Dal Rae Restaurant

My office is located in Commerce, CA. There is nothing in here except factories, the Commerce Casino and the outlet. Now this outlet is extending and should be a welcoming change to the cities reputation of nothingness. Today, our boss took us out for lunch at Dal Rae Restaurant in closeby Montebello and I thought, what is in Montebello.

I have been to Del Rae when my recruiter came over for a visit and it is unexpectedly a gem in this forgotten area of Los Angeles. If there was an LA Mafia this is one of those places where they will probably eat for lunch, at a private outdoor patio or the corner room by the bar. We made reservations for 12:30 at 12:00 the same day. So it wasn't a surprise when we were sitted at the bar area, which after some gripes from my colleagues was in fact a better place to be. There was only one older gentleman beside us, and an attentive waitress, with the music playing a bit loud, everyone was happy in no time as we partook the fresh bread and large slabs of butter already on the table.

I have previously ordered their signature pepper steak, and that was excellent, so today I had seafood brochette and a side order of salad which I had to share with 4 of my coworkers because of its large portion. The salad with Italian vinagrette was perfect for me..not too sour, not too oily, not overpowering or pouring with the yummy dressing.

While each dish was uncovered (it went with a metal cover) and served to each of us, you can almost tell we were all excited about our dishes. Two of us ordered the Monte Cristo, which seemed like a breakfast meal for me, but they said it was delicious especially with the side of cranberries that came with it. The waitress claimed to serve the best carbonara pasta to one, which everyone said YES, while I said its too rich for an office lunch. One had a chicken sandwich which she exclaimed had excellent hollandaise sauce. My boss had medallions of pork which were larger sized medallions and was emptied without further comments. Mine was uncovered last amidst ooohs and ahhhs, but it looked unappetizing. It had that Chinese seafood on rice look and maybe because of my first impression, I started at it the wrong way. There were good portions of salmon, 2 shrimps which were delicious, tuna, a scallop, and probably one more fish, onions, green and yellow bell peppers on a bed of meditteranean brown rice. It was fresh and juicy, but a little too bland for me, again probably because I was expecting the Chinese flavour on this meditteranean dish. Joannie who sat across me had the last few portions of fish I couldn't take anymore and she wished she ordered it too. I wouldn't.

Having said that, and where I am at, I see myself entering this dark, unknown secret in Montebello in the near future ordering the peppered steak instead. Especially if someone is paying again at $29.95. My seafood brochette - $15.00.

http://www.dalrae.com/