This week, S. Irene Virbila heads to Alhambra for giant crustaceans and dim sum at the Hong Kong-style Cantonese restaurant, The Kitchen. Key point: Take lots of friends because one crab can set you back $175. Miss Irene's second point: Don't be scairt of the real Chinese restaurants:
The Kitchen's service is a cut above that at most San Gabriel Valley restaurants. At least two of the managers speak English and are genuinely helpful. And truly, the service and the terrific dim sum are what set the Kitchen apart from any number of restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, many of them much glitzier and better-appointed than this one.See? Just another neighborhood restaurant, one that charges for seafood by the pound (so take a calculator). She gives the Kitchen two full stars, much better than any Hollywood-esque Chinese restaurant she's been to lately. [LAT]A big table is crowded with a family drinking Coca-Cola and whiskey with their seafood feast. The entire restaurant is energized with the excited clamor of friends laughing and talking and eating.
ELSEWHERE: LA.com coos over Table 8; The Little Next Door gets two visits (and one more); LA Weekly descends into The Edison; Potatomato goes vegan at Elf Café; LA & OC Foodie has high tea at Pasadena's Scarlet Tea Room; the Korean-Parisian bakery Paris Baguette causes some confusion; and Caroline on Crack's cupcake bonanza is over, and the results are in.
