For relaxing times, eat Sushi at Totoyamichi

Sushi in Japan is notoriously expensive. So the cut that cost you hit a conveyor belt spot. Totoyamichi is a smaller chain around Tokyo that I'd suggest. The pink plates are about $1 for two pieces. The green is $2.50. And the selection is enormous. You can just sit and order and not even touch the stuff that's revolving. It's not the greatest, but really, it's pretty good. For the price, if that's a factor, it's amazing. The one we went to wasn't in a touristy area, and we accessed it by car, so it might be tougher to get to. For 5 people and we were all full, it was under $70. This was a great last place to eat, since today, I'm going to Shanghai then Beijing. See you there.

That's a funny smile by Kohei Yamashita who is mountain mountain. He wears green which is his color. 

His work looks like this. In the world of character design, a lot of folks jump in make something and hop out and move on. Kohei sticks to his style and expands on his characters to realize an entire vision. I like the long term over the short term. But neither are necessarily better than the other. 

Littered with Sushi.

This was the mochi dessert. It was really good. You actually pour a black sugar syrup on top and it turns out amazing. 

Hot Doug's hot dogs Part 2

Hot Doug Part 2 - it doesn't stop. The food in Chicago is pretty good. I've written about Hot Doug's before, which is perhaps the best dog place around. It's open only during the day, and it's right by the folks at Midway who makes the Chow Yun Fat video game. Eat dog seems be well crafted. The above two are the veggie dogs, and maybe some of the folks who read this blog can tell me what the heck the bottom one is. I forgot. I added the image above, and that's Hot Doug himself. I sneaked photos of him before, but this time I asked, and look at that smile. If you're in the business of making great food, and making people happy, I hope you can smile like this man can. He's always there working. When he's out, the spot might be closed. 

Rumor has it, that Hot Doug is a culinary student of sorts, and went through the rigors of being at high end restaurants, and now makes the best dogs he can. That's really cool.

This is the Dave Kingman. I do remember Mr Kingman, who hit a ball in the Astrodome that went so high, it didn't come down. The Chicken sausage dog is the Dave Kingman. I got it Italian style, which has those special herbs that mama would put in the sauce. 

The technique of opening this dog is a bit freaky. If you hit Chicago, you should check this place out.

Here's my last post about Hot Doug's.

Smoque in Chicago

Baby back Ribs. If you think of that Chili's song, that's a heartbreaker and maybe a dealbreaker. Refrain please. Instead, grab a pile of wetnaps, get your all you can handle Fanta Orange and get ready to rumble. These are the St Louis style, and the ribs break apart easily, and the flavor is both juicy and meaty with a bounty of taste. It's not heavy on the sauce when it shows up, and their BBQ sauce works great on everything including fries. See the forks? You don't need them for the main features.

 
Brisket sandwich. The bread alone works with the sauce. It's sort of like eating Unagi, you can put the sauce on anything, and it'll taste good. But the brisket is tender and breaks down in your mouth. This a soft sandwich, and the thick bread isn't too heavy, and compliments the meat. I found myself pouring a tiny bit more of the BBQ sauce in. Does that meat look amazing? Even you vegans and veggies have to admit, this is looking good, right?

The sides aren't a joke here. The beans are a winner and sports a great sweet and smokey flavor that blows a can of Bush's to Uranus. Tiny bits of meat, tell me that it's probably made with the "shake" from the ribs and brisket giving that extra jab to tell you it's homegrown. The cole slaw might actually be a vegan dish. It's void of the typical mayo, but instead is in a dressing, so it's more like a mini salad. Vinegar, spices, and the onions make this work. I could have ate a bowl, and today, the following day, that's what I'll probably need to eat all day in the wake of this devastating to the body type of meal.

Smoque
3800 N Pulaski
(between Avondale Ave & Grace St)
Chicago, IL 60641
(773) 545-7427

Counter Culture

This is a shot of what we look like after a softball game. Maybe it's a little better today than recent games. We're now 1-9. That means 9 losses straight for us. We played decent defense, and kept pace with the game. No big blowout innings, it was a little up, a little down, and we came up a run short tonite. There were some stellar highlight reel type of plays. The dude wearing Adidas is Mike, he made two insane over the head catches that I was sure were home runs. He gets a late jump, but somehow stretches like a person at a finish line to make the play. It's Willie Mays shit. I swear, but twice. Take that Willie. At this point, I can only seek the rad moments of a game, since we've been losers almost this entire season. Single moments where something neat happens is all I can hold on to. A funny base running incident, a good throw, a dive-yet a miss, a great hard hit that yields nothing except for a lot of distance, and some positive vibes, that kind of stuff. The photo above captures the hesitancy after a game, where big dude Jason is waiting for anyone except for himself to make a suggestion on where to go eat. When we win, it's a definite, but when we lose, sometimes, we go straight home losers. So this season, we lose, and we usually go somewhere, but I know Jason is tired of saying, "Norms" or "Carrows" or "Dennys" so he waits for someone to make a move. If not, then he's on it. Bill, the homerun hitter tells it like it is, we are going to The Counter.

At The Counter, you can build your own burgers, there's a clipboard and you pick what you want, on it, from pineapple to salsa. Anything you want. The beef comes in three sizes, 1/3, 2/3, or 1 pound. It took longer to get a seat, but this was our last game before the holidays, so it was a send off from softball and the relationships from it in 2007, at least for some of us. The factions of new friends, old friends, and family will see each other, but some won't see any of us, so it's a "laters" until the first game in 08.

Above is the special Bloody Mary burger, which seems like an odd name for a fish burger. Some slaw, pieces of celery, a thick bread which differed from the burgers, a dark lettuce, adorned, the patty which was filled with spices that pretty much attack your taste buds in just the right ways. It's really good. Our group of 7 shared two orders of sweet potato fries and the onion strings. They open until 10, so once in a while, this can be our spot.

EASTside

Tons of boxes, this is our storage space. What's in them? Book distro, some back issues, old paper work, receipts, and spiders! The best thing about seeing the spiders is I'll know that my stock is protected from little critters. Gladly, I don't have to go out there too often, but it always feel good to see this spot. The converse is that ideally, it should be empty, which means, it's all in other people's hands.


On the way to or from the space, I stop at SHAKAS. I've been back from Hawaii for a while, but with that clear memory in tact, it's nice to have Hawaiian food in LA. But why is it that Hawaiian food isn't really "hot"? It tastes good, and you'd think it would be more popular that a Yoshinoya Beef bowl, but it's not. How many Hawaiian food besides Islands, can you name? Mochiko chicken, sesame chicken, hulihuli chicken, chili rice, saimin, it's all there. But again, why aren't they more common? Is it too fatty? A lot of Hawaiian food is based on size and quantity, and savory flavors. Is it just weird, since Hawaii is a state with it's own cuisine. As in, "let's go to Nevadan Food!" and it's buffet, or "let's have some Idahoan food!" and it's potatoes. Maybe they need another name besides, "Hawaiian food". What else could it be? "Island food?" Either way, even if it's not popular, I like Hawaiian food and wish I could have it more often. Maybe it'll take Colt Brennan to win the Heisman, and Hawaii to take the Sugar Bowl to make Hawaii just a little more known. Check out this fan site / business. I do hope Hawaii wins the Sugar Bowl on January 1. In lieu of Christmas gifts, that's what I want.

Back to Shaka's. Here's their shave ice. On par with Hawaiian shave ice, since I hear they use the same machine as Matsumoto's - as you saw in some blog photos past. The Hawaiian syrups make this really good. Strawberry and passion fruit are probably among the best flavors.

Glendora

Late night run to Glendora, which is many miles away. What's there? A meal? A snack? Breakfast? It's all of those things.

Posted an entry at Hypebeast.

Iron GR Chef

Yeah, sometimes, I can do this too. On the left is simple. Brussels sprouts and carrots. I buy a bag of sprouts, but really, I don't like them in a big chunk. I grew up hating to eat these, so I slice them thin as if I were putting them on a pizza. I've seen it on a pizza before which gave me the idea to cook them thin, since I liked them that way. The carrots are just a bag of peeled small carrots which I eat raw, but also chop into veggie mixes. I have to go a bit well the sprouts to get rid of the bitterness. I cook them with salt and pepper and cooking sake. The Mahi Mahi filets, same thing, with salt and pepper and I actually have this crappy salad dressing that I can't stand. I drizzle that on the fish on both sides, and I let it rip on the grill. The larger piece was thicker, so I cooked it for a few minutes extra. Take them off early, since they seem to cook a bit more while they sit. Seems easy, and it is.

Turkey ala king

Turkey ala King is one of those things Asians do with leftovers. Basically, it's pieces of turkey, vegetables like peas, corn, and mushrooms, leftover gravy, and if you need, add some water to thin it out. It ends up being thick, and tasty. Let's say you don't want to use gravy, you can always use mushroom soup as well. Serve it over rice. It's a great treat. If you added curry, this easily becomes a curry dish. Turkey curry? Sure, why not?

Gonpachi

Gonpachi restaurant is part of a chain of Japanese restaurants. They recently opened in Beverly Hills and supposedly spent 18 million dollars on decor. Upon walking in from the parking lot, it's a complete face lift from the Ed Debevic's that was here ages ago. It's like walking into a Japanese castle, the garden and pond is immaculate and manicured by hopefully a garden master.



The inside is like walking into a movie set. It's two levels, the second floor looking more like a Chinese movie tea house that you see in tons of films. You can imagine ninjas and samurai fighting in a place like this. It's amazing looking, and hard to believe. If you come at the right time, you can see them making the soba in a fish tank like booth. Showing off your homemade soba is a novelty that seems to not really pay off for most people. We'll see about this...

The menu isn't really outrageous and expensive as I'd expect. Soba is 7.50, the small izakaya dishes are $3+, sushi is fairly regular priced although I didn't think the sushi was special. I'd suggest the crazy shrimp ball, that seems to be a favorite. Try a little of everything, and you'll see Gonpachi is something like a mix of Nanbankan in West LA, Otafuku in Torrance, and a sushi place. The decor though, can't be beat.

link for Beverly Hills location

link for Japanese locations

Gonpachi
134 N. La Cienega Blvd., Beverly Hills; (310) 659-8887

Food in the East Coast

Stop 1. Lobster Rolls Part Deux - Seafood Haven Lobster rolls shrunk. It's still claw meat, but the chunks got smaller. Still tasty with the cheap roll it comes on, but that's what makes it work. No mayo, just Lobster and maybe butter. Since it's smaller, it was on to the other sides. Crab cake sandwich! Not bad. Soft, fishy tasting since it's real. Clam Cakes (one of their specialties) tasted better. Soft, big, with a tiny piece of clam in it. Not bad. Clam strips are good, but they're heavily fried almost like popcorn chicken. Seafood Haven is a nicer spot that Captain Zak's, and the menu seems bigger. I'm suggest Seafood Haven, but get the Lobster roll for the end of your meal.



Legal Seafood is a huge chain that you'd probably see advertised in an in flight plane magazine. Tasty and with everything you want in seafood, it's a good call. Of course Cioppino is a winner.

Julian's It'll always be there in PVD. But go there for brunch, it's works better than dinner. Dinner is good, but it takes a damn long time. But the best thing about it, it's where I met Jack Long's work.

Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream This place has it all. It's a shop that's actually the last business right next to a working drawbridge. It's arguably on the bridge! The shop is in Mystic, CT as in Mystic Pizza, which is just down the street. In the last picture you can see the drawbridge actually up. When it's up at 40 past the hour, people have to wait about 15 minutes for it to come down, and the inviting ice cream is right there. They make their own, and they do it well.

In every big city in the US, there's nothing as cool as this. We're all so trapped with the rules of safety, distances that businesses can be from a bridge, and can a business be on a working draw bridge? Only in a small village town can something like this exist, and the ice cream even tastes better because of it. Too bad their t-shirts are in only ugly colors. Print it in black and you'll sell a bunch more.

gr/eats

I'm working at gr/eats once in a while to help out. Today, this dish came out from the kitchen and I had to take a photo. That's omelette rice and it made me hungry.

It's actually fun to work at gr/eats, if it's just a little, it feels pretty good, and I think I'm actually alright at it. I think I'm paying attention to every table almost at the same time. People need water, Ice-tea, lemonade, more napkins, their check, change, and so on. The idea is to beat them to their asking you for anything, as if you're not even there. It's not easy, and some people are wired for it, but most aren't.

That's Nelson running things in way back.

Daikoku Ramen Little Tokyo

The cloudy pork brothed ramen is taking root in Southern California. In Little Tokyo is yet another place doing it, called Daikoku. The soup broth isn't as strong as a place like Santouka, and has some pork pieces, green onion, a marinated egg, and slices of bamboo shoots. For a few extra dollars, you can get a side dish like fried rice, oyako don, tuna bowl, etc. The ramen portion is large, and the noodle are decent, and there's a wait to get in. The gritty: the bowl stuff isn't exciting, and the ramen is decent, but isn't up to the level of Santouka. You get more, but it's just under the level. But if you want tonkotsu style ramen, and you don't want it so strong, then this is a good place for you, but it's definitely watered down.



Daikoku Ramen
327 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 626-1680
11:00am to 1:00am (Mon-Sat)
12:00pm to 10:00pm(Sun)

Pinkberry in the LA Times. It's not good for them.

Is it, isn't it? Who cares? But for $5 or whatever high price it is, you're getting cold matter at Punkedberry. It's just cold shit, and I think shave ice is better. Common people, get off this fad, and get back to the basics. Taiwanese slush has been there for years and years, it was never a fad, and it's always been a lifestyle. Imagine, Hong Kong movie, Chinese food, Taiwanese slush, and smiles all around. Get back to what's right.


Pinkberry in culture clash

Regulators say its product doesn't qualify as frozen yogurt. For some devotees, that's OK.
By Kimi Yoshino, Times Staff Writer

But is Pinkberry really yogurt? (you have to have an acct - if not I posted it - find the Giant Robot quote)

That's the uncomfortable question swirling this week around the uber-trendy, Los Angeles-based chain that has attracted legions of calorie-counting, yoga mat-toting devotees and spawned a spate of imitators.

"Crackberry" addicts, prepare for your favorite dessert to take a licking from California Department of Food and Agriculture officials. Their answer:

Nogurt.

"You can't call a product frozen yogurt unless it's mixed off-site and delivered to the site as frozen yogurt," said Steve Lyle, a department spokesman.

Pinkberry executives concede that their product is made with a powder and mixed in-store. They say it includes plain yogurt, yet they wouldn't disclose what else goes into their refreshingly tart treat.

But a lawsuit might force them to take their secret recipe out of the deep freeze.

This week, a civil suit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by L.A. resident Bryan Williams, 48, who contends that Pinkberry's powdered mix lacks the "good" bacteria cultures found in yogurt.

"For lack of a better word, it's just dessert," said Williams' attorney, Michael Amir. "We're just asking for them to … tell the public the truth."

Williams, a legal recruiter who lives in West Hollywood, could not be reached for comment, but Amir says his client is a health-conscious guy with no affiliation to any Pinkberry competitor.

Mary Glarum, another attorney for Williams, said: "We're not asking for punitive damages…. The goal is to just have them come clean about what they're doing so that people can make an informed decision when they buy the product."

But Pinkberry founders — who now have 15 California franchises and three in New York — say they are "under attack" by imitators. The suit, they say, is just the latest salvo from a slew of bitter rivals.

Pinkberry "is yogurt, absolutely 100%" vowed company President Young Lee, who said he's working with the state to resolve the concerns. "We are more frozen yogurt than other frozen yogurt."

Nevertheless, Pinkberry has removed written references to frozen yogurt from its website. A catchy jingle, though, still extols Pinkberry's fat-free, 25-calorie-per-ounce virtues: "Sorry ice cream, I'm dreaming of a different dessert. Pinkberry shaved ice and frozen yogurt. It doesn't feel like I'm cheating when I'm eating it, because it's healthy I feel better already."

If Lee is a little defensive, and protecting the recipe as if it's a state secret, it's because Pinkberry has caused its fair share of controversy since its first outlet opened in 2005, serving just two flavors: plain and green tea.

Within a year, the tiny West Hollywood shop was drawing 3,000 customers a day, most of them self-described Pinkberry addicts willing to risk parking tickets to stand in a line that snaked around the block. Neighbors wanted Pinkberry to move, but the city negotiated a compromise. Security guards and workers now help pick up litter and dissuade parking scofflaws.

Since then, 17 other stores have opened, and six more are coming in the next few weeks to Little Tokyo, Belmont Shore, Topanga Canyon, Beverly Hills, Lakewood and New York.

Competitors are vying for a piece of the success. Among the hatched frozen yogurt shops: Kiwiberry, Mr. Snowberry, Roseberry and Berri Good.

As a Pinkberry buzz has built, skeptics have questioned what's in it and whether it's as low-cal as it claims.

One customer said the hype reminded her of a famous "Seinfeld" episode in which Jerry and Elaine gain weight eating loads of "nonfat" yogurt. They finally test the yogurt only to discover that it's not really fat-free.

"I hope that episode wasn't foreshadowing Pinkberry's ending," one Angeleno wrote on the Giantrobot.com blog.

On Wednesday, Sandy Hsu, 26, a tourist from New Jersey, trekked to the Pinkberry store in Koreatown after a friend e-mailed her a photo of Paris Hilton spooning up the treat.

Hsu didn't seem to care what was in the icy concoction, but said it didn't live up to the hype: "It's not super good like I think I'd come back."

Regulars, though, said they were hooked.

"It just tastes good, and I'm not a frozen yogurt connoisseur by any means," said 19-year-old USC student Andrew Wilson.

Austin Cho, 27, agreed: "If it tastes like yogurt, I don't really care. Just as long as it's healthy."

He paused, peering into his frozen snack: "Is it healthy?"




It was a quote from Saelee, a Pinkberry eater.

Cinco!

Yo still have time... a bit of time. gr/eats rocks May 5th. Yes, darn good.

31 flavors for .31 cents

Saw the special online... 31 flavors Baskin Robbins for a .31 a scoop, .62 for a double! I'm not dairy compliant, so it's a tough one for me. But sorbet, sherbet (sort of)... I can have it.



The line was long. Standing in front of me... I thought about a scoop of ice cream as I peered over the bright scalp to the front door. Martin and Wendy waited in the long line, that moved pretty fast. Ice cream makes people happy. I'm going to wait until everyone leaves to eat the scoop of chocolate peanut butter.

Hong An 7 Courses of Beef

Hong An 7 Courses of Beef
9862 Westminster ste.
Garden Grove, CA 92843

phone 714-534-5384



Who says that the best dining in Southern California needs to be on the West side or even in Los Angeles? Much less than an hour south, there are hundreds of great Asian food offerings. This month, we take you to scenic Garden Grove, California. Close to Westminster, the Vietnamese enclave, is an unassuming restaurant called Hong An which serves Bo Bay Mon (literal translation: Beef Seven Courses). Once served only at weddings, this special feast is now available every day.

Before you think about your health and waist line, coinciding with the notion of you being force fed every cut of a cow, read on, the meal is actually trim and portioned just right.

The restaurant itself isn't the most exciting place, it's as large as a basketball court with rows upon rows of tables which can fit a small hungry army. You can opt to order an entire deep fried fish, which is also one of their specialties, or you can stick to their special program. Here's how the meal unfolds.

1) Salad. The first dish that shows up is the appetizer. It's a beef and shrimp salad. The beef is in strips and mixed with onion, chopped vegetables, lettuce, and more. This is a great way to start.

By this time, the waiter will bring some white round chips. These are actually wrap skins that you soak in water to soften, and you'll proceed to use them with entries 2-6.

2) Thin beef. Something like shabu shabu, this is thin sliced beef that you cook in boiling vinegar. The thin beef, along with your choice of veggies and herbs, make great small wraps. The folding technique is something like a burrito and the key is to not overstuff -- it'll break!

3) Grilled beef. Loaded with spices, oil, and sesame seeds, this one goes on the small table top grill. Are you fan of Korean food? This is the closest you'll get in this meal. It's delicious.

4) Meatballs. Vietnamese dishes like Bun (cold vermicelli noodles) often have tasty meatballs. These are just like those, but tastier.

5) Wrapped meat. (in photo it shares the same plate) This is ground beef wrapped in a flavorful leaf. Think Mediterranean food, and it's sort of in the ball park, but this isn't tart, it's savory.

6) Ground beef with shrimp cracker. This mix of beef, clear noodles, mushrooms, and spices make a perfect "beef spread" that you can easily scoop into the cracker. The leftovers can be wrapped, but at this point, you might be looking for something different. It's a nice dish towards the end of your meal since it's soft and much more mild.

7) The end of a lot of Asian meals might include some form of rice porridge. This dish features the least amount of beef. The meat is in tiny pieces in a beef broth, with rice, and English alphabet letters! Why are there letters in here?

The great part of this meal is that for the three of us, with drinks totaled around $40. What you save in food, may translate to fuel, but for the uninformed, this is a fun meal and a worthy adventure.

Thanks to Ian Nguyen for being a great host.

Fruit cart 2 but no honeydew

Fruit carts... They're everywhere, and what can go wrong? Food poisoning from fruit? People are scared of the "roach coaches," but you can't be scared of these.





If you are, I'd say you're more afraid of the dude behind the cart, and even though they may not speak much English some of the time, they're so far cool. This dude had gold teeth and gave me a big ass smile for the "cinco" I bought.

Jim Donutman Nakano is the Man

GR44 has an article about the Donutman. Today The Donutman brought a piece of Glendora to Sawtelle. If you get a chance, try the strawberry donut while it's in season. It's amazing. Farm fresh strawberries and his donuts are not joke.

That's Jim and a dozen of his standards.

Katie has no problem tackling the strawberry donuts. A little blurry, but it's an action shot. If you don't hurry, someone will eat it. Is she wearing argyle or are those just diamonds?


As David Lee Roth says, "all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy..."

Fruit cart

$5 bag of fruit. Up the block near Santa Monica Blvd and Barry street, there's one of those Latino fruit carts. I think the photo doesn't give this justice, but inside is watermelon, pineapple, jicama, cucumber, cantelope, mango, and orange! At the end, they add lemon, salt, and chili! It's great, not too hot, and tasty.

In the background is the rapidly rising complex being built across the way. If you go to any market and look at the fruit section, the fresh cut stuff is expensive and for so little. For $5, this is kick ass deal. Get it without the spices at the end, if you're sketched out.

Hot Doug's Hot Dogs

I think it was blogged before on Claudine's page. But here it is again, you can't keep a good place away from the blogs.

Hot Doug's

Driving up, you'll immediate be met with a line of folks going down the street alongside of the building. Everyone has eyes of hunger. The line isn't the fastest especially on a cold Chicago day. Little by little it dissipates and we make our way in the door. Then we see the menu (it's pictured). Dogs sport fancy names like Don Rickles, Shawn Dunston, and Steve Diggle, and on the handwritten board are the specials, which could be ostrich, lamb, rib eye, or a few others. You get to the front of the line, and you see the man who resembles the hot dog logo, it's Buddha of Buns, the Sultan of Sausage, King of Condiments - Hot Doug himself.

He's friendly, and will work with you so you can have what you want. He'll even make sure to get you a seat, so you can eat in if you want to. I order the lamb dog which is $7, and the Shawn Dunston in honor of the Cubs which was $3.5o. Most of the regular dogs hover in the $3 area, so getting two is ideal. Fries (with Duck fat) works, but they also have them plain. If you're a veggie, then they do have a dog for you too. The lamb has that wonderful gamey flavor and it's sausage style. It's nice and although Doug said it's a 1/4 pound making me think it's huge, it's about the same size as a thicker hot dog. I'm not a dairy king/queen, so I got mine without, but the special dogs are usually served with cheese. The Shawn Dunston is a chicken sausage dog. Perhaps Shawn liked chicken, and this is a tasty one especially ordered with everything. The pickle and tomato is a nice touch. Ryne Sandberg got no dog, but Shawn did. Go figure.



Evidently Doug worked as a chef, got tired of it, and decided to simplify and opened a hot dog stand. He now takes every order, opens from 10-4, and I'm sure is doing quite well. Chicago is famous for hot dogs, and Hot Doug's is the place for the hungry.

teany nyc

The Lower East Side has it's ups and down. teany is the most welcome spot to visit every time I'm in NYC. Walking down the sidewalks with snow piles from the light snow, it's chilly. People are still walking up and down the streets, and on Rivington, it's part cool, and part nameless. Walking up to the plainish facade of teany, you walk in and are met with a parade of cakes. They're hefty, and are all vegan. teany was once owned by moby and his girlfriend (we heard they sold the place... are they still a couple?).



You sit down at one of the small tables, and around you are couples and friends and small tea candles. The menu comes and it's a thick book filled with about 100 teas, some black, green, and even white. They tell you about each of the teas, so you know exactly what you're getting. The folks working there are friendly and cool. We tried cakes. The lemon lime is a nice. A green cake! It's tasty, nice and different. There's just a hint of sourness, but overall it's a tasty cake. The strawberry shortcake is an old school winner. I usually hate frosting, but these are just right. Maybe it's the lack of dairy. They're decadent. My tea was a simple green tea, you can't go wrong with the nice pot of water and the baggie of tea.

Check out the bathroom, there's animal adoption photos on the wall. This place is cute and cool. It's all in the details.

teany
90 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

Gobo

401 Avenue of the Americas, New York, 10014 - (212) 255-3242



(1-3) Walking into Gobo, which is named after the Japanese burdock root, you can tell it's a nice place in the West Village. The lighting is dim, the decor is upscale and cool. The front area has a place to sit that sticks you in an area that's neat the kitchen, and also near the juice and wheat grass area. The window behind shows a view of Avenue of the Americas, and the light snow coming down.

(4-5) They offer you bread, I picked the sweeter raisin bread that comes a sweet potato spread. This is really good and it's just the free part!

(6) Juices are a big part of Gobo and there's smoothies and a many selections of juices that come with a tiny flask. Walking around New York city which has issues with fresh produce, having a good, high end juice with organic fruit. Cleanse yourself with a nice juice concoction.

(7) spinach wonton soup - this was decent. The wontons were really nice, but the broth was simple. This works, but didn't wow me.

(8) salt & pepper king oyster mushrooms - finger foods. This is the type of dish that makes you forget that you're eating mushrooms. It's almost like a beer snack. Imagine it to be like the fried squid that you'd have in Chinese cooking. You wouldn't eat it with rice, you just sort of pick at it.

(9) kale, seaweed, beet salad with toasted walnuts - An interesting combo, and I'm not a huge fan of beets, but the kale and seaweeds were nice. What the heck were the walnuts for? This worked leaving them in clumps. I wonder if people normally mix it all together?!

(10) natural seitan medallion in sizzling spicy citrus sauce - Orange chicken! Yes, that's what this was exactly, but they should just admit it. I ate bad orange chicken the day before, so this restored faith in this Asian American specialty.

(11) Vietnamese spicy stir-fry rice noodle with bean sprouts - it looked good.

(12) soy filet with coconut curry rice - This was a winner. Soy filet is supposed to be like fish. It's another Chinese style veggie dish and the coconut rice is excellent. Imagine brownish rice, and some coconut shavings in it. Alone, it's a tasty snack. Together with the food, it's right on.

I like Gobo, but just maybe, their menu of trying to admit what they're really serving actually does a disservice since I'm used to going to places that actually tell you what they are trying to mimic, i.e. "orange" chicken. Here, they'll tell you what's really in it, but won't give you a frame of reference. At the same time, I also don't like it when menus say "chicken" and it's mock chicken. So change has to start someplace, and it's here.

Red Bamboo

this is their site
140 W 4th St # 1
New York, NY 10012
(212) 260-7049




In the heart of the West Village, Red Bamboo is a vegetarian spot that's a mixed menu. At first you'd think it's Asian, but then it's not, it's southern too. We stopped in here after being at Comicon all day, and we were eager to eat. The menu is large, with entrees, sandwiches, and on an empty stomach, everything sounds great. I opted for fried everything - the "fish" and chips. It's simple, the Fish is a tofu stick that's somewhere in the middle of fish, but really goes towards the tofu. It's simple and there's tartar sauce, that's alright. The fries are tasty, it's as if they're double fried or something. The texture is harsh, but it's crunchy and good. The Eggplant parmesan is a tasty one. Just look at the pic and it's obvious this is a tasty dish. Enough said. Check out Red Bamboo if you're a veggie head and in NYC.

Sanuki Sandou

Soba or Udon, anyone? The revamped Mitsuwa in West LA, is beginning to turn into an almost cool place. First it's a remodel of the market, then it's Santouka ramen, now it's Sanuki Sandou.

The plastic food display always works. As you can see, the food is reasonable.

Next to Santouka Ramen, Sanuki Sandou will be a fixture. Sanuki, from what I understand is a noodle company. If you're a fan of the beloved Udon spot that's now closed down, this has some of the same staff. In the kitchen, I saw the dude who ran the old udon place.

A healthy portion of zaru soba is $2.80 and it's still served on the bamboo mat. This is great deal.

The key here are the side dishes. It's one reason why the noodles are so inexpensive. They're hoping you get at least one side. Pictured are: Kayaku Gohan, chikuwa tempura, and California roll. The Kayaku Gohan is a flavor filled mixed rice that's $1.80. The California roll wasn't impressive at $2.50, but the true treasure is the chikuwa (fish cake) seasoned with dried seaweed. $1.20!

Kake soba's pretty good too, but the zaru soba is definitely better.

A close up of the chikuwa tempura. Definitely get this. To be honest, it's not the best soba on the planet, it's pretty good, but at it's price, it can't be beat.

Sanuki Sandou
3760 Centinela Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310)398-2113

Pho Hong Phat

Who wants pho? In Long Beach on Anaheim Blvd is Pho Hong Phat. Taken by art director friend, Ian who gives this place the thumbs up, I went for the taste test. Of course, the first thing to try is the special pho, in the large size.

The spot isn't pretty, there was no grade to be found in the window, but the space actually has a second room to help fit the pho fans. However, at the wrong time, people doget stuck waiting outside.

It shows up looking like this. Hot and very simple, the meat is red and the tripe is furry. Of course, you have to break in the basil, bean sprouts, and maybe a chili or two. On the side plate, maybe some sauce to dip your meat. Order a lemonade. Some Vietnamese restaurants do it all wrong, Pho Hong Phat does it all right - and it's big.

The pho looks simple once everything is mixed in. The soup tastes great, the noodles are nice, and it's a substantial sized meal. A lot of you might get freaked out by the idea of eating tripe. But it's actually mild and reminds me more of seafood.

Vietnamese restaurant 101. Pay at the counter after you're done. See the beautiful chairs?

Have pho and a smile

3243 E Anaheim Street

Long Beach, CA 90804
(562) 498-3754

Meals on wheels

Tilapia, brown rice, potato and yam, assorted veggies...

wildrice fried rice no eggs - these look like rat turds and I'd know that.

Katraj lunch buffet - the dude who works here has a kick ass turban and facial hair.

A lot of Indian spots have good food, that's a given, but this place had fresh pineapple and melon. That's awesome. It's funny how they also had four kinds of chicken, and they almost all tasted the same. The spinach is always good and naan, plain or garlic comes with it for 7.95. It's a dollar or two out of people's normal lunch ranges, but it's worth it.
Natraj Cuisine Of India
5262 E 2nd St Long Beach, CA
(562) 930-0930