San Gabriel Valley: Newport Seafood

My parents and grandparents came to town for the White Coat Ceremony, and on the Thursday evening they arrived, we drove to San Gabriel Valley to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday at Newport Seafood.  As we found out after about 15 minutes of waiting (despite our reservation), the air conditioning had broken in part of the restaurant and hadn't been completely fixed yet, dramatically impacting table availability.  We also figured out, mostly thanks to my mom's ever-polite persistence, that groups of apparent regulars were swooping in and practically seating themselves.

So finally, after about half an hour, we took matters into our own hands, checked out the temperature in the unavailable section - which actually consisted of larger tables quite preferably separated by attractive floor-to-ceiling grids -, and decided that sitting there would be just fine.  Once we ordered, dishes were served quite rapidly and were all wonderful.

Seafood soup:

Salt-and-pepper crab:

Pan-fried noodles with bok choy and shrimp (you can't have a birthday dinner without noodles):

Bean sprouts:

Kung Pao beef (or something like it):

Fried tofu (simple and really good):

Clams in a sauce I don't recall.  Probably my favorite dish; I'm a fan of well-prepared clams.

 
Whole fish:

The drive out to San Gabriel Valley took a good 1.5 hrs with rush-hour traffic, but the food was definitely worth it.  Thanks to my second cousin Mia for the recommendation, and Happy 80th to Grandma!