EPIC San Gabriel Valley Food Crawl 626 (Pt. 1)

this bowl is piping hot don't touch it no don't touch it it's too hot is this your restaurant y you're the manager oh cool def I'm used to seeing a lot of taco trucks but this is a taco stand that I have a orange espresso boom guys fun Bros are back in the 626 to check out all the new Concepts things are always opening up old things are closing down Plus for getting tattoos stay tuned you guys welcome back to the 626 s Gabriel Valley we are in front of potato powder love noodle the Chinese says fun that says potato noodle hey we're at the famous Hilton Plaza guys is a brand new spot it's from sheny Young and it's kind of serving all different types of snacks and I think it's just kind of symbolic of how a lot of spots at least in St Gabriel are kind of going yeah I mean listen guys you guys are going to see through uh out this video the trends the es and the flows let's check it out yo you guys know that we had to lead off with my absolute top five Chinese dish hang G5 this is originally from Gan Shandong uh the owner Andrew here is actually from d b but they kind of got a collection of snacks on yeah man I feel like this this dish really symbolizes and embodies your blue c taste bud side man because this is like this is just like a snack dish in China you know um it's not considered highend almost like a yeah it's like kind of a side thought for a lot of people yeah well this is actually considered the favorite dish of the construction worker in China especially in northern China and by the way guys it is called too fun so potato noodle so of course we had to get a side of potato noodles look how fluffy these potato noodles are man I got to eat it hold on we got to get let me get another bolt she's going to reach back here look with I'm tell you guys listen if you guys have ever had this Korean dish called uh Jim which is actually like a soy sauce or a soy brazed chicken as well it's a similar flavor profile to that man I just got off the plane so I'm hungry as Fe they give you a side of seaweed right here like we said a lot of younger owners playing like pop music it's it's different nowadays uh the menus I noticed Andrew are way more pan Chinese and this whole thing was only about $13 so it's actually pretty cheap so this is a good snack spot let's check out the hangman yellow bra chicken I would say Wan G found is almost like the chunky hles like chunky beef stew of the east or specifically of the SOS sphere bouncy potato noodles chicken's good it's tender overall not bad man all right I had to bring in Nelly Nell for this chicken bone rack here we have jigu jja this is one of my favorite dong like Northeastern Chinese dishes and the owner made sure to say that this particular like um the way he cooked it or battered it is very like QQ very like chewy bouncy you know so try it man this is all like I'm not going to lie this chicken rack chigu is way easier to eat than the previous ones and they're usually off like the rib bone this is like the snack version mm [Music] m M little [Music] sweet it's kind of a in between the traditional jigu and like a popcorn chicken yeah oh wow wow nice cut all right they all handmade Guys these are handmade knife cut noodles in with uh tofu noodles as well and you wanted to show this off you got a couple little Quail legs in there oh my gosh this bowl is piping hot don't touch it no don't touch it it's too hot yo there's frog in it dude oh is all [ __ ] I don't know if it's frog I'm not going to lie it came in hot frog no I think it's pork true true roll ma true roll yeah let's try it man it's so hot let's go niif cut noodle don't worry now if you if you don't got the stomach for it I got this that's I didn't eat all day Delta Airlines doesn't give out food anymore just drinks hey you know me I'm a nudes guy you know I got to get my nudes oh yeah yeah yeah now now love the nudes here here I got you I got you so you got you got mixture you have the potato Noodle and you got the tofu uh T PE yeah all right man it's so there like three mixtures in here there's something about like knife cut noodles it just makes it feel more elevated M guys if you guys like noodles snacks Northern uh Northern Chinese snacks I think you guys got to check this spot out man it's kind of like reminds me of one of those almost like cool cafes on campus that you might have you know it's affordable it's quick it's hot it hits you where you need it and uh overall man I like the experience here plus the owner he's nice oh good good yeah beautiful the coign from the CEO and owner of potato powder noodle over in the 626 potato noodle before we go on to our next spot I got to try everything was smaller M the big key I'm noticing though a lot of younger owners and the younger owners they're definitely like less dogmatic and more pragmatic in their menu choices David we got a long tour to go man so on to the next spot next spot on our massive 626 crawl where we're only checking out new spots every spot here is about a year old guys or less here we got chicky burger and this spot is another one of those spots that's trying to recreate what it's like to get like the chicken crispy filet at the China McDonald's you know and this you know you eat McDonald's in China that that slaps that sandwich slaps so here we have the oh yeah not the person hello okay oh and they kept it hot wow okay all right we're going to go check it out uh is this your uh restaurant y you're the manager oh cool nice to meet you can you tell us anything about the burger like where the idea came from oh wait actually all the traditional like the way we put Burger together the sauce everything it's kind of like same the flavor back in China so I say like it's yeah yeah the SEC sauce back China China it's PR good okay sh where where you from in China uh T oh cha oh Shand cool well I I know oh like half this the all right all right guys uh let's check out this crispy Burger you see this lettuce Mayo it's seasoned just like in China now what we looking at crispy chicken wings man just look how flaky and crispy look I I bet if you bite that right next to the mic it's going to hear it now just go for it oh my God I heard it all right guys this is the crispy burger here at chicky Burger this is the manager right here m y wow there like a buttery vibe to this do you think it's better than Macho Burger over there yeah def yo this tastes a little bit got to say that definitely and how similar is it is it more McDonald's KFC Shanghai or what are we talking about yo this is the most buttery crispy chicken sandwich I've ever had and it's actually pretty good man I think David you got to try this on camera so we got to switch spots but I'm going to take one more bite hold up trying smalla on it let guess some on the wing it's hot if H the back of your Thro m super juicy crisp I mean I keep eating it right that's the Testament right there but guys this isn't the only spot serving crispy chicken filet sandwiches got to go to another one all right you guys next up on our 626 food crawl is not actually a restaurant it is gung-ho tattoo this is where I'm getting my very first tattoo now I know you've got a lot of them what can I expect man I'm just very excited for you you know tattoos are really you know important in uh expressing yourself expressing how you want to be and I think the rpce that you're going to get is going to be really dope we're getting it from a very well-known artist called Shu throw up his Instagram right here throw up some of his other work I'm telling you I'm getting a unique piece and uh I'm very excited because shoe style it it has some traditional elements to it but it actually has a lot of modern elements that are very 2024 you're not going to find them on anybody who has older tattoos let's go Nelson what do you think about this tattoo shop very clean I think it's very clean you know very open space you know you kind of have to you can kind of see how if there were a lot of people in here getting you know tatted you can kind of it's kind of like a little Community thing you know all right so what you're actually watching right now is shu is going to be putting on the design the paper design originally we thought that he was freehanding it but that actually doesn't really make sense so he was actually just freehanding the positioning of it so here he's laying the paper down he's going to tape it to his arm Nelson just said wow this is going to hurt because it looks like a big tattoo and a lot of ink the certain parts it's going to touch his bone that's all right well no pain no gain listen guys long story short I'm telling you Shu at gung-ho tattoo is the only artist in the entire world that could have communicated what I was trying to do with my tattoo on my left arm I wanted something that was Asian I wanted something Chinese I wanted something artistic but I still wanted it to feel strong and not stereotypical or cliche at all I'm telling you he pulled it off listen guys the imitation of Chinese McDonald's Chinese KFC Wars have just begun because we're in front of Macho burger right now right across the street from chicky Burger it's going down but but I they're not just trying to do like China McDonald's they're doing Chinese Taco Bell too cuz they got the crunch they had that too at chck oh they listen guys we can't we can't get everything in these f y this is kind of crazy here guys so they got hey I'll tell you this in they have the Jung CH Chinese rap blastic yeah yeah yeah they got the vibe here okay all right so do we need to get the the tender beef wrap though I was think good at the Beijing chicken wrap and yeah if you want to get the tender beef I I want to try the tender beef wrap I have to get this is okay we we're shooting a YouTube video all right man M bur obviously they got more of like the Big Chain Vibes they got the logo they kind of have the standardized look so you know but we got to check the product yeah I feel like I'm in a do in video no you got to start rapping like it's all right our second competitor to the chicken filet crispy sandwich game is mato Burger this is not a chain from China but they're you know trying to make it look like one I the tear of sort of infrastructure they have I thought it was in right right right all right everybody here we got these cool little packages I have the tender beef wrap which is going to be like a Chinese uh Crunch Wrap Supreme from Taco Bell no because they localize the menus and I actually got the Beijing chicken wrap from I believe KFC and McDonald's both have one but it's mostly KFC D I think we had the Beijing chicken wrap in China last time we were at KFC with our boy Daniels out they got the Tang in here and they got the cucumber and they got the Mayo so this is supposed to taste like PE King duck all right guys look at this grilled I'm just going to I'm just going to eat I'm not even try to rip it in half let me see if I can rip it oh sh that's hot oh my God ah wow it almost like like a stir fry in there wow that is interesting let's check it out Macho Burger guys piping hot not bad man I like it so it's very sweet beef almost tastes like a u like a Chinese teriyaki stir fry beef but with uh tomatoes and lettuce and a little bit of mayo um it's kind of fun to eat it kind of reminds me of something like if you took um man there's a Beijing dish that tastes like this um that's kind of like sweet sweet pork you know what I mean we've had it at some Beijing restaurants and it's like you put it in a wrap it's so it's Salu roll I know what you mean okay it's kind of like Mushi pork right yeah I think it's pretty good now we didn't get the chicken burger here but you did get a chicken wrap honestly I'm going to give this peek and duck wrap OB chicken with fried chicken 8 out of 10 pretty solid you guys there's more to come right now I'm going to go ahead and sa it might go to Macho Burger I don't know it's tough to say it's neck and neck though you just got to come to both and check them out guys all I'm going to tell you is check out both of these spots because they are both competing at a very high level and I think it is a neck to neck race it depends on your Vibe and if you like sweet food remember about four or five years ago when these spots started popping up they were so hit or miss sometimes they would put too much of that New Orleans Mainland Chinese flavor on there now I noticed they're scaling back on it and uh tastes a lot more like Shen High McDonald's or or KFC all right guys the chicken sandwich wars in the 626 continue all right you guys next up on 626 Cheap Eats is uh this brand new Taco Stand called super tacos it's got 4.8 out of five on Yelp um you know I'm used to seeing a lot of taco trucks but this is a taco stand in on the Valley Boulevard so got to check it out could I do one uh carneada Mita he's a pork and beef alpast store can I do one alpast store uh uh quesadilla this one comes to a taco stand but doesn't get tacos there's no tacos no there's tacos tacos yeah 15 okay yo that's a good deal man super tacos like I said 4.8 on yelk uh take a look at everything you know you've got cucumbers you got lemon limes your onion mixes thank you all right here we got the chef you know slicing up the alpastor with a little pineapple on top that's a very big staple for you know alpastor tacos stuff like that so looking at it sizzling right on the grill woo fresh know you don't you know just a couple years ago there wasn't that many taco stand taco trucks out in the six but now we just drove down up and down Valley probably seen like five of them already uh two things that I noticed is one as you can see behind me there's a lot of Chinese that are getting these mulas and quesadillas and relen and burritos but not only that it's like it's really going Way Beyond tacos look at what he's making make it right now like this is a real is this a quad or like you know what I mean like you're getting more advanced Mexican food street food items than you were prior cuz literally everybody was all about tacos when I saw that they had such a wide selection of toras and vampiros and alamre I was like yo we got to try the new stuff they packing a lot of meat pause yeah that's dude that's a lot I thought that was multiple people he we're not at Arby's but they got the meats yo that's hell of me bro pause all right you guys this is an Alpa store quesadilla boom you got the cheese in there dud it's h yo this almost like like a like a Chio plate that's how much pork there is for Real all right man should we dress it up dress it up all right put some onions cilantro put the sauce oh we got to get some of this little this going on as you can see this is a really po popular like sort of a milder sauce I I might just go with all three guys the triple threat salsa that's crazy man that toilet going to be crazy later hey man I that's all you right there tell the triple sauce oh my goodness guys we are super tacos and plus we still got another Mita after this so cheese pool mini cheese pool yeah that should look kind of tasty right there this is Del delicious oh my goodness we got the M mulita right here that's good really nice and simple what now we got to dress it [Applause] up my man with the triple sauce bro it's crazy oh no no triple thre just double you're right you know what overall mulita Numero Uno have you ever had a mulita before all right this is my first time you know this is my first time eating mulita D hot I can't even pick it up we got you know cheese and carneada just going to eat it straight up oh cheese pole queso queso yo dress it up a little bit dress it up that's I about to dress up all right we got to put the lach your onion in it real quick I'm just going to go with the Avo sauce that's good that's good this is good man the quality the meats good all right now you about to try my my triple stack quesadilla triple stack ques oilla quesadilla that spicy W what you think you you going with the uh which one I'm going with that one bro the mulita the mulita is good man yo look at everybody this is a popular come shout out to Super tacos man come get the super tacos you got toras burritos papaa vampiros Tac alres mulas quadas all right you guys next up on 626 cheap Beats we've got Auntie Chu's kitchen this is fascinating because we are on Main Street in Al hamur right now but this is actually a chain from Shanghai that takes some very very heavy Shanghai influences from like the 1920s as you can see here on the wall they've got Einstein which is uh obviously he's very much looked up to in China they've got all these books that you would grow up reading in Shanghai over here you've got a a mural of Shanghai you've got movies in China that were set in Shanghai of course you see here they're making the uh different wraps I believe these are the shangai spring [Music] rolls as you can see here a lot of memorabilia from Old Shanghai different eras I think that this is the thing that made me laugh laugh the most was this cigarette box if you guys have ever been to China you remember everybody having this setup everywhere obviously in 2024 it's different now very nostalgic propaganda posters let's check out the food though all right you guys we are looking at a very uh authentic Shanghai TOA the TOA basically this is a breakfast uh one you've got some shredded eggs in here of course I added an additional egg just for protein reasons this is my new school interpretation of DOA but this is a a chain from shangai so should this should be hyper authentic let's check it out [Music] guys wow I have not had anything like this in America since the last time I was in Shanghai honestly which is uh pre pandemic AR you guys let's get this chaan open is a uh tea egg obviously very popular in a lot of places uh Taiwan Shanghai specifically you know a lot of like places in choc but they're all going to kind of spice it a little differently I know in Taiwan for example they use a lot more star anise cuz that's like sort of their flavor [Music] profile all right you guys this is the chaa down on the inside like I said Auntie ch's kitchen from Shanghai super Shanghai nice we got some of this saai in here like fermented th vegetables guys I literally have not finished a bowl of this in like 10 years maybe you know I've had it in 10 years but I have not finished a whole bowl of this in 10 years they got shiai in there which is uh the tiny baby crib shrimp that blue whales like to eat all right you guys we are taking a look at the Curry Beef Shin jimal this is a brand new item I've never ever had before because uh obviously Curry Beef it's not like a item fully native to China it came over through influences from India and all the way to Shanghai is rare cuz usually you see those influences more in western China where due to the proximity to India woo let's take a look look at thato Curry Beef but you know it's really interesting sometimes uh you know the British or the Portuguese brought a lot of Indian influences around Asia as well because uh they were sort of the first like sea fair like conqueror types you know in that region spread some culture I believe that they were the first ones to really bring Curry to Japan all right let's take a look at this Curry Beef right here okay it's really juicy less greasy less you know you guys have ever had curry in the coastal regions not very strong but I enjoy it all right in the same Hilton Plaza we have this brand new coffee shop or boba shop I think it's unclear and I think a lot of spots like this are trying to blur the lines now because you don't want just strictly be a boba shop you might as well serve coffee look first drink 99 they just opened you have cocoa kti uh pomas blue Coco latte I might have to get that this go check it out now intriguing I want to find out if this chain is from China if it's from Asia what's going on here hello all right everybody we got our drinks here at coutti Cafe I believe that is how you say it even though it looks like Coty but anyways these two drinks cosed me a total about n bucks but I'll tell you this Nelson that I have an orange espresso which I believe is the future of how to drink espressos it's mixing it with fruit juice there's a spot in Paris that's a Japanese coffee shop called the coffee that I loved what I had out there which is also a similar concept you got the pompus blue latte which Coco latte Coco latte see a and pompus is a blue sugar I don't really know what that means but it's a blue colored sugar with the coconut latte and this chain is from tangin so that's not really a place that I Would Imagine a lot of coffee chains are from but shout out to tangin tangin actually is has good food really good food this is a juicy espresso I like it I like it I like this a lot it's it's sweet it's like a kind of a pretty sweet orange juice but with an espresso inside so the bitterness of the espresso is getting balanced out by the sweetness of the orange juice and it's like a citrusy coffee I love it hey whatever this pompous sugar is is good yeah bro just coconut latte hear me out more espressos in with fruit juice that is the future I think the Asian chains are going to do it the most and in the beginning but trust me Starbucks is going to start doing this more in the future fun fact they also were one of the global sponsors of the Argentine national football team Messi they sponsoring the goat and you know they got the Argentina right here you know the colors it was you know blue hey I'm not I'm not a big coffee guy but I like this try try M try try the fruit the orange are you surprised that a Chinese Champion your eyes as well whoa I thought it I thought it was orange iced tea but it's orange coffee does it taste more like a boba or more like a coffee or what this is definitely when it comes to this being a boba shop or coffee shop I would put it more closer to a coffee shop there is no I a 7030 I didn't really see any Boba on the men menu I'm sure they have it they have it but it's not they not trying to go in that lane cuz they already know there's so many bogus shops out here it's too competitive why don't you come in the game differently at a different angle M all right guys so if you guys are interested in checking out a Chinese chain from tenin check out GD over here at the Hill Plaza all right you guys next up on our 626 food growl is Chef G Thai street food on Fourth I'm telling you within West 626 as great as the food has been the Chinese diasporic food the Thai food here was always pale in comparison to tiie town or more Thai populated parts of Los Angeles however you know the whole reg like Thai food in America is really like raising its standard so 626 should not be any different let's go check out chef G all what's up man Hi how are you hi how you doing how many two feel good how how long has this restaurant been open for almost two years oh two years okay cool and what region of uh Thailand is the food from the the ti of the the mostly is a state food street food okay like you will find in the streets of like Bangkok or something like that yeah right like or the Tom oh okay what what do you think we should get for like the street food that's like very tie like cuz I'm going I'm going to Bangkok in a in a few weeks weeks for a for I'm going for a month so but I never been so I I want to try what you guys have here this just you recommend all right I I would say and recommend the chicken s here a here had a saing Apper mhm and then you might try the the PTI the simple food no no not what white people order what what would you what would would you want to eat all right the crying tiger kind of steak here like Bean tread noodle we call the kungen Ken I definitely want that I want one go of yes and how about the panang beefs to right here it's a panang is the panang you can say panan but the special of the chef make a beep to mix with the panan curry all right I'm going to do those two sure yeah and that's it all right you guys so we are at Chef G's and basically what they're trying to do here is uh imitate more of the street foods that you can find in Bangkok and obviously over there they're a little bit more like one stall might specialize and like one thing two things three things four things but uh obviously here they have a gigantic menu I want to say there's about like 40 things on the menu this is the beef panang curry check this out right here I mean you got wonderful chunks of beef you got the panang red curry you got peppers like I said obviously it's not 10 out of 10 exactly what you would get in Bangkok just because there's a limited ingredients and different things like that but I'm really excited about trying this cuz this place has really good reviews and we are in an Asian area so I'm throw some peanuts some chilies on there my goodness here we go listen guys this beef has clearly been stewed for many many many hours because it's just falling apart it doesn't even hold structure when through gravity I'm going to Thailand soon too so this is good this is good prep all right you guys this next dish is called and uh this is actually a historically like Chinese influenced dish with the uh funy with this clear Noodle and uh there's a lot of braids there's soy sauce um there's like some fish sauce in here and this is like actually basic like a chel dish from like too but obviously you know the diaspora is going all over hundreds of years going everywhere this is a very Tide family style dish probably very unknown in America the clear noodle dishes the funy dishes this is like a diea funy bowl that's good listen guys I'm not going to eat the head check out this shrimp really really deep shrimp flavor in this uh w s cuz that's like the clear noodle right there let me just let me just toss some other stuff in here see these chilies see this chili right here see this man this is good this is my first time having go old m s that's a winner guys it's a winner come to Chef G get the go wood s and expose yourself to TI dishes that you never had before but also if you're Chinese you might see something and be like okay this is a little bit more familiar than I thought all right our next spot is not a new spot but it's a classic bum chali I got to check this out because they say they have a fug eye for 8850 let's see if it's any good everybody they got fun re for $9 they got bu for $850 you can buy right here to go they got all the buun they got the namn like vermicelli chicken plates still all very good deal bummies here only $6 that's like yourk pricing when I was in Paris bummies were very very cheap as well bu chali man still giving you the crazy deals look at this play noodle $9 Tuesdays $850 for bun real full guy is $7 on a Wednesday oh my gosh for $850 to the table this is the full guy let's take a look at it guys here we have the nice chunks of boneless meat all right this is the dark meat this is the breast meat this is the broth it even comes with the autra malz basil of course guys I when it comes to Cheap Eats deals honestly bum bumi chicali is one of the best in the 626 to this day I mean like you I I showed you the the prices before I'm just going to do a little bit of lime I don't want too much and then they even give you the uh this is the F dip it's kind of like a Nook mom with like extra ginger and garlic let me taste that just like how it's supposed to be let's go let's see if it's like watery or like too MSG filled but I actually think man the quality here is so good that's not bad man kind of like a lot of white pepper it's a clean broth honestly very very clean and honestly I've had worse for guys and this for $850 is insane insane deal let's dip that in I'm messing with that I think bum bum me chali is one of the best values in the six man still I don't know how they do it if it's by volume or their suppliers is like they own the chicken farms or whatever it is they're still going and they're still giving you the deals I know this is not a new spot but I haven't been here in years and I just got the Bumble play for $9 so anyways guys bum chali the F gu is valid all right you guys we are at a brand new fur spot here in 626 called fur pasture and I'm telling you the the fur always becomes a little bit more like OC for the longest time I think 626 had great F but it wasn't as a advanced in terms of like optionality and add-ons and maybe product offering the variety wasn't there but I'm telling you right now you are looking at wide Hanoi style noodle so this is already a little bit more advanced this is the next style like another Regional type of FL right there's probably southern style Northern style realistically I don't know I don't think whe has its own distinct style of F and then you are looking at oxtail separated out boom crazy fattening on the oxtail right and you are looking at gigantic short ribs beef short rib so I'm just going to decorate the F for you right here like we said it's kind of like interesting that uh F in America is almost taking like a hybrid between a northern and a southern approach because I believe the owners here of this spot are actually uh Northern but everybody knows the southern style so it's almost like a uh it becomes like half Southern half Northern style whereas uh in Vietnam would probably be strictly one or the other anyway guys let's take a look boom just dip this in here get this this oxtail fur going if you guys know oxtail fur is the next step up because this is a little bit of a cut of a meat that not everybody eats I got good Chopstick skill guys just don't don't worry don't worry it was just a bad pull guys it's got a very very unique flavor it's the softest Ox I ever had but it is very flavorful it's almost like the tendon is like intermingled with it okay broth broth I want to say also tastes like a mixture between northern and southern style anyway guys we got the beef rib over here I'm going to take this one real quick one of my favorite things to put on the beef ribs is this hoist sauce there's just something just keep it simple hoisting on the beef this is the thing to get honestly for eight bucks or I think it was like 750 you got three ribs 250 a rib actually a super good deal I'm telling you guys full pasture is a welcome addition to 626 Main Street as well and of course to top it all off I've got a sey drink and uh in Cantonese what is this called now mui shun mui shun mu is just like sour plum in Vietnamese shimi so obviously you see you know the influence and U you know similar vocab like I said salted plum soda whoa that is a hyper unique drink I was deciding between this and the um egg soda drink the soda sah hot guy but I'm really glad I got this one because this is something that's almost like the soda side is for the younger generation but the salted plum that's definitely for the older generation anyway guys I'm going to pop up the Yelp for a fall past year right here highly recommend because use have to go to rosem me to get the flat noodle so now you can get in alhamra 626 guys up on everything all right you guys thank you so much for tuning into that episode of fun Rose food stay tuned for part two where Andrew Reveals His tattoo that he also got from Shu at gung-ho tattoo