Love Stuffed

2010-05-17T18:17:00.001-07:00

WE HAVE MOVED TO: http://lovestuffed.tumblr.com
New blog, new styleee, new topics.

2010-02-28T02:59:00.000-08:00

Fleming's Steakhouse
8970 University Center Ln
San Diego, CA 92122

CHRIS: I must say, one of the most tender steaks I've had in a long while.

Environment: the interior of Flemings is very similar to all "expensive steakhouse" restaurants, its got the dim lights, the racks of wine, wood decor. Just the norm. Nothing really out of the ordinary that may strike you with a wow. I honestly think the lights were a bit too dim though, had a hard time taking any good photos without flash. overall for interior 5/10.

I decided to try the dinner set, which came with a choice of salad or lobster bisque (i got the bisque), filet mignon with lobster tail, green beans with mushrooms, Flemings potato, and an apple pie(?) dessert. I also got an order of mashed potatoes, because I love mashed potatoes, especially with a steak.

Lobster Bisque:
The lobster bisque was something very unlike what I've ever had before. It was EXTREMELY creamy, almost like the texture of whipped cream. The types I usually eat are more soupy. This was more like a light paste -- maybe like applesauce. Taste wise, it was just like every other lobster bisque I've had. I do admit, however, that I was liking this texture. I don't know why but it was really addicting despite it's lackluster characteristics. The lobster pieces were small and didn't require a lot of chewing, which was a plus. The thing that I disliked most about the lobster bisque was the large amounts of pepper, though I can't imagine what it would be like without the extra kick. Sherry, who can't handle spicy very well, also liked the bisque a lot but admitted to it kicking a little too hard for her. Lobster bisque always irritates my throat, and this one was no different. Overall for the Lobster Bisque 6/10.

Filet Mignon with Lobster Tail and Vanilla Butter:
The main course meal -- and I wasn't disappointed. Well, maybe a little disappointed about the size at first. When the waiter brought the food over to the table, I realized that the 6 ounces, was about the size of my fist. The lobster tail was roughly the same size even if the picture made it look larger by a lot. Of course, the fist size is about all you need for a proper serving of protein. But as an Asian kid, I was expecting something... bigger. However, after my first bite of the filet mignon? Wow, that small thing sure packed full flavor and hit my taste buds in all the right places. The mix of pepper and salt that crusted over the "skin" of the beef was mouth watering; it was the right amount of salty, while still retaining a beefy flavor, and the center of the filet was very tender. Part of me wanted to savor the piece as long as I could, and the other part wanted me to just shove another piece in my mouth. The lobster was alright, it was soft, and the vanilla butter (although I couldn't really taste the vanilla in mine) wasn't overwhelming the lobster taste. This is a plus, because I love the natural taste of lobster. But the main delight of the entree would definitely have to be the filet mignon. Overall for the main entree 8/10.

String Beans with Mushrooms:
Honestly, try to stay away from it. I didn't like it one bit. The string beans were pretty flavorless. Other than the glazed coating, which just tasted like a slightly salty butter glaze, the string beans were a bit burnt here and there and also flavorless. Mushrooms were good. Overall for string beans 3/10.

Fleming's Potatoes:
This would be good ... at another restaurant. It really didn't fit in with the steak and lobster feel. What it is, is cooked sliced potato with...a layer of cheese on it. It wasn't too bad, but it was overwhelming the steak by quite a bit. After eating a bit, I would have to rinse it down with some water, or else I couldn't taste the filet mignon. And it was a bit oily as well. Not much to say about this one. Overally for Flemings potatoes 6/10.

Mashed Potatoes:
Loved it. Although it tastes just like any other mashed potatoes out there, I myself just love it. and it always goes great with steak. But it was nothing special. Overall for mashed potatoes: 6/10

Dessert:
EH... My dessert was actually undercooked, and came out... raw? It was an apple..tart? But my crust was not crusty, and was hard to dig into with just a spoon. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some blueberries with two mint leaves. I told the waitress that it wasn't fully cooked and she threw it in the microwave... =_= which didn't make anything better.. just hotter. So I didn't particularly like it. The apples were hard instead of the soft with a slight crunch regular pies or tarts would have; my blueberries were hot because the waitress microwaved it. And the crust was just chewy instead of flaky and crunchy as I was expecting it to be. Overall for the dessert 3.5/10

Overall:
This place isn't too bad, I would highly recommend it for a place to go on a date. Just don't get the set dinner unless you're willing to eat those sides. But if you're going with friends for just a place to eat some steak, I would recommend going elsewhere. This place is pretty expensive; I had to pay about $65 for my meal. While I admit the steak is amazing, I could make a good steak at home for about $10. And I'm not all into fancy dinners as I think they're too steep a price for my poor college student wallet. Would I go back? Maybe if I were making good money, but not as a college student. So not anytime soon. Overall experience 7/10.

ANGELA: It was a good dinner, although a bit too expensive. All in all, I've had better.

It was a rainy Saturday night. My best friend Sherry had made reservations for three at the steakhouse in lieu of the special set menu created for "Friend's of Fleming's." I guess if you get on their mailing list, they email you a 'special' code to tell them when you make reservations. It was ~$50, but with gratuity came out to be $65/person. Very pricey, especially for the college student. I'm very grateful that I can afford these small luxuries once in awhile, if only to gain the ability to make comparisons of worth. I guess I'll review the place the way Chris did. It's not a bad structure.

Environment: Very dim; the mood lighting screamed 'suave' but it was a bit pretentious for me. The dark lighting did not go well with the loudness of the restaurant. On a scale of 1-10, the crowd in the restaurant combined to make a hefty 8 in terms of loudness. Of course, it was a Saturday night so a lot of people were out with families, friends, and lovers. Like Chris, I didn't like that I had to use flash to take pictures of the food. And using flash seemed pretty inappropriate at this restaurant so I was unable to document my Saturday night. Nothing too special. Overall: 4/10

Service: Because the place was pretty pricey and "upscale," I expected some pretty good service. Despite the fact that Sherry made reservations, we had to wait for a little over 10 minutes while staring at a couple of empty tables. Too many people and too little staff, I suppose. I was disappointed but I won't make a big deal out of it, considering how attentive (and obviously tip hungry) our waiter was. In terms of the waiter(s), they were a bit .. over-attentive. They seemed very eager to clear our appetizers and "refill" by switching soda that was only half done. Kind of wasteful, but I've always been sensitive to people throwing away food. If you want to see half a loaf of bread and some good cheese being tossed, then this is your place. Overall: 6/10

Sourdough Bread w/ 2 Cheese spreads: I love bread. I love cheese. The cheese spreads were really good. I believe one was a dill flavored cheese and the other one was sundried tomato cheese spread. Not sure what type. Possibly feta? We asked for this to-go but they didn't box the cheese. Pretty disappointed about that. I could get full off this if I didn't exert my self control. Overall: 8/10

Filet Mignon & Lobster Tail w/ Vanilla-Infused Butter: I'm not going to lie -- when we first got our food, I was pretty disappointed at the portions. Yes, it was sort of expected but again .. I'm not used to this type of eating. However, this was a good example of my eyes being bigger than my mouth. By the time I got to my last bite, I was almost stuffed. I ordered my Filet medium-cooked and it. was. perfect. I've never been to a place that cooked my steak exactly as I wanted (which is why home-cooked steak is always my preference). But this Fleming's place got it exactly the way I wanted. Crispy, salted, and glazed on the outside; no burnt parts. Moderately chewy, soft, and pink directly inside the top layer. It nearly melted. Every bite was savory. I was very happy, though I wished it was a bigger size. The lobster tail was .. a lobster tail. Nothing too special about this, except that our waiter removed the meat from the shell for us. The Vanilla-infused Butter was a bit funky for me, so I chose to eat the lobster au naturel. Is that how you say it? Anyway -- the entree was pretty good. In considering the flavor and portion size of the main course, the frugal me would still give it an... Overall: 8/10

String Beans + Satee Shitake Mushrooms: Well, I do love my vegetables. And mushrooms are my favorite vegetable. So, I liked this. It was just an appetizer, so I wasn't expecting much. Just the usual garlic butter type thing going. A bit on the greasy side, but the mushrooms were amazing. That may be due to its natural goodness, but either way I liked it. A bit lackluster for such a fancy restaurant, though. Overall: 6.5/10

Fleming's Potatoes: This side dish was basically baked scalloped potatoes topped with a thick layer of cheese. Very buttery, very cheesy. Unlike Chris, I particularly liked this dish. It was probably second to the Filet in my favorite's of the meal. It tasted just like it looked. Thick, savory, rich, and potato-y. I really like any potato dish though because I'm a starch monster (bad for my diet). True, this dish overwhelmed the flavors of the steak. By itself, though, it was very good. I would not serve this as a complementary dish to steak&lobster, though. Belongs on the Thanksgiving table, and if it were, I would eat it all. Overall: 7/10

(the Vanilla-infused Whipped Cream)

Mashed Potatoes: Normal, mashed potato side dish. Nothing special and not worth the price. I was expecting something a little more special. Maybe garlic? Maybe a little more fluffy than usual? Perhaps fried to make a crispy layer? Nope, none of those. I love potatoes, but considering how average this dish was in such a high-end restaurant, I won't be rating it too high. Just straight up mashed potatoes. Some may enjoy the simplicity of the dish, however. Overall: 3/10

Apple Crisp Tart w/ Vanilla Bean Icecream and Blueberries: I have a separate stomach for dessert. Unlike Chris, I received a fully cooked delicious tart. I'm not very good at rating this stuff though, since anything sweet is basically an A+ for me. I really liked how it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. The filo dough they used for the crispy crust was light and flaky. The apple pieces were well caramelized. The vanilla ice cream was .. vanilla icecream. The blueberries were a good slightly sour complement to all the sweetness. I think it was the ice cream and the blueberries that kept the dessert from being overwhelming on the sweet scale. With this dessert came a Vanilla-infused Whipped Cream. That's right. Whipped cream that tasted like Vanilla. Very light and fluffy, but I'm not really a whipped cream kind of girl. Occasionally, I'll put it on my strawberries. But they gave us a pretty large portion of it and I didn't know what to do with it. It was lightly sweetened and had a good vanilla flavor to it. Because I was impressed by the innovative vanilla whipped cream and I love dessert .. Overall: 7.5/10

So, the overall average (counting all side dishes as 1) came out to be a whopping 8.3. Yeap, this looks to be pretty correct. Lackluster, but the entree and starter were good. And also, it was fun going on a date with my best friend and boyfriend. I don't think I would recommend Fleming's though. I would recommend the Stinking Rose in Hollywood, however. But that's because I'm a sucker for prime rib and garlic butter. Till next time~!

Chris, Me, Sherry
(Isn't it weird how we look so alike?)

Chef John's Fish & Chips

2010-01-21T11:29:00.000-08:00

8047 Broadway
Lemon Grove, CA 91945
(619) 465-7060

Angela: Right after I completed my finals last quarter, I decided to stay in San Diego for a few days to relax and relish in my independence. I slept in, I stayed out, and my boyfriend came to visit. For some reason, we had the biggest craving for fish and chips. We had gone to the all-American "The Studio Diner," located next to an actual filming studio, but found that its beer batter fish&chips was way too heavy and greasy. So we were largely unsatisfied and continued our search for the best fish&chips in So.Cal (because SanFran was too far for immediate satisfaction). We found our way through Yelp recommendations and ended up at Chef John's Fish & Chips.

The Korean-family owned restaurant was .. well not spectacular in its image. Being Asian, however, I've never found the look of a place to be very important to the quality of the food. As you can see from the pictures, the portions are fairly large. The price is OK -- not too expensive, but definitely not cheap (its seafood!). As pictured, the condiments they offer are tartar, ketchup, and cocktail sauce. These are kept refrigerated and served with the food. Not pictured, but located on the table, were salt&pepper and malt vinegar. I particularly enjoyed using the malt vinegar and cocktail sauce. The tartar sauce was a bit strong and grainy and gets to be a little too much and over powering. Which leads me to the actual food itself.

This was a pretty untraditional fish&chips. It's not beer battered, but its still deep fried. I think, however, they use a very light batter or coating because it resembles a thick tempura texture. From the menu, I ordered the combo of fish, oysters, and chips (fries). The white fish was fresh and did not taste frozen at all, which I particularly liked because frozen seafood is NOT tasty at all. Although the portion was not as large the The Studio Diner's, it was definitely better in quality and satisfaction. The oysters were GOOD. I usually prefer oysters on the half-shell (which is raw), but the fried oysters were surprisingly .. tasty! It reminded me very much of a Jalapeno Popper: soft and melty on the inside, light and flaky on the outside. The oysters were definitely savory. Yum~! Like I said, I would not recommend the tartar sauce with these because the thickness and creaminess overpowers the light and flaky fish&chips that they serve here. Go with cocktail sauce, or salt/malt vinegar. Without sauce, the fish&chips already carried its own flavor. It was not fishy, but it was definitely seafood. It was not greasy, and it didn't leave my mouth with that filmy feeling I usually get with battered fried foods. I left full and satisfied (warm fuzzy feeling)which was nice on (what I remember to be) a rainy day.

Rating: 7/10

Chris:Right off the bat. I think that this is one of the best fish and chips I have had THUS FAR. seeing as I've only eaten at about three different places total (one being that Diner place Angela mentioned. which IMO tasted horrible). But lets start off with the experience. As you may have heard, Angela and I had this HUGE craving for fish and chips. We tried the diner, but seeing as how it wasn't any good, our cravings weren't fulfilled. We searched on yelp and had found Chef John's Fish and Chips, and we decided that this was the best option, since it had said Fish and Chips right on their name so they must specialize in it.

We traveled a good twenty minutes I believe, to get into Lemon Grove which, in my honest opinion, looked like an inexpensive version of Rodeo Drive/Old Town Pasadena. No offense to the locals, just a feeling I got from driving to Chef John's for the first time. Once we got to Chef John's it had looked pretty empty, and I thought to myself, "this place must not be that good," but seeing as how we got this far, might as well give it a shot.

Inside, it looked just like a McDonald's or any fast food joint, with its white walls, colorful plastic chairs, random pictures of random things, soda fountain, and a menu that hangs above the cashier. I glanced over at the menu, and was kind of suprised as to the variety of choices they had. I was only expecting, fish and chips, and maybe like fish burgers, or any other alternatives with fish in it. But these guys were fully loaded! They had clams, oysters, shrimps, scallops and a few other menu items i didnt even know what they were. and their appetizers weren't just fries or cole slaw either (trying hard to remember what they had, but this was a long while back.. so, sorry xp). I decided, why not try a little bit of whatever I can grab without going broke. So I got the Seafood Combination, consisting of Fish, Scallops, Oysters and Fries. They brought it out in little red baskets with paper on top. My guess is they don't want to clean too much and seeing as how it's a small business, I can understand BUT it clumped everything together and was kind of hard to just eat one thing without having to move things around. We also received 3 squirt bottles with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, and ketchup. Friendly service as well, even if the cashier's english wasn't so good. But hey, as long as they know what I wanted and was nice about it, that's all that matters. ONWARD TO THE FOOD

By the way, my scale works as a scale from 1-10, 1 being WTF DID I JUST PUT IN MY MOUTH DX, 5 being Decent, not too good, not too bad and 10 being OMFG I WOULD HAVE IT AGAIN RIGHT NOW.

The fish was decent, I mean I wasn't expecting it to be full of flavor and spices, but it wasn't as good as McDonald's Filet o Fish. Tartar Sauce does taste best with it in comparison to the other sauces. Biting into the fried fish was like biting into a tempura. It had a soft flaky but crunchy texture to it with a slight hint of fish flavor. While the fish was kind of bland, it was a lot better than the Diner that's for sure. Oerall for the fish. 6/10

The shrimp was pretty good. Kind of like something you'd find at a Red Lobster, except bigger and with an asian feel to it. I was given three. Biting into it was kind like biting into the fish, except tasting like shrimp. Its not as hard and crunchy like the fried shrimp from Red Lobster and it wasnt as thin crusted as a shrimp tempura. I think it was just right. tasted best with the cocktail sauce, although ketchup worked as well. overall for the shrimp. 7/10 (what can i say.. its shrimp)

Seeing as they only gave me two scallops, and I gave one to Angela, I can't remember too well as to how it tasted. My best guess as of now.. like fried scallop. Overall for the scallops 4/10 just for the amount.

I have saved the best for last, OYSTERS! Now yes I am biased towards oysters, because it is one of my most favorite seafood, but the oysters here were pretty darn good. from the looks of it, it looked like a fried piece of oyster, with a thin crust of batter. but biting into it was a whole different story. It was like someone pulled the pin to a water balloon bomb and shoved it into your mouth. My eyes actually watered, not because it was THAT good (but it was pretty darn good), but because all the juices flowing out of the oyster was pretty hot and unexpected, so warning there. Flavor wise, if you dont like the flavor of oysters, this isn't for you. But if you love it, like me, this was absolutely delicious. it tasted fresh and just like how an oyster should taste, not like they marinated it in salt water. How they kept the moisture inside, is beyond me. But it was so good! I had to refrain from just eating it all right there before finishing the rest of my food. best without any sauce. Overall for the oysters 8.5/10

Overall, Chef John's fish and chips was pretty good. I would go back, if I didn't live in Pasadena and had to drive about two hours just to eat it. But if i was around the area, and craving decently priced fried seafood (which i crave seafood a LOT) I would definitely stop by again.

Rating: 7.5/10

Life, as I know it.

2010-01-20T03:05:00.001-08:00

(Angela's Post)
As much as I would like to say I have lived life without regrets, it's not true. Actually, I probably have just about a hundred and some regrets that have occurred in my 20 (almost 21!) years of life. Sometimes .. actually, a lot of times, I dream about what might have been or what may be if only I had done such and such, or said such and so. Just now (when I should be studying for my 'clinical neuropsychology' class), I was zoning out into my kind of distant past. And I realized, I spend a lot of time thinking about the past and doing a lot of wishful thinking. Instead of trying to go back to change things, maybe I can start from here. Right now. Say sorry to the people that deserve it, say thank you to those I did not thank, and tell certain people the stuffs I had always wanted to say (but didn't dare to say it). Come tomorrow, however, I'll be so swamped with school and work that I'll have to live another day in regret. But wish me lucky anyway, dear reader.

Goodnight!

P.S. I'm going to try to stop hating San Diego and missing Los Angeles. I only have a 1.5 years left in this beautiful city and only now have I started to appreciate beachside living and a somewhat independence. What a shame.

my San Diego backyard. and my ugly feet.

From this Moment~

2010-01-12T00:36:00.000-08:00

Us: Together since December 17, 2006. Two Asian kids from Southern California. Brought together by love and bonded by our similar interests.

Her: From this moment on, I will be sharing this blog with my other half: Christopher. Or as I'd like to call him (in honor of our fooding), "Tofu." Why am I doing this? A couple of reasons actually. Firstly, to restart the engines on this sad untouched blog. Secondly, to inspire our "long distance" relationship so that it feels like we're doing things together when actually, we're quite apart for most of the school year. And last, but definitely not least, I want him to improve his writing skills. In tradition of this blog, we will be reviewing the same old, same old. Life and love, and all the things that fall in between. Food, fun, and friends. Just any shared experience that we have had together.

His: This is the first time I have ever done a food blog, but I will try my best to describe everything to the best of my knowledge since we usually do not get to reviewing until a few days after tasting the foods. Hopefully by then I will still remember the distinct flavors of each dish. Hope you enjoy!

What will our first review be together?

TO CHRIS: CAPITALIZE YOUR I'S NEXT TIME. So much for improving your essay writing skills!

City of Angel-a-s

2009-05-06T00:35:00.000-07:00

Home
Los Angeles, California

I noticed that I've pretty much only talked about food. Don't get me wrong. I love food and food loves me! We get along great and our relationship is pretty strong. (Recently not so much, but we're only on a break. Nothing to worry about, hopefully!) BUT, I entirely forgot the purpose of this blog. Love Stuffed? Well, it's about everything I love! All the things that fill me to the core with happiness and satisfaction. The tagline of this blog is "To live, love, and eat." I haven't even talked about the 'live' part yet. So, here we go. I'm going to take this time (in which I should be studying for my midterm) to convince you that Los Angeles may just be one of the greatest locations on Earth. Caution: Biased views due to author's subjective love for home sweet home.

If there's anything I hate more than skipping a meal, it would probably be people who don't live in Los Angeles claiming it to be their city. I know. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Right? I sound like some high and mighty, aloof "repper" of a city that I haven't entirely explored. You call me hypocrite. Well, maybe you're right. But this is my blog, so suck it! What really bugs me is when someone tells me they're from Los Angeles, but they actually live two hours away from it. At least live in Los Angeles County! That would be me. I live in the Los Angeles County and I have lived in it all my life. From Hancock Park to SGV to the Foothills, I have been a migrater within this diverse city. But diversity, I don't know much about. I've generally lived with an Asian population for the past 20 years, so I can't talk much about the diversity of Los Angeles. I can reiterate what a brochure tells you but I'm sure you could read that for yourself. What I CAN tell you from my personal experience .. well, you're going to have to keep reading.

So, what is it about LA that makes me love it so much? It's ridiculously hot in the summer and we don't have real winter holidays. People think we're bad drivers; we only care about the materialistic goods in store windows; we have a lot of poor areas; awful, awful traffic. All these things may be true! But there's so much to Los Angeles than the green and grey sky, the illegal immigrants, and ridiculous amount of shopping centers and areas. There's a culture in this little spot of the world, just as there is in any other little spot in the world. It's unique to the area, but what's even more special ... is that the even smaller areas within this spot have their own unique cultures. Hollywood, San Gabriel Valley, Sillicon Valley, the Foothills, Burbank. Where ever, you name it! Largely affected by the population within the area, each neighborhood boasts its own contributions to the City of Angels. So maybe a large portion of the contribution is the different styles of food, but I argue that inhabitants of LA can feel the noticeable difference within the atmosphere. It's hard to describe, but Pasadena feels a lot different from KTown, which is very different from Arcadia.

But I haven't really explained exactly why I love Los Angeles. What makes me drive home twice a month ($150!) from homesickness? Other than the fact that I currently detest my academic situation, my homesickness is due to the fact that my familiars are located there. I guess this is true for anyone who really loves going home then. But my social life at home is a lot more vibrant than the one I have here and I dare say than the ones a lot of other people have at their homes in North-north California. I don't want to give a detailed explanation of each love so I'll just make a comprehensive list of reasons. Less is more, right?

Mountains outside my door.
Church on Sundays
My family.
My boyfriend.
My friends.
KTown & Little Tokyo.
Valley Blvd.
Adventures with my boyfriends and friends.
Eating real food.
Making real food in a real kitchen.
Nightlife in 6 and on 7.
Tea places open past 11 pm.
Museums (California Science Center & Natural History Museum)
Fashion District
Freeways that have multiple connecting points.
Boyfriend's little brother. Cute as a button and sweet as a sugar cube.
Fashion21, except it closed down. BOO.
My house fridge, big screen T.V., and air condition. Summers are hot? Nah.
Fresh&Easy, Subway, Wing Stop, Mall within 5 minutes from house.
Huntington Drive.
Griffith Observatory
La Cienega
Broadway/Theater
Hollywood eats.

I'm sure there are more, but these are the things that come to mind first. This is a pretty stupid post, I know. It doesn't even review or say much about the city itself. But that's the thing about reviews anyway. You don't know until you've tried. And with a city? You don't really know until you've lived there (for a period of time)! So no matter how much I try to explain to a person from Nor.Cal how amazing Los Angeles is, they just shrug and say "nah, NorCal is hella coo. Bay Areaaa!" But I digress. If you want to experience the culture of anything, you have to fully submerge yourself into it. Eating Mexican food doesn't make you knowledgable about Mexican culture. Eating Chinese food doesn't make you in touch with the Chinese realm. You have to live it to know it. I have lived Los Angeles for twenty years and you know what? I'm still a newb.

Phillipe's

2009-05-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

Philippe The Original Restaurant

1001 N Alameda Street Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 628-3781

www.philippes.com

A while back (as in summer 08), I had the honor of experiencing a classic piece of Los Angeles. Forget Subway and Quizno's. Forget about Arby's French Dip (although I have to admit this is pretty tasty and affordable). This is the original -- the real deal. Maybe I'm being too dramatic but I've always been the nostalgic type. History? My favorite subject. Chinatown? I love the old run-down parts. Museums? Absolute must for me ... which reminds me: the first weekend of each month holds free admission to museums for all Bank of America customers. Lucky me, lucky me~! Back to the review. =) Well, imagine my bliss when my foodie-partner-in-crime reminded me that I still had yet to try Philippe, a classic sandwich joint in the heart of Los Angeles. I read this little tell-all in the newspaper once and it was in my heart since. And uh, what was there not to like about such a description? Any eatery with a history, that has lasted a century, deserves my absolute applause and admiration as well as my money. The place was built in 1908 for goodness sakes. Business come and go, but this one seems to be like a permanent establishment of the city. So here we were, my boyfriend telling me I had to try it. And try I had to since we were in the neighborhood. Doing what? Going to the California Science Center (free admission all the time) and watching IMAX movies about mummies and prehistoric dinosaurs. In the airconditioned comfort of a cool, dark theater. Yes, summer vacation is always grand .. despite the possibility of melting in the sun.

So we arrive at Philippe's and I recognize the area immediately. It's basically across from the main station of the Amtrak. Two blocks down is a Subway, whose business seems incomparable to the crowd that's packed into Philippe's. I am told that its always this busy and of course I'm impressed. We walked in and the only two things I remember of my 'first impressions' were: (1) big and simple space, almost like a cafeteria (2) it smelled and felt good. What do I mean by "felt good" anyway? There was something about being surrounded by fellow Los Angeles people and stepping into history. I was giddy but I kept my cool as I looked at the menu, the sides behind the cold-frosted glass, and the customers who were already shoving French dipped sandwiches down their throats. I'm pretty sure I was drooling. I felt like a newbie as I stepped up to the high counter and hesitantly asked how to order. Fortunately, the girl was friendly and gave me a description of what was popular, how to order, and how we would have to wait a bit until they called our numbers. I ordered the French Roast Beef Dip (single dip), a side order of potato salad (recommended by the bf), and ... lemonade for 70 cents?! As always, how could I resist such a deal? It was like Old Fashioned old fashioned! It's been awhile since I saw a drink for a legitimate-under-$1 (not like those 99cent "deals"). I was sold and I was shaking with anticipation. Yes, I get pretty excited about food, especially if I had been anticipating the visit for a long time!

After waiting just a little bit (it wasn't too long but specific numbers have fled my mind), we received our plate of food. It was lack luster but it didn't deter me from my excitement. The less fancy, the better. At least, this is my motto when it comes to food. (I am so hungry writing this right now.) And let me tell you, it was better. The 'jus' that the dip sandwich was in .. it was spectacular. It was savory of course, and had an intense taste that complimented yet flavored the sandwich itself. I usually don't like soggy foods (hence, the single dip) but I had to make an exception here. Maybe, just maybe, I'll go for a double dip next time. The size of the sandwich was underwhelming, but I was satisfied. Possibly the heat of a summer day and my constant summer food frenzy kept my hunger at bay. Now that I think about it, it was a pretty good sized serving. It was a proper proportion; I think we're all too used to supersized meals at fast food restraunts. America = make that supersized, for everything. Costco, anyone? After a bite of the sandwich, I went for the potato salad. I don't eat potato salad very often so I don't have much to compare it to, but the cold side tasted pretty good on a hot day. We put some sort of shake-shake on it (cajun, perhaps?). I don't recall the exact taste except 'peppery' (darn my laziness in blogging) but I would order it again, and probably get two servings. Foodie intuition tells me so. Ha. Ha. So after two bites of solid food, I sipped my lemonade. Iced cold lemonade on a summer afternoon -- need I say more? Folks, it was 70cents and worth every penny, nickle, dime, and quarter of it. I think the BF went back for a second glass. Basically, the meal was all around yummy. Reminiscent of picnic food in all its simple glory and satisfyingly satiating, the historical restraunt is not one to be passed on. If you are ever in the neighborhood, don't even hesitate to walk through the doors. Long line? You better wait because it's not going to get any shorter.

Alas, I will not be going home for another week. Blogging about these places really makes me miss Los Angeles. I mean, there are really great places in San Diego that I have yet to review. But, there's just something about good ol' home that tastes and feels better. Ya know? Well, I won't be having Philippe for awhile; it probably won't be until summer vacation again. I bought gift certificates from Restraunt.com for supercheap and I have to try those places first. ...I am so hungry right now!!!

Hurry Curry

2009-04-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

HURRY CURRY

37 S. Fair Oaks Ave
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 792-8474

www.hurrycurryoftokyo.com

Soo, I'm going to try to keep this blogging consistent from now on. Read: I will avoid doing my homework at all costs. Anyway, back in December during Winter Break, I went with my boyfriend (my partner in crime for all things, including food-tasting) to this little shack. Well, not so much a shack but a mid-level dining 'place.' I don't remember the cost, now that it's nearly five months later so I'm going to say (as according to Yelp): $$ depending on how much you get. An entree and drink will probably set you back about $10 including tip. Not too pricey but not cheap enough, but one must take into consideration the location, location, location. This particular one is in Old Town Pasadena and caters to the mass amounts of rich kids who live in surrounding areas. On with the review!

The BF and I went between lunch and dinner. We're always hungry so there's never a set meal time for us. Just FYI, we were expected to show up at a Jewish Latkah party about one hour after finishing up at Hurry Curry. He had been here before and rated the food "okay, pretty good." Let me note, then, that my boyfriend has pretty picky tastebuds. He will scarf down a burger from Mickey D's but critisize a steak from Ruth's Chris. I guess you can say he sets standards according to his expectations that come from the reputation of the restraunt. Hurry Curry isn't one of those gourmet places and it's definitely no drive-through. When I left, I also felt like it was "okay, pretty good."

On the flipside of the menu was a picture of 'authentic' Japanese school girls in their sailor uniforms (fuku???) enjoying each others' company. Despite my appreciation for the picture, I couldn't help but feel that this was a bit tacky and exploitative of the "Tokyo culture." This place was obviously one of those white-washed-asian-places catering to, dare I say it, white folk. This created a chain of thoughts that consisted of phrases like: small portion, lack of flavor, plain rice. This will be explained as I review the actual contents of my order.

I ordered the Tokyo Curry. It was highlighted on the menu! How could I resist? Highlighted always means house special, and I always love me one of those. On the menu, it is described as this: A mixture of ground beef and vegetables are combined to make this unique curry, garnished with hard boiled egg. This sounded alright; pretty average stuff. If you've ever had Japanese Curry, it tastes a helluva lot different from Indian and Thai Curry (which share more flavor in common, imo). At Hurry Curry, I was able to choose from a range of spiciness. Considering that this was not authentically Asian, I chose the "hot" option assuming it would be okay for my accustomed tongue. As our 'appetizer' that came with the curry, we had the usual Japanese style salad with the 'special' sauce that you can find at any Japanese restraunt. I thought it was very good actually. I'm a sucker for salads and tasty dressings. The curry was served in a bowl soon after and rice was given separately on a modern square plate. I was delighted with the smell and quite surprised by the appearance of my curry. I expected it to be a lighter brown, but I guess the extra spiciness created a darker hue. It didn't LOOK appetizing, but it sure smelled good. I followed my boyfriend's lead and pushed an indentation into the plate of rice with my spoon. Then I started globbing the curry over my rice. At first taste, I noticed how salty it was. I quickly adjusted the amount of curry in each spoonful, realizing the possible reason for such a large portion of rice. I would have preferred less rice and less salty curry actually. The egg that "garnished" the curry was yummy, but this might be due to my bias for eggs in general. The spiciness, as predicted, was not that spicy. So for all those who have had Schezhuan (sp?) cuisine, don't even trip. This place won't have your mouth burning, but it might have you gulping water [if you don't like rice] from the sheer amount of sodium. I don't think there's MSG, but I still felt thirsty afterward. I don't want to say this place sucks, because it really doesn't. I mean, they do offer you a truckload of rice for the meal, so when eaten in the correct proportion, the curry was "pretty good." I'd say this place is one of those hard to review kind of eateries. My friends have had mixed reviews here and it seems to be a hit or miss kinda place. Maybe they switch chefs often. I wouldn't mind coming back here again, but I haven't thought of it once in the past five months since my first visit there. It's one of those affordable places you go to because of its convenient location after a couple hours of foot numbing, wallet emptying shopping.

Boiling Point

2009-04-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

BOILING POINT

153 Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91755

(626) 288-9876

I can't believe it's been four months since my last review. I'm such a bad food blogger, but life has been harsh in thrusting me into the cages of death (school + work + bills, etc). All I want to do at the end of the day is stare at the ceiling. However, I've been to a couple of places lately that just cry out to be reviewed (despite my lack of readers). I suppose this blog is more for myself , my camera, and my memories than anything. Someday, when I'm 30 and doing a job that I don't want to be doing, I can go to this page and remember how much fun I had as a teenager. Which leads me to another point: I'm not a teen anymore! Well, at least, by name I'm not. I turned 20 recently; that's twen-ty, not twen-teen. Sad story. Anyway. . . no sad thoughts!

To get me back on track, I want to start by talking about a recent hitwall that I've discovered. Hitwall is a term I made up for hole-in-the-wall. I love these places. They're dirty, dingy, and delicious. I think the fear of cockroach legs kind of authenticates the eatery. But maybe that's just the Chinese side of me. While most of my peers are facebooking, I'm yelping. I go on Yelp all the time to find places to eat. And Boiling Point was one of them.

Two Fridays ago (I think?), I ditched my classes. Not only did I ditch them, I drove nearly 3 hours north from San Diego. What would normally be a 1.5-2 hour drive became a tedious, stop-and-go trip in rainy day weather, which became further worsened as I hit lunchtime/weekend Los Angeles traffic. BUT, I didn't mind knowing my destination would fill me with the happiness of home and good eating.

I met up with my boyfriend at a parking lot in Alhambra so we would only have to take one car. Good thing we did; all the parking is on the street or around the corner in a supermarket lot. When we arrived, I was expecting the smell to have me flat on my back (from what I've read). But it was far from that. It was a pleasant smell, meaning the stinky tofu would probably not live up to my expectations. But, I had to get the House Special Hot Pot (the stinky tofu hot pot) because that's what this place is known for. I ordered this, plus a plate of Pork Blood Gao (it's like a gelatin). This came with a free drink. All of this for $8.99 + $2.00 = $11 + Chinese tip ($1 and change).

In retrospect, the hot pot wasn't amazing at all. But at that moment, I think I was in heaven. Maybe it was the long drive. Maybe it was from being starved by school food (sandwiches and salad, 7 days a week, no variety). Maybe it was the thought of having traditional Taiwanese street food. Or perhaps, it was just being at a hitwall that made my meal so grand. I left full and satisfied. I didn't pay a lot; I was stuffed; I was warmed up to face the cold weather. And the taste? Well, it's basically meat and vegetable soup with various dipping sauces. So when you talk about hot pot taste, what you're really talking about is the sauce. Just the basic hot sauce and bean pastes, but I was still digging it. Even now, my mouth is watering a little just thinking about it.

It's a cozy little store. It's a good place for a date on an empty Friday afternoon. I'm pretty sure it gets rowdy here at night, consdering it's in the heart of Chinatown #2. No eatery in the area goes undiscovered. I'm glad I "discovered" this place. It's one of those places that personifies home for me. My friends at UCSD always ask me why I prefer home to school. Well? Good friends and good eating. =) They still don't get it, but they don't have to. One of those good friends from home once told me that what's important is: "As long as you're happy with what you're doing, and you're happy with the options or outcome, then I'm happy for you." Well, that's basically what he said. It came out as intoxicated gibberish at the time, but I knew what he meant.

UPDATE: My one and only reader commented that I didn't really make any reviews on the actual food itself. After reading over my blog, I find that this is true. My House Special Hot Pot was the Stinky Tofu Hot Pot. It had tofu, cabbage, pork, and various other hot-pot styled vegetables. I ordered "Zhong La" (that's medium spicy). The soup was flavorful, and I found myself spooning it over my rice time and time again. The soup was spicy and savory; it had a salty garlic taste with a hint of pepper. The "spiciness" was not immediate, as it usually is in Asian style hot pot. It was more of a gentle after-bite that left my lips puffy and tingly from the natural spice stimulation. The rice was good, as usual. I love rice with everything; I just can't have it all the time becaues of my diet. There wasn't anything particular about the rice, but it complimented the hot pot food and flavor nicely. The Pork Blood Gelatin was tasty. This was the real stuff, not some fake "nuo mi fan" stuff. I particularly liked the texture. Biting into it definitely had a hard-jello feel but it was smooth on my tongue. After being in my soup for a long time, a lot of the Gelatin accumulated some soup. By the time I got to my last one, I bit into a spicy and juicy, jello-like Pork Blood. This might sound gross, but I love it. It kind of tastes like liver. Oh! And also, the portions are generous! I stuffed myself silly finishing the plate on my own (the boyfriend doesn't like it), but who am I go to complain? The sheer quality and amound made it definitely more than my money's worth. I didn't particularly like the type of tofu that was in the soup. It was the hole-y, juice-gathering kind. I like soft, smooth tofu. This was the spongy stinky tofu. I usually like the deep fried stinky tofu, but I should have known considering it was going to be in a boiling broth. There was a pretty good amount of meat for what I paid. Nothing special about this; just the average run-of-the-farm kind of pork meat. I must admit that there was some MSG in the soup, but I don't mind it the way others do. Actually, I sometimes enjoy it in my food. It adds flavor! Well, I'm not sure if this review is good enough but that's all I can think of right now. Especially because my teacher is lecturing in front of me and I'm trying to concentrate in class and on food. =)

2008-12-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

Wowza! Well it's been awhile .. a very long while. And I'm finally going to do another review! Yay! Even though no one ever reads this (except my dear boyfriend), I guess it's important to keep food-blogging. For my own memory. Lately, I've realized how difficult it is for me to remember things as the years go by. I have the worst memory out of all the people I know. It's not quite the importance of the food itself, but the way I felt when I ate it and how much I enjoyed the moment and with whom. All these posts act as memory-joggers actually! :) Although I won't be cheesy and describe my emooootions, I'd most likely remember the general feel at the time. So, here's the review:

In Temple City, California .. there's this wonderful mom and pop joint called Dumpling Inn. They're Chinese-Koreans (meaning Chinese people raised in Korean), so they have customers of both ethnicities, and then some. We were there on a weekday during the lunch special so there weren't many people. Actually, we were the only ones for most of our entire visit, so service was good. The lady who owned the place was very maternal and gave us tips on how to order and what the best deal would be, even encouraging us to order less. She insisted we would not be able to finish. And true to her words, we left stuffed and carrying take-out bags.

(1) Steamed Pork Dumplings - So juicy. So tender. So delicious and home-styled! It's nothing like those tiny pre-packaged supermarket dumplings you would get at Cha for Tea or some other cafe-styled restaurant. This is the real stuff. Hardy, meaty pork and onion stuffed home-made dumpling skin. That's right -- home made dumpling skin. I only know this because I've been going to this place since I was knee-high. Apparently, they do it the old-fashioned way: pulling and tugging on dough until its chewy and thin.

(2) Steamed Fish dumplingsss. Do NOT pass these up! Stuffed with fish paste, these babies are the best ones I've had so far. They're tender and juicy and still pretty big, considering seafoods on the menu are usually served in lesser portions. Well, not these. Although smaller than the pork dumplings, they're still very packed with the paste. =) This was definitely one of my faves.

(3) A fried chicken dumpling and wonton skin that came with the lunch special. Fried isn't my favorite so it was just 'eh' to me. At least it wasn't dripping with grease like some "Chinese" places (ahemmm Panda Express). I do have to admit, it was perfectly crisp on the outside, but the dumplin skin was still chewy and tender on the inside. This I know from the plate of fried dumplings that we ordered.

(4) Fried pork dumplings, I believe. Read comments above.(5) Za Jiang Mien - oh babyyy. There's no direct translation, but look for noodles in dark sauce, or something of that sort, on the menu. =) It's not amazing, but its something I grew up with. So I have a special place in my heart for this. One thing to note about this dish is that the noodles are handmade. All the carbs (minus the rice) at this place is made right in the kitchen, with a chef pulling on dough for chewy perfection. These noodles had the right texture. We couldn't finish this so we took it to go. Note: Eat this hot! It's just not the same heated in a microwave.

(6) This was the lunch special beef and brocolli. It was alright .. just your average Chinese restaurant beef&brocolli. There was definitely MSG though, which accounts for the super savor of the flavor. To all those places that boast NO MSG, screw you! Authentic Chinese restraunts should be using MSG and lots of it -- its the wok staple. To all those Americans who are "health conscious," you all use chemically engineered chicken broth and flavoring for your soups and what not. Tell me that's healthier than MSG. Go ahead, proveee it.

(7) Fried Rice that comes with the lunch special. Its .. fried rice? Nothing special. What a typical Asian mom would whip up in 5 minutes.

(8) Here's the Korean flava to the restaraunt. Kimchee served at every table. Not like Korean BBQ kimchee, although I am told there are different kinds of kimchee. This was on the sweeter side. The lettuce was very crunchy still -- very home-made. By the taste and look of it, it hasn't been underground or soaked for longer than a week. But it's free, so who am I to complain?

All in all, this was a good experience. Now I can cross off one more thing on my list! We left satisfied, our stomachs and wallets. We didn't have to blow big money for this meal. I believe the check came out to be about $25. One bad thing was how hot it was outside (this was during summer break) after so much food and how thirsty we were after the meal (msg dehydrates, as does any salty food). I would recommend this to anyone looking for a home-sweet-home kind of food. The experience was reminiscent of me coming home from college Friday night, and my mom expecting me to down hardy home-cooking. If you come alone or do take-out, $8 can get you 6 of those big fat dumplings in a white styrofoam smileyface box. You will not leave disappointed.

2008-10-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Because I am kind, I have decided to update Love Stuffed. :) For you, Christopher Wu, daily complainer. I don't really know what to review. I've had so many things to eat, I don't even know where to start. But here's your update. =D It will be continued after my Calculus Midterm.

In the U.S.

2008-08-31T16:23:00.001-07:00

Back from Hong Kong & Thailand. The trip was pretty good, minus the Thailand part. I'm sure the country of golden steeples and mango sticky rice had more to offer, but whatever it was -- I didn't see much of that grand splendor. I have no pictures of the mango sticky rice, but I just want to say that it was the only dish and only "attraction" I really enjoyed. The rice is mixed with some sort of sticky coconut cream type thing, and you eat it with fresh mangoes. I also want to state that the plethora of homeless dogs was a sad sight.

Hong Kong was definitely a trip. My days were filled with different meals between doing what I did best: shopping, shopping, and more shopping! What the actual city was lacking in glamour on the outside (run-down buildings, clothes hanging in public, and leaky air conditioners), it made up for in convenience (subway/metro/cheap taxis), retail (bargains and bargaining on every corner), and food heavens. Chinese people are known for their affair with food and Hong Kong was a perfect example of that. Whether small or big, the restraunts met my expectations to the "tea."

The first thing I want to review is the airplane food. I know, I know -- what's there to review? Airplane food always sucks, right? Well, I think to really enjoy food, you should always be as broadminded as possible. You can't stab your fork into something with the mindset that it'll already suck. Then what's the point?

I took Cathay Pacific Airlines. If my memory serves me correctly, we had 3 meals and snacks. The only memorable part of the meal was the smoked salmon salad and the cute little green tea cups (I took three with me).

It's not a very good picture but there it is. It's a very simple salad with tomato, lettuce, and smoked salmon. Strangely enough, I had my best smoked salmon experiences on this trip. The first time was this one (where it was perrfect!) and the second time was in Thailand at the hotel's complimentary lunch buffett. :) Inbetween mini bagels, toasted to perfection. YUM!!!

Anyway, the flavor of the airplane smoked salmon salad was definitely close to a 10. It was just the right amount of salty and smoky, with a hint of pepper, and it was not fishy at all! I mean, the salmon flavor was definitely still there, but the fishiness was not overpowering in any way. =) Plus, the veggies were definitely fresh, which is a new one for plane food. The tomato was sweet with the perfect taint of sour. I can't give the same ratings to the rest of the meals, although the smoked salmon sandwich (the snack they were giving out) was pretty good too, forget the overpowering foccacia mini bread that sandwiched the cream cheese, salmon, and tomato slice.

Christopher Wu, tune in to my next post when I review the amazing Pizza Hut.

Eastern Skies

2008-07-20T22:03:00.001-07:00

Well, my dear nonexistent readers, it seems as though I have been given the opportunity to fly across the world to explore Hong Kong with my boyfriend and his cousins. This means, my food list will have to be cut short and perhaps edited -- probably just pushed back. I sure am disappointed but not really since I haven't even been keeping up with my fooding. So, I'm more disappointed in myself than anything. But, I will be dropping nearly $2K on this trip, and I do not think I should be asking my parents for money to eat out when I come back. No siree. However, I am going to be flexible about this. I will blog about my food adventures in Hong Kong. Of course, I will not be able to update as I go and I will run mostly off of memory from 3 weeks of jam-packed shopping/eating action. I can't say how far my literature can take us but pictures are worth a thousand words. SO, my departure is on August 1 for tres weeks. Bon voyage!

Anime Expo 08

2008-07-06T01:05:00.000-07:00

Anime Expo o8. There wasn't much hype for it, but it's tradition. Plus, it would be a chance for me to test out my new Sony Alpha 300. :) That's right -- my baby arrived. Well, it's been here but I haven't been able to use it since I had no memory card. So what I really mean is, my memory card is here. Thank you Chris for buying it for me!

From my experience, Anime Expo was the best when it was in Anaheim. Among a couple of reasons why, it seemed more like a community than a convention when it was held there. The hotels lined up on the same xl-bungalow and the convention center smack dab in the middle. Then, after many amazing years of costumes, late nights, and adventures -- it was moved to Long Beach. The LBC provided a new environment (though I had been there previously for Key Club Convention) with an ocean view, etc .. but it definitely was not as fun. Everything was spread out and hard to get to. Then this year, it was moved to Los Angeles. I can name a couple of reasons why this year was disappointing for me: (1) it was too close for a hotel, but extremely expensive in gas money & parking money & food money altogether ; (2) my friends didn't want to go although this may have been because we've mostly grown out of it; (3) my cosplay that I had spent mucho time and money on failed last minute and I was [understatement] very upset.

BUT, I made the best of it. Or at least I tried to. I only went Friday and Saturday this year. On Friday, I went with Chris to check out the convention -- scope out merchandise and the types of cosplayers there were this year. Seems like I wasn't the only one who wanted to do Vampire Knight. Seeing all the VK cosplayers was depressing; I should have just bought the uniform when I had the chance. Oh well, too late now. I highly doubt I'll ever go to AX again, but who knows? Chris bought a toy car that was pretty crappy, to say the least. You basically have to run after it to keep it running. Chris and I ended up sitting at an emptier area in the lobby, but with a good view of cosplayers walking past. We critiqued, yawned, and constantly checked the time. I had never, at any AX, looked at the time over and over again, waiting for the convention to be over for the day. Well, since it was 4th of July, we left, planning to meet up with Sherry and Risa at Newport Beach for an Independence Day Festival. We had to eat dinner at Chris' house first and by the time we finished, it was too late to go so far. Instead, we went A.Tam's house and watched the view of fireworks (from literally more than 10 sites) shows from his backyard. Then we went to light our own and we called it a day.

Because I felt so left out from the 'cosplay community' .. I raped my closet for a costume. I came up with a Mario outfit in less than 5 minutes and spent a total of 10 putting it together with double sided tape (which held pretty well).

On Saturday, Nick came over and we drove over to Chris' house -- only to find that he was unable to go with us. He met us at the convention later on, after Nick and I met up with Matt and David. We had Exhibition passes so we abused our rights of entering and exiting where ever we wanted. :) Thanks Nick's brother! We walked around the exhibition hall (feet killer!) while I went on a hunt for a Totoro toy for Sherry. By the time I found a suitable one, I was super starving. That's when I decided we had to go and we ended up at Orochan! HOWEVER, Christopher Wu did NOT bring my camera down from his car so I did NOT get ANY pictures of my meal. Whatever.

This time at Orochan, I decided to enjoy my food so I got the Miso #4 Orochan ramen bowl with egg and garlic with an order of the Cha-Su Pork Plate (melt in your mouth pork). Not the BEST bowl of ramen but what are you gonna do when you're hungry? After dinner, I forked over some more money at a gelato/mochi place in Little Tokyo's main plaza. The Kona coffee mochi was delish! When I find the name of the store, I will definitely post it up. We talked for a bit at the square and then headed for Alhambra to sit at Cha, where I would fork over even MORE money. But I was definitely happy to meet up with my friends there. And now here I am, blogging before I get too lazy to do it.

All in all, my feelings about Anime Expo were lukewarm. Eh~! Not that bad, but definitely not amazing. But maybe its one of those things as you get older. And also, I feel guilty for eating so much today, but what I've learned from these past years of weight-struggles is that today is nothing I can't fix with the next two days of hard exercise and diet, diet, diet.

The Pig Place

2008-05-22T16:21:00.001-07:00

So, it's been awhile. My bad! My new camera is well on its way and will be arriving next Wednesday. Yay! I'm pretty excited, except I don't even have a memory card to go with it. My wonderful boyfriend is buying me one though. (: So, a lot of summer adventures will be logged. Anyway, this post will be reviewing the wonderful Pig Place, or more formally known as Hae Jang Chon. It's in K-Town (located in downtown L.A.). I didn't quite discover this place on my own. Rather, a couple of my friends insisted I haven't had real Korean BBQ if I didn't have rice paper with it and continued to insist that we had to go there after our shopping spree at Beverly Center. I was pretty skeptical at first; it looked like any other Korean BBQ place I had been to. But just one taste of this, and the Pig Place had me going back weekend after weekend. I think half the reasons why I go home to Los Angeles so much is to eat. The other half of the reason is to escape this jail cell called UC San Diego.

On with the post!

^ Chris, sitting outside on the bench. We were waiting for our friends to come. Our other friends came from their own foodie adventure. Well, hardly food. They went to do the spicy tuna challenge and came back with x-large drinks and a bottle of Pepto Bismol.

Choi and Kim with their Big Gulp and Pepto Bismol after their Spicy Tuna adventure, jealously eyeing our Korean BBQ that they couldn't possibly stomach after all those habanero spices. =D That's how the it got started -- Onion, Kimchi, Kimchi Pancake, and BEEF. The aroma was super amazing. It still is, after the third and fourth trip. =)

After finishing off three plates of Korean BBQ, the grand finale was the Kimchi fried Rice. It's my favorite part. The flavor is ... it's just wonderful. All the flavor from the meat grease, all that kimchi, the pancake -- it was a carb/grease heaven. YAY. To balance it off, there was also a Kimchi Miso soup (I think). It was alright. By the time I go to the soup, I was pretty full and couldn't down anymore.

I think the thing about Korean BBQ is having friends with you. It's the conversation and the meat. +) So wonderfullly delicioussssss.

Sam Woo of San Diego

2008-05-08T03:08:00.000-07:00

It's not just recently that I've been interested in food. Rather, I have been in love with food for most of my taste-budding career but only just admitted to this deep, rather embarrassing, infatuation. This relationship has been ongoing without my knowledge but now I am coming out: I love food. After all, I am Chinese and this love for food runs deep in my veins, centuries old into ancient dynasties of China. But, of course, you don't need to be any type of Asian to love food! After reading four handfuls of foodie-blogs, I have discovered a world beyond campus cafeterias and home cooking.

My very first food review will be on Sam Woo, the one located in San Diego on Claremont Mesa. Located next to the 99 Ranch Market, the place to go for fresh fish and bok-choy. I have to admit: this isn't my first time eating at a Sam Woo. I've never really been a big fan of this chain restaurant . I'm not into duck or sweet stir fried anything, but staying put on campus for so long has made my stomach ache for real Chinese food. I Googled that picture on the side to show you what these type of restaurants look like. The Sam Woo we went to was really small and did not have such a large variety and it was not as decorated as the one in the picture, but it did have the traditional duck hanging in the window.

Sam Woo serves up Cantonese-styled food, particularly barbecued duck, chicken, and pork. When I arrived, I was disappointed that this particular Sam Woo did not have duck or chicken claws like the Sam Woos back home. But that wasn't going to stop me now! Nor was it going to stop my roommate [Kristine] or my suite mate [Nancy], both who are just as in love with food as I am. =D True friendship, I say! (My suitie just brought me a poptart! See what I mean?!)

So we ended up browsing the menu. It was hard to choose so each of us chose one item (Nancy got Duck Soup Noodle too, which she described as "heaven").

Here we have the time-old and well-known Hot & Sour Soup ($7-8). Extremely different from Panda Express. It had a perfectly thick texture that went down extremely well to warm up your stomach. In the soupy mixture, there was strips of pork meat, strips of black mushroom, green onions, peels of bamboo, and I think its eggs (?). It was a bit too sour, but nonetheless, its a very satisfying Hot & Sour Soup. I would have preferred a different soup but it was such that most of the better tasting (imo) soups were also more expensive, but next time I want to try their Shark Fin Soup.

Kung Pao Chicken ($5-6) -- a plate of grease, peanuts, chopped water chestnuts, green onions, chili peppers, and chickens. It was okay. It was much too oily and it did not differ from pseudo-Chinese food restaurants. We ate this with rice ($1/person) -- real rice, might I mention, and not the soft mushy stuff shaped with an ice cream scooper at UCSD cafeterias. The only good thing about it was the large portion given; it was enough to take back to the dorm and eat in the wee hours of the morning to satiate my hunger. At this point, you may be asking: why did you choose dishes we can find at Panda Express? What's the point? Well its the simple fact that we're poor college students. From past experiences at Sam Woo (when I was with my parents), I would recommend their Blossom Platter (small $24, large $36), BBQ Three Delicacy Combo ($18), & Spicy Salt Shrimp ($16).

How could we go to Sam Woo and not have their Barbecue? This one is called the Double Barbecue Duck with Noodle. I was pleasantly surprised that it was really tasty. The duck meat was not too dry and the steamed lettuce helped to wash down the grease and unhealthiness from the rest of the meal. San Diego's Sam Woo served a pretty good BBQ duck: it was not drenched in sauce and all skin like the Sam Woo in San Gabriel Valley (on Las Tunas, I think). The noodles were whatever. I've had better and it was definitely not 'Q' enough, but the main part of the plate was the duck anyway. While this was a fairly good plate, I would still recommend the BBQ Three Delicacy Combo that I mentioned above (if you're not short on cash).

Did I mention it was a Cash Only restaurant? This was strange as I do not recall any Sam Woo being cash only. But it is a Chinese eatery so I shouldn't have been surprised. The service was not too shabby for an Asian place as many other reviewers have said, but then again I was speaking Mandarin to them most of the time. The only thing that I was annoyed with was that there was only one waitress for 7 different tables. This did not lengthen the time of getting our food (Chinese restaurants are known for fast service), but getting to order and getting the check was a pretty lengthy process of me waving my hand in the air and meekly saying "Auntie!" in Mandarin. Actually, now that I think of it, that probably wasn't the right term to use.

Anyway, it was a pretty good trip. Afterwards, we splurged at 99 Ranch Market (a Chinese supermarket) on snacks and other good deals. But that was only after going to a small 'boutique' of sorts that sold lingerie, fake designer sunglasses, fake designer shoes, fake designer jewelry, cheap makeup and nail polish, and a whole lot of nothing. Yet, Nancy was able to buy a pair of sunglasses and some "Chanel" earrings, which I purchased as well.

Before we left Claremont Mesa for good, I drove across the street to the Tea Station where I ordered a hot Rose Milk Tea to go. Three words: it was good. A perfect mixture of creamy hot milk tea and the scent of roses. =) Heaven, in a cup!

P.S. As I said before, the picture quality sucks. So bear with me until I get my dSLR.

Testing: 1 2 3

2008-05-07T20:41:00.001-07:00

Yay, I finally have one of these. After reading a bunch of FoodieBlogs on Blogspot, I've been dying to have one myself. Instead of a Food Blog, however, my posts will consist of my many loves that may or may not be interesting to others. Whether it be carne asada fries (artery clogger) or Disneyland (feet killer), the Farmer's Market or The Grove, I will do the best I can to rave & review about it. A new Sony Alpha a300 dSLR is in the works right now and soon I'll have it. But until then, please bare with me as I post up pictures that aren't exactly of the best quality!