Twenty-Something

Finally Jazz Cat has reopened. The new location is in San Gabriel, right across from the ghetto Hawaiian Supermarket. The mini hot pots are little larger now, there are more soup bases to choose from, you get more meat, and the restaurant now serves alcohol, but it's also itsy bit more expensive. What is a dollar here or there for yummy hot pot right? The restaurant itself is more spacious than the old location, they have the electric burner now versus the pink gel, and the staff is way more attentive and nice.

The fun is back but so is the long wait to get seated. If you're planning on eating at Jazz Cat, I highly suggest getting here before 7 or after 10 to avoid the line. The wait at the old restaurant was long and it's not any different at the new location. I guess if you want to eat your dessert before dinner, you can grab some frozen yogurt at the Yogurtland next door while you wait. I also don't recommend bringing the kids along. The new tables are a little high. So if you are seated in one of the booths and you're not at least 5'4 or something you might have trouble reaching your hot pot. I'm not joking.

Where is Nemo? Two huge fish tanks in the middle of the restaurant and not a Nemo in sight. I was disappointed.

I noticed Naga Naga Ramen a few weeks ago while I was driving on Valley so my friend Emily and I decided to try it out for dinner tonight. The ramen was okay. I went for the non traditional ramen and ordered the kimchi and beef ramen. I can't say I'm a fan. There was a bit of sweetness to the broth which I can't say I can appreciate. Emily went the more traditional route and ordered a beef and corn ramen? I didn't eat any of hers but I believe she said the broth was a little bland but the noodles were okay. We also ordered the Naga Naga tofu. I'm sorry to say it but this is one tofu dish that I don't care for. It was like pan fried tofu over egg with some fishy flaky stuff (I don't know what it's called) over the top. I think this dish would work a lot better with soft tofu and some sesame dressing over the top. I really do.

The restaurant itself is really clean. The service is really good which probably would earn points with the customers considering the service everywhere else on Valley is just kinda ma ma hu hu. It's a definite upgrade from when this place used to be Noodle World.

If Nemo finds his way to the fish tanks, I might come back to try the ramen again.

Since I work in Westwood, most people expect me to be familiar with the west side. I really am not, since I don't hang around there very often. My friends were quite surprised that I've never ate at FuRaiBo on Sawtelle. After having a semi-tasty dinner there, I don't think I really missed out too much. Their chicken wings, fried fish cake w/cheese, and pork in miso soup is good, but everything else was just okay. The yakitori was not nearly as good as the ones I had at ToriHei or Shin Sen-Gumi and even the kimchee buta was lacking in flavor. The service was extremely fast though, I was kinda surprised that all of our dishes came out so quickly. The staff were really friendly and attentive. We arrived at the restaurant right when it opened, but before our meal was over there was a line going out the door. I would eat here again, but I don't think the food was impressive enough for me to actually want to wait for it.

Here are some pics of our food:

Today my girlfriends and I were out and about in LA. The day started with an HK style breakfast at Baccali with my long time friend Emily. Then we proceeded to drive around in circles to Susina's Bakery & Cafe in the Miracle Mile area to meet up with a bunch of my other girlfriends for some cakes and pastries. F***ing La Brea near the 10 East was closed and a whole bunch of other streets were blocked off too.

Susina's was cute, welcoming, and deliciously yummy. Ooh and before I forget, they had one of the cutest, cleanest public restroom I've been to in LA. FYI. The cakes and tarts were luscious. I'm a big fan of the cheesecake, the peanut butter frosting on the chocolate mousse cake, the almond cherry tart and this one other tart that I forgot the name of. The cheesecake was my choice and OMG it was heavenly. Probably so fattening and bad for my diet, but so fluffy. It wasn't too thick and rich like your normal cheesecake. I think it was leaning more toward that Japanese baked cheesecake taste (but not quite there yet). I don't know how to describe it, it was just so damn good. Margie and Chris ordered the peanut butter chocolate mousse cake. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love peanut butter frosting. Usually when I order anything with peanut butter frosting I worry that it might be too thick and sticky. The frosting was perfect and it went so well with the chocolate (dark) mousse cake. Although, I think it could do without the walnuts sprinkled on top. Didn't really care for it. The almond cherry tart was also very good. I can't say it's delicious because I don't like almond flavored food in general, but this almond tart was good. Emily ordered this chocolate tart thing that was very yummy. Just look at the pic below.

After Susina's, we went to the Arclight in Hollywood to watch "Coco Before Chanel." I expected to see awesome clothes right from the beginning, but OMG, everything Audrey Tautou was wearing was so plain. I really didn't know what to expect from the movie, the previews were good, but I had no ideal what Coco Chanel's life was like so it wasn't like I could tell if the movie followed her real life or not. All in all, I liked the movie. Audrey Tautou was great as usual. She never disappoints. "Boy" the man she falls in love with was hot. However, I did come home and Google him and he wasn't as hot in modern hair and attire as he was in the movie. Oh well. I think everyone should rent this movie when it comes out in DVD, because this movie is only showing in selected theaters.

Here are the pics of the other three cakes that we ordered:

Last night, I went with a bunch of friends to Torrance to have dinner at Torihei. I have noticed Torihei from my previous visits to its neighbor Musha but never thought to try the food there. Well I'm glad that one of my friends thought to have a little dinner gathering there, otherwise, I would have been missing out on some great Japanese food. Although my taste buds were quite delighted at most of the dishes, there were a few that just wasn't my cup of milk tea. For example, there was the pickle cucumber and radish (or turnip?) dish. Fully pickled they were not. It is just wrong to do the whole half @$$ pickled thing (不酸不淡，都不知道這道菜應該是什麽味道）. I've never been a fan of the Japanese fish cake. Never. I don't know why, I can't explain it. It just doesn't appeal to me. Therefore I can't really rave about how great the fish cake in oden soup was like the other people. I liked the soup though. The chicken cartilage, fried and not fried, was also kinda bleh. Bland. In my not so humble opinion, the fried cartilage not only needed to be fried an itsy bit longer, it also need more seasoning. The fried turnip cake in oden soup was also kinda bleh. Maybe it's the Cantonese pride in me talking but I really do believe that we make the best turnip cake. I've had turnip cake made in many different ways and well I still prefer the Cantonese style better. I really just think that dunking small chunks of turnip cake in soup is a bad idea, it just ends up tasting a little mushy.

Now on to the good stuff. Yakitori...OMG...so good. I think Torihei has taken over Shin-sen gumi as my favorite yakitori place. The prices are cheaper but the proportions are bigger. The gizzards that we ordered were twice the size of the ones served at Shin-sen gumi. The grilled at avocado with the salty vinegar sauce, grilled cherry tomatoes, chicken thigh, torihei meatballs, bacon wrapped okra and asparagus...yummy. I'm still thinking about it right now. Probably because I had nothing good to eat today. I also really liked the oden soup dishes, well except the turnip cake, mochi, and fish cake. Those I can live without. I did enjoy was the big tomato with mozarella cheese, the broth came out tasting like tomato bisque, at least that was how my friend described it. Oh and the semi-boiled egg filled with smelt roe. The semi-hard boiled egg was sliced in half and the yolk was mixed with smelt roe. OMG! It was amazing. I have to show you guys the pics. :) Dinner was awesome.

I have been to Liang's Kitchen a few times now since it opened this summer and have not once been disappointed with the food I ordered. Well maybe just once when I ordered the 紅操肉, but that is just one thing out of the many that I've tried. Their noodles, dried or with soup, is either great or good. They have yet to disappoint, especially since I've had the chance to taste most of them in one sitting before when I went with a bunch of my cousins who all decided to order noodles. The 牛肉卷餅 and the 滷油豆腐 are my two favorite dishes. If your taste buds can handle it, I also highly recommend their house 辣香腸 (too be eaten with a bowl of rice of course). The pancake that is wrapped around the sliced beef from the 牛肉卷餅 is very flaky and taste great with a little chili sauce.

The decor at Liang's is very typical Chinese. The walls are painted a light shade of yellow lined with Chinese 山水畫 and the tables and chairs are made of red wood. The interesting thing is that there are little fighter jet figures hanging from the ceiling all over the restaurants, which gives you something to look at if you're ever stuck eating here with someone that you're not very fond of and don't really want to talk to. You can pretend to look intensely at the planes like you really care where they came from. It might work...for maybe 30 seconds. The restaurant is also very clean which is always a plus and the staff is attentive and nice. No rude Chinese waiters here. Thank god.

Warning! Do not order this 紅操肉。

There used be this small little ghetto Taiwanese restaurant that was located right next to the crowded Sam Woo BBQ restaurant within the Focus Plaza (or is it called President Square?) in San Gabriel that I had visited quite often throughout the summer for its yummy (and cheap) shaved iced. It was so delicious, almost as good as the shaved ice I had in Taiwan. This summer, however, the original owner sold the business. The new owners closed the restaurant for remodeling. Well it opened a few weeks ago and my friend and I decided to try out the new place. The restaurant is now called 甜蜜蜜 or Cool Spot. The decor is more modern and cute. The space is still quite small, but very interesting. I had never actually order any of the entrees from the old restaurant, but decided to try it out this time.

My friend ordered the eel on rice and I ordered the pickled vegetable w/ steamed beef on rice. They were both meh. It wasn't disgusting or anything, but nothing that I would particularly want to rave about. I just don't care to ever order the entrees from this place again.

Anyways, since shaved ice was still on the menu (but a lot pricier) we ordered one to share and also ordered 玫瑰湯圓 (rice balls in rose wine). The shaved ice was just as good. I think I caught a glimpse of the old shaved ice machine in the back. That's a smart move on the new owner's part because after the somewhat bland entrees and the disappointing 玫瑰湯圓, the shaved ice is probably the only item on the menu that is going to keep this new joint in business. Well maybe I should take that back, my 桂圓祿茶 was actually quite tasty and refreshing. On the other hand, my friend didn't like the boba milk tea that she ordered. The boba was mushy, probably tasted like it was leftover from the night before.

I guess I won't be eating here again. It's going to be shaved ice and longan green tea to go for me from now on.

鹿鼎記 also known as the Duck House opened near about 5 minutes from my house about half a year ago. In the beginning, the place was completely empty. There were no cars in the parking lot and no customers. I thought at the time...hmmm...I wonder how long this restaurant is going to last. Little did I know the Duck House was originally located in San Gabriel and back then the place was always packed. So why so empty at this new location in Monterey Park? Nobody knew they moved. I guess when the owners realized this little bit of important info, they placed an ad in the newspaper announcing their relocation. Smart move. I wonder why they didn't think of that in the first place?

I have to admit I'm a little bit disappointed in myself for waiting so long to finally eat here, but can you blame me though? The empty parking lot wasn't very encouraging. Well my aunt's birthday was around the corner and my cousin's decided to take here to celebrate. The food was quite appetizing. I'm definitely a fan of their 北京烤鴨 although I don't think it's very original, but what does that matter? It was delicious nonetheless.

A week after my aunt's birthday, my friends and I also had dinner here. I tried a lot of other dishes and they were equally appetizing, well all, except for the 涼拌山藥 (or Chinese salad). I don't know. That sliminess just didn't fly well with me. It reminded me of aloe vera, which I also am not too fond of.

Well here are a few other pics of dishes that I had.

http://www.duckshouse.com/