Post-massage lunch at Seafood Village

There are so many restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley that are on my hit list that I could probably start another food blog just so I could discuss the places I want to try -- wheredanielwantstoeat.com -- and believe me I have enough content to fill it nicely. And while I've had many fine meals at SGV stalwarts such as Din Tai Fung, Ocean Star, NBC, Little Fat Sheep, and Elite, I continue to ponder about the much-talked about Newport Tan Cang, Boiling Crab, China Islamic, Mama's Lu, Simbala, and any place that serves a good shaved ice dessert.

I don't know about you but full-body massages make me very hungry, so after our $15 hour-long massage at Master Wong's in San Gabriel, we decided to make a lunch stop at Seafood Village in Monterey Park. (How these cheap massage places make money is a mystery which I prefer never to know.) Located near the corner of Garvey and Atlantic, Seafood Village is bustling seafood eatery that specializes in various crab and lobster preparations, which are pulled from their sizable fish tanks. And although Seafood Village wasn't exactly near the top of my must-try list, it was a rather convenient option for our post-massage lunch as it was close and not crowded.

This place was busy but not crowded and we were seated almost immediately. They have a full menu with pricier seafood preparations, and also a lunch special menu with smaller dishes at very reasonable prices. Today we went with a few lunch items.

First dish is a complementary bowl of pork and watercress soup.

The broth is very light with maybe four or five five small chunks of pork and a few good leaves of watercress. I'm not complaining since this was provided gratis.


Sauteed scallops with asparagus:

The asparagus was cooked perfectly and had great flavor with a nice crunch. You can't tell from the picture but the amount of scallops was very generous given the $7 price tag on this dish. The scallops appear to be of the diver variety and are sliced horizontally, which would allow them to be cooked quicker in the sauce. Often times, scallops prepared and cooked this way pick up too much of the sauce thus overpowering the taste of the scallop. But here the sauce was lighter and allowed that nice scallop flavor we all love to make its presence known. I still prefer scallops in their whole form, seared in a hot pan, but then this dish would have been much more expensive.


Seafood bean curd:

Big bites of tofu with generous cuts of white fish and a few squid pieces make this a fantastic deal at just $6. Fresh ginger and green onions add depth to the sauce. This is a must try.

Chiu Chow chicken:

Thin slices of dark meat chicken are sauteed in a spicy sauce and served with crisp pieces of seaweed. I'm curious as to how they slice the chicken so thinly. Perhaps they are freezing and then slicing the frozen chicken in a deli slicer? In any case the chicken was very tender and generously portioned, but it could have been spicier - much spicier.

Total for lunch was just over $20 with tax and tip, and we had leftovers for another dinner. This is yet another fantastic deal that you can only find in SGV. Next time we go I'll bring a few extra people so we can feast on some crab and lobster dishes.

Seafood Village
684 W. Garvey Ave
Monterey Park CA