Chinese Seafood, International Style

I hate feeling I’m out of the foodie loop, so I pulled into Tan Cang’s parking lot hopingto discover why people were always milling around the doorway.

At first glance, it seemed pretty much like any of the countless Chinese seafood places between Chinatown and El Monte. I recognized the cream-colored damask covering the walls, the fish tanks set into rose marble and other swank touches inherited intact from the former occupant, Eastlake Seafood. The space is a little more intimate than some of the cavernous seafood houses nearby, but basically this simple room could be almost any Chinese seafood house.

Once I settled in, though, I noticed subtle differences. Indonesian magazines were stacked discreetly by the door. Six or eight banners on the walls were written in Vietnamese. I managed to make out Southeast Asian specialties like Chiu Chow braised duck and bo luc lac, a French Vietnamese delicacy. The menu, written in Chinese, English and Vietnamese, has all the expected Cantonese seafood standards, but when I looked around the tables, I saw a lot of lemon grass-tilapia soup and Vietnamese seafood curries.

The most overwhelming sight in the dining room was the large round tables filled with hungry groups laying waste to immense platters piled high with crustaceans. Now and then a waiter would come to a table with a huge lobster and present it with a flourish, as though unveiling the Hope diamond for royalty. Mounds of spent crab and lobster shells were strewn on the tables of just-departed customers.

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After taking my time studying the menu, I toyed with the idea of a whole crab in black bean sauce (offered that day for $9.99, a seasonal sale price) but decided it would be better shared another time.

Although Tan Cang makes it easy for lone diners by offering a selection of rice plates in the $4 to $6 range, I found them all too familiar. Instead, I ordered Thai-style hot and sour soup. The steaming bowl, swimming with fragrant Asian basil leaves, held a whole tilapia cut into chunks. I loved every bite, though some might find the heat cranked up a notch too high (it’s thick with ground red peppers and sliced jalapenos) or wince at a fish head in their soup.

On my next visit I brought two friends. One was thrilled to discover that Tan Cang was a branch of Newport, her favorite lobster place in Little Saigon (does “Newport” translate as “Tan Cang” in Vietnamese?). She hadn’t been there much lately because of the excruciatingly long waits. “Get only the house-special lobster,” my friend advised.

Apparently everyone ignores the four other lobster dishes on the menu for the one that’s deep-fried in butter with garlic, black and red pepper and masses of minced green onions. Mingling with the lobster’s juices and coral, the butter and seasonings make a fabulous topping for rice. The lobster comes to the table sawed in half lengthwise at every joint, so the meat pops out of the shell at the slightest nudge. At Tan Cang, these creatures are rarely under 4 pounds and usually serve four or five people, but the three of us devoured ours completely.

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We ordered sauteed pea shoots, said to complement the lobster; I would have preferred them a little less soggy. Bo Luc lac (“shaking beef”--the hot pan is shaken while the meat cooks) is lean, precisely cut cubes of tender beef in a rich brown glaze with the very barest edge of vinegar, garlic and fish sauce. We also got a plate of deep-fried tofu squares, nicely done with crunchy, paper-thin crusts and yielding custardlike centers.

On a subsequent visit, the kitchen was happy to whip up a plate of scrambled eggs with shrimp, listed on the lunch but not the dinner menu. Alas, it was a disappointment; both shrimp and eggs were slightly overdone. A roast squab could have been juicier, and the squid sauteed in black bean sauce was cooked with slightly less finesse than at the heavy-hitter seafood palaces minutes away.

The lesson learned: Dinner at Tan Cang without the seasonal crab or house lobster specials is like traveling to Kansas City for tuna on rye at Arthur Bryant’s barbecue.

* Tan Cang Seafood, 684 W. Garvey Ave., Monterey Park, (626) 289-8689 or (626) 289-7082. Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Beer. Parking lot. MasterCard and Visa ($20 minimum). Dinner for two, food only, $10-$65.

What to Get: House crab or crab with black bean sauce, house lobster, Thai-style hot and sour soup, sauteed pea shoots, bo luc lac.