Cocary Shabu Shabu BBQ
This past Saturday took us to Monterey Park, and to a restaurant that Sam “That’s Too Exotic for Me” Gin recommended. Yes, I was suspended in disbelief. Sam? Choose a restaurant south of Huntington Drive in the San Gabriel Valley? GASP!
We stepped inside, and were greeted with Asian people—EVERYWHERE. Except for the one or two white people, the restaurant was packed with my fellow people of color. It was pretty noisy and smelly, but in a good way. It’s Tuesday and my jacket still reeks of barbeque.
So the first thing you need to know about Cocary, beside the fact that you cook your own food, is that there are two ways to dine:
- The bar
- Booths
I think if you dine at the bar, you just pay one flat fee and people wait on you. If you dine in a booth, like most people do, everything is self-service and you PAY BY THE PLATE.
In case you can’t tell, we sat at a booth. Those ventilation hoods did nothing, fyi. You already know this.
You can barbeque your own food, or boil it for some shabu shabu. We decided to do both:
They have three giant refridgerators that hold plates and plates of food. You pick what you want to cook.
Selina and I went for the plates of marinated beef, but they also had chicken (gross!), lamb, and pork.
Jennifer picked up plates of squid.
They also had traditional Chinese appetizers, like bean curd and tofu with petrified duck egg:
Yum! :D
Lois and Jennifer introduced Selina and I to this weird pig blood rice cake. I did not try any, but Selina did:
I wonder how Sam fared.
Yes, I know it looks like all we had were meat, squid, and tofu, but we did have some vegetables boiling in a pot of soup filled with fish balls:
But the most delicous dish of all was the SUGAR-COATED CASHEWS:
HEAVENLY.
After we were almost finished, we decided to add some noodles, garlic, and green onion to our soup base:
It’s much harder than it looks, hence all of the looks of umm, deep concentration. But Jennifer’s face is PRICELESS.
We’re only sad because we ate all of the sugar-coated cashews. I went back several times over the course of the night to see if they restocked this beloved dish; they never did. I have a feeling Lois was behind this.
Cocary is definitely a family restaurant. We saw so many kids with their parents AND their grandparents. I think there were a few couples, too. Some people might think the restaurant is too noisy to carry on a decent conversation, but that does not call for you to turn up your game and shout at people who don’t really speak English. Yeah, you will not believe some of the horrible conversations I overheard. God damn, white people.
Anyway, the other thing I didn’t like about Cocary is that they charge by the plate:
Dude, this stupid tower of plates cost us over $50. Our tower of plates overshadowed a few other tables with small families, and I wasn’t even full after we left. Not a very good value, if you ask me.
And if you hate self-service, then you’ll definitely hate Cocary. Yes they bring you drinks and the first pot of tea, but everything else including water, napkins, utensils, bowls, rice, and anything else you can think of is all up to you. I guess it’s a good thing as you’re somewhat burning calories by walking over to the fridges to pick up your fourth plate of marinated beef, your next bowl of rice, and heck, maybe even checking up on what may possibly be your third plate of sugar-coated cashews.
It’s a fun place to be, and the food is decent, but it’s just way too expensive. Let’s see if the others agree:
Okay, so Selina and Jennifer thought it was OK. Lois has her usual ambiguous review, but I have a feeling she enjoyed eating here. Yes, I am completely resolved in my thumbs up—those fucking sugar-coasted cashews are the shit.
Cocary Shabu Shabu BBQ
626 - 573 - 0691
209 S Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
PS: If you’re looking for some place to eat past 10pm, Cocary is opened until 1 in the AM. But the flippin’ 98cents store next door closes way too early. If you ever stop by before 830pm on a Saturday night, you will find the COOLEST hats in the world.
