East Vs West Part 1: Food

I grew up in a little Asian town called "Monterey Park" (said in a fobby voice) just on the outskirts of Los Angeles.  My family left Vietnam via boat (hence the phrase fresh off the boat), had a layover in Malaysia and was sponsored by a Christian family and moved over to the States.  They went to a town called Scranton Pennsylvania (where the Office supposedly took place but was actually filmed in a warehouse in the Valley),  and had my brother.  They lived as long as they could in the cold snow before deciding to move to California.  Someone had told them about a little down east of Los Angeles called the San Gabriel Valley where many Chinese were relocating too.  And the rest was history - I was born in Monterey Park's Garfield Medical Center and proceeded to spend the next 18 years there before going off to college to experience some diversity.  Mark Keppel, my high school was predominantly Asian and Hispanic with a few Caucasians and African Americans.

When I went to college (2 years at UC Davis and 2 years at UCLA), I loved the diversity. I joined a sorority at Davis called Alpha Chi Omega.  We were a pretty diverse group and this is actually how I got into Country Music.

I have lived in the Santa Monica/Westwood area whilst at UCLA for undergrad and Pepperdine for B-school and most recently in West LA for the past year and a half.  Now I am back in MPK to spend more time with my parents and while I work in DTLA.  But anyways, let's get down to the East vs West Comparison.

First and most importantly - food.   I have lived in Monterey Park for a majority of my life - there is an excellent variety of Asian foods - Chinese (Dim Sum, Cafe Food, Dumplings, Hot Pot, etc), Japanese (Sushi, Shabu, Ramen, Curry, Poke), Thai (Pad Thai, Pad See Ew), Vietnamese (Pho, Vermicelli Noodles, Seven Courses of Beef), Korean (Korean BBQ, Koren Tofu), Indian (Chicken Tikka Masala, Tandoori Chicken) and Hawaiian (Sesame Chicken, Spamaubi, Mochiko Chicken) and many of these places open early and close late.

On the West Side you get a similar aray of food but less options.  Most of the good Asian food is on Sawtelle. I know of one good dumpling place, one good Pho place (this is good but not great).  Roc has tasty dumplings but is not Din Tai Fung.  Nong La is good but its no Golden Deli.   You have more chain-like Hawaiian places, but the Japanese food is top notch, with "Little Osaka."  You got many really good options - Daikokuya (SGV check), Shin Sen Gumi (SGV check), but they also have Tatsu - which is pretty tasty and Tsujita which I tried once and thought was just okay but people obviously like it because the lines are insane. I may have to give it one more try...

So in terms of Asian food, the SGV probably has the West Side beat.  But in terms of service, West Side for sure.  Asians may be lazier and open later, but they are more friendly in general and most speak English vs some SGV places that are rude and don't always understand you or vice versa.  We also have our own video courtesty of the Fung Bros:

626 Young Wild & Free

For other food - SGV has a pretty good Greek place called John's Kabob but there are way more options on the West Side. But I guess if you open up the SGV to South Pasadena (which I don't totally agree with), we have many more options. I'm just talking about Monterey Park, Alhambra, Rosemead and San Gabriel area. We have pretty good Pizza (Bollini's, Petrillo's and Mamma's Brick Oven Pizza).  We also have bomb Mexican food being so close to East LA.    Westside has good pizza although nothing stands out as really good.   The Mexican food is pretty good - I love Don Antonio's, and their Steak Houses like Mastros are pretty top notch.   Both have Boiling Crab (although the SGV has two within a 2 mile radius of each other - Main and Valley) and you have to venture out to traffic crazy Westwood to bet your BC fix in West La.  Speaking of Westwood, the Westside has Diddy Riese which is the mother of all cookies, so one point for the West Side.  In terms of dessert, I'd probably give it to the West as they also have Sprinkles, B Sweet Dessert Bar and Brian's Shave Ice where they have DOLE WHIP!!   There's a Blockheads in both locations but SGV has Fluff Ice and 3 Half and Half locations. For those who are unfamiliar, Half and Half is a super yummy boba place that started the whole huge cup phenomenon.

The whole boba conversation is a beast in itself and will be addressed in another blog post.