Shau May Restaurant in Monterey Park

As fires continued to creep closer and closer to my home, I sat here making a mental list of the things I'd grab if things get any worse. Photos, video tapes, computers, essential papers. And then I looked through my food photos and reminisced about the day we went to Shau May in Monterey Park. It was a chilly day after a night of rain, and yet this was just a couple of weeks ago. What a difference a few weeks make. And although right now would be prime weather for shaved ice, it's much too smoky to be anywhere outdoors.

Cooler weather didn't stop us from getting shaved ice that day. Shau May is the best place to get it, in my opinion. It's a cheap heaping serving of goodness topped with yummy condensed milk. I always get my faves: the almond jello, black grass jelly, and pink and white glutinous rice balls. It use to be much cheaper back in the days, but I guess inflation has taken its toll. And I also remember the rice balls back then were actual balls, not irregular shaped chunks. Anyways, still good and still cheap. Hubby likes lychee in his. I don't. One serving is always good for two people, as I always get an attack of painful, frozen throats when I eat these. Our family actually heads to the Hsin Hsin Shau Mei in Rowland Heights more often for our shaved ice needs, and both locations pretty much have the same shaved ice. But for a more extensive menu of other food items, go to the Monterey Park Shau May.

The parking lot for this place is large, but I always have a hard time finding parking here, even at 3 in the afternoon as it shares its parking lot with the neighboring eateries. Inside the restaurant, it's usually packed, but I guess not so much at 3 pm.

You can order cheap combo plates of various food items at the counter, but I had a craving that day for some of Shau May's Shanghai pan-fried dumplings. These are really large fried dumpling balls sprinkled with black sesame seeds and green onions and filled on the inside with juicy pork. Be careful biting into these because you might get sprayed with hot juice. Might be my imagination, but I remember these used to be juicier a few years ago, but they still got lots of flavor packed into each bite.

What the inside of these looks like:

We also got the steamed pork dumplings which were flavorful as well, but the pan-fried ones are definitely the better of the two.

Shau May has plenty of other dishes available, including Taiwanese breakfast dishes which I will probably never get to try since I can never get myself over there that early. It's is open late for the partying crowd though, great for the younger folks in town. I still put myself in that last category, by the way.

Live life to the fullest. Don't hold on to the material stuff in life as those things can go poof in a second. Enjoy a good meal out with your family when you can because goodness knows, I'll be cooped up indoors tomorrow with the kids since the fires have closed up the schools tomorrow, wishing I could go out and get some shaved ice.

Shau May is located at 104 N Garfield Ave., Monterey Park, CA (626) 571-2727