Old Country Cafe Isn't So Old

I have been church hopping on Sundays for a few months, but the last couple of weeks, I have been returning to a couple of churches some of my family attends just to be in familiar settings during this Christmas season. Last Sunday I went to my brother's church Chinese Mission Bible Church in Alhambra. Generally after church I would eat out with my brother and his wife, but this past Sunday his wife was busy and so it was just my brother. He suggested that we go to Old Country Cafe in Alhambra.

After so many years here in the San Gabriel Valley I am always surprised to discover some new hole in the wall places. There are just so many and some of them can be quite good. Where we ended up eating at was quite delicious. The draw back was that since it was a little chilly on Sunday, the place wasn't heated and a tad bit cold for my liking.

(Old Country Cafe)

(Japanese Comic Books For Patrons)

The place was actually split into two rooms. The main room had two large tables and a bar while the small room had a few other tables with huge shelves of Japanese comic books free to check out while inside the restaurant. The place really isn't very nice despite their attempt to be hip. The furnitures were a bit run down and in desperate need for an upgrade. The positive was that the place was clean, especially for a hole in the wall type restaurant. I didn't feel completely disgusted touching the furnitures and that's all I can ask for.

(Boba Milk Green Tea)

(Papaya Milk)

My brother ordered the boba milk green tea. I personally don't like milk green tea. It just taste too watery for me. If I add milk to tea, it has to be black tea. But some people like that so I'm not going to judge. I decided to order a papaya milk instead. It's been a while since I've had one, and it's actually a childhood favorite of mine. Papaya milk is an exclusively Taiwanese drink. It's actually quite simple in concept, blend papaya with milk and you have papaya milk. This was just that and it was a great and healthy drink.

(Minced Beef Over Taiwanese Lettuce "A" Choy)

To my surprise, my brother ordered a minced beef over Taiwanese lettuce, which is also known as "A" choy. It's similar to romain lettuce but has a slightly hint of bitter quality to it. The dish was well made with a small amount of oil. The lettuce still had a little crunch to it while the minced beef was marinated on the lighter side. I actually prefer them lighter. I find too many Taiwanese restaurants smothering their minced beef with so much sauce that it drowns out every last bit of beef flavor. This was a balanced little appetizer dish for the upcoming main dish.

(Deep Fried Chicken Rice)

On the recommendation of my brother, I ordered the deep fried chicken rice. My brother actually ordered the same. It's the dish he always gets when he dines at this little joint. I've had a few other Taiwanese style deep fried chicken and pork. This one beats them all. The crust was almost flaky. Too often the crust of these fried chicken or pork are so hard it's a little too crunchy. But this was just right. It almost melted into the chicken when I bit into them. Of course there was still enough of a crunch to it to remind you that it's still a deep fried dish. Fortunately it didn't retain too much oil making the dish much easier on the stomach.

The dish had some mixed Taiwanese style veggies and half of a marinated egg. They were all done pretty well, but they weren't the best I've had. The sour veggie was slightly too sour and the other one could use just a little more flavor. The egg though was well marinated and flavorful.

This joint is definitely worth revisiting just for their deep fried chicken rice. My brother is actually right, for a change. Alright, he has been right on many occasions and this is definitely one of them. I highly recommend if you are in Alhambra and in the mood of something deep fried without feeling like you just drank a gallon of oil, Old Country Cafe is definitely a place worth checking out.

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Mountain High Rip-Off Chowder Bread Bowl

I was up at Mountain High snowboarding today on Christmas day. I normally don't eat up there cause I know their food is overpriced and nothing spectacular. But today I went with my brother, sister-in-law and her brother and they wanted to get some food. We got to the resort at 8am in the morning. You heard right! I woke up at 5:40am just so we could be on the road at around 6:30am to avoid the crazy traffic if we went any later.

After a morning's worth of runs down the slope, we decided to break for lunch. We saw a few others having clam chowder and my brother and his wife both had had it before. I also happen to love clam chowder. One summer about five years ago during a music festival at Newport Oregon, for a week I had pretty much most of the clam chowder at the restaurants by the ocean. So with their recommendation, I ordered one. We got totally ripped off.

(Mountain High Clam Chowder Bread Bowl)

The clam chowder itself wasn't bad. Sure it wasn't the best, nor was I expecting the best. It was descent and most importantly not overly salty. A lot of places tend to over-salt their clam chowder bread bowls. The problem was that the bread was incorrectly cut into a bowl, which left us with around five spoonfuls of soup. The $8 we spent on the bowl was gone near instantaneously, except for the bread. They simply didn't hollow out enough of the bread itself to get a descent amount of soup inside. I understand this is a tourist trap type restaurant, but I've had other tourist trap bread bowls and none compared to this insanely little amount of soup we actually got. In essence we paid $8 for a piece of sourdough bread with a tad bit of clam chowder as a dipping sauce. In my brother's defense, the last time they ordered the bread bowl, the bread was cut properly and there was a bit more soup. It was simply a matter of inconsistency on the part of Mountain High.

I would generally avoid tourist spots' joints. But sometimes I do enjoy splurging just a bit more for mediocre food because of the environment I'm in. After a nice morning out on the slope, it is nice to sit in a restaurant with fellow snowboarders and eat some mediocre overpriced food. That idea taste good in my mind, as long as I actually get a reasonable amount of what I ordered. C'est La Vie. That's the price I pay for eating at a tourist joint.

Enjoy some of the other pictures from this little excursion. It may help you understand why that bowl of clam chowder looked so good before we reached the bottom of the bowl in a matter of approximately one minute. On our way back to our car, I saw a group eating hot Shin brand Korean instant cup noodles at the back of their car with little tables and chairs out. That's the real way to go to enjoy the atmosphere: parking lot instant noodles. Consolation prize today was a cup of boba milk tea from Quickly's when we got back to San Gabriel.

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(Sunrise Drive To Mountain High Via 210 Freeway)

(View On Top Of Mountain High)

(Paul Kwo On Top Of Mountain High)

(Quickly's Boba Milk Tea)

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