Overworked. Underfed.

Class 302

2012-02-10T22:21:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's anyone knows about the new shaved ice craze. When you think about your traditional Chinese shaved ice, you think of a bowl of crushed ice doused in condensed milk, topped with a scoop of red bean goop. Then there's the Korean version, which comes with all of the same plus a scoop of ice cream, maybe some canned mixed fruit, fresh strawberries if you're lucky, topped with some fruity pebbles. Then there's the Guppy House version, that improved on the whole concept by using really fresh, and really good (especially when its in season) fruit like mangoes and strawberries (my fav!). The wait and crowds at Guppy House are just unbelievable sometimes, and the immaturity of the high school kids that frequent this place gets on my nerves sometimes. So the next reinvention of shaved ice, comes in the form of Class 302. I'll admit that those Taiwanese people are a crafty bunch. First boba, now this??

What's so special about the shaved ice here? Apparently, its more than just ice. It's almost like a block of icey ice cream thats been frozen and then shaved off into sheets of folded fluffy soft creamy sweet deliciousness. The standard toppings apply.

Strawberry & Mango
The strawberries were just ok, but it was the middle of January so what do you expect. The mangoes were super ripe and super sweet and kinda too soft so I wonder if it came from a can or something. I'm pretty sure if you had this version at Guppy House, the fruit would be 10x better.

Green Tea & Mochi
The green tea flavor was nice, but I'm not a huge fan of green tea flavored things. Triple T was really hoping this would taste as good as the version she had at Boiling Point. Unfortunately, it feel a little bit short of her expectations because it wasn't creamy or sweet enough. Essentially it didn't taste like shaved ice cream. The mochie here were ginormous, really dense, and way too filling. I never had the Boiling Point version so I'd still say this was tasty.

Now don't think Class 302 is the OG when it comes to this new fandangled version of shaved ice. Many years ago, I first tasted this at the now closed 85 Degrees Tea House in the SGV. It was amazing. It was like heaven in my mouth. I thought to myself, if I opened up a place and sold this stuff with fresh fruit toppings, I'd be a millionaire! Well it looks like Class 302 beat me to it. Their dinky, and frankly run down little cafe in Rowland Heights has now expanded to Irvine, and all I can think is "Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching! $$$$" for whoever owns Class 302. Despite Class 302's success, I still believe there's room to take it to another level. The fruit toppings were limited and disappointing because I expect Guppy House standards. And the shaved ice could have been smoother, creamier, and sweeter. All in all, the stuff is still good, but damn we had a to wait an hour for the stuff! There's seriously only 10 tables or something and it was frankly miserable eating the stuff because the door would constantly open and the cold night air would swoosh on in. I hope the joint in Irvine is big spacious shiny and WARM!

MB Post

2012-02-09T21:57:00.000-08:00

What do I consider "LA"? I get irritated when people say they live in LA, when really they live in Sherman Oaks or Pasadena or Redondo Beach. I've lived in LA my entire adult life up until now, and I really only consider LA to the area bordered by the 110, 10, 405, and maybe Sunset. I'm a total snob, what can I say? And truly truly truly, the real LA, the LA you see on TV is only the area of Vine up until La Cienega going east/west and Hollywood down to Wilshire going north/south. That was my hood for the past 3 years, and only in that time did I feel the real action of LA's dining scene because that area is packed with some of LA's finest and most noteworthy establishments. There, you'll find restaurants like The Bazaar, Grace, Hatfield's, Providence, Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza, Urasawa, Animal, Son of a Gun, AOC, and more recently Ink, just to name a few. So once you leave this square, or even the larger LA I described, dining options that peak your culinary curiosity and find worthy of spending a little extra dime become slim. That is until MB Post.

MB Post was recently opened by the former executive chef at Water Grill, which for all intents and purposes is your typical boring, albeit high end, high quality, American seafood restaurant. Granted, I was only there for dine LA and my favorite thing of the night was dessert, I would still stand by my assessment. Knowing that coming in, I was pretty surprised at how different, and particularly, how Asian-influenced MB Post turned out to be. I don't know why Triple T and Smooth Obturator hadn't ventured here yet since they only live down the street from the place, but I guess it made for a funner experience since we all got to try it for the first time together.

Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuit maple butter
The biscuits came 2 to an order, so I sadly did not get my own. Luckily Triple T doesn't eat for 2 like she should, so I still got plenty to try. It was butter, bacony, and not too cheesy. The butter was delicious and just a touch sweet. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I wish I had those biscuits at Lucille's Smokehouse to devour right about now.

Jamon Serrano 12 month aged, redondo iglesias, assorted pickles
I sorta laughed at Smooth Obturator as he proceeded to tell me MB Post was known for its charcuterie. Pssh, the cured meats section of the menu only had 4 choices. If you want to be bombarded with charcuterie, please come to Portland, namely Olympic Provisions. It's on every menu, unless the specialty of the house is Beef Chow Fun or Pad Thai. Anyways, I thought the jamon was just ok. The assorted pickles didn't actually come with the ham; it was an additional order. Man oh man were those pickles SOUR! Like seriously my eyes were twitching and my tongue was writhing.

Blistering Blue Lake Green Beans thai basil, chili sauce, crispy pork
This was probably one of my favorite dishes of the night. I don't get to eat green beans anymore because Dumpling Man no likey likey. This was very much like fried Chinese string beans you get at a Chinese restaurant, but with a stronger fish sauce taste. The nuts were a different addition but definitely gave great texture and flavor.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts emmental, hazelnuts, sage
Brussel sprouts is such a hot dish at restaurants these days. It's ironic because brussel sprouts is your prototypical hated vegetable. I guess its a vegetable that just roasts up really nicely. This dish was tasty with the exception of the cheese, which although not overpowering, was kinda strange to eat with the sprouts. I don't usually eat cheese with my veggies.

Diver Scallops shrimp-ginger dumplings, katsuo dashi broth
The scallops were nice and the shrimp dumpling was tasty although the skin was a little too soft. Dumplings? Dashi? It can't get more Asian than that.

Steamed Mussels green curry, chinese sausage, coriander rice
I wished the mussels were bigger and meatier, although I'm sure Triple T could have cared less since she's no fan of these guys. The flavor was totally Thai with the scent of lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, and green curry. The chinese sausage was sort of out of place.

Meyer Farms 'Never Ever' Skirt Steak grilled broccolini, red chimichurri
By this point we were getting pretty stuffed. This was one of the more safe dishes of the night. A well grilled skirt steak with a tangy herby sauce and some tender broccolini.

Vietnamese Caramel Pork Jowl green papaya salad, lime
I was soo full but I just had to have me some pork jowl. This was that kind of "lip smacking" tastiness. It had that sugary caramelized fish sauciness. And now thinking back, I don't remember any green papaya salad, so I think we got jipped. This is a definite must get dish!

Spiced Apple Hand Pies salted caramel sauce
This was totally my doing because Triple T and Smooth Obturator had about enough, but these days, dessert is a total must. These weren't that great unfortunately. The salted caramel was a tad too salty. The dough was a bit heavy. The apples were just meh. We only about half a pie or something like that. Maybe we would have eaten more if it were a la mode.

MB Post was quite a surprise because 1) we weren't expecting such heavily Asian-influenced dishes and 2) the food was very solid. Despite the Asian dishes, there's was still the biscuits, the jamon, I mean MB Post varies it up and it's not weird or anything. I don't think a single dish really disappointed, excluding dessert maybe. During the meal Smooth Obturator was telling Triple T how they need to make MB Post a weekly occasion, but by the end of the meal they were just too stuffed and weighed down to feel like coming back. It's definitely not a weekly place, but it's certainly a place that should get you out of your LA bubble and come to the South Bay for some goodies. MB Post certainly stands out in the Manhattan Beach area, which isn't really known for any high profile foodie establishments. If you don't' eat here, at least stop by for some drinks cuz the scene is definitely poppin'!

MB Post
1142 Manhattan Ave
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Castagna

2012-02-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

As I've said before, Portland's dining scene can be summarized as seasonal local ingredients prepared deliciously without the frills, gimmicks, and pretention as you might experience in LA. It's just good food that makes you feel really warm and comforted inside. Castagna doesn't really fit the mold of your typical Portland restaurant. It's modernist cuisine with techniques that are far beyond simple prep, braising, stewing, grilling, etc. It's the kind of complex preparation, presentation, and plating that makes you think twice about whether what you're putting in your piehole is actually going to be tasty or not.

Zhu Zhu Hamster made reservations for Castagna but did not realize it was a pre fixe menu and tried to make a last minute switch to Castagna Cafe, its next door, more casual sister restaurant. Unfortunately, there was a wait, I was too hungry, and the menu looked pretty uninteresting. So Zhu Zhu Hamster, Little Pet, Dumpling Man, and myself walked back over to Castagna and we actually had to wait while the staff chose from the one of MANY open tables to seat us at. I was like, "SERIOULY?! SERIOUSLY?!" Ok, maybe many of those open tables were reserved for a later seating...they were NOT. Anyways, it was not a big deal, just something comical.

Amuse Bouch pate on house made rye cracker
I should have taken a wide shot of the presentation of this. It came as 4 little cracker bites perched precariously on long branches. The pate was quite smooth, almost mousse like, while the rye cracker presented a contrasting crunch. A nice bite, but the cracker had too much texture. A little too "multi grain" if ya know what I mean.

Cauliflower Mousse pickled orange, parmesan truffle granola.

Talk about a complex treat from the kitchen. The mousse could have been smoother, but tasted very distinctly of cauliflower. It had a very savory vegetal taste. The pickled orange packed a punch of course. Now that granola was different if not strange. It was a bit on the dry side, kinda like how the rye cracker was dry. The parmesan and truffle were just subtle hints. Overall the bite was nice, but I couldn't find the harmony in it.

Beignet gruyere, mustard

The kitchen was quite generous that night! Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans ignited my love for beignets, over 15 years ago. Since then, I've never been able to find a beignet that could match up, sweet or savory. I wish these beignets were served hot, if not just a little warm, but these were room temp. Texture wise they were light and airy. Flavor wise, the gruyere was interesting, but the mustard was out of left field. It was like the beignets were rolled in a powder form of mustard. It had that sort of heat that goes straight to your nose with a mild sweetness. I can surely say I've never had mustard take this form. Dumpling Man was a fan, but I just couldn't get over the room temperature nature.

Bread herbed bacon lard, salted butter

These were some of the best accompaniments I've had with bread in a while. The butter had a sweet creaminess with some bacon crumblings on top. And that bacon lard. Well I think that's all the description needed. I was slathering it all over the bread, which really served as a vehicle to get that stuff into my mouth. Yum!

Cauliflower in various textures, oyster, oxalis

Now onto the actual pre fixe courses! Not the most exciting dish by its description, but it turned out to be quite surprising. I cannot describe all the varying textures, but there was raw, charred, pickled, blanched, pureed. The oyster was oh-so-small but paired nicely with its briny sweetness against the vegetal sweetness.

Crab green apple, meyer lemon and lime mint

The portions of the food was quite delicate so you were forced to be really mindful of the food and how it all tasted together. The dish was very refreshing with the fresh crab and really tart citrusy components. I think the dark pieces are crackers or chips.

Sunchokes sweet garlic consommé, grilled leeks, chervil stems

Another strange, almost unappetizing dish, but it was surprisingly good. I've never really had sunchokes when it wasn't pureed, so it was interesting to have them whole. It's like a really soft tender potato. The grilled leeks were another delicate subtle addition.

Chanterelle charred chicken jus, fresh walnuts, dried fruit

I didn't have any of this, but I think Little Pet liked it.

Pork hazelnut butter, turnips, pears

A well done piece of pork, but I can't remember all the details.

Beef potatoes, onions, flavor of charcoal

This was an elevated form of your standard beef and potatoes. The meat was a perfect medium rare and it had a nice salty char. The potatoes, onions, and crunchy red thing were all nice accompaniments.

Toffee Ice Cream frosted cranberries, dried roots
The ice cream had nice flavor, but the texture could have been smoother. I really liked the frosted cranberries that had such an interesting indescribable texture. There were also mini macarons for a different dimension of sweetness and texture.

Apple Potpourri rose geranium
The dessert probably looks more like art than something edible but it was a unanimous favorite at the table. It was reminiscent of the "cauliflower in various textures" dishes. There were dried apples, baked apples, apple cake? freeze dried somethings, maybe rose petals?

Orange white chocolate, olive oil, bergamot
This was a more standard dessert with a pretty standard cake, flavored with orange and topped with a sugary orange crispy thing. The olive oil added a different sort of richness.

Mignardises
Chocolate caramel something or anothers. Very tasty, with just that teeny bit of sea salt. Seems like any dessert gets extra points for sea salt.

I'll have to admit that my description of most of the dishes was pretty poor. Part of it is that my memory is not that great, but the larger part is that dishes are far too complex than what my simple vocabulary can describe. The menu descriptions simply do not do justice to the intricacies and interplay of ingredients. And I guess you'll just to trust me when I say the food tasted better than it looked. I give Castagna props for treading in waters that most Portland restaurants do not. It's unique in that respect. On the grand spectrum of restaurants in this style, I could probably say others do a better job. Somehow I just was not WOW-ed, but I was definitely impressed. $65 for 4 courses ain't too shabby considering we got 3 free bites from the kitchen. We were pretty darn stuffed by the end of it all. Come here for an elegant, interesting experience. Come here if you want to feel like your NOT in Portland, which sometimes I want to feel like that. No offense Portland.

Castagna
1752 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, OR 97214

(I think I'm gonna stop embedding the Google map in my posts. Holla at me if this will severely affect your life and cause you to plunge into a deep depression and maybe I'll add it back.)

Michelle's Pancakes

2012-02-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

Michelle's Pancakes is a restaurant that's been around for a few years I think, but the reviews on Yelp were never that impressive. It's located in the same plaza as Luscious Dumpling, so maybe it gets some overflow from them. When I attempt Luscious Dumpling, I just make the commitment to wait and wait and wait and wait. It was only after being smacked in the face by the hour long wait for dinner at Din Tai Fung on a Sunday night when Luscious Dumpling is closed that we decided to go for Michelle's Pancakes. Lo Ma-Linda and Big Head Talks ALot, being "anything Asian-philes" graciously joined us for our first meal of the new year.

Pickled Cabbage
Spicy and sweet.

Pickled Cucumbers
I'm not sure if you can tell, but these were some sad limp cucumbers. Flavor was ok.

Beef and Spinach Noodle Soup
I think we were expecting the punchy flavors of niu rou mien, but this was watery and bland. The beef tasted kinda old too. It was a passable dish, but I don't think I'd reorder this.

Beef Roll
It seems difficult to get this dish right. The onion pancake is either too dry or too oily. There's either not enough sauce or too much sauce. Sometimes, there's just too many onions and/or cilantro. Other times, they're chintzy on the beef or the beef is too dry. The version here was a combination of all the aforementioned pitfalls.

The dumplings were a decent offering. Nothing offensive, but nothing spectacular.

Pork, Cabbage, and Shrimp
These were unnaturally sweet tasting. I'm not sure if it was from added sugar, or just the cabbage. Texture wise, the dumpling was nice.

Pork, Sea Cucumber, Leeks, Shrimp
These were much more balanced in flavor and certainly tasted better than anything I could make at home. The skin here is thicker too which I like.

Now onto the pancakes. These really are quite similar to dumplings, but with a thicker, chewier, pan fried wrapper. They are a little more substantial than the dumplings being maybe 30% bigger in size.

The filling was pretty juicy for all of the dumplings and pancakes. I think the juices caused some messy explosions for some of us.

The pancakes and dumplings were good here, but the other dishes were just so so. The menu is pretty large so I'm sure we could find some other supporting cast members to the dumplings/pancakes next time. The next time I'd choose to eat here, it would probably be because I was starving and got denied by Luscious Dumpling. It's not really because Michelle's Pancakes is that bad, but just because Luscious Dumpling is that good.

Michelle's Pancakes

706 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776

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Aviary

2012-02-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

Like all the other Jews and Chinese people, we found ourselves looking for any open restaurant to celebrate Christmas Eve. I originally was planning to make dinner, but Verde was orphaned for the holiday so we decided to make a night of it at Aviary. This restaurant had the unfortunate luck of burning down shortly after its opening, but has reemerged like a phoenix from the ashes. The menu certainly looked interesting, but a little too off beat to be appealing. I'm glad Dumpling Man made the executive decision to eat here because it was DELICIOUS.

We started off with the most amazing bread and "butter." I say "butter" because there was something else in here that made it ohh soo tasty, but too bad I don't remember what it was. All I know is that I kept sopping it up with every teeny bit of bread. Just go there and try it!

Spiced Duck Leg and Broth slow poached egg, daikon, dates, brioche persillade
This was another tasty dish. The downside was that it was so tiny. It probably could have been eaten in 3 bites so between Dumpling Man, Verde, and myself we pretty much only got a small niblin' each. The duck was tender, the egg yolk was runny and rich, the dates brought the sweetness, and the brioche added buttery crunch. It was like a dish you've never had.

Oxtail Croquettes tomato jam
Have you ever had chinese beef stew? Well this tasted like a bite of that with a slight crunch on the outside. It was a neat take on a traditional dish. Super small though! I could have fit 3 in my mouth if I tried.

Kusshi Oysters tomato granite, horseradish
Not the best oysters I've had, but the tomato granite was cool and refreshing with a bit of kick from the horseradish.

Sea Scallops kabocha squash, asian pear, nori buerre noisette
The dish looked like a big mess of unappealing colors, but tasted wonderful. The scallops of course were well caramelized. Aside from that, it's hard to identify the individual flavors, but it really came together nicely. The puree of whatever, maybe potatoes? was delicious, creamy and smooth.

Fried Chicken Skin Salad watermelon, bitter greens, baba ganoush
I was expecting crispy chicken skin, but the skin was battered and fried. The crispy batter was delicious and house a fatty somewhat gelatinous (in a good way) piece of skin inside. The watermelon contrasted nicely with the bitter greens. The baba ganoush was out of left field surprise taste but went nicely.

NY Strip Steak serrano ham, bone marrow emulsion, olive jus, onion rings
This was the most uninteresting dish of the night. They meat was more medium than medium rare but it wasn't terribly offensive.

Four Cup Chicken taro root, dried apricot and truffle, wood ear mushrooms
I was expecting something completely different, but was quite pleased with the stuffed tender moist chicken that arrived. There were so many varying textures throughout this dish, and the flavors were Asian, but not anything I could readily pinpoint.

Hoisin Glazed Short Rib farro, turnips, yuzu pickles
Most Asian fusion places go the route of sticky and overly sweet. I'm glad Aviary did not do this, especially with this dish which was neither of those. The pickles were a good tempering component to the slightly sweet tender beef.

Chocolate Torte sesame bananas, bourbon ice cream, florentine
Dumpling Man and Verde chose this dessert which I didn't like that much. I found the cake to be on the dry side and I'm not a fan of bananas. The ice cream wasn't overwhelmingly alcoholic and the florentine was a crunchy sweet addition.

Aviary is like no fusion place you've ever eaten at. Nothing about the dishes are readily "Asian" and if they are, it's very subtle or cleverly twisted. I wouldn't be discouraged with how the menu sounds, because they do a great job making everything tasty. 2 thumbs up here!

Aviary
1733 NE Alberta St.
Portland, OR 97211

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Papa Haydn

2012-01-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

Papa Haydn is a restaurant that falls on the many different lists of "Top Portland Restaurants." It's probably misleading because the food really isn't all that good. I think the "must-try" eats at this restaurants is the desserts, which unfortunately isn't all that good either, unless you like cake. I have a sweet tooth, but when it comes to cake, you'll get a *shrug* and an "eh" out of me. I'll eat it, I'll probably enjoy it, but it's not something I usually seek out.

French Onion Soup herbed cruton cap, gratinee of asiago, parmesan, gruyere cheeses
I needed something hot and warm on this blustery gloomy Portland afternoon. I've never really had an onion soup that I loved, but I went for it anyways. The soup itself was pretty light despite all the caramelized onions. The cheesy crouton baked on top wasn't too overwhelming. Sadly, my soup was kind of lukewarm and somehow didn't all come together.

Croque Monsieur Black forest ham, imported Gruyere cheese and mustard-mayonnaise grilled on Parmesan coated bread, cucumber salad
Our waiter recommended this as one of their signature and most popular dishes. It was just as described, a cheesy crispy mess of salty ham and cheese. The bread was a bit too crispy. The cucumber salad was in need of dressing. Overall, I wasn't too impressed.

Chicken Sandwich poached breast, cherry preserves, smoked mozzarella, crispy Walla Walla
onions, arugula, bacon aioli, rustic bun
Leave it to Dumpling Man to order something so ordinary as a chicken sandwich. When asked how his sandwich was, he just shrugged. Enough said.

Eggs Benedict house-made smoked pork loin, English muffin, poached eggs, hollandaise, home fries, mixed greens, champagne citrus vinaigrette
I didn't try any of this but Verde's girlfriend didn't seem impressed.

Hamburger highland oaks natural beef grilled over hardwood and served on a rustic roll, tillamook cheddar
Verde's response was pretty similar to his girlfriend's response about her eggs benedict.

Chorizo Hash
This was my original choice, but Tae Bo ordered this instead. She hardly ate much of it.

Boccone Dolce swiss meringues drizzled with semi-sweet chocolate, layered with fresh fruit and chantilly cream
So this was the real reason why we came here. Verde's girlfriend lives in Houston, so this cake is a special treat for her when she comes to visit. I'm not a huge fan of meringue, but it wasn't as airy and tasteless as I had feared. Together with the cream and fruit, the cake was not overly sweet. It was nice, but I wouldn't be jonesing for a slice anytime soon.

Berry Cobbler
I love tangy fruit baked with a layer of buttery crumble and served warm with a scoop of ice cream. The ratio of fruit to crumble was too high. Overall, it just didn't taste like the thing was made with love. It was probably made some time ago and just reheated to order. The fruits didn't taste very fresh.

Don't come to Papa Haydn for the food. It seems like people love the desserts and cakes more than anything. I suppose if I had some friends in town who were visiting and we were just looking to have some dessert, then maybe I'd come back. I can't say much more than that. Nothing was horribly offensive, but everything was just kinda whatever.

Papa Haydn
701 NW 23rd Ave
Portland, OR 97210

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Mee Sen

2012-01-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

I can confidently say that as far as Asian food in Portland goes, most of it is pretty average. One large exception to this is the Thai food. Are there a lot of Thai people in Portland? I don't think so, at least according to Verde, but sometimes his information isn't always that accurate. Thai food is good in LA, but limited to Thai town. West LA has plenty of Thai places but some of them are pretty blah. In Portland, I haven't come across one bad Thai place as bad as some of the places I've eaten at in LA. For this, I am grateful. This is what keeps me alive in Portland because I am someone that NEEDS a regular helping of rice and all else Asian. Granted, when I eat Thai food with Dumpling Man, I am usually limited to 2 dishes, yellow chicken curry and pad see ew, but really I love all other Thai flavors and dishes. So when Mee Sen was recommended to us, I saw that the menu included some more atypical dishes and I wanted to try it.

Hoy Ob Sa Mun Prai green mussels baked in clay pot, basil, lemongrass, galangal, chilies
The herbs and seasoning as spot on as was the spicy dipping sauce, but the dish failed because the mussels were not good quality. They were kinda rubbery. Alas, not all Thai mussel dishes can be as good as it is at Jitlada.

Khao Soi Gai
I have only newly discovered this very popular Northern Thai dish and I love it. I haven't found a version as good as I had in Thailand, but this hit the general spot. It was slight sweet and spicy with a big hunk of chicken drumstick. I guess what I don't like about khao soi is the crunchy noodles. I just want more of the regular noodles instead.

Pad See Ew
Dumpling Man had to have his ONE dish, so I allowed him this. Or rather, he ordered this and allowed me some other dishes, namely the mussels which he said I would be eating on my own. The version here was no doubt delicious, as it has been at almost any of Thai restaurants in Portland. Sweet, salty, with a good amount of wok hei.

Khao Mon Gai Thoon Kai Tom stewed chicken in five spices, soy, hard boiled egg, black mushrooms, topped with gravy
This was a new dish to us and we liked it. It reminded us of a similar stewed duck leg dish at Ping. Ping's version is much tastier and flavorful, but this did not disappoint. It was pretty simple and hearty.

Surprisingly, we actually finished all of the food. Either the food was that good or the servings were that small. I think it was little bit of both, and probably the fact that Dumpling Man can be major fat-asses when no one is looking. Mee Sen is a nice little restaurant in the Mississippi area of Northeast Portland. The place has a certain vibe about it that didn't exactly match up to my 4 inch heels and dolman sleeve sweater jacket if ya know what I mean. The bench seating and rustic tables didn't complement Dumpling Man's merino wool vneck sweater and designer jeans. Despite it's more "Portland" vibe, we would still probably come back to try some other things on the menu that are a bit different than your standard noodles, stir frys, and curries.

Mee Sen
3924 N Mississippi Ave.

Portland, OR 97227

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Sushirrito

2012-01-16T20:41:00.000-08:00

I love that people are constantly trying to innovate in the food world. People coming up with new twists on old ideas. People mashing up cuisines from different parts of the world. It's fun to discover all these new things. I wouldn't exactly say these innovators are always so successful. Sushirrito seems like it would be one of the more creative and delicious ideas. Imagine giant sushi rolls as big as burritos, and you have Sushirrito.

It's caters to the lunch crowd being located in the financial district of SF. It's more of an eat and go or take and go place. There are no places to sit and eat and only a small area to stand and eat. It kind of works like chipotle where you order you food and you watch them make it on a line.

The fish looked decently fresh.

As did the veggies.

After your sushiritto is made, it's rolled in roe, just like a sushi roll would be.

Lava Nachos Brown Rice Chips topped with Tuna Picante, Melted Pepper Jack Cheese, Avocado,
Green Onions, Nori Strips, Sriracha Aioli
This was a pretty interesting take on the traditional nacho dish. Instead of ground taco meat or chicken, there was spicy tuna which was a little on the bland side. Everything else was the traditional toppings you'd find on the nachos but with a Japanese slant. Surprisingly the cheese wasn't weird tasting with the tuna.

El Tigre Ahi Tuna, Julienne Carrots, Red Radish, Beets, Cucumber, Shaved Cabbage, Micro Greens, Avocado, Crumbled Rice Chips, Green Onions, spicy honey mustard
The first bite was pretty surprising. It looks like a burrito, but tastes like a giant sushi roll. The part I love most about burritos is slathering the darn thing in tangy spicy salsa. Without that extra added acid, I probably wouldn't eat most burritos. I felt the same way about this. The taste got kind of tiring after a while. All those veggies and rice needed some acid to balance things it. I think some ponzu sauce would have been the perfect addition.

Sumo Crunch shredded crab, shrimp tempura, cucumber, avocado, shaved cabbage, green onions, red tempura flakes, siracha aioli
All the components were solid, but it just didn't all come together for the same reason as the previous sushirrito. I think I liked this one better too because the shrimp and crab were more flavorful proteins than the tuna.

Thumbs up for innovation, but the sushirritos were lacking in balanced flavor. It had all the necessary fresh components and varying textures but the flavors were one dimensional. The portions were quite generous and between me and Triple F, we could barely finish 2 sushirritos and the nachos. And with these being made with fresh seafood, leftovers are less than ideal. They need a salsa bar, or ponzu sauces to mix things up since most or all of the sauces are creamy based in flavor.

Sushirrito
59 New Montgomery St
San Francisco, CA 94106

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PPQ Dungeness Island

2012-01-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

I apologize for my long break from the blogger world. The holidays left me with little time to blog. I was flying back and forth from Portland to LA during my time off, and when I get to LA all I do is eat and hang out without much time for blogging. Plus, a lot of my free time has been spent trying to plan The Big Day. Although it's quite a ways away, I like to peruse the internet seeing all the wonderful possibilities. It's amazing to think what life would be like without the internet.

I still have to finish up blogging about my SF trip so many moons ago. After Bottega and Gary Denko, were done with the White Man's food, and really need to color things up a shade of yellow. Dim sum at Hong Kong Lounge really hit the spot and we wanted to keep the momentum going. Weeners recommended PPQ which turned out to be disappointingly mediocre so I'm going to have to reconsider her recommendations from here on out. PPQ is really know for their crab and garlic noodles. I'm not sure if the restaurant is Vietnamese or Chinese since the food is sorta Chinese, but there is Vietnamese on the menu. We decided to go off the set menu stuff and order a la carte. Maybe thats where we went wrong because none of the things were ordered were very good.

Papaya Salad with Shrimp
I love papaya salad, but I didn't like this. It was just sorta bland. It lacked an adequate amount of acid or even salt. It was just a sweet bland taste. The shrimp were flavorless. The papaya had a good crunch I suppose, but the flavoring left much to be desired.

Fish Mau and Crabmeat Soup
Nothing spectacular going on here. Not large pieces of anything that I could identify as being seafood.

Peppercorn Crab
The crab comes in various flavors, and I believe we went with the salt and pepper version. The crab tasted as sad as he looks. The meat was lacking and whatever there was of it was dry. It didn't taste very fresh. I think we were all disappointed but didn't want to outright complain. The crab was more trouble than it was worth to eat.

Garlic Noodles
Ok, despite everything else tasting pretty underwhelming, I will admit that the noodles were quite delicious. They may have been the best garlic noodles I've had, but I haven't really tried that many versions. I haven't actually tried them at Thanh Long or Crustacean, but I think Triple F agrees that the noodles here are good if not better than those places. They didn't taste overly buttery, oily, or garlicky. I think it was a perfect balance of all those flavors.

Sauteed Eggplant with Garlic and Basil
I can't resist ordering this dish when I get a chance. If I'm not with Dumpling Man, I'll be sure to have my way and get an order of this in. This wasn't the best version I've had but it was one of the better dishes that night.

Braised String Beans
Not bad, not good.

Shaking Beef
Not bad, not good.

Steamed Shitake Seabass
Bad. The fish was not fresh. Some parts were rubbery, some were overcooked. Completely unimpressive.

Don't go here. It's not worth your time or your money. The food is completely average and unexciting. It's confused Chinese Vietnamese cuisine. Maybe get the garlic noodles to go and make something better at home to eat it with.

PPQ Dungeness Island
2332 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94121

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Hainanese Chicken & Rice

2011-12-14T17:24:00.000-08:00

Dumpling Man really likes Hainan Chicken & Rice. It's a pretty simple dish that I usually cheat to make since I never wanted to attempt poaching my own chicken and making my own rice. So I've used various versions of this pre-made seasoning in a jar over the years, and Dumpling Man has always been pleased. All you do is add a couple scoops to your rice and then pop it in the rice cooker. As for the chicken, I usually season it and slather it with some ginger and steam it.

Anyways, I decided to hunker down and do it all from scratch. Watching the episode of No Reservations, when Anthony Bourdain visits Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken and Rice Stand in Singapore, was the final push to try and do it. They showed the process of poaching the chicken and using the poaching liquid to make an aromatic delicious rice. I found an easy enough recipe at Steamy Kitchen.

So when my mom makes bun thanh, which is a kind of Vietnamese chicken noodle soup dish, she says it should be made with a free range chicken. She's not very clear on why, but it's supposed to be better. This recipe too, called for a free range chicken.

I have no idea how many pounds the chicken was, but by my guestimation it was at least 4 lbs?

Ok the next couple of pictures are going to be quite graphic for some of the more sensitive souls, i.e. Care Bear. I was quite surprised to see the head and feet still attached, but I manned up.

After cleaning and thoroughly rubbing the body with salt, then stuffing it with slices of ginger and green onions, you plop into a big pot full of cold water. After bringing it to a boil, you simmer it for 20-30 minutes. Sadly, my pot was not big enough for my chicken to swim freely.

After your chicken is done poaching your left with a very rich, and fatty, delicious stock.

To make the rice, you mince up some garlic and ginger and fry it up in a little bit of oil. The most delightful aroma will start to fill your kitchen. To this, you'll add your rice, and then your stock.

It's definitely a lot easier than making risotto, which is such a slow tedious process. This only takes 15 minutes!

So now your chicken is ready for carving! Don't be intimidated by having to carve a whole chicken. Youtube has many videos demonstrating how to do so successfully and easily.

TaDa!

After stealing the chicken of all it's meat, this was all that was left. He did not die in vain.

So I guess what makes this dish special is the sauces you eat it with. I like spicy things I suppose, but I don't really ever cook spicy. So my Hainanese chicken is not eaten with a spicy dipping sauce. Rather I have a sweet soy sauce and a lemon ginger sauce. Just grate some ginger, lemon juice, salt, sugar, pepper. It's nice.

I thought the rice tasted pretty darn good. I couldn't really remember if it tasted different from the jar version, but I recently made that version of rice and it's markedly better when you make the rice from scratch. You can really taste the aromatic ginger and garlic that is highlighted by the fresh chicken stock and luscious chicken fat. Very good.

Hainanese Chicken & Rice
adapted from Steamy Kitchen

1 whole chicken (3.5 lbs, 1.8kg), preferably organickosher salt4'' section of fresh ginger, in 1/4'' slices2 stalks green onions, cut into 1" sections (both the green and white parts)1 teaspoon sesame oilFOR THE RICE2 tablespoon chicken fat or 2 tbsp vegetable oil3 cloves garlic, finely minced1'' section of ginger, finely minced2 cups long-grain uncooked rice, washed and soaked in cool water for 10 min or longer2 cups reserved chicken poaching broth1/2 teaspoon sesame oil1 teaspoon kosher salt

1. To clean the chicken, with a small handful of kosher salt, rub the chicken all over, getting rid of any loose skin and dirt. Rinse chicken well, inside and outside. Season generously with salt inside and outside. Stuff the chicken with the ginger slices and the green onion. Place the chicken in a large stockpot and fill with cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then immediately turn the heat to low to keep a simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes more (less if you're using a smaller chicken). Check for doneness by sticking a chopstick into the flesh under the leg and see if the juices run clear or insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh not touching bone. It should read 170F.

2. When the chicken is cooked through, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. Immediately lift and transfer the chicken into a bath of ice water to cool and discard the ginger and green onion. Don't forget to reserve the poaching broth for your rice, your sauce, and the accompanying soup. The quick cooling will stop the cooking process, keeping the meat soft and tender, and giving the skin a lovely firm texture.

3. To cook the rice: Drain the rice. In a wok or sauce pan (use a medium sauce pan if you plan on cooking the rice on the stove top), heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the ginger and the garlic and fry until your kitchen smells like heaven. Be careful not to burn the aromatics! Add in your drained rice and stir to coat, cook for 2 minutes. Add the sesame oil, mix well.

To make the rice on the stove: In the same sauce pan, add 2 cups of your reserved poaching broth, add salt and bring to a boil. Immediately turn the heat down to low, cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit (with lid still on) for 5-10 minutes more.

To cook rice in a rice cooker: Pour aromatics and rice (after frying) into your rice cooker, add 2 1/2 cups of your reserved poaching broth and salt. Follow the instructions for your model (usually this will just mean "turn it on!")

4. While your rice is cooking, remove the chicken from the ice bath and rub the outside of the chicken with the sesame oil. Carve the chicken for serving.

Don't mind those wilted looking cucumbers. They're pickled and taste better than it looks.

Bon apetit!

Joe's Burger

2011-12-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

The argument over the "best burger" seems to be an endless debate for the ages. Some of the more well known contenders nation wide are probably In 'N Out and Shake Shack. Every city has its own local battle. In LA, there's Father's Office, Golden State, Umami Burger, etc. You can find me in the In 'N Out and Father's Office camp. In Portland, I'm sure a battle is raging, but I'm not so "in-the-know" and I have no desire to hike all over the city trying different burgers. I've tried Little Big Burger, which was just ok, but not worth a revisit. Although I do pass it by on my way to workout and I cannot deny that the aroma wafting from it's doors is intoxicating, especially AFTER my workout.

More recently, I've tried Joe's Burgers, which is located at Bridgeport Village in Tigard. Imagine the Irvine Spectrum, a highly commercialized and relatively new and shiny outdoor shopping complex in the heart of the suburbs. There's a large movie theater & IMAX, Crate & Barrel, The Container Store, Banana Republic, etc. It feels like a little bit of home away from home, so Dumpling Man and I find ourselves there A LOT. Now Joe's Burger is not a restaurant or even a food cart. It's a food kiosk, surrounded by other food kiosks like Wetzel's Pretzels, The Sweet Factory, a bakery selling overpriced gourmet cupcakes, and Portland's Kogi wannabe, Koi Fusion. Despite being just a kiosk, it serves a burger that has come the closest to replicating In 'N Out's deliciousness.

Fries
These were delicious and fried to a golden crisp. They really remind me of McDonald's french fries, having that perfect artificial fried potato taste very much lacking from In 'N Out's fries.

Cheeseburger
Despite Joe's Burgers less than stellar reviews on Yelp, I stand by my opinion that Joe's Burger is one damn tasty burger. I will even go so far as to say that Joe's Burger comes pretty darn close to replicating the wonderfulness of In 'N Out. Yes, folks, I said it.

It has the same soft bun that's slightly toasted on one side, crispy iceberg lettuce and tomatoes, thin patty, chopped sweet caramelized onions, and that sauce. The taste is there and the size, well it's certainly more satisfying than the puny In 'N Out burgers.

Despite the very tangible similarities, there is something indescribable that still makes In 'N Out stand apart from Joe's. Don't ask me what it is, but Joe's will still just be Joe's. For me however, its the best burger in Portland, at this price point anyways. Certainly better than that diarrhea inducing Burgerville.

Joe's Burgers
7409 SW Bridgeport Rd
Tigard, OR 97224

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Hong Kong Lounge

2011-12-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

So after many wonderful meals in San Francisco (Gary Denko, Ferry Building, Bottega), the H.o.P. was honestly itching for something else. The H.o.P always gravitates back to our one true love, the complex multi faceted cuisine of Asia. What better way to satisfy that craving than with some good ole dim sum. Hands down, Seafood Harbour in Rosemead has got to be THE best dim sum this side of the Pacific. I haven't had dim sum in Hong Kong, but the rest of the H.o.P. can confirm this. So far, my experience with dim sum in the Bay Area has been just ok. Better than anything in Orange County, but nothing that knocks your socks off. A true dim sum experience cannot be complete without some rude, pushy, and loud Cantos. You know what I'm talking about. They smell like mothballs and old closets, they squawk and squabble like wild chickens, and shoving and cutting you off comes as second nature to them. Haha, I joke, right? These are the people of Dumpling Man. He says my people live 10 people to 1 room and are ghetto beyond all ghetto. Ah, to each his own...

Xiao Long Bao
Tasty and pretty juicy.

Har Gow
Pretty large pieces of shrimp.

Fried Shrimp Wontons
This is not something we typically would order, but we were pretty starved by the time we got seated. A starved H.o.P. -er is never something you want around. They go hog wild when it comes food time!

Gai Lan
The veggies were pretty good today. Not an ounce of bitterness here.

Shrimp Chow Fun Roll
I like eating dim sum with the H.o.P. We lean heavily toward anything shrimp. When I eat dim sum with Dumpling Man he likes to get the char siu version of this and I don't like it as much.

Seafood Tofu Roll
This was another tasty dish that I'm finding myself ordering more often. It gives more variety to the standard har gow and siu mai.

Shrimp Siu Mai
More shrimpy goodness.

Chicken Feet
I just leave this one for Smooth Obturator to devour. Not sure how it went down for him.

Siu Mai
I always appreciate when the pork in this is not too fatty and it was pretty good here.

Turnip Cake
We always get this and the sticky rice to balance out all the protein ordered. These were falling apart, but I kinda like the cakes like that. I don't like them too homogenous and starchy.

Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves
These were alright, nothing special.

Hong Kong Lounge was some good dim sum, but not the best I've ever had. It will certainly fulfill your cravings if you're ever in the SF area, but be prepared for a wait. I think we got there at 10 am and we had to wait at least 30 minutes. We got really annoyed because it seemed like people were just showing up and waltzing right in. It would have helped to have a Canto in our camp to keep us abreast of any shady business that was most certainly going on around us. Alas, we had only Triple T, and she was pretty useless.

Hong Kong Lounge

5322 Geary Blvd
(between 17th Ave & 18th Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94121
Neighborhood: Outer Richmond

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Bottega

2011-12-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Michael Chiarello has made quite a name for himself by being one of the 3 finalists in the first season of Top Chef Masters. Let's be honest, the first season was the only season worth mentioning. Subsequent seasons have been pretty lackluster. Anyways, I was pretty impressed with Chef Chiarello's mastery of Italian cuisine, so I was really looking forward to trying out Bottega during my jaunt to SF a few weekends back. The Pouter had amazing things to say from her experience there, so the expectations were high.

Lamb & Egg "house made" lamb sausage, pepperonata, crispy soft boiled egg, red endive, smoked olive oil poached mushrooms
The Pouter recommended this dish. It was pretty solid. The sausage was spicy and was mellowed out by the rich runny egg yolk with its crispy exterior and then complimented by the slightly bitter and sharp endive.

Polenta Under Glass caramelized mushrooms & balsamic game sauce
This was one of my favorite dishes of the night. The polenta was rich and buttery and the mushrooms were earthy and delightful. The balsamic game sauce was savory with a bit of sweet tang. Yummy!

Unfortunately I do not remember what this dish because it was part of the daily specials. I wish they'd give you a little card with all the specials written down because sometimes I can't follow all those words that the waiter spews out at you. And it makes it hard to remember things for the blog. Anyways, this was probably a tuna crude or something. It was a nice little bite.

Wood Grilled Octopus olive oil braised potatoes, pickled red onions & salsa verde
If you asked me a couple years ago if I associated octopus with Italian food, I would have said no. But now having seen octopus on many Italian menus, I would have to change my answer. The octopus was well seasoned with a nice char, but Smooth Obturator felt it was too soft and probably not fresh. I argued that a restaurant of this caliber could not possibly serve frozen seafood! But I could not explain why it was lacking the proper texture. Anyways, it was a tasty dish with the addition of the sharp arugula, tangy pickled onions, and bright salsa verde.

Smoked & Braised Natural Short Ribs whole grain mustard spaetzle, sicilian pickles, quince pasta, smokey horseradish jus
I'm so over braised short ribs. Everywhere you go, they have serve them, and they usually taste the same. These were good. The spaetzle was little twist on the usually accompaniment. Smooth Obturator didn't seem too impressed though.

Black Garlic Spaghetti Grande head-on gulf prawns, cherry tomatoes, calabrian chili, green onions, bonito flakes
Triple T, Triple F, and I all wanted to order this dish. It was certainly my favorite pasta of the night. I loved all the giant prawns and got to suck on one of the heads since Triple F doesn't eat such things. The bonito flakes gave the dish a subtle fishiness which I found strange for an Italian pasta. It was interesting though and all that saltiness was mitigated by the cherry tomatoes. The big spaghetti was different but a bit much. Overall I seemed to like this dish more than my dining companions. They thought it was too salty, which I can't deny.

Garganelli duck sausage, chanterelles
This was another special of the night. With all the rain, they had crazy amounts of chanterelles pop up locally, so they were incorporating it into many dishes. Although this dish looks pretty bland, it was darn salty. I didn't really get much mushroom flavor in, but rather lots and lots of saltiness in each bite. Disappointing.

Red Wheat Tagliarini Bolognese veal, pork & poricini mushroom sugo, rosemary, parmigiano reggiano
I've had wheat pasta before and I didn't like it one bit. So I was note hopeful for this dish, but it was turned out to be ok. The pasta was not as dry and tough as other wheat pastas. You really couldn't even tell the difference between that and normal pasta. The sauce was meaty, but again, very salty!

Mediterranean Seafood Brodetto mussels, gulf prawns, clams, monterey calamari, forno-confit tomato broth, olive oil crouton, paprika saffron rouille
I can't resist a medley of seafood, so I ordered this for the table to share. The seafood was overcooked unfortunately. The shrimps were mushy, the mussels were tough..ugh. The sauce was nice and the olive oil crouton was probably too oily for my taste. The dollop of heavy creamy whatever on top didn't help.

Bombolini
We were all pretty stuffed at this point, but wanted to end the night on a sweet note. An order of bombolini has never let me down. I forget what sort of sauces were served on the side. I think a lemony one and a berry one. The fried fritters were pretty light inside and not too sweet. I think I've had better though.

We were all pretty surprised that a restaurant like this could fail in the basic principle of seasoning. Too many dishes were over salted and it just ruined things. I imagine if things weren't as salty, we all would have had more positive feelings for the night. Unfortunately, Osteria Mozza still beats this place out as the Italian restaurant for me. It's hard to beat the mozzarella bar. Still, Bottega had its highlights, namely the polenta under glass and black garlic spaghetti grande (minus a teaspoon of salt or a heaping of bonito flakes). Given the reputation of the chef, I would be willing to come back, but not until I've tried all the other marvelous restaurants in Yountville. I'm looking at you, French Laundry.

Bottega
V Marketplace
6525 Washington Street, A9
Yountville, CA 94599
V Marketplace
6525 Washington Street, A9
Yountville, CA 94599
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Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-27T21:36:00.001-08:00

So my mom has become sort of a traveling gnome these days. She plans these elaborate trips, it's beginning to feel like every years now, with all her lady friends to quite exotic destinations. This year it was Turkey and Sri Lanka with a short jaunt to Vietnam. She often goes in the fall and this year she happened to be gone during Thanksgiving. With her gone, my siblings and I were sort of at a loss of what to do. In the end, everyone else decided to take a trip too. Triple F and Running Man went to South America and Smooth Obturator and Triple T went to Bora Bora. By the time I thought of going back home to spend Thanksgiving with Dumpling Man's family, plane tickets were through the roof. So that left Dumpling Man and me, alone, in rainy Portland for Thanksgiving. Luckily, Zhu Zhu Hamster was also in town and she brought along her friend, Little Pet. So I took this opportunity to attempt my first Thanksgiving dinner for 4. I didn't make all the usual things I normally eat with my family. The only thing I really missed out on was the Oyster and Shrimp Stuffing which I have been eating with my family for as long as I could remember. Dumpling Man very much dislikes my family's stuffing so I tried to do a more normal one this year. All the recipes I used this year came from trusty foodtv.com.

Brined Herb-Crusted Chicken
I adapted this recipe for a 4.5lb chicken instead of the intended 12-14lb turkey. First of all I don't like turkey all that much. And second of all, how can 4 people eat all that turkey? The recipe also called for brining for 2-3 days and drying it out for another day. Uh, who has all that time? I brined it for 1 day and dried it out for 4 hours. I figured, smaller bird, shorter prep time?

The recipe also called for cooking the turkey at 17 minutes per pound. I did some cross referencing and went with the timing suggested by the roasted chicken recipe in Ad Hoc At Home. It's a darn good thing I did that, otherwise the turkey would have ended up dry as a bone.

The chicken turned out PERFECT. Like seriously, I've never cooked such a large heap of meat to perfection ever. Braising doesn't count since you can't ever really overcook something braised. The longer the better with braising. The meat was sooooooo succulent and juicy. The white meat might have been tastier than the dark meat! I think the key to the moistness of the chicken was definitely the brining. I didn't even have to brine it nearly as long as the recipe recommended, but that's probably because I started with a much smaller bird. I think using an organic chicken made a difference. It had a definite chicken taste, but in the best freshest sense. I did pay $1 per pound more for organic, but if you're going to go with as plain and ho hum a meat as chicken, you might as well go all in and spring for organic. In any case, it was the MOST DELICIOUS roasted chicken I have ever tasted. This one is making it to my saved recipes for another day.

Apple Cider Gravy
The pan drippings from the chicken made the most amazing gravy that went perfectly with the chicken. I didn't add as much apple cider as the recipe called for only because I liked how the gravy was just a little bit sweet and tangy and I still wanted a savory poultry flavor to come through. My gravy had lotta lumps in it so I just strained them all out.

Potato-Fennel Gratin
I gave Dumpling Man and Zhu Zhu Hamster the choice of mashed potatoes or potatoes au gratin and they both chose the latter. I'm not so much a fan of these cheesy potatoes but it obviated the need for something like mac 'n cheese. Most recipes I found were pretty straight forward, cheese, cream, and potatoes. Luckily I stumbled upon Ina Garten's more complex recipe that incorporated sautéed onions and fennel. I think this made the dish stand out a little bit more and gave it more texture, but it was still pretty cheesy and creamy.

Sausage and Herb Stuffing
I'll have to admit I was pretty disappointed and ashamed to serve this. It was quite blah. Of course, Ina Garten's recipe calls for using real bread as do most of the other stuffing recipes on foodtv.com. I'm not used to using real bread. I'm used to using the stuff that comes out of the box. I really like the texture of boxed stuffing and I don't know any different. I know Dumpling Man feels the same, so I didnt want to rock the boat too much on this first Thanksgiving. So I attempted to take the middle ground and use unseasoned croutons instead of the seasoned Mrs. Cubbison's, wanting to add my own flavors with all the herbs called for in the recipe. The herbs and vegetables just didn't seem to come together with the bread. I kept adding more stock hoping it would all meld, but it didn't. It wasn't even dry either. I'm gonna have to re-make this one using Mrs. Cubbison's to see if that makes a difference.

Fennel, Apple, Shaved Carrot Salad candied walnuts, truffle lemon vinaigrette, prosciutto di parma
I am proudly taking all the credit for this delicious creation, although I did have some inspiration from Melisse. Of course, we needed a vegetable dish, and I didn't want to do some unhealthy vegetable dish like green bean casserole or something plain like roman lettuce and bottled dressing. Oh no, I stepped it up a notch and sprung for a $15 3.4oz bottle of white truffle oil. You may be shocked at that sticker price, but Whole Foods actually sells another brand that was over $30 for a slightly bigger bottle. Crazy, right?! Anyways, the salad was simple enough: thinly sliced organic fennel, shaved organic carrots, mixed greens, thinly sliced sweet fuji apples, candied walnuts were all tossed together with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, truffle oil, minced shallots, and salt and pepper. Then I just laid out some prosciutto around the dish for presentation. I purposely chose organic carrots, only because regular carrots look so sad and dried out sold as a bunch in a bag and sometimes have that old carrot taste. The organic ones looked like the kind Bugs Bunny would eat, green tops still intact and all. A seriously simple, delicious, and pretty pricey salad, but totally worthy it. Better put down truffle oil on your Christmas wish list. It would be a great present to give or receive for any foodie.

Pan Roasted Cauliflower
Zhu Zhu Hamster was doing some experimenting and brought over an extra dish. She got some beautiful color on them. They were pretty simple and tasty.

Spinach Dip
Zhu Zhu Hamster's main contribution was the appetizer. This was some pretty solid spinach dip. I was told the key was some leek onion dip used as a base for the dip. In any case, this stuff was delicious.

Behold, the best darn Thanksgiving dinner for a first solo attempt!

Everyone seemed to like the chicken and salad the best. I would have to agree. The chicken had wonderful aromatics from all the various herbs and it was juicy. The salad had wonderful contrast of textures and you can never go wrong with truffle anything.

Salted Caramel Apple Crumble Pie
In my apartment building, they were having pie samplings from a local bakery, Pieku, and taking orders for Thanksgiving pies to be delivered the day before Thanksgiving. Well, I didn't get to sample the pies but people were raving about this one. I figured I'd be too busy making dinner that I didn't want to stress about dessert on top of it so I went for it. The pie was disappointing. I dunno where the salted caramel was, but it certainly didn't make it to pie. It tasted dry overall and the apples were tasteless. I'm glad it wasn't too sweet at least. We had it a la mode which probably helped with the dryness.

I think this Thanksgiving was success. I'm sorta bummed I didn't get to see my family, but I'm glad I got to attempt dinner all on my own and make some other very special people in my life feel very full and satisfied. Thanks to Zhu Zhu Hamster and Little Pet for bringing over some delicious wine, Magic Mic, and Taboo. I sang my heart out that night and was told I have a country twang to my voice. Dumpling Man and I also kicked butt in Taboo, but it helped that Zhu Zhu Hamster and Little Pet really really sucked.

Ricotta Gnocchi with Sausage and Fennel

2011-11-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

Making your own pasta looks so easy. Mix some flour, water, eggs, etc and roll out the dough and presto! I've been wanting to try it but I haven't gotten around to it. Instead, I've tried making my own ricotta gnocchi, also known as gnudi, which apparently means "naked." I guess these are supposed to be like the filling of a pasta but without the pasta, hence the nakedness. My first encounter with gnudi was at Restaurant Zoe in Seattle. In short, it was heavenly. So I wanted to see if I could recreate a little bit of heaven in my kitchen too. In short, I could not.

Mario Batali's recipe for ricotta gnocchi seems simple enough. Eggs, flour, salt, nutmeg, and ricotta cheese. He suggested goat's milk ricotta but I couldn't find that and had to settle for regular cow's milk. I think I bought a reduced fat one by accident. I suppose the key here is draining the ricotta through a fine sieve overnight in the fridge to drain out the excess liquid. After a whole day in the fridge, hardly any liquid drained out. I think I should have taken that as a bad omen.

Here is what it looks like after all the wet ingredients are mixed together.

This is how it looks after the flour gets mixed in. The directions say to mix in more flour if the dough too wet and sticky. I ended up putting in a whole sh*t ton of flour just so I could handle the dough to make the little balls. It was still sticky up to that point but I didn't want leaden balls rolling around in my sauce.

After much blood, sweat, and tear, I finally had a tray full of gnocchi balls to boil.

The sauce for this was a pretty simple meat sauce whose key ingredients are fennel and spicy sausage.

Brown up your sausage.

Sweat your veggies.

Combine together.

Mix in your sauce (preferably homemade) and toss in your gnocchi.

My gnocchi were on the denser side, not like the light fluffy gnudi I had in Seattle. It was still good. I think the sauce was especially tasty. It's not unlike any sauce I've made before mixing sausage with sauce, but the difference was the fresh veggies, the fennel which had that anise scent, and the homemade sauce. Dumpling Man enjoyed this dish as did I. It made for good leftovers for quite some days thereafter. I would try making this again, hopefully with the right ricotta. Maybe I'll use a pastry bag to dole out the gnocchi pieces so its not such a sticky mess next time. And if you feel too overwhelmed making your own gnocchi, just make the sauce and boil dried pasta. It will still be delicious.

Ricotta Gnocchi with Sausage and Fennel

Gnocchi
1 1/2 pounds fresh goat-milk ricotta
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, or as needed
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 pounds Italian sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground (I omitted this because I felt the sausage and fennel added enough fennel taste)
1 tablespoon red chile flakes
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 bulb fennel, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1 rib celery, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 cups basic tomato sauce, recipe here
Salt and pepper to taste
Ricotta gnocchi, recipe follows
Pecorino Romano, grated

Place the ricotta in a fine sieve over a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight. In a medium-sized bowl, stir the drained ricotta, 1 cup of the flour, the eggs, parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg together gently but thoroughly until a soft dough forms, adding a little more of the flour if the dough is sticky when poked. Forming the gnocchi: dip 2 tablespoons in cool water. Using 1 spoon, scoop up a heaping tablespoon of the ricotta mixture and use the other spoon to form it into a smooth, pointed oval. (Alternatively, you can roll the mixture into balls with well-floured hands, using about 2 tablespoons ricotta mixture for each ball.) Place the gnocchi on a baking sheet lined with a lightly-floured kitchen towel.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, cook the sausage over high heat until it begins to brown in its own fat. Add half of the fennel seeds and chile flakes. Remove the sausage from the pan when cooked through and add the onions, fennel, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook the vegetables until they're well browned and return the sausage to the pan. Add the tomato sauce and remaining fennel seeds and chile flakes. Simmer 1/2 hour, until vegetables and sausage are very tender. Season well with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Gently slip as many gnocchi at a time as will float freely into a pot of boiling water, stirring gently with a wooden spoon as you do. Cook until the gnocchi rise to the surface, about 7 minutes. (Test 1 for doneness by cutting into the center; the gnocchi should be the same color and consistency all the way through.) Scoop them out with a wire skimmer as soon as they are cooked. Drain and add to the pan with the hot ragu, tossing gently 1 minute to coat. Top with Pecorino Romano and serve immediately.

Ferry Building Farmer's Market

2011-11-19T10:26:00.001-08:00

So after an awesome dinner at Gary Denko, we woke up the next morning wondering what our next food adventure might be. We had reservations for Bottega in Napa Valley at 5pm, so we didn't want to eat anything too heavy or too filling. Triple F suggested the Farmer's Market where we could just try some small things here and there and still have space for carbo loading later in the day at Bottega. I had been to the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building before, but never to eat real food.

I remember watching Anthony Bourdain feast at Primavera. I was having a craving for Mexican food, so I figured now was the time to see if Anthony Bourdain knew what he was talking about. As you can see, this ain't no $1 taco stand.

Primavera Chilaquiles Guanajuato organic local scrambled eggs, refried beans, sour cream, avocado, white onions, cilantro
Everything was kinda whatever. I think I've had better chilaquiles. The other members of the H.o.P. could not understand what possessed me to stand in such a long line for such unimpressive eats. I blame it on Anthony Bourdain, but maybe I shoulda had the tamales which is the more popular option here.

Namu The Real Korean "Tacos" ssam style tacos, seasoned rice, daikon & kimchee salsa, kimchee remoulade, housemade teriyaki, Japanese & Korean toasted seaweed, chicken or beef
It's amazing I remember anything else about this dish aside from how difficult it was to eat since Smooth Obturator kept bitching about it. If you've ever had Korean seaweed, you'll know that it wilts pretty easily with warm rice. So I would agree that this "taco" lacked the needed structural component, but I still think it was pretty tasty. It probably should be eaten with chopsticks or shoved into one's piehole ASAP since it's likely to fall apart on you if you don't act fast enough.

Gamja Fries handcut potatoes, kimchee relish, gochujang, kewpie mayo, terikyaki, chopped short ribs, green onions
These were pretty similar in flavor profile to the tacos. I thought it was equally yummy, but maybe a bit heavier with all those fried potatoes.

Sadly, I had to wait the longest for the most disappointing of our eats that day. Here is Triple T standing guard over all the deliciousness against the likes of Creepy McCreepster over in the back.

Roli Roti Gourmet Porchetta Sandwich
I think this by far is the most popular eatery at the farmer's market with a line that is usually 50+ people long. That day, it was maybe 30 people long, so lucky us, right? The pork was juicy and well seasoned and that caramelized onions were sweet and added flavor and moisture. I thought there was just too much bread. I think there's also supposed to be crispy skin in there but I don't remember tasting it, or maybe it softened up by the time I took my bites. I can see why people like this, but I dunno if I'd stand in a line forever for it.

Crabcakes Sandwich
I'm not sure where this was from but it was pretty tasty. A little too much bread again, but Triple T liked this one. The crab was plentiful and it was a very moist sandwich.

Blue Bottle Coffee Co. Double Chocolate Chip Cookie
We wandered inside the Ferry Building to round out the meal with something sweet. My sister wanted us to try the waffles that people wait in line for at Blue Bottle Coffee Co. I had to try the cookie, but it was not so impressive. Their hot cocoa was pretty delicious though. The picture came out blurry but it was soo rich, but not overly sweet and unnatural tasting like the kind of hot cocoa you get at Starbucks. I'm sure this was 1000 calories since it was probably made from whole milk. It tasted that rich and creamy.

Belgian Waffle
The waffles here are pretty popular. I think waffle is a misnomer because these have a texture more akin to a dense donut or croissant. The dough is a little more buttery or greasy for a waffle, and not light and fluffy like you'd expect. I appreciate the subtle sweetness, but it was too greasy for me. Triple F seemed to enjoy it very much. I on the other hand was loving the hot cocoa, which was so nice on that blustery SF day.

The Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building always proves to be an enjoyable destination. You can't go wrong with free samples from the local farmers and all the food stand options. The stuff is pretty darn pricey, but its fun to have your pick of things and feel like you're getting something fresh, local, organic, etc etc. I guess my only complaint is having to squat down to eat with a bench for a table and all that wind making my food cold. As time goes on, I find myself becoming more of a princess or maybe more of an old lady. These knees ain't made for squatting around and eating at the same time.

Ferry Building Farmer's Market & Marketplace
1 Ferry Bldg
San Francisco, CA 94111

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Gary Denko

2011-11-15T15:49:00.001-08:00

My apologies for my absence from the blogosphere. After a long day of work, I usually come home and cook dinner. Portland just doesn't have the same dining options that LA did, so its forced my hand to cook more regularly. If anyone knows me, I don't like to cook instant or even semi-instant sh*t. I cook the way my mom did, fresh veggies and meat. Anyways, after that I vegetate in front of the TV and the last thing I can think of doing is blogging. On top of that my computer is all slow because I upgraded to Lion so blogging is just difficult. Looks like I'm only able to blog on days off, which today happens to be. Yay for me! Ok enough whining...

Last weekend I hit up SF to visit my sister. It's been 3 or 4 years since I've been to SF. I dunno why it took me so long to come back for a visit. I'll just blame everything on my prior "overworked-ness." Smooth Obturator really wanted to try Gary Denko, so reservations were made some time ago. The restaurant is pretty small, so I can imagine why reservations may be hard to get. There was actually a couple with a young child sitting at the bar enjoying dinner. Right when I was thinking to myself, "I don't think this is the kind of place you take a little kid," the kid went and spit up his food right into mom's hand. Thanks kid, way to ruin my appetite.

I loved the many choices available at Gary Denko. You can make up your own tasting menu from any of the items on the menu. They can make appetizers into entrees and vice versa. It was just too exciting.

Roasted Tomato and Fennel Soup chives

Because we had to wait a little bit past our reservation time for our table, the chef wanted to thank us by giving us something a little bit special. It was certainly a teeny amount of very yummy soup. Sweet, savory, with some tangy tomato chive topping.

This was one crazy expensive HALF bottle of wine. I won't say how much, but it was more than I could afford. It was a beautiful cabernet sauvignon. Thanks to Smooth Obturator and Triple T for footing the bill on this one!

I expected a bit more something exciting for bread when it comes to a restaurant of this caliber.

Buckwheat Blini salmon, caviar, creme fraiche
I have never really had a blini with caviar that I found to be amazing. Usually the blini is cold and hard, but this was truly a delectable bite. The bilini was warm, soft, with a fresh crisp exterior. The salmon was smokey and the caviar was briny. It was delicious.

Glazed Oysters osetra caviar, zucchini, lettuce cream
I've read about Thomas Keller's famous "oysters and pearls" so I imagined this be something similar. Smooth Obturator has actually had the "oysters and pearls" dish and he said it was nothing like it. Oh well. I still found it delicious for being cooked oysters. It still maintained the integrity of raw oysters that was in a warm creamy sauce. The dish was pretty salty from the oysters and caviar but I appreciated the plentiful ocean brine.

Crispy Farm Egg white polenta, royal trumpet mushrooms, frisee, pancetta
It seems you can never go wrong with a crispy farm egg with an oozy rich yolk.

Seared Sonoma Foie Gras caramelized red onions, port glazed figs
This is the best damn piece of foie gras I have ever had. It may also be the last tasting I ever have since foie will be banned in California in 2012. It was so buttery and sinful. It went perfectly with the sweet wine reduction. The greens did help to cut the richness some. Serious, YUMMY!

Dungeness Crab Salad quinoa, fennel, mint, grapefruit, yuzu remolade
The salad was pretty simple and the star of the dish obviously was the big chunks of crab meat. I think Triple T was pretty happy with it.

Seared Sea Scallops zucchini-basil puree, roasted tomatoes, haricot verts, peppers
I'm a sucker for scallops. It's just so sad that you only get two. They were nicely seared and caramelized. A starch would have a nice addition to round out the dish.

The flesh was so meaty and sweet. I love a good scallop, but I love a good shrimp even more!

Roasted Pork Belly and Tenderloin brussel sprouts, apples, parsnips puree, maple cider reduction
Pork seems so ho hum of a protein. They did a good job with this making it very moist and tender.

Risotto lobster, rock shrimp, shimeji mushrooms, butternut squash, roasted tomatoes
Drooooool. This was damn good. Creamy, unctuous, seafoody!

Quail stuffed with foie gras, mushrooms, quinoa, romano beans, smoked ham hocks, cornbread pudding
I think there was more stuffing than quail. I only had a nibbling' of this one but Smooth Obturator seemed to enjoy his pork dish a bit more. I prefer Marie Callendar's boxed cornbread over this cornbread pudding. Blame Smooth Obturator for the blurry photo.

Striped Bass speck, gnocchi, butternut squash, crimini mushrooms, capers, sage
I think Triple T thought her fish was the least interesting of our 3rd courses. The fish was well prepared with a crispy exterior. The gnocchi could have been lighter.

Roast Maine Lobster potato puree, chanterelle mushrooms, edamame, tarragon
The lobster was excellent, perfectly executed with a light buttery potato puree.

Juniper Crusted Bison king trumpet mushrooms, glazed cipollini mushrooms, herb spaetzle
The bison was pretty darn lean. Despite that, it was still relatively moist, but I definitely would have liked a nice marbled rib eye. The spaetzle was green but didn't taste too herby. It was also more risotto like in preparation than your traditional spaetzle.

Warm Louisianna Butter Cake apples, huckleberry sauce, vanilla bean ice cream
I wanted to explode by the time dessert rolled around, but how can you skip dessert? It's as essential as drinks to a complete meal. Anyways, the butter cake was sorta dry or too chewy. It was like it was pre baked and then reheated by the order. Pass.

French Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches three sauces
I don't know what the big deal is when it comes to macaroons. People just go gaga, but not me. These were pretty good I suppose and the different ice cream flavors and colors made for a colorful dish.

Lemon Souffle Cake creme fraiche panna cotta, rasberry sorbet

Light, creamy, tart. The panna cotta added more creaminess. An interesting pairing.

Mignardises assorted petit four
I didn't eat these until the next day and they were still pretty good. Some were better than others.

The food was pretty spot on. Execution and service were excellent. I can see why Gary Denko has such an amazing reputation. It is definitely a must eat fine dining destination in San Francisco. The foie gras is a MUST and all the seafood dishes beat out their land roaming counterparts by far. The dessert was not as impressive as the dinner, but I'd definitely come back and highly recommend this place to others.

Gary Denko
800 N. Point St.
San Francisco, CA 94109

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Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

2011-11-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

I like baking, but I've realized lately that I only like to bake 2 things, brownies and chocolate chip cookies. So this was my attempt at stepping outside my comfort zone and doing something new and different. I figured I could do no wrong with a highly rated recipe from Giada De Laurentiis.

The dough is a pretty standard combination of sugar, flour, butter, etc

What makes it different is the added lemon juice and zest.

After the addition of the ricotta.

After adding the flour.

They're pretty bland looking out of the oven.

The cookies get drizzled with a lightly sweet lemon icing which really add a special kick. The texture was more cake-like than cookie-like. They reminded me of a light cakey sugar cookie with a tangy sweet icing. I went pretty light on the icing but it's really not too sweet so you can be quite generous.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cookies:

1. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.

3. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze:

1. Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.

The people in my building seemed to like the cookies because they were gone in an instant!

Batali's Basic Tomato Sauce

2011-10-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Who knew making your own tomato sauce could be so easy and tasty! When I bought Mario Batali's cookbook, Molto Italiano, I was excited to get down and dirty with some of his recipes. But first, I'd have to make my own sauce. I was surprised at how such few basic ingredients could make a subtle yet tasty difference to your everyday pasta. All you need are carrots, onions, garlic, canned whole tomatoes, olive oil, and thyme. I found it strange that thyme was the herb of choice instead of something basil.

I've always heard about San Marzano tomatoes, but I never quite understood what made them so special.

Behold, the San Marzano tomato on the left, and the generic brand on the right. Enough said.

Just saute up your veggies and herbs.

Add your tomatoes.

And simma down!

I guess it doesn't look that impressive, but it made my pasta dish pretty tasty. I'm sure most people wouldn't really know the difference between the jarred version of sauce and a homemade one, but I've been using jarred pastas for a while and have never found one I really liked. I don't think I can go back to the jar.

Batali's Basic Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, 1/4-inch dice
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tablespoon dried
1/2 medium carrot, finely grated
2 (28-ounce) cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand and juices reserved
Salt

1. In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.

2. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft.

3. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal.

4. Season with salt and serve. This sauce holds 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Stay tuned to see what I made with the sauce!

Du Kuh Bee

2011-10-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Aside from dumplings, Portland is also lacking good Korean food. I'm sure nothing compares to LA's Koreatown except Korea itself. It's amazing how Korean food used to be something so foreign and weird tasting to something I really love. I guess it's cuz I have a penchant for stinky things and Korean food is full of that. Anyways, Du Kuh Bee isn't a true Korean place, but rather a Korean-Chinese place, maybe? I'm not sure. They are known for these delicious fresh hand pulled noodles. I've never seen anything like that in any Korean restaurant. But then they serve kimchi and galbi. And then they have mapo tofu and fried rice. Go figure. Du Kuh Bee is seriously like one little Korean family running a little kitchen. Service is on the slow side because dad pulls the noodles and mom does everything else. Don't go if you're starving.

Kimchi
Nom nom nom

Dumplings
Pretty standard.

Pork Neck Stew
Pretty solid. It had a good homey taste. The flavors were more mild than it looks. Not really all that spicy. Dumpling Man enjoyed gnawing on the pork bones.

Hand Pulled Noodles chicken
Sometimes, it just goes to show that if you have one really popular and solid dish, you can probably sustain yourself as a successful restaurant. In all honesty. the dishes are good but not amazing really. The noodles on the other hand are pretty tasty! I love the perfect al dente texture. I love it when my noodles bite back at me and these certain do. I like the little bit of spiciness, but these can be considered on the oily side, especially if you don't eat it while it's still hot. They were sorta stingy on the chicken though.

I actually went back to Du Kuh Bee with Zhu Zhu Hamster just this week and she too liked the noodles. We got galbi and a squid salad. Both were just OK. This place is open pretty late, so I'm sure Dumpling Man, Verde, and myself will be stopping here after a long day of boarding/skiing in the very near future. I'll definitely order the noodles and the pork stew again. Any stew is good on a cold night, which are most nights here in Portland.

Du Kuh Bee
12590 SW 1st St
Beaverton, OR 97005
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Din Tai Fung (Seattle)

2011-10-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Portland is a nice place to live. The people are nice. There's not much traffic. Most everything you want is here sans tax (there's a Target and/or Trader Joe's every which way you turn!). The very obvious thing it is lacking is great Asian food, especially good dumplings. Lucky for us, the world famous Din Tai Fung has opened up a new outpost!........................in Seattle.

Now we don't have to fly to get our dumpling fix! We need only drive 2.5 hours one way, so that we can wait another 1 hour for a table, and then fight the food coma back to Portland another 2.5 hours, while maintaining a keen watch out for cops trying to stick you with a speeding ticket for going over 65mph. No joke. Who would attempt such a ridiculous trip? On a whim no less? Well, that would be Dumpling Man and his trusty sidekick, moi.

The restaurant is located in Bellevue, which seems to be a pretty posh area of Seattle. Din Tai Fung is in the top level of a new, modern, non-Asian, non-ethnic, All-American shopping complex with a Nordstroms, Crate & Barrel, and PF Chang's. It's on the same floor as Lucky Strike. Yes folks, you can bowl and get your dumpling on at the same time!

It seems like they've spared no expense at this outpost of DTF. It's a striking contrast to the cramped quarters of DTF in Taiwan. This one is sprawling with high ceilings and modern finishings. It's easily double the size of the 2nd Arcadia location and even has a private room with an all glass wall and door.

The stand out feature of this location is the full stock bar where you can wait for your table or even eat.

And of course, the droves of hispanics industriously working the dumpling line.

Green Milk Tea
Some versions give me hope and keep me trucking along to find any version similar to Tea Station's. This however was not one of those inspiring takes.

Black Milk Tea
It's almost always safer to stick with the original.

Sauteed Brocolli
Nobody seems to believe Dumpling Man or me when we say they broccoli at DTF is special here. Triple T and Smooth Obturator just think it tastes like broccoli. We think it tastes like brocolli that has been touched by God. They're perfectly crunchy, with the perfect amount of garlic. I can't figure out how it's seasoned because it's not just salt. I feel like they use a little bit of broth and varying amounts of cooking wine. Anyways, if you LOVE broccoli, be sure to check these out.

Xiao Long Bao juicy pork and crab dumplings
Nom nom nom.

The XLB is definitely good with very clean flavors. Not heavily oily, crabby, porky, oniony, etc. I can see why it appeals to the many non-Asians that line up for this place. It's quite an accomplishment to be popular and deemed authentic to the target ethnic audience, and yet equally delicious to the American tastebuds.

Shanghai Rice Cakes
We love the rice cakes here. Ribbons of pork and cabbage make for some variation in between each mouthful of rice cakes.

Vegetarian Dumplings
Strangely enough, I actually like the vegetarian dumplings here. I rarely like things without meat, but these little guys pack a lot of flavor with just veggies, mushroom, tofu, and glass noodles.

Pork & Shrimp Dumpling

Similar in flavor to the XLB, these have a nice helping of shrimp hidden underneath the fresh dumpling skins. Another favorite of mine.

Despite some of the negative reviews on Yelp, I would say the Seattle outpost of Din Tai Fung tastes almost similar to the ones in Arcadia. People whine about the prices, and yes it's pricier than your mom and pop dumpling shop, but the restaurant is also much nicer and the quality of ingredients are probably better. So if you like Din Tai Fung and find yourself in the same situation as Dumpling Man and me, than you can consider your problem solved. Just hop in your car and drive drive drive!

Din Tai Fung

700 Bellevue Way NE Ste 280

Bellevue, WA 98004-4154

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Picca

2011-10-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

Oh Picca, why did you have to disappoint me so? I had such high hopes for this place. Blogger after blogger extoled the culinary accomplishments of the modern Peruvian fare here. It was top on my list of "to-try" LA restaurants. I even recommended this restaurant to my Triple F and Running Man during their visit down here, solely based on the reviews of all the bloggers. Running Man was sorely unimpressed. Triple F being more sunshine than dark cloud, was slightly more positive, but wasn't really crazy about the place.

Finally, I managed to get a group together for a visit. Teety, Soprano Man, The Face Puncher, Quack Man T, and myself gathered for fun filled dinner. We didn't really know what to order and in what quantity. So out of our laziness, we opted for the omakase. Maybe that wasn't the best decision.

Causa Sushi scallops, mentaiko
I would say this was probably one of the best dishes of the night. I loved the take on "sushi." Instead of rice, the proteins were sitting on top of little well seasoned potato cakes. The scallops were fresh with just a bit of deliciousness fishiness from the roe.

Toro Ceviche leche de tigre
This was just the start of the leche de tigre overload in the omakase. That stuff is incredibly tart. A little bit goes a long way but some dishes were overwhelmed with them. I can't even recall if the toro had that signature butteriness since there was just so much sauce.

Ceviche Crocante halibut, leche de tigre, crispy calamari
This was just more presumably fresh fish drenched in sourness. The crispy calamari was added something different. It was very light and crunchy at the same time. Basically not overly battered.

Halibut Stew
I thought the stews were quite tasty. There was a homestyle quality to them.

Leche de Tigre Shooter raw quail egg
After the stew, we were expected to shoot a small shot glass of more sour tart sauce. Not surprisingly, the raw quail egg did nothing to cut the mouthful of sour patch kids in my mouth.

Anticuchos black cod, kabocha squash, santa barbara spot prawn
The anticuchos were a much needed reprieve from all the leche de tigre.

Black Cod miso anticucho, crispy sweet potato
A pretty expected piece of miso black cod. Fatty, buttery, salty. Parts seemed slightly undercoked.

Kabocha Squash
I could have gone without this one. It was just squash.

Santa Barbara Spot Prawns lemon grass yuzu kosho pesto
Everyone spoke highly of the prawns so I was pretty excited to finally try it. Parts of my prawn were kind of undercooked. I'm not sure if that was purposeful. It was pretty fresh other than that. The sauce was delicious albeit a bit salty. I don't mind salt, but combined with an undercooked prawn, it was overall a disappointment.

Pig Feet Stew potatoes, cherry tomatoes, grilled chorizo
I was soo stuffed by this point. The chorizo was overwhelming. I loved all the little soft potatoes and cherry tomatoes. It was another homey comforting stew. I really disliked how the stems were left on the tomatoes. I suppose it added a rustic visual appeal to the dish, but it was not edible and we had to use our hand to pick the stems out. I'm surprised Chef Zarate used pig feet here. While I love the little gelatinous cartilaginous bits, I can imagine it grossing people out.

Grilled Rib-Eye quinoa risotto, microgreens
The night's special was a 72oz bone-in rib eye. As you know, we opted for the omakase instead, but luckily the last savory course of the night was the rib-eye. Soprano Man was extremely pleased since he was salivating over the idea of ordering the rib-eye for the table initially. Unfortunately, the rib-eye was pretty chewy despite being a perfect medium rare. The quinoa risotto was an interesting take on the traditional risotto. It had interesting texture and subtle cheesiness. Good overall, but not something I'd order again or have a hankering for.

Lemon Tart
The desserts fell completely flat. The lemon tart was kinda whatevers.

Tres Leches Cake
I'm not a fan of super sponge cakes.

Cheesecake
This was made with some sort of fruit I can't even remember. It tasted weird and the texture was off.

Chocolate Cake
Dry dry dry.

Churros
How do you get churros wrong?! These were totally disappointing. The filling was not tasty, the dough was not beautiful fried dough balls as I would have expected. The dipping sauces could not save any of this.

It was hard for Picca to recover from those less than impressive desserts. I was really surprised at just how blah they were. Overall, Picca had some highlights, like the causa sushi and the comforting stews. The concepts are certainly there cuz you can't go wrong with ceviche and the grilled anticuchos, but execution fell a bit flat that night. Chef Zarate was in the kitchen that night too! But seeing as how my other family members went there and also had a similar experience, maybe it just means Picca ain't all that. I doubt I'd go back to Picca unless someone begged me to go. I spent some real dime that night and I left pretty disappointed. Never a good thing when you go in with such high hopes. If you do decide to give Picca a try, stay away from the desserts!! One redeeming quality of the night was that I had so much fun dining with my buddies Teety, Soprano Man, The Face Puncher, and Quack Man T. Looking forward to the next one, whenever that ends up being...

Picca
9575 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
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Vietnamese Chicken Curry

2011-10-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

Dumpling Man likes his curries, specifically Thai yellow curries. I'm not such a fan, but I'll eat it. It's just a bit too creamy and sweet, but that's exactly how Dumpling Man likes it. I prefer Vietnamese curry instead which is more fragrant from lemongrass and ginger and saltier from a good helping of fish sauce. So my curry somehow walks the middle road, and as a result is never sweet enough for Dumpling Man.

I've made this before but with the lemongrass cut into short stalks. This recipe from Ravenous Couple called for finely sliced lemongrass. If you've cooked lemongrass before, you'll know that it is not something that softens as you cook. So, all that lemongrass ended up being lost in the sauce and into my bowl and it was not fun to chew on. Next time, I'm keeping the lemongrass in stalks so they can be fished out at the end.

Your basics. I found these mini cans of coconut milk. Perfect for making a serving of curry like this. For most recipes, a mini can like this may short change you on the called for amount of coconut milk, but I'd rather have a less coconutty curry than half a can of coconut milk that will slowly mold in the back corner of my fridge. I randomly picked this curry powder. It's pretty darn spicy.

First you gotta marinate your meat. I like to keep my meat in semi-large pieces so that they end up being fall apart tender after a while. Unfortunately, it takes longer to cook that way.

Just after adding in the coconut milk.

You can really tell the difference once the coconut milk cooks through and the stock is added.

Vietnamese Chicken Curry

Adapted from Ravenous Couple

1.5 lbs chicken thighs, cut into pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk of lemongrass, chopped into 3 inch pieces
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 tbs Massaman curry paste, divided in half
1 tbs cooking oil
1 mini can coconut milk (~1/2 cup)
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 potato, peeled, cut about 1 inch pieces

2 carrots, peeled, cut on diagonal 1 inch pieces

1 green onion, thinly chopped

Fish sauce & sugar to taste

1. First marinate the cut pieces of chicken with shallots, garlic, minced lemongrass, salt, pepper, and 2 tbs of curry. Make sure curry paste coats the chicken evenly. Allow to marinate about 1/2 hr covered in fridge.

2. In the meantime, prepare the potatoes, carrots, and onion. If you're going to make the pot pie, allow to thaw slightly at room temperature. Place your container on top of puff pastry and cut around the container with a pizza cutter leaving about 1 inch margin. Return the puff pastry back to the freezer until ready for use.

3. In a large pot on medium heat, add about 1 tbs cooking oil and sautee the chicken along with an additional 2 tbs of curry paste. When the outside of the chicken is browned, roughly 3-5 minutes, add coconut milk. Stir and meld together for another minute and then add chicken stock and the remaining stalk of lemongrass.

4. Then add the vegetables according to how quick they cook. We add carrots first, potatoes about 3 minutes later, and finally onions just when it's about to boil. Bring to boil and reduce to low heat and simmer until vegetables are just soft but not too mushy. Season with salt or fish sauce and sugar to taste. Garnish with thinly chopped green onion.

What's meat and rice without veggies? I just stir fried some cabbage, garlic, a scrambled egg, and a couple dashes of fish sauce on really high heat. Now that I have a gas stove top for the first time in my adult life, I realize how a really hot pan can change your dish. My veggies always cooked in its own puddle of water, but now I get great color and flavor!

Bon appetit!

101 Noodle Express (Lu Wei Ju)

2011-10-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

We all know Irvine is missing a solid dumpling and noodle house. A&J makes a decent attempt, but it still leaves a big void. I mean, if I knew how to make awesome dumplings, I would totally open up a joint in Irvine because I knew it would win big. I'm talking lines out the door folks!! Let's step outside my imagination for now, and talk about Irvine's newest dumpling and noodle house, 101 Noodle Express.

101 Noodle Express' original location in Alhambra has been on the SGV dumpling scene for a long time. Unfortunately, Dumpling Man and I were not particularly impressed with anything there when we tried it many moons ago. Somehow, transplanting the restaurant to Irvine has changed my opinion. Maybe because there's just not many options in Irvine when it comes to noodles and dumplings.

Cold Mix of Cucumbers
We all know I love a good pickled vegetable, and cucumbers are no exception. These were a tad on the sugary side but it was refreshing for a warm summer lunch.

De Zhou Chicken
Apparently this dish is quite special at 101 Noodle Express. De Zhou chicken is a special dish from the Shandong region of China. The bird is first deep fried before it is braised in spices, soy sauce, and sugar. The dish here was served cold with a soy dipping sauce. It was pretty darn flavorful and moist. Surely something I would order again.

Minced Pork Noodles
I would actually say that the noodles are stronger here than the dumplings even though half the menu is made up of boiled and fried dumplings. I really like the minced pork noodles here. Even though I like dry noodles, I still like a little bit of juice or sauce and this had the perfect amount.

Beef & Beef Tendon Noodles
This was a good offering, but nothing too special.

Dalu Noodles
This was the first time I've had any noodle dish like this one, but I guess it's a dish from Shandong or was it Shanghai? Mama Dumpling Man ordered this one. I really liked it. Instead of soup noodles, I would say these were more like soupy sauce noodles. The soup is thickened up with cornstarch and egg to a thick consistency, which was offputting for some and delicious for others. The noodles were swimming amidst thinly chopped vegetables, mushroom, meat, and egg.

Shanghai Dumplings
The dumplings fell a bit short. These were soupy but nothing special going on here.

Leek Pork Dumpling
The texture of filling tasted a bit overprocessed and you coudln't identify all the ingredients you were eating. It was just like a meatball.

Shrimp Pork Fried Dumpling
The fried dumplings were more of the same but better just by virtue of being fried.

If I'm in Irvine and I'm craving noodles and dumplings, I will probably return to 101 Noodle Express, but more so for the noodles than the dumplings. The menu is quite large so there could be a dumpling that I may be missing out on, but I think it would be more of the same. I definitely want to try some of the other noodles and cold dishes. I'll certainly have more of that De Zhou chicken and try some other cold dishes.

101 Noodle Express
5408 Walnut Ave
Irvine, CA 92618

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Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

2011-09-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know what inspired me to suddenly try this recipe. I'd been in a chocolate chip cookie mode, but I just got the inspiration to finally see what all the hype was behind the "donut muffin." I guess it's muffin that tastes like a cake donut. How is that possible?!?!

It seems like a pretty basic cake/muffin recipe with all your basics: flour, leavening agents, sugar, eggs, milk, etc.

I'm wondering if I should invest in a nice stand mixer, but my handy dandy hand mixer, which I've had since college and is probably the only kitchen item I've kept since that period of time, has yet to fail me. That's gotta count for something. Maybe I'll put it on the registry and hope someone gets it for me? I mean, Dumpling Man and me...

The recipe calls to alternate mixing the dry ingredients and milk to the creamed butter/egg mixture.

My dough seemed a little lumpier and drier than I would have expected. Not sure why. Sometimes, I think the size of the egg makes a difference, but "large" is "large" right?

As a result of my lumpy dough, the tops were sorta uneven, but it still tasted quit moist and picked up the cinnamon sugar topping quit nicely.

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins
Adapted from Fine Cooking
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons buttermilk

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease and flour a 12-tin muffin pan.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground nutmeg and salt together and mix well together. Set aside.
4. Combine the milk and buttermilk. Set aside.
5. Cream the butter and sugar in a electric mixer with medium speed.
6. Lower the mixer speed, add one egg at a time, beat until just mixed in.
7. Use a wooden spoon, stir in a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then add in a third of the milk mixture and mix well. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don’t overmix.
8. Divide the batter into all the muffin tins.
9. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until a cake tester come out clean.
10. To make cinnamon sugar: Combine the sugar and ground cinnamon and mix well.
11. Remove the muffins from the tin when the muffins are cool enough to handle.
12. Dip the muffins into the melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

I think it turned out quit well. Dumpling Man thought it was more like a muffin biscuit. Right out of the oven it has a more flakey texture that is reminiscent of a biscuit. I think the nutmeg is what reminds me of a cake donut. Either way, I think this is a winner. I may try to make the original recipe since some of the measurements are sorta off when it was halved. It's good to have this for breakfast or dessert. The cinnamon sugar topping may be a lot of sugar in the morning so you may try just dipping the tops in butter and cinnamon sugar topping. It really is quite tasty even without the topping.

Galbijjim

2011-09-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

So after discovering the deliciousness of galbijjim at Seongbukdong, I had Korean savory fall-off-the-bone tender meat on my mind. It was never anything I thought I could recreate at home. The Pouter and I discussed that a pressure cooker was probably involved in making such a culinary treasure. But I actually came across a pretty manageable recipe on Manngchi.com. So off to H Mart I went. Yes, there is an H Mart in Portland!

I bought a family pack of short ribs because it was on sale. The other half is in my freezer waiting for some inspiration.

There was a WHOLE LOT OF FAT that I had to trim off the meat. Some pieces were mutilated because they were soo fatty, so after all the trimming, there wasn't much left but a big bone and some meat dangling off.

The recipe is pretty simple and doesn't require much aside from the things below, some soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and rice wine.

So I just used my trusty dutch oven to tackle this recipe. There ain't nothing my dutch oven can't handle. I should give it a name. Any suggestions?

After a couple hours of stewing the meat takes on great color and certainly great flavor.

Maangchi's original recipe called for Korean corn syrup which I omitted and the dish turned out well and already sweet enough in my opinion.

Galbijjim
Adapted from Maangchi.com

2 lbs. (about 1 kg) of beef short ribs
2 cups water
1 tablespoon cooking wine
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
8 cloves minced garlic
½ sliced onion
1 tablespoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 carrots carrots
1/4 potato, cubed

1. Soak short ribs in cold water in a large bowl for at least 30 minutes and change the water a few times.
2. Boil water in a large pot. Put in the short ribs. Boil for 5-10 minutes.
3. Take out the ribs from the boiling water and wash them with cold water to remove unnecessary fat or floating bubbles.
4. Throw away the boiling water and clean the pot.
5. Place the clean beef short ribs in the pot.
6. Prepare a bowl to make seasoned water by mixing 2 cups of water, 4 tbs soy sauce, 8 cloves of minced garlic), ½ sliced onion, 1 tbs rice wine, and 1 tbs brown sugar.
7. Add it to the short ribs in the pot.
8. Boil it over medium heat for 20 minutes.
9. Open the lid of the pot and add all ingredients (carrot, potatoes) to the pot. Let it simmer for about 1 hour over low heat.
10. Open the lid and check if the meat is cooked fully. Use your chopstick to poke the meat. When it is smoothly going through the meat, the meat is tender enough.
11. Add 1 tbs sesame oil, ½ ts black pepper, and heat it up over high heat. Mix it well until liquid evaporates

Unfortunately I added my veggies too early and my potatoes essentially disintegrated. Nevertheless, the flavor was amazing. Another highly recommended dish. Maangchi knows what shes talking about.

Mom's Steak Salad

2011-09-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

You won't usually hear me say things like, "Oh my mom makes the best..." or when I'm at a restaurant you won't hear me say "Oh my mom's version is better." My mom isn't that kind of mom. The type of mom who loves to be in the kitchen, perfecting recipes that have been handed down generation after generation. That's not to say I didn't eat home cooked meals every night and liked it. Every night my mom cooked, and I usually enjoyed the things she made. But now that we're all grown up, it turns out my mom cooked purely out of necessity and not out of passion. She's actually pretty lazy when it comes to cooking. Still though, there are a handful things my mom made that have just stuck with me all these years as things that I just love to eat. Her steak salad is one of those things.

It's totally simple, but to me it's delicious. She would take leftover rib-eye steak, cut it up, stir fry it with some oyster sauce and throw it on top of a salad with a really simple vinaigrette. Eaten with a side of rice, makes for a complete meal. I think I just love the idea of meaty flavorful slices of beef mixed into a refreshing salad. I love the Thai beef salad, yam neua.

Here I just take a cut of flank steak, sliced up into strips, marinate it in some oyster sauce and garlic.

Then, I stir fry it on very high heat with some onions and extra oyster sauce. It's important to get some good color on the meat without overcooking it.

Another key to this salad is the dressing. I'm not sure how my mom came up with this. Maybe it's a very common dressing eaten in other homes. I know I just love it. I recently bought this brand of balsamic vinegar at Trader Joe's and I love it. It has a very rounded, slighly sweet taste. The Maggi is key, but perhaps can be replaced with regular soy sauce, but I've never tried. Maggi just has a special taste to it that I grew up on.

Mom's Steak Salad
Serves 2

1/2 lb flank steak, sliced into strips
Romaine lettuce (any lettuce or mixed greens works)
Tomatoes, sliced
Carrots, julienned
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 onion. sliced
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

Marinade
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 cloves garlic

Dressing
2 tbsp high quality olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (Trader Joe's has a great brand)
1-2 tsp Maggi
1-2 cloves finely minced garlic
Pepper to taste

1. Marinate slices of flank steak with garlic and oyster sauce. Let it sit in the refridgerator for at least 30 minutes.
2. Prepare dressing by mincing garlic, and combining with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and Maggi. Whisk vigorously to combine. The longer you let it sit, the more you'll cut out the raw garlic taste.
3. Wash, pat dry, slice/julienne all components for salad.
4. Heat up pan with vegetable oil and saute onions on medium-high heat.
5. After onions get some good color, add beef and stir fry on high heat. Cook steak to your preference, I go for medium to medium rare.
6. Toss salad with dressing and then place meat on top.
7. Enjoy with a bowl of white rice!

Roman-Style Chicken

2011-09-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

So after a couple days of eating rice, I got a little tired. I wanted to mix things up and try out an Italian recipe from Giada De Laurentiis, who is turning out to be my favorite and most reliable Food Network chefs. I've found her recipes to be pretty simple and tasty to boot. I'm pretty picky about the food I cook and especially about the food I post about. So you better bet that if I've gone to the effort to make a recipe and even post about, then it should be something you might like.

I don't know how chef's always say you can substitute prosciutto for bacon. Bacon has a smokiness which I would find distracting in most dishes that call for prosciutto. I try to make as few substitutions as possible.

Giada's recipe called for the use of chicken breasts with ribs and boneless chicken thighs. I halved the recipe and used chicken thighs with the skin and bone to maximize the flavor and I didn't want any dry white meat for dinner. Any recipe that calls for breasts I'll auto-substitute for chicken thighs.

Roman-Style Chicken
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
5 chicken thighs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
2 oz prosciutto, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 15oz-can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 tbsp fresh thyme
1/2 tsp fresh oregano leaves (I used a couple sprinkles of dried oregano)
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp capers
Chopped flat leaf parsley (I skipped this)

Directions

Season the chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In a heavy, large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, cook the chicken until browned on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Keeping the same pan over medium heat, add the peppers and prosciutto and cook until the peppers have browned and the prosciutto is crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, wine, and herbs. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pan, add the stock, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 to 30 minutes.

If serving immediately, add the capers and the parsley. Stir to combine and serve. If making ahead of time, transfer the chicken and sauce to a storage container, cool, and refrigerate. The next day, reheat the chicken to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the capers and the parsley and serve.

Imagine a tender, tomato-ey chicken with brightened flavors from the herbs and capers. Yum!

I enjoyed my chicken with a mushroom pasta dish (which will be another post for another day) and a side of oven roasted brussel sprouts tossed with some salt, pepper, olive oil, and garlic. Make sure to halve your sprouts and spread them out in a single even layer. You want to maximize surface area so that you can get some good color and roast on each sprout.

A one pound bag from Trader Joe's whittles down to just one little bowl of sprouts. It fed 3 people very well.

Ikko

2011-09-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

After a very long and exhausting morning/afternoon of smiling, posing, chit chatting, and sweltering in the heat, Dumpling Man, some friends, and I headed out for some fun and entertainment at the center of all that is hip, cool, and Asian in the OC...Diamond Jamboree! For those of you unfamiliar with Irvine, you should know that there are quite a few Asians that live there and around the area. Combined with all the young Asians from UCI, well you have quite a large population of Asian-Americans that need to be entertained and fed in a way that only a new and modern plaza packed with shops and restaurants skewed toward satisfying the Asian "flava" can fulfill. Dumpling Man is the target consumer for a place like Diamond Jamboree. He loves Asian things, he loves new things, he loves clean things. Diamond Jamboree is all these things.

Wow, I've totally digressed, because we didn't even eat at Diamond Jamboree! We just sang and boozed it up at the karaoke lounge there, which is pretty nice I might add. Afterward, it was just Dumpling Man, Quack Man T, The Mom, The Germanphobian (aka CMac Attack), and I who were left standing to chug down all the beer Turtle TWu had over-ordered for us before he had to hike it back to LA. Let's just say that all the champagne from earlier in the day did not sit well with all the beer Dumpling Man and Quack Man T ended up drinking.

None of us were that hungry, but we somehow ended up at Ikko for dinner, which is not really a place you go after a day of drinking. I would consider Ikko to be one of the best restaurants in the OC for sushi and modern Japanese fare and the price point certainly speaks to that. The Germaphobian ditched us for cooler friends, so the four of us were left to peruse the menu, but we couldn't decide and opted for the 6 course + dessert $80 omakase.

Shrimp & Crab Ceviche yuzu tomato sorbet, white fish
The dinner started off strong with this AMAZING trio of flavors. The ceviche was bright from the fresh seafood and tangy from the very interesting yuzu tomato sorbet. It was lovely. The white fish was salty with also some citrus hints and served cold. The fried greens gave some textural contrast. My words are falling short on how kickin' I thought this dish was.

Sashimi amberjack, sea bass, whelk clam
This was another WOWSER. First of all, the pieces of fish were huge and soo fresh. The meat was sweet with that fresh ocean flavor. My favorite was the whelk clam which had that firm chewy/crunchy texture you expect from giant clam. It was sweet and salty. I loved it. The sea bass and amberjack were equally impressive.

Seared Tuna Salad sesame soy dressing
Although the presentation was very pretty with the lattice of delicately fried noodles, the salad was definitely not as impressive as the previous 2 courses. The dressing lacked some luster and the tuna wasn't all that special.

Chawanmushi crab and mochi
Now this was something to write home about. First off, it was damn piping hot, like burn a hole through your tongue kind of hot, which was unpleasant to say the least. But after getting past the insane temperature, it was a delicious potage of silky smooth eggy tofu highlighted by delightful chunks of crabmeat. The mochi was hard to find, but ended up being a small mushpile at the bottom. I don't think it added much since it was so overcooked and became very sticky. It was fun trying to uncover it.

Oven Grilled Miso Cod gorgonzola cheese custard
The cod was moist and fatty. The miso flavoring was just right. Sorry I didn't take a picture of the actual custard underneath that fried wonton chip but it wasn't too overpowering, which is what you might expect from gorgonzola cheese. It still had that characteristic stinky sharpness, but it was still pretty delicious.

Sushi kobe beef, black seabreem, king mackerel, halibut, toro
It was at this point that Dumpling Man bowed out. He had been struggling to stay awake during the entire dinner. The omakase was seriously a waste on this drunken man. He went to the car to take a nap while Quack Man T just sat there watching The Mom and I struggle to finish 4 plates of sushi by ourselves!

The kobe beef was probably my favorite. It had a wonderful smokiness from the charred fat marbled throughout the delicate slice. The light sprinkling of sea salt and crispy garlic really enhanced the flavor giving it a delicious savoriness. Two thumbs up here!

The black sea bream was very subtle and light in taste. It too had a light sprinkling of sea salt.
The king mackarel was delicious. It was perfectly fresh and enhanced by a bit of sea salt and grated ginger.

The halibut was fresh, clean and topped with a bit of yuzu pepper.
The toro was actually disappointing. It was lightly marinated in soy sauce but it still had a fishiness to it. It was my least favorite of the sushi sampling.

After Quack Man T's half-ass attempt at enjoying the sushi course with us, he too bowed out to take a nap in the car. Who knows what The Ambiguously Gay Duo was doing in the car. The Mom and I were obligated to order 4 desserts as part of our omakase. Fortunately by the time dessert rolled around, Quack Man T returned, refreshed and rejuvenated from his power nap to help conquer dessert with us.

Cinnamon Baked Apple with Vanilla Ice Cream
I usually never get desserts at sushi restaurants or Japanese restaurants in general. I'm usually never impressed, and frankly, I'd rather go get a milk tea at Tea Station any night, haha. Anyways, the desserts were pretty much as described. Here, the apple wasn't too sweet or tart and the ice cream added some creamy sweetness.

Green Tea Flan
I thought this tasted sorta weird. I've never been a huge fan of green tea flavored things.

Red Beans with Vanilla Ice Cream
Again, not a fan of red beans.

Black Sesame Ice Cream hot coffee poured table side
This seems to be the popular dessert on the menu, but it really is just ice cream in a pool of hot coffee. It was the more interesting of the desserts. I don't think I tasted any "black sesame" in the ice cream.

I was soo damn full by the end of dinner. I pretty much ate 1.3 persons worth of food. I paid a hefty price for it all since Dumpling Man was still passed out when the check rolled around. This was not my first time at Ikko, but it was a certainly more impressive visit. I was really blown away by some of the courses. The ceviche, whelk clam, chawanmushi, and the kobe beef sushi were amaze-balls. Next time I come, I'll try to sit at the bar and be in more sober company. The place is pretty small and not meant for large parties. It would be perfect for a nice date or to celebrate a special occasion.

Ikko
735 Baker St, Ste C
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

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Tori Soboro

2011-09-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is definitely one of my go-to recipes for a quick easy dinner and it is easily one of Dumpling Man's favorite foods. I like it, but he LOVES it. You can substitute the chicken for turkey and it tastes just the same or even better. I would avoid using ground chicken breast since it can be pretty dry.

Tori Soboro adapted from toirokitchen.com
Serves 2-4

1lb. ground chicken (may substitute with ground turkey)

4 tbsp dashi stock, optional

3 tbsp sake

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp ground ginger
Sliced scallion, nori, egg for garnish

1. In a pan, brown the ground chicken.
2. Add the sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar and combine over medium-heat. Stir frequently so that the ground chicken makes nice even crumbles.
3. If it looks dry, add the dashi stock. You can substitute for chicken stock or water.
4. When the liquid in the pot is reduced down to very low (15-20 minutes after), add the ground ginger and continue to cook for another few minutes.
5. Serve over white rice.
6. Garnish with thinly sliced egg, green onions, dried nori.

Seriously, an instant and delicious dinner!

Little Big Burger

2011-09-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Since moving to Portland, I've had the strangest cravings for an In 'N Out burger. It's only strange because I never crave In 'N Out. I probably eat In 'N Out on only one occasion, on my way to Las Vegas. I think I'm probably craving it because I know I can't have it. In an attempt to find a delicious burger, we stopped at Little Big Burger after walking to the restaurant we actually wanted to eat at and found it closed.

The menu is simple enough, very In 'N Out-esque

Rootbeer Float tillamook vanilla ice cream, barq's rootbeer
I'm not a huge fan of rootbeer but I like ice cream, so I agreed to trying this out. It tasted like a rootbeer float. Enough said.

It's probably not just Portland, but I feel like the food scene is all about "locally sourced" or "house made." Honestly, I would have preferred these condiments have had the words "Heinz" on the labels. The "fry sauce" tasted like a blander version of thousand island dressing and the "catsup" was too sour for my tastes.

French Fries yukon gold potatoes, white truffle oil, sea salt
Truffle oil?? Sign me up! They definitely had the wonderful essence of truffles and the tasty saltiness of sea salt. I really liked the fries, certainly more than In 'N Out fries for sure.

Cheeseburger tillamook cheddar
The place should be renamed "Little Burger" because there is nothing big about these guys. They're like bigger versions of sliders. We were definitely still hungry after our one burger each. Dumpling Man did not seem impressed with the tillamook cheddar.

Cheeseburger chevre
People spoke very highly of the chevre cheeseburger. Personally I found it distracting. It was sharp and creamy and nothing like you're used to as a burger topping. So it was unique in that respect, but I would have preferred normal cheese and more sauce. I was loading up the burger with the fry sauce. Overall, the burger wasn't that bad. The patty was thick and juicy, the bun was light and soft, and veggies were crisp enough.

For the price, the wait (you ain't "in and out," that's all I gotta say), and the tiny size of the burger, I can't really recommend Little Big Burger. I guess it would be good for a snack. I'm really surprised all the "sturdy" Portlandians dining there that evening could have only one burger and feel satisfied. If I didn't have the fries to load up on, I woulda been whining for more. Dumpling Man says Joe's Burgers is a better bet, so I'm looking forward to trying their burger soon.

Little Big Burger
122 NW 10th Ave
Portland, OR 97209

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Little Bird

2011-09-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to already have some friends when you move to a new city. Big Spoon and The Gunner are just a few of my fellow Portlandians. We kicked off my first weekend in the new city at Little Bird, a relatively new French restaurant in Portland. Ordering wine turned out to be a huge ordeal after the waiter, out of obligation, halfheartedly asked if we were above 21. Of course we all said yes, but The Gunner and Dumpling Man had to make some jokes which resulted in the waiter actually carding us. Dumpling Man being the genius he is did not bring his wallet that night. So after some crafty use of the internet with multiple iPhones, he was able to prove that he was in fact who he said he was, and as old as he said he was. The manager for the evening had to approve such non traditional identification before we were served. I can't even remember if the wine was worth all that.

Oysters daily selection
I've really grown to appreciate the taste of these briny little fellas. I used to think these tasted like one big fishy gulp of the ocean, but now I taste salinity tempered by fleshy sweetness. A squeeze of lemon seems to cut any fishiness while adding another dimension of brightness to an already fresh bite.

Roasted Bone Marrow black olive & citrus tapenade
I think Cut ruined bone marrow for me. Everywhere I go, the bone marrow simply cannot compare. The bone marrow here was good, but not the best. I'm not a huge fan of olive tapenade, but they made good use of it here to jazz up the fattiness of the bone marrow. My other complaint, which applies to most bone marrow dishes, is that they never give you enough of the toasted baguette. They expect you to consume ALL that fat with just 3 measly slices of bread.

Beet Salad seasonal greens, hazelnuts, goat cheese cream
While I usually love a good beet salad, sometimes they do disappoint. The beets were sweet with a nice firm texture, but there were too many nuts and it was distracting. The flavors overall were light, despite being weighed down by all those nuts. The goat cheese cream was a different take on something that's usually chunky and more tart.

Gnocchi Parisienne peas, roasted portabello, pistou
Who knew the French did gnocchi? The version here was a bit different with each piece pan fried with a slightly crispy exterior. The sauce was rich but tempered by the sweet peas and earthy mushrooms. The gnocchi was probably a little denser than I would have liked. Nothing beats the lightness of the gnocchi at Osteria Mamma.

Roasted Pork Shoulder sherried onions, crispy egg, dijon vinaigrette
I had high hopes for this, but the pork was a little too dry. The crispy egg with its luscious runny yolk, the tangy vinaigrette, and the sweet onions almost made up for the meat.. Parts of the meat were more moist than others, but overall, I was wishing for some of The Gunner's moist trout.

Le Pigeon Burger salad
I did not try this, but Big Spoon seemed to like it. It looked pretty juicy.

Grilled Trout almond puree, green bean salad
The fish felt like something that was so Portland. It felt like it was something just caught that morning and made with locally sourced ingredients. The Gunner really enjoyed her fish. I need to step outside my box and try to order fish more often.

Filbertella Tarte summer berries

Filbertella was a house version of nutella. It was very chocolately, and frankly not too different from nutella in taste. The summer berries were a nice contrast. Overall, there was nothing too unique going on here.

Wildflower Honey Pot de Creme blueberrries, graham crackers
I love pot de creme. I made a chocolate version once upon a time and after seeing how much fat went into it, I couldn't bear to make it again, but I love it still. This was divine bit of the most flavorful honey. I'm not a big fan of honey, but when you have one that's so fragrant and sweet, it makes you think twice about eating bee spit. I liked how the little graham crackers were in the shapes of little birds!

Apricot Tarte Tatin chamomile ice cream
Despite looking like a little pile of orange poo, I really liked the combination of sweet sour fruit atop a crispy butter crust. I think we were cheated of any ice cream, because the little white pile ended up being whipped cream.

Mignardises rasberry macarons
I don't know why I don't go gaga for cupcakes or macarons, which seem to be the popular sweet trends these days. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good macaron when one is place in front of me. These were miniature delicacies. It was a good end to a good meal.

I think we all enjoyed our evening out at Little Bird. Some of the dishes were hit and miss, but overall I like the approach at Little Bird and I'd be willing to try it again. The service was on the slow side. Our dinner was probably 3 hours long, but we had some good fun conversation. It makes me look forward to future dinners in Portland with The Gunner and Big Spoon or pretty much any other old and new friends. Next time I would love to try some of the charcuterie. I simply cannot resist house made and cured meats.

Little Bird
219 SW 6th Ave
Portland, OR 97205

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Clay-Pot Miso Chicken

2011-09-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

So after a most disastrous attempt to make my own Japanese curry, I felt pretty down and discouraged. But along came David Chang to make things right in my world. I've had good luck with some other David Chang recipes from his Momofuku cookbook, which I have decided to purchase instead of continuing to leach his recipes from random internet sites. I've never eaten at Momofuku, but I have heard such great things and all his recipes look fun and interesting.

So I actually got the recipe from a once great and active fellow food blogger. She decided to do one recipe in the Momofuku cookbook everyday until she cooked everything in the book. Since she finished, her blog has now become defunct.

Sorry I don't have many pictures of how I got here, but I'll probably make this again and update it.

Clay-Pot Miso Chicken Recipe adapted from gourmet.com
serves 2
4 chicken thighs with skin and bone
1/4 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 a large onion, coarsely chopped
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1/4 cup mirin
2 tablespoons shiro miso
2 tablespoons soy sauce
sliced green onions for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Pat chicken dry, then roast, skin side up, shallow baking pan or dish until skin is golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.
2. While chicken roasts, soak wood ear mushrooms and shiitakes in hot water until softened. When soft, cut the stems off the shiitakes and slice. Set aside.
3. Transfer roasted chicken to a bowl and pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a glass measure. Let stand until fat rises to top, 1 to 2 minutes, then skim off and discard fat. Add enough stock to bring a cup of liquid.
4. Reduce oven to 300°F.
5. Heat oil in a small heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then sauté onions until softened and beginning to brown. Add ginger, and garlic and sauté until garlic is golden, 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Add mirin and boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, 1 minute. Stir in miso and soy sauce, then stir in chicken, wood ear mushrooms, shiitakes, and stock mixture. Bring to a boil, skimming off any froth.
7. Cover pot and braise in oven until chicken is tender, about 1 hour.
8. Serve in shallow bowls with white rice.

Dumpling Man gave his seal of approval. The chicken was fall-apart tender and the flavors were perfectly salty and sweet. I left out the wood ear mushrooms since I'm not a huge fan and neither is Dumpling Man. I just added more shitake mushrooms instead. I liked how Momofukufor2 scaled down the recipe for just 2 servings. There were no leftovers that night and I love when that happens!

Masu Sushi

2011-09-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

Ok here is more of the same (Japanese), but at least it's not in the South Bay. It's pretty much impossible to find good sushi in Portland. Every place is just "meh" and I think most people would agree. Masu just might make the cut for decent sushi by my standards.

Tsukemono
Complements of the house. The pickled vegetables were not very pickley. It was pretty toned down. I like my tsukemono to pack a little more punch. The added octopus was nice because they were quite tender, with just a touch of chew.

Fennel and Dungeness Crab Sunomono carrot and mango
The crab was too watery, like it hadn't been defrosted approrpriately. The pickled veggies were more of the same blandness. I liked the fresh bite of the fennel.

Yellowtail
I went into Masu thinking it was more of a roll place, but surprisingly, the nigiri was pretty good. The yellowtail was fresh and delicious. Unfortunately, the spanish mackerel (not pictured) was probably some of the best I've tasted as of late.

Fried Aji Bones
I'm not sure if they do this for all orders of Spanish mackerel, but it was such a nice addition. It was like eating crispy fishy chips. I ate up every morsel of bones and skin.

Black Cod yuan yaki with sauteed burdock and ginger blossm
The cod was well prepared, moist, fatty with just a light miso flavor. The accoutrements were whatever.

Nemo shrimp tempura, dungeness and avocado topped with whitefish and salmon finished with ponzu, green onions, toasted white sesame seeds and smoked bonito flakes
I was expecting the rolls to be packed with flavor from being oversauced and over-mayoed. Surprisingly, the rolls were just as described with very little additives on top of the components listed. Even though the flavors were clean and nothing was offensively fishy, the roll could have used more oomph.

Transformer softshell crab, cucumber, spicy tuna and avocado with spicy serrano dipping sauce
The roll was more of the same. Fresh, clean components, but in need of some pizazz.

From my limited sampling of the nigiri, I would come back to Masu and order more sushi and sashimi. I might skip the rolls since they were on the bland side. I would try another hot dish too. Basically, Masu served up enough decent food to keep me interested in another try. It doesn't hurt that it's just a hop skip away.

Masu Sushi

406 SW 13th Ave # 202

Portland, OR 97205-2359

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Inaba

2011-08-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I feel like I've been blogging a lot about Japanese food in the South Bay. So far, I have yet to be disappointed. Inaba is home to some solid soba and udon dishes. The menu had many choices, but I like to go with dinner sets when I can. It's headache enough to choose a restaurant to go to for dinner, and sometimes, by the time you get there, you're just too overwhelmed to figure out what you want to eat. Dinner sets or omakase are a good way to go during those moments. Japanese people are so smart!!

Special Tempura Dinner Course appetizer, miso soup, sashimi, tempura, egg custard, rice, mini soba
This was Smooth Obturator's choice. It was pretty filling.

This was a sort of sesame tofu. It had all the texture of a firm tofu, but the taste of sesame instead of soybeans. It was innovative and different, bordering on weird.

Your standard salad.

A hot chawanmushi aka egg custard. Another yummers.

Smooth Obturator thought the sashimi was just OK. I believe he found some of the cuts sorta chewy.

Tempura dipping sauce.

Smooth Obturator was not pleased with all the different tempura items. One had shiso, which the H.o.P. unanimously dislikes. The other things like the veggies and shrimp were good.

The soba was chewy and perfectly al dente. It was cool and ideal for a summer day like this one.

Inaba Ten-Zaru Dinner soba or udon (hot or cold) with tempura and your choice of: sushi (4 pcs) and tuna cut roll (3 pcs), tuna bowl, marinated tuna bowl, battera

Triple T and I opted for the ten-zaru dinner. I got the hot udon and she got the cold soba just like Smooth Obturator. The udon was fresh, chewy, and perfect for slurping. The soup wasn't too MSG tasting like you get out of the box. It was a big filling bowl and I was so stuffed.

The tempura was crispy, but it sure did get soggy if you didn't eat it right away.

Triple T said Quadruple T possibly got the marinated tuna bowl before and found it bland. I was like, but it's "marinated" so how could it be bland. I wanted to take my chances because I wanted to know what was meant by marinated. It was flavored with a sweet soy. It didn't just taste like it was dipped in some sauce. It tasted like it was truly marinated in the sweet soy for some hours, such that it changed the texture of the fish itself. I really liked it atop a bed of steaming white rice with just a touch of wasabi.

Inaba is a pretty solid joint for soba and udon which were truly the winners of the evening. All the other dishes were good, but not amazing. I think the place is also supposed to be known for the tempura, but I don't remember it being all that amazing. I really did like the marinated tuna bowl and would order it again.

Inaba
20920 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA 90510

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Niwattori

2011-08-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

What is Niwatori? Smooth Obturator called it a "chicken place," so that probably explains why I never jumped at the chance to eat here. Chicken is definitely not something I get excited for. I rarely order chicken when I dine at fancy restaurants, because I feel like chicken is just so ordinary. I woudln't want to eat anything at a restaurant that I could eat at home.

DonBon was in town for some business so he called up his cousins, myself and Smooth Obturator to see if we were free for dinner. I figured if I was going to drive an hour to get to the South Bay that we might as well eat around there too. Finally, I relented and agreed to go to the "chicken place" since my brother said it was quite special. They're specialty is Jidori chicken, which to this day I'm still not quite sure what that means.

Asazuke lightly pickled vegetables
After making all our selections, we noticed a dearth of greenery. I just love pickled vegetables. I can eat them plain, but of course they taste best eaten with rice and meat. Yum! These were more on the salty pickled side (as opposed to sour or sweet) but had some bite to it with thin slivers of ginger that were pickled too.

Cold Chawanmushi chilled egg custard, shrimp, crab meat
I was quite impressed with this, mostly because it was pretty chilly! But it was very smooth with decent sized chunks of fresh sweet shrimp and crab. I really liked the jelly stuff on top which was probably some congealed broth or sauce of sorts. It added a bit of sweet soy taste.

Toriwasa sliced seared chicken
You're probably horrified by this dish, but it is in fact lightly seared and essentially raw chicken slices. It's served like sashimi, with a side of soy sauce and wasabi. Seriously, it was so simple but pretty darn good. I mean, it probably tasted like nothing, but that was the beauty of it. The chicken tasted soo clean, no strange stinky raw chicken odor. You could have been eating fish for all you knew. Garnished with a sprig of sprout, green onions, nori, a dab of wasabi, and then lightly dipped in soy sauce made for a very special bite.

Black Angus Beef Tataki seared & sliced beef, ponzu
Unfortunately, this could not compare to the toriwasa. First of all, the beef was too chewy. It was either sliced too thick and/or was just not good quality. The light smokiness on the outside was nice, but couldn't make up for the chewiness.

Nankotsu Karaage deep fried chicken cartilage
I'm not a huge fan of eating the strange parts of a chicken, the knee, the elbow, the gizzard, etc. But slather some tasty batter on it and fry it up to a golden crisp? Ok, I'm in! DonBon and Smooth Obturator really seemed to find a new favorite in this one. The cartilage had just the right amount of crunch.

Nasudengaku deep fried eggplant, sweet miso
I've had better preparations elsewhere. It needed more salt.

Potato Salad breaded and fried
Whoever thought you could deep fry potato salad?? I didn't get to take a picture of this before it was broken down, but it was literally a giant fried ball the size of a softball. It was crispy on the outside, and soft and mayo-ee on the inside. It made for a pretty rich sinful bite. I could barely finish my quarter of the ball. I could imagine Triple F really liking this one, haha.

Tebasakiyaki grilled chicken wings sprinkled with sea salt
I thought the chicken wings at Nanbankan were pretty good, but these were far better. They were so moist and juicy with a nice crisp on the outside complimented by a delicious sprinkling of sea salt and light squeeze of lemon. Seriously, sea salt can make all the difference.

Tori "Dokkan" Negi deep fried seasoned chicken, green onion
These were pretty tasty, but the high batter to meat ratio became overwhelming after a while. They could have been a little more crispy too. I really liked taking a nice helping of the green onions with a big piece. It really brightened up each bite. I like onions, ok? Dumpling Man has to deal, haha.

Tori Nanban deep fried seasoned chicken, tartar sauce
These were probably a bit much after the previous dish which was pretty similar. This one was just slathered in tartar sauce instead. It was almost, if not just as heavy as the deep fried potato salad. It was a difficult dish to finish off because there was just so much flavor. Next time, we'll order one or the other. Maybe having the tartar sauce on the side would be good too.

Chuka Soba hot ramen noodle soup
Smooth Obturator keeps talking about chicken ramen. He says its very clean tasting. What I love about ramen is the deep flavor from the long simmered pork bones, so the chicken version was quite the opposite. It tasted lighter and cleaner. Perhaps it was bordering on bland, but I think that's the intention. Overall, it was good, but not something I'd have a hankering for.

Tamago Gohan raw egg of free range chicken with rice
And now, the finale to our delicious meal, cracking a raw egg on top of rice. I'm sure many of you are still shuddering from the essentially raw chicken slices, but do not fret, I'm still here, right? I'll have to give it up to the Japanese for perfecting simplicity. The basic ingredients of rice, a raw egg, seaweed, bonito flakes, and lightly sweetened soy sauce made for an incredibly delicious dish. I was in love!

How does it all come together you ask? Let Triple T demonstrate...

TaDa!! It looks ooey gooey from the raw egg, which added such a unique texture. All the other components made for a very unique dish. I am tempted to try and recreate this at home, but I'm not sure where the eggs I buy at the store have come from. That is the key here. Obviously they obtain their chickens and eggs from known trusted purveyors so are confident to serve dishes in this way.

Niwatorri was truly a special experience. I love to try new things, especially when you know it's supposed to be good. Smooth Obturator and I hail from the same bloodline of fatass-ness so I can trust his judgement when it comes to food. I am glad DonBon enjoyed dinner here, but it was back to the land of bbq ribs and brisket for him. The menu is quite extensive, so even if you don't like any of the things I tried, there's a bunch more things to get. If you don't like chicken, don't even bother. But who doesn't like chicken?? I noticed on some dismal reviews on yelp, one from a guy who dinged the place for not serving sushi:

"SO disappointed there isn't one bite of sushi on niwattori's menu! i guess i shouldn't expect every japanese restaurant to have sashimi or sushi on the menu, so that's just a note to anyone who makes the same wrong assumption."

Uh, seriously!? R.S.M., you are a TOOL! I am NOT a tool, and I'm telling you to give the place a try! If you don't believe me, you should believe all the Japanese patrons that dine there. It was teeming with them that night, as it is most nights per Smooth Obturator and Triple T. Something about the proximity to the Toyota headquarters.

Niwattori
1231 Cabrillo Ave
Torrance, CA 90501

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WP24

2011-08-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

You know that saying, "It's all about who you know"? It's not just a statement for the job seekers, business whores, and budding actors/musicians/artists of this world. For the last few years, I have been to some nice restaurants for FREE because I roll with King Arthur and his entourage. It's a difficult status to attain, but I have managed to maintain a firm position within this "inner circle" of eaters and intellects (my euphemisms for gluttons and nerds). Being an outsider, I feel that one has to prove one's worth to join The King's possy. Of course, you better like to eat, and you better be damn amusing. The King does not employ any jesters in his court for this very reason!

This was probably my last gratis dinner with The King and his crew, Teety, Soprano Man, and Chops (previously known as Ms. Chatty Cathy). The Pouter had more important people to dine with that evening (who could be more important than The King?), and The Attending, let's just say we've gone our separate ways. One for good and the other for evil. Haha...jk?

Santa Barbara Spot Prawn Toast sweet ginger chili sauce
Compliments of the chef, this was the first of 2 amuse bouche to kick start the evening. We were all sooo hungry by this point. Shrimp and crispy!

Curried Seafood Turnover
These were sorta like seafood empanadas. I didn't think they were as tasty as the shrimp toasts.

"Chow Feung" Rolls with Braised Kobe Beef Cheeks chilies, scallions, cilantro, crispy garlic, hot sesame oil
The chow fun part was nice, but I've had more unctuous preparations. Did I know it was kobe beef cheeks inside? I mean, not really. Tasted like tender beef. The accoutrement of herbs made for a nice bright bite with a touch of heat. When I get these versions at dim sum, I always prefer the ones with big shimps in them.

Summer Sweet Corn & King Crab "Hot & Sour" Soup sweet prawn wontons, chive, thai basil, fried ginger
A good soup, but not much of a hot & sour. The addition for the corn made for a more sweet than a sour soup, which although was not was I was expecting, but was still flavorful. It did start tasting a little "one note" after a while. The prawn wontons were DELICIOUS. You can't do wrong by me with big hunks of shrimp. They were so fresh and plump, yummy! Aside from the wontons, I probably would not get this again.

Crisp Lettuce Cups maine sweet shrimp, rice sticks, pickled ginger-serrano chili vinaigrette
I didn't get to try these lettuce cups, but Soprano Man sure seemed to enjoy them.

Crispy Suckling Pig black plum puree, sweet bean, chinese 10 spice
These were mistakenly brought as my appetizer. The waiter let us keep it on the house. Usually I don't get too excited about the actual Chinese version of this since I find it so dry and the skin is usually not that crispy by the time I get to it. Whoa-ee! these were 100x better than any version I've had that was made by an actual Chinese person. The meat was succulent, dripping with juices and fat. The skin was impressively crispy. It had a great "fat crunch" if you know what I mean. At this point I was pretty stuffed, but being the loyal subject that I was, I kept chugging along and eating.

Tasting of Dim Sum chow feung roll, chive crystal dumpling, crispy suckling pig, dan dan dumpling, tiny dumpling
Only now do I realize I didn't get all the items that were advertised as part of the dim sum tasting. Instead of the chow feung roll and crispy suckling pig, I was supposed to get scallop-shrimp shui mai and shrimp hargow. I wish I had gotten those since I already sampled the chow feung roll and crispy suckling pig. The dumplings were an impressive showing, being stuffed to the brim with quality proteins.

Chinese Chive Crystal Dumpling alaskan king crab, shrimp, kurobuta pork
I especially liked the chive crystal dumpling and would certainly order it again. There was so much shrimp in there! All the other proteins played harmoniously together for one tasty bite.

Chili "Dan Dan" Dumpling organic chicken, chili garlic sauce, crushed peanuts, green onion
These weren't as impressive simply because it was chicken, which just isn't as exciting as seafood, but it had a little more heat and sweetness from the chili garlic sauce.

Tiny Dumpling pork belly, black vinegar, chili oil, ginger, cilantro leaves
I'm not quite sure what was "tiny" about these guys, but I appreciated the crispy skin on the one side. These were probably not as hefty as the crystal dumplings, but I liked them better than the dan dan dumplings because pork belly > >> chicken.

Just another close up of the crispy suckling pork. Look at all those bubbles on the pork skin!

Singapore Style Chili Prawns fresh crab, fried garlic, chili, scallions, shallots, pickled ginger
I think I'm going through a bad ordering streak. I just saw prawns and went to town, but these were disappointing. I'm not really sure what dish it was trying to emulate, but it was just a whole lot of slathered sweet ooeey gooey-ness. The prawns were huge and there were 4 of them, but the sauce was just too overwhelming. The dish was also served with some funny donut/twinkie looking things in the middle. I'm not quite sure how they fit in.

Hunan Spicy Eggplant roasted shishito peppers, chili, crisp garlic
Wherever I go, I have to have these. I love this style of preparation of eggplant, and it was pretty darn good here. Not too oily, a good amount of wok hei with a good balance between salty and sweet. It's a good thing we got 2 orders for our party of 9.

XO Fried Rice maine lobster, fried shallots, budding chives
Chops and Teety didn't think this was all that special, but Soprano Man and I were loving the salty expensive flavor of the XO fried rice. The side portions were just so darn small and so I wished we got 2 of these too. Alas, it was one order of fried rice, and one of noodles (not shown).

Maine Black Cod Broiled with Chinese Ginseng Honey roasted black sesame vinaigrette, chili-orange noodle salad
Soprano Man and Teety both enjoyed their fish. Being cod, it was very moist of course from all the natural fat. I'm not sure if I tasted the "ginseng honey" since I thought it was just a miso black cod like they have at many Asiany fusiony restaurants. I didn't get to try the noodle salad, but I got deliciousness vibes.

Sweet White Corn Fritters pandan ice cream, white chocolate corn pudding, blackberries
Seriously, by dessert I was busting at the seams. These days, no matter how full I am, I always have to end on something sweet. The meal just doesn't seem complete without it. None of the desserts really got my excited so I went with the fritters hoping for something donut-esque. The fritter part was pretty standard, but the sweet corn kernels hidden inside were unexpected and quite interesting. The pandan ice cream put the Asian spin on the whole thing.

Plum Cake
Teety got this one. He's pretty useless since he can't really remember what the dish was called and I didn't taste much of it. He seemed to enjoy it.

Mignardises almond cookies
I'm not a big fan of almond flavored things and these were pretty almondy.

Our waiter described the intention of WP24, to stay as close to the original Chinese influences using the highest quality ingredients. I would agree that the food was "pretty Chinese" and the food was elevated to a level, higher than anything you could find in the SGV. The presentation was lovely and everything tasted so fresh. I imagine though, that Chinese "fine dining" would not taste like this. Although WP24 is fancy and expensive, I would not call it refined. There is a certain subtly that goes into really refined fine dining. Sometimes the taste of certain dishes were a bit too heavy or sweet, which is sort of a pet peeve for me when it comes to Americanized Chinese food. The eggplant and fried rice dishes and maybe the crispy pork tasted the most unadulterated to me.

Despite all this, I still enjoyed myself and you could definitely here some "Mmmm's" and "This is good/tasty" coming from my direction. It's just a little hard to give a wholehearted 2 thumbs up because it was quite expensive and I can just imagine high quality expensive Chinese food tasting better if done by Chinese people, but it may not have as wide appeal. For the ambience, the pretty view (only at night really), and for some fancy "Chinese" flavors and concepts, WP24 is your place. The place is certainly worth a try if you got the $$$ to spend.

**To His Royal Highness, King Arthur, High Commander of The Infectious Disease armies, may you continue to fight valiantly against the communicable and virulent, and may the bounty from your conquests continue to feed your loyal subjects. I would be so lucky to find a king, such as yourself, in the land of the Pacific Northwest, my new home.**

WP24
900 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90015-1328

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Feng Mao Mutton Kebab

2011-08-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Who knew there were Chinese people in Ktown?! I surely did not, but slowly I have come across a few native Koreans who grew up in China or vice versa. I've had my fare share of Chinese-Korean food, mostly in the form of jja jiang myun at Dragon Restaurant. For some reason, another popular Chinese-Korean dish is sweet and sour pork. I can't really understand why, since it tastes like Americanized Chinese food. Anyways, I digress, since I'm here to talk about a whole different food experience when it comes to the genre of Chinese-Korean cuisine, namely mutton!

Mutton? No, that's not dog meat, but rather sheep. Apparently lamb is meat of a sheep in its first year, while mutton is adult sheep. At Feng Mao, they specialize in grilled meat skewers, varying from mutton, of course, to chicken, beef, and all sorts of offal.

Ban Chan
What Korean meal would be complete without some side dishes? The offering wasn't very extensive here and I was really craving something to vary up the taste of grilled meats in my mouth.

Gye Gran Jjim egg custard soup
Pretty standard.

Gun Bae or Gan Bay? Who cares? Drink up!

Skewered Meat mutton, chicken, beef, kidney, heart
Some reviews recommended 10 skewers per person. Sounds like a lot right? I can't remember how many I ate, but it's like eating popcorn, you just pop 'em in your mouth and before you know they're all gone! I don't think I ate quite as many as 10, but I'm damn sure The Bottomless Pit had his fair share.

You can't really tell which meat is which, but the mutton was pretty darn tasty. Some were apprehensive of the mutton having that gamey taste, but it was really quite subtle and the meat was very tender. Overall, the meat did not taste very "Asian." The dominant seasoning was that of dried spices, especially cumin. For added flavor, you're supposed to dip your cooked meat in a side dish of even more dried spices, which didn't really do it for me. I preferred my meat as is. I felt like I was eating meat in the Middle East or India. It was confusing because everyone in the restaurant was speaking Mandarin, but then we were smack dab in the middle of Koreatown. The food here brought back great memories for The Communist and her days in the motherland. I think this style of eating is popular in Northern China. Everything always seems so great in Northern China according to The Communist.

Chicken
The chicken grilled up very nicely and was juicy.

Chicken hearts
They had a nice bite to them. I was glad they weren't still beating on the stick cuz I am NO Andrew Zimmer.

Fire the grill!!!

I'm glad the service included grilling up these guys because that flame was way too open and big for me to deal with and still keep my eye brows in one piece.

Oooo, look at that beautiful char and all that glistening fat and juice!

Get in ma belly!! I will have to admit that the flavor is sorta one dimensional, char and spice. No salty, sweet, sour, or anything contrasting, but I just think that's how it's supposed to be.

Kidney
These were frankly unpalatable. One nibble and I had to pass on finishing up the rest of my skewer. I think The Bottomless Pit took care of the rest for me. It had too much of an organy irony taste. Ick!

Hot Noodles
It's a good thing everyone at my table spoke Mandarin, from The Communist, The Bottomless Pit, to Bubble Bear and her hubby. Soprano Man and I got to play dumb as everything was conveniently ordered for us. Speaking the language didn't help much in the translation department. I got tired of eating meat skewer after meat skewer so we decided to venture out and get some noodles. Our choices were "hot noodles" and "cold noodles" with no further descriptions beyond that. I was hungry and The Bottomless Pit rarely ever says no, so we took a gamble and ordered one of each, hoping for the best.

It was pretty standard. Only mildy spicy but with good flavor. It served as a nice complement to our feast of meat.

Cold Noodles
Another standard preparation. I've certainly had better elsewhere. It was good to have something cold like this with an open flame burning in front of us.

Pork and Vegetable Buns
We waited quit a while for these ones, so either they were freshly made or they forgot to put in the order for us. We all agreed it was probably the later. The wait was worth it because they were perfectly crispy on the bottoms and extremely moist inside.

They were a tad bit greasy, especially if you didn't eat them right away.

The filling was porky with notes of ginger and onions. Yum yum! I rarely eat these so I'm no expert, but I liked them here.

Hubby and Soprano Man having a skewer fight

Feng Mao was certainly a different experience for me. I'd never eaten meat like that before. It was really fun and pretty satisfying. I will admit its pretty boring to eat just meat skewers with not a lot of different banchan or dipping sauces to enhance the experience. But after all the other added dishes, I felt the meal was rounded out nicely. The place also offers up an array of other Chinese dishes, shredded pork and garlic sauce, eggplant in brown sauce, etc etc. Luckily we came at a good time because when we left around 9pm there was quite a wait. Unfortunately the place has less than 10 tables and they're all sized for parties of 4-6 or more, so it kinda sucks if you're a party of 2 occupying a table that could fit 6. There's only 1 grill per table so you can't really split a table. Anyways, the place is pretty popular so don't come too late, but there is a 2nd location in Ktown. I recommend this place if you're tired of the same old boring Korean bbq. Think of it as Chinese/Middle Eastern bbq served up in Ktown by Chinese-Koreans. Don't you love the clash of cultures? Only in LA!

Feng Mao Mutton Kebab
3901 W Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019

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The Mission

2011-08-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

For our last meal in San Diego, we decided to brunch it up at The Mission. What's up with brunch places always having some crazy wait? Why does everyone love brunch soooooo darn much?! It's just breakfast, but at lunch time. For some crazy reason, people get way too excited about eggs and pancakes at noontime. I like brunch, but I don't love it.

CMac Attack kicked off the meal by ordering a caramel machiatto or latte. The nice waiter brought her a freshly made hot drink, with a smiley face made in the foam. CMac Attack kindly conveyed her disappointment in the error since she wanted a cold drink. The waiter surprisingly brought her another drink, cold, but with a sad face this time. Haha!

House Quesadilla Grilled chicken, cheese, tomatoes, cilantro, salsa cruda, green onions and sour cream served with Mission black beans
CMac Attack did what she did best, attack!!!! Haha, jk. I think she enjoyed this dish.

Chicken Pesto Quesadilla cheese, basil pesto, tomatoes, onions & green salad
The Toothbrush Sharer enjoyed her dish, but she couldn't finish it all. I sampled a generous slice and found it a bit too greasy, probably since it wasn't piping hot anymore.

Breakfast Potatoes
My favorite part of breakfast may indeed be the potatoes. I loooooove to order them, but DJ SuCha did the deed instead. These were herby and moist with a nice crispy crunch to some of them.

Power Plato Breakfast scrambled egg whites, chicken apple sausage, flour tortillas, black beans
I've noticed I've done some poor ordering lately. This was one of them. There was nothing particularly bad about the dish, it just wasn't very special. I had cravings for something with salsa and then the sausage caught my eye. Of course it was too much food and I couldn't eat it all. I really loved the warm soft flour tortilla though. Sometimes, carbs just does it for me!

Mission Chilaquiles corn tortilla chips, layered with black beans, cheese, scrambled eggs, roasted tomato ginger sauce & chipotle cream
Now this was special. Dubabo did a good job with this one. It looks like a huge pile of food, but it was quite delicious and definitely unique out of all the dishes we had. The chips were soaked in this tomato ginger sauce which gave everything a nice kick of flavor. It was probably a really heavy dish, but it was tasty nonetheless.

The Mission was a nice place for some Mexican inspired brunch fare. The wait was sorta long and the parking was difficult to find, but none of us seemed to mind since we were all in good company enjoying good food in the end. There's a two other locations, North Park and Mission Beach, so hit one up if you're ever in the area. But by the looks of it, San Diego has no shortage of highly-rated brunch spots for your choosing.

The Mission
1250 J St
(between 12th Ave & 13th St)
San Diego, CA 92101
Neighborhood: East Village

Extraordinary Desserts

2011-08-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

No trip to San Diego is complete without a visit to Extraordinary Desserts, especially if you've never been before. It is the "go-to" spot for some of the prettiest cakes and desserts. After many years since opening this 2nd location near Downtown San Diego, the place still has a busy line out the door with a long wait on the weekends. I will admit that I'm not a huge fan of cakes in general, but this is a fun place to take friends here for their first time experience. You can't deny the awe-inspiring effect a large display of cakes and desserts has on people as they walk through the door.

Frasier fresh strawberries, raspberry buttercream and whipped cream, layered between Kirsch moistened vanilla cakes
This was definitely my favorite cake of the chosen three. If I enjoy a cake, it usually has fruit in it. Here the vanilla cake was moist with a light dash of liquor and enhanced by the delicate layers of cream and berries. I think I got this same cake my first time here. I guess I can't escape berries 'n cream.

Chocolate cake
Sorry guys, I can't remember which cake this was. I only remember it being sinfully chocolatey and decadent. The cake was moist and the layered cream in between was rich and sweet. Sadly this was probably the least favorite cake at the table. Not to imply it was bad, but it wasn't as special as the others.

Roasted Coconut Cream vanilla cake moistened with coconut milk, layered with coconut mousse, coconut custard, and whipped cream
Dubabo really loved this one! I'm not a huge fan of coconut, so I didn't fully appreciate the tropical delight sitting in front of us. I thought the fruit coulis (mango and strawberry) served on the side added a different dimension of flavor. If you like coconut, this cake's for you.

Kiwi Lemonade
Extraordinary Desserts is known, not only for its desserts, but for its very large selection of specialty teas and coffees. I will admit that a hot tea would have been the perfect accompaniment to the sweet cakes, but I was in the mood for something fruity and refreshing. I was really impressed with the use of kiwi in a lemonade. It was tart and fun with all the bits of fruit and seeds settling at the bottom. It's definitely something I'd like to try recreating at home.

I think I like Extraordinary Desserts more the idea and concept of a giant beautiful dessert restaurant that's open late, more than for it's cakes. Next time I'd like to try the other desserts to see if they're worth coming back for. Otherwise, I'd just keep coming back for the ambiance and experience. It's just a fun place to go with friends or for a date. If you plan to get your own slice, be prepared to take home your leftovers. It is just way too much to eat a whole slice by yourself in one sitting, unless you're an obese American and 33.8% of Americans are! Don't say I never taught you anything!

Extraordinary Desserts
1430 Union St
San Diego, CA 92101

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