Koi Palace

365 Gellert Blvd
Daly City, CA 94015

(650) 992-9000
www.koipalace.com

It can lure you in with inexpensive prices. It once promised quality over quantity and consistently delivered the opposite. It can create 100 dish permutations with only three ingredients. It is the most overrated food in the world. I don't always eat dim sum, but when I do, I prefer Koi Palace.


Considered one of the best dim sum houses in the country, it easily made its way onto our agenda. And as our vacation was approaching we happen to try two of the most acclaimed dim sum restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, Elite and Sea Harbour. After these two visits, I was beginning to think dim sum was just plain pedestrian. We were even contemplating whether to replace Koi Palace. Due to the day fast approaching and pure laziness, we kept it on the agenda. And thank god we did. There is such a thing as good dim sum.

The food was consistently well above average. Our favorites were the Coffee Glazed Pork Spareribs , X.O. Spicy Sauce Dumplings, and the Crab Meat filled Dumplings w/ Whole Crab. the har gow and crab, we have had before and Kio's version was hands down a grade above. The ingredients were fresher, more succulent, and the preparation was better executed. The BBQ pork buns were on par with Sea Harbour, but I would give the edge to Elite. And for $24, I would pass on the abalone. It reminded me of the bland flavors you get at most dim sum places.

$4.50 X.O. Spicy Sauce Dumplings (8)

$3.60 Baked BBQ Pork Buns (6)

$4.50 Har Gow (7)

$32 #436 Crab Meat filled Dumplings w/ Whole Crab (8)

$24 Garlic Steamed Abalone (4)

$6.90 #376 Coffee Glazed Pork Spareribs (8)

(The dining room)

(Sweatshop hard at work)

(Duck)

(The wait at 11:30AM on Sunday)

(Making dragon beard candy)

Tasty Garden

288 W Valley Blvd
Ste 110
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 300-8262

www.tastygarden.us

Tasty Garden was a pleasant reminder of why I resorted to eating fast food while vacationing in Beijing. Why would you name a place Tasty Garden, it just builds expectations that obvious will never be met. If I opened a restaurant with Tasty Garden's menu, I would call it dog shit. At least that way, you've guaranteed my satisfaction and it can only go upward from there. This is easily the worst of my Cheap Eats journey thus far. I'm just appeased by the meal's conclusion.

$2.95 Fresh Cantaloupe Juice (6)
This is the first time I've tried cantaloupe juice and found quite enjoyable. The only downside was it seemed the juice was sitting out for a while from the taste of the fibers in the drink.

$5.50 Marinated Duck Tongue and Peanut (3)
The South has pig feet, Mexican have cabeza, and the Chinese have the remaining 90 strange animal body parts including duck tongue. The weirdest part was that duck tongue actually has a bone, so you spit it out similar to a chicken wing, the only difference is that I've been eating chicken wings since I was 12. The sauce can only be described as musky and somber and do nothing but create gelatinous peanuts.

$7.50 Preserved Meat with Rice in Hot Pot (0)
A combination of preserved chicken, pork, and duck served over steaming hot rice. This is up..down there among the worst dishes I have ever had. I even had to keep on eating it as I couldn't believe I was being charged for something that bad. Albeit, I was gravely cautioned by the waitress that it was an acquired taste.

$9.25 Baked Seafood Rice with Portuguese Sauce (7)
If it wasn't for this dish, we would have had to make a run for the border on the way home. The sauce was harmonious blend of curry and coconut milk incorporating shrimp and fresh fish. And in regards to its origin, it's actually from Macau, China that was a Portuguese colony until 1999.

Needless to say, I won't be returning any lifetime soon.

New Concept (Closed)

700 S. Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA
(626) 282-6800.

This was my first San Gabriel Valley dim sum experience. Make sure you bring somebody that speaks Japanese as the menu is in the mother tongue. I went with my friend Q and we were all set. We ordered way too much, about 20 dishes for 4 of us and I felt like throwing up after wards. I thought the quality of the dishes were OK, the variety is obviously great. After trying dumpling after dumpling and crepe after crepe, it started to taste the same. I would recommend going with a group of four or five and you can get a taste of everything. I definitely want to take some friends to the other dim sum places in the area and try some of well regarded restaurants including Sea Harbour, Mission 261, and Hong Kong Palace.

Best dishes I had: BBQ pork pastry, Macau roast pig, broccoli, stuffed lotus root, XO sauce turnip cake, Shanghai steamed pork dumplings.