Tipped off by this post on Sinosoul, I was eager to try the new and confusingly named JTYH. (The seemingly random acronym may be easier to remember if you, like me, just think of it as Just the Young Hos.) I was sad to hear when the original Heavy Noodling on Garvey ws closed, so naturally I was excited to hear that it was reincarnated as JTYH a few miles east in Rosemead.

We started off with a cold appetizer plate to whet our palettes which included beancurd noodles, celery (not shown), seaweed, and kimchi.  This wasn’t anything special, but gave us something to munch on while we waited for the rest of our food.

The star of the meal and my main reason for visiting was the dao xiao niu rou mian, also known as the knife-shaved beef noodle soup. The noodles were perfect. Wide without being too unwieldy, not overdone, and a good amount of bite without being too al dente. The broth was beefy and salty, but obviously second fiddle to the noodles.  The pieces of beef, which I usually overlook were so tender and flavorful that even if I didn’t like the noodles, I’d order this dish.

The BF ordered dan dan mian, which was cold thin noodles mixed with sauce and some veggies.  This looked pretty boring , but the noodles were interesting. Even though they were wheat noodles, they were so smooth and had such a springy texture that they almost seemed like rice noodles.

Our dining companion ordered the knife shaved fried noodles (he asked for them to be made vegetarian), which looked unexciting.  I took a bite and was wowed by the heavy wok qi flavor.  I’m always jealous of restaurants that can pull off that flavor because it’s next to impossible to do on a home stove.  I think we all would have preferred fresh shittake mushrooms to the canned mushrooms here. The noodles were also well done in this, so it may be a good dish to keep in mind for diners who don’t like noodle soups.

The surprise of the meal came from the fish and chive (Chinese leek?) dumplings.  I didn’t expect a noodle house to have such delicious dumplings!  The wrapper was thick and rustic looking but still very tender. The ground fish and leek filling inside was pillowy soft and light.  It practically fell apart when I bit into one.  This makes me excited to try their other steamed dumpling offerings.

Is JTYH just as good as the old Heavy Noodling?  I think so.  The new location is certainly cleaner than the old location, even for Chinese restaurant standards, although a little dirt and grime in a restaurant never really bothered me. I like to think of it as seasoning on a cast iron pan.  My mom refused to return to the old one because she thought it was too dirty, unfortunately. I think our waitress at JTYH used to work at Kam Hong because she recognized the BF and me right away and even remembered that the BF always orders vegan food.  Rosemead may be a long ways east for some people, but it’s worth it for chewy, rustic knife-shaven noodles and tasty, thick dumplings.

JTYH
[map]
9425 Valley Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 442-8999