You Kitchen, 1402 E Valley Blvd., Alhambra, CA 91801
You Kitchen opened recently on Valley Blvd., in the same shopping center as 101 Noodle Express. It’s Northern Chinese, with an emphasis on doughy things made from scratch: buns, dumplings, noodles. The interior looks new with condiments and utensils at each table. It wasn’t the cleanest, but that doesn’t bother me. One of the soup spoons wasn’t clean and the table hadn’t been wiped down.
When you walk inside, there’s a big kiosk. Someone greeted me and helped me place my order using the kiosk. You can choose a table and place your order. When I ordered the noodles, there were a few follow up questions about level of spice and type of noodle (thick or thin). Dumplings can be steamed or fried.
* Spicy beef noodle soup with handmade noodles, bok choy, cilantro ($8.99): These were Taiwanese style and a solid rendition. The portion was very generous, including the abundance of big chunks of beef (brisket?). The noodles were extra wide but not uniform – they were more like knife cut noodles than hand pulled. The beef cubes were quite tender. The broth was oily, spicy, and on the salty side – with mala flavoring. I liked it but it was too salty, so I would probably get the other beef noodle soup and add hot sauce to it next time. No tendons were provided.
* Pumpkin, ground pork & shrimp steamed dumplings ($9.99 for 12). Whoa, these dumplings had so much filling that they were almost buns. The thick wrappers were obviously housemade. The wrappers were chewy, the dumplings could have used a little more soy sauce but the filling seemed fresh. The pumpkin wasn’t mushy but it was tender and added sweetness.
The food took awhile – about 20 minutes even though there was just one other party there. Complimentary hot tea was served.
Service was friendlier than average for a Chinese restaurant. Pay with cash for a discount. Open daily. You can also buy frozen dumplings (50 dumplings for $20 and up) and cook them yourself.
4 out of 5 stars
By Lolia S.