Meet David Shao | restaurant’s owners/ chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Shao and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The Good Alley brand was created by a team that founded the famous Ji Rong Pecking Duck Restaurant in California in 2004, dedicated to providing high-quality Chinese cuisine. The main chef began learning cooking at Shenyang Yuan Road Restaurant in 1989, specializing in “Liaoning cuisine,” one of the eight major Chinese cuisines, and had the honor of becoming a student of the Liaoning cuisine master, Liu Guodong. Master Liu is proficient in Liaoning, Sichuan, and Suzhou-Yangzhou cuisines, so the team also mastered the essence of these major cuisines during their training.
In 2011, the team returned to China for study and exploration, where they tasted soup dumplings at a restaurant in Shenyang. The head chef at this restaurant was a fifth-generation heir of Huang Jishan, the creator of traditional Kaifeng style soup dumplings, also known as Guàn tāng bāo. The dumplings were fresh, savory, and juicy, leaving a deep impression. The Good Alley team decided to bring this delicious treat back to Los Angeles. After a long period of effort, they successfully inherited the art of making soup dumplings and developed fillings and dough recipes more suitable for American tastes, thus establishing “Good Alley” in 2024 to share this handmade delicacy with everyone.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Good Alley Soup Dumplings: Experience the warmth of handmade tradition with our steaming soup dumplings. When you gently lift them with chopsticks, the translucent dumplings reveal the delicate soup inside. Place them on a spoon, open a small hole, and the savory aroma wafts out as the soup fills the spoon. Sip the soup while savoring the tender dumpling, enjoying layers of flavor from the outside in. Our filling features fresh Kurobuta pork or organic chicken, combined with a broth simmered for hours to create a fresh, non-greasy taste. The dough is meticulously crafted to ensure the skin is smooth, elastic, thin yet sturdy, achieved through multiple steps of kneading, stretching, and pulling to create a refined texture.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
please check out good alley and ji rong peking duck

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The restaurant’s owners, David Shao and chef Peter Pang, also run Ji Rong Duck House, a San Gabriel Valley culinary landmark since 2004. “Soup dumplings, regular dumplings, and rice or noodle dishes are staples in every Chinese household,” says Pang. “Our experience with Ji Rong has shown that the local community appreciates these dishes, and we want to share more traditional foods.”

Website: https://www.good-alley.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/good_alley/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/good-alley-rosemead

Image Credits
ariel ip