San Gabriel Mayor Albert Huang was arrested last Friday after an early-morning dispute in a restaurant allegedly saw him snatching a woman’s purse and keys before fleeing in his SUV with the victim still riding on the runners (and you thought those Bell politicans were thugged out!). Jonathan Gold reacts to the arrest in dependable fashion stating via Squid Ink, “If there was a place good enough for Mayor Albert Y.M. Huang to eat at 1:30 in the morning, we wanted to know where it was.” Therein starts Detective Gold’s investigation into where the incident occurred, allowing him to name-check a few favorite Chinese dumpling restaurants like Happy Kitchen, J&J;, and Mei Long Village. But like Colombo, J. Gold had a hunch, wondering if newly opened New Taste Dumpling House was at the center of the action. Sure enough, like a bao-trained bloodhound, he sniffed out the right answer. And that’s when the story really heats up. What did the owner New Taste have to say?
Gold relays the further investigation of Alhambra Source, who shared a word with New Taste owner Bao Gang Li. According to Li, prior to the snatch-and-run, the mayor was dining with a woman (not his wife) who threw a “full steamer of xiao long bao” at the mayor, who then came back at her with a dish of black vinegar. From there the fight lead to the widely reported parking lot tussle and 45-MPH drive, for which Huang was arrested and eventually released on $100,000 bail. Gold, perhaps interested in the forensics of the case, writes, “For a brief, lovely moment, I like to think, at least one soup dumpling met the arc of vinegar midair, becoming briefly but miraculously seasoned before joining its sisters on the floor.”
San Gabriel Mayor Arrested: Or, More Fun With Xiao Long Bao [Squid Ink]
The dumpling fight that ended in the San Gabriel mayor’s arrest [Alhambra Source]
