Lunch at 政記牛肉麵大王 [Beef Noodle King] restaurant, in 小吃街 [little eats street] on E. Valley Blvd in Alhambra

E was leaving for a weekend at Pismo Beach with his lame-o friends, so L's hubby, P, decided to take us out for lunch. E was particularly hungry, since he hadn't eaten breakfast, and wasn't going to be able to eat till late in the evening. So we decided to drive to 政記牛肉麵大王, located at 1265 E. Valley Blvd Alhambra, CA 91801.

P happens to know the history of this restaurant. I remember it in its 1990's incarnation across the street. The owner and workers were from Taiwan, and did a solid business serving up heaping bowls of beef chunks, noodle, and spicy red-brown broth. Later, the restaurant owner set up shop in China; I even saw some of the franchises while I was in a somewhat remote part of Inner Mongolia, China.

It went by the name of (translation) California-style beef noodle king. I thought it was silly, since the signature dish is originally from China, and the restaurant's particular rendition was from Sichuan province. So the owner procured chefs from Sichuan to work at his Chinese restaurants. Later, either due to cutthroat copycats or some other unknown reason, he came back to the California. He plomped down nearly right across the street from where he started.

Really, you can't beat [not-too-inland] California weather.


政記牛肉麵大王: menu under glass at each table

The traffic on E. Valley Blvd in Alhambra is pretty damn bad around the prime lunch and dinner hours, since there are so many damn East Asian restaurants packed onto the street, as well as smart-a$$e$ trying to avoid the freeway by taking local streets.

The area where 政記牛肉麵大王 is has a Wendy's that's been there forever, as well as a Vietnamese cafe and sandwich place, an Asian supermarket, various Chinese restaurants and other Asian stores. In the past few years, the property owners decided to name the place: 小吃街, which is literally "little eat street", but can be translated a multitude of different ways. I think many of the East Asian languages make use of the term "little eat"


政記牛肉麵大王: starter dish -- pickled veggies

We started off with that old standby, a dish of pickled vegetables. It was sweet and sour, and the veggies cool and crisp.


政記牛肉麵大王: their version of 臭豆腐 [stinky fried tofu]

I always like to judge a restaurant by certain dishes, and 臭豆腐 is an important one. It certainly is stinky, but that's because the tofu is specially fermented to develop its unique taste (and smell), then cut into a neat shape and fried. I've seen it cut into wedges and cubes. Often, it is accompanied by some kind of preserved vegetable and a dipping sauce which can be really good black vinegar or even a fermented plum sauce.


政記牛肉麵大王: my boring but satisfying order -- 雞絲涼麵 [cold chicken noodles with sesame paste]

I ordered the cold noodles with shredded chicken, carrots, cucumber, and bean sprouts, all topped by a thick sesame and vinegar sauce. It's a very plain dish with a strong hint of garlic, but it's also very satisfying on a hot sunny day. If you wanted to make a version at home and didn't want to shell out the big bucks for sesame paste, you could use peanut butter instead.


政記牛肉麵大王: house specialty -- 牛肉麵,特大 [beef noodle, two different sizes]

E and P ordered beef noodle, the house specialty, though E ordered the 特大 (especially large) size.