This is my second time back at THJ, and I feel I'm in a more unbiased position to give my honest thoughts and feedback on this mom & pop dumpling restaurant.
And therefore my unbiased rating will still be 4 stars. 1 rating lower from 5 which is what I originally wanted to score this place based on first impressions.
I think as a family unit, the aura and hospitality they give is undeniably top notch. You feel at home, you feel like your living in a small town of 3000, and the Smiths are running this local eatery and they've been your neighbors for ages. Maintaining a place like this is a labor of love, it's stressful, it's hard work, and to still have that level of energy and commitment showing on their faces with an empty restaurant, that's called passion. But just baseing a restaurant's score on staff likeability is not enough to justify a 5 star rating. You also have to factor in the taste of the food and this alone varies from one person to the next.
Thus far on my two visits. I've tried their Beef Noodle Soup, Zhajiang Mian (*Chinese Jajangmyun), their Cumin Beef Empanada Style Fried Dumplings, their Beef with vermicelli pan fried gyoza style dumplings, and their Empanada Style Chives with Eggs Fried Dumplings.
My verdict on the food is an overall rating of 3/5.
Hear me out. The chives with eggs empanadas were awesome, they're your traditional breakfast style Chinese empanadas that you pair in the morning with some Soy Milk. I loved these and no doubt would order more and bring these on my truck every now and then.
The pan fried gyoza with the beef vermicili is on par with the original pan fried gyozas at The Original Foo Foo Teis on 7th Ave. Full of juices, full of flavors, good skin texture not breaking, and had the right amount of burn and crispiness. But the filling I felt needed more cilantro and onions in there to balance the protein....msg too, throw some msg in there too for that Umami. 3/5
The chives and pork dumplings were pretty solid. I wouldn't rank them as the best I've had but I will tell you I finished the plate in under 5 minutes. Probably a 4/5
The Jajiang Noodles for me personally is not something that is tailored to my taste buds. I am more accustomed to say, Taiwanese style Zhajiang Noodles, Shandong style Zhajiang Noodles and Korean Style Zhajiang Noodles. So basically anywhere from a combination of sugars, black Bean Soy Paste, sauteed with Minced Mushrooms onions garlic and ground pork to ground pork seasoned with 5 spices powder simmered together with Sweet Black Bean Paste and small dosage of salted black Bean Paste. Anyways you get the picture, maybe it's because I'm a southerner Chinese, my taste buds gear towards a little bit of sweetness. But I personally found the Zhajiang Noodles here a little salty. This is probably the Henan province version. And therefore I felt overall even with the celery cubes and carrots in there, there wasn't anything to really bring the flavors into balance because of the heaviness of the black bean paste. Maybe add some squash, zucchini, more onions ....I don't know. But it's lacking the natural sweetness. 好了我還少廢話,but its unique in its own way, and I've never had this noodle with celery, so kudos to innovation. So my personal rating for this dish is going to be a 3/5. Maybe throw in some cilantro.
Lastly the beef noodle soup. Again this is just personal preference, I'm used to Szechuan Style Beef noodle Soup. Taiwan style Beef Noodles Soup, and Lanzhou Style Beef Noodle Soup. I think these three dominate things category, because then if you move on to French..Beef Bourginon is a different thing in itself. Just wasn't my cup of tea. I prefer a soup base that is braised with natural beef bones, onions, maybe 1 or 2 Cinnamon cloves and 3 star anises, then some pepper and salt to seasoning. I think this formula is the simplest broth and any noodles with this base is a winner. Of course there were I feel hot pot soup herbs in the broth and so I felt a little overwhelmed by the complexity of the broth at THJ. And again my personal opinion. Despite the portions being Ginormous...think the hot pot beef slices don't pair well with this type of soup noodle. I don't know....you guys reading be the judge. So here I'm going to give a 3/5
So all in all the portions are epically huge, the family unit work with some impressive passion, and the food is overall something I can come back every now and then for if I want a fast quick turn key no frills meal at what I will honestly say is *Bargain Level* prices in this inflated economy. Yes you get huge portions and you get complimentary soup. Where do you find this combination of charity in Los Angeles, that's like the equivalent of Costco's Hot Dogs and a drink.
Yeah anyone that hasn't come here needs to give this place a go. Support a local community business! read more