Deericious!

Triumph! After two years of relentless re-dialing to make a reservation at the French Laundry (promptly at 10am, two months in advance to the day), I finally succceeded.

On the day of our reservation, we arrived early and were promptly seated at a quaint table upstairs. As expected, the service and atmosphere were impeccable. No other restaurant that I’ve ever been to even comes close in terms of the staff’s attention to detail, dedication to giving customers the best dining experience, and knowledge of the entire food preparation process. The restaurant even churns it’s own butter,and grows it’s own herb garden across the street! Additionally, you can expect a bit of "food education" before each course is served. For example, when our cheese course arrived, the server told us in great detail where the cheese came from (origin and species!), what the cheese tastes like, and how it was cultivated!

I’m going to skip the course by course commentary this time and let the menu/pics tell their own story. The 9 course prix fixe menu is $240pp (including service charge). Expect to pay more since you’ll likely order wine and select some courses which may require a supplement. The portions are tiny (1-2 bites only) but the meal includes several amuse bouche items that really highlight some of French Laundry’s best. You will definitely be very stuffed at the end of the meal. I wasn’t impressed with a few of the courses, but my favorites were the "oysters and pearls" sabayon, foie gras ($30 add’l!), grilled pacific octopus, an amazing buttermilk sorbet dessert, and a bottle of Littorai wine. See for yourself!

This entry has been a long time coming. Kagaya is my favorite restaurant in LA, maybe. That is a bold statementfor me since there are so many restaurants I love. What makes it so great? The food obviously, the service, and the fact that you can’t find anything else like it in the LA area (at least not that I know of). Kagaya is a small, upscale shabu shabu restaurant where patrons must make a reservation in advance for a coveted seat at the bar or one of the few tables.

Dinners consist of 3 appetizers (1 is always a soup/broth), a plate of vegetables and glass noodles, the main beef or seafood plate, choice of rice porridge or udon, and dessert. If I remember correctly, the regular wagyu beef is priced at $46pp. Prices go all the way up to approx. $100pp if you order the kobe beef or seafood platter. The kobe is good, but for me, kobe is too marbled to have as shabu shabu. I usually get the wagyu/seafood combo and am quite content with my selection.

Every time I eat at Kagaya, I am most impressed by the creativity/uniqueness of the appetizers. Perhaps the dishes are not so inventive to some, but for me they certainly are. Think iron chef type appetizers that you generally don’t get unless you are 1) dining at Sushi Sushi (which ties Kagaya for my favorite restaurant in LA) or 2) dining in Japan. On our latest visit over Thanksgiving weekend, we started with a toro-daikon tartare (5*), white mackerel brothy soup (4.5*), broiler crab cakes topped with shimeji mushroom in bonito broth (5* omg this was so good!!).

After the appetizers are devoured and plates taken away, the chef or his assistant will set you up nicely to begin the shabu shabu. Everyone gets their own clam shell looking silver bowl to cook in, and the heat is controlled so you have a gentle rolling boil throughout the entire meal. The chef/assistant will even scoop out the meat scum from the soup for you as you’re eating! Two dipping sauces - sesame and ponzu, nothing extra special about these. The combo plate comes with 5 pcs of beef (very little, i know but you’re still stuffed at the end of the meal), one king crab leg, 2-3 clams, and 1 oyster. After this, we still had a bit more room (planning for the rice porridge and dessert) so we ordered the Alaskan king crab special - same as the crab leg included in our combos but fresh, not frozen, and uncooked. The plate came a few minutes later, with an even bigger crab leg, more clams, and 2 oysters. Don’t be mislead my friend - although this appeared to be another addition of our previous order minus the beef, the raw king crab legs cooked for just under a minute were a million times tastier! Yummy! 5* for this one, no doubt. <<Note to self, be sure to ask how much the special is before you order it next time. The king crab special was $90!>>

When you’re done with the cooking portion of the meal, the chef will ask if you prefer rice porridge or udon. I always go with the rice porridge - I like it much better. Once you’ve made your selection, the chef brings another silver bowl over to your burner and starts making the porridge/udon for you. First bring the broth to a boil, then add rice/udon as well as some ginger water, picked plum, egg drop, and parsley. Usually, I am too full to finish this so we have it packed to go for breakfast the next day. Time for dessert!

For dessert, you can choose one of the following: creme brulee, apple tart w/ carmel ice cream, banana tart, strawberry sorbet (who in their right mind would forgoe the other choices and pick this?!), or matcha (green tea) mousse. It’s pretty difficult to pass up the creme brulee because all through the meal, you can smell the chef buring the sugar tops right in front of you. Mmm, my favorite! Still, I almost always pick the apple tart. The bottom is not your traditional pastry - it’s more like layers of filo over a light coffee/carmel sauce (4.5*). Writing this is making me drool…

Kagaya really is a gem - try it, you’ll like it!

This post is for Miss Tang… =)

For those of you who love fish tacos and get your fix from Rubios, Wahoo’s, etc. you are sadly missing out. Taco Nazo, is hands down, the best fish taco in LA. Not just according to me obviously…

Amanda discovered this place while she was contracting at Edison. She would have Taco Nazo multiple times a week and before long, she really got me wondering about this place. It’s a real hole in the wall - hidden away in an asian style strip mall (the kind with the tacky chinese shingles on the roof top), between a pet store and a pho restaurant. I haven’t had the chance to stop by recently, but I think they may have expanded and moved into a new location down the street from their original joint in El Monte. Come to think of it, I think the owners have branched out and opened multiple new locations!

Taco Nazo is popular for its fish tacos, but I always see long-time customers order the papas tacos (potato tacos). I’m curious, but I’ve never tried these simply because I go with a gazer-beam focus set on the fish tacos only. I can eat 3-4 of these, no kidding! Don’t forget to ask for extra pico de gallo, a la Sunkai.

There’s really no way to describe how/why these suckers are so good. You’ll just have to see for yourself one of these days when you are conveniently passing through the city of South El Monte.

Greetings, friends! It’s holiday season and you know what that means… it’s time to break out the elastic waist pants and start dialing for reservations at my favorite restaurants! This past weekend we ventured to Chez Panisse for a special holiday dinner. (I’ll make up any excuse to go there.) Our first experience at Chez Panisse in August was near perfect (the raviolli fritti was a bit dry) and I was really looking forward to another flawlessly executed meal. Right when we walked in, I knew we were in for another great experience. (Of course! We’re at Chez Panisse!) Something about the people and lighting of the place really makes you feel at ease and really ready to enjoy a great meal.

Before we were seated at our table, we were led upstairs to wait at the bar for just a few minutes. Like last time, I ordered with a fruit soda which consisted of sour cherry syrup and sparkling water. My goodness, this was really good! (I think last time I had the elderflower soda which was equally refreshing.) Sounds strange, but oddly I really look forward to trying the different sodas here. They’re small, so you won’t feel too full before dinner. Here comes the host, let’s head off to dinner downstairs!

On the menu:

An apertif: some sort of sweet cognac concoction that was really quite tasty. Rei didn’t like it so I glady drank his too (3*).

Goat cheese and herb souffle with rocket salad (3* souffle - good, but I was expecting something really marvelous, 4* salad - hard to tell with just a few rocket leaves but the dressing left me wanting to lick the plate)

Cioppino with local fish and Dungeness crab (3*). I was really looking forward to a more traditional tomato based cioppino, but this was really good too, especially the clams and mussels. The crab and fish were a bit tasteless though… surprisingly.

<<At this point in the meal, Rei and I started talking about how our first visit to Chez Panisse was seemingly much better. Enter the main entree and we quickly ate our words…>>

Grilled Sonoma County Poultry Guinea hen with Rhone wine sauce, green garlic and young leek risotto, and chantrelles (4.5*). Wow!! I’ve never had better chicken/Guinea hen, whatever the differnce may be. This consisted of grilled breast meat and roasted leg meat, both with super crispy skin under a velvety wine sauce. Perfection, ahhh.

Apple quince  puff pastry tartlet  with muscat sabayon (4.5*). Again, simple but just right. The pastry was not too sweet, not too fruity, and the sabayon added the right amount of creaminess without overpowering the tartlet. Rei really loved this and inhaled his plate in about 3 seconds.

Oh, and don’t forget to finish off the meal with pressed coffee for two. Our server even gave us two pieces of raspberry truffle and pistachio cookies!

Since this was a special occassion meal, we brought a bottle of a great Pinot Noir we discovered at Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa - Goldeneye 2003, Anderson Valley. Not sure, but I think this may have been a single vintage (my memory fails me, especially after two consecutive days of wine tasting). I wish we had purchased more than just the six bottles we left with. These babies go fast!

If you haven’t tried Chez Panisse, do make an effort to swing by at some point. I’m convinced that It truly is a great dining experience every time. Even though I may not always love all four of the courses on the menu that night, I feel that perhaps my expectations are too high becuase this place is so talked about and hard to get a reservation at. The prix-fixe dinner is $85pp, plus 17% gratuity, and taxes. Corkage is an additional $25. Not cheap, but this is definitely one of my favorite places to go for a nice treat.

Last weekend marked my first trip to the Napa valley wine region, and boy was it long overdue. We were invited to a Friday night wedding in nearby Ross, so why not make a weekend trip out of it and swing by Napa/Sonoma? Being the diligent foodie/planner that I am, I mapped out our itinerary for both Saturday and Sunday. We were gonna hit that Silverado Trail with super-efficiency, not a single favorite winery to be missed. In true virgo fashion, I had maps and lists detailing every stop in geographical order from South to North.

Day 1 Saturday: Parng and his friend, Amy, joined us in the morning. After brunch at Tea Room Cafe in Petaluma (great find), we started along the Silverado Trail. The day’s wineries were: Luna, Clos du Val, Stags Leap, Silver Oak, Flora Springs, and V. Sattui. That’s right, SIX stops. Of the six, Silver Oak (5*) was hands down the best. Luna (3.5*) and Flora Springs (4*) also offer great wines for good value. I was unimpressed by the remaining three. I enjoyed our tasting room experience so much at Flora Springs that I even joined their wine club! The service was great, and I’ve always enjoyed their reds. Not to mention, Flora Springs is right next door to Dean & Deluca (4.5*) - where we picked up a wonderful picnic of cheeses, salami, french bread, and olives (4*). To fully take advantage of tasting room hours (most close at 5pm), I suggest you pick out your picnic delicacies and save them for the end of the day - enjoy your picnic while the sun is slowly setting behind the vineyards, after all of the tasting rooms have closed.

Day 2 Sunday: We planned to spend the entire day exploring Sonoma, but much to our dismay, Sonoma wineries were few and spread far apart. We ventured to the massive Kunde Estate (2* wines, 4* tour) for a free tour of the grounds and wine caves. As a souvenir, we took a few bunches of grapes for the road to sample. One interesting find that we stumbled upon was a wine/food pairing tasting room at the Mayo Reserve Room. For $25, you get to experience seven pairings of small bite-size offerings with different wines. The food was very creative and very good (4*), the wines just ok. I’d recommend the experience though, just to see how the different foods change the taste of the wines.

The whole weekend, Rei and I had been trying to squeeze more time into our schedules to visit Duckhorn Vineyards in Napa. Because it is further north in St. Helena, we didn’t have a chance to visit the day before. With two hours to spare before closing, we dashed all the way back into Napa to squeeze in some more tastings. Duckhorn Vineyards (5*) is absolutely beautiful, and their wines are always consistent in high quality and taste. We stayed until closing and even managed to squeeze in Charles Krug (3*) and Beringer (2*) afterwards.

Anyway, this post is about Mustards Grill so let’s get to it. Mustards Grill is one of the best restaurants in Napa valley. (Chef/Owner Cindy Pawlcyn is also owner of the popular Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen and the new Go Fish.) Mustards Grill came highly recommended by my usual trusty sources of information (ie. the internet), so naturally I jumped on the phone and made a reservation a few weeks in advance. Our choices for the evening: mango and avocado salad with blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette (4.5*), Maine crab cakes (3.5*),  BBQ baby back ribs (3* kinda dry), port braised lamb shank (4*) and  blackberry cobler a la mode (4*).

2 cases of wine, 1 wine club membership, 2 sets of purple lips/teeth, and many great meals later… I’m already planning our next trip back!

Finally, a trip to Chez Panisse and boy was it worth the wait. (Again, reservations 30 days in advance, to the exact calendar day. This requires some planning ladies and gentlemen…) Although Chez Panisse has a more affordable, ala carte cafe upstairs that serves a variety of the season’s best dishes, the establishment is famous for its restaurant (downstairs). There, diners are offered a prix-fixe menu that changes daily, featuring only the freshest in-season ingredients - mostly purchased from local vendors and farmers. You may have heard of executive chef and owner, Alice Waters - she’s penned many Chez Panisse cookbooks that you’ve probably thumbed through at the local bookstore. The prix-fixe menu is posted online each Monday for that week so what is being served on the night of your reservation is really the luck of the draw. Be open-minded and trust that everything served at Chez Panisse is absolutely fantastic. (I even set a calendar reminder the week of our reservation to check what was on the menu for us!)

An apertif: proseco with limoncello, my favorite (4*).

Ravioli fritti with cherry tomato salad (3* for the ravioli - the ricotta filling was good, the fried pasta part was a bit dry, 4* for the tomato salad).

Spicy shrimp and squid saute with roasted peppers and sweet corn (5* - the squid was cooked to Perfection with a capital P!).

Grilled rack and loin of James Ranch lamb with little turnips, stewed garlic, summer squash, and green beans (4.5* - this was astonishing since I don’t usually eat/like lamb.) Wherever/whatever James Ranch is, I’m a fan! BTW, garlic can be stewed?? Alice Waters and her staff of chefs are geniuses.

Roasted Blossom Bluff Orchards peaches with plum ice-cream in creme anglaise (4.5*). Simple, yet with complicated - we almost licked the dish clean.

Yummy! This was one of the best dining experiences ever. The restaurant looks like a cozy house, the staff treats you with the utmost professionalism and courtesy, and the food is phenomenal. If you really enjoy good, high quality food in a relaxed setting, you’re sure to have a great time at Chez Panisse. I’m going to mark my calendar now to make a reservation for sometime in the next 30 days or so.

Being the Morimoto-lover that I am, I jumped on the phone to make a reservation the minute I knew I’d be visiting NYC (back in May). Reservations at the Morimoto sushi bar must be made 30 days in advance, not surprising for the hip digs in the meatpacking district. This is Morimoto’s second restaurant, the first being in Philly - which we all know I will probably never visit because hey… it’s Philly. J/K. The structure is huge, with uber modern design - very NYC. Downstairs boasts a modern-looking bar where good-looking people hang out for drinks while waiting for their table.

We were promptly seated at the bar, right in front of Morimoto-san! It was a while before I realized that I might be scaring him with my gazer-beam stare and had to turn away instead to focus on the day’s menu. We selected our favorite sushi/sashimi dishes as a basis for comparison, then ordered the really unique, creative dishes on the menu. I found the sushi and raw dishes to be mediocre, nothing compared to the great sushi you can find in LA (Sushi Sushi, Mori, etc). However, the Iron Chef really proves to be a master of creativity in appetizers, cooked dishes, and presentation. Most memorable were the lobster ravioli appetizer (4* check out the big chunks of lobster!), pork kakuni in a bed of rice porridge (4*), tacoyaki (3.5*), seafood stew in savory broth (4.5*), tofu cheesecake w/ yuba and sugared ginger candy (4*). Look at the pics and see for yourself!

Dinner was definitely worth the $200 tab, but only because I had a front row center view of Morimoto himself - he made our spider roll and uni sushi! Oh, and Vera Wang was seated at a table right next to us. Sorry guys, I was too shy to snap a picture of the Iron Chef, but I did get an autographed menu as a souvenir. =)

The next time you visit Cancun, opt for a different kind of steakhouse. You’ll find that Cambalache offers a more unique and tastier dining experience than Ruth’s Chris, Outback, and Lorenzillo’s - all of which are also on the main boulevard of Kukulcan.

Cambalache is an Argentine steakhouse, located in the central clubzone of Cancun, in the same plaza as Hard Rock Cafe. After a long day of jungle tours, ruins (prepare to sweat), or scuba diving, you deserve an indulgent meal of nothing but the best meat, cheese, and sausage dishes. Once seated and ready to order, the waiter will roll a cart up to your table displaying each of their different cuts of meat - sirloin, strip, ribeye, etc. Nothing like a huge display of raw carnage when you’re starving… The tenderloin comes highly recommended, as well as the house specialty souffled potatoes and caesar salad, made to order at your table.

After much indecision, we ordered the Cambalache sausage (4*) and provoleta cheese (4*) appetizers to start. Talk about clogging your arteries… Feeling guilty about not having any veggies, we added the caesar salad prepared table-side (3*) which was nothing spectacular, but definitely worth the show. The waiter cracked and skillfully added egg to the dressing by using two forks in one hand while keeping the entire egg intact! For our entree, we shared the tenderloin which was cooked nicely to a medium rare on a sizzling plate with green chile peppers and onions (4*). Careful, a small taste those chile peppers made us cry and lose our hearing for a few minutes… The highlight of our dinner was the basket of souffled potatoes which were fantastic (4*) - they were crisp on the outside like homemade potato chips but soft like mushy french fries on the inside. Muy bien! <BTW, please excuse Rei’s obnoxious shirt - he thought it was very fitting for Cancun, MX.>

The first thing most people say when talking about Japan is how good the food is, and how right they are! Here are some of the photo food highlights of our trip - enjoy!

Sushi - we went to a sushi place by Rei’s grandparents’ house, close to Mt. Fuji. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but we went w/ the omakase. All of the chef’s selections were great, especially the 2-second grilled halibut which we ordered an extra plate of. 44 pieces of sushi later, we were happy campers. Pictured: seared albacore, grilled halibut, kani, the damage = 22 plates.

Obanzai (Kyoto home cooking) - Rei’s mom recommended this place. We sat at the bar and asked the chefs to make whatever was best. Small dishes, large Asahi’s. Pictured: grilled fish collar, raw eggplant salad w/ dill, parmesan cheese shavings, red peppercorn, and thick egg yolk dressing, obanzai chef.

Additionally, we tried all sorts of local Japanese cuisine/specialties. Here are a few: kushiage (fried skewers), okonomiyaki (cabbage pancake w/ fried noodles), takoyaki (octopus in pancake-like batter), ramen (this cured my hangover), finger sandwiches and an awesome cappuccino, grapefruit gelatin, omelette w/ thick white toast, salad, and gourmet coffee (brewed with a percolator - all this for just $5usd!), black sesame soft-serve (we should’ve gotten two of these - I hate sharing desserts)…

So after eating all of this food, we decided we needed some outdoor activity… what better than fireworks (and more Asahi)?? Can’t wait until the next Japan trip. =)

A few weeks ago in Japan, Rei and I headed for Kyoto to visit the country’s famous shrines and temples. While we saw beautiful gardens, old castles, and serene shinto shrines/buddhist temples, we were both really looking forward to the kaiseki meals which originated in the country’s old capital. Afterall, no trip is complete without an indulgent meal at one of the city’s best restaurants, right? Rei’s mom highly recommended Sakurada, a kaiseki restaurant which requires reservations in advance. Patrons select one of three prix fixe options which offer 9-10 courses, starting at $110usd, drinks not included. Kaiseki uses fresh ingredients of the season and are cooked in ways that enhance the original taste of the ingredients. Each dish is prepared with the utmost attention to detail, with small portions served in beautiful plates/bowls/glasses, usually alongside tree leaves or flowers. Just the presentation alone is breathtaking (ie. drool-inducing).

Upon arrival at the small, quaint restaurant we were greeted warmly by servers dressed in traditional japanese kimonos. We were seated at the six person pine wood bar in front (sanded down every night) and offered hot towels for our hands. The host (chef-owner’s wife) made small talk with us for a while before jotting down our food dislikes and hurrying to the back to start our meal. Here’s a look at what we sampled (don’t be jealous)…

Course 1: hammo & junjo fish in citrus broth gelatin served on a lotus leaf, paired w/ 100 yr old sake

Course 2: tender abalone over winter melon garnished w/ liver in a delicate soup

Course 3: o-toro, ika, and kanpachi sashimi

Course 4: eggplant sabayon (creamy, egg custard-like gravy). This dish was kind of bland, but no complaints here… it was still very good.

Course 5: hammo sushi, unagi sushi, mountain potato, etc (we called this the fantasy island plate - look at the presentation!) We even took a close-up shot of one of the items on the plate - mmm, deericious!

Course 6: grilled river fish (you eat the whole thing, including the head)

Course 7: daikon wrapped uni and nori

Course 8: hammo fish with smoked japanese vegetable (again, could have been better but still not complaining).

Course 9: salmon cooked rice w/ nori and pickled veggies (we each had 2 bowls, and I usually don’t even like rice!)

Course 10: fresh fruit (those are muscats, not grapes!), mango pudding, and fresh orange juice

Course 11: red & white bean dessert in clear gelatin mochi - fantastic!! (this could be the best desserts i’ve ever had, if you can believe that!)

At the end of the meal, we were each served a cup of traditional matcha (green tea) - the kind made w/ matcha powder at traditional tea ceremonies, not your usual tazo tea bag green tea. I’ve decided not to rate this meal because I think the pictures speak for themselves. I’m a big foodie and have been lucky enough to try some of the most celebrated restaurants, but our meal at Sakurada could be the best one yet. Rei & I got as close to licking each plate/bowl clean as possible without humiliating/embarassing ourselves. The bill came to approx. $180pp including beer (Asahi!!), and believe me when I say it was worth every penny. =)