Wednesday, February 17, 2010

FFY Noodle House



This place was way out in Rowland Heights, which for me was a bit of a trek. It was Chinese New Year, so my mom wanted to take us to a new spot. I had read a few blogs about this place and was looking forward to lunch.



We were seated immediately and I noticed the open kitchen where they were making dumplings and buns from scratch. We ordered Green Onion Pancakes, Cucumber plate, Steamed Pork Buns, Shrimp and Pumpkin dumplings, Beef Roll and Pork and String Bean Gyoza.





The stars were the Steamed Pork Buns, and the Shrimp and Pumpkin dumplings. The buns had a perfect ratio of dough to filling and the dumplings had a substantial amount of Shrimp and pumpkin. The Green Onion Pancakes were too oily and can't compare to the ones at Earthen, which is a few miles away.



This owners originally owned the Noodle House on Garvey, which a tiny little place. This location is a lot bigger and feels very new. The service was typical for a small Chinese establishment. Nothing fantatstic, but efficient.



There were a lot of items on the menu that I look forward to trying the next time I'm out there. Until then I recommend you check it out.

Umami Burger



Not sure if it's all about the fifth taste profile as the name implies. But the burgers are pretty tasty.

It was a Saturday night, around 7:30 and the place was full. We were told there was a 10 min wait, so we put our name on the list and headed to the bar. Just as we were being served our beverages, our table was ready.



This was my first visit, but I had an idea of what I wanted to order before I got there. It was all about the Hatch Burger. I love green chili cheese burgers, so I had to try it. There was four of us, so we had a variety of burgers, The Truffle Burger and The Manly Burger were also on the menu.

For our sides we order onion rings, sweet potato fries and thin fries. We were really hoping or the jalapeno hush puppies, but they were sold out (at 8pm?). With each side you get a free condiment, we got Umami Ketchup, House Spread (Thousand Island?) and Dijon Mustard.



Across the board the burgers were all delicious and perfectly cooked medium rare. The grind of meat is pretty coarse and very well seasoned, there was also a nice charred crust. But my Hatch Burger was disappointing in one respect, the chilis were bland and had no heat. By far my favorite burger was the Truffle Burger. The Truffle flavor was very pronounced and work really well with the meat, that was umami. The Manly burger was not bad either, but I lost the taste of the lardons.

All of burgers are served on airy brioche buns and are about 8 ounces. The sides were decent, with the onion rings being the standout. The sweet potato fries were seasoned with cinnamon, which I did not like.

The service was adequate, nothing special. I look forward to visiting the other locations in the future.