Finless Eel at Southern Mini Town. San Gabriel, CA

In another thread, I rather immodestly praised myself for fabulous planning which led to some wonderful birria in Los Angeles. I had another tremendous meal that same day, but this time it was mostly luck. My research had led me to what are surely fabulous soup dumplings at a place called Luscious Dumplings. Alas, salivating over pictures and descriptions of the food caused me to forget to check one important detail: the hours

Luscious Dumplings, closed on Mondays:



By the time I got over my disappointment, reached for my list of backup restaurants, and started programming addresses into the rental car GPS, I realized that I simply didn't have time to go exploring. The reality of this being a business trip meant that I had to find something to eat quickly, or not eat at all. In situations like this, I have a couple of philosophies:

(1) in ethnic neighborhoods with crowded and empty restaurants, choose the crowded ones; and
(2) the best Chinese food is almost always in a strip mall with a sign that looks something like this:

Mall Sign, Southern Mini Town is the one translated simply as "Restaurant":


I took a brisk walk around the mall, and discovered that while the rest of the places were mostly empty, 8 of Southern Mini Town's 10 tables were full of Chinese families enjoying what looked like massive feasts. Sold. Though the server/ hostess/ cashier seemed a little reluctant when I told her I was one for dinner, she eventually led me to a table and let me sit, inciting what seemed like an argument between her and someone in the back. Perhaps they were concerned that I was taking up a whole table in an almost-full restaurant. Thankfully, two tables started getting up to leave, and everyone (including me) seemed a bit less concerned about the situation.

Boy am I glad it worked out, because I was then treated to a fantastic meal, which started with a light, refreshing "salad" which is provided free at every table. With bean sprouts, cucumber, celery, roasted peanuts, chopped chilis, and what tasted like a wine/ chicken stock/ sesame oil based dressing, this fresh, crunchy starter was just perfect.

Gratis starter:


After the somewhat tense arrival moment, I wanted to endear myself to the server by ordering an authentic, non-gringo-like dish. This was too easy to accomplish, because the Shanghai-inspired menu was filled almost entirely with dishes I'd never heard of. At the table next to me, a family of 8 was eating a massive feast of casseroles, roasted meats, and more. It all looked great, but there was one dish that seemed to be causing a When Harry Met Sally like reaction for the rather attractive mother of two at the table. With irony that I'm sure no one but me appreciated, I said "I'll have what she's having," and pointed at what turned out to be "Sauteed finless eel with leeks."

Her oohing and ahhing turned out to be completely justified, as this was one heck of a dish. Language barrier prevented me from finding out too many specifics, but I detected plenty of ginger and rice wine to go along with tender eel, which tasted wonderfully like eel. The seasonings enhanced rather than masked the eel flavor. A perfectly balanced dish that I'd be happy to eat again and again.

Skinless eel with leeks:



What a lucky find Southern Mini Town was! I had a fantastic meal, and hope that my business travels allow me to return. The menu is massive and warrants big-group dining.


Southern Mini Town Restaurant
833 W. Las Tunas Drive
San Gabriel, CA
626-289-6578

Kennyz wrote:What a lucky find Southern Mini Town was! I had a fantastic meal, and hope that my business travels allow me to return. The menu is massive and warrants big-group dining.

Kenny,

Eel looks terrific, can't wait for my next trip to LA. Going to have to corral my nephew, his son and a few others to increase ordering power. Between your recent posts, Can Coon Thai, Antojitos Guerrero and Pigmon's Ramen posts I will be busy.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

There is indeed a wealth of recent information on LTHForum about eating in Los Angeles, and I suspect that even that barely scratches the surface of all the terrific stuff out here.

If you do order the eel at Southern Mini Town, order it the way I described in the text (Finless Eeel), and not the way I captioned the picture (Skinless eel). It is indeed skinless (ever try to eat an eel skin? not fun), but that's not the name of the dish.

Kenny

When I was in college there was a guy who would print up a kind of surreal newspaper a couple of times a year, with headlines like "Dreamer Dead at Tensleep."

"Finless Eel at Southern Mini Town" is the closest anyone has come to that...

Made it to Luscious Dumplings after all. Was it worth the hype? I certainly thought so.



wonderfully chewy dumplings and vibrant, fresh fillings. Around 6 bucks for 10 dumplings.


Luscious Dumplings
704 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 282-8695