Jonathan Gold on Alhambra's Shi Hai Plus More Reviews Around Town

This week, Jonathan Gold doles out accolades for Shi Hai, a Hong Kong newcomer that opened last July in Alhambra. Touting the high quality ingredients (shoot, even the cucumbers are delicious) to the impeccable preparations, the Goldster declares this the best dim sum restaurant in San Gabriel Valley:

The first time I went to Shi Hai, I was pretty sure I had stumbled into the best dim sum restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley. The stuffed meat dumplings were first-rate, gooey domes of sticky rice flour encasing a teaspoon or so of sweet, crumbled pork, and the tiny almond-crusted shrimp balls were unusually light and crisp. There were translucent rice noodles, steamed to that knife's edge between solid and liquid, wrapped around crunchy, freshly fried crullers that in turn were stuffed with a kind of shrimp mousse, an excellent version of a congee-house classic.

In the meantime, Patric Kuh gives three stars to Kris Yenbamroong's Night + Market Song, lauding the young chef's efforts in Silver Lake:

I prefer Yenbamroong's cooking when it's more straightforward, a taut style that despite its casualness reflects detailed care. After years of enjoying Thai food as a known quantity, I've found myself excited to learn about new flavors when I go to Song. The first time I tried the larb tod was reason enough to return. Fashioned from a mix of pork liver and blood (and as robust as you'd imagine), the meat is deep fried as slider-size patties, the juices oozing onto a bed of shredded cabbage that's been scattered with fried garlic bits and pork cracklings

The Elsewhere: Midtown Lunch announces Commissary's (and POT's) new lunch menu, Oh Hei There checks out another near-final meal at b.o.s., KevinEats goes to Pine & Crane, and Table Conversation goes to Bombay Cafe.