Abigaile

Before Little Sister and Dia de Campo, there was Abigaile.  I'm not sure why it took me so long to try out this place since I jumped on Little Sister and Dia de Campo straight out of the gate.  Biker-holic (formerly known as Audio Monkey) and Manicure Queen brunched it up with me at this really cool spot in Hermosa Beach.  Unlike Little Sister and Dia de Campo which are Asian and Mexican inspired respectively, the food at Abigaile is "New American."  This is when the non-foodies contort their face to a puzzled and/or blank expression.  Their website describes it as "globally-influenced + domestically-sourced."  Fancy schmancy verbiage for food that reflects the multi-ethnic fabric of today's America.  No more meat, potatoes, with a side of steamed veggies here.  If you still haven't wiped that dumb look off your face, you can keep reading.

First of all the restaurant is beautiful, with a lovely westward view toward the beach.  It's not quite on the beach, and there are some houses and a bunch of palm trees in the way, but it sets a cool beachy ambiance.  Unlike Little Sister, the digs here are spacious.  Brunch was not crowded at all, unlike my recent experience at Canele.  The menu has good variety, and they also had a "dim sum" menu.  Is it just me, or are there more and more American restaurants with "dim sum" style dining?  We didn't partake in anything off the "dim sum" menu, but it's a neat concept to say the least.  

Pao de Queijo brazillian 'chewy n gooey' cheezy poofs, whipped bacon maple butter

We was starvin' so we got some little munchies to share.  These weren't the best pao de queijo I've had, but they were fine.  The best part really was that bacon butter, smokey, sweet, and pure fat.  The pao didn't really need this to accent it, but I slathered it on anyways.  How else was I going to get it in my mouth?  It would have been so tacky to just stick my spoon in their and go at it don't you think?

Tots rooster ketchup
In retrospect, this was not the most interesting order.  While frickin' delicious as all tater tots are, it was no different that the tots from my elementary school cafeteria.  We still loved them though.  Not sure what was so "roostery" with that ketchup.

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Dumpling Dinner Party

It seems like I've been ho-ing it up with Hobag a lot lately.  Well maybe it's because none of the rest of my so-called "friends" ever asks me to hang out hmmm???  It's likely your loss because if you're not hanging out with me, you're probably not eating all that well.  Hobag's donut and my food baby speak to the very fact that when together, we eat REALLY well.  For a change of pace, Hobag invited me to a little dumpling making party.  The original party was getting out of control with the head count going upwards of 10 people.  So that was scraped and a new party was planned with just 4 of us, 5 if you include the dog.

I missed most of the prep that went into the dumpling filling making.  Hates Food Porno gave me a rough rundown of the ingredients.

Shrimp, Pork, and Chive Dumplings

(makes ~100 dumplings)

2 lbs shrimp

1 lb ground pork shoulder

2 big bunches of Chinese chives

1 egg

1 tsp cornstarch

1/3 of a 16 oz bottle of sesame oil

Salt and chicken bouillon to taste

I've made plenty of dumplings at home, but this by far had to be the best tasting one.  Paucity of ingredients?  I guess most other dumpling recipes have soy sauce, cooking wine, and ginger from what I've noticed.  Ground pork is usually used and the ratio of shrimp to pork is way higher than what I've seen.  Lastly, Hates Food Porno's recipe uses way more sesame oil than I've ever seen before as well.  Though, maybe it was the chicken bouillon powder that added that specialness.  It's a ragtag recipe, but I'm saving it to try on my own one of these days.

I think the tip I picked up here was to stop overstuffing my dumplings.  I think I get super greedy and want to put a ton of stuff in each wrapper.  Each wrapper can only accommodate so much filling and will usually tear when pushed to its limit.

To give you a point of reference, the almighty and ubiquitous Yogurtland spoon was used to fill our dumplings.  Hobag was all out of silver spoons that night.

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Canelé

When Hobag invited me to brunch and a hike, I said, "Meh, I don't really like brunch."  Those words are like blasphemy to the majority of people.  People just LOVE breakfast foods.  I'm not sure why I don't go gaga for omelettes and breakfast burritos.  I guess I didn't grow up eating those kinds of things for breakfast.  Heck, I didn't even grow up eating breakfast.  But there are so many things I didn't grow up eating that I love now, so I guess that argument doesn't really work here.  I guess my real issue with brunch is that the waits are just so frickin' long and I'm not a huge fan of egg stuff.  Well I guess if I get to eat other fantastic non egg based brunch foods with a reservation then I am a damn happy camper.  This was my experience at Canele.  Lucky for us, we met their minimum party size of 6 or more for reservations.  The restaurant is small, and your almost elbow to elbow with every unemployed artist/actor/hipster that calls Atwater Village home.

Baked Pancake meyer lemon custard

Holy smokes was this FRICKIN' delicious.  The pancake was fluffy and light, while that Meyer lemon custard brought the decadence.  Hobag being the pig that she is ordered this to share on top of the individual dishes we each ordered.  Deceptively Hapa just ate this by herself.  It's safe to say she was starvin' after our hike.  This is a MUST order.

Apple Waffle fried chicken, honey apple butter foie
Everyone was a fan of this, but I'm somewhat undecided.  I guess it was a play on chicken 'n waffles, with the chicken being more like Japanese karage.  The honey apple butter foie (whose description I'm sort of making up because I failed to snap a shot of the daily specials board).  But it was essentially their take on the butter and maple syrup that enriches and sweetens your waffles.  It obviously had a more savory and slightly offal note to it which Hobag was simply salivating over.  She LOVES anything foie, pate, charcuterie.  We are definitely soul sisters in that regard.  So while I liked all the elements going on here, I couldn't help but feel that something was off.  I kept eating and eating and kept lingering on some familiar taste...hoisin!  This tasted like hoisin flavored whatever.  Overall, it was a favorite dish for many including Foot In Mouth.

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Twenty Eight

So I first tried Top Chef finalist Shirley Chung's cooking at her pop up at The Playground 2.0.  I liked most of the food we had there, especially her hand cut noodles.  It was a pricey meal to say the least, but I like to support new talent and understand that sometimes you are paying, not just for the food, but the experience as well.  We all, Teety and Soprano Man included, have been patiently awaiting the opening of her very own restaurant in the strangest of locations, Irvine, California.  It's not in the hippest or happening part of Irvine either.  It's surrounded by offices and businesses.  I guess Shirley is trying to cater to the working crowd?  We convened here on a Friday night, but the restaurant was frankly dead.  BAD sign right?

Twice Cooked Pork Belly Buns steamed then fried, red braised pork belly, condensed milk
Soprano Man and I started out at the bar while we waited for Teety.  I was imagining the open faced white steamed buns with some thick yummy slabs of pork belly sandwiched in between, Momofuku style.  These were the actually buns like at dim sum, but deep fried which was a different twist.  The filling had an anise aroma which was another twist.  I also was not familiar with dipping these savory buns in condensed milk so I passed.  I think when dough is fried, the result should be something light and fluffy but these were too dense.  They weren't bad, but not good enough to order again.

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Night + Market

I love Thai food.  It's a cuisine that packs so much flavor and punch in every bite.  Salty, sweet, sour, spicy, and your mouth just explodes.  Night + Market makes a point of  making all of that the focus of its food.  It's more tame sister restaurant, Talesai, serves your run of the mill Thai dishes that rings familiar with most dinners.  But at Night + Market, they are slinging dishes that will either get your mouth watering from the bold unfamiliarity or stomach churning from the gastric insult of all the intense flavors.  They are serving Northern Thai food here, and if you don't know what Northern Thai food is, well get familiar with it because the invasion is coming.  Portland's award winning and wildly popular Pok Pok is coming to LA's Chinatown.  So before I brought Ho Bag to Pok Pok, whenever it decides to open, I wanted to try Night + Market to see how it compared.  Joining us was Ho Bag's friend, Queen Sticky Swatches

Fried Pig Tails

Holy crapola, this was sooo derricious!  Crispy on the outside, and drippingly gooey (totally does not sound like an appetizing texture, but it was) from either fat or tendons or both on the inside.  I kinda didn't want to know for obvious reasons.  But real flavor came from the the fishy, salty, sweet, sour, spicy and garlicky vinaigrette that lightly dressed the exterior.  This definitely competes with Pok Pok's famous wings, but ultimately the wings might take the cake.  I wanted to eat this very small dish all to myself.  I didn't even offer the last tail to my fellow diners before scooping it up.  This is a MUST TRY.

Larb Gai minced chicken, lime, fish sauce, rice powder, chili, cilantro, onion

This was your standard larb gai, but amped up with the heat factor.  Hobag could not handle the heat throughout our whole meal.  She kept saying, "God, I'm such a little bitch! This stuff is soooo f*ing spicy" in between gulps of wine and water.  Queen Sticky Swatches and I were like "Hey guuurl, more for us!"  I'm sorta making up the exact conversation, but that was the gist of it.

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BO-beau Kitchen + Bar

When Buff Bear said he had some days off to hang out, I said, "YAY, let's go somewhere new!"  He was willing to come to my neck of the woods, but I wanted to check out what was cooking in his hood, Long Beach.  Yeah, I guess nobody thinks of Long Beach as a food destination, but I was hopeful.  Downtown Long Beach is more of a destination than a place to drive through as quick as possible with your windows up and doors locked.  Yelp guided me to BO-beau, while my stomach did the ordering.  Buff Bear didn't mind one bit.

Crispy Brussel Sprouts pancetta, parmesan, balsamic

The much lauded Brussel sprouts were actually a disappointment.  Despite being fried, so presumably unctuous while crispy, they just were somehow dry but mushy.  I'm not sure how to describe it really, but the texture was just off in my mouth.  Flavor wise, I can see how they were going for some punchiness but it missed the mark.  The presentation was really pretty though!

Chorizo + Serrano Ham marinara, five italian cheeses, basil

The flatbreads were supposed to be a must-try, but I was again disappointed.  I like my flatbreads to be on the denser side, but these were too airy and dry.  We probably ordered the wrong flatbread because this just tasted like a mediocre pizza.

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San Shi Go

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  Orange County has some pretty good sushi.  When Pushy & Stubborn told me his go-to sushi joint is San Shi Go, I sorta scoffed.  I had been to the location in Laguna Beach and was totally underwhelmed by their large selection of rolls and other sushi options doused in sauces.  I own up to being a snob about many things.  Don't hate.  I just like sushi in its purest form.  At this Newport outpost of San Shi Go, which is super far down the Balboa penninsula, Fishing Zebra Man and I opted for the everything omakase meaning hot dishes and sushi.

Golden Snapper yuzu kosho, lemon juice
Beautiful presentation eh?  Clean taste and clean complementary flavors.

Yagara Trumpet Fish
The chef's response to the puzzled look on my face when I was told about our next dish.

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Capital Noodle Bar

The Irvine Asian food scene continues to grow with each passing year.  New eateries are popping up here and there.  A notable addition to the Chinese offerings here is Capital Noodle Bar, which is related to Capital Seafood.  The latter is Irvine's mediocre attempt at dim sum.  Sadly, I've been here many times because, frankly there ain't much else as far as dim sum is concerned.  I've never eaten the dinner food here, but I've not heard great things.  So my expectations for the noodle bar weren't that high.  However, after a couple visits, I think it's a good little addition to Irvine if you ignore the price tag.

Fried Fish Cake

Your standard fried fish cake.  Nicely served with pickled cabbage and carrots

Juicy Pork Dumplings

Not sure why Big Head Talks-A-Lot would order this here, of all places.  Not the best, but decent.

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Bestia

Bestia is one of the hot restaurants in LA that has alluded me for some time now.  It's been open for a few years and many have extolled its solid offerings, especially the pastas.  I've tried to come here not once but twice with Ho Bag.  Once she cancelled on me, and once I cancelled on her.  Maybe it just wasn't met to be?  Come to the rescue The Bear Crew.  Buff Bear, Panda Bear, Luau Bear, Mani Bear (previously known as Little Bear), and myself hiked it to DTLA fighting all sorts of traffic.  Farm Bear was down for the count because the trek from Santa Monica to DTLA was just too ugly to tackle.

I don't think any of the newer restaurants in DTLA understand the concept of quiet dining.  The din of the very busy dining room here and at The Factory Kitchen were both energetic and draining.  The point of dining out with friends is, of course, to eat great food, but also to have great conversation.  It's so hard to do that when you're screaming at the top of your lungs.  But I guess anything is better than the acoustics at Bottega Louie.

Butter Poached Lobster chanterelles, kabocha purée, pea tendrils, pickled shallots, aged balsamic
Wonderfully sweet and supple lobster.  Everything was spot on, but I thought the kabocha wasn't the best pairing with the lobster.

Foie Gras Terrine stumptown coffee, spices, lemon paste, sea salt, brioche
We were so fortunate to come to Bestia just days after the foie gras ban was lifted.  The terrine was simply devine.  The lemon paste was a wonderful complement to the smoothe butteriness.  Why does foie gras pair so well with fruit?

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Fish Dinner Party

One of the main reasons to upgrade the camera was to try and do more cooking blog entries.  Sooooo, that has really yet to happen, but then one day my friends and I had a spontaneous dinner party.  It was really great because everyone pitched in and cooked something as opposed to most of my dinner parties where I do all the cooking, which makes picture taking pretty impossible.  

Big Fishy, Fat-Skinny-Fat-Less Fat, and Fairius (previously known as Dairy Queen) woke up at the butt crack of dawn to go fishing at Irvine Lake.  Who knew a man made lake had fish for the catching, let alone the eating?  Contained bodies of water always kinda creep me out and add to that the man made component?  Ugh, what could those fish be eating?  Where is all their waste products going?  Nowhere!  Anyways, no point in contemplating these things since the fish has long since been enjoyed and digested.  So those guys caught some delicious trout which Big Fishy prepared.  Fat-Skinny-Fat-Less Fat manned the potatoes and brought a side of his mother's homemade kimchi.  Fairius roasted the Brussel sprouts, which he never gets to eat in Thailand, his current home, because they are so damn expensive.  I took over the cauliflower.  Sleepy Snoozy and Big Fishy's wifey pitched in and helped clean up.

Garlic Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Do you ever get small random chunks of butter leftover after cooking or baking something else?  Well I had one of those so I just threw it in to finish the potatoes at the end.  Everyone's eyes bugged out at the amount of butter I just tossed in there, but nobody had a darn complaint about those delicious potatoes.  There's a reason butter and better only different by one letter.  Where is my winky face emoji when I need it?!

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The Tasting Kitchen

I was doing SO well and totally getting caught up on my blogging and THEN...I moved into a black frickin' hole for a solid 2 weeks.  Some people say it's totally refreshing to be off the grid for a while.  Those people are not just crazy, they are CUR-RAZY!  I burned through my month's data plan in 4 days because all I had was my phone tethering me to the REAL world.  But not to worry dear readers, just because I lived in an internet dead zone doesn't mean I my appetite died off too.  I have the food baby to prove it!

Dinner with the Bear crew is turning out to be great fun these days.  We're all slowing making that transition from overworked and underfed to underworked and overfed.  Buff Bear, Panda Bear, and Luau Bear are soon approaching the end to their terms of indentured servitude.  They will soon join the ranks of Farm Bear, Little Bear, and myself as gainfully employed citizens who get raped in taxes every year by good old Uncle Sam.  Welcome to adulthood!  I recommend easing the sting of reality with a tall glass of wine and new and delicious foods.

Gnocco Fritto salumi, burrata

I recently had a version of fried dough + cheese + cured meats at The Factory Kitchen.  I guess this was a do-it-yourself version.  I liked that the dough wasn't sweet, like it was at The Factory Kitchen.  It was fun to have the meat and cheese this way, but honestly some crusty chewy bread is always a great option too.

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Screendoor

Southern food is not really my favorite food.  The food is just too heavy and low on the vegetable/high fiber component.  I'm not a healthnut really, but I prefer balance in my diet and Southern food represents everything wrong with the American diet in this country.  So you'll rarely see my seek out Southern food, which might explain why Screendoor was never high on my priority list in Portland.  It also did not help that the wait for weekend brunch can easily exceed an hour.  Big Spoon joined The Gunner and I for a delightful brunch on an unsurprisingly grey Saturday morning when the wait was less than 30 minutes.  Score!

Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich house smoked pork shoulder, creamy coleslaw, toasted bun
People go crazy for pulled pork, and now I know why.  This sh*t was BOMB.  The coleslaw and pork were a perfect combination of sweet, salt, tang, crunch.  Our waiter said he's worked at the restaurant for 8 years and he ate this everyday for the first couple years.  It was that good.  Between the 3 of us, I ate half.  My only ding was that the bottom bun got soaked with grease pretty fast.

Does anybody notice anything wrong with this picture??

If you guessed that half the diners in the party were busy on their phones or taking pics, then you have valid point.  But the common denominator is this bad boy.

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Holdfast

The Gunner and Perpetually Underwhelmed spoke very highly of Holdfast, a pop up dining experience to recently enter the culinary scene in Portland.  Pop ups are fun, but they can be unpredictable.  There's a lot of experimentation that goes into any given night's menu.  Sometimes items are being served for the first time, which can result in something spectacular or something poorly executed.  Holdfast has been holding steady in KitchenCru, which is a rentable kitchen space near the Pearl District.  It does not make for the best dining ambiance, but the pop up is more about the food than service or experience.  For $90 we had a 9 course meal with 5 wines. 

Crab beet, horseradish, dill

We started off the meal nice and light, a little crab salad topped with thinly shaved beets, drizzled with beet sauce.  I don't believe I've had beets and crabs paired together.  More dill would have elevated the dish.  

Razor Clam fennel, apple, sauerkraut

Another refreshing combination of flavors with ingredients never tried together by myself.  Some parts of the poached razor clams were off-puttingly fishy.  Apples and fennel are always good together.  All together, I'm not sure if these ingredients really sung.

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Lauretta Jean's

I love me some pie, but only the fruity ones.  I never ate pecan pie, pumpkin pie, or banana cream pie, just to name a few, growing up.  It's a strange concept to pair a flakey pie crust with the aforementioned ingredients.  I love the contrast of a tart tangy fruit with a slightly sweet buttery pie crust.  It's a match made in heaven when in my mouth and tummy.  I never got to check out Lauretta Jean's when I lived in Portland.  After a comforting lunch at Sen Yai where I was sufficiently satisfied, though not horribly stuffed, The Gunner informed me Lauretta Jean's was but a hop skip and a jump away.  Even though I knew I only wanted a few bites of anything and the rest would be boxed up, I just had to go and order more than I could eat alone.  The Gunner didn't plan on partaking too much.

They have a varied selection of baked goods beyond pie.

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Sen Yai

Andy Ricker's fame has spread beyond the confines of grey-ass, gloomy-ass Portland.  Who would have ever thought a white man could create this burgeoning Thai food empire from one of the less Asian influenced cities in this country?  If you won't take my word for it, believe me when I say even Thai people (Verde and Perpetually Underwhelmed included) love his food and give it their seal of authenticity.  He started off with a window that sold chicken wings, to a restaurant (Pok Pok), bar (Whiskey Soda Lounge), and offshoots in NYC and soon-to-be in LA's Chinatown.  In the past year or so, Andy Ricker opened up his noodle focused venture, Sen Yai in Portland.  Perpetually Underwhelmed actually seemed unsurprisingly underwhelmed with the place calling it's dishes "too salty."  Lucky for me, The Gunner is always game for noodles.  

Singapore Curry Laksa Noodles

I had just a bite of this.  Hard to gauge flavor and quality here since I've never eaten laksa before.  I would say it was a tad underseasoned, but I think it's because you're supposed to go to town on the condiments.

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BOOYEAH!

Dear Readers,

I want to thank you for following along with me all these years.  I started off with some shitty pictures and photography skills, but I have tried to hone my craft over the years.  As you may know, I earn absolutely no money from this endeavor.  In fact, I lose a lot.  But I gain so much in the name of gastronomical fun, adventure, and happiness.  So in staying consistent with that, I am pleased to announce that this blog's getting an upgrade!  Behold!

Sony A5100 with E 35mm F1.8 OSS E mount prime lens  

It ain't the best or fanciest fanciest camera out there, but it really suits my needs and I'm loving the relatively compact size and picture quality so far.  Thanks to Grumpy Bear and Stubborn & Pushy for being my camera gurus through this whole process.

It's safe to say Black Friday was good to me. 

Who knows what Christmas and New Year's will bring!  =)

Sincerely,

Overworked Underfed

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Sushi Tsujita

It's so awesome how Little Osaka, or the area on the Westside I'm used to referring to as "Sawtelle," has totally exploded into this mecca of delicious Japanese-centric dining destinations.  I'm actually envious and wish I could turn back the clock to be a UCLA student now.  Back in the day, the only thing I really went there for was Hurry Curry.  Volcano House was also a popular hang out for their ultra milky milk teas.  There was Sawtelle Kitchen, which has since closed.  Asahi Ramen, which has been able to stay open all these years to my shock, served a totally mediocre bowl of ramen.  Everything else was either too pricey for the poor college student that I was back then, or just meh.  Now there's all these new and hot places like Tsujita Ramen, and its new high end sister sushi restaurant Sushi Tsujita.  The place is omakase only with a choice between $120, $150, and $180 menus.  Triple T, Smooth Obturator, Quadruple T, and I went for the mid range option.  Obviously, this place ain't cheap.  

Agedashi Tofu sesame tofue, bonito, ginger

While usually a huge fan of agedashi tofu, I found their take on this with a heavy hand on sesame to be a bit odd.  I guess I'm a traditionalist here.

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Da Poke Shack

I was super excited to try the #1 rated place on Yelp's Top 100 Places to Eat in the US.  We were lucky since Da Poke Shack was only a 5 minute walk from our condo.  We showed up right when it opened, but a crowd quickly amassed.

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Tex Drive In

I've never had a malasada before.  They're sorta of like Portuguese donuts.  Yummy, sweety, yeasty, fried dough balls.  Hard to go wrong.  At Tex Drive In, they serve a whole host of Hawaiian classics, but the place is mostly known for the variety of malasadas.  You can choose malasadas with different fillings.  We opted for mango and strawberry.  The mango was the winner here.

I really liked the malasadas here.  I don't have much of a basis for comparison.  I think there are multiple locations on the island, so be sure to stop by for a quick snack.  It's best eaten fresh out of the fryer.

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Pine Tree Cafe

After a grey morning in the mountains touring the Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation, sampling fresh Kona coffee, we Yelped our way to this nearby Hawaiian cafe.  It's a really casual joint.  Order, take a number, and pick up your food on a tray.  The menu is quite extensive and it was hard to widdle down our choices.  Like the fat asses we were, we over ordered as per usual.  

Fried Poke furikake rice, pickled cucumbers

Ho Bag, The Cat Whisperer, and I joined our forces to tackle some heavy options.  I'm not sure why people ordered this so much from the Yelp reviews.  Poke is meant to be raw, and then when you fry it, what makes it poke?  It wasn't very fresh tasting. 

Spicy Garlic Chicken

Very delicious.  Hard to go wrong with fried chicken bits slathered in sinful sauce.

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