Green Zone's Hainan Chicken Rice

Hainan Chicken Rice

Green Zone, San Gabriel, CA


When I first heard of Green Zone I had some real doubts. I mean, it's the same name as the center of Baghdad, right? It's also supposed to be an organic Chinese restaurant? No MSG (aka flavor crystals)?

I walked into Green Zone and they were selling vegetables. I didn't know what to think at this point, but I persevered and asked for a table.

I ordered Hainan Chicken Rice, one of my all time favorites. Now, my old favorite was the Hainan Chicken Restaurant that was in Rowland Heights years ago. I haven't had a good Hainan chicken since then -- although I've tried, mostly at Thai restaurants. Usually that means it's cold, dry, and not very appetizing.

Green Zone's Hainan Chicken wasn't traditional -- it was organic and had a very flavorful soy sauce. The rice wasn't just flavored with chicken broth; it had lemongrass too. It was great.

Nomad food from Western China

Xinjiang is China's "New Frontier." I mean that literally -- the name means New Frontier. It's the homeland of the Uyghur people, a Turkic people who have a culture that's similar to their neighbors in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The population has a testy relationship with the central government in Beijing. Uyghur captives at Gitmo were released and sent to Albania because the Chinese government would've tortured them if they had returned home.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Omar Halal, a Uyghur restaurant on New Avenue in San Gabriel, around the corner from the Great Mall of China. I saw it there a few weeks ago when I was getting a hair cut. Then this last week an article about it appeared in the Los Angeles Times. So today I decided to give the place a try.

We gave a few representative dishes a try. First up was Xinjiang Hand Zhuafan, a Uyghur palao. The short-grain rice was steeped in a subtle broth that was lightly spiced. The rice was accented with slices of mutton, golden raisins, carrots, and a dried apricot. I'm not really a fan of short-grain rice, but I thought it was OK. My friend thought it was like Omar had poured Swanson broth into Uncle Ben's rice. I don't think I'd go that far!

I got hand-pulled noodles too. It was entertaining watching the woman prepare them. You'd see her stretch them out through the air, occasionally hitting them on the counter with a loud "thwack." The dish was complemented with a sauce that had celery, green peppers, lamb, and chillies. It was a little like chop suey, but I did appreciate the toothy texture of the noodles. It's something that the Taiwanese refer to as "Q" -- an al dente quality that's quite pleasing.

Beef kabobs were a little fatty, but heavily flavored with cumin. I thought they were tasty, but next time I'll get the lamb. Or maybe I'll try the "haggis soup" that's featured too.

Cupcakes

I don't really get the whole cupcake renaissance. I used to work for a woman who owned a shop in Berverly Hills that was next to the Spinkles shop. People would be lined up down the block for cupcakes.

Sprinkles is snooty. Here's what they say about themselves: "The world's first cupcake bakery, the progenitor of the haute cupcake craze, most cupcake bakeries take their inspiration from Sprinkles."

The school I work at brought Spinkles cupcakes today. I still don't really what the big deal is. I had to buy two of them though. Just for research purposes, of course.

San Gabriel mayor resigns in wake of the Great Dumpling Incident

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2010/10/albert_huang_mayor_resigns.php

I was born in San Gabriel, CA. The mayor recently resigned after a scandalous incident with his girlfriend. Suffice it to say that the woman threw a steamer full of xiao long bao at the mayor. He responded by throwing black vinegar at her, much to the waitress' amusement. What a waste of good soup dumplings.

The return of Eating With Chan

So I had a blog for several years over at the recently closed Vox. But now I'm back.