Silver Screen and XLB Double Date

Yesterday we did a movie triple-header (The Golden Compass, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and Atonement) and dinner with Brother Monkey and Torry.

We went to J&J Restaurant (301 W. Valley Blvd, San Gabriel), Mei Long Village's nearly next-door rival. J&J is, in fact, short for Jin-Jian Restaurant.

J&J's space is less than half the size of Mei Long Village, so, if you have a big group, head over to Mei Long Village. If you have a party of four or less, though, I recommend you dine at J&J.

The xiao long bao are fantastic, of course, but the other dishes were also very good, which cannot be said of Mei Long Village's other offerings. The Monkey happily crowns J&J the reigning XLB champ of this strip mall.

We gobbled up our scallion pancake (which J&J describes as something like "thousand-layer onion cake") so fast that I only took a picture of the last piece. The steamed "sticky rice treasure" (or whatever they call it -- J&J has someone really creative writing the menu) was delicious, as well.

The xiao long bao, both pork and crab versions, were deliciously and scaldingly hot and juicy and awesome. Original pork will always be my favorite, but I was pleased that these crab XLBs were not fishy like the ones I had from Mei Long Village recently.

The steamed vegetable dumplings had an excellent chewy skin. The pork potstickers were crisp and juicy.

The sheng jian bao (pan-fried pork bao) were also very tasty. Look at that beautiful browning!

We saved some room for dessert down the street at Peach House (531 W. Valley Blvd.), yet another pinkberry knock-off.

I had a plain with mochi, fruity pebbles, and strawberries. Mr. Monkey had mochi with his peach yogurt, which tasted too artificial to me. Torry and Brother Monkey shared a plain with mochi and yogurt chips. Mmm.