Golden River ~ Dim Sum & Seafood Restaurant

"For her own breakfast she'll project a scheme,
Nor take her tea without a stratagem." 
~ Edward Young, Love of Fame

http://www.goldenriversf.com/


Place: Golden River ~ Dim Sum & Seafood Restaurant
Location: 5827 Geary Boulevard (Between 22nd and 23rd Avenues)
Hours: open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 9:00am; Tuesday at 10:00am; and Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am
Meal: Salty Egg Yolk Pumpkin; Green Onion Cake (1); Vegetarian Rice Crepe Roll (4); Egg Custard (3); and a pot of loose-leaf jasmine tea

(I suppose I could have gone with the Beatles original version, but I think I may have used that EweToob video before, as it's one of my favourites of theirs. I just thought this was a pretty decent cover.

Strangely enough, David Boney's "Golden Years" was actually playing on my XM Radio when I first turned it on while typing out this 'blog-entry, but that song just seemed too anti-Italiano to me what with all the insulting references to "Wop, Wop, Wop, Wop" and such. I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure that "Space Oddity" is really an anti-Semitic paean, too.)


For a change of place, I decided to try something different this morning for breakfast. I just recently noticed that Golden River is open for breakfast. I have eaten there a few times before for lunch or dinner, but was not aware that they were even open for breakfast or I would have included them in my "Breakfast on Geary" series (see last 'blog-entry from May 20th, 2012). I like that they are open early enough on the weekends, and for breakfast, not "Brunch" either. I don't know how to say "Brunch" in Chinese (not that I know how to say "breakfast" either), and would probably ask for the wrong thing, anyway.[1]

I like that they are located close enough to my apartment that I can walk there and back ~ just ten blocks away, downhill (but ten blocks uphill on the way home). There are five large round tables for ten (with a large lazy susan in the middle of each for fun, family-style sharing), and ten tables for four people (groups under five need to fend for themselves, though, as there are no cool lazy susans on the smaller tables). There are also a few large aquariums on the back wall with live fish and lobsters in them ~ provided as entertainment for the kiddies from what I observed.

I can't pretend to even guess at what a typical Chinese breakfast might include, but there were several things on the menu that I decided qualified as breakfastary ~ anything with "egg" or "pancake" in its name would do for me. I was surprised to find out that the Pan Fried Turnip Cake was not vegetarian. (Why is that? Apparently, they include "just a little meat". Really?!) There were also a few puddings available if necessary: Mango Pudding, Green Tea Pudding, Logan (which I am pretty sure is supposed to be "Longan") & Goji Berry Pudding. I didn't notice until I had already ordered these two other items: Garlic Pea Sprouts or Pea Sprouts Dumpling; I probably would have gotten one of those ~ pea sprouts/shoots/greens are one of my favourite leafy greens. And for those of you that ingest the dead, decaying animal flesh (and are a little adventurous) there is always: Snake Soup, Jelly Fish Salad, or Steamed Chicken Feet Black Bean Sauce. Anyone?!

The first dish to come out was the Salty Egg Yolk Pumpkin. I had no idea what this was going to be, but I like pumpkin and figured as long as it's vegetarian (which I confirmed on all my other items ordered, too), I would try it. This was just some egg (yolk)-battered deep fried pumpkin (well, it was probably Kabocha squash) cut into pieces about the size of large French fries. It was okay, but I think it could have used some kind of sauce (other than just soy[2] sauce) or dip to go with it. I have some left over and will reheat it later and try it with some of my own hot sauces.

Next out were the Green Onion Pancakes and the Vegetarian Rice Crepe Roll. I always like green onion pancakes, and these were a good version. I was not sure what a Rice Crepe Roll was going to be, but I liked it a lot. The "rice crepe" part of the roll turned out to be the same stuff that Chow Fun noodles are made from; so, more chewy than a standard crêpe would be. The rolls were filled with (at least) two types of mushrooms, carrots, and celery, and had a light soy-based sauce already on them. I was just a little disappointed that there was no maple syrup offered to go with the pancake.

Lastly were the Egg Custard cups. These were slightly-sweetened egg custard tartlets. They were very hot and fresh out of the oven when they brought them to the table (and I know this as I burned my tongue on the first two I ate ~ yeah, I could have let the second one cool off a bit before trying it, too, but what is the fun in that?).

For condimentary supplementation, Golden River has soy sauce (of course) on all the tables. I didn't ask for any other forms of hot sauces or such. I suppose, like most local Asian restaurants, that they also had some kinda Sriracha hot sauce. I didn't bring any from my own collection with me as I wasn't even sure what there was going to be for breakfast.

It's always nice to get some dim for breakfast…

Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Salty Egg Yolk Pumpkin ~ 5.8; Green Onion Pancake ~ 6.1; Vegetarian Rice Crepe Roll ~ 6.3; Egg Custard ~ 6.2

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, number one:

I only know about two words in Chinese, but I know that it is a tonal language and there are several words that are similar-enough sounding like the words for "Ma", "horse", and "morphine", which in Chinese are (in order): "妈" (pronounced something like "Ma"); "马" (pronounced something like "ma-a"); and "吗" (pronounced something like "ma"). So, it is easy enough to call someone's mother a horse-faced addict by mistake.

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist/pseudo-culinaristic pointer of the day, number two:

"Soy/soybean" comes from Dutch "soya", from Japanese "soyu", variant of "shoyu", from Chinese "shi-yu" (or "jiàngyóu"), from "shi" ("fermented soy beans") + "yu" ("oil").

Denny’s Café

Breakfast on Geary, One Dozen

(No official website)

5530 Geary Blvd

Phonicular contact: (415) 386-3288

(To get the silly reference to today's EweToob video/song selection, you will have to read my 'blog-entry from last Mother's Day, May 8th, 2011. I am very happy to say that no one asked me if I had a "reservation" for "Brunch" this morning.) 


The next stop in my "Breakfast on Geary" series was to Denny's Café (they have the "café" sans accent aigu on their menu and signs, but their cards are avec accent aigu, so I am going with that spelling as I prefer it anyway); they are located between 19th and 20th Avenues along Geary (Boulevard). This is not to be confused with that other Denny's® ("America's diner is always open"… just as long as you are white and have money to spend), as this place will actually cater to minorities and is only open until Midnight every day.

I walked to Denny's again this morning as it is pretty close to where I live. It is interesting to note that between my apartment building and the restaurant (which is only a dozen blocks away) there are nineteen restaurants (not including several bakeries, coffee house, etc.), but there is just one other place that serves breakfast along Geary Boulevard.

Denny's Café is a little Chinese family-owned place (by "little" I mean the size of the restaurant, this is not a racial stereotype against any short Asian-types; though, I am sure in a pick-up Basketball game with any of the staff or customers this morning, I would get me a few good "in-yo-face" rejections). They have probably been in operation much longer than the 26 years that I have lived on Geary. I have eaten dinner there before once or twice, but this was my first breakfastary visit. They actually have several "interesting" (is the best word I can use to describe it) things on their breakfast menu. There were many locals/regulars having breakfasts of soup and noodles and such. I have no idea what a typical Chinese breakfast would entail ("entails" may very well be an ingredient in the soup for all I know), as I have never been closer to the Orient than Saudi Arabia. If I were a bit more adventurous and ate the dead, decaying animal flesh, I would probably have tried one of their breakfast soups just for a change of pace. But as it were, I simply ordered the Vegetable Omelette ~ served with a hashbrown potato triangle, toast, and choice of coffee or tea (I opted for tea for a change).

There really was nothing at all exciting about the omelette; it was made with eggs and had stuff in it, which is better than most of my stupid attempts. The vegetables that were included inside were just green and yellow bell peppers and mushrooms; that was a bit disappointing, but at least it did not include any of the vile weed (which I fully expected at a Chinese restaurant). One nice touch was that the fresh bell peppers were grilled/roasted before adding them into the omelette. The tea was nothing much to write home about, either, but what do the Chinese know about making tea?

For condimentary supplements, Denny's Café had: Tabasco® (standard red); Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce; and some kinda homemade red pepper looking one (which I probably should have given a try). Instead I went with some of my own BIG PAPI En Fuego Hot Sauce ~ Original Mild (Thanks, Kerry!) on the hashbrowns; and just a little 'Smart Arse' Extreme Chilli Sauce (Thanks, Cindy! Your intentions were good.) on the omelette (and I truly mean "just a little"; I brought a toothpick with me this time and used exactly ten drops only on the omelette; I probably could have used a bit more, but there was no way I was going to risk pouring too much of this nookular junk on my meal just in case).

On my way home, I had to pass by John Campbell's Irish Bakery, and was still a bit peckish (esurient… a wee bit 'ungry-like). Now this place makes some very good Irish baked goods, and they make one of the best versions of scones that I have ever had. Their Irish Cream Scones are fantastic; they are made with Bailey's® and are always moist, not hard as a rock like some places make. Unfortunately, they only make these on Saturdays, so I had to "settle" for one of their raisin scones and one of their blueberry scones. I am enjoying the raisin scone right now while typing out this entry, with a decent cuppa Bettys Colombian Rio Magdalena; I will probably have the blueberry scone later this evening with a cuppa Bettys Earl Grey. I know what you are thinking "Irish pastries with British coffee/tea?", but it's okay, I plan on having U.N.-flavoured Tums® to settle any disputes in my stomach later.

http://www.johncampbells.com/

http://www.bettys.co.uk/Coffee,5.aspx

 
"How do you like your tea? One lump of salt or two?" 
Speaking of teas, while I was eating my breakfast I noticed one of the Chinese guys in another booth pouring salt into his tea. He didn't just add a pinch, he probably poured a good teaspoon or two into the cup. Now, not knowing what Chinese breakfast customs were, I figured he knew exactly what he was doing. Plus, I used to go to a Tibetan restaurant that served their tea with salted butter instead of cream (it's something to try once, but I wouldn't recommend it daily). Well, the guy took one sip out of his cup and I knew right away that he had made a big mistake. I can't believe his friend that was sitting across the table from him didn't try to stop him or warn him while he was doing it. He sheepishly asked the waitress for a new cup and proceeded to use the sugar packets that were on the table to sweeten it correctly.

Happy Single Loser's Day! (All of you "mothers" know exactly who you are.)


Glen Bacon Scale Rating:  Vegetable Omelette ~ 5.4; John Campbell's Irish Bakery Scones ~ 7.0 (if I had gotten one of their Irish Cream Scones, this would have been a 7.7 or higher); Bettys Colombian Rio Magdalena ~ 6.5

Joy Luck Place/Champagne Seafood Restaurant

San Mateo, CA



(No official web-site. They are located at 88 East 4th Ave.)


What is better than Chinese breakfast for lunch?[1]

Here's a little known fact, Cliff, "dim sum"[2] in Chinese actually means "breakfast rolls".

I skipped an "official" breakfast this morning as I knew I was going to have an early lunch with the Hallowe'enie Birthday Girl, Amy[3]. It was Amy's choice as it was her birthday meal, after all (don't worry, I made sure she paid for the entire meal at least), and she decided on a popular, local dim sum place (within walking distance of her apartment, which is always nice). 




Now the name of this place is either Joy Luck Place or Champagne Seafood Restaurant. Amy says it is called Joy Luck Place, but their menu says Champagne Seafood Restaurant. The Chinese symbols above their entranceway do not look anything like the symbols on their menu. As the extent of my Chinese is limited to pointing at stuff on the menu, I have no idea what the symbols actually mean, but the name really doesn't matter as this place is a very popular place and people know how to find it easily enough.

As one of their names would imply, they are not just a dim sum place, but a seafood restaurant. This was evident by several large fish tanks in the back of the restaurant. They had tanks filled with prawns, lobsters, crabs, and a few different types of fish (that I have no idea which kind they were). It was very interesting to see the size of the prawns. I had never seen them live and swimming before. Many of them were at least six inches long or larger. I know you can usually pick out a specific lobster or crab for your meal, but I am not sure if the same thing goes for prawns, though.

 


They have a regular menu that you can order off, but most people just end up getting what the numerous servers, who are walking around with trays and carts, are serving. We were offered Shark's fin soup several times, among other exotic dishes, while we were waiting and eating. We came for the dim sum, however, and made sure we got a few different types.

Amy is not a stupid vegetarian, but she went along with my dietary restraints all the same. The first thing we recognized off the servers trays that was sure to be vegetarian was the Chinese Broccoli[4] w/ Oyster Sauce. Luckily, this comes with the oyster sauce on the side for dipping; I forewent this fishy sauce and Amy tried a little bit of it and really didn't like it and joined me in the aforementioned forewental. We both ended up just dipping them in the Chinese hot mustard and red pepper sauces that they had provided us.



Next we ordered a simple Soy Sauce Chow Mein. This was also off the wandering servers trays; it went well with the Chinese broccoli while we were deciding on what else to order.

(I didn't take a picture of this entry. It's noodles and stuff. Chow Mein.)

We decided to order a few things off the menu so we wouldn't be unnecessarily surprised (I tried talking Amy into trying the Chilled Chicken Feet, but she was not having any of that): Vegetarian Dumplings (4) and Pumpkin Buns (3), both off the Steamed portion of the menu; and Special Spring Rolls (3) off the Pan-Fried, Deep-Fried & Baked portion of the menu.




I liked all of these a lot. The vegetarian dumplings were overflowing with a lot of junk: corn, carrots, mushrooms, and a few other tasty things. As it 'tis the season, the pumpkin buns were a very good choice, too. I really liked these a lot; Amy liked them, but not as much as I did, so I had two to her one. I would go back just for the pumpkin buns alone.

There was no way we were going to leave there without any dessert dim sum. They have a lot of really interesting choices: Coconut Pudding in Coconut (which I assume had a little coconut in it); Deep Fried Milk w/Almond (???); Deep-Fried Sesame Egg Yolk Lava Ball; and Green Bean Pudding among others. If it were my choice, I would have ordered the Green Bean Pudding, as it sounded the most interesting and disgusting. But this was the Hallowe'en Princesses' day, after all, so I had to settle for the Deep Fried Sesame Balls (4). Now some poor old sesame is walking around funny and can never have kids.

 


Actually, this would have been my first choice, too. They were very good and served fresh and hot. They were filled with either a sweetened black bean or red bean paste.

When all was said and done, the sum of all these dims added up to a very tasty breakfast/lunch indeed.


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: Dim sum (overall) ~ 6.6; Pumpkin Buns ~ 6.8; Deep Fried Sesame Balls ~ 7.0


[1] The answer is, of course, cold Chinese dinner for breakfast the next morning.
 
[2] Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day:
 
I was just kidding about dim sum meaning "breakfast rolls", but I could easily eat several of their dessert dim sums for breakfast; especially those pumpkin buns. "Dim sum"/點心 actually comes from two Chinese words that combined mean "touch the heart".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum 

[3] One of the all-time best dates to have a birthday on, for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UbGtjnluyY&feature=related 

[4] This is actually called "Kai-lan" and is mostly a leafy vegetable, and unlike it's close relative "the vile weed", this is actually very tasty and I would order it again any day.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_broccoli