LA/Norwalk

[tammylc]

I'll be in Norwalk for one evening on a business trip in December. Apparently Renu Nakorn is closing for 6 months for remodeling. Any other recommendations for Norwalk, or something a not-too-onerous drive away?

[rjwong]

tammylc,

Egads! Do you need to be rescued or something??

If you're not familiar where Norwalk is located:

Norwalk is located within Los Angeles County, close to the Orange County (CA) border, along the Golden State Freeway (aka "The 5" Freeway). Norwalk is close to the cities of Cerritos (LA) and Fullerton (OC). That area is NOT what I consider a culinary destination area. Mind you, I'm not too familiar with the area. I haven't really heard much from that part of Southern California ...

Depending on where you're driving to and what time of the day, you can have dinner in Long Beach, or downtown LA, or the San Gabriel Valley (Monterey Park, Alhambra).

What do you consider "a not-too-onerous" drive?

[tammylc]

Yeah, I'll probably need to be rescued.

I'll be visiting Cerritos Community College. I land at LAX at 5:30, and will be heading to Norwalk from there once I pick up my rental car (I understand it's something like 18 miles, but haven't looked up details yet). I'm coming from the Eastern timezone, so that will be like 8:30 body clock, so I don't think I'm up for a long schlep anywhere. Oh, and I'll probably have a couple other people with me who are not foodies. I was hoping to find something near the hotel that would be better than the hotel restaurant. I was really excited to find out about this Thai place - bummer that it's closed for renovations!

So by non-onerous drive, I guess my criteria would be no more than 20 minutes away, and straightforward directions.

[rjwong]

You would be near the intersection of two major freeways:

"The 605" Freeway (north-south)

"The 91" Freeway (aka Artesia Freeway, east-west)

Cerritos CC is located in the northeast section of the intersection.

From CCC, drive westbound on the 91, then turn southbound on "The 710" Freeway (aka Long Beach Freeway), until you dead-end into downtown Long Beach.

At this point, I'm not too familiar with Long Beach. Mind you, there is someone who is familiar with that area ... Chris Cognac. You might want to PM him (But not right now ... he's filming in Chicago).

I hope this helps. Mind you, if you need to be rescued, just scream towards downtown LA, in a northwesterly direction from Cerritos CC ...

[Maison Rustique]

What kind of food/price range?

[tammylc]

I like all kinds of food. I work for a nonprofit so my expense account isn't extravagant - say a max of about $30-$40 for dinner.

If I end up taking my coworkers with me, then probably something with a little more atmosphere than greasy spoon hole in the walls with amazing food. Or maybe not - I took a coworker to Sal's Fried Chicken in Rochester, NY once, and that's decidedly downmarket...

I'll be coming from Michigan, so someplace where I can sit outside and soak up the warmth would be awesome.

Actually, it just occured to me that since I'm taking the red-eye home, I'll actually need plans for two dinners.

[hzrt8w]

I like all kinds of food.  I work for a nonprofit so my expense account isn't extravagant - say a max of about $30-$40 for dinner.

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I don't know about Thai food in that area. But Cerritos is an area where you can find lots of good Chinese food.

I also like Panda Inn. There is one in La Palma:

Panda Inn Restaurant

(714) 522-3328 Write a Review 2 Centerpointe Dr

La Palma, CA

(The map here)

It's right there very close to 605 + 91.

The food is good. The dining room environment and the service is pretty good - unlike many typical Chinese restaurant (I am sad to say that).

$30-$40 (per person I assume) would get you plenty.

[Carolyn Tillie]

How do you feel about Indian food? You aren't far from Artesia which has a HUGE strip of fabulous Indian restaurants on Pioneer Boulevard. Take a look HERE. It is essentially the Little India of LA County.

Long Beach isn't a far stretch and has some fabulous restaurants. Belmont Shore is a great strip of walking shops, bistros, and whatnot (non-commercial). I actually really miss Belmont Shore - nothing completely high-end or over the top, just great hometown digs like Open Sesame (Mediterranean), Babette's Feast (vol au vents and great pastries), and a few others whose names escape me.

[SG-]

How do you feel about Indian food? You aren't far from Artesia which has a HUGE strip of fabulous Indian restaurants on Pioneer Boulevard. Take a look HERE. It is essentially the Little India of LA County.

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Thanks for the reminder, just moved down to LA from SF and I was trying to remember where this is located. I was very impressed during my stop many years ago.

[russ parsons]

i know the area fairly well. a couple of points: 1) if your flight is arriving at 5:30, forget about the 18 miles. you're going to be at least an hour and a half getting to Norwalk. my advice, then, would be to take the 91 freeway east and get off at pioneer blvd south (that will take about 45-60 minutes by itself). almost at the corner of the 91 and pioneer is a big "mini-mall" anchored by a stater brothers grocery. in hte corner of the mall parking lot you'll see woodlands. great vegetarian indian food for not much money. eat there and let the traffic die down. from there, at 7, it'll be only another 10 to 15 minutes to norwalk.

[tammylc]

i know the area fairly well. a couple of points: 1) if  your flight is arriving at 5:30, forget about the 18 miles. you're going to be at least an hour and a half getting to Norwalk. my advice, then, would be to take the 91 freeway east and get off at pioneer blvd south (that will take about 45-60 minutes by itself). almost at the corner of the 91 and pioneer is a big "mini-mall" anchored by a stater brothers grocery. in hte corner of the mall parking lot  you'll see woodlands. great vegetarian indian food for not much money. eat there and let the traffic die down. from there, at 7, it'll be only another 10 to 15 minutes to norwalk.

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That bad, huh? Well, then, I'm in luck, because I think the date is changing, so I can adjust my arrival time if necessary. What can I expect it to be like if I get in at 5:30 pm on Sunday?

I've heard you have some traffic out there, but this sounds ridiculous!

[russ parsons]

I'm in luck, because I think the date is changing, so I can adjust my arrival time if necessary.  What can I expect it to be like if I get in at 5:30 pm on Sunday?

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sunday at 5:30, you're probably looking at no more than 30 minutes. traffic is ridiculous, of course, but i'd quibble with the distance of 18 miles. sure seems longer than that. of course, maybe that's just the traffic.

[tammylc]

19 miles to my hotel, or so the Marriott website says.

[knoxy]

19 miles to my hotel, or so the Marriott website says.

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From LAX, Sunday would be anywhere from 1/2 hour to 45 mins max...

Artesia does have awesome Indian Food. Cerritos has some great asian cuisine as well.

I would also consider Long Beach - just a quick trip up the 605 to 7th Street, exit Studebaker left and right on 2nd... you will be in Belmont Shore within about 2-3 miles. About a 20 minute total drive from Norwalk (max).

If you make a right on 2nd, then a right on PCH, you will find Enrique's Mexican Food at PCH and Loynes. Best Mexican food ever.

Fora on 2nd Street in Naples (right before you hit Belmont Shore) is by far one of my favorite restaurants in Long Beach. Check out their website - not sure if the prices are too steep (was unclear if the cost quoted was per plate or per couple):

http://www.fora-naples.com/

Biggs is in the Shore - pretty good "small plates." Their house wine is $10 a bottle and frankly, it's not bad! Stay away from Bono's - it's horrid and the customer service sucks. If you want Italian, let me know and there are about three or four great recommendations.

Further down 2nd Street, you will turn into Ocean Avenue. Continuing down Ocean hits Downtown Long Beach - several places to eat down there - mostly chains... depending on what you like.

[rjwong]

i know the area fairly well. a couple of points: 1) if  your flight is arriving at 5:30, forget about the 18 miles. you're going to be at least an hour and a half getting to Norwalk. my advice, then, would be to take the 91 freeway east and get off at pioneer blvd south (that will take about 45-60 minutes by itself). almost at the corner of the 91 and pioneer is a big "mini-mall" anchored by a stater brothers grocery. in hte corner of the mall parking lot  you'll see woodlands. great vegetarian indian food for not much money. eat there and let the traffic die down. from there, at 7, it'll be only another 10 to 15 minutes to norwalk.

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If traffic is that bad, perhaps eating someplace close to LAX (i.e., Venice, Culver City) may be an idea, then drive to Norwalk afterwards.

Or drive from LAX directly to Long Beach, have dinner, then Norwalk.

[tammylc]

19 miles to my hotel, or so the Marriott website says.

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Fora on 2nd Street in Naples (right before you hit Belmont Shore) is by far one of my favorite restaurants in Long Beach. Check out their website - not sure if the prices are too steep (was unclear if the cost quoted was per plate or per couple):

http://www.fora-naples.com/

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Wow - Fora sounds great! I'm a sucker for tasting menus with wine pairings, and the price is quite reasonable for that. I'll have to see who I end up going with, and how they'd feel about a splurge meal...

[russ parsons]

hmmm, it never occurred to me that long beach would be a midway point between lax and norwalk. it always seems to me that i end up having to drive north to get there (whereas the 91 is a direct shot ... once you've gotten on it).

but welcome to the gullet knoxy, good to have another long beacher in the crowd (there are a couple of us).

[tammylc]

Or drive from LAX directly to Long Beach, have dinner, then Norwalk.

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This is seeming like a good plan - I'm going to want an early dinner anyway.

[boar_d_laze]

You like ethnic? No problem.

You're 10 minutes from "Little India." You're 10 minutes from "Little Saigon." You're 1/2 an hour from the San Gabriel Valley, with the highest concentration of great asian restaurants of anywhere in the world. The chinese food here kicks NYC's butt. You're 45 minutes (or less) from Korea Town -- with it's wonderful barbecues and "Japanese Restaurants." You can eat the most wonderful Mexican cuisine -- and I do mean cuisine -- almost anywhere in SoCal.

Woman, what do you want to eat? How about duck? Lu Din Gee in San Gabriel has Beijing style Duck Three Ways. The skin is like lacquered sugar. Best xiao loon bao? Best dim sum? Pho dac biet? Mojarra frita in salsa diabla? Yen ta fo with extra fish balls? Big ol' steak? $100/person Korean sushi? Cunning little places off the main drag with great Euro-American cuisine?

I'm no expert when it comes to Norwalk particularly, but greater Los Angeles is hardly a culinary wasteland.

Rich

Edited October 7, 2006 by boar_d_laze (log)

[boar_d_laze]

Nothing against Long Beach, there are some very nice places, it's a charming city within the city. But there's no place I would rate as "incredible" or "world class." There are several which meet those criteria within your budget along the Santa Monica/San Bernadino (10) Freeway -- more or less on your way -- in the San Gabriel Valley. Furthermore, the Long Beach Freeway (the 710) is seldom easy, and usually very difficult. It is the corridor containers travel between the train yards downtwon and the busiest commercial harbor in the country, the Port of Los Angeles.

"Lu Din Gee," the duck place in San Gabriel, charges about $40 for their Duck Three Ways. It's more than enough for two. (With a companion, you've got room for drinks, dessert, and a generous tip.) First, they serve the skin and the best parts of the breast with pancakes, scallions and fermented sweet bean sauce -- regular Beijing duck -- maybe, but somehow better. Second way: The rest of the breast along with the thigh with sprouts. Somehow they manage to make the most unctious of meats taste delicious and healthy at the same time. Don't know how they do it. Last, duck soup. Also, light and refreshing. Again, how do they do that? The place also has a wider selection of konyaku than anywhere else in the known universe. Plus other very chinese delights. It's well blogged, you don't have to take my word for it. It's on a main street, a straightforward five minutes and two turns off the freeway. They require at least one hour's notice for the duck. They're demographic section is well-off first or second generation thirty or forty somethings and their parents.

At any rate there are a multitude of Chinese restaurants along the 10 corridor for every taste and budget -- a few of them world class. If you're arriving in the morning, there are a couple of dim sum places which rival anywhere in Hong Kong. But these places are very time sensitive. I hestitate to send you anywhere you'll have to wait for more than an hour. Chinese might be a good idea, in that part of your adventure will be the difference between NYC's "Chinatown" and Los Angeneles' "China Valley." There is just so much here.

Something else you don't see much of in New York City is real, actual, and in fact, Mexican restaurants filled with real, actual, and in fact, Mexicans. If you like very spicy fish, I recommend the mojarra frita (whole, unbreaded, deep-fried talapia) a la diabla at the neighborhood Jalisco style Mexican restaurant in El Monte, "El Jacalito," also on Valley Blvd. Also about five minutes off the freeway. But I warn you, if you get it with salsa diabla you better like hot food. They pretty much want a waiver from Anglos before they'll serve it. They also serve it without the sauce. The fish us almost always cooked to a turn and grease-free. It's served with a separate plate of french fries, beans, rice, lettuce with guacamole, and everything else you could imagine would be good in a tortilla. And, oh yes, the corn tortillas are hand made fresh while they're cooking the rest of your dinner. About $12 for dinner. They serve beer and margaritas. There are a number of other Mexican places... Perhaps something Oaxacan? These aren't the usual American-drenched-in-melted-cheese places, and they aren't fusion interpretations by Rick Bayless either. They're the real deal.

Korea Town (we call it K-Town) is probably too far out of the way in terms of time and traffic. Much as I like the dining possibilities in the general area, and much as I like to send New Yorkers there, if you're not on a mission to seek out great Korean -- forget it for this trip. Ditto "Thai Town" in "East Hollywood." Considering your budget limitations, sushi is right out.

Rich

Edited October 7, 2006 by boar_d_laze (log)

[Carolyn Tillie]

Another thought -- as if you need more suggestions -- is that en route to Norwalk, if you drive south on the 405 near the , you will pass Gardena which has the best Japanese restaurants in the state. The corporate offices of Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, and more all reside in Gardena and for me, now living in San Francisco which has more Japanese restaurants than could ever possibly be tried, pale in comparison with what I've had in Gardena.

These are not your run-of-the-mill Benihana establishments. You could have some seriously high-end, fabulously prepared sushi or omakase.

If this interests you, let me know and I can make specific recommendations, but it IS right on the way to Norwalk!

[tammylc]

Those are some great suggestions, Rich, but I feel compelled to mention that I am NOT from NYC - don't know where you got that impression. My homebase is Ann Arbor, MI.

[boar_d_laze]

Tammy,

I don't know where I got that idea either.

Well, definitely more sophisticated than the Chinese food you'd find in Ann Arbor. Carolyn's right about the Japanese food in Gardena -- and West Los Angeles also for that matter -- but $40/person doesn't stand a chance for dinner at a good sushi place in SoCal. Lunch, maybe, if you don't ask for shashimi. Omakase which roughly trnaslates to "chef's choice" is definitely not happening for much less than a $60 a pop.

If you are a sushi maven, there are a number of high-end Korean sushi bars which give any Japanese place in L. A. (or Tokyo for that matter) a run for their money. Korean cuisine of all types can be had at very high levels in Los Angeles. However, the restaurants are inconveniently located for you, and the sushi joints are way out of your price range.

Then there's Mexican food. There are more Mexicans living in greater Los Angeles than anywhere outside of Mexico City. Mexican food is ubiquitous, inexpensive and quite often incredibly delicious. We see so much of it here, that we don't appreciate how good our Mexican and other mezo-American restaurants are. At any rate there are a number of good places right along your route, and a very interesting Oaxacan joint, "Guelegetza," not too far out of the way, about 10 minutes off the freeway (if it's not rush hour.) The food is great, very spicy but not hot. No trouble for the Michigan palate. The clientele is great too. Enjoy the famalies and the tribal resemblance. Also, they've got some serious Mexican music going. About $20 per person including drinks and tip. Excellent selection of tequilas and mezcals.

It's only a block or so away from a very good Korean barbecue place, Tahoe Galbi -- so if you want to try Korean barbecue, maybe it isn't too much trouble after all. Good Korean barbecue is a real trip, and "Tahoe Galbi" is very good. If you go there, tell them you want charcoal -- not gas -- barbecue. Great steak done in the Korean style. Try Bak Sae Jue, it's a sweet Korean wine flavored with herbs. Supposedly very healthy. And, as they say, "the ladies love it." About $40 after all is said and done. Well worth it.

The other place I recommended, "El Jacalito" in El Monte, is more of a good neighborhood place, with a few regional dishes -- but mostly it's pan-Mexican. The food is excellent, but if you're not a chile person you might find the heat level high. Another El Monte Mexican place you might like is "La Sirena" which specializes in Mexican seafood ("mariscos"). Excellent appetizer/finger foods (antojitos). Good bar, too. Figure $20.

But, go for the Chinese. It's of a quality and sophistication like nothing you've ever had or seen.

Rich

[knoxy]

Wow - Fora sounds great!  I'm a sucker for tasting menus with wine pairings, and the price is quite reasonable for that.  I'll have to see who I end up going with, and how they'd feel about a splurge meal...

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Thanks for the welcome! I've been a lurker here for a while - just joined during a trip to Napa about three months ago. Decided to put my money where my lurking is.

I look forward to being a more active participant!

[knoxy]

But there's no place I would rate as "incredible" or "world class."

Boar, have you done Fora or Fringale in the LBC yet? You would be surprised - some really incredible dining experiences are coming up in the Shore and Naples now.