BOILING POINT153 Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 288-9876
I can't believe it's been four months since my last review. I'm such a bad food blogger, but life has been harsh in thrusting me into the cages of death (school + work + bills, etc). All I want to do at the end of the day is stare at the ceiling. However, I've been to a couple of places lately that just cry out to be reviewed (despite my lack of readers). I suppose this blog is more for myself , my camera, and my memories than anything. Someday, when I'm 30 and doing a job that I don't want to be doing, I can go to this page and remember how much fun I had as a teenager. Which leads me to another point: I'm not a teen anymore! Well, at least, by name I'm not. I turned 20 recently; that's twen-ty, not twen-teen. Sad story. Anyway. . . no sad thoughts!
To get me back on track, I want to start by talking about a recent hitwall that I've discovered. Hitwall is a term I made up for hole-in-the-wall. I love these places. They're dirty, dingy, and delicious. I think the fear of cockroach legs kind of authenticates the eatery. But maybe that's just the Chinese side of me. While most of my peers are facebooking, I'm yelping. I go on Yelp all the time to find places to eat. And Boiling Point was one of them.
Two Fridays ago (I think?), I ditched my classes. Not only did I ditch them, I drove nearly 3 hours north from San Diego. What would normally be a 1.5-2 hour drive became a tedious, stop-and-go trip in rainy day weather, which became further worsened as I hit lunchtime/weekend Los Angeles traffic. BUT, I didn't mind knowing my destination would fill me with the happiness of home and good eating.
I met up with my boyfriend at a parking lot in Alhambra so we would only have to take one car. Good thing we did; all the parking is on the street or around the corner in a supermarket lot. When we arrived, I was expecting the smell to have me flat on my back (from what I've read). But it was far from that. It was a pleasant smell, meaning the stinky tofu would probably not live up to my expectations. But, I had to get the House Special Hot Pot (the stinky tofu hot pot) because that's what this place is known for. I ordered this, plus a plate of Pork Blood Gao (it's like a gelatin).
This came with a free drink. All of this for $8.99 + $2.00 = $11 + Chinese tip ($1 and change).
In retrospect, the hot pot wasn't amazing at all. But at that moment, I think I was in heaven. Maybe it was the long drive. Maybe it was from being starved by school food (sandwiches and salad, 7 days a week, no variety). Maybe it was the thought of having traditional Taiwanese street food. Or perhaps, it was just being at a hitwall that made my meal so grand. I left full and satisfied. I didn't pay a lot; I was stuffed; I was warmed up to face the cold weather. And the taste? Well, it's basically meat and vegetable soup with various dipping sauces. So when you talk about hot pot taste, what you're really talking about is the sauce. Just the basic hot sauce and bean pastes, but I was still digging it. Even now, my mouth is watering a little just thinking about it.
It's a cozy little store. It's a good place for a date on an
empty Friday afternoon. I'm pretty sure it gets rowdy here at night, consdering it's in the heart of Chinatown #2. No eatery in the area goes undiscovered. I'm glad I "discovered" this place. It's one of those places that personifies home for me. My friends at UCSD always ask me why I prefer home to school. Well? Good friends and good eating. =) They still don't get it, but they don't have to. One of those good friends from home once told me that what's important is: "As long as you're happy with what you're doing, and you're happy with the options or outcome, then I'm happy for you." Well, that's basically what he said. It came out as intoxicated gibberish at the time, but I knew what he meant.
UPDATE: My one and only reader commented that I didn't really make any reviews on the actual food itself. After reading over my blog, I find that this is true. My House Special Hot Pot was the Stinky Tofu Hot Pot. It had tofu, cabbage, pork, and various other hot-pot styled vegetables. I ordered "Zhong La" (that's medium spicy). The soup was flavorful, and I found myself spooning it over my rice time and time again. The soup was spicy and savory; it had a salty garlic taste with a hint of pepper. The "spiciness" was not immediate, as it usually is in Asian style hot pot. It was more of a gentle after-bite that left my lips puffy and tingly from the natural spice stimulation. The rice was good, as usual. I love rice with everything; I just can't have it all the time becaues of my diet. There wasn't anything particular about the rice, but it complimented the hot pot food and flavor nicely. The Pork Blood Gelatin was tasty. This was the real stuff, not some fake "nuo mi fan" stuff. I particularly liked the texture. Biting into it definitely had a hard-jello feel but it was smooth on my tongue. After being in my soup for a long time, a lot of the Gelatin accumulated some soup. By the time I got to my last one, I bit into a spicy and juicy, jello-like Pork Blood. This might sound gross, but I love it. It kind of tastes like liver. Oh! And also, the portions are generous! I stuffed myself silly finishing the plate on my own (the boyfriend doesn't like it), but who am I go to complain? The sheer quality and amound made it definitely more than my money's worth. I didn't particularly like the type of tofu that was in the soup. It was the hole-y, juice-gathering kind. I like soft, smooth tofu. This was the spongy stinky tofu. I usually like the deep fried stinky tofu, but I should have known considering it was going to be in a boiling broth. There was a pretty good amount of meat for what I paid. Nothing special about this; just the average run-of-the-farm kind of pork meat. I must admit that there was some MSG in the soup, but I don't mind it the way others do. Actually, I sometimes enjoy it in my food. It adds flavor! Well, I'm not sure if this review is good enough but that's all I can think of right now. Especially because my teacher is lecturing in front of me and I'm trying to concentrate in class and on food. =)
I can't believe it's been four months since my last review. I'm such a bad food blogger, but life has been harsh in thrusting me into the cages of death (school + work + bills, etc). All I want to do at the end of the day is stare at the ceiling. However, I've been to a couple of places lately that just cry out to be reviewed (despite my lack of readers). I suppose this blog is more for myself , my camera, and my memories than anything. Someday, when I'm 30 and doing a job that I don't want to be doing, I can go to this page and remember how much fun I had as a teenager. Which leads me to another point: I'm not a teen anymore! Well, at least, by name I'm not. I turned 20 recently; that's twen-ty, not twen-teen. Sad story. Anyway. . . no sad thoughts!
To get me back on track, I want to start by talking about a recent hitwall that I've discovered. Hitwall is a term I made up for hole-in-the-wall. I love these places. They're dirty, dingy, and delicious. I think the fear of cockroach legs kind of authenticates the eatery. But maybe that's just the Chinese side of me. While most of my peers are facebooking, I'm yelping. I go on Yelp all the time to find places to eat. And Boiling Point was one of them.
Two Fridays ago (I think?), I ditched my classes. Not only did I ditch them, I drove nearly 3 hours north from San Diego. What would normally be a 1.5-2 hour drive became a tedious, stop-and-go trip in rainy day weather, which became further worsened as I hit lunchtime/weekend Los Angeles traffic. BUT, I didn't mind knowing my destination would fill me with the happiness of home and good eating.
I met up with my boyfriend at a parking lot in Alhambra so we would only have to take one car. Good thing we did; all the parking is on the street or around the corner in a supermarket lot. When we arrived, I was expecting the smell to have me flat on my back (from what I've read). But it was far from that. It was a pleasant smell, meaning the stinky tofu would probably not live up to my expectations. But, I had to get the House Special Hot Pot (the stinky tofu hot pot) because that's what this place is known for. I ordered this, plus a plate of Pork Blood Gao (it's like a gelatin).
This came with a free drink. All of this for $8.99 + $2.00 = $11 + Chinese tip ($1 and change).In retrospect, the hot pot wasn't amazing at all. But at that moment, I think I was in heaven. Maybe it was the long drive. Maybe it was from being starved by school food (sandwiches and salad, 7 days a week, no variety). Maybe it was the thought of having traditional Taiwanese street food. Or perhaps, it was just being at a hitwall that made my meal so grand. I left full and satisfied. I didn't pay a lot; I was stuffed; I was warmed up to face the cold weather. And the taste? Well, it's basically meat and vegetable soup with various dipping sauces. So when you talk about hot pot taste, what you're really talking about is the sauce. Just the basic hot sauce and bean pastes, but I was still digging it. Even now, my mouth is watering a little just thinking about it.
It's a cozy little store. It's a good place for a date on an
empty Friday afternoon. I'm pretty sure it gets rowdy here at night, consdering it's in the heart of Chinatown #2. No eatery in the area goes undiscovered. I'm glad I "discovered" this place. It's one of those places that personifies home for me. My friends at UCSD always ask me why I prefer home to school. Well? Good friends and good eating. =) They still don't get it, but they don't have to. One of those good friends from home once told me that what's important is: "As long as you're happy with what you're doing, and you're happy with the options or outcome, then I'm happy for you." Well, that's basically what he said. It came out as intoxicated gibberish at the time, but I knew what he meant.UPDATE: My one and only reader commented that I didn't really make any reviews on the actual food itself. After reading over my blog, I find that this is true. My House Special Hot Pot was the Stinky Tofu Hot Pot. It had tofu, cabbage, pork, and various other hot-pot styled vegetables. I ordered "Zhong La" (that's medium spicy). The soup was flavorful, and I found myself spooning it over my rice time and time again. The soup was spicy and savory; it had a salty garlic taste with a hint of pepper. The "spiciness" was not immediate, as it usually is in Asian style hot pot. It was more of a gentle after-bite that left my lips puffy and tingly from the natural spice stimulation. The rice was good, as usual. I love rice with everything; I just can't have it all the time becaues of my diet. There wasn't anything particular about the rice, but it complimented the hot pot food and flavor nicely. The Pork Blood Gelatin was tasty. This was the real stuff, not some fake "nuo mi fan" stuff. I particularly liked the texture. Biting into it definitely had a hard-jello feel but it was smooth on my tongue. After being in my soup for a long time, a lot of the Gelatin accumulated some soup. By the time I got to my last one, I bit into a spicy and juicy, jello-like Pork Blood. This might sound gross, but I love it. It kind of tastes like liver. Oh! And also, the portions are generous! I stuffed myself silly finishing the plate on my own (the boyfriend doesn't like it), but who am I go to complain? The sheer quality and amound made it definitely more than my money's worth. I didn't particularly like the type of tofu that was in the soup. It was the hole-y, juice-gathering kind. I like soft, smooth tofu. This was the spongy stinky tofu. I usually like the deep fried stinky tofu, but I should have known considering it was going to be in a boiling broth. There was a pretty good amount of meat for what I paid. Nothing special about this; just the average run-of-the-farm kind of pork meat. I must admit that there was some MSG in the soup, but I don't mind it the way others do. Actually, I sometimes enjoy it in my food. It adds flavor! Well, I'm not sure if this review is good enough but that's all I can think of right now. Especially because my teacher is lecturing in front of me and I'm trying to concentrate in class and on food. =)
1 comment:
rawr.. love the picture placement.. doesnt really talk of the food though.. just pricing and stuff.. but i guess mediocre can count.. it was a pretty good place though.. lot better than i thought from the looks of it.. ^_^ KUTGW
Chris--
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