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Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra

So I'm new to this whole blogging thing and haven't gotten used to taking my digicam with me everywhere I go. That and my food recommendations usually consist of taking my friends to my favorite restaurants and having them oooh and aaah over whatever I order. That being said, I do have some favorites for various dishes. Alhambra is a suburban Chinatown. And Valley Blvd. stretching down to San Gabriel is filled with hundreds of Chinese restaurants.

One of them is Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie. I'm not sure how it's pronounced but I say it as if it's Vietnamese. (Bac as in North and Cali as in California.) But the restaurant is purely Chinese/Chinese fusion. The menu lists several hundred items with Chinese-Malaysian, Chinese-Singaporean, and Hong Kong Chinese dishes. The restaurant looks like it's trying to be a cafe and sports bar in one. Whole chickens are spinning on the rotisserie.

The menu lists several hundred items ranging from two dozen kinds of fried rice to lobster newberg and New York steak. I go for the beef chow fun in dry soy sauce, deep fried chicken wings in spicy salt, and Korean short ribs and chicken fried steak with black pepper sauce with sides of rice or pasta and vegetables. All that and two Thai iced tea with bobas were $26.

The beef chow fun had nice large slices of meat, the dry soy sauce imparts a mellow saltiness to balance out the blandness of the noodles. The chicken wings were crispy-skinned and still juicy. The black pepper sauce on the ribs and steak had a slight kick and was so flavorful with the plain white rice. I don't much care for their pasta as it's a sweet tomato sauce that I've been told tastes like Filipino spaghetti so if that's your thing... I've tried their deep fried frog legs, lobster newberg and sambal dishes. But I go back for those three favorites.

It's a Hong Kong cafe in the style of OK Cafe and Alhambra Garden and other places -- a fusion of diasporic Chinese cuisine and American offerings.  

Update January 11, 2007: Went back for dinner and finally brought my camera. Baked Pork Chop Rice $7.95, beef chow fun with dry soy sauce $6.50, deep fried chicken wings $6.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 1
Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 2
Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 3

Update June 14, 2007: How funny that I went back here almost the week before my anniversary post. Of course, I remembered my camera this time. So my recent meal included a Hong Kong milk tea. Basically like English tea but with condensed milk. Free refills. Mmm.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 4

Black pepper beef with crispy chow mein for $7.95.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 5

Look at how crispy the chow mein noodles are. So delicious.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 6

And the triple crown - steak, chicken steak, and pork chop in mushroom sauce with pasta and veggies for $11.95. Lunch prices are slightly less.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 7

Update October 2, 2007: Another revisit for lunch and this time I ordered the aforementioned Korean short ribs, chicken steak with pasta for $8.50.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 8

Malaysian roasted chicken with curry rice for $6.50.

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie - Alhambra 9

Other Hong Kong cafes:
Garden Cafe - Alhambra
Sika's - Alhambra (Closed)
Sunday Bistro - Alhambra
Tasty Garden - Alhambra

Baccali Cafe and Rotisserie
245 West Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-293-3300
Open 8 a.m. to 1 a.m.

9 comments:

  1. Wow, I'll have to try those dishes of the PiCS U posted. I've eaten at Baccali several times and never saw that on the menu.

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  2. h2o,

    Ha! That's kind of funny since it's hard for me to veer away from my favorites. :) What do you order then?

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  3. I usually get the Baccali 1/2 Rostisserie Chicken. I need a reason to drive up to Alhambra!!!! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. h2o,
    Ah, well if you like their chicken and if you like curry, I'd highly suggest the Malaysian roast chicken in my picture. :)

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  5. I usually grab like 4-5 things off the menu because I'm stuck down here in San Diego. LA and OC has some of the tastiest food on the planet...Bacali's filet mignon is my personal fav there.

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  6. stumbled across your blog from tastespotting. =D i'd recommend trying out this one dish of rice w/chicken wings and curry. the chicken wings are fried and you can dip them in the curry sauce to eat with the rice. it also comes with a couple pieces of toast. pretty yummy!!

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  7. oh..i wish i discovered your blog while i lived in LA. i'm now in the bay area and miss the food down there a lot! i noticed you posted photos from another posting you had of hainanese chicken. no recipe by any chance? savoy on valley (aren't they all on valley...haha) is very popular for their hainan chicken. they're closed though either on sunday or monday, i forgot which. =P

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  8. sQuash,
    I've tried the chicken wings with curry dipping sauce, they were great.

    I think the food in SoCal is cheaper and better than NorCal.

    I haven't gotten around to posting a Hainan chicken recipe yet b/c my relatives always make it. :) I've tried Savoy's Hainan chicken and think it's a vastly inferior product to what I get at home. Mushy chicken and flavorless rice. Seriously. But then, unless you're Hainanese, not too many people get the real thing.

    ReplyDelete

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