The San Gabriel Valley has become a hotbed for Sichuan cuisine. Now offerings have diversified to the point that Chinese restaurant menus can feel pretty far from similar. Legendary Restaurant is a Sichuan restaurant located next to Ambassador Inn in Alhambra, a stone’s throw from where my wife was born. The space features stone and mirror walls, a bamboo mural, and a system of elaborate red and yellow lanterns. The kitchen’s probably most famous for garlicky pork hanging on a clothesline with thin-shaved cucumber, but I gravitated towards boiled fish instead.

Boiled fish isn’t nearly as basic as it sounds. At Legendary Restaurant, Boiled Fish With Pickled Cabbage and Chile costs $29.95 for a whole bass butchered into bony chunks, or $15.95 for longley filets. If you don’t know longley, the fish also goes by shortjaw lizardfish and Saurida normani. Despite the intrigue swirling around longley, I still opted for bass. Juicy chunks of bass arrived bobbing in a cloudy yellow broth with tangy cabbage leaves, dried chilies, pungent sliced garlic, cilantro, and minimal ma la – which was fine by us. $29.95 qualifies as a big ticket dish at Legendary, but the sheer volume of fish and flavor was worthwhile.