care in the selection of peppercorns, all of which are grown in Sichuan.
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Housed in the former Fundamental space, Rakkan Miso Izakaya serves a limited selection of the plant-based-broth and noodles in which Rakkan Ramen excels, but a range of new items are also on offer. The focus here is on grilled meat, seafood and vegetable skewers such as chicken thigh, Hokkaido scallop, sausage and tofu, plus popular, classic izakaya items such as karaage, katsu and donburi. A selection of hosomaki, nigiri and other sushi is also available, as is natural wine, beer, sake and a menu of sake cocktails. One of NYC’s best Chinese restaurants has opened in L.A.—or, to be more precise, Rowland Heights’ Pearl Plaza, which also houses Eat Joy Food, a 2023 Michelin Bib Gourmand. A koi pond, fake gingko trees and yellow lanterns lend an air of serenity to the dining room, in sharp contrast to the trial by fire your taste buds are likely to experience with several of Szechuan Mountain House’s signature items, which include traditional and modern Sichuanese recipes.
“Many people in the U.S. believe that Sichuan food equals red hot chiles and peppercorn. They think that they should be sweating and crying for help to extinguish the burn, but we want to show people that Sichuan food is more than that,” says Zhu. Zhi Min Zhu, who hails from Sichuan, is the culinary director of all the Szechuan Mountain House locations and is in charge of training all of the kitchen teams. Zhu has been working with Szechuan Mountain House since 2015 at the New York East Village location and has helped train the team at the new Rowland Heights location. You enter the plaza through a number of walkways from the parking lot into a culinary landscape that’s a bit like the wonders found down alleyways in Hong Kong.
Presentation is a priority, whether it be in the form of decor or plating. To eat properly here, it’s best to assemble a posse of heavy forks, good eaters who aren’t going to emit a loud “ew! ” when confronted with a tureen of pig trotters soup, or some pickled chicken feet.
The ma-la dishes feature the hot-and-numbing peppercorn that's emblematic of the cuisine. But not all of Zhu’s cooking features its spicy heat and anesthetizing effect. Sautéed vegetables and especially the dishes from the “traditional cuisine” menu, such as braised pork atop shredded, preserved vegetables, showcase the flavors of the region without chiles. While the focus remains on Sichuan cuisine, along with most of the small chain’s iconic dishes, some recipes and ingredients have been altered for the Los Angeles location to utilize more local ingredients. The ma-la dishes feature the hot-and-numbing peppercorn that’s emblematic of the cuisine. After opening a local chain of ramen shops, chef Ryohei Ito recently expanded his Rakkan empire with a new izakaya-inspired restaurant downtown.
Chef Zhi Min Zhu, the restaurants’ culinary director from Sichuan, has honed the region’s spicy, nuanced flavors and conceived a number of the restaurants’ most iconic dishes, including the signature Swing Pork Belly, which hangs thin slices of pork belly and cucumber on a wood dowel structure to be dipped in a pool of garlic paste and chile oil below. “It feels really satisfying to be growing the company the way we want to be growing it," Kramer said. In addition to newly focusing on catering, Kramer and Hymanson are planning multiple other Kismet Rotisserie locations, including one slated to open in Culver City this fall. Kismet Rotisserie is open in Studio City 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. “It feels really satisfying to be growing the company the way we want to be growing it,” Kramer said. In addition to newly focusing on catering, Kramer and Hymanson are planning multiple other Kismet Rotisserie locations, including one slated to open in Culver City this fall.
First off, all four of the “Szechuan special street food” dishes cry out to be ordered. Other hard-to-find Sichuan dishes on the menu include Qian Jiang-style chicken giblets with pickled pepper and mala chicken stew. Szechuan Mountain House also features offal like pig intestine, tripe, beef tongue, kidney, chicken giblets, curdled blood, and fish maw. There is also a wide variety of vegetables, as well as the popular golden baked salted corn kernels with salted egg yolk, which tastes like creamy, buttery, elevated popcorn, and an expansive vegetarian menu.
Cult-Favorite Szechuan Mountain House Makes Its Los Angeles Debut - Eater LA
Cult-Favorite Szechuan Mountain House Makes Its Los Angeles Debut.
Posted: Wed, 07 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
It’s wise to balance the ma-la dishes with more traditional options, such as the wonderfully satisfying fried rice with Szechuan peppers and bacon … and the perfectly (and immodestly) named “Incredible” fried rice with beef. There are a dozen cold dishes, including the requisite Szechuan pickles, and a plate with a trio of creations, running from poached chicken and bamboo shoots to duck tongue. And Szechuan numbing chicken — which gets you a serious hit of ma-la, without having to commit to any of the 16 larger ma-la entrées. Ma-la is made by combining Szechuan peppercorns, dried chili peppers, cloves, garlic, star anise cardamom, fennel, ginger, cinnamon, and salt and pepper, most often simmered in oil into a fiery sauce that’s not for the faint of taste.
A new Korean fried chicken shop that uses rice flour for its coating is now open in Koreatown with a range of styles, sauces, sides and more. Rice Chicken, a new concept from Paul Kim, a former partner in Long Beach’s Ren Sushi, offers wings, boneless chicken and whole pieces available by the half or full dozen. Rice chicken also offers fried chicken sandwiches, salads, cup-bap in spicy pork, beef bulgogi and other options, and sides like corn cheese, fried sausage and tteokbokki. After establishing an ardent fan base with two locations in New York, Szechuan Mountain House has opened in Rowland Heights. Chef Zhi Min Zhu, the restaurants’ culinary director from Sichuan, has honed the region's spicy, nuanced flavors and conceived a number of the restaurants’ most iconic dishes, including the signature Swing Pork Belly, which hangs thin slices of pork belly and cucumber on a wood dowel structure to be dipped in a pool of garlic paste and chile oil below.
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