Since mother and daughter share the same birthday
that required a double special birthday dinner at J Zhou in Tustin, just over
the border from Irvine. J Zhou is a spinoff from Happy Harbor in Rowland
Heights, which itself has lineage connecting it to the former Sea Harbour
branch in Rowland Heights. We had been there a few times for dim sum, but
never had dinner there. Food is excellent, but you wouldn't know it based
on "star" ratings, since it gets knocked down quite a bit for cost
(my rough guess is 60 percent higher than comparable San Gabriel Valley food)
and service (though our was fine).
We had a nice version, both visual and taste
wise, of egg tofu with mushrooms
Something new, different, and definitely
delicious was bacon and shrimp.
Haven't seen this dish in a while--steamed
eggplant with bean paste.
Snow pea leaves and bean curd skin make a nice
vegetarian combo.
Clearly the star of the show was the steamed
coral trout from Australia. At $150 for this two pounder, it better had
been. For that price I imagine this fella had a first class seat on the
flight from Australia to Los Angeles.
Not pictured were the fantastic fried rice with
dried scallops and egg white and the house special chicken which was not very
good.
