Yong Chen and Clarissa Wei on CCTV

It's always a bit of a kick when you see someone you know on TV. It's exponentially more awesome when it's two unrelated people you know. Long-time readers of this blog will be familiar with the close relationship I have with Yong Chen, Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine, and my mentor in all things food. Some of our past is detailed in:

• Five Things People Don't Know About Me
• Kitayama - Newport Beach, CA
• Chop Suey, USA!

I'm also a huge fan of Clarissa Wei, Chinese American food blogger and freelance journalist. So, I was blown away when both Yong and Clarissa popped up in this CCTV America segment on Chinese culture and heritage that aired in February. While Yong and Clarissa only had enough time to cover the topic of Chinese food as cultural identity in broad strokes, they did a really fine job of condensing a complicated discussion into digestible tidbits.


To learn more about Chinese cultural identity in America, read either of Yong's fine books:

• Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America (Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)
• Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943: A Trans-Pacific Community (Asian America)

I highly recommend both. Also, please check out Clarissa's website, ClarissaWei.com.

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Tacolandia 2016 Exclusive Pre-Sale Code!

(Get your tickets a whole week before everyone else at Ticketfly using presale code TACOPANDA.)
It's coming...
It's coming...
TACOLANDIA.

That magical, lime and chili infused wonderland where Taco Spirit Guide Bill Esparza leads me on a kaleidoscopically gluttonous dreamwalk. Of the 7 major events in my annual epicurean cycle; Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chinese New Year, 626 Night Market, Irvine Global Village Festival, LA Weekly's Burger and Beer, and LA Weekly's Tacolandia, Tacolandia is King.


GENERAL ADMISSION tickets to LA Weekly's fourth annual Tacolandia are $40 and include entry into the event, entertainment, access to the cash bars, and tacos from over 100 vendors curated by Bill Esparza.

VIP ADMISSION tickets are $60 and add a VIP gift bag, access via a VIP entrance, and access to an exclusive VIP lounge with its own bar!

Tickets go on sale Monday, March 14th, 2016. However, Chubbypanda.com readers can use our exclusive TACOPANDA presale code at Ticketfly.com to start buying your tickets on Tuesday, March 8th, 2016. Tickets, especially for VIP ADMISSION, go quickly every year.


Participants this year include:

• Naugles (Hi Christian!)
• Anepalco's Cafe
• Bistro LQ
• Coni'Seafood
• Slapfish
• Soho Taco
• SOL Cocina
• Taco Maria
• Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara in LA
• Mi Ensenada Fish Tacos
• Vaka Burger (Loved them at Burgers & Beer.)

A full list of Tacolandia participants can be found HERE.

This year's charity beneficiaries are the El Pueblo Park Association (EPP) and Food Forward.

El Pueblo Park Association (EPPA) was founded in 1982 to foster public interest in, and good will for, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument (El Pueblo). They are a volunteer group dedicated to promoting the historic plaza and its historic buildings. In addition, they are devoted to expanding El Pueblo’s use as an educational and cultural facility by: raising funds for the restoration, conservation and promotion of El Pueblo as a unique gathering place for the celebration of the historical and multicultural heritage of Los Angeles and sponsoring exhibitions and special events at El Pueblo.

Food Forward rescues fresh local produce that would otherwise go to waste, connecting this abundance with people in need, and inspiring others to do the same. HARVEST FOOD • FIGHT HUNGER • BUILD COMMUNITY They are a volunteer-powered group of Southern Californians who are passionate about making change around hunger in our community. Food Forward convenes at private properties, public spaces, and farmers and wholesale markets to recover excess fruits and vegetables, donating 100% to local direct-service agencies who feed our community’s most vulnerable. Combined, theirr diverse distribution partners provide food to over 100,000 clients a month across Southern California.

Don't miss out! Get your tickets before the rest of the taco-loving public at Ticketfly TODAY. Use our exclusive TACOPANDA promo code to unlock the tickets. Tickets go on sale to the general public next Monday, March 14th, 2016.

Tacolandia 2016 - Saturday, June 11th from 3 to 7 p.m. at El Pueblo de Los Angeles in DTLA.

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Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival This Weekend!

Newport Beach's second annual Wine & Food Festival runs this Friday, October 2nd, through Sunday, October 4th, at the Newport Beach Civic Center. Tickets are still available.

The main event is the Daytime Festival from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, October 3rd, and Sunday, October 4th. Cooking demonstrations, book signings, and tastings will be hosted by a distinguished lineup of local and celebrity chefs, including Rick Bayless of Red O, Brooke Williamson of Hudson House and the Tripel, Andrew Gruel of Slapfish, and Yvon Goetz of the Winery. Williamson is a personal favorite, as her restaurants are part of my regular lunch rotation.

30 of Orange County's hottest restaurants will be offering tastings throughout the afternoon in the Grand Tasting Pavilions. Different restaurants will be participating on different days, so check the schedule.

Proceeds from the Newport Beach Wine & Food Festival will go to benefit the Project Hope Alliance, which aims to free homeless children from the limitations of their circumstances by assisting with education, transportation, and after school programs.

Tickets are available HERE.
A chefs attending is available HERE.
A list of participating restaurants is available HERE.

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Mid-Autumn Festival Dumpling Feast

(Home made dumplings with pork, Napa cabbage, and shrimp.)
Growing up, the Mid-Autumn Festival was a low-key affair for my family. Since it often happened during a school night, my mother would buy mooncakes from a local Chinese bakery and make us a hot pot or dumplings. When my siblings and I were younger, we'd sometimes go out to the backyard to look at the moon while she told us stories about the rabbit who lived there. As we got older and more busy with school, the specialness of the holiday faded. But, we always ate mooncakes and we were always together.


As part of a mixed marriage hundreds of miles from my family, I've gotten used to celebrating many Chinese holidays on my own. My wife, Cat, is always happy to join me and very open to new cultural experiences. Yet, while she intellectually understands our traditions, she feels no more of an emotional connection to them than I do to the Christmas or St. Patrick's day celebrations I participate in with her Scottish-Irish family.


(Kraig's Smoked Beef Short Ribs.
You celebrate the Moon Festival your way, we'll do it ours.)
This year, @losangelesfoodiegirl, @kraigescobar, and I were blessed with an invitation join our friends William & Kelly, and their lovely family, for a home made dumpling feast. William's parents, on a visit from Hangzhou, China, cooked dish after dish of his childhood favorites. Far from my family and their own Mid-Autumn meal, it was indescribably comforting.


(Home made dumplings with pork, chives, and egg.)
The centerpiece of the festivities were dumplings made by William's family. Plump, juicy, and perfectly seasoned, they were served with a little Chinese black vinegar and sliced garlic as accents. Unlike the dumplings made in many restaurant kitchens and factories, which use industrial food processors and mixers, the fillings in William's dumplings were chopped and mixed by hand, resulting in an unmistakeable texture and mouth-feel.


A regional specialty I'd never tried before, and one that William has never seen outside of Hangzhou, a paste of seasoned pork was spread onto gossamer thin "crepes" of fried egg, rolled, steamed, chilled, and sliced. The time intensive preparation yielded a delicate flavor that enveloped the tongue like an edible hug.


Another fine example of Chinese charcuterie, carefully selected cuts of beef containing both meat and tendon were braised in a spiced, soy-based stock, then chilled in to a toothsome, beefy jello. A mainstay of Chinese banquets and feasts, it was served thinly sliced.


A hung over Pitmaster Kraig contributed his signature dish of beef short ribs seasoned simply with salt and pepper, and slow smoked for over eight hours. The flavors were carefully balanced, with gently yielding meat that practically melted away.


The indisputable winner of our feast was a deceptively simple plate of cucumbers marinated in salt, garlic, and sesame oil. Crunchy and light, it helped cleanse our palates of the other rich dishes. The key, according to William, is knowing how to pick the cucumbers. They have to be fresh.


There were an assortment of desserts that most of us were too full to eat, including watermelon, a chilled soup of lotus seed and white fungus, mooncakes, egg tarts, and these cupcakes I picked up from Layer Cake Bakery in Irvine. I cannot repeat enough how thankful we are to William & Kelly for welcoming us into their home and sharing these special dishes with us.


That evening, Cat and I found a spot in our neighborhood to watch the lunar eclipse. I shared with Cat a story I'd heard about the blood moon as a child. That every few decades the wolf who lived in the sky would try to hunt and kill the rabbit that lived on the moon. The moon would turn red, and the people would set off fireworks, bang their pots and pans, and yell to scare the wolf away. We held hands and wished the rabbit luck.


Later, once Cat had been driven inside by the chill night air, I texted my siblings a reminder about the lunar eclipse. My sister texted back that they were going outside to try to spot it. Maybe, for just a moment, we all looked at the same moon from different places under the same sky and remembered the same story.

(Pictures taken with my Canon Rebel XTi and iPhone 5s.)

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LA Weekly Burgers & Beer 2015 Buddy Pack

The LA Weekly has been on a tear over the past year with food festivals like Tacolandia, Pancake Breakfast, Sips & Sweets, and the Essentials. This Saturday's Burgers & Beer at the LA Coliseum is shaping up to be amazing, with burgers from headliners like Thomas Keller's Bouchon, the infamous Hawkins House of Burgers, Belcampo, and Vaka Burger. The artisan brewer lineup is equally exciting, with some of my personal favorites, including Beachwood Brewing, the Lagunitas Brewing Company, Eagle Rock Brewery, and Telegraph Brewing. Shout out to the El Segundo Brewing Co!

Tickets are still available, with three options:

• Burger Only ($55) - Unlimited food samples from over 35 burger vendors and access to the Vendor Village.
• General Admission ($75) - Unlimited food samples, craft beer samples, and access to the Vendor Village
• VIP ($100) - Early entry, VIP gift bag, and all General Admission benefits.

For a limited time, LA Weekly's Burgers and Beers is offering a Buddy Pack of 4 General Admission tickets for $199. It's a great way to save some money if you're going with friends.

Get your tickets today!

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Savor Santa Ana 2015 VIP Pass Giveaway!

Some exciting news for all you Hungry Pandas! Chubbypanda.com is giving out TWO VIP passes for the Savor Santa Ana food festival in Downtown Santa Ana this Thursday, July 23, 2015.

Each $45 VIP tasting package includes:

• 10 tasting tickets for food samples from participating restaurants.
• 2 drink tickets for beer, wine, of liquor at the patio lounge.
• Access to shorter VIP lines for all booths.

To enter:

1. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
2. Take a selfie of yourself looking super hungry and post it to Twitter, Instagram, or our Facebook page with the tags #HungryPandas, #SavorSantaAna, and #Giveaway. Include a link to this giveaway article in your posts and make sure you include @chubbypandablog so that we see your entry.  Each post to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook gives you an additional chance to win.
3. Share this article with all your friends!

Submissions for Chubbypanda.com's Savor Santa Ana 2015 VIP Pass Giveaway close at 11:59pm PST on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015. The winner with the hungriest looking selfie will be announced the morning of Thursday, July 23rd, 2015. Your VIP passes to Savor Santa Ana can be picked up from VIP Check In after 5pm on the day of the event.

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Chop Suey, USA!

Of the truly great mentors I met at UC Irvine, Food and Asian American history professor Yong Chen was the most influential on my blogging. An incorrigible foodie, he shared with his students an infectious enthusiasm for food as a tangible form of history, a consumable form of expression, and a traceable social pathway. The first restaurant review I ever wrote, close 16 years ago, was an assignment for one of his seminars. Without Yong Chen's influence, knowledge, and friendship, Chubbypanda.com would never have existed. I would have lacked the ability to write it.


The central themes that ran through each of Yong's classes and helped to shaped my own development as amateur student of all things gastronomic, from the Asian American experience to food as both an expression and definition of self, can be found in his latest work, Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America. Over a decade in the making, this book serves as part academic diary and part personal roadmap to Yong's own experiences as both an Asian American and a food historian. Throughout, it continually strives to answer a question central to every immigrant's identity, "What does it mean to be an American?", and challenges traditional interpretations of "American" cuisine.

In a country composed almost entirely of immigrants, whose customs and foodways constantly evolve with each new wave of arrivals, there can be no more meaningful topic. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest.


(Press Release Below)

(Chop Suey, USA: The Story of Chinese Food in America. Columbia University Press, 2014).

The book starts with a question that many Chinese-food lovers have wondered about: Why is Chinese so popular in the United States?

Chinese food has been enormously popular for more than a century. The New York Tribune noted in 1903 that "there is hardly an American city that had not its Chinese restaurants, to which persons of every class like to go." Sun Yat-sen observed similarly in the 1910s that "there is no American town without a Chinese restaurant." By the 1980s, Chinese food had become the most consumed ethnic cuisine in the United States. Many have attributed this phenomenon to Chinese cooking’s gastronomical supremacy, a belief that has been expressed by numerous prominent individuals, including Sun Yat-sen.

Such a gastronomical interpretation, however, cannot sufficiently explain two historical facts: first, mainstream American consumers did not fall in love with Chinese food upon its initial arrival in the New World but rejected but rejected it for about half a century. Second, when American diners started to frequent Chinese restaurants, what they chose were not the exquisite dishes that Chinese epicures had cultivated over the centuries and Western food connoisseurs had widely regarded as best representing Chinese cuisine. Rather, American Chinese restaurant goers preferred the most simple and least trumpeted foods in Chinese cuisine, such as chop suey and chow mein. Clearly, culinary merits alone do not fully explicate the rise of Chinese food in America.

Chop Suey, USA offers the first comprehensive examination of the historical forces and players that turned the food of a despised race into dominant force in the country’s budding restaurant market. It sheds new light on the indispensable yet often overlooked role that Chinese food has played in developing the American way of life and extending American abundance. The multiplying Chinese restaurants helped to democratize America’s food consumption by making dining-out a universally accessible experience, expanding the meaning of American freedom and liberty in the realm of consumption. Their inexpensive, convenient, fast, and tasteful food developed an irresistible appeal to many Bohemians, and rebellious youth, African Americans as well as middle class tourists. Jewish diners too flocked to Chinese restaurants, where they found not only a novel cuisine but also a place to fulfill their desire to join the middle class and become American.

Thus, chop suey, the epitome of America’s Chinese food for decades, was the “Big Mac” in the pre-McDonald’s era. Through analyses of this and other once wildly popular Chinese dishes, the book also tackles the question of "gastronomical" authenticity, namely, whether chop suey or America’s Chinese food is authentically Chinese. The book does so by investigating the metamorphosis of Chinese food in both Chinese history and American society.

Chop Suey, USA also illustrates the vital importance of Chinese food for Chinese America. Economically, Chinese restaurants became an extremely important source of income and jobs for Chinese Americans, especially when Chinese were banned from entering most other occupations. In crowded Chinese communities, in addition, these dining places provided the much needed space for Chinese immigrant men to socialize. Culturally, Chinese food and food businesses became a most prominent feature of the community, visual and olfactory, making the American urban Chinatown virtually a "food town."

Also playing an important role in promoting Chinese food were the Chinese-food cookbooks -- more than 280 such cookbooks were published in the United States between the 1910s and the mid-1980s, written mostly by Chinese Americans. In introducing Chinese cooking to non-Chinese audiences, these cookbook writers made an unprecedentedly comprehensive attempt to define its essence. If the restaurants gave the Chinese a steady source of employment, cookbook writing created a visible and constant platform for Chinese Americans to speak to mainstream audiences. They spoke -- with pride and authority – not only about China’s cooking but also about its culture and history as well as their own experiences.

At a methodological and epistemic level, this book also reminds us of the centrality of food in history and in our own lives. It shows how food connects history and our personal experiences.

Readers interested in cooking Chinese food can find recipes for dishes like pork chop suey and kungpao chicken that American lovers of Chinese food most craved at different times.

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Savor Santa Ana Tonight!

Looking for something to do in the OC after work? Check out the Savor Santa Ana Tastings Night in Downtown Santa Ana tonight from 5:30pm - 9:00pm. Buy your ticket books HERE!


Each $10 book gets you 12 tickets and a walking map of participating eateries in the area. The idea is that you stroll from restaurant to restaurant exchanging your tickets for samples of signature dishes from each stop. Participating restaurants include:

• Little Sparrow
• Playground
• Robbins Nest
• Chapter One: The Modern Local
• Velvet Lounge
• The Good Beer Co.
• Blackmarket Bakery
• Boldo
• Gypsy Den
• Life is Sweet Bakeshop
• The Copper Door

Sounds like a really fun way to explore the area. I'm looking forward to it!

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LA Weekly's 2014 Pancake Breakfast This Weekend!

Looking for something to sop up your Sunday morning hangover? The LA Weekly has you covered!


From the mind of KCRW's Good Food host, Evan Kleiman, comes this year's LA Weekly Pancake Breakfast lineup, featuring 38 of the hottest breakfast and brunch spots in all of Los Angeles. Confirmed attendees include Roy Choi's A-Frame, Berlin Currywurst, bld, Canelé, East Borough, Eggslut, Euro Pane Bakery, Farmshop, Fred 62, Goldie's, Good Girl Dinette, Huckleberry Bakery & Cafe, Kitchen Mouse, KTCHN DTLA, Little Next Door, Lucky Duck by Square One, Metro Cafe, Salt's Cure, Secret Chinese Delivery, Sweet Butter Kitchen, The Waffle, Valerie Confections, and Wexler’s Deli.

5 Can't-Miss Vendors at L.A. Weekly's Pancake Breakfast

Hosted at the "legendary" Park Plaza Hotel in downtown LA, the event runs from 11am-2pm tomorrow, August 24th, 2014. Tickets are still available on Ticketfly.com. Tickets include unlimited access to sample dishes from each restaurant and additional complimentary samples from event sponsors Shock Top, Pinnacle Vodka, Hornitos Tequila, Kinky Liqueur, Risata, Sofia, Clover Juice, Califia Farms, and (personal NorCal favorite) Blue Bottle Coffee. Really looking forward to sampling some of their product post the merger with LA's own Handsome Coffee.

A portion of proceeds from the event will be donated to Food on Foot. Since 1996, the non-profit Food on Foot has been dedicated to providing the poor and homeless of Los Angeles with nutritious meals, clothing, job opportunities, and assistance in the transition to employment and life off the street.

If it's anything like this year's LA Weekly Tacolandia, this is going to be one amazing event!

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Last Day for the Tacolandia 2014 Presale!

(Get your tickets before everyone else at Ticketfly using presale code CHUBBYPANDA.)
The best part about business trips to our Mexico offices? Hanging out with my engineers at those offices.

The second best part? Tacos.


Whether it's grabbing a quick bite from the cart of a street vendor, gathering for a team lunch in a fancy restaurant, or sucking down beers at an impromptu BBQ after work, tacos are everywhere. Part national dish, part basic staple, tacos are taken very very seriously in Mexico. If a bowl of rice is the purest expression of Chinese cuisine, then a corn tortilla topped with something simple and amazingly delicious serves a similar role in Mexican culinary tradition.


(A Project Manager and Lead Developer grilling it up near our Sonora office.)
Once back in the States, I'm seized with depression. Even in Los Angeles, a city with a huge Latino population and famous for its Mexican fare, finding tacos as good as the ones in Mexico is akin to searching for the Holy Grail. Much as the Din Tai Fung in Arcadia is a pale imitation of its sisters in Taipei, the Al Pastor and Cabeza tacos I've sampled in my quest through LA have been shadows thrown into harsh relief my incandescent Mexican dining experiences. Like a hungry ghost, I'm cursed to wander the Southland, chasing an ever elusive dragon.


But, hope springs eternal in this tender young panda's heart. The LA Weekly's second annual Tacolandia promises over 40 top taco vendors curated by local food icon, Bill Esparza. Among this year's attendees are:

• Bistro LQ
• Carnitas El Momo
• Chichen Itza
• Colonia Taco Lounge
• Coni'Seafood
• Don Chente Bar & Grill
• George's At The Cove
• Mariscos Jalisco
• Rocio's Mole De Los Dioses
• SoHo Taco
• SOL Cocina

GENERAL ADMISSION to Tacolandia is $25 and includes, entry into the event, entertainment, access to the vendor village and the cash bar as well as tacos from the many vendors.

PREMIUM ADMISSION tickets for Tacolandia add a gift bag and 5 drink tickets for $45! (Kinda worth it given how much a cocktail costs in DTLA.)

If you really want to get your drink on, you can add a TEQUILA GARDEN ticket for $20 that gets you access to the tequila garden and 10, 1/2oz tequila tastings.

A portion of the proceeds go to Homeboy Industries, a truly worthy cause.

Started by Father Greg Boyle in 1988, Homeboy Industries was created to answer the need for employment opportunities among youth. Today, the nonprofit helps former gang members and the previously incarcerated redirect their lives and become contributing members of their families and community. Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention program in the nation and has become a model for other organizations and cities.

Don't miss out! Get your tickets before the rest of the taco-starved hoi polloi from Ticketfly TODAY ONLY using special presale code CHUBBYPANDA. Tickets go on sale to the general public starting tomorrow, April 25th, 2014.

Tacolandia 2014 - Saturday, June 28 from 3 to 7 p.m. at El Pueblo de Los Angeles in DTLA.

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