Sam Woo BBQ

When I return home to the Valley on breaks, this is usually the first stop I make on the way home from LAX – Sam Woo BBQ in Van Nuys, after which we go buy groceries at the 99 Ranch Market (a Chinese grocery store) next door.

Roasted Duck

Sam Woo BBQ is part of the history of the Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles.  Restaurant manager John Lau explained to me that  Sam Woo BBQ started in 1979 in L.A.’s Chinatown.  According to Lau, authentic Chinese restaurants didn’t exist until the 1970′s, before which they only had Chop Suey houses that served American-Chinese food.  Sam Woo BBQ claims to be the first authentic Cantonese cuisine, first selling only BBQ duck and pork and fried wontons but later on became a full restaurant. The restaurant starting opening in other areas where there was a high concentration of Chinese people such as Rowland Heights and Alhambra.

The Van Nuys restaurant sells the usual barbeque duck and roasted pork fare, but also has a wide variety of Hong Kong-style food from rice dishes to noodle dishes to seafood, beef, and porridge.  Lau says his customers are about 80 percent Chinese immigrants and the rest are people who live around the area.

Sam Woo doesn’t let you make reservations and the restaurant is almost always packed, so be sure to come early (dinner rush is around 6 o’clock).  They’ll make you take a number when you come in, and because the capacity is fairly small in comparison to the amount of people who come here every night, you usually have to stand around waiting for tables to clear up.  The prices for most dishes range from $6 to $10 (the higher end is mainly for their seafood) and it’s best to eat these dishes family-style so you can try a little of everything.

Preserved Egg with Pork Porridge

We ordered Preserved Egg with Pork Porridge (although you can’t really see the egg in the picture…or the pork for that matter).  If you’ve never had this type of rice porridge before, what it is is white rice cooked in chicken broth until the rice is very soft.  Then they add preserved eggs – which are known in Chinese as “1,000-year-old eggs” which are black-looking eggs that have a distinct flavor.  It tastes really good in the porridge, but really nasty with orange juice. Trust me.  The Porridge at Sam Woo has just the right mixture of taste and texture so that it’s not too salty, but good enough to eat by itself.

Beef Wonton Soup

Beef Wonton Soup is always one of my favorites, the noodles are skinny but firm, and yeah, the soup base does taste a lot like MSG, but that’s what makes it taste so good.  Just be sure to have a cup of tea ready in case it gets too salty.  The soup is filled with bok choi, large chunks of beef, and savory wontons with skin that fits perfectly around its meat filling.

Shrimp Fried Rice

The Shrimp Fried Rice might be a common dish in a lot of Chinese restaurants, but the one here again is seasoned to perfection.  It’s not too oily or too salty like some other kinds of friend rice, but its light and filling to eat with other food or by itself.

Fried Tofu

The correct way to eat Fried Tofu here is to 1) take a fried tofu and place it in your plate. 2) use a spoon to cut through the fried outer layer. watch the steam rise… 3) use the spoon to scoop some of the soy sauce dipping sauce, and 4) pour the sauce into the tofu.  Biting through the crispy exterior, you’ll find the soft tofu inside…but be careful not to burn yourself, it’s always piping hot on the inside.

Beef with Satay Paste Chow Mein

To be honest, I’ve never been too big of a fan of Chow Mein.  I just can’t really handle the concept of making crispy noodles soggy with sauce – I want it either to be crispy or soft, one or the other.  But I did like the Satay flavored beef and other toppings on this dish.  Satay sauce is a kind of salty and spicy sauce that is actually made from a mixture of seafood, peanut, garlic and soy sauce.

Pudding Tofu

Finally for dessert, I got the Pudding Tofu.  Not sure that’s what it’s called exactly but it is comprised of very very soft tofu in a sweet soup that is usually ginger-flavored.  This is melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and when I got my wisdom teeth pulled a few years back, I ate this everyday.  No joke, this was pretty much all I was capable of eating.

Anyway, I’ve introduced a number a dishes in the post, but one of my favorites that isn’t pictured is the Ying-Yang Fried Rice, or as it’s called in English, Shrimp & Chicken Friend Rice (Cream & Tomato Sauce).  It’s fried rice, half of which is covered in a white creamy sauce with shrimp while the other half is covered in a sweet and tangy tomato sauce with chicken.  It’s made to look like the Ying-Yang symbol, with half of it red and half of it white.

I highly recommend this restaurant for anyone who enjoys authentic Southern Chinese food.

Location: 6450 Sepulveda Blvd # G, Van Nuys (in the shopping center with 99 Ranch Market and Pho)