Spicy Pig Intestine
Cui Hua Lou

Cui Hua Lou

920 E Garvey Ave, 91755, Monterey Park, US, United States

Soup • Fish • Casual • Chinese


"*CASH ONLY* Bring your bills. You're going to have to pay double digits! This Szechuan restaurant is at the back corner of the Monterey Park Plaza. It's on the side of the dental office. They had some canopies for outdoor seating. I saw some patrons bring their own beer and were offered a bottle opener. Parking is easy but can be busy during peak hours. There is no public bathroom. The food I ordered was too much for two people but I really wanted to see what they had to offer. I loved the water boil fish $18.99! It goes so well with white rice, and I loved that they put cabbage on the bottom (as opposed to bean sprouts). It was so flavorful and better tasting than the water boil fish I had at Chengdu Taste the night before. The servers speak some English! The lamb hot pot seemed like the thing to get here because every table had one. They legit put a plug in stove on our table and asked us to plug it in the wall. We had to wait ~5 minutes for the vegetables to cook, but this was an enjoyable dish. The soup tasted similar to beef noodle soup to me. In addition to the abundance of chunks of lamb (with bone), there was some soft tofu cubes, tofu skin, and clear noodles. We clearly couldn't finish this between two people, so we packed like two Tupperwares to take home. The beef shank cold dish was alright. I think they could have added more sauce to make it a tasty dish by itself, but considering the meal as a whole, it was fine. We dipped some of the beef slices in the spicy fish sauce/soup because it was so good. There is a minimum order of 5 for skewers. I tried the lamb, chicken gizzard, and fish tofu. Lamb was best. I'd come back to get more skewers here, but I can see how it can easily get expensive! It seems like another popular dish is the beef pastry, so I would like to try that on another visit. Rice is like a dollar per person. The servers helped us pack the leftovers. A lot of people order take out here. Their two-sided menu is in English and Chinese, but it doesn't have photos."

Lucky Strike Restaurant

Lucky Strike Restaurant

3862 SE Hawthorne Blvd Portland, OR 97214-5257, United States

Vegan • Asian • Chinese • Noodles


"This place has the best Chinese food I've had, outside of San Francisco. The service and atmosphere are not quite up to the food, so I can't give it a loved it. The service wasn't awful by any means just not quite as attentive as they could have been. The atmosphere also isn't bad, just a little bit funky. That said, they aren't really trying for high end so as long as you are going for the food you will not be disappointed. We ate family style so I got to try a wide swath of the menu. We started with Spicy Pork Ears, Pot Stickers, and a Seafood Pancake. The pig ears had fabulous flavor, but a weird texture. I was the only one at the table that at much of them. I wasn't fast enough to get one of the pot stickers, but everyone that had one raved about them. The Seafood Pancake is really more Korean than Chinese, but who cares, it was excellent; better than what I've had at most of the Korean restaurants I've been to. For main courses we shared Spicy Noodles with Pork Ribs, Kung Fu Fried Rice, Guinness Pork Ribs, and Drunken Belly. At first it seemed like too much food for six people, but the only thing left at the end of the night was a small amount of the Drunken Belly. Each dish was perfect in its own way. My favorite was the Guinness Pork Ribs, but the Kung Fu Fried Rice (Kung Pao Chicken in fried rice) was a close second. No complaints about any of them. The spiciness level on the hot dishes was just right, added to the flavor, but didn't overwhelm it. I wasn't drinking, but my friends who had cocktails raved about them. Their Mojitos (I know not Chinese) were the table favorites. One friend said that it was the first Mojito she'd ever really liked. They have a decent wine list, but we didn't try any of it. Their beer selection isn't deep, but looked decent. Their prices are very reasonable. Cost for all of the above including cocktails was only $128. I will be back."