Wednesday again already? It feels like only yesterday we were scarfing down some delicious frozen Persian treats.
For this week, however, I took a cue from the LA Weekly’s Jonathan Gold. When he claims a place has the best steamed fish head in LA, you can bet your sweet ass we’ll be there to check it out for ourselves. After all, if there’s one thing I know, it’s “Best Of’s” in LA. Well, that and weird food.
Hunan Seafood is located in a predominantly Asian area of Rosemead, so it’s not readily obvious that this place will be any better than any other. But I trust Johnny G. to lead me to deliciousness.
At first perusal, the menu doesn’t seem to offer anything too out of the ordinary. Well, until you spot the category “Pork & Beef & Frog”… I’ve got nothing against eating frog (hell, I love the little buggers), but I’m far from putting them on the same level and pork and beef.
And I was seriously tempted to actually order some, were it not for the waitresses insistence that the pork skin was a far more popular dish, her eyes practically bugging out of her head when I asked which was better.
Important note: if you do plan on ordering the fish head, be forewarned it takes a solid 35 minutes. Also, make sure you’re ordering the menu item #1 (Fish Head Casserole in Spicy Sauce) as opposed to the far less interesting #16 (just regular old fish head - yawn!).
So how was everything?
Well, the fried pork skin dish was somewhat interesting. It tasted like strips of fat sautéed in bell peppers and chili… The pork itself was mostly flavorless (I was hoping for more of a bacon-y taste). Not bad by any stretch, although being the somewhat health conscious eater, I felt a little guilty eating it.
It was a touch greasy for my taste, and not altogether amazing. I’m guessing this is more of a comfort food, something to remind ex-pat Chinese of Sweet Home Hunanabama. I doubt it’s a destination dish. Not even as good as a nice bag of pork rinds (Disclaimer: I haven’t had pork rinds in about 10 years).
To soften the blow of whatever was coming, we also ordered a nice little Pickled Vegetable Fried Rice. Not bad, mostly unremarkable. I’d be hard-pressed to distinguish that from any other friend rice, except for the beef-jerky-looking shreds of pickled veggies. Not bad at all, but again, not a destination dish.
The dishes came out at a very gradual pace, seemingly to spread them out while we waited for our fishy-fish-fish to steam. By the time it actually came to our table, I was starting to wonder just how much I could eat…
And then, there was fish. I’m not sure if the video and the photo can properly convey the size of this thing, but it was probably about half the size of my head (which is pretty damned big).
As if you couldn’t quite tell, the fish is spicy! It’s swimming in minced red chilies. Add to that the fact that the thing sits in a steamer for 35 minutes, and you’ve got a recipe for a raw and burnt mouth.
And despite what Will might say, it’s actually pretty damned good. In fact, I’d venture so far as to say the “gooey” bits are more tasty than the actual flesh.
It’s worth noting that the lower portion of the head is actually all meat. The dish is most likely meant to be split be two or more people, especially if you factor in spooning the sauce / soup onto some rice (which I highly recommend).
If I were to liken the gooey bits to anything else, it would have to be the fatty bits of pork belly you get in ramen. It’s got a lot of flavor, but in a gentle, pleasant manner. It’s not overpowering, and it’s not particularly fishy, either. The texture is probably the hardest part to get over, although short of having big sharp legs tearing my mouth apart, I’ve got no problem with it. It’s light, fluffy and a bit creamy. And no, that’s not a bad thing. Just… different.
So if you’re in a seafood mood and want to try something different, drive on out to Rosemead. It will only take you about 20-30 minutes from Hollywood, traffic notwithstanding. Is it the best fish head? Well, without a basis for comparison, I’m going to go with yes.
Hunan Seafood
8772 E. Valley Blvd.
Rosemead
(626) 280-8389
$-$$
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
3 responses so far ↓
1 Mahatma Kane Jeeves // Jan 30, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads–fish heads, fish heads–eat them up, yum!
http://gigglesugar.com/222437
2 Kendra // Jan 30, 2008 at 4:53 pm
that fish looked like he wanted to swim off your plate.
i couldn’t even watch you eat it. aggghhh!
3 Mali // Jan 30, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Yeah that theme is definitely going to be stuck in my head
Leave a Comment