Hot Stuff, Cool Vibes: Spilled Milk #99

8 things you need to know about now.

1. The best thing I ate all week on the road

Sichuan Impression in Alhambra, Calif., is one of the many great restaurants around Los Angeles, a city that’s filled with them. If you take L.A. proper, Alhambra, the SGV, Monterey Park, Rosemead and a few other tier 1 ’burbs, you will find the greatest concentration of Chinese restaurants in America. I listed a slew at the bottom of this post for you next time you head to SoCal. Go to any and you are guaranteed a great meal — you can’t go wrong.

Sichuan Impression.

Anyway, I was always in love with Sichuan Impression’s wok-tossed crab, the ma po tofu and plenty more, so off I went with a friend. As always, this restaurant delivered. Here are the Impressive dumplings, Impressive noodles, the young bamboo shoots (the best I have found), the chile chicken, dry pot shrimp and sliced lamb with cumin. It’s a humble small dining room, and the service is earnest. Please don’t mistake language barriers for indifference; they care about their customers very much. And don’t skip the smoked plum juice: It’s ideally suited for spicy food.

2. The biggest trend in travel

The big players are giving customers what they want: They want to get the most out of their travel experience, especially families who want to do more off a home’s property. We all want more of a real taste of a place, on- and off-property, and hotels know it, too. So they are going in big. This article is a year old and since then, Marriott alone has doubled its inclusive property portfolio to almost 40 in a year.

3. The best thing I ate all week at home