Mikey HATES Everything!

Strawberry Cones pizza (San Gabriel Valley)

2009-12-28T16:13:00.001-08:00

Japan's lesser-known pizza chain Strawberry Cones just opened a couple weeks ago in a San Gabriel Valley strip mall and I'm super excited. Unlike most things Japanese chefs make, pizza is less artisanal than it is kitchy and artificial, yet devoid of rules. Anything goes: corn, asparagus, mayonnaise, white sauce, teriyaki chicken - you name it, they bake it.

Though still in their soft-opening, Strawberry Cones' menu is fairly slim. I started off with the teriyaki mochi chicken pizza ((S) $11) and finished with California walnut and raisin pizza ((S) $9.80) for dessert:

Speaking of weird, they sell a line of 'Ninja pizzas' with a gray-darkened crust made from bamboo charcoal (chikutan). It tastes great and stays out of your lungs. The other key ingredient in their pizza is rice flour, aka, mochi-ko, making for a chewier, sweeter crust.

On my next visit, I'm trying the Mochi Mentai Ninja, Avocado & Salmon, and Meat Paradise.

Strawberry Cones

227 W Valley Blvd. #118-B
San Gabriel, CA 91776

(626) 293-1852

Chantilly (Lomita; South Bay)

2009-10-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

Chantilly
2383 Lomita Blvd. #104
Lomita, CA 90717

In the News: Ajisen Ramen Comes to Century City Mall

2009-09-05T23:07:00.000-07:00

I just spotted this 'Under Construction' wall at Century City's Westfield mall this past week. Hit or fail? We shall see.

Japanese Candy

2009-07-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

(Double-click the photo for a description of all the snacks.)

One of the best things about having family in Japan is that when I send them a gift, they'll send something in return.

In this case, I sent them a pack of Trader Joe's lime and chili mixed nuts. Look at all the stuff I got! Now I feel bad so I'll probably send them something else in return. =P

Marked 5 (Abbot Kinney)

2009-07-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

Food trucks are swarming along Abbot Kinney like paparazzi at The Ivy. (Okay, so there were only 3 of them, but that's 3 more than last year.) For me, this sudden explosion of portable eateries had me blushing tonight at the realization that vehicles outnumbered customers. Though I was only here to check out one of them, Marked 5, a truck that serves rice-bun burgers nearly identical to those at MOS Burger, a popular Japanese fast-food joint. (Mountain Ocean Sun; not the green stuff)

My perpetual nostalgia for Japan has a tendency to send me on fact-finding missions like these, so I absolutely needed to know whether or not Marked 5's product not only looked the same but tasted the same.

Okay, so it didn't match up -- the biggest difference being these local burgers are large and cumbersome (great for most Americans!), whereas MOS rice burgers are dainty and bite-size (great for most Japanese!). Both are very saucy, though only one will take the time to grill the rice the way you like it (soft or extra crispy) especially on a slow Thursday evening.

I can only imagine this being the awkward pubescent years in the life of the food truck craze. Some will remain gawky, while others will blossom into something beautiful. Though for our sake, let's just hope they don't all turn into Korean-taco wannabes.

A Load of Vegetables

2009-07-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a way to support local farmers and get a box full of vegetables for only $15. Just go to this site to pay, then select a location close to you to pick up your box. Depending on what's coming out from the ground there's different items each week. My box included:

Zucchini
Long Neck Yellow Squash
Nice (Round) Squash
Scallop Squash
Blue Kale
Carrots
Red Beets
Green Cucumber
Armenian Cucumber
Red Potatoes
Okra
Tomatoes
Green Romain Lettuce

My personal challenge for this week is to cook each vegetable however it tastes best. Though if I get lazy I'll probably just make vegetable soup. =P

Flying Hotteok! (Koreatown)

2009-05-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

Congratulate me. I just stumbled upon the least talked about Korean roach-coach in Los Angeles. I've seen this yellow truck in Koreatown before and have heard whispers about "that stand that sells really good Korean pancakes" for years, but I only put two and two together after trying a hotteok in South Korea just recently. The crispy/fluffy bread combined with a gooey, black sugar filling got me dreaming about hiring my own hotteok peddler to follow me around all day.

I found the truck in front of a shopping center (of sorts), on Western Ave, just north of Wilshire. There was no Kogi-line to deal with -- which was fine to me --but it also meant that the pan-fried hotteoks were probably sitting around for a bit.

These are a lot flatter than the ones I had in Pusan (see pic below) which were over an inch thick, but they were just as flavorful. The ones in the motherland were also only 50 cents each, whereas these were $1.50. Still, I'm not going to complain. I'm just happy I can get hotteoks, period. Otherwise I'd have to fly back again real soon just to get my fix.

Flying Hotteok
808 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90005

Asia's Sweet and Savory

2009-05-20T23:04:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a quick trip to Japan and Korea. I had a lingering cold and I was coming from North America which meant I was stopped, questioned and had a thermometer stuck into me at every port of entry.

But once that was over I got to see my family and friends and enjoy all the food I so dearly missed. Bacon-wrapped mochi was a new one for me, but it works. Juicy, crispy, chewy.... more yakitori shops need to put it on the menu.

This honey toast was a homemade collaboration:

They charged a whopping $6 at the mall food-court, so we instead bought a 1/2 loaf at the next-door bakery, gutted and toasted it, then doused it with honey and ice cream. Results were pretty similar. It's really about how fresh of a loaf you can find.

Soy sauce-flavored Kit Kats, anyone? I've decided to start a Kit Kat collection. There's just way too many random flavors to pass up.

This is actually Cold Stone Creamery. I guess "MARVELOUS CREAM!" does sound better. I wonder what the nickname is...."Maba-kuri"?:

And now to the savory. This is a warm cup of chawan-mushi -- steamed egg-whites and dashi broth mixed with bits of chicken and vegetables. I thought it was quite pretty:

In Los Angeles, a 3-pack of natto will set you back $1.99. At this Japanese market it's 65 cents. Sigh:

Ever wanted to know where bamboo shoots come from? The GROUND!:

This was my first meal in Korea. My brother and I slipped into a random corner shop. The menu was completely in Korean, but that didn't deter me. The place was packed so I knew it either had to be good or cheap; It was both. I hand-signaled the waitress to give us of what the other guy was having. Out came a hot bowl of somen noodles in a very simple broth. I kept adding hot sauce and sweated out my cold:

Some street vendors may have fooled me with bland, meatless potstickers, but this cart was a gold mine for one of the tastiest desserts I've ever had. Hotteok is a fried pancake-donut filled with melted brown-sugar and chopped walnuts. Fluffy, golden, crispy. They can cook it upon order and it's less than a dollar:

This was in the middle of a busy shopping arcade. They're eating the same sort of somen soup I had earlier. Gotta love Asia. Down with sanitation codes! :

The sights and sounds of the Pusan's fish market:

VIDEO: Fun with Eggs

2009-04-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

Click here, if you use Internet Explorer.

Yes, it's been awhile since I last posted. Truth is, I just started a new job. In the TV business. It's all new territory for me, so I've been busy, studying up on the industry and showing my colleagues what a hard of a worker I am (Blood, sweat, tears, etc.). Thus, blogging has been moved to the back-burner.

But I love pouring out my thoughts, especially on the topic of gastronomy, and so as long as I have fingers and tastebuds I'm going to blog whenever I can. Just not as frequently as before. =(

A few weeks back, I got this cool gadget from Japan. It helps boil eggs into different shapes: hearts, diamonds, purple horseshoes... er, I mean, stars. It took a few tries to get the egg into shape, and it'd probably take a few months to really master it. It ain't no joke.

The theme song is by Chara, one of my favorite Japanese singers. =)

In other news...

Anyone interested in FREE KOGI BBQ??! They'll be at a powersliding (!!) event next week, April 15 from 3 to 5 pm at Santa Monica Pier. Check out the flyer here.

Umami Burger (Miracle Mile)

2009-03-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Triple Pork Burger with Hand-Cut Fries

"Umami." The word is like a mythical creature -- a unicorn -- that came about after some guy with bad eyesight saw a horse being chucked from a two-story building. Was that for real? Does it truly exist?!

The word does exist in Japanese, but I think we food purveyors Stateside have managed to blow the description into Loch Ness-size proportions. The fifth taste? For reals?

Real or not, the owners of Bottle Rock have done well melding this hip concept with a satisfyingly gourmet burger: a juicy patty layered with high-brow selections of cob-smoked bacon and aged manchego (Triple Pork Burger); Italian truffle cheese and truffle glaze (Truffle Burger); and grated artisan cheddar (Hi-End chili Burger). Embraced with fresh vegetables and a blissfully soft bun, it's a bargain at $8-$11 (Most are $8).

What you see both above and below is the Triple Pork Burger, highly recommended by the waiter who rushed to clear off a table for Mikey and I after a feet-numbing 45 minute wait. The place is tiny, probably fitting no more than two-dozen. My recommendation: Get there before 6 pm.

There's a selection of sides -- hand-cut fries, sweet potato chips, roasted garlic potato salad -- each presented in petite Japanese lady-size portions ($2-$3). The ketchup is homemade with hints of unique spices throughout, just like the burger.

I didn't have a mind-blowing epiphany after digging into this so-called fifth taste. Though I caused my left eyebrow to twitch a little, forgetting to breathe as I inhaled my dinner in record time. Umami, unicorns, leprechauns, I dunno. But it's definitely a tasty burger.

Triple Pork Burger with onion rings

relish, on the house

Umami Burger
850 S La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036

(323) 931-3000

Shin Okinawa Izakaya (Torrance)

2009-02-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

Considering the number of Okinawans living among the Japanese American population, you'd think a platter of sauted bitter-melon (aka, goya) would be served alongside teriyaki bowls here in Southern California. Yet only recently has Shin-Okinawa Izakaya hit Torrance's dining scene, dishing out a bountiful selection of crave-worthy comfort food like tempura-fried sweet potato, juicy chops of pork belly (rafutei), and a hot bowl of soba with sliced kamaboko (fish cakes).

Soki-soba

rafutei

tofu tsukune

I might've said this before and if I did then I really mean it this time: It's like you're in Japan when you're here, whether it be the flavor of the broth, the brush-stroked wall menu, or the bar-snack offerings of sliced pig's ear and monkfish liver (an kimo). I associate pickled squid and grilled innards with smelly-drunk businessmen, which is probably why I never touch the stuff, but every other Japanese person I know can't seem to get enough of it.

So for the rest of us there's all kinds of carb-heavy treats like Okinawa Soba, somen champuru (stir-fried vermicelli and vegetables), and for dessert, everyone's favorite Okinawan donut, sata andagi -- a fist-sized ball of sugary dough deep-fried until golden.

sata andagi

Arabiki pork sausages

Red Sweet Potato sticky balls

Like most izakayas, each plate runs between $5 to $8 at portions meant to accompany a mug of beer. Though it's also worth trying their selection of cocktails mixed with awamori, the island's poison of choice. Few places outside Japan serve stuff like this, so get it while you can.

Hiraya Chi (savory pancake)

Grilled pork sausages

Shin Okinawa Izakaya
1880 W. Carson Street Suite #A
Torrance, California, 90501
(310) 618-8357

VIDEO: Adventures with Takoyaki

2009-02-10T22:04:00.000-08:00

I found this candy pack at Mitsuwa market the other day. It's really weird.
It's made to look like a tray of takoyaki (panfried octopus balls), but is actually a gummy candy you make yourself. There's one glitch in this video. Can you find it?

In Other News...

Bento-ist AnnaTheRed is featured on Wired!
I'll have what she's having!: Japan approves cloned pigs and cattle for consumption.

Casa de Tree (Palms/Culver City)

2009-02-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Finally! You can have you vegan and enjoy it too.

I'm one of those types who detest vegan joints that make a livelihood out of plopping wakame onto an uninspiring bed of lettuce and sprouts. Unbeknownst to their customers, wakame -- a seaweed high in calcium and healthy fatty acids -- is dumbfoundingly affordable; certainly not worth a $10 charge if all they do is give you a corn fork for it.

That's why I applaud Case de Tree for opening a quaint Westside branch for their Japanese-inspired vegan dishes. They offer a handful of sandwiches, pastries (An pan and curry bread!) and soy drinks, but their pay-by-the-pound buffet is really the main event. Tofu and tempeh are substitutes in meat dishes like panfried gyoza and 'chili'. Gingerly salted and peppered, they stave off that carnal urge to run to the nearest In-N-Out. Temporarily at least. =P

The pasta salad conjured up the good 'ol days living in Japan. Though I'm sure they substituted Kewpie mayo for something else. And the daikon fries were excellent. Definitely one of those, "What the heck? I can easily make this at home!" dishes, but then again do you really want to deal with the oily mess?

By nature, Japanese food is prepared without dairy products, or at least with ingredients which can easily be substituted for vegan products without subtracting from taste. I really hope more health-conscious people find this place so that they'll know that vegan really can be an enjoyable experience.

Casa de Tree
3741 Motor Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
http://www.casadetree.com/

===

In Other News

There's other ways to eat wakame.

Bento: My Second Attempt

2009-02-02T23:36:00.000-08:00

My friend built me a new computer so in gratitude I made him a bento. AnnatheRed inspired my modest creations. Her blog goes into detail on how to make each component, though instead of cheese I stuck with white kamaboko.

I learned how to make the chickadees from her, as well as the makkurokurosuke (dust bunny), and the mini-totoro. Oh, and the big Totoro, too. =P

The chickens are mourning the loss of the poached egg. Underneath is a mound of oyakodon mixture.

AnnatheRed is an amazingly prolific blogger. She makes bento-making look easy, but believe me it'll suck your life away if you let it. These two boxes alone took 3 hours from start to finish. Totoro's mouth refused to cooperate, and the meatballs I cooked had mysterious slipped off the stove and onto the ground. By the end, I was deliriously gnawing on a sheet of roasted seaweed.

If I should ever make you a bento, consider yourself special.

-------

In Other News:

Did anyone check out the going-out-of-business sale at Famima's WehHo branch?

My first attempt at a bento.

And now a word from Evan Kleiman...

2009-02-01T01:32:00.000-08:00

Subscribe: KCRW.com/join
Or Call: 1-800-600-KCRW

Phoenix (San Gabriel Valley)

2009-01-26T23:14:00.000-08:00

(taro, warm coconut milk, and black rice)

It's getting chilly again in Los Angeles. The last time it felt like winter, I began frequenting a lil dessert shop called Phoenix where they sell hot, soupy desserts with bits of soft taro, red bean and an intriguing 'forbidden black rice' ($2.50). It's mildly sweet and soothes the tummy nicely after a greasy Chinese dinner. Frankly, I've turned into an addict. Dare I say, it's my new Pinkberry. Though I'll probably get flack from people who'll claim their Chinatown grandma makes better. Unfortunately, my grandma only bakes tofu pie, so soupy dessert is new territory for me.

Phoenix carries an arsenal of other Asian desserts including mango-soy custard, mochi balls, almond jello, milk tea -- each for only a couple dollars. When economic times calls for a strict tightening of the belt I'll be happy to do my part with these unassuming edibles.

Phoenix

31 E. Valley Blvd.

Alhambra, CA 91801

(626) 284-2388

and

712 W. Las Tunas Dr.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

626-289-9888

Final Sale @ Mitsuwa Little Tokyo

2009-01-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a buying frenzy this week at Little Tokyo's Mitsuwa market with modest markdowns on selected items like candy, fruits and instant ramen. They're closing for good on Jan. 25 -- or maybe not?? One thing for sure, the three-floor shopping center has a new owner and many of the long-empty storefronts are now displaying brightly colored "LEASED" signs.

Starting Monday, Jan. 19, Mitsuwa's sale jumps to 50% on all items storewide. (It's gonna get crazy.) Walking up and down the aisles this week, I couldn't help but notice all the unfamiliar faces. Not that I'm a regular, but whenever I'm there -- once a month or so -- I see only Japanese ex-pat moms, packs of anime geeks or feeble grandmas. Seeing all the new people made me think, "Where've you been all this time?" I mean, maybe they really didn't know this place existed until they read about its closing in the LA Times ...ya think?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

Japanese people aren't religious folks but come New Years we put our faith in the auspicious snapper fish, also known as tai. Reason being, "O-me-de-tai" means "happy occasion," and since the tai is in there you're supposed celebrate happy days with a snapper. Umm yeah, it's a stretch; undoubtedly some Tsukiji fishermonger was looking to make a sale.

So there's the real fish and then there's the red bean cake shaped like a fish. It's called a tai-yaki and I found them grilling on a hot plate in San Francisco's J-town over my New Years vacation. It being the first time I'd been to the Norcal neighborhood I found the area charmingly old school with bits of nouveau Japanese flair. Next door was a crepe shop run by husky Japanese men I could've sworn I saw in a yakuza movie. Across the way was a store that sold nothing but car air fresheners.

On New Years eve, Mifune was my best option for carrying out those other deeply ingrained traditions. I had a hot bowl of soba (eat it and you'll live forever, I swear) topped with chicken and egg flower.
I sped back home on New Years day because my grannies were preparing a feast. Without me, it would've been just them and enough food to feed an entire nursing home, so I got there as fast as I could. Here was the menu:

The auspicious inari sushi...

the auspicious seki-han...

the questionably auspicious oden...

the somewhat auspicious but very obligatory plate of kamaboko,
sweet egg cake, yokan, shrimp and boiled vegetables...

a hot pot of healthy goodness...

...and the Super highly auspicious and very delicious snapper fish.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!

-----

In other news...

Mitsuwa in Little Tokyo is closing Jan. 25 ;;

Merry Christmas Cake!

2008-12-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

I bought this one at Nijiya for $21. Even though they take pre-orders, there's always a bunch still sitting in the fridge come Christmas day. It wasn't bad, but I know I can bake a cake far more moist. So I removed the decorations and stashed them into my kitchen drawer. Next year: homemade Christmas cake!!!! *\(~^o^~)/

Harry's Cafe (Gardena)

2008-12-17T22:40:00.000-08:00

All this can be yours for $7.50. It's the whopping Jr.-size version of Harry's Mixed Plate: fried chicken, char siu pork, tender spare ribs and fried wonton over a bed of white rice and accompanied by a scoop of macaroni salad; flavorful, juicy and not too greasy like your some of your other Hawaiian food chains.

Seems this hole-in-the-wall joint recently opened. Before it was The Loft. Before that it was the beloved Harry's Aloha Chop Suey Cafe. I can only assume it's the same Harry, coming out of retirement.

~~Comfort food at its best~~

Harry's Cafe
1721 W. Redondo Beach Blvd.
Gardena, CA 90247
(310) 324-4231

Open daily 11 am to 8 pm

Osteria Mozza (Los Angeles)

2008-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ricotta cheese, tampenade and basil on a crostini - complements of the chef

Thankfully, this is as decadent as it gets for me; a late-night supper with my three girlfriends at Osteria Mozza. A few appetizers, salad, pasta and dessert came out to just over 40 bucks. Not bad for a Michelin-approved hot spot.

For each of our birthdays we have a tradition of getting dolled up and having a fancy dinner at a restaurant of the lucky girl's choice. Though somehow this year we forgot we had aged and before we knew it December had arrived without a celebration on record. So what to do? Pummel ourselves further into debt with a whirlwind round of high-dining? Naw. We decided on the most practical thing; choose one place and go dutch.

Butter Lettuce with hazelnuts, bacon, gorgonzola dolce & concord grapes $14

Our reservation was on a Friday night at 9:45 pm. It was either that or at 6 pm when two of us would still be in rush-hour traffic (The other would be in naptime). Once we arrived it took another 15 minutes for a table to open up. Even at 10:30 pm the place was still packed as our humble waiter kept scurrying to each party, apologizing for every minor delay. These past few months I've seen bustling LA eateries transform into post-apocalyptic backdrops. Osteria Mozza is a testament that if you cater to the right crowd you'll be just fine.

(Above) The gorgonzola was mild and sinfully creamy. Along with the crisp hazelnuts and lettuce, it was a nice way to start off our meal.

Burrata with bacon & grilled asparagus $15

A friend of mine says that burrata is the poor man's mozarella. If that's the case, I'll take it any day.

Garganelli with ragú Bolognese $18

This pasta is similar to penne, only a little bigger and thinner. In this town, it's a treat to come across homemade pasta -- kinda like finding a quarter in the backseat of your car. The bolognese sauce was good but I've had better in New York. If anyone can point me to the best bolognese in LA, please let me know.

Maccheroni alla Chitarra with guanciale, tomato & spicy pickled peppers $17

Fresh Ricotta & Egg Raviolo with browned butter $18

If you like things on the slightly heavy, get this. It won't disappoint.

Rosemary Olive Oil Cakes
with olive oil gelato & rosemary brittle $11

Good things come in dainty packages.

Osteria Mozza

6602 Melrose Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90038

(323) 297-0100

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In Other News...

For one month two California teachers decided to eat off just a dollar a day, just for the heck of it.

Read how they did it.

(hint: lots of oatmeal)

6x6x6 photo tag

2008-12-08T18:33:00.001-08:00

Okay, I was just tagged by my friend and an AMAZING MUSICIAN Paul Dateh, whose first album comes out next month. I was told to post the 6th photo on the 6th page of my flickr account. I only have three pages so I've decided to just post my 6th photo. It's of my nephew in Japan (the non-breaded side of the family). Isn't he cute~~!?

I'll personally inform the people I tag.

Over and out.

Kogi BBQ taco truck (Westwood, Hollywood and beyond)

2008-12-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

I heard something interesting today from an entrepreneurial guru. He said that although the national economy may be in shambles, Silicon Valley isn't going down with it. That's because innovation is the entrepreneur's strong suit. They roll with the punches far better than the big three in Michigan, and besides that, they're attuned to what people want.

So when I caught word that a taco truck was going around the town packing Korean BBQ meat into tortillas and keeping customers in tow via Twitter, I thought, cool. That's entrepreneurship for you. It's a brilliant use of new media; letting people know things like your exact location ("Running a bit late. Be at UCLA by 8:30"), what the day's specials are ("sesame leaf vegan taco with asian pear and pomegranite"), and simply maintaining an open flow of communication with customers ("Thanks for waiting, The line was crazy last night!") Check out their Twitters here.

I tried each of the five tacos a la Korea available tonight: 1) short rib, 2) spicy pork, 3) chicken, 4) tofu, and 5) their special vegan mix wrapped in a sesame leaf the size of a large man's hand. At $2 a pop, they made for a tasty and unbelievably filling meal. My favorite was the spicy pork which got me a little sniffly (though I'm weak-sauce). They all run on the tangy-saucy side with the chicken being a tad sweet, but on a cold night out of a Hollywood club I can't imagine anything better than this.

special of the day: Vegan taco

One thing not listed on the menu is their Korean BBQ slider. Didn't try it but it's definitely on my list for next time.

In the News:

Jonathan Gold's take on the Kogi craze here.

Las Islas Marias (Los Angeles)

2008-11-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

Ceviche ($13.99) is a great way to cleanse the palate after a hearty Thanksgiving feast. You have your lime-cooked seafood tossed with chopped tomatoes and cucumbers. Scoop it up with pieces of tostada, sprinkle over some hot sauce and you're good to go.

A large bowl of campachana ($10.50) is equally refreshing.

And when you're craving more spice, you can sink your teeth into a bowl of seafood, molcajete cora ($20). It's comes with crab legs, shrimp, oysters, clams, abalone and other delicacies of the sea. Oooh yeah~!
And when you're craving something fried, you can get the shrimp empanadas ($7.50).

The great thing about this place is that you feel like you're eating in someone's backyard patio. They even have a mariachi band to keep you company.

Las Islas Marias
6401 S. San Pedro St.
LA, CA 90003
(323) 753-7367

---

Wanna see how my turkey came out this year? Looky here.

OMIYAGE: Hakata Torimon

2008-11-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

This package comes from Kyushu, Japan. It's filled with chestnut paste, which is typically very dry. But this paste is blended with milk, giving it a velvety texture. I loved it.

PRESS PREVIEW: Fulfilled (Beverly Hills)

2008-11-06T01:00:00.000-08:00

In the afterglow of Tuesday's election results, I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about life. I may have unpaid bills and a career in a dying industry, but the promise of getting there ("there" being that nebulous state of fulfillment) seemed more certain – so as long as I put in the effort. "If Obama could do it, so can I." That's my new mantra.

Tonight I looked to Susumu Tsuchihashi for further inspiration. He's the owner of the newly-opened imagawayaki shop Fulfilled. Full disclosure: He's from the same WLA community I grew up in. So I'd heard a lot of second-hand stories from friends about his endeavor to get this place open. He quit his job, sold his condo and began traveling to and from Japan to research everything that goes into making one of the country's most cherished pastries. In this economy, most people wouldn't dare let go of their boring-but-heck-it-pays-the-bills job. But for Susumu, food being his passion, life is too short to play it safe.

Imagawayaki is a pancake-like treat traditionally filled with warm anko (sweet red beans). Susumu adds modern variations like banana and Nutella; Ghirardelli chocolate, toffee, crunchy peanut butter (seen above); prosciutto di parma, smoke ham, aged parmesan, fresh basil (seen in the top photo); chicken apple sausage, pepper jack cheese, green chili, cilantro; and others. I definitely preferred the sweet over the savory, particularly the 'Nutty Buddha' chocolate-toffee-peanut butter trio. The 'Sumo Italiano' ham-cheese-basil combo was tasty, too. If only there was a way to stuff in more of it.

I hope the best for Fulfilled, which officially opens this Saturday. It may be the fledgling newcomer among its more established 90210 neighbors – but with steady effort and commitment I know it'll turn into something grand.

Fulfilled
9405 S. Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 562-4339

Tempura House (WLA)

2008-11-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

Voting went without a hitch today. At 9 am, I was in and out in 15 minutes and even had time to pick up a bento lunch at Tempura House across from the polling station. Unlike the Japanese market assortment, this bento had a far more motherly touch with a handful of vegetables (kiriboshi daikon, tsukemono, tofu, carrot, edamame), fried fish, tamagoyaki (rolled omelet), kamaboko (fish cake), and a tiny bit of menchi katsu (minced meat cake). All this and a pack of rice for $5.50.

Afterward, I went to collect on Election Day freebies. Unfortunately, Pink Taco didn't open 'til 11:30 am. The lady behind the desk said the '3 tacos and tequila shot' was a dine-in only deal, so I've decided to return later in the evening. Ben & Jerry's doesn't start serving free scoops until 5 pm. Though I may have to skip out on that one considering I'm still lactose intolerant.

If you still haven't voted... well, you must have your reasons.

If you did vote, have fun collecting on your free coffee, doughnut, Edison ale, ice cream, sex toys, etc.

Ooh I love democracy.

Tempura House
1816 Sawtelle Blvd.
LA, CA 90025
(310) 479-5989

Lunch at Ford's Filling Station (Culver City)

2008-10-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Goldilocks was onto something when she went around tasting the porridge of those three bears. One was too hot. One was too cold. One was just right. The lesson to be learned – aside from it not being cool to break into people’s homes – is that what works for some may not work for others.

For my grandma, she’s daunted by huge pieces of food set before her at your average American restaurant. She’s a tiny one, standing well below 5 feet tall in her inch-high orthopedic shoes. And she has a stomach to match. My stomach doesn’t hold much more.

So when she wanted a hamburger for lunch last Sunday I guess it was a misstep to take her to Ford’s Filling Station where portions run big. Lack of conversation let on her bewilderment as she quietly took a knife to her meal, cutting it into quarters and then eighths. She forked half over to me and Mikey. It was a passable burger for the most part – a hand-ground organic chuck smothered with blue cheese and caramelized onions – but it belonged on the plate of Papa Bear, not Baby Bear.

Down the street, the slab of meat and bun at Father’s Office is just as brawny, but mouthwateringly-juicy thanks to its dry-aged beef. The Gruyere, blue cheese and caramelized onions meld with the meat, making for a smooth, velvety burger. S. Irene Virbila isn’t a fan for that reason. I can’t get enough of it ($12; $4 cheaper than Ford’s).

We also tried the skirt steak sandwich – dressed with horseradish aioli and fried shallots – and a grilled eggplant sandwich with buratta cheese, leeks, peppers and pesto.

Blame my grinded-down molars but the steak's unrelenting nature kept me chewing and chewing (hmm, could I be as old as my grandma?). Again, a meal for Papa Bear. The eggplant was far more delicate and accompanied with a tasty red potato salad; Baby Bear for sure.

If I had a chance to offer Mr. Ford words of advice I'd tell him to change nothing. There's plenty of Papa Bears in this town. Enough to stay in business at least.

Ford's Filling Station
9531 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, CA
(310) 202-1470

A Sumo-style meal

2008-10-24T16:01:00.001-07:00

Photo by Chris Steele

Readers Digest online had this picture of a sumo wrestler preparing breakfast for the rest of the stable. The dish is called Chanko Nabe. From left to right, there's sliced onions, udon noodles, enoki and shimeji mushrooms, chives and napa cabbage. I'm assuming the darker meat is sliced pork and the lighter meat is chicken. Sumo wrestlers are known for fattening up with this meal, not because it's especially fattening but because they eat several dozen bowls in one sitting.

I made this photo my desktop wallpaper. It perpetually makes my stomach rumble.

OMIYAGE VIDEO: Okaki by Akasaka Kakiyama

2008-10-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

This one just arrived from Tokyo. It's a set of high-end okaki (rice crackers) by A kasaka Kakiyama. You gotta admire the craftsmanship -- particularly how they nest a single almond perfectly in the center of a beautifully textured cracker. The shimmery wrapper makes it regal ...though maybe not particularly friendly to the environment. =P

Missing persons board:
Korean taco person? Please email me. pirikara at gmail. thanks! =)

Free Sushi at Food Network Taping

2008-10-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

Food Network is looking for audience members for the taping of a new show called "Raw Talent." It'll feature a well-known sushi chef in Los Angeles. Free sushi. Adults and children are welcome.

Here's the info:
When: Thursday, October 23, 12:45 pm
Where:
Korean Bell of Friendship and Bell Pavilion
Angels Gate Park
3601 S Gaffey Street
San Pedro, CA 90731

RSVP to Jessica at: RawTalent08@gmail.com

Tell me how it goes if anyone ends up participating.
Unfortunately, I have to work that day.

CHEAP EATS: Dac Biet Fast Food (Chinatown)

2008-10-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Back in my college days on the Westside, us poor students would line up around the corner for $1.50 subs. They were stuffed with your choice of mid-grade meat, iceberg lettuce and thickly-sliced cucumbers. They doused it with a squeeze bottle of Smart & Final's finest Italian dressing and handed it to you in a white paper bag. It was the most fulfilling meal six quarters could afford. Sigh. That was 1999.

In 2008, the only thing that comes close to feeding my nostalgia is a Vietnamese sandwich, aka banh mi. It's a foot-long baguette packed with charcuterie, julienned vegetables (pickled Asian-style with vinegar and sugar) and fresh sprigs of cilantro. A smear mayo and liver pate gives it that extra oomph.

I got my shredded chicken sandwich for $2.75 in Chinatown, at a little shop you're sure to miss unless you happen to be shopping at the market next door, Ai Hoa. You'll undoubtedly find fresher bread at Lee's Sandwiches across town, and by that demerit alone it may never gain the banh mi enthusiast's nod of approval. But for the Westsider that I am, Chinatown is just a stone's throw away. These days, I'd be lucky to get to Little Saigon and back on a single tank of gas.

I'm fully aware of the newly established banh mi shop just west of the 405, but frankly, the offerings there just don't capture the essence of a decent Asian sandwich. Subtle flavors is key. An overweight tub of teriyaki sauce is not.

Dac Biet Fast Food
(aka, Rainbow Bakery; next to Ai Hoa market)
860 N Hill St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

VIDEO: How to Eat Natto

2008-10-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

So as long as this economic downturn maintains a debilitating grip on my wallet I'll continue to turn out these entertainingly low-budget videos. These days, my meal of choice is a hot bowl of rice, a pack of natto (fermented soy beans) and a raw quail egg. It's what some Japanese think of as comfort food, though, after a casual whiff, others will beg to differ.

To combat those natto foes, I've made it a goal to spread my love for the fermented soy bean. Stinky it may be, but after a few bites you too will be webbed in. It's typically eaten over rice for breakfast alongside a bowl of miso soup. But I can have it any time, any place. I would eat them in a boat. I would eat them with a goat. I will eat them in the rain. I will even eat them on a train.

Nijiya, Mitsuwa, Marukai and other local Japanese markets each carry a half-dozen exciting varieties, so in the coming months I'll be posting a profile of each on my sister site nattobeans.com

VIDEO: How Jonathan Gold Got His Start

2008-10-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, our very own Rameniac shared a table with food critic Jonathan Gold at the West Hollywood Book Fair; not for dinner but for a lively panel discussion on what keeps them writing. They were joined by Marilyn Friedman of Writing Pad, SNL's Laraine Newman and "Good Food" host Evan Kleiman, a woman I've come to think of as the James Lipton of gastronomy.

Little did I know, Jonathan Gold started out years ago as LA Weekly's resident music critic. One day his editor threw him a restaurant assignment and, well, the rest is history:

Listening to JG that day made me realize he was probably raised by people who convinced him food writing wasn't a "real job." And so despite a Pulitzer, he seems to marvel at how he can spend a career writing about Chinese beef rolls and oysters -- and still be taken seriously.

Print and online media made amends when Mr. Gold paid the Rameniac a compliment during the discussion, saying that the noodle king was in his thoughts during a ramen write-up for the upcoming "Best of" issue. Aww~ there wasn't a dry eye in the audience.

JG also gave his two-cents on the food-blogging world, rolling out my favorite quote of the day:

“The problem with a lot of online writing is that you’re getting the shitty first draft.”

For sure, the furst draft tends to be the most pasionate, but b/c it goes unedited it might not make cents to others the way it makes cents to you. But then again, that's what I love about online writing. It's a free-flow of brain farts.

Though, so as long as I do have at least one person in the audience (still trying for two), I'll do my best to turn out some decent writing. A notch above mediocre, at least.

“The discipline of being a writer doesn’t go away just because you call what you’re writing on a ‘blog’,” so says Mr. Gold.

===

In case you missed it, here's some of his other quotes:

"When you can write about food you can write about anything in the world, and you can bring anything into it.”

After he started writing Counter Intelligence in the LA Weekly:

“It was sorta my ticket to a lot of things. One, I thought it was a complete scam rather than a career. The idea of not only being able to go to restaurants but to take all your friends out to really cool meals and have somebody else pay for it, that was the greatest thing in the world.”

VIDEO: How to Make Mochi!

2008-09-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

I recently visited Little Tokyo's oldest mochi shop, Fugetsudo. Third-generation owner Brian Kito showed us how to make suama, a multi-colored sweet made of mochi flour. I was impressed by his deft kneading skills, and when it came time for me to try my hand at it I realized I was all thumbs. =/

The 105-year old shop also makes traditional sweets like kuzu mochi, kuri manju, my most favorite ohagi, as well as modern creations like peanut butter mochi. Most cost no more than a dollar each!

More pics here on flickr.

Fugetsudo
315 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 625-8595

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In other news:

Those white rabbit candies may be toxic.
The wait for Vietnamese Cajun crayfish will now be longer. woohoo~

How to Make a Bento!

2008-09-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

I attempted my first ultra cute! bento box yesterday. I used quail eggs and kurobuta sausages, fashioning their eyes with roasted seaweed cut with a craft paper puncher. The green beans are seasoned with grounded sesame seeds, sugar and soy sauce (goma ae).

It took an amazingly tedious 45 minutes to finish what you see above (plus two rice balls):

I brought it to work today and was the envy of the office. Then I scarfed it down. Don't know if I'll ever do it again, but if I do it means I must really, really like the person I'm giving it to. ^^

Here are more cute bento lunches I found on flickr. I commend their efforts to please their boyfriends.

By the way, this will be tomorrow's 'leftovers' lunch:

Japan 2008: Aichi, Gifu and Tokyo

2008-09-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hey kids! It's that time of the year when I post pics of my recent Japan travels. I just got back yesterday and jet lag has warped my head. I couldn't sleep 'til 5 am last night so I instead took time to upload my photos. On this trip, I went to Aichi and Gifu prefecture as well as Tokyo. My goal was to stick to healthy meals...

My first dinner in Nagoya was very much that. Most everything you see is boiled. Hijiki is sauteed lightly in oil but it's high in nutrients so you can't go wrong. In my ideal world, I'd have a Japanese mom cook all these dishes for me every day along with a hot pot of rice. It's all so good.

Nagoya had a dance festival last week so all the outdoor stalls (yatai) were set up to feed the tens of thousands of tourists. On the left, it's grilled squid and other squid parts basted in sweet soy sauce.

While in the sticks of Gifu prefecture I happened upon a stand offering fresh vegetables at $1 a bag. Here you see (from left) red potatoes, pumpkins, eggplants, bitter melon, cucumbers, shiso and peppers. If only I had a kitchen at the time.

Beef is a regional specialty in central Japan (Hida). So when in Hida, eat like the Hidans:

Peppered beef skewer...

sliced beef cooked in a leaf...

...and a tender slab of steak. Good lord. Diet postponed.

Grilled mochi on a stick makes for an excellent post-lunch snack.

Now off to Tokyo...

I found this cake shop in the basement of Takashimaya in Shinjuku:

The glass display case wraps all the way around and what you do is grab a clip board (on the left) and check off each item you want. There must have been over 100 cakes all priced at around $5 each. I was jealous of the ladies buying for their family cause at least they'd have the opportunity to sample each one.

We have Qoo here in Los Angeles, but I'd never seen mango-orange flavor. Very tasty.

Whenever I'm in Tokyo, I can never seem to evade the luring scent of Jangara Ramen. Truthfully, the place inside stinks like something nasty because they spend hours (if not days) simmering their special pork-bone broth. I'm hardly a ramen fan, but with that said Jangara Ramen is an amazing bowl of noodles. The broth is rich, flavorful and topped with so many ingredients -- boiled egg, thick cuts of stewed pork, bamboo shoots, red ginger, scallions, spicy cod roe -- that you couldn't possibly get bored. Though, healthy it is not.

If you're a Japanese candy fiend like me, you'll know that most candy from Japan is now stocked at your Los Angeles Asian market. I double dare you to find something in Japan that you can't find here.

KitKat is the rare exception. If you look hard you can find unique flavors like this one, Matcha Tea. Sadly, I only had enough money to buy two. It was the last purchase of my trip, so I made sure I took a picture of it before passing it along to friends.

Already looking forward to 2009...

Chabuya (Sawtelle)

2008-08-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've been AFB (away from blog) recently because it's that time of year when I'm too miserly to eat out. The same feeling came around last February after which I dared myself to live off a pot of curry for an entire week. The sense of accomplishment is tremendous.

This year, I'm not nearly as ambitious. It's easier to just have grandma treat me to lunch on her Social Security check, which she did last weekend. We sat down for a mid-afternoon meal at Chabuya along Sawtelle Blvd. She had the chicken donburi (rice bowl) and I the tsukemen, a version of ramen where the noodles and broth are separated.

Since opening a couple years back, the Japanese noodle chain has noticeably beefed up their menu. They initially christened their dining tables with only their signature ramen, but when that didn't seem to win customers' hearts they branched out to things like donburi and Vietnamese sandwiches. It was a smart move considering Americans enjoy a menu with variety.

In celebration of summer, Chabuya is currently serving an assortment of cold dishes topped with generous portions of vegetables and meat. The sugary shoyu sauce comes in a separate cup and you pour it over the noodles to your liking.

***WARNING ***JAPANESE CULTURAL TIP BELOW *** **WARNING **

Tsukemen, on the other hand (see photo above), is a completely different dish. It's eaten by dipping a few strands of noodles at a time into the warm broth, a dense version of that of ramen. I watched in horror the girl next to me pouring broth into her plate. Although the results weren't cataclysmic, I still wouldn't do it. The broth is at perfect concentration while in the cup. Pouring it onto the noodles would dilute the taste.

Cold noodle portions are generous at Chabuya. The broth is richly tasty and the bigger-than-bite-size toppings will keep you full 'til dinner. It may not be the best meal you'll ever have, but for $8 I'd say it's nicely satisfying. Thanks again, Grandma!

OMIYAGE #4: Dorayaki

2008-08-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Slap two little pancakes together around a scoop of sweet bean paste and you'll have this traditional Japanese favorite, dorayaki. This particular one is decorated with a dried and salted cherry blossom flower, and the pancake is steamed so that it's nice and fluffy. You'll find them at a store in Setagaya, Tokyo for $2 a piece:

Check out more sweets from Japan HERE.

Japadog (Vancouver)

2008-07-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

I was meandering through Flickr today when I came across this little photo gem. It's the menu at a hot dog stand in Canada called "JAPADOG"!! haha, gotta love the Japa-style.

You really have to look carefully to appreciate this one:

Teriyaki sauce and mayo? Grated daikon radish and soy sauce? Miso paste and mayo? And the dogs are made with juicy kurobuta (black pork). I don't know about you but I'm hungry. Check out their site cause it gets even better.

(Thanks Zyork!)

Spitz - Home of the Doner Kebab (Little Tokyo)

2008-07-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

I found this storefront today in Little Tokyo. Back when I was living in Big Tokyo, I used to buy doner kebab all the time from these Middle Eastern dudes selling them from makeshift stands throughout town. They slice the meat from a rotating spit and stuff it in a pita with lettuce and onions. It was a very cost-efficient meal, especially for the starving student that I was. So this was today's cool discovery.

But what struck me more than the new storefront was the fact that they adorned it with this oddity:

No disrespect to Conchita 666, Elizabeth P and the other random dude they quoted, but how can a place toot its own horn with praises by people with as much credibility as Joe Schmo? Granted, if I found my name on that banner in place of a big-name critic I'd be glowing right now. But I'd still expect a heavy load of flogging to come my way. After all, who am I but a person who knows how to upload photos and text on the internet?

The fine line between us (bloggers, Yelpers, etc) and them (the salaried critic) is that the latter is bound by journalism code of ethic. For example, if you're invited to a restaurant offering free food and drinks, you do not return to your writing tablet with rave reviews. Of course you had a splendid time. That was the point. The entire event was a bribe; a temporary bias in favor of the restaurant. If you must do a write-up, at least disclose the nature of the event. In other words, state that it was a big freebie extravaganza.

As for us, we have no prescribed code of ethic. To each his own.

Mind you, food bloggers have risen to rock star status these past couple years and it's neat being part of it. Just last week at 8 oz. Burger, I noticed the manager was unusually attentive to Mikey and me. My fat Canon was sitting on the table and the manager offered to take a picture. I mumbled under my breathe, almost apologetically, that I was a blogger, and he responded with a smile that said, "No shit, Sherlock." (Mental note: Be more discreet.) He then offered us not one, but TWO saucers of homemade ketchup. (Score~!)

As responsible food blogging citizens (Yelpers included), I think it's important to be aware of these biases before we generously unload our self-righteous opinions, whether good or bad, onto the universe. But until that awareness comes; until a bloggers' code of ethic emerges, I don't think most of us are worthy of our words being placed on a nice, silky banner. Frankly, it's a little embarrassing.

That said, I look forward to eating doner kebab. Incognito.

8 oz. Burger (Melrose)

2008-07-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

I've spent the past week eating that hearty miso soup I talked about earlier. It's my new diet of sorts. But with any tasty broth you're good for an hour until your stomach begs for more. "Meat!" it screamed tonight. That's what led me and Mikey to 8 oz. Burger, the new joint on Melrose Avenue by chef Govind Armstrong. Three days have passed since its opening and Armstrong just so happened to be enjoying a drink at the table next to us. With his chair facing the door, he undoubtedly had an eye on people walking in.

Mikey was the one to notice him but only later put a name to the face. If only I had known, I would've been more discreet about doing away with the top of my grass-fed burger -- eating the rest with a fork and knife.

Don't get me wrong, Armstrong has a good thing going here. As he envisioned, it's a great meal without the pretense. The patty was juicy, the onion rings, though scarce, were nicely battered, and the Kennebec fries were amazing. (Go ahead and splurge on the homemade ketchup for $1. It's worth it.). It's just that darn bun, over-sized and over-toasted, was trying to steal everyone's thunder. Mikey didn't mind, though. He rather liked it.

The burger comes medium-rare, i.e., pretty darn red, so be sure to request that it be cooked longer if you're like me with raw-meat issues. For the more faint-hearted, they also have a turkey and veggie burger options. All burgers are between $9-$11 but are fairly basic. Extra toppings — red onion marmalade, garlic roasted tomatoes, avocado, wild baby arugula and more — are $2 each.

I'd second the motion with CH-ers in speculating that as unpolished as things may seem here in these first few weeks, they'll eventually work things out. I'm rooting for them.

Onion rings; crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.

Grass-fed beef burger with cured bacon, sauteed mushrooms and gruyere cheese.

8 Oz. Burger Bar
7661 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 852-0008

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Their menu, courtesy of EaterLa.

Japanese Comfort Food

2008-07-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a four-day bachelorette party in Vegas. Martinis aside, I consumed enough cheese, cow and deep-fried snacks to feed a schoolyard.

My stomach isn't built to go longer than 3 days without some sort of Asian-y eats. So in a last-ditch effort to keep me in check, it starts shooting fire balls through my intestine. Luckily on the fourth day, the girlfriends and I stumbled upon the best noodle joint on the Strip. It's on the ground floor of the Venetian and has a good selection of your favorite Chinese dishes. Never mind that it's twice what you'd pay in Monterey Park. I recommend their chicken congee ($9.50), a.k.a. oka-yu . For the first time the entire weekend, something sat well.

Once I got back to LA, I had a mad craving for a tonjiru, which is a hearty version of miso soup. It's one of those Japanese comfort foods that makes you feel everything is right in the world.

Here's how you make it:

Round up any or all of the following: carrots, gobo (burdock root), enoki mushrooms, daikon, konnyaku, tofu, and (most importantly) thinly sliced pork. The fattier the better.

Slice the vegetables into strips then stir-fry with the pork until lightly golden. Then in the same pot add two cups of water. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Add a pinch of dashi powder and spoon in about two tablespoons of red miso paste. Stir and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Believe me, the longer it sits on the stove the better. When I was living in Japan, during wintertime I'd keep a pot of tonjiru on the stove for days, though mainly cause the kitchen was colder than the fridge. =P I'm tempted to do the same thing here, 'cept it might grow its own vegetable patch after a while. Yikes!

How to Aerate Wine

2008-07-02T22:13:00.001-07:00

I went down to Tijuana last night for cheap booze and loose men. Though all I found was a great restaurant for Baja California cuisine. By recommendation, I ordered a Pinot Noir by Monte Xanic. Then the waiter came out and put on a show for me. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of show that required dollar bills, but it was just as fun:

VIDEO: Pocky and Friends

2008-06-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

I made a fan-vid for Pocky and other sweets I found at the local Asian markets. Here's a list of what's featured:

1) [Pocky] Brazilian Pudding
2) [Marble Pocky] Mild & Bitter
3) [Marble Pocky] Rum Raisin
4) [Pretz] Mild Cheese / Sharp Cheese
5) [Kabaya] Kagoshima Sweet Potato pretzel
6) [Koeda] Evening Time, Brandy & Cacao
7) [Pocky] Super Thin
8) [Pretz] Sharp Cheese
9) [Fran] Winter Premium, White Chocolate with Macadamia Nuts
10) [Pocky] Blueberry (with fruit bits)
11) [Fran] Matcha Green Tea
12) F Cup Cookie (to increase your bust size)
13) [Pretz] Bakery Flat Style with Bacon and Cheese flavor
14) [Fran] Banana and Milk
15) [Koeda] Morning Time with Blueberry, Yogurt and Cornflake
16) Original Pocky!!

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In Other News...

Looking for a professional TV chef to cook in your kitchen? Look here.
It's another sweltering day at work in Los Angeles and you want lunch delivered to you. Well here you go .

OMIYAGE: Monaka

2008-06-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

This is a mini version of a classic Japanese sweet filled with red bean paste and sandwiched between thin mochi wafers. This particular one hails from Sendai City, but you can find them most anywhere in Japan.

Check out a Japanese sesame egg HERE.

Gonpachi 1st Year Anniversary Party

2008-06-06T11:48:00.000-07:00

I got a last-minute invite to Gonpachi's 1st anniversary party. Food poured out buffet-style with sushi, sashimi, soba, and grilled skewers of shrimp, beef and tsukune (ground chicken). They earned bonus points with the hijiki (the black mass) stir-fried with edamame and atsuage (fried tofu), and the soy sauce-sweetened gobo and renkon (burdock and lotus root). If we only had hot rice:

The sushi was replenished as quickly as it vanished.

I got there really early (i.e., on time). See those girls in short skirts? I later realized they weren't party crashers; they were hired eye-candy.

The desserts were hit-or-miss. The matcha pudding was yummy. The brownish pudding was, uh, brown. The crepe rolls were interesting -- filled with anko (red bean) strawberries and shiso(!) Didn't work for me. Of course you can't go wrong with Japanese cookies.

I'm glad I arrived early. No sake cocktail would've been strong enough to tolerate the line out the wooden gate.

Another fanciful creation. This one actually worked for me. It was topped with a shiratama (the white mochi thing), anko, sesame paste and a slice of orange. Fun~

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In Other News: Hot red-bean cakes are coming to Beverly Hills! They're called ima-gawa-yaki, and they're round and tasty. Not sure when they're opening, but I can't wait.

Little Tokyo's Mitsuwa Market mall SOLD!

2008-06-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

I didn't think it would, but it makes me sad. Not because the new owners aren't Japanese ...but, just because. I spent a good part of my childhood running up and down those escalators at 'Yaohan Plaza.' And as the years passed, it was always a little painful to stop by and count the increasing number of empty storefronts.

The supermarket still remains my favorite place to shop. The place is huge. And at times, I'd be only one of five customers, but they still kept things in stock. They have the best candy-toy section in town, by far. I just hope Honda-ya sticks around.

According to the LA Times article, the shopping center was bought by Korean American investors for $35.5 million. They haven't settled on a plan but their ideas include a Korean market with Korean spas and stores in the adjoining retail space, or to have a mainstream American marketplace.

Craft (Century City)

2008-06-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's all about showmanship here at Craft. That's what happens when most of your customers are Hollywood power agents. So in lieu of chips and salsa, the amuse-bouche of the day was a sliver of cured fish with a pinch of garnish. It was placed on a fancy spoon that literally bent over backwards for me. Sadly, I had no clue how to eat it. I needed a bowl of rice.

What brought Mikey and I here was a story on honey desserts in the LA Times' Food Section. This photo of Craft's wildflower honey shortcake sent Mikey's little heart racing and so we made a pact to start saving our pennies. Three months later we made it over there.

Mikey had to try the raw oysters ($3 each). They were certainly fresh, he said. Don't ask me what I thought. I don't like squishy foods:

There was a section on the menu just for farm eggs. I was intrigued by the one called Duck Egg, Duck Ham and Spiced Waffle ($16). And that's what literally came out, drizzled with syrup. The waffle seemed a little too crispy but everything was good otherwise. You figure it's hard to mess up bacon and eggs. I also had the watercress, duck ham and pistachio salad ($17). Again good, but nothing to write home about.

Then came the fancy palate cleanser -- fruit sorbet. Come to think of it, I had more fun eating the free stuff.

Then came dessert. And wouldn't ya know, the wildflower honey shortcake was no more. Craft's menu frequently changes and honey desserts were already out of the rotation. So we settled on a Pink Lady apple crisp with vanilla ice cream ($12) and a blueberry crumb cake ($12).

!DING! DING! DING!, we finally have a winner:

If there's anything to be had here at Craft it's the apple crisp. Mikey ordered it but I finished it. The crunchy brown-sugar shell nicely insulated the warm stewed apples. Pair it with the vanilla-speckled ice cream and you've got a party in your mouth.

After we paid, our server sent us home with muffins, individually packaged and tied with a ribbon. Fancy. Though when I ate it the next day for breakfast I found it too sweet to get past the first bite.

So did I enjoy myself at Craft? Overall, yes. From doubtful celebrity sightings to simply admiring the architecture, the atmosphere provided stimulating conversation. And the small samplings of dishes were good. Though in the balance of style and substance, I'd have to say Craft comes out a little uneven. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of substance. So if I'm ever going to pay $160 for dinner again it better be not just good but hella good.

Craft
10100 Constellation Blvd
Century City, CA 90067
(310) 279-4180

OMIYAGE: Sesame Egg

2008-05-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

The stork just dropped this one off from Ginza . The shell is made of castella cake and white chocolate. Inside you'll find a gooey sesame paste that paints your tongue black until you wash it down with a glass of milk:

Breaded strawberry? Look HERE.

Hunting for Bamboo Shoot

2008-05-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

I usually don't post other people's videos on my site, but heck 1) it's food related and 2) it's very informative. I didn't know this was how you gather bamboo shoot. I kinda assumed they were born into tin cans. I also envy Joi Ito's huge backyard. Few in Japan are lucky to even have a separate kitchen and living room.

The Highs and Lows of Lactose Intolerance

2008-05-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

HIGH: Finding a "cure"

Last year I found a product to help ease my lactose intolerance. The brochure used the word "solution," so of course in my mind it meant a cure. (yippee!) I spent $150 and did the 38-day program in which I had to ingest powder every day and abstain from any form of dairy. It wasn't easy because dairy is in EVERYTHING we eat: spaghetti bolognese, eggs with hollandaise sauce, salad dressing... I was down to noodles and crackers. Then my stomach started reacting (bloating, cloggage) and before you know it I was spending Saturday nights alone in my room.

But after 38 days I had my first Chai Latte with real milk and felt A-OK! "Wow, it actually worked," I thought, and continued along the high road of dairy tolerance. That is until....

Low: A year goes by and I can't digest dairy anymore =(

It crept up slowly, but surely. Now I'm back to square one. The thing is, I love dairy. I still buy milk, but I sip cautiously.

HIGH: Saying "screw it" and going to a MILK event.

This week Chef Bret Thompson, along with people behind the GOT MILK campaign, threw a dairy food promotional (read as 'orgy du la creme') . I threw colon-caution to the wind and decided to go. My two robot friends were getting a last-minute lube job so we were incredibly late, but there was still a lot of good stuff left, plus I got to talk to the chef.

That Bret is a swell guy. He may be high-profile, but he's humble enough to man his own cash register. That's where I found him the first time I visited MILK, last year. Julie Delpy had come in with some friends and Bret was taking their order en francais. Little did I know, world-famous designer Phillipe Starck was part of the entourage, as Bret excitedly pointed out. I had no clue. Both of us were star-struck that evening but for different reasons. Fancy that.

You can see Bret in this picture:

He's not always that blurry 'cept for when the focus is on the sweets. From left to right: a mini cone with banana ice cream, savory butternut squash soup, an ice cream sandwich sprinkled with rice crispies, and a 'tres leches' berry cake. I settled in by popping a Lactaid. The body tends to build a tolerance against it, but since I'd been away from pills for a while it seemed to do the trick. Hallelujah.

All the desserts were heavenly, especially the banana ice cream with its nutty hard shell. The robots loved the soup and cornbread (not pictured).

Here's another shot:

The day ended well and my colon was hanging in. I'd been taking the Activia challenge this week, eating yogurt to regulate my system. So maybe it was working? =)

The Final Low: Getting bad news from the doctor.

I had a physical exam this week. They took x-rays, drew blood, and made me pee in a plastic cup. During the doctor's consultation I asked if lactose intolerance was curable and he gave me an emphatic but regretful "no." "But you can still maintain your digestive system by taking things containing acidophilus," he added. So I left the office somewhat optimistic. So as long I continue eating yogurt and popping pills regularly I should be okay.

A few hours later, the doctor called with the results from my blood test. He said my cholesterol was high and that I needed to cut back on high-fat dairy. Do'h! I was speechless. For the past year I'd worked to get back something only to be told it was never meant to be. How depressing.

Cheese. Ice Cream. Milk. I miss you already.

M Cafe (Culver City)

2008-05-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Japanese department stores are famous for their basement-floor food counters. Think Dean & Deluca meets Nobu: Bright glass cases displaying mouth-watering wafuu morsels, beautifully coiffed and precisely centered on expensive white plates.

That's the concept in mind at M Cafe. Sorta... Stylish they are. Morsels they are not. Prim-and-proper Japanese ladies would gawk at some of these supersized mouth-stuffers. Inari sushi (aka footballs) are topped with an assortment of garnishes like shiitake, sliced gobo (burdock root) and carrots, and wild salmon, each about $2 a pop. I told a Japanese friend about them she gave me a bemused look like, "Yeah, I'm so not going there." Okay, yes, it's weird and oh-so bastardized, but looking at the people behind the counter -- Japanese chefs and managers with concerned looks on their faces -- I trusted that careful thought went into everything made at M Cafe.

They also carry bento box lunches (about $10) loaded generously with deli selections. Of course, being a macrobiotic food place it's made with the best ingredients and excludes anything that'll make you gassy: dairy, red meat, refined sugars, eggs.

In a rush, I'd inadvertently picked out the priciest thing on the menu: a $15 genmai rice bowl topped with teriyaki black cod and steamed vegetables. Maybe not the price I was hoping to spend on lunch, but it was really tasty. Though next time I'm going for the bento.

I didn't get to try anything else but there's a lot of promising offerings: sandwiches (muffaletta, California club), wraps, sushi, rice bowls ("katsu", bibimbop) and a whole case of desserts.

I'll be back to check out more.

M Cafe
9343 Culver Blvd.
Culver City, CA
(310) 838-4300

Yakitori Bincho (Redondo Beach Pier)

2008-05-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

I'm only blogging about this because I'm blindly assuming no one will bother driving all the way out to Redondo Pier for chunks of chicken (please don't go!). Because frankly, I've fallen in love with the Japanese husband-and-wife pair running the place. They're earnest people who took the plunge and started a business in this cut-throat town. It would've been safer buying a piece of the McDonald's franchise in Downey, but instead they took the tougher route — renting a storefront on the sleepy side of a pier, printing out business cards with "Tuseday" misspelled, and hoping that maybe, just maybe, customers will take notice.

Leave it up to the Rameniac (via Vittus on CH) to find them.

It's the combination of food and atmosphere that's stellar. At Bincho, you can sit at a counter only feet away from the ocean and have a casual chat with the Tokyo-born couple. When I'm in LA too long I tend to forget the fun in talking to strangers. Of course it helps when there's less than 10 customers and the room is the size of a walk-in closet.

Here's some things I found out about them: 1) They buy their bincho-tan (charcoal) from Japan. Not Marukai, like me. 2) They were both students here in California, though he admits not studying very hard. 3) They moved to LA just before setting up shop a couple months ago, which would mean they came here to live out the American Dream not just to hang out in Torrance. 4) They eat a lot of chicken. Especially when customers don't show up.

Here's some of what I had:

Shiso-wrapped yakitori with a smidgen of ume (pickled plum) paste. Delicately crispy, well-seasoned texture. Juicy meat. I kept joking with a friend that it's probably just Foster Farms. Don't worry, the sign outside says "California jidori chicken"; cage-free, hormone-free.

Salted chicken skewers topped with scallions. You have the option of salt- or sauce-seasoned for any of the skewers. Both are great. Again, beautifully crisp yet juicy. Flavors are definitely not over the top the way Gardena's Shinsengumi can be.

After I bit into a piece of the tsukune, chicken meatball, I literally stopped conversing with everyone around me. Suddenly nothing else mattered except for this meatball skewer. "Jouhin na aji" is how I'd describe it in Japanese. In English, perhaps you can say refined.

And here's the meat-stuffed bell pepper, accompanied by hot mustard.

So again, please don't go to Yakitori Bincho. If you do, come alone. It's only the two of them running the shop. It's not a big place and an overflow could cause hardship, physical breakdown and/or karoushi (death from exhaustion). And I'd be sad if that happened.

Yakitori Bincho
112 N. International Boardwalk
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 376-3889

Mon.- Thurs.: 5 - 11 p.m.
Fri.-Sun. 4 p.m. 12 a.m.
Closed Tuesday
(Park in North Parking Lot)

Sweet Lady Jane (West Hollywood)

2008-04-30T21:46:00.001-07:00

A while back I saw Mario Batali on Iron Chef whip up an English Trifle. It seemed like the most basic thing -- layers of fluffy cake, cream and berries -- but it was one of the most delectable sights I'd ever seen. I've been on a search ever since. Sweet Lady Jane does theirs pretty well, but somehow I know there's better. I think what gets to me is the over-sized portions. For me, sweets are best in the first eight bites. After that it turns into an unwelcome guest. This one had a 20-bite count, give or take a few.

My grandma had the lemon meringue. I think her eyes were bigger than her stomach when she chose it. Luckily meringues are mostly air, so she got through it without keeling over. Phew~!

Lactose Intolerance (an update on last year's experiment)

2008-04-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

A reader sent this email yesterday:

Hi Pirikara!

I was just reading your blog and I was very happy to find an objective review on your experience with Lactagen. I have been contemplating buying that product for a while, and I was so glad to find an objective review.
Now that it's almost a year later, I'm curious how you are doing? Are you still struggling with the intolerance, or are you largely "cured" at this point?
Thanks again for your helpful blog! I am an LA local and depend on sites like yours for "pre-screening" of my eating choices.

Mr. Lactose Intolerant

-----------------

Hi Mr. Lactose Intolerant,

Funny you should write to me about Lactagen. Yes, a year has passed and sadly, I'm noticing slight but increasing signs of lactose intolerance, but it's still not as bad as before. I still drink milk every day (albeit, only the good stuff like Brouguire and Trader Joe's) and plan to continue doing so because basically I'm no longer afraid of dairy.

That said, I don't think of Lactagen as a bogus product. It did as much as it could do in trying to reintroduce lactobacillus into my system, and anyone who's done their research would know that a single dose of antibiotics could kill the bacteria as quickly as it was introduced. (I had to take antibiotics a few weeks later. Oh the heartbreak!)

I do believe, though, that there are cheaper alternatives. Lactagen is basically lactobacillus powder in bulk. It's nice because they give you a daily chart of how much to take, but it is certainly not scarce commodity. Trader Joe's sells it for far cheaper, in pill form. I also noticed Whole Foods promoting lactose intolerance products recently.

Good luck and may the force be with you~!

Piri

----------------

So my question now is, has anyone found other ways of curing/easing lactose intolerance? I'm curious, so let me know!

On the Road: Sonoma + Napa Valley

2008-04-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

Mikey escaped from the basement last week. He pulled the chains out from the wall leaving two gaping black holes. When I realized what'd happened I followed his breadcrumb trail north. Ten hours later I was in Sonoma. He apparently resented the fact that I never took him, so he decided to high-tail it up there himself.

I found him and his doughy little cheeks pressed against the window of a quaint little restaurant called The Girl and the Fig. They're known for their 'fromage tower,' a 3-tiered cheese, fruit and meat plate. Mikey hopped all the way there for it only to realize he had no money. "You know, you're a real pain in the bun," I told him. "But (sigh) we're here so we might as well go in."

The tower du cheese dauntingly overshadowed us (hey, we're short!), but I'm not one to waste food so we got some wine, took a deep breath and began picking at it bit by bit. At $38 it included six artisan cheeses, pork terrine, a selection of cured meats, pickles, fig cake, fruits, and a bevy of home-sweetened nuts. Now I understood why Mikey came all the way up here. Mixing and matching the pungent with the sweet tickled my taste-buds in ways I wouldn't've imagined. We were like Hansel and Gretel tasting candy for the very first time.

My stomach squeezed in room for the next course, a roasted whole rainbow trout ($20.95). The fresh fillet was pan-fried to a golden crisp and topped with a vinaigrette-doused assortment of fingerling potatoes, nubs of applewood bacon, shaved fuji apples and roasted shallots. The tower had done me in but I still enjoyed every bite of this.

I was ready to go home but Mikey had a second destination mapped out -- the Culinary Institute of America. We were far too tipsy to walk, so we hitchhiked our way to the town of St. Helena, population 6,000. Our driver told us to look for Hogwarts castle amid the purple and green-vined flatlands. Sure enough, as soon as we rounded the corner there it was:

Okay so maybe Harry Potter never drove a PT Cruiser to school. And the parking lot in front puts a damper on the majestic sight. A broomstick lot would've been more discreet.

Greystone Restaurant was located around the corner of the building. Inside, guests sat at a stone-top counter encompassing an open kitchen in the middle of the room. It provided a birds' eye view of the culinary students (aka wizards) gripping their hats as they seared and broiled the day's special ingredients.

Already red-faced Mikey ordered a 3-glass white wine sampler ($16):

We also tried the 'Today's Temptations,' a $9.95 per person array of tiny bites whipped up on whim of the chef: duck pate on a baby lettuce leaf, a marinated shrimp, a pea puree... interesting stuff and, yes, very fancy-smancy. Mikey put on his silk ascot for the occasion.

I moved onto the $34 plate of day-boat scallops collected from divers on the North Atlantic coast:

And of course you can't forget dessert. The molten chocolate lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream ($8):

Organic yogurt panna cotta with strawberry rhubarb sorbet ($5):

And some lemon custard beignets coupled with a shot of citrus fizz topped with thyme foam ($7):

With all that food in our belly we decided to take a leisurely stroll home to Los Angeles. The digestion process drew all the blood in my head to my stomach and I'd completely forgotten I had been mad at Mikey. That is, until I remembered the two holes in my wall. (argh!) But he promised to plaster it up once we got back.

Secretly, though, I'm glad he'd escaped. Otherwise I would have never gone up north, much less brought myself to spend the money we did on those two meals (a little under $300 in total). Like I said before, I'm a $5-noodle bowl kinda girl. But when a decadent meal calls it's best to come a-runnin'.

The Girl and the Fig
110 West Spain Street
Sonoma, CA. 95476
(707) 938-3634

Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant
at Culinary Institute of America
2555 Main Street
St. Helena, CA 94574
(707) 967-1010

Pinkberry Lawsuit settled

2008-04-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

This just in from the LA Times about the year-old lawsuit :

By Kimi Yoshino

Pinkberry is spooning out some cold hard cash to end a class-action lawsuit.

Ron Graves, chief executive of the Los Angeles-based company, said Thursday that Pinkberry had settled the suit filed by disgruntled customers contending that the popular frozen treat might not be yogurt.

"We're really happy to put the debate behind us," he said. "There was a lot of misinformation swirling out there -- everything from it isn't really yogurt to there weren't live and active cultures. . . . The product was real frozen yogurt then. It still is."

After the suit was filed, Pinkberry acknowledged that it wasn't in compliance with state food guidelines that require frozen yogurt to be mixed off-site, not in stores.

Pinkberry's product now is mixed at a dairy, Graves said.

The suit, filed in May, forced the company to disclose its ingredients, now posted on www.pinkberry.com.

As part of the settlement, Pinkberry will give a total of $750,000 to two Southern California charities, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Para los Niños, a child-care group.

Attorney Michael Amir, who filed the suit, said: "We made the point we needed to make . . . and we're very happy.""

----

$750,000?! And I'm assuming this won't put Pinkberry anywhere in the red. We've all spent way too much money on fro-yo. Let's move on, shall we?

Addendum: Hmm, I feel like frozen yogurt right now. Damn.

Hanaichimon-me @ Little Tokyo Square

2008-04-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

Mochi ice cream isn't the only Japanese dessert. (And just for the record, "mochi" doesn't necessarily contain ice cream.) One of my favorites is an-mitsu ($3.50), this one containing a cocktail mix of bananas, pineapples and mandarin oranges alongside sweet red beans, agar jelly and plump pinches of mochi.

It's the kind of stuff to cool down with on a blistering hot day in Japan, though these days young people would rather do the American thing: chill at Baskin-Robbins.

Hanaichimon-me
33 S. Alameda St., #303
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(Little Tokyo Square, 3F)

(213) 626-3514

Akasha @ Culver City

2008-04-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I happened to watch TLC's "Flip That Restaurant" featuring Culver City's newest eatery Akasha (pronounced Ah-KAH-sha). Of course being a TV show, they featured a roller coaster of technical difficulties in renovating the former San Gennaro site. Hours before the opening night party the telephone line wasn't connected, the kitchen had to be moved to a tent and someone had forgotten to build the server station (oy vey!). But wouldn't you know it, by the end of the day everything ran smoothly, the guests were smitten and the noted critic was raving.

Contrived, yes. But the show did pique my interest enough to drive the 5 blocks for dinner. The restaurant boasted tasty organic eats, and besides, I'd unchained Mikey from the basement that night and he was mighty thirsty.

The atmosphere was downtown chic, a warmly lit industrial space with farmhouse wood for walls (Part of owner Akasha Richmond's master plan for going green). On a Thursday night it was definitely the place to be, but don't believe it when you read online that they're booked two months in advanced. We walked in at 7 and sat down by 7:01.

The prices scared me. Entrees averaged $25 and starters were more than half that. I'm a simple girl who gets excited over a $5 noodle bowl. But if the food is tasty then 'nuff said, right?

We started with the Fisherman's Daughter Masala Shrimp. Mikey seemed enticed by the idea of having a piece of the fisherman's daughter. I was not. Maybe if it were the Fisherman's Son? The Spicegirl's Husband? Hmm...

The waitress brought over four nicely grilled pieces of shrimp accompanied by tomato chutney sauce, mint raita and some sort of sprout which ended up outlasting the shrimps. Tasty and well-thought out, but it left something to be desired. A few more shrimps, perhaps.

I had the Loch Duart salmon cooked South Indian style with oven roasted curried cauliflower, green beans and tamarind date chutney. Mikey had the Heritage Country pork chop with sambazon acai & honey sauce, white bean puree and braised greens. I write these words as if I'm an an organic food authority, but alas I simply copied the online menu. Loch Duart is a company located in the Scottish Highlands, according to Wikipedia. Heritage Country remains a mystery, unless the pork company doubles as a Massachusetts golf course.

Both were fresh, juicy and well-seasoned. I'd expect nothing less from anything flown in from halfway around the world. And Akasha certainly has a way with sauces. You're in a different country with every bite.

This is the "SALTY CHOCOLATE TART with big tree farms sea salt, caramel, pecans,
soy vanilla chantilly crème DOUGIE." I actually had this the night before without Mikey. Salty desserts are big in Japan right now so I wanted to try it. It's one of those acquired tastes. Kind of like Super Lemon candy.

All in all, I enjoyed trying downtown CC's newest addition. Personally, it didn't have the prized wow-factor, but it's still a nice restaurant with the added bonus of a cocktail bar and organic bakery. Believe me, Culver City gets more interesting by the minute.

Akasha
9543 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
310.845.1700

Richie Palmer's @ Santa Monica

2008-03-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

McDonald's fries and Richie's pizza are pretty damn good within the first 5 minutes. The golden hot potato/crust fuses salt into your palate and sends your brain into gastronomic euphoria. But before you know it, the clock strikes midnight, the food gets cold and *poof* ...cardboard.

I walked into Richie's anticipating stiff competition for Joe's down the street in Santa Monica. Both hail from the tough streets of New York and have had years of dough to practice with. So you'd think it'd reach something close to perfection by now, right?

Richie's BBQ chicken pizza was good and probably would've kept through the next day. The sauce was mildly sweet, covering for the underwhelming flavor of the crust. Mind you, it was an excellent crust; thinly doughy and with a crispy bottom. If only it could stay that way. The artichoke and tomato pizza didn't make it past 3 minutes.

If it's any consolation, the chopped salad was good.

Richie Palmer's Pizzeria
1355 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90404
(310) 255-1111

Omiyage: Ginza Strawberry

2008-03-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned this earlier, but I'm starting a new video corner where I feature every Japanese confection I come across. I'm not talking about the common stuff you get at the Japanese market but the classier swag (aka omiyage) that guests bring over in big, fancy boxes. This one is called Ginza Strawberry, a soft, fluffy cake filled with sweet berry cream. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Yabu @ La Cienega

2008-03-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

I thought I had it made when I started working in Century City. The mall was across the way and the renovated food court offered all sorts of tasty options. But with anything in frequency, it got old fast. A couple months went by and I started packing my own bento box mainly in protest against the mall's high-priced mediocrity.

If you work anywhere near West Hollywood I recommend heading to Yabu. They're open from noon to 2:30 pm for lunch and their set menu is on par with your typical Tokyo eatery. (i.e., sensible portions with delicate flavors.) Though just like Mishima, it's a carb-lovers' combo -- soba/udon and rice bowl for just around $10.

On this day, I got the soboro-don -- ground chicken seasoned with mirin, soy sauce and ginger paired with finely scrambled eggs. (Get it? Mother and egg.) I recommend their tempura bowl, too.

The way I see it, when a Japanese restaurant sells out to their Big Mac-eating constituents they start doing things like doubling portions and squeezing globs of teriyaki sauce on things. So it's nice to see Yabu hasn't lost their touch. Take their pickles for example:

You have shreds of kombu on one side and pickled things on the other. Most people will look at the pint-size accoutrement and think, "What's the point?" But it's this attention to detail that speaks the loudest. And then there's the other small dish of diced scallions and wasabi. It might just be a dinner thing now but they used to give you a raw quail egg, too, which is a slurping essential.

During the midday rush hour, Yabu is a 15 minute drive from Century City and can easily turn into a 90-minute lunch break. The boss might be mad but in my opinion it's worth the trek.

Yabu
521 N. La Cienega Blvd.
W. Hollywood, CA 90048
(310) 854-0400

Tara's Himalayan Cuisine

2008-02-25T00:04:00.000-08:00

You have to admit, the stretch of storefronts along Venice Blvd. in Palms is a commercial wasteland. Howard's Bacon and Avocado Burgers has a cool sign and Zabumba's might get you out for salsa night with the girls, but nearly the rest of the street begs for an overhaul.

Though after checking out Tara's Himalayan Cuisine (two doors down from Cafe Brazil) I realized there's far more than meets the eye. I first grabbed dinner here two weeks ago only to return 3 or 4 times, mainly for their pan-fried chicken dumplings otherwise known as kothey momo ($5.99). According to the menu, women in Tibet and Nepal gather together to make momo, expediting the process of rolling the dough and mixing the filling. I'm sure they get lots of gossiping done, too, so it's like killing two birds with one stone.

I've had a good share of mediocre dumplings in my lifetime. And even the good ones get old quickly because they use the same roundup of ingredients like garlic, salt and soy sauce. Momos, on the other hand, make use of cumin and coriandor, bringing out a hint of sweetness to the juicy, salted meat. Also, the wrappers are fresh, slightly chewy and pan-fried to a nice crisp. Just thinking about them makes me hungry.

The chicken korma ($7.99), cooked in a cashew nut and coconut milk-based curry, comes close to being addicting. The meat is soft, succulent and goes well with their fresh naan, which can be a satisfying meal in itself. Mikey loves the lamb curry. I'm not a fan of lamb from the start so I'm biased, but apparently it's not baaad. (Get it? har, har)

Last night, Tara herself happened to be our server. She's a nice lady with a glowing smile. She set up shop in Nepal and New York before opening the door in the heart of Palms. It's a humble mom-and-pop operation which adds to the charm.

I'm within walking distance from Tara's so I'll be coming back again soon. Believe me, those momos are to die for.

Eggplant curry

Daal Bhat Masu (Lamb curry served with mustard greens, rice, daal and naan)

Tikka Chicken, marinated overnight in Himalayan spices

Tara's Himalayan
10855 Venice Blvd.
LA, CA 90034

(310) 836-9696

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In Other News...

I've decided to start a collection of videos showing all the cool Japanese sweets I come across. Though instead of Pocky and other generic stuff you find at the market, I'm going to document stuff people bring from various regions of Japan. You can find the first one here.

Hello Kitty Ramen in a Can

2008-02-12T21:35:00.001-08:00

I'm gonna let you in on something: I'm broke. Not the kind of broke where I'll be gurneyed to Skid Row, but the kind of broke where I force myself to eat Wonder Bread and Carl Buddig lunch meat every day just to afford weekend dinner with friends. (Since when did $20 become the new $10?)

It's not all that bad though. It compels me to look through my food pantry more often. Tonight I found a can of Hello Kitty ramen, something I bought in Tokyo last year. The beauty of it is that it requires no heating. You eat it as-is, in room temperature. I haven't checked the facts but I bet you can take this can with you into the next millennium. The noodles are made of konnyaku -- also known as konjak, devil's tongue, voodoo lily, snake palm, elephant yam, according to Wikipedia -- which has a firm, jelly texture so they never get soggy. There's also a few slices of bamboo shoot which probably stay "fresh" because the soup broth is thick with oil. (Think Exxon Valdese.) Yeah, sounds pretty gnarly, but it started selling in Japan to meet the demand of all those people too busy for real food. Just imagine those fanatic online gamers too caught up to leave their rooms, not even for a bathroom break. (I knew someone who ended up peeing in a jar, but I'll save that story for another time.)

So yeah, I've had better ramen. I slurped up a few noodles and then put it back in the fridge. I'll check up on it in a few weeks but I'm guessing it'll look the same as when I first opened it. What I probably should've done is put it in my earthquake emergency kit. Aside from being a great alternative to powdered mashed potatoes I bet it'd make an excellent cold-compress.

Paulette (macarons) @ Beverly Dr.

2008-01-28T20:37:00.000-08:00

While endlessly circling around for parking for Beverly Drive's Urth Cafe, Mikey and I spotted the cutest little macaron shop. Pacing back and forth inside was a chef who told me he'd named the store after his wife, whom I'd imagine is a great lover of macarons. Being a romantic, I figured it was a macaron that brought them together.

He seemed like a nice guy and with me being the only customer during peak lunch hour I felt compelled to spend big: a box of 12 for $18. ($1-taco-night Mikey gawked at the bill.)

Now I'm no expert on macarons and I'm sure people have done dissertations on the subject, so take my opinion as just that, my opinion. Reading through Chowhound and other food forums, it seems macaron critics fall into two camps: those who assess any particular shop as being either cloyingly sweet or insipid. (Americanized taste buds seem to opine the latter.) Of course, other factors come into play like, doughiness and moistness. Overall, I thought Paulette's macarons, with a few exceptions, were a little sweet for my tooth.

Here's my box of 12 (out of a possible 14):

chocolate coconut
orange blossom (oddly like perfume)
Early Grey (nice!)
Madagascar vanilla
Sicilian pistachio (hmm, distinctly pistachio)
Columbian coffee (yummy!)
sweet wedding almond (good!)
lemon tropical
New Orleans praline
violet cassis
peach (an overwhelming flood of ganache)
flavor of the month: raspberry rose (magnifique !)

"Our macarons all have distinct personalities," it reads on the postcard I grabbed from the counter. Well said. Sure these little guys aren't all perfect. Some were big on personality, some weren't. But it was kinda fun finding out.

Though maybe next time I won't hoard a dozen myself. Macarons make not a good diet.

Paulette
9466 Charleville Blvd. at Beverly Dr.
Beverly Hills 90212
(310) 275-0023

$1.50 each, a box of 12 for $18, 24 for $35
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In Other News....

Tis' the season for Japanese exam-takers to buy 'good luck' candy. Auspicious messages are printed on potato chips, KitKat and Pocky boxes and those in the majority who believe in lucky charms will buy the entire lot, like this person here.

Let's be Frank @ Culver City

2008-01-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

This was Saturday's lunch, a $5 hot dog at a truck parked in the Helms Bakery complex.

I normally don't eat hot dogs... certainly not those juice-dripping franks wrapped in crispy bacon, smothered with grilled onions that tiny Mexican ladies peddle from pushcarts in Hollywood. Definitely not those.
Well, sometimes.

But this hot dog from "Let's be Frank" comes guilt-free. The cows are grass-fed and roam freely on bucolic pastures too beautiful to describe. It's also free of nitrates and other mystery spices. In other words, you're eating the meat of a drug-free vegetarian who exercised 7 days a week and had a healthy outlook on life. It definitely shows. And considering how lean it is —no fatty drippings whatsoever — this dog packs a lot of flavor. My first thought after biting in: Slim Jim.

For those of you who enjoy the fatty ooze and the post-consumption chest pain and/or gas, this isn't for you. It's for those who'd read "The Jungle" in school and swore off processed meat forever. But it's also for those who've tried soy dogs and thought, "This would be great if it only had... meat."

The cheery lady in the truck, Sue Moore, was helpful in deciding which of the two dogs to get: an all-beef dog from Hearst Ranch or a brat (pork) dog blended with thyme and other organic herbs. There's benches right next door which happen to face the newest branch of Fathers Office. (Note: Construction guy said at least another month.)

As I bit into my dog, I tried recalling the last time I had one. Maybe not since the last time I was out clubbing in Hollywood a year or two ago. And even then I only had a bite off my friend's. I have to admit, there's something very satisfying about licking up fatty oils. I kind of missed it. This cow was definitely no couch potato. But I thanked myself a few hours later. No cramping, no indigestion, no lardy residue on my teeth. In fact, I was in tiptop condition for my next meal which was a load of greasy Chinese food. Thank you, vegetarian cows.

Let's Be Frank
Helms Bakery Complex on Helms Ave. between Washington and Venice Blvds.
Open Tuesday thru Sunday from 11 am

Daichan @Studio City

2008-01-20T22:30:00.000-08:00

I hate clutter. Even a dusty stack of magazines by the bedpost irks me. Yet when I stepped inside this restaurant-slash-emporium of Japanese souvenirs – strung from the ceiling and plastered to the wall – I was in total awe. Red paper lanterns (chochin), tea cups, paper mache masks, decorative fans... A pachinko machine undoubtedly built in the '70s rested in the back while a duo of Childrens Day koi fish hung out in the corner. Walk into the restroom and you're in the company of two dozen stuffed animals stacked high above. Hmm, must be the outhouse tower guards. Talk about random. But that's what I love about the place.

Daichan is self-described as Japanese soul food, though I would take that as a loose term for anything edible from the Japanese diaspora. (For those who don't know, a good sized Japanese population has been rooted in the U.S. for over a century, mostly in Hawaii and the west coast.) Their menu is expansive: soba, agedashi tofu, katsu chicken, yudofu (boiled tofu), poki-over-rice... I spotted one of my favorite comfort foods written on the wall: natto (fermented soy beans), though instead of soy sauce they mix it with avocado (?!). Then again, lots of Japanese Americans eat steamed broccoli with a mixture of soy sauce and mayo, which might sound appalling, too.

I spent more time than usual fretting over what to get, partially distracted by the red bamboo ornament hanging in front of me. (It's in the shot above; A fertility symbol?) I eventually settled on the deepfried garlic chicken, a tasty version of mochiko chicken cut in katsu-size pieces. The soy-based sauce was on the salty side but dab it on the rice and you're set. Most dinners come with macaroni salad and a slice of watermelon – certainly more characteristic of Hawaii than Tokyo.

I also sampled the deepfried "purple potato" dish, a unanimous favorite, and the fried lotus root stuffed with minced chicken. If you thought all Japanese food was healthy, think again. Any of this "soul food" will stick to your ribs. Not to the degree of red beans and rice, but close enough.

I regret having only consumed one meal in one sitting at Daichan. I would've risked the extra pounds just to sample some of the other dishes. Their house special drink of ginger, peppermint, herbs, lemon and sugar sounded intriguing, too. Prices are amazingly reasonable, averaging $7-$10 per plate. Not bad considering its neighbor is Mr. Nozawa himself, who'll take away more C-notes than you can count.

Daichan
11288 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA

(818) 980-8450

Joan's On Third @ Beverly Center vicinity

2008-01-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate waiting in line for breakfast? Most weekend eateries open by 10 am but that hangover keeps you in bed ‘til 11 am. And of course by then the line for a table is out the door. Joan's on Third is a little different; they take your order at the counter so all you need to do is search for a table... and believe me, it won't take an hour... ten minutes tops.

I stumbled upon the deli/bakery a month ago along Third street near the Beverly Center. New York’s Dean & Deluca comes to mind when you enter their newly-renovated store: glass displays, white tiles and countertops overflowing with everything from roasted nut clusters to mini baguettes stuffed with prosciutto and cheese. There’s also a separate counter for gelato and baked goodies.

Okay, so I’ve yet to try anything on their breakfast menu. Offerings of fluffy pancakes and sour cream-topped French omelettes don’t compare to the mouthwatering sandwiches they pack upon order. I’m a sucker for the apricot glazed ham and brie they slather with mustard caper sauce and hand to you on a choice of rustic roll, whole grain bread, country white or French baguette. They’re all sumptuous but I’m usually inclined to take the baguette because it’s easy on the jaw; a blissful reminder of Paris (sniff).

Mikey enjoyed the burrata (a soft Italian cheese) with prosciutto and sprigs of arugula. It was kind of like eating a savory marshmallow.

Save room for dessert. I’ve conquered about one-fifth of their baked goods counter. My favorites are the banana bread, the oatmeal cookie and the apple triangle. There’s something about sweets in mass quantity that gets my heart racing. Though not because of an impending heart attack, I hope.

The biggest complaint about Joan’s is their prices. Many things are definitely marked a dollar or two above their competitors. I gawked at the $6.50 tag of the ultra-mini baguette sandwich which, though very cute, was probably something only a supermodel could get a rip-roaring burp from.

Speaking of which, I spotted Tyra Banks at Joan’s the other day. It was still only 11 am on a Sunday morning but she looked picture-perfect. …Guess not everyone was out partying.

Joan's on Third
8350 W. Third St.
LA, CA 90048
(323) 655-2285

-----
In Other News...

Fortune cookie origins: Japan??
Why fly to Japan when it's all in LA!

Holiday Gluttony

2007-12-31T11:01:00.000-08:00

I hope the holiday season has kept you as warm as the Tom Kha Gai I inhaled last week at Thailand Plaza. I've been entertaining family from Japan so I blame them entirely for my lack of posts. =P It's my brother's girlfriend's first time to the U.S. so I've been showing her the sights, smells and tastes of LA. ...burp!

The first order of the day was an In 'N Out burger, which she halved with my brother. They've actually made it a point to split everything to avoid turning into the fatty Americans they've been snapping pictures of. It makes a lot of sense considering after that meal we went for xiao long bao in Monterey Park, then tacos at La Flama, then Thai Town, followed by pizza at Vito's. Well, not all in the same day, but you get the picture. As I have nobody to split my food with, I'm hoping to go for a jog today.

Here's some culinary highlights of my month of December:

Was anyone else drooling over that apple and Calvados croustade picture in the LA Times food section a few weeks ago? I tried making it and, well, either their studio lighting was brilliant or I just need to work on my filo dough crafting skills. I had fun setting the brandy on fire and stirring it into the apples but otherwise the pastry itself didn't tickle my taste buds.

You gotta love the rice cakes a la Chinois served at Mei Long Village. Japanese people only really eat mochi grilled or heated in a sweet red bean soup. Of course, these guys are a bit chewy so you need to be careful. Wouldn't want to be added to Japan's choking-on-mochi death rate.

I've been borrowing my friend Teri's fruit sangria recipe for holiday parties. It's an instant hit; like jungle juice at a high school house party. Mix 1/2 bottle of vodka with a bottle of Carlo Rossi Sangria. Add a junk-load of fruits and ice.

Joan's on Third and their beautiful pastries. I can't get enough of this place. Too bad I can never get good parking.

Happy holidays, everyone!
Rainen mo yoroshiku! (See you next year!)

JAPAN: Bigger Boob Tea?!

2007-12-10T21:14:00.000-08:00

Back to Japan. One of the products I picked up during my visit was a powdered tea promising to increase your bust size to a whopping F-cup (woohoo~!). I first read about it on Tokyo Mango and since this year has been all about trying new things (ex., Lactagen, colon cleanse) I had to get it. It contains an herb called pueraria mirifica which is supposed to aid in the miraculous effort. I mean, I've accepted my god-given bosom which, while not ample enough to form peaks and valleys, is enough to keep strapless gowns from succumbing to gravity. The 10-pack of tea costs under $10 bucks -- chump change in yen.

So this is how it went:

Day One: 10 a.m. Following instructions I emptied a pack into a cup of hot water and mixed. It tasted similar to a European tea, like Earl Grey, only very, very sweet.

11 a.m. Stomach grumbles. I make a mad dash to the restroom.

The End.

---

Sadly, I decided to end the experiment at Day One. It felt more like a colon cleanse than a natural boob job. So much for F-cup.

Boule on La Cienega

2007-11-21T08:42:00.001-08:00

So after visiting Vito's the other day I strolled down La Cienega Blvd. and came across an adorable pastry/ice cream/chocolate shop called Boule. My French-speaking friend had to correct me after I pronounced it "Boo-LAY." Apparently it sounds more like "bull," but as if your lips were stuck with a spoonful of peanut butter. "Boo~ll"

Prices are a tad steep; I laid down more cash for this dainty carrot cake ($~6??), above, than for my pizza dinner. But if you can overlook the financial setback then you're in store for a treat. It's very light, moist and packed with fresh shreds of carrots, (I think) zucchini, and a touch of spice. There's something else in there that adds to a slight chewiness factor, too. It's definitely one of those desserts you'll find your self savoring rather than scarfing down.

Still burping out my cheese pizza, I didn't have room to try any of the other confections... but I'm definitely looking forward to it. Their fresh-baked macarons looked tasty and I bet they'd go well with ice cream.

Boule
420 N. La Cienega Blvd.
LA, CA 90048
(310) 289-9977

NY Style: Joe's or Vito's Pizza?

2007-11-21T08:38:00.001-08:00

I'm taking a break from posting my Japan travels because I've been on a pizza rampage. Hmm, okay hitting up two pizza joints may not qualify as a rampage but I'd say I've definitely been tearing through those cheesy slices like Godzilla. There's been a number of discussions on Chowhound about the best New York-style pizza in LA and I had to investigate. I've had pizza in Italy before and I must admit that I'm more a fan of New York's version. It's thin, crunchy, simple and sweet.

Vito's is located in the nook of a white strip mall on La Cienega Blvd. just south of WeHo. Not quite a 'joint,' it's a small cozy sit-down place that might fit 15 people at most. Given its reputation, they seem to draw a distinctively East Coast crowd. SNL's Cheri Oteri was there the other night. She probably misses the Big Apple flavor. By far, Vito's has more variety in their display case (see below): deluxe veggie, tomato and cheese, spinach with plops of ricotta...Personally, I like plain cheese pizza. It's nice and simple and you can get a better feel for the crust and sauce. It's $2.50 a slice but the price goes up as you step up the gourmet-ness.

Then last night I tried Joe's Pizza which had a long-anticipated opening a block away from Santa Monica beach. It had the more of the pizza joint feel, with scattered barstools against the walls and a glass partition at the front counter preventing you from drooling over the hot pizzas. They cook up thick-square Sicilian slices but aside from that the offerings seem more basic than Vito's. Though if you talk to the guy at the oven, he'll be more than willing to accommodate requests. I got a slice of cheese ($2.50) and made a special order for mushrooms. A big burly dude looked incredulously at my two slices, as if my tiny body couldn't handle it. I showed him~!

So which do I prefer? It's a tough one, but I'd say Vito's. They both have a tasty, sweetened tomato sauce, but the slice at Joe's was crispy-thin to the point of tasting like a wafer. Maybe an off-night? Vito's dough blended better with the sauce. I think the deciding factor for where I'll be eating at more will be which part of town I'm in. Santa Monica or West Hollywood. Either way, I'm glad there's an option for great pizza. I don't know about you, but I started getting tired of hearing about overhyped gourmet pizza restaurants that charge twice the price for something that really shouldn't cost much at all.

Vito's Pizza
846 La Cienega Blvd.
LA, CA 90069
www.vitopizza.com

Joe's Pizza
111 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-9222

JAPAN: Buffet Restaurant

2007-11-13T00:17:00.000-08:00

Click To Play

One thing I love about Japan is how healthy most of the food is. I could go to a buffet like this one and eat and eat and still not consume nearly the amount of calories I do at Hometown Buffet. Why is that? Well, instead of fried chicken and mashed potatoes you're getting miso soup, cold soba, handmade tofu, steamed fish, and a variety of vegetable dishes. You can get really full but you won't be left with that bloated, disgusted feeling so common to U.S. buffets. Why can't we have a buffet like this here?

Autumn Bento box

2007-11-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

Click To Play

One of my favorite meals in Japan is the kind you can buy at the train station. This bento box is a seasonal selection. Notice the big yellow nut on top of the middle plot of rice. Chestnuts are the seasonal ingredients right now and so you'll find a lot of kuri-gohan (chestnut rice) being sold in stores. There's also 'sekihan' on the right, which is red bean rice. From top-left to right is karaage (a chicken nugget), a nub of salmon, and shrimp. The rest are strange pickled things mothers force-feed their children.

JAPAN: Dead Blowfish Lives!

2007-11-05T23:16:00.000-08:00

Click To Play

While in Tokyo I dined on a rare delicacy called fugu, or blowfish, which if prepared incorrectly can kill you with its poison. Most people eat it raw but since I'm not a true Samurai I chose to have it simmer in a hot pot with leafy vegetables. Kinda tasted like a fish/chicken hybrid. Very springy, too. I love how the fish twitches even though its been sliced and diced into a dozen pieces. Maybe he's trying to escape.

JAPAN: Tea fields

2007-10-31T11:41:00.000-07:00

Click To Play

I don't know about you but when I think tea fields the first thing that comes to mind is that Snapple radio commercial where some dude flies to China just to ask an old man about the properties of white tea. "You could've just looked it up on the internet," the old man quips.

Well, internet info is great but it certainly doesn't replace a first-hand view. No smog here! Just amazingly fresh air atop a quiet hill in the middle of nowhere. The bushes hold your typical green leaves; what you'd find dogs peeing on at the local park. So it's the process that's important in turning foliage into a fat-free infusion.

I shot this video in Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan. They're known for their tea and create all kinds of other products like green tea cookies, matcha tea latte--even green tea soap. I'm sure some of the local bath houses even fill their tubs with hot, sudsy tea water. Supposedly, Japanese tea carries powerful anti-oxidants. Personally, I think it's just an excuse to dye yourself green.

JAPAN: Mister Donuts

2007-10-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Mister Donuts is one of my favorite Japanese chains, not because it's good but because you can earn points to obtain prizes like plates and notepads. The other morning I stopped by for breakfast. I ordered their spicy ramen and multi-ring donut which has a chewy mochi center. It's a weird combination but it somehow works.

JAPAN: Rice cake toss

2007-10-21T06:04:00.000-07:00

Japan is a country where people throw rice cakes from a roof. An unfinished roof. Rice cakes, or mochi, symbolize longevity which is what you'd want in a home. Collapsing homes suck after all. This is why the construction workers of this particular project are throwing mochi at the neighborhood kids below. It's a blessing for the happy family that will soon take residence. "Please don't collapse!" they pray. Just for good measure, money is also thrown overboard. That's why you see little old ladies and grown men getting in on the action. Like me, they're saving up for an iPhone.

After I took this video I dove into the mosh pit, too. Though I only ended up with one measly mochi. Oh yeah, I'm currently in southern Japan right now, visiting relatives and friends. Just like in Los Angeles, I've been going around devouring tasty treats and discovering wondrous oddities.

This rice cake tossing tradition is something that, in all my years of traveling to Japan, I discovered just yesterday after a kindly neighbor came by to tell us about it. "Come! They're about to toss food and money off a roof!" Who'd think that generosity still existed in this world. In Los Angeles it'd be more like, "Run! There's a gunman spraying bullets from the roof!" Sigh... I'm gonna miss Japan.

Real Food Daily @ La Cienega Blvd.

2007-10-02T23:38:00.000-07:00

I'm a fan of all things light and healthy, but after I had my first vegan meal at Real Food Daily a couple years ago I was completely turned off to extremes. After eating their "meatloaf" plate my stomach started talking to me. The next day I stank some kind of nasty. I decided that'd be my first and last venture into veganism ...or so I thought.

The other day, my friend invited me there again. And like the good sport (or chump?) I gave in. Luckily, we were joined by a real life vegan who'd been to RFD a dozen times, so he knew exactly what to order. The first being their nacho plate topped with guacamole, chopped tomatoes, olives, melted cashew cheddar cheese, black beans, pico de gallo and tofu sour cream, which has a curiously thick consistency, but after a few bites you'd swear you're eating Taco Bell.

We also shared a southwest salad which was more of the standard deal. Still very tasty, but iceberg being its main leafy green we were felt like we'd been cheated out of good nutrients. I have pictures but it's not exactly a photogenic salad.

Our third dish was the 'Stir it Up,' a medley of vegetables, cabbage, tempeh and gingery garlic sauce over soba noodles. Tempeh is a staple ingredient for vegans because it's high in protein (soybeans), but it's way too soft to give you the stuffed satisfaction of a meaty meal. The soba could've been a tad more al dente, but then again what non-Japanese restaurant in LA really knows how to cook soba?

Last on menu was pumpkin ice cream. Surprisingly not disappointing. I've never been big on the taste of frozen tofu but RFD managed to infuse enough spice and sweetness to keep you licking.

RFD is definitely not for everyone. Especially people who need their meat. But if you need a break from heavy, greasy fast food then RFD hits the spot. Just stay away from the meatloaf.

Real Food Daily
414 N. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Old Country Cafe @ Alhambra

2007-09-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

Back in my school days, there was an outhouse of a sandwich stand that sold foot-long Hoagies for $1.50. Stuffed with thick cucumber sticks and doused with wholesale Italian dressing they were far from refined, but the price was enough to form a line down the street.

We lovingly named it "buck-fitty" as in, "Hey, let's head over to 'buck-fitty' for lunch!" But as the years went by and popularity grew, the owners thought it'd be a good idea to raise the price a dollar or two ... or three. Of course, they were completely wrong and lost a considerable amount of business. Are they still around? I don't know. I actually don't even care.

I hope not the same fate for Old Country Cafe, a charming Taiwanese hole-in-the-wall that's steadfast with its 1990s prices. Two girlfriends and I had dinner there over the weekend and when the bill came out I had to slap myself to make sure I was awake. The total?: $12.80.

And it's not just cheap, it's good. Overlook the grease and you might even think it's nutritious. Come Friday afternoon at work, I find myself craving their fried chicken over rice ($4.85), accompanied by various pickled vegetables and a boiled tea egg. And there's an added bonus of seasoned minced pork that rests somewhere between the rice and chicken. In my more health-conscious moments, I default to their minced chicken bowl which amounts to a whopping $3.60. (See above)

The cafe also offers an assortment of small vegetable dishes most of which are very foreign to my Japanese palate. Visiting Taiwan a few years ago, I remember catching a whiff of stinky tofu from a block away. Needless to say, I decided it wasn't for me and ran in the opposite direction.

If you're still a boba sipper, Old Country is for you. Unlimited refills with not only tapioca balls but custard pudding. Hopefully you're okay with the caffeine rush. I'm sure not.

Old Country Cafe
2 E. Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 284-4610

===

In the News...

Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe may be out the door but the sweet cakes bearing his image are hot commodity.

Sno:la @ Beverly Hills

2007-09-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

Forgive the meltiness. On my lunch break today I ventured to Beverly Hills to kill two birds with one stone: 1) pick up my Nike Run Hit Remix packet at Niketown and 2) check out Sno:la, the latest fro-yo shop to hit town. Each task was a complete nightmare since it was hot out and everyone seemed to be on the same mission. Eventually I wised up and found parking in a public lot a few blocks away, ran over to Niketown, grabbed my complimentary shirt and then ran over to Sno:la a few blocks further on Beverly Blvd.

If you were like me, you found yourself very intrigued by Daily Candy's email newsletter this week featuring a colorful picture of pink yogurt topped with chocolates and raspberries. Words like "wolfberry" and "toasted coconut" got my imagination racing and it didn't occur to me until later on that this could very possibly be just another Pinkberry-wannabe. That's the last thing this city needs.

Once inside, I found myself surrounded by half a dozen Daily Candy loyalists, each girl asking for at least two samples before defaulting on chocolate. I stuck to one, a swirly mix of mango and pomegranate which was definitely more tart than Pinkberry. Hmm, do I really need any more tartness in my life? It's questionable. But anyway, I was already there so I might as well get something. My initial assessment of the place is that if the actual yogurt doesn't appeal to you, their toppings will. They're far more gourmet than most other places. I topped my mango with sweet, soft and toasty bits of caramelized almonds, which tasted even better than it looked.

I left my camera in the car so I ran back right away. With my left hand on the wheel, I zoomed onto Wilshire Blvd., dodging tourists and other crazy drivers taking pictures of their food in the car. As soon as I got to a red light I focused the camera on my rapidly melting fro-yo. *Click*

Well, not the greatest picture, but I give myself credit for at least not rear-ending anyone.

Sno:la
244 North Beverly Dr.
(310) 274-2435

Shinsengumi Festival @ Gardena

2007-08-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

The blistering heat in Los Angeles kept me in air-conditioned rooms for most of the summer, so this was the first weekend I ventured out to the last of SoCal's string of seasonal Japanese festivals. Shinsengumi, a yakitori restaurant in Gardena, held a very tasty event in their parking lot and along with plenty of grilled eats and icy beverages there was plenty of dancing and merriment to go around throughout the evening.

Rameniac picked up this rare item, a kiwi-lemon flavored Calpis. Of course, Calpis is the same as Calpico, everyone's favorite pseudo-yogurty drink. ("Calpis" just doesn't sound to appetizing to most Americans.) Apparently, it looked better than it tasted.

I heard the tonkotsu ramen ($5) on sale was especially good but when I got to the booth it was already sold out. Boo~ So I settled for a plate of yakisoba. Could have used some crunchy burnt pieces but, heck, I jogged earlier in the day and I was starved.

A group of us combined our piggy bank money and bought a handful of chicken skewers (10 sticks for $15). This time we weren't deceived. They were juicy and delightful.

And then came the squid pieces with its beautifully turgid tentacles. It's usually doused with a mixture of soy sauce, sake and mirin and then grilled over an open flame. One of the legs tried getting away but I stabbed him with my chopstick just in time.

Japanese festivals are free and open to the public, though few people outside the community seem to know about them. But maybe that's their intention? After all, Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood was doing perfectly fine until hipsters (i.e., anyone outside the ethnic enclave) caught wind of their Sunday food fest and started coming over in droves. Then the neighborhood had parking issues, and now the temple has decided to cancel the festival altogether. So if you don't mind, I'd like to keep this one to myself and the hundreds of other people there. Though if you're so inclined, you can pick up the info in one of those magazines sitting outside Sawtelle's Nijiya market.

In Other News...

Survey Shows Americans Just Keep Getting Fatter (8/28/07)
Japanese Love Their Mayonnaise (8/17/07)

Rose Cafe @ Santa Monica

2007-08-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve been away for a little while, mostly because I was on a week-long colon cleanse program. (Appetizing, I know.) I’ve always wanted to do it, but wasn’t up for starving myself. So I found a program where I could eat normally and take a mineral supplement five times a day for a week. I’ll get into the gross details here.

I blame the colon cleanse on my moodiness as of late. Or maybe it’s just the rag. When I sat down with my grandmas in the patio section of the Rose Café over the weekend I was so bothered by the oversized plastic chairs that I started taking pictures.

Why can’t chairs cater to the 5-footers of the world? It’s not fair that the 'under-tall' must keep their feet hanging or struggle to maintain balance by searching for a random foothold. Chairs are built with back support, but if you can’t even reach it what’s the point? Rose Café’s chairs are actually your standard-issue ones they probably got from Home Depot, so I don’t blame them particularly. I blame America.

With that said, the café is one of my favorite brunch/lunch places on the Westside. The place is bifurcated into a restaurant and a deli counter with open seating. Tourists and locals alike swarm the place on any given weekend, so I like to head straight to the counter for a sandwich/salad combo. It's ready in 5 minutes and there’s always a table for you.

In the 7-plus years I’ve been coming here I realize it’s hard to go wrong. Some of my favorites are the caprese sandwich – fresh water mozzarella, basil and sliced tomatoes stuffed between some of the freshest bread in LA – and the salmon Florentine – a mixture of salmon, spinach and roasted tomatoes in a puff pastry. The deli salads are mostly good and the desserts are even better. I’m a fan of the bread pudding.

The café is open for breakfast but I wouldn’t bother going until 11:30 a.m. when the deli counter opens for full service. My grandmas and I were there at 10 a.m. last Saturday so we decided to take a seat in their restaurant. The food is just as good – just a few dollars more.

I tried the frittata, the Italian style open-face omelette. It came with a choice of potato hash or fruit. Of course, all the LA-ites around me chose fruit. Come ‘on people. Just work it off at the gym! Well-seasoned and pan-fried to a reasonable crisp, the hash was an excellent choice if I must say so. The omelette was just as tasty with roasted eggplant, roasted peppers, tomatoes, basil, and topped with crumbled goat cheese.

My grandmas shared the eggs benedict, lightly nestled over two hot, fluffy English muffins. I didn’t try it, but they seemed pretty happy with it.

Rose Cafe is a stone's throw away from the beach, so it's nice to walk over after lunch. Conveniences like this make me happy to be living near Santa Monica. Don't you wish you were here too?

The Rose Cafe
220 Rose Ave. Venice, CA
(310) 399-0711

It's all in the packaging

2007-07-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

Ever bought something just because the packaging was cute? I do it all the time. Especially with Japanese goods. I see something with Hello Kitty on it and bam~! I just gotta have it. Though it's not so much the kitten as it is design and color. Like that lychee Calpico at Famima was just begging to be bought. Good thing I have will-power.

Cool product design was what also attracted me to Otokomae tofu last week at Nijiya market. The first shipment had sold out, so when I went back for their second shipment I stood in front of the refrigerated section for a good 15 minutes just admiring the packaging. There's about 5 different types of tofu all described as being creamy-smooth. So I randomly picked out two packages and made them my next two meals. Mind you, these guys aren't cheap. They range from $4 to $6 a pack.

The salesman recommended not using the tofu in miso soup. Pour some honey on it and eat it as-is, he suggested. Hmm, that's just plain weird. Never have I had tofu with something sweet. Sounds like a strange American concoction. But I did as he said, and you know what? It was pretty good.

It's certainly creamy. Like eating Japanese cheesecake without the sugar. The above one is called "Kaze ni fukarete tofu-ya Johnny," which translates as "Johnny, the Tofu Maker Blown by the Wind." Say what?! Exqueeze me? Baking powder?

The next day, I tasted one made from black soy beans grown in Hokkaido, Japan. It was called "Otokomae Black" but was emblazoned with the Chinese character for man. It had a more rustic flavor to it. I never imagined eating tofu right out of the tub, but there I was scooping into it bit-by-bit. It had me going but I did get a little bored after a while and added some ponzu sauce. And then I dumped it in some miso soup. Later I realized it really is best eaten in the raw.

I told a coworker about Otokomae and he started scratching his head wondering what all the hoopla was about. Meiji Tofu shop in Torrance has been hand-making its own tofu for years, so how is this product any better, he questioned.

Simple answer: Product design.

Handsome Tofu @ Nijiya market

2007-07-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

I stopped by Nijiya over the weekend and found signs all over the store advertising Otokomae Tofu, which has been immensely popular in Japan for its smooth, rich flavor. It was already sold out and the next shipment won't arrive until this Friday, July 20.

I'm very curious about it since it's supposed to have a consistency similar to cheesecake, which makes me think it's like a dessert. But then again I'm sure they're just saying that to appeal to the average American, who'd rather have dessert than a block of mashed soy beans. More than anything, these guys have a very unique ad campaign, tying it with retro '70s mascot characters and funky Japanese rock music. You can find the characters dancing on their homepage and there's a very long-winded story which supposedly explains their product, though I think it's just a randomly written story about nothing.

"Otokomae" is a funny name for a product since it means "handsome." So~ if you eat it you'll grow bigger balls? A hairy chest? Yikes...

Gonpachi Revisited

2007-07-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

Considering the recent bad press on Gonpachi, it'd be easy to move on to other places. But on the occasion of my grandma's birthday I knew it'd be the perfect venue. Why? Despite their hit-and-miss menu and the awkwardness of non-Japanese speaking waitstaff, she and my grandpa could appreciate the $18.5 million atmosphere.

Soon as we got there, they gawked at the rock garden and stared at the man rolling out soba dough in the foyer. (In fact, a whole crowd of Japanese customers congregated and started talking about the 'good 'ol days.') Once we sat down, they pointed to the ceiling at a fixture shaped like a hyoutan (a traditional receptacle for liquids) and let out an amused "Heh." Then our cheery American waitress arrived with menus, welcoming us with an honest but mangled "E-RA-shy-ma-SAY!" The blunt juxtapose of East and West was odd ... but her smile at least showed she meant well.

My grandparents eat very simply so they shared a plate of sashimi (see above) and each had a plate of tempura. Mikey tried the sweet miso-marinated black cod (tara no saikyo yaki). I knew I wouldn't be paying so I didn't hesitate to order more than I could afford:

...a stick of tsukune (chicken meatball), (Yes, I'm cheating. ) I could kill for another one.

...a special Gonpachi croquette, two pieces of anago sushi,

... and a Spider Roll.

This was the only disappointment of the night. I know that deep-fried soft-shell crab is supposed to be hot, but I doubt the rice should follow suit.

Sometime during our meal, I witnessed a tense exchange between a waitress and a runner/busboy, who inadvertently slammed one of our plates on the table. The Japanese waitress cautioned the man right before us. "Please... more gently." To which the man attempted to shift blame, saying, "But we're busy. You need to help us!" It made me laugh. Worker hierarchy is particularly stringent in Japan, so it's strange to see an exchange like that. Especially out in the open.

So now for the desserts. We shared two:

Chocolate cake a la mode, topped with a wafer-thin sesame crisp. Not bad.

And a strawberry and cream-filled dorayaki, which is like a semi-sweet pancake. It was branded with the name of the restaurant:

Since first visiting Gonpachi in April I've encouraged other Japanese friends to try it and see what they thought. The consensus? Better and cheaper versions of most dishes could be found throughout the treasure chest we call Torrance. And depending on what you eat -- I'm reluctant to give their soba a second chance -- the discrepancy between the decor and its food can be way too huge to digest.

So my advice is to stick to the juicy skewers and other hot items, like the croquette and black cod. Though please, unless you're rich, don't come here if you're a big, hungry man looking for a heaps of meat and rice. Your stomach would be much happier stuffed with Korean BBQ further east on Wilshire.

Gonpachi
134 N La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 659-8887

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In other news...

Food blogs are so popular in Japan that publishing companies are making books out of them. The one on the left is by blogger Yummy.

China executes corrupt former food and drug chief here.
Blogger friend Himawari talks about cool Japanese drinks.

KyoChon Chicken @Koreatown

2007-07-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

"Yes, we sprinkle our chicken with crack!" That's what I expected the good people at KyoChon Chicken to say... well, if any of them actually spoke English. Mikey tried this Korea-based chain a few weeks earlier and couldn't stop thinking about it. It was mainly the garlic-infused batter that hooked him. It gives you stinky-breath and lingers on your fingers for hours, but completely worth it, he said.

The restaurant runs a modest operation in a strip mall on 6th St. in the heart of Koreatown. The entire place fits no more than 20, but even if you get a seat bring your Nintendo DS because you'll be waiting a while. They abide by a slow-cook method where they deep-fry the chicken, remove and cool down, then deep-fry again. What results is a savory piece of chicken wrapped around crispy-thin skin. They don't tell you what's in the batter except for soy sauce, garlic "and 20 different ingredients" but there's got to be something illicit in there. Meth?

We ordered the $15.99 KyoChon whole chicken, which must have been hard to wrangle from the farm because it took them a good 30 minutes to bring it out. Next to us, a couple of punk kids were crying out their lungs and two girls seated after us had already gotten their order. Were we supposed to know the secret password? No matter. Every order comes with a basket of pickled white radish which held us over ... for a good 5 minutes until we darted the evil eye at the prepubescent waiter. Still not quite sure he spoke English or not.

The whole chicken is actually chopped up into bite-sized chunks, bone and all. We dug right in and didn't stop until the basket was empty. The rest of their menu of miscellaneous chicken parts looked pretty good, too: soy/garlic seasoned wings, legs, hot wings. They also throw chicken bulgogi, cheese sticks, French fries, and spicy chicken and rice cakes onto the menu, but I think that's just for the sake of variety. This is obviously a fried chicken joint. It'd be like ordering a salad at a steak house.

KyoChon Chicken
3833 W. 6th St.
LA, CA 90020
(213) 739-9292

NY Times raves about Korean chicken here.

===

In other news...

Local blogger Himawari talks about Japanese candy here .

Who invented the California Roll? Some guy in California, of course!

Back in May, 110 of Japan's most sunbaked-ladies, a.k.a. gyaru, took to the streets of Tokyo to promote carrying one's own pair of chopsticks around whenever you eat out. What the heck?~! Yeah, well, basically, China recently imposed a tax on wooden chopsticks to help curb deforestation. Japan loves passing out chopsticks whenever they can, but now that generosity will have to stop. So after a hedonistic night of clubbing, these lovely ladies were rounded up to compel others to become better citizens of the Earth. You know you want to see this.

3 Square Cafe @ Abbot Kinney Blvd.

2007-06-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

Breakfast at 3 Square Café should be the first order of any leisurely weekend. It’s a corner cafe on Abbott Kinney Blvd. that’s both health-conscious (fresh-squeezed OJ, organic Heinz ketchup), accommodating, and just plain tasty.

That’s where grandma and I inhaled mouthfuls of hot apple pancakes and chicken hash last Saturday morning. Given we were at a hip Westside neighborhood at a peak brunch hour, I was very lucky to: 1) find storefront parking and 2) have the maitre d’ take one look at us and immediately usher us to a large communal dining table near the kitchen. Though that might just be the power of having frail ‘ol grandma by my side.

Chef Hans Rockenwagner opened this third dining installment earlier this year, infusing a little bit of the homeland into the menu with grilled weisswurst, German-style pancakes with creme fraiche, Bircher muesli, Bavarian breakfast meatloaf with eggs and a soft pretzel roll, and much more.

It was my first visit here, but I’m a sucker for glass-encased sun-lit cafes and just one bite of Rockenwagner’s apple pancake sent my taste buds soaring. Topped with cinnamon and sugar, it’s both crispy on the outside and hot and fluffy on the inside, never to leave you bored. Mix in the crème fraiche and you’ll find yourself savoring your dish until they’re calling ‘last order.’

Grandma and I also shared the chicken hash – bit-sized pieces of everyone’s favorite white meat stir-fried with mushrooms, peppers onions, basil and topped with two very beautifully poached eggs. It was a bit light on the seasoning but still a great savory companion to the pancakes. I’ve always been a fan of balance.

The closest I’ve been to Germany is the Swiss Alps so I really can’t vouch for authenticity, but this is definitely a place I have a little crush on right now, which really doesn’t happen often.

3 Square Cafe
1121 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, California

(310) 399-6504

2007-06-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

Chef Rocco DiSpirito Wants to Cook with YOU in YOUR KITCHEN!
If you are planning an important meal or want to share a significant moment over
food, then A&E and celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito can solve your cooking emergency!
Invite Rocco into your kitchen, and he will teach you what to cook, where to find
the ingredients and how to prepare the ideal meal for your special occasion.
• Are you planning a big announcement?
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• Are you celebrating a major life event?
• A soldier’s homecoming or a reunion?
• Want to reveal your dramatic weight loss?
• Do you need to impress someone or tell someone that you’re
sorry?
A&E is looking for people in the Los Angeles area who need Rocco’s
help.
To apply for the show, email CookWithRocco@gmail.com and include
your name, age, phone number, a recent photo and tell us why you need
to cook with Rocco. Or call our casting hotline 818-752-5559.

Make Your Own Yakitori!

2007-06-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

It was a case of 'monkey see, monkey do' after reading last Wednesday's LA Times write-up of do-it-yourself yakitori. So on Saturday I headed down with grandma to Marukai in Torrance to buy a yakitori grill and a slew of meat and vegetables. Once we were in the store, I got so excited I ran off to the kitchen appliance section leaving my grandma coughing in the dust. I described to the nice Filipino stock boy what I wanted and he pointed to a nearly empty shelf. Apparently the other LA Times readers beat me to it. =(

There was still a foot-and-a-half-long ceramic grill left for 50 bucks, so I snatched it before anyone else could. Then I grabbed a few packs of sliced pork belly, chicken breast (they were out of thigh), shishito, juicy Arabiki sausage and a few stalks of green onion. Just in case this project completely backfired, I wanted to keep it simple. Of course the all-important ingredient is the Japanese charcoal or binchotan ($6 at Marukai). I'm not one to say just how well it stands up to American charcoal but if you're making Japanese BBQ you might as well do it right.

Compared to lighting the fire, preparing the skewers was easy. Just cut the chicken into bite-size morsels and marinade them for at least 30 minutes in a mixture of sake (2 tbs.) , mirin (2 tbs.), soy sauce (2 tbs.), dashi (3 tbs.) and sugar (1 tbs). ( I don't recommend LA Times' recipe. Ya need a 'lil sugar in there.) Here's some skewer varieties I tried:

1) Sliced pork belly wrapped around raw asparagus (above)
2) Chicken morsels and green onion
3) Arabiki sausage
4) Shishito

If you want a sauce to coat the cooked skewers then just mix a little cornstarch with cold water, add it to the marinade and heat it up in a pot to thicken.

***

(@_@); =>

Lighting the charcoal was a big challenge considering I don't have a backyard kiln or even a metal trashcan (Though I did think of borrowing one from the neighborhood homeless guy). I'd be a horrible arsonist, but I'm sure the fire department would be happy about that. Actually I take that back. They would have scolded me had they known I was burning coal on a stove.

The whitened sticks turned a fiery red so I tossed them into the pit. Mikey kindled them with an electric fan. Carbon monoxide poisoning isn't my ideal method of death so I kept the windows wide open.

It took over an hour to get the coals started but once they did it was smooth sailing from there. The sausage and pork belly's fatty oils dripped onto the charcoal sending up a savory stream of smoke. That's what helps flavor the meat, so as much as I wanted to jump-start the fire with lighter fluid I knew it would have ruined the entire meal.

When you think about it, it's strange to have a hot fire going in the middle of summer heat. But for some reason, this is the season for barbecues -- so bust out the beer and fire up the coals.

Personally, I hope to enjoy a soft serve ice cream cone this summer. That's all I really ask for. Well, that and a juicy stick of pork belly. =)

====

Lactose Intolerance Log:

I'm nearly done with my non-dairy experiment. I'm documenting my experience of going 38 days without dairy here. (Warning: Log contains explicit details of abdominal discomfort.)

colon cleanse

2007-06-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

What: Dr. Schultz's Colon Detox

The supplement: It's like a shot of highly-concentrated wheatgrass, five times a day. You can mix it with juice or water but it takes vigorous shaking to dissolve it. Be wary of thick, nasty clumps.

Cost: $60

Day one: Slight abdominal discomfort. Normal bowel movement.

Day two: 5 dumps. Each one chunky and green like the color of the supplement.

Day three: 3 dumps. Felt nauseous after drinking so much water to wash it down.

Day four: 3 dumps. A-okay.

Day five: Aborted mission after I realized I probably didn't have much else hiding in my colon. The program is geared especially toward those with chronic constipation, that which I have the opposite of. Still, I was fairly happy with the program because maybe for the first week in my life I experienced no post-food stomach pains. And I maintained solid, floating poo.

Urth Caffe @ Beverly Blvd.

2007-06-11T23:19:00.001-07:00

Forget Starbucks. If you're craving tea that teeters between bitter and sweet then sip on Urth Cafe's "Japanese Blessing" latte. It's a fancy title for matcha powder tea which is used traditionally in tea ceremonies. Usually I can't stand matcha because of its extreme bitterness, but this is a far milder version.

I was happy that they were able to substitute milk with soy. They even shape the foamy top into a cute little design. (^_^)

Urth Caffé - Beverly Hills
267 S. Beverly Drive.
(310) 205-9311

---

Lactose Intolerance Log:

I'm on the last leg of my non-dairy experiment. I'm documenting my experience of going 38 days without dairy here. (Warning: Log contains explicit details of abdominal discomfort.)

Kan Izakaya @ Torrance

2007-06-01T00:04:00.001-07:00

I'll have to blame my lactose-free regimen cause I'm in a nutrient-deprived haze at the moment. All I can think of now is cheese and how much I miss it. Last night I went to an all-you-can-eat Italian food and wine fest held by Wine Expo. I consumed a good share of reds and whites and turned a nice shade of pink in the process but when the food came out, well, you can only imagine how depressing it was to scrape off melted cheese from a brick oven pizza.

Last month, I visited one of Torrance's 10,000 gastropubs, Kan Izakaya. I'll have to admit that the most of the dishes failed to reel me in, but the interesting thing about this place is that they offer an array of regional ingredients like this one, Handa Somen of Tokushima prefecture:

In a drunken stupor, I tried getting the sushi chef (we were seated at the counter) to explain why this noodle was called somen when it obviously looked more like udon. I realize sometimes it's best to keep quiet and just enjoy a good thing while its in front of you. *My favorite of the night.

The buta kakuni also had an interesting twist to it. See the two dark blocks on the side? Yep, that's konyaku, a.k.a., Devil's Tongue. So it was part braised pork belly and part oden of sorts. Overall, a tad dry.

Potato salada in a foil. Ran out of plates, perhaps?

I'm drawing a blank on this one but it was a tasty appetizer of masago (smelt roe) and other chopped animals of the sea scooped onto a crisp potato chip. Hmm, okay maybe they did have plates.

Finally we decided trying the seafood pizza. It was the most westernized dish I could find on the menu. (Hey, why not?) Topped with bits of oysters, green onions, bonito flakes and shredded seaweed though without sauce nor cheese, it was like being in a desert with a lot of hot-looking people but no swimming pool. (Hah, what great metaphors I think of when I'm delirious!)

A definite plus for Kan is that they're open til about 1 am. Talk to the sushi chefs and they'll tell you about their nocturnal sleep schedule. They're actually a friendly bunch, especially when Rameniac is there to bond with them about regional ramen. Then it becomes a rave and rant fest. ...That's when you know you're in for a long night.

Kan Izakaya
2755A Pacific Coast Hwy., Torrance
(310) 530-7888

===

Lactose Intolerance Log:

I've started documenting my experiment with going 38 days without dairy while taking a powder called Lactagen which supposedly guarantees to cure my lactose-induced agony once and for all. Here it is. (Warning: Log contains explicit details of abdominal discomfort.)

---

In the News...

Kami no Shizuku (Drops of God), a manga comic series, gets Japanese people on a wine binge.

Remember the Japanese government official who proposed having a Sushi Police? Well that may not happen seeing that he recently hung himself.

A Cure for Lactose Intolerance?!

2007-05-23T23:32:00.001-07:00

Could it be? Could it really be?! A couple months ago I found a pamphlet which offered a cure for lactose intolerance. Details were a bit sketchy and the product isn't exactly FDA-approved yet, but like the optimist I am it nearly brought tears to my eyes to know a product like this actually exists. Of course, before mailing in the $150 check, I did some extensive Googling to see what kind of reviews it got. I also sought the advice of a doctor friend. Neither ended up dissuading me. Most reviewers thought the product worked for them more or less, and the doc said that it's definitely possible to reintroduce lactobacillus (which is what breaks down lactose) into your system, though it might not remain there forever.

So here I go. I've been lactose intolerant for about 9 years now and believe me, consuming milk, ice cream and cheese without all the nasty side effects would be a godsend.

It's a 38-day stint where I have to take a powder every day and forgo any sort of dairy product. That's the hard part. I'm a sucker for cheese and even though it gets me gassy for hours I live through it because I love it too much.

I'm about 5 days into it and so far, well, I'm hanging in. (Check out my diary here.) On the 35th day, I get to drink a glass of milk. Ooh~ how exciting. I don't remember the last time I did that. I'll report back on this 'lil experiment, but for the next month or so don't count on me filing away any pizza reviews.... or gelato... or creamy pasta. ~Sigh~

Check out my one-year update here!

Pizzeria Mozza @ Highland & Melrose

2007-05-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you're at a restaurant and people keep on staring at you and snapping pictures cause you're so damn Hollywood? You even have paparazzi waiting outside!

Honest to god, I was just trying to take a picture of the fennel sausage pizza covered with panna and sweet red onion, but well my camera slipped and whaddyaknow, two actors landed in the frame.

But really, the pizza at Mozza was so good it distracted me from stargazing for at least 5 minutes. Never mind the place gets so packed that it took a month to get an 8:30 pm reservation. Never mind, it took them a good 20 minutes to finally seat us. Wish I were almost as famous as the people around us. But no matter. Like the wedding crashers we are, we headed straight for the bar. I had a Sangiovese ($14). I was so hungry that one drop set me into happy delirium for the rest of the night.

Once we got to the table we looked around to see what everyone else was ordering. Antipasti dishes seemed popular but we decided to go with Nancy Silverton's trademark chopped salad. The vinegar came on strong at first but once your palate adjusts you really begin to taste all the ingredients that makes this salad special: sweet cherry tomatoes, garbanzo beans, pepper jack cheese, salami, and dozen other tidbits.

Then came the pizzas, one being the fennel sausage and the other ...

...being a Proscuitto di Parma with arugula, tomato and mozzarella. Basically, it was the same pizza as what we ordered at Il Chianti, but this being the real deal. Low moisture is key for good-tasting proscuitto. It just feels right as your teeth tear at it bit by bit. Each pizza crust was excellent too -- fresh and crispy. Anyone outside the U.S. would take those two qualities for granted. Not me. You gotta enjoy it while it's in front of you.

Aside from the yummy Owen Wilson, my favorite dish of the night was probably the fennel sausage pizza. At first, I didn't know what panna was. All I knew was that there was something so delectably sweet and creamy coating the crust. Well, apparently panna is the fatty, creamy substance that rises to the surface of milk. ...No wonder.

We ended the evening at Al Gelato, one of few dessert shops open til 11:30 pm. I popped my lactaid and ordered the mint chip. I never usually bother with the ice cream but I designated tonight as my special day to splurge on dairy, cause in the next few days I'll be going cold turkey. No milk, ice cream nor cheese for a month. 38 days to be exact. I'll explain more later...

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Pinkberry Not a Frozen Yogurt?!

2007-05-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

Kimi Yoshino just reported in the LA Times a lawsuit by L.A. resident Bryan Williams who contends that the powdered mix which Pinkberry uses in their dessert does not contain "good" bacteria cultures typically found in yogurt. Also, as defined by California's Food and Agriculture, Pinkberry cannot technically be classified as "frozen yogurt" because they mix their product in-store. (Apparently, the state requires frozen yogurt to be mixed off-site for reasons I'm unsure of.)

So okay, technically, Pinkberry may not be frozen yogurt in the eyes of California state law. The owner seems to have conceded to that much. But if this guy is accusing Pinkberry of not even using yogurt ...well, then he's gonna have a lot of 'splaining to do, unless I've suddenly been cured of lactose intolerance.

I mean, even though in my eyes Pinkberry has become yesterday's dessert I'll still stop by every now and then to have some because it's tasty and easy to digest.

No, actually let me just put it this way. If something contains even half a cup of milk I will succumb to gas and other things I will leave to your imagination. Yogurt, on the other hand, contains slightly less lactose, but more importantly includes the "good" bacteria called lactobacillus, helping to break down that which produces gas. It's what gives yogurt that sour taste.

I've been lactose intolerant for the past ten years so I've come to learn what makes my tummy ache. Pinkberry isn't one of them. And at times, it's actually relieved me of stomach pains after a dairy-heavy dinner. So if Pinkberry doesn't contain yogurt, well, I'll be very puzzled.

Because of this lawsuit, Pinkberry may be forced to reveal how they make their dessert drug. This could get interesting...

Il Chianti @ Lomita

2007-05-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

I'd heard a lot of good things about the Japanese-run Italian restaurant called Il Chianti. So maybe my expectations were running high when my girlfriends and I decided to check it out last Friday.

Yes, I admit, by default of it being part of a Japan-based chain I was very curious. Inside the restaurant was the stuff first-dates are made of — cozy seating, dim lights, natural decor, cordial waiters. The menu was just as inviting with a wide variety of antipasto, pasta, secondo and desserts to satisfy.

You're won't find much of an array of Japanese/Italian-fused concoctions. No natto-filled cannoli or ume-shiso pasta. Il Chianti is more of what you'll find sitting atop a fancy Tokyo high-rise — youshoku (Western food) finely tweaked for the Japanese palate.

Maybe it was just an off-day for them, but style prevailed heavily over substance. As wonderful as the menu sounded, most of what we ordered fell short of being great, and even got me reminiscing in my head about more flavorful times. We started off with a "house special" mixed salad which looked more like a $2-a-bag Trader Joe's medley. No toppings. Nothing. It came with homemade dressing — a light but rather salty, miso-based sauce.

Our 8-inch pizza was topped with prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato sauce and a mound of arugula, none of which really stood out from the other. The thin crust was crisp, but I've had far tastier prosciutto at French Market Cafe (and all through out Europe of course). Steer away from the gnocchi if you've ever had it homemade. There was so little bite that I thought my teeth had gone soft.

We also tried the homemade pasta with tomato sauce, garnished with thin slices of Parmesan. It was good in a thank-god-our-last-dish-didn't-suck kinda way.

After dinner, we sat around chatting and trying hard to take in at least $30 worth of ambiance. I'm not going to completely rule out Il Chianti. After all, how could over a dozen other online reviewers be wrong? So tell me readers, what was the best dish you've had at Il Chianti? Maybe if you do a good job of convincing me, I'll make a second trip back.

Il Chianti
24503 Narbonne Ave
Lomita, CA 90717

======

In other news...

LA Times contributor Linda Burum offers her own review of Il Chianti in Wednesday's paper. I need to correct her on the definition of youshoku ryouri, which doesn't mean "Japanese style western dishes." It actually just means "western cooking." So Il Chianti is really youshoku ryouri.

===

Speaking of Japanese-style pasta, here's a cute little commercial which was big in Japan last year. It shows two little tarakos (cod roe) singing a promotional song for a Kewpie brand pasta sauce. I need to get me one of those hats.

====

Justin.TV: I don't know why I enjoy watching some Asian dude with a camera on his head 24/7. I think I wanna just catch him taking a dump one of these days.