Amuse Bouche

Micheladas de Clamato - a Way of Life

2008-07-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Below, my new favorite drink (in the background you can see the chartreuse colored pool):

Marygun had insisted that I buy last Wednesday's SF Chronicle for the food section. Was I glad that she did because one recipe really caught my eye: Micheladas de Clamato. I really love Micheladas and remember drinking them at 9 am in the morning last summer in order to cool off after my exhilirating vegetable buying excursions at the Hollywood Farmers Market. I had never had one with any type of tomato juice in it so I was intrigued (I later discovered that Clamato has high fructose corn syrup and MSG in it so I think that I might switch over to a mixture of V-8 and bottled clam juice.)

In anticipation of the bombardment of Ranchera music coming from my neighbors' houses that we would be listening to all weekend, mumsy and I fortified ourselves with a six pack of Tecate, a bottle of Clamato juice, some organic limes, and a bottle of Frank's hot sauce (the recipe calls for Tabasco but I prefer Frank's).

Sure enough, the music starts. It wouldn't bother me so much if there was a good taco truck in the neighborhood; I mean, what better way to balance annoying music than with good tacos?

I really needed this drink, Dear Reader. We were involved in a bit of a fender bender on the Carquinez Bridge and while there was not a lot of damage to the old M3, the stick shift got out of whack so I could only drive it in third gear. Shades of Little Miss Sunshine? But I managed to get the Teutonic powerhouse to the dog kennel just in time to pick up los doggos.

Below is the recipe. Make them, you'll be so glad that you did!

1 light bodied Mexican beer (I used Tecate - it always needs doctoring up!)
Salt
1/4 cup Clamato juice
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 dashes Worcestershire or Maggi (I left this out since I didn't want to pay $4 for it)
3 dashes, or to taste, Tabasco (I used Frank's)
Salt and pepper to taste

Gently pour beer into salt rimmed glass. Add the rest of the ingredients and adjust taste accordingly.

What the recipe doesn't tell you is to serve it over ice which makes it a million times more refreshing.

It's Official! My Culinary Adventures is Moving to Napa

2008-04-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader, it's time to make the announcement that I am leaving my hometown of Los Angeles and I'm moving up to Napa in May. So now, not only will you be able to read of my culinary adventures in Los Angeles (I have a zillion of them that I haven't yet posted and I will be back many times a year to have Art cut my hair, The M Shop tune my car, and to eat plenty of dumplings and ramen) but also of my adventures in the foodie centric Napa Valley and Sonoma County areas.

So here is a preview of coming attractions. The Oxbow Public Market has opened since the last time that I was up there so Ms. Hollywood, who was so kind to drive me up there and give me so much support before my interview, and I mostly hung out there. For those of you who may not have heard of Oxbow, it's like a mini version of the San Francisco Ferry Building.

How lucky can I be? A Taylor's Refresher has opened up four blocks from my new job - the trick is to rent one of the houses across the street! It was so friggin good we went twice in one day.

This was the best calamari fritti that I've had in a long time. The coating was perfect, very crispy and not oily at all, and the calamari was fresh and had a wonderful texture.

Who doesn't get a burger when they go to Taylor's? Ok, I didn't and that was a mistake but I was so bloated that night that I opted to get a salad and fish tacos. The upshot was that I could fit into my skirt the next day but I was secretly coveting Ms. Hollywood's bacon cheddar burger. She took pity on me and gave me a piece of her burger. In the past I've always ordered my burgers without the "secret sauce" but after tasting it on the bacon cheddar burger I decided that I really liked it.

The kitchen of the Oxbow Wine Merchant. This place has a great small plate menu. Again, I opted for lighter food and stayed away from the charcuterie platter with meats from the Fatted Calf and instead ordered smoked trout pate, a salad, and a wonderful tomato soup with a swirl of pesto.

My new favorite place, the Oxbow Cheese Merchant (may I remind you Dear Reader that it's four blocks from my new job):

Oxbow Public Market
610 First Street
Napa, California 94559
http://www.oxbowpublicmarket.com/

Mr. Baguette: Banh Mi, Baby, Banh Mi

2008-03-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ooh, let's start with dessert! The foodie porn flix of us eating a very weird yet quite delicious Vietnamese dessert at Mr. Baguette in Rosemead.

Two still life views of our "weird" dessert which consisted of sweet grean bean noodles, white beans, red beans, and ice drowned in coconut milk.

Mr. Baguette is a banh mi and bakery chain in So Cal. Mr. Baguette's banh mi seem like a steal if you happen to live in the Silver Lake or Eagle Rock area and are used to paying $9 for something that is called a banh mi but is really a poor excuse for a sandwich served on stale French bread. How much would a banh mi cost on the Westside? Anyhoo, Mr. Baguette's banh mi range in price from $2.85 to $4.35 which is actually pretty high end considering that most places in the OC charge about $1.50.

These high prices are not scaring the masses away. Hiking Gourmet T and I revved up the old M3 and bombed out to the San Gabriel Valley on an early Sunday morning only to be greeted by mobs of people ordering banh mis, pastries, and iced coffees galore. One would have thought that we were at Philippe's after an SC game! But the place opens at 6 am so I guess that banh mis early in the morn are de rigueur.

Two views of the grilled chicken sandwich (I splurged for a sesame baguette which is 20 cents extra) which included the odd ingredient of sliced American cheese. I thought that it worked but Hiking Gourmet T was not as enamored with it as I.

My other sandwich (I only order a lot for my art, Dear Reader), the grilled beef banh mi. This was "eh." The first time that I had had it was at a picnic at the Hollywood Bowl and it was fabulous but on this day it was kind of boring.

My Doppelganger's smoked bacon banh mi. This looked really French to me.

I bought a "Special" banh mi for mumsy. The "Special" is the house sandwich so to speak. It has pate (accent aigu), ham, pork meatloaf, and headcheese. Since mumsy has old world tastes I knew this was the sandwich for her.

Two views of my pate chaud (that's "pat show" to you) stuffed with beef curry. In Italy this would be called a "Nun's Breast." For some reason the Italians like to call anything that slightly resembles a boob a "Nun's Breast." Apparently, the Vietnamese have the same sense of humor since they've added a nipple to the top of this pastry.

Despite the shape, this pate chaud was quite yummy and one could see the skill that went into making the pastry: many layers that were tender yet flakey at the same time.

Mr. Baguette
8702 E. Valley Boulevard
Rosemead, California 91770
www.mrbaguettesandwiches.com

Dumpling 10053

2008-02-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

I present to you, Dear Reader, the best damn dumplings in Los Angeles County (if not the entire State of California). The pork, crab, and sea cucumber dumplings at Dumpling 10053:

Does the title refer to how many dumplings you can eat? Or, are the dumplings good to the 10053th degree? Neither, it’s simply the address of this fabulous restaurant (this is not such a bad thing because it makes for finding the restaurant so much easier.) Located on the very western edge of El Monte, Dumpling 10053 is perhaps one of the best dumpling houses in the region.

Although Luscious Dumpling is my personal favorite of the two, Dumpling 10053 has many things about that give it an edge over Luscious Dumpling. Besides being able to seat far more people, Dumpling 10053 has a much bigger, and more varied, menu.

Now, let’s move onto the foodie porn.

Yummy, and nice looking, sesame seaweed salad:

A glistening shrimp and tender leek dumpling:

Fantastic stewed beef and beef tendon soup noodles:

I liked the broth and the noodles better at Dumpling 10053 but the beef was more flavorful at Luscious Dumpling. (Needless to say, this is a great soup to eat when you have a cold. Not pictured are the pickled mustard greens that you sprinkle over the soup.)

This was insanely good! Baby bok choy with meat sauce:

Another great soup for colds, in two parts:

This was a great, and simple, chicken noodle soup. I was really surprised by how well the fried pork chop went with the soup. This is a must order!

My new favorite dessert. Fried “rolls” with condensed milk:

I was amazed by how good this was. Its simplicity was truly brilliant. The condensed milk balanced the yeasty bread really well.

I am obsessed with people tossing noodles:

Dumpling 10053
10053 Valley Blvd.
El Monte, CA 91731

Hae Jang Chon

2008-02-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

Our table is loaded with food but we’ve only just begun…

Hae Jang Chon is my current favorite all-you-can-eat (“AYCE”) Korean bbq. It’s not my favorite Korean bbq place, that spot is reserved for Park’s and/or Sa Rit Gol, but for an AYCE place Hae Jang Chon is pretty good. For $16.99 per person you not only get all of the pork belly, sliced brisket, and marinated kalbi that you want but that price also includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Cold fermented radish soup (this is so refreshing when you are cooking and eating bbq):

Kimchee pancake:

Spicy soybean soup with tofu (complete with the de rigueur chipped vessel):

Kimchee fried rice:

Take a peek at our brisket and the marinated kalbi:

I liked both of these meats. Once most of the fat is rendered off the brisket you don’t feel so guilty eating it. I usually don’t like marinated meats since the marinade is often too sweet and you can end up with candied meat. But at Hae Jang Chang the marinade on the kalbi has a nice balance of sweet and savory.

Considering that this place specializes in pork (I assuming this because of the cartoon of the very happy pig on the sign) I was surprised that the pork belly lacked flavor. It looked good though:

To eat with your meat you receive both pickled daikon radish slices and rice noodle sheets. You also get a really nice salad that has a wasabi dressing on it that complements the meat very well.

Four yummy dipping sauces to choose from: fermented bean paste, sesame oil seasoned with salt and pepper, red chile sauce, and a very nice vinegar based marinated garlic and jalapeno sauce. Note the stone grill. A friend of mine, who is originally from Korea, told me that this is a particular type of grill used in a certain region in Korea. It has been placed on an angle and it has a hole in it at the low end. Every now and then the server comes over and pours marinated radish on the grill to clean it and scrapes all of the liquid waste out through the hole. Another reason why my preference is for charcoal bbq.

Hae Jang Chon
3821 W. 6th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90020
http://www.haejangchon.com/

El Atacor: Potato Taco Madness!

2008-02-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

Pop Art Potato Tacos:

Two words: potato tacos. Who doesn’t like, every now and then, to indulge in this carboholics’ and fatlovers’ (yes, they are little fat bombs) dream? There is something about potato tacos that makes people crave them, they just taste so damn good.

I was able to lure several foodies to El Atacor #11 recently on a very cold and soon to be rainy Sat afternoon with the promise of the best, and perhaps the cheapest, potato tacos in town. Said foodies took the bait but surprisingly I was the only person who ordered potato tacos.

An uber-fussy potato taco fanatic eats one of my potato tacos:

Indeed. These potato tacos are fantastic. I just love the fabulous contrast of the crispy taco shell with the creamy, soft potato filling. The tacos are piping hot but are served with cooling avocado sauce, lettuce, and cheese – another great textural combination. Want to know the best part? You can get four potato tacos for $3.29.

Two words: porno burrito. In J. Gold’s review of El Atacor #11 he affectionately refers to the Super Burrito as the Porno Burrito and claims that if one does a Google search of “porno burrito” ten thousand hits for El Atacor will pop up. Surely this is hyperbole, when I followed Mr. Gold’s instructions I just got hits for porn sites.

See the four stages of the burrito’s undress:

Is the porno burrito so named due to its size and shape or because it is true foodie porn? Unfortunately, the former - this burrito is “Super” in size only. I ordered a carne asada porno burrito with rice, beans, cheese, guacamole, onion, cilantro, and salsa (sans lettuce and sour cream). The carne asada tasted more stewed than grilled and there were just mere vestiges of the guac, cheese, ect. The beans dominated, and although they were good, in this case less would have been more since more was no bueno. I would try the porn burrito again but I think that it might be better with carnitas.

Word association:

Chiles rellenos (and Mexican Coke)

Shrimp ceviche

Frickin’ great salsa

El Atacor #11

2622 N. Figeroa Street

Los Angeles, CA 90065

Lucky Devils: Devilishly Delicious!

2008-02-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

A preview of coming attractions:

Out of the two, I have always preferred 25 Degrees over Lucky Devils. It’s not so much for the food but for purely emotional reasons: the first time that I went to 25 Degrees I was very sad because my beautiful Mr. Darcy had passed away that day from a heart attack at a very young age. The waiter knew that I was upset, he didn’t know exactly why, and he gave me a free milkshake. I have always remembered his act of kindness.

But nearly two years have past and I can now emotionally jump into the Hollywood Blvd. Burger Battle. I recently revisited Lucky Devils (which is owned by the extremely gorgeous Lucky Vanous from the Diet Coke commercials) with some serious foodies to see which burger place is indeed the best.

My chocolate cake shake:

I was originally going to order the roasted pecan shake (it has reached the notoriety of the date shake) but since I had a migraine that afternoon I thought it prudent to stay away from nuts. My shake was just ok; the whipped cream was certainly delicious but there was too much on it and I pretty much got filled up before I could seriously sip the shake.

We discuss burgers, weight, and chili cheese fries:

A close-up of my perfectly cooked Kobe Blue Bacon burger:

The foodies really liked the burgers but the only complaint was with the bun which most felt wasn’t hardy enough in texture and taste.

Who doesn’t love devilicious chili cheese fries? These are made with Kobe beef chili:

The foodies did not like the plain fries at Lucky Devils. I remember that the last time that I ordered them I didn’t particularly like them either. But with some good chili, cheese, and onions smothered on them how can you go wrong? It’s a definite improvement but it’s going to cost you $$.

So which is place is better? In my opinion the fries (with a zillion dipping sauces) and the shakes (oh, how I dream of the Valrhona Chocolate shake) are better at 25 Degrees but the burgers (and isn’t all about the burgers?) are better at Lucky Devils. You don’t get as much variety in toppings at Lucky Devils as you would at 25 Degrees but what you do get is plentiful, high quality, and very tasty. Also, I’ve always gotten my burgers perfectly cooked at Lucky D’s but the last couple of times that I went to 25 D’s my burgers have been overcooked and dry.

Lucky Devils

6618 Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood, CA 90028

http://www.luckydevils-la.com/

Asanebo and Its One Michelin Star - Feh!

2007-11-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

A preview of coming attractions – Salmon with Caviar with a little surprise in the middle:

A rare opportunity came my way: Stubborn Gourmet T invited me out to dinner and told me that I could pick the restaurant. Alas, said bequest had a contingency clause, i.e., it had “to be close.” I correctly took this to mean close to her, not me. Still, this worked in my favor, or so I thought, because I could finally go to Asanebo.

If you do nominal research on this most beloved Studio City sushi joint, you will discover that it has the top food rating in the city according to that certain “exceedingly” “annoying” restaurant guide. Also, many have claimed that Asanebo has the FRESHEST fish in town. And let us not forget about the shiny Michelin Star (which they did not have yet when I went there).

Question: Was I going to have the greatest sushi experience of my life or was I being set up to be very disappointed?

Answer: The latter. Overall the food was pretty good but it just wasn’t worth the $100 per person tab (I’ve had much FRESHER fish at Sushi Nishi-ya for less money.) I don’t know if the sushi chef thought that we were a bunch of rubes and gave us mostly crappy fish or if they knew Les Critiques Michelin were coming and went all out but my meal was not worthy of any type of award.

Our quasi-Omakase begins...

Spinach Salad:

Excellent! One of three best dishes that night.

Snapper with shaved yuzu skin:

This dish had a very nice flavor combination but the fish had a slightly watery texture.

Kampachi with a miso-sesame sauce:

Again, the fish had a slightly watery texture but I though that it the fish went well with the sliced jalapeno and the sauce.

Halibut with black truffle (note that it’s preserved truffle):

A totally pointless dish. The truffle completely overwhelmed the halibut and was very unpleasant to eat.

The aforementioned salmon:

This was actually pretty good even though it had competing components, the caviar and the ponzu sauce, but the radish salad encased in the salmon brought everything together. Only problem was that the salmon had a watery texture (are you starting to see a pattern here?)

Spanish mackerel two ways:

Fabulous! The raw mackerel was great with the minimalist ponzu sauce and a dash of ginger, horseradish, and green onion. We asked for the deep fried mackerel bones and they were the best thing that night.

Ankimo with sweet goop:

Worst ankimo that I’ve ever had (actually, I’ve never had bad ankimo before this!)

Ono with ponzu (again) and fried garlic chips:

The fish had such a watery texture it ruined the whole dish.

Toro with more sweet goop:

The toro was pretty good. And the sauce was pretty good. But the two just did not go together very well. The sauce was too rich for the fatty toro; the toro was drowned in it and I had to scrape it off but it was still a bit overpowering.

The steamed uni:

Now this was an interesting dish: the uni had been steamed over salt water for 15 minutes. Why they didn't give us raw uni I will never know. Fanatics of raw uni would have missed the buttery ocean flavor that completely disappeard with steaming (it just tasted really salty afterwards). The only thing that saved this uni was the great Korean seaweed served with it.

Don’t even get me started on the extremely gross (re-frozen, many times based on the texture, ice cream and sour fruit) dessert that they served us.

Les Critiques Michelin need to get their tongues over to Sushi Nishi-ya tres vites. But since it’s not a scene they probably never will.

Asanebo
11941 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 760-3348

The Old School Korean Trio: Dong Il Jang, Ham Hung, and Jeonju

2007-10-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

I walked into Dong Il Jang and thought to myself, “Holy crap! This looks like a place that my grandparents used to go to.” I looked around, and sure enough, other people’s grandparents were there. It was nice to see a retro place that hasn’t yet been colonized by trendoids.

Dong Il Jang has a fairly well rounded menu with all of the Korean classics, but the specialty of the house is the “Roast Gui”:

While many covet the Roast Gui, I felt that it was dullsville compared to what you can get at other Korean barbeque places. While the fatty pieces were just ok, the leaner pieces had a very dry and unpleasant texture to them. Instead of getting nice and brown most of the meat cooked up watery and grey.

But this insipid foreplay had to be endured before my happy ending: Kimchee Fried Rice. The fried rice was as great as the Roast Gui was bad. Kimchee, rib-eye trimmings, and whatever was leftover of our daikon radish panchan was cooked with rice in the Roast Gui scraps:

Ham Hung is another old school Korean with many classics on the menu but they specialize in Naeng Myun, or cold buckwheat noodles in very cold broth. This has been the only Korean restaurant in which I have felt like yanki-nom (the Korean version of gwailo) since we were heavily induced to order the noodle/kabli combo; yes, we probably could have ordered something else but I have a feeling that we would have ended up with the combo anyway, and I noticed that we hardly got any panchan compared to the other tables.

I ordered the Bibim Naeng Myun which is dry cold noodles in a sweet spicy chili sauce. It was good as was the Kalbi. Raven ordered the Mul Neng Myun, and though she says that it was very good, it looked very pallid: the noodles seemed to be more grey than the nice rich deep brown that I am used to.

Jeonju is one of the best mom ‘n’ pop dives in Koreatown. You’ll never find this place unless you already know where it is (or can read Korean); it’s located in the same mini-mall as Sokongdong.

Jeonju is known for their Dol Sot Bimbibap. You can get three kinds: beef, kimchee and beef, or seafood. It’s great when everyone at the table orders the bibimbap so that you can hear a chorus of the sizzling rice.

The Bibimbap is pretty good but I go crazy for their Jo Gee Gui (whole fried Yellow Corvina fish). The fish is simplicity at it’s best. While eating it, I was singing The Cat’s song from Red Dwarf:

I’m gonna eat you little fishie
I’m gonna eat you little fishie
I’m gonna eat you little fishie
‘Cause I like eating fish!

I got my comeuppance a few days later when a big mean raccoon ate my fish out of the pond in the backyard.

Although I haven’t had them, the jigae look really good. Next time it’s more Jo Gee Gui and some kimchee jigae for me.

Dong Il Jang
3455 W. 8th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90005

Ham Hung
809 S. Ardmore Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90005

Jeonju
2716 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90006

Park's BBQ

2007-09-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

I know that these are fightin’ words but I’m going to say them anyway: move over Soot Bull Jeep! There is a new King of Korean BBQ in town!

Ok, maybe I’m being a bit premature. I recently went to Park’s BBQ and it was love at first site and bite. I declared it my new fave. But a few of my dining companions stated that the still liked Soot Bull Jeep better. Hmmmm. I don’t often go to Soot Bull Jeep, I think that it is good, but it’s not my favorite (Sa Rit Gol has held that spot for a while). So, let the Korean BBQ challenge begin! I will be revisiting Sa Rit Gol and Soot Bull Jeep in the near future and we’ll see how they stack up to Park’s.

But in the meantime, delight your visual sense in the world that is Park’s BBQ…

Our three dippies: coarse salt with toasted sesame seed; a soy based sauce with chiles; and fermented soybean sauce.

Panchan! I had such a case of Stendhal’s Syndrome that I didn’t get a solo picture of the potato salad (it’s at the 3 o’clock position) but it was fabulous. It was oil based (slightly, and no vinegar) with a hint of garlic.

The wonderful spinach with ground tofu and roasted sesame seed:

The Gae Jang (this stuff has a cult following):

The seafood pancake (this did not have a lot of seafood in it – I think that Sa Rit Gol will win this part of the competition):

Foreplay:

And the piece de resistance – the de rigueur #2 – prime kalbi (thanks, ipsedixit!):

A luscious piece of sizzling kobe beef:

One thing that I like about Park’s is that they let you keep the bone from the short rib which they don’t do at Sa Rit Gol (I think at Soot Bull Jeep they have an order of bones!)

Raven stated that she likes the tongue better at Soot Bul Gui Rim since it’s cut thicker; I’ll have to try tongue at the other places.

Not as expensive as I thought it would be. It came out to $25 per person with a hefty tip (the service here is excellent!)

And for dessert, some Pot Bing Soo at Ice Kiss. Woof!

Park’s BBQ
955 S. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90006

Ice Kiss
3407 W. 6^th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90020

Vietnamese Soycafe - A Hidden Gem in Silver Lake

2007-09-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

If you race up and down Hyperion in order to hit the green light at Lyric (or Fountain, as the case may be) you might miss the lilliputian Vietnamese Soycafe. If you are a true foodie, you’ll see a glimpse of it out of the corner of your eye. The first thing that you’ll notice is that it is not open on Fridays and Saturdays. This piques your interest.

You finally go there one Sunday morning after being intrigued by the limited but unique menu that you happen to look at through the window one Saturday when the pet food store was not yet open and you needed to kill some time, so you walked up the block to check this quirky place out.

Below, a cup of cinnamon soymilk:

If you usually buy your soymilk at Trader Joe’s you have not had soymilk until you’ve had it at the Vietnamese Soycafe. Viet, the warm and personable owner, makes the organic soymilk in house. Other flavors include black sesame, mint, and yerba mate. It’s a better deal to buy a quart and share it with someone – you’ll end up with twice as much for about the same price.

Below, a double Vietnamese coffee – you are in heaven.

Below, the jicama fresh rolls:

These are wonderful. You cannot eat the peanut sauce with which they are served (or you’ll take a trip to migraineville) but it doesn’t matter; the texture is perfect and the minimalist flavors blend so well together.

Below, the overwhelmingly popular lemongrass chicken banh mi:

You pledge that next time you’ll order the green onion and sardine banh mi. There is also a vegetarian option: the shitake mushroom and tofu.

Below, two views of the Sunday special bun with tumeric whitefish:

You’ve heard about this dish through the foodie grapevine, and you purposely came here on a Sunday just to get it. It surpasses all of your expectations; it’s so simple and lovely. You’ve declared this the best dish in LA County since the late Kuala Lumpur’s wonton laksa.

Below, the soyskin mushroom bun and the soynugs:

On a health kick? You’ll have to try the “C Shot” – Viet’s upscale version of the uber-cleansing detox libation of lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

Vietnamese Soycafe
1997 Hyperion Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Luscious Dumpling!

2007-09-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

A preview of coming attractions – my luscious dumpling:

This is one review wherein the flix and pix will do all of the talking for me. All I can really say about Luscious Dumpling is that it is very aptly named. The dumplings (and soup noodles) are just fabulous. I will also add that I like the fact that you can arrive there at 10:55 am on a Saturday and get a table; the same arrival time at Din Tai Fun would earn you an hour and a half wait.

The always wonderful chive, pork, egg, and shrimp dumplings (I missed the “money” shot):

The pan-fried pork dumplings – spectacular!

The stewed pork soup noodles with big pieces of unctuous pork belly – yum!

The cabbage, pork, and shrimp dumplings – delicately delicious!

Everyone loves this dish – the beef tendon soup noodles (though they forgot to bring the broth – it’s served on the side) with hot and sour sauce. Divoon!

“Flavors” stewed beef soup noodles – one non-beef eater loved this!

My favorite dumplings – the pan-fried napa, pork, and sole dumplings. These are so friggin’ good!

The steamed dumplings with cabbage, mushroom, and bean curd – good, but not the crowd favorite:

The steamed pork with soup dumplings (more on these below):

Ok, I have to say one more thing: once, I made the mistake of referring to Luscious Dumpling’s pork with soup dumplings as XLB (xiao long bao) on a chowhound thread. Not the thing to do, Dear Reader! Even though I apologized profusely (offering myself up to be pelted with several orders of soup dumplings – not a bad way to die when you think about it) I have never been forgiven and I’ve been ostracized ever since!

The above feast, with the addition of stewed flavored bean curd as an appetizer, came to $13 per person. Good times. Good times.

Luscious Dumpling
704 W. Las Tunas Drive
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Osteria Mozza

2007-09-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

I was really looking forward to going to Osteria Mozza since Mario Batali’s Lupa in New York City is one of my favorite restaurants. From the reviews that I read, I had very high expectations of Osteria Mozza. After the dinner I realized that the Nancy Silverton dishes, especially those at the Mozzarella Bar, were the standouts. Batali’s dishes have not yet translated to the wonderful dishes that I know them to be. If you haven’t had Batali’s cooking before, you would probably find his dishes to be quite good by LA standards.

Our “amuse bouche” – a mozzarella involtini stuffed with fresh basil, roasted tomato, and olives. This was really good and would have tasted even better with the wine that I had ordered that arrived to the table extremely late.

Since it was still officially Summer, I ordered a Bastianich Rosato. It suited my appetizers well.

My grilled octopus salad:

This was really fantastic, though the octopus could have been slightly fresher. The salad was composed of braised leeks, fresh chives, boiled potato, and the octopus tossed with a vinaigrette. The vinegar was way too strong but somehow worked with the blandness of the octopus. I took most of this home and ate it the next day for lunch and it was just extraordinarily delicious. The vinegar dissipated somewhat and the flavors just really came together.

My Bufala Mozzarella with multi dippies:

This was just fabulous! I loved the mozzarella wit the assertive flavors of most of the dips. I thought that the romanesco worked the best as it was made with a nice smokey pimenton that complemented the mozzarella well. I also liked the caper berry relish (which I put on my cold steak sandwich the next day – delicious). I had a problem with the tapenade though: it had too much lemon essence in it plus a touch of what I think was lavender. That might go well on crostini but it was quite awful with mozzarella.

Bonus Pic! Burrata with Bacon and Sauteed Escarole:

My Bavette Cacio e Pepe:

This was good but was missing most of the unctuousness that you would find at Lupa (also, the cheese was melted through instead of being in soft, small crumbles). Despite this, I thought that this dish was executed well due to the perfect balance of the cheese and the pepper, and for the fact that the Bavette was perfectly cooked.

The Beef Brasato with Polenta:

My great-grandmother used to season her meatballs with some chopped celery leaves so I was excited to see them as a garnish on this dish. But unlike my great-grandmother, who used the leaves sparingly, Osteria Mozza put a big handful on a dish, and the leaves were so aggressive that it dominated it as opposed to augmenting it.

Most Foodie Chicks preferred Pizzeria Mozza to the Osteria. I have to agree but I will definitely come back and sit at the Mozzeralla Bar.

Osteria Mozza

6602 Melrose Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90038

http://www.mozza-la.com/

The Corner Place

2007-09-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

A preview of coming attractions – my bowl of Dongchimi Guksu (somen like noodles in cold radish broth):

Late last year I started working for a Korean firm. One morn, before work, I was perusing the Chowhound board and read a post about these cold noodles (Dongchimi Guksu) at a place called The Corner Place. I was in love with these noodles, sight and taste unseen. Later that morning, the office manager, Judy, asks me if I want to go to lunch with her and Chris. She said, “It’s probably going to be Korean, is that ok?” and I replied, “OMG! I’ve been cravin’ Korean all day!” and she looked at me really funny and said, “You’re serious, aren’t you?” Perhaps she had forgotten that I and another employee were the only two people to eat the Jo Gee Gui (fried whole Yellow Corvina fish) at the last firm luncheon.

Needless to say the noodles were all that I had expected and more. I had been meaning to go back, like every day, but there have been so many other places to try. Finally, I got a group to go on what would definitely be a hot summer day. The day before, one of my colleagues tells me that the Dongchimi Guksu “aren’t as good as they used to be.” What! “I think they changed the recipe or something.” Oh, mon Dieu!

The recipe for Dongchimi Guksu is a closely guarded secret. Legend has it that a little old lady in Cerritos makes the broth and it is delivered to the restaurant in a Brinks truck. This is one secret that you’ll never learn: you are not allowed to take home your leftover noodles nor may you order them to-go.

The one secret ingredient that everyone can agree on is 7-Up which was very distinctive the first time that I had these noodles but since the 7-Up flavor has diminished somewhat. My colleague was right, the recipe probably has changed but in my opinion they are even better now. They are slightly more spicy (almost like a jalapeno agua fresca) and taste a little more of cucumber.

The waitress splits our noodles for us:

Raven wants something extra in her noodles and I explain why she’s out of luck:

Below, a photo of our Kalbi that we ate with the noodles:

Above, we just ate the meat with the scallion salad and sesame oil dippy. Rice and lettuce leaves were extra and with the noodles who needed them anyway?

Below, select photos of our panchan:

Above, the fermented cabbage in jalapeno water. This was so refreshing! It’s pretty spicy but it also came with a whole bunch of ice cubes in the bowl – perfect for a hot summer day.

The Corner Place
2819 W. James M. Wood St.
Los Angeles, CA 90006

Shaka's Hawaiian Cuisine - A Moveable Feast Part II

2007-08-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

A preview of coming attractions – my Spam Musubi:

Ever since having read this thread on Chowhound about Shaka’s Hawaiian Cuisine, I’ve been dreaming of bacon fried rice. I decided that a little bacon fat is just what fried rice needed to give it that luscious unctuousness.

So Hollywood Bowl Picnic time rolled around again and I was torn between going classy (Fra Mani salumi and mortadella; fresh mozz; gamberi con fagioli; caponata; and pomodori ripieni, with a bottles of Prosecco and Zin) or going “theme”; since we are seeing "South Pacific", Mr. Sales suggested that we go Polynesian. I quickly chose the latter since I finally had my chance to get some bacon fried rice.

We started off with the “Shaka’s Sampler” which had Spam Musubi, Sesame Chicken Wings, and Teriyaki Beef Skewers. The Sesame Chicken Wings and the Skewers didn’t travel very well but the Spam Musubi was absolutely delicious! And I don’t even like Spam! Next time I will order the Manupua (Char Siu Bao) along with the Spam Musubi.

For entrees we brought bacon fried rice, Kalua Pig, Teriyaki Steak (I forgot to tell mumsy to get the Kalbi instead), and the Teriyaki Chicken.

Let’s get the Teriyaki Chicken out of the way by saying that this was a dish for people who are afraid of real food: it was a dry boneless, skinless chicken breast covered with a sauce that was a bit wan. The rice was good though.

Mumsy really liked the Teriyaki steak but like I said earlier I wished that she had gotten the Kalbi; even so, this dish was still pretty good.

The Kaula Pig was great and was served with a steamed cabbage that tasted slightly pickled. The cabbage complimented the pork really well.

Ah, the bacon fried rice: it was sublime! We received enough to feed ten people and it was packed with bacon and Portuguese sausage. It also contained slivers of Kamaboko (fish cake) which I normally do not care for but in this case it really added a certain je ne sais quoi to the rice.

Let us not forget about the macaroni salad. I actually liked Shaka’s version; it was very minimalist (and wasn’t runny and gooey like most) and I could detect a bit of grated onion in the dressing. I was really tempted to bring an ice cream scooper so that I could have put two scoops of rice and one scoop of macaroni salad on everyone’s plate.

Here’s our tropical cocktail (sans umbrella):

Shaka's really took us to Bali Ha'i!

Shaka’s Hawaiian Cuisine
101 W. Main Street, #C
Alhambra, CA 91801
http://www.shakas.com/

Suhrabal Korean BBQ

2007-08-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: My Guest Blogger, Raven, and I (and a large group of people) went to Suhrabal for lunch about a week before the tragic shooting there. We decided to wait to post the review until a respectable time had past. If mention of the shooting might be offensive to you, please read no further.

Gee, it's been about three posts since I, or most likely Raven, has written about Korean food so I decided it was about that time. Thanks to Raven for being my Guest Blogger (again!) this week.

We Enter Korean Drama Territory: Suhrabal

FADE IN:

INT. SUHRABAL – DAY

A KOREAN MAN enters, gun in hand... Okay, I don't want to be flippant about the tragedy that occurred at Suhrabal barely a week after we were there, but you have to admit it could be something out of a kdrama (a dark one where folks get killed). The restaurant owner was rumored to be having an affair with one of the waitresses, so her husband showed up with a gun and killed the owner and himself. Plus the restaurant was open for business the very next day, or so I'm told. I can't imagine who would have gone there then...

But when we were there this tragedy was still in the future, and we had no inkling that it was going to take place. So...

BEGIN FLASHBACK

A large party enters Suhrabal. From the ambience you expect this place to be expensive. It has an upscale dining room, heavy tables, overall an upscale atmosphere. You walk in past an area where the many meats available are open to view. This could seem chintzy, but it doesn't. It seems classy.

We ordered a LOT of food. In fact we ordered so much that we couldn't keep track of it all before we placed the order, so I had to write it down in Korean to give to the waitress, proving that I have bad handwriting in every alphabet. I'm not sure she bothered to read it, though, since she ended up bringing us an appetizer we hadn't ordered. Here it is, the accidental appetizer:

Granted, although we did pay for this appetizer (since we ate it), because of the mistake we also received an order of kimchee jigae on the house. I don't do spicy, so I didn't try it, but it looked appetizing. See what you think:

The barbecue (Note from Bon V.: charcoal, baby, charcoal!), of course, was our main course. Take a look:

We also ordered a number of other dishes to round out our meal. Hey, there were a lot of us. We deserved a lot of food. We pigged out on a delicious seafood and egg pancake (yum!), delicious chapchae (noodles with vegetables), and a plate of kimchee dumplings. Despite the fact that I don't do hot food, I was enticed by the dumplings (below).

I don't recall much about the panchan except for the deep-fried seaweed. I think this is the Korean answer to potato chips. I loved it at the time. It's sort of salty, sweet, and crisp all at once. I have to say, though, after I picked up a whole container of my own at HK Market, I got tired of this seaweed treat really fast.

Finally, after we were done eating, we all received a refreshing rice drink, which I really enjoyed.

And the best part is, the bill didn't live up to the pricey atmosphere. I was sure we'd be paying through the nose, but it was really quite reasonable.

END FLASHBACK

FADE OUT.

Note from Bon V.: After Suhrabal, we all went over to HK Market and saw this crazy warning:

Suhrabal
100 S. Western Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Father's Office

2007-07-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

A preview of coming attractions:

Those who have never been to Father’s Office in Santa Monica have heard the legends: it is tiny, tiny, tiny; the employees have serious attitude; and most importantly it has the best burger in the region if the not the entire United States.

Tiny? I wonder if the naysayers who make this claim have actually been to a tiny restaurant (Vietnamese Soy Café comes to mind). I was expecting the place to be of Lilliputian proportions and was worried that half of our party of 13 would not be seated even though we were first in line. I would say that Father’s Office is tiny by dim sum palace standards but it seats about 50 people easily.

Missing was the purported Father’s Office attitude; my bartender was so nice and helped me pick a great beer to go with my burger: Racer Five IPA (I normally don’t like IPAs but this was really good and went great with the burger) brewed by Bear Republic Brewery up in Sonoma County. The owner, Sang Yoon, is diligent about serving artisanal beers that compliment his gourmet burger. While my glass cost about $2.75 he has beers available that I believe are several hundred dollars per bottle. Just be careful about which beers you order Dear Reader.

But the legend of the phenomenal burger is indeed fact - it is quite delicious. The meat is of obvious high quality and I believe it is a mixture of ground sirloin and chuck. The carmelized onions, Maytag Blue, arugula, and toasted French roll just highlight the wonderful beef, and all of the components work really well together. Six conversations about one thing:

The rest of the items that we tried were extremely good. The sweet potato fries are absolutely incredible (I don’t even like sweet potato fries.) These are a must to order with the burger - don’t be tempted to order the regular fries like I was as they are not so great. My favorite item that day was the spiced olives. I was just blown away but the complex Moroccan spices that enveloped the olives. I definitely want to go back to Father’s Office to get non-burger items (the goat cheese gratin and the white anchovies are calling me, “Bon V, come to me…”); if the kitchen can put out olives that are to die for, imagine what the other items must taste like.

I do have a few criticisms though. While most people in our party complained of their burger being undercooked, my burger was overcooked. It was still tasty and juicy but I think that it would have been better (for me, at least) if it were a little less well done. The burger was supposed to have Gruyere cheese on it but it seemed to be absent from my particular burger. And the main problem for me, and this might sound silly to some (or even most) but even though the burger is truly excellent it seems more like a steak sandwich than a burger.

Father’s Office
1018 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90403
http://www.fathersoffice.com/