Newport Tan Cang Seafood - Asian Persuasion

I just cannot believe after countless time I went to Tan Cang, drove the crazy miles from West LA to San Gabriel and waited after the long lines - I never wrote a review about it. I must be loco. So does the house special lobster and everything else in Tan Cang. This restaurant is my favorite and apparently is also everyone else's - so prepare for a long wait during weekends. Although this place don't take reservation, on weekdays you may be seated right away.

Let's spin that glass table:

french beef loc lac - black pepper beef cube sauteed to tenderness, on top of chopped onions. The beef is super tender and juicy - the best beef dish in any Chinese restaurants I've ever tried. I never get enough of these, give me a plate for myself!!

 

please don't lick the screen. of course the house special lobster is a must. chopped, battered, and lightly fried together with scallions, black pepper, drenched with some oil. No need to make a mess, just fork out the tender lobster meat, dip it with the oil and green onions. it sure is special.

kangkung or water morning glory. stir fried with chopped garlic and shrimp paste. the aroma and taste are equally appetizing. super good. 

It may not be on the menu, but you can have two cooking ways of the fish. I'm not sure whether they charge differently or not but to add varieties to the table, I greatly recommend splitting the fish.  

 

first half of the fish: steamed tilapia with special sauce, ginger, and scallions. very delicate and buttery. 

second half of the fish: deep fried and drenched with sweet sour sauce. uber spicy delicious crispy skin and moist inside. 

Newport Tan Cang Seafood
518 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776
www.newportseafood.com 

Providence - Culinary Voyage

Finally, I crossed off Providence of my list. After several recommendations and hearing some mixed reviews about Michael Cimarusti's restaurant, we decided to give it a try during Thanksgiving weekend. My first impression, bad bad interior. I expect luxurious decor with cozy ambiance. For a two stars Michelin guide restaurant, and it was plain ugly looking decoration and atmospere.

Lingering on the menu for a good 15 minutes, we decided to go all out on the chef's tasting menu. After 4 hours long of 16 hit and miss courses, I feel like Providence is not just a dinner, it's an impeccable dining experience. The savory courses made by Cimarusti's magical hands were spectacularly genius. Complex ingredients that I never thought of were put together and works well together. Food plating and presentation were flawless and rally my visual senses.

greyhound, mojito, gin and tonic gelee - hit

cured sea trout, gougeres, white soy/ wasabi marshmallow, carrot soup/vadouvan - so-so

hokkaido scallop. nasturtium blossoms, fresh grated wasabi, crispy rice cracker - hit

dungeness crab, mandarin, avocado crepe - hit

santa barbara sea urchin. cauliflower parfait - hit

soft scrambled eggs with italian black truffles. served with toasted brioche - miss

unagi risotto with italian black summer truffles, quail egg - hit

niman ranch pork belly. carrot-orange puree, pickled ramps, mizuna, carrot-ginger butter - miss

wild new zealand john dory. matsutake, rosemary - my favorite!

loin of colorado lamb. cauliflower brussels sprouts - hit, cauliflower never taste that good!

cheese platter 

The service was stellar, no doubt, when you pay so much, you'll expect professional and knowledgeable service. Desserts are exceptionally mind-blowing! Exquisite creativity and combination of ingredients melts in my mouth. Fabulous endings!   

kalamansi gelèe. white chocolate coconut soy milk soup, litchi-shisho sorbet - hit

tangerine. ginger granita, vanilla ice cream, basil - so-so

apples in butterscotch, cashews, north star cherries, miso ice cream - hit

milk chocolate-whiskey panna cotta, bailey's ice cream, coconut ravioto - hit

Providence delivers an extraordinary meals of my life, however how much are you willing to pay for good food? I'm not rushing back to Providence any time soon. $400 (for two) a pop, that's why. But if money were no object, I'll be delighted to eat here on any given day.

Providence
5955 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 460-4170

www.providencela.com

Crustacean - Oh Crab!

Roasted Cracked Dungeness Crab

When you think about taking your girl for a first romantic dinner date in this upper class Vietnamese restaurant, you couldn't be more wrong, brotha! Well the Beverly Hills part is right, but who will get some romancing after cracking crab leg with bare hands and wolfing down oily garlic noodle? At least after two minty gum or rinsing your mouth with antiseptic mouthwash, you will... 

Crustacean might fool you with high-end decor, Koi aquarium underfoot, and live jazz/classic tune. But when I think about Vietnamese food I prepare to be unglamorous, Phò anyone? Oh well, let's toss all the negativity aside 'cos nevertheless, I worship their garlic noodles and roasted crab, they're FANTABULOUS!

 Garlic Noodles

To make me look less barbaric while eating them combo, I chow down some garlic noodle first and midway swift my gear to cracking and licking crabs. Because holding a crab leg on my left hand and forking some garlic noodles on my right at the same time might be the last thing that my boyfriend would like to see...

Crustacean

9646 Santa Monica Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 205-8990

www.houseofan.com

Boiling Crab - No Utensils Allowed

 Dungeness Crab- finger-lickin good!!

Waking up after a food comma, I tried to remember what happened last night. All I know my hands smell like garlic...

Then I remembered we were driving on the 10 east highway bound for a long 40 minutes.
I remembered we were waiting our asses off for an hour, freezing outside the restaurant with my flip-flops on.
I remembered I was never been so excited wearing a bip looking like a true nerd.

 Shrimp + Corn smothered in The Whole Sha-Bang! 

I remembered we ordered 1 lbs of shrimp, 1 lbs of crawfish, 3 lbs of dungeness crab, all in the flavor of "The Whole Sha-Bang" medium spicy, 1 cajun fries, and 3 corns.
I also remembered three lovely ladies weren't in lady-like behavior after bags of plastics containing seafood treasures landed on our table. We turned into beasts eating and finger-lickin.
I remembered splatter of red sauce and seafood shells flying around the table and managed to pick some spots on my face.

Crawfish is pain! not worth the hassle for such tiny piece of meat.

We won't stop stop eating this cajun fries 'coz the flavor really pop pop!

I remembered we panicked when a waiter told us that it was last call, so we ordered 1 more lbs of shrimp, another basket of cajun fries, and 3 more corns. Ooohh greedy...
Boiling crab is BombASStic and "The Whole Sha-Bang" is bangin'!! After we were stuffed, we didn't stop laughing from the minute we pay our bills to our way back to the west bound. Yupp, we were so high on cholesterol...

The Boiling Crab
742 W Valley Boulevard
Alhambra, CA 91803
(626) 576-9368

www.theboilingcrab.com