Dai Ho Restaurant - Temple City

In August 2007, I joined lil' sis and her best friend for lunch at Dai Ho Restaurant in Temple City. The owner has been dubbed the "Noodle Nazi" for his brief noodle menu and short hours. Which was news to lil' sis's best friend, who's been dining at the restaurant since he was a kid. He said the owner has always been nice to him.

How bad could the owner be? And just how good were his noodles?

Well, on my two visits, the owner wasn't there because he was battling some health issues. As for the latter, apparently the noodles were so good that a Los Angeles Times reporter stole my photo and uploaded it onto his personal Facebook page without acknowledging that the "two thumbs up" in the picture weren't, in fact, his thumbs at all.

On my first visit, we arrived shortly after opening. Dai Ho is only open for three and a half hours a day for lunch.

Very clean interior. Almost sterile even.


The selection of soy-braised cold dishes. Reminded me of Ding's Garden - Alhambra actually.


Lil' sis and her best friend making their selection.


We got a pot of tea and they chose the cold seaweed appetizer.


I got the large minced meat dry noodle, $6.50.



Lil' sis and her friend ordered the large pork bean dry noodle, $6.50, which I think is Zha Jiang Mian (Chinese "Spaghetti"). Definitely way better than mine, although I ordered something different just for the blog.


The bean is fermented bean curd and it added a lot more flavor to the dish.

"Two thumbs up" according to lil' sis's best friend.


And yes, this was the photo that David Pierson of the Los Angeles Times stole off of Biggest Menu and uploaded to his personal Facebook page. In the whole scheme of things, I've had worst image thefts, but coming from a journalist at a large, reputable newspaper... egregious! Any journalist worth his or her salt knows not to steal words or images that were not created by him or her. If you ever Google yourself David Pierson, I haven't forgotten. I sent him a message on Facebook, but he didn't remove the photo so I had to email him at the LA Times before he did.

Lil' sis's friend thought it was all vastly amusing.

Anyway, so in July 2008, we were back again.

This time, we started off with braised tripe.


The pork bean noodles had now gone up to $8 a bowl! Don't bother getting the small for $6.50. Small is literally a rice bowl size.

Don't you love that lil' sis and her friend had their arms folded in their laps so they wouldn't be in the photos. Hilarious!


I got the vegetable cold dry noodles, $5.


Yes. I literally got a take-out container that was only three-quarters full. While dining inside the restaurant! The waitress told me to mix all the sauces in with the noodles. And the vegetable was literally only one vegetable.


Seriously, I'm not paying $8 for a small bowl of basically Chinese spaghetti that I make for pennies at home. And I'm not paying to dine in a restaurant to have someone hand me a take-out container of food. So I haven't been back.

Apparently, now the zha jiang mian is $9 a bowl. Oh, and I've never ordered the #7 beef tripe with spicy simmered and dried bean curd and pork shank because no way am I paying $16 for a bowl of Chinese noodles.

No noodles for me!

Some other Chinese noodle restaurants:
Dumpling 10053 - El Monte
J & J (Jin Jian) Restaurant - San Gabriel
Luscious Dumplings Inc. - San Gabriel
Mei Long Village - San Gabriel
Pa Pa Walk - San Gabriel
Phoenix Food Boutique - Alhambra (Pacific Square)

Dai Ho Restaurant
9148 Las Tunas Dr.
Temple City, CA 91780
626-291-2295
Tuesday to Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

*****
1 year ago today, So-Yah! Creamy Coconut Curry Tofu Shirataki Noodles.
2 years ago today, Breed Street Food Fair - Los Angeles (Closed).
3 years ago today, Cocary Shabu Shabu BBQ - Monterey Park.
4 years ago today, Chicken Pot Pie with Cilantro Biscuits.