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April, 2011 - DineDelish

April 2011

Love Letter Pizza and Chicken – Dear Deliciousness

by Franklin on April 30, 2011

Remember when you were a kid and you loved pizza.  Heck, you probably still do.  Everyone likes the pizza, but hates the crust.  I don’t know about you, but I was one of those kids that ate the good part, and threw the crust back into the pizza box. Before you shake your head at me in disappointment, please note that I didn’t do this often, and I don’t do this anymore.  I didn’t know any better, okay?  I actually blame pizza companies for this.  If everyone stuffed their pizza crust with sweet potato like Love Letter Pizza and Chicken, we wouldn’t have this problem.  Yeah, they actually stuff their pizza crust with sweet potatoes.  That may sound a little off to you, but this stuff is delicious.

As pizzas go, their two popular ones are the Bul Kogi Pizza, as well as their Gold Pizza. The Bul Kogi pizza is a traditional pizza, but has marinated beef as one of the toppings.  The Gold Pizza is the sweet potato pizza that I mentioned before. It has bits of chopped sweet potato and veggies as toppings.  At the restaurant, I wanted to try both, but wasn’t about to order two pizzas.  They were kind enough to make me a half/half. Score!  Both pizzas were great — they were very different, but very tasty and delicious.  The sweet potato puree busted out of the crust and was very hot.  Don’t burn your mouth like I did.

Along with the pizza, the chicken wasjust as good, if not, maybe better.  I am a carnivore at heart, so this was really good to me. The chicken wings are fried, and then submerged in a sweet and spicy glaze.  The chicken was so crispy and flavorful from the sauce.  It it something you have to try yourself.  The sauce is sticky and sweet and is a perfect food mate with the pizza.

Along with our order, we got a complimentary salad.  It was basically shredded cabbage with thousand island and corn.  We also tried the corn cheese.  This was corn mixed in with jack cheese (maybe mozzarella), all melted on a skillet. This thing was so cheesy and good, it was a great starter.

Love Letter Pizza and Chicken, as the name suggests, sure do make pizzas and chicken.  The thing is, it’s not your ordinary pizzeria or chicken joint. They do something special, and their menu infuses Korean ingredients with their food.  Amazing pizzas, amazing chicken.  As for the name Love Letter, I am unsure of the origin or why it’s named that.  But I have a letter of my own, and it reads:

 

Dear Love Letter,
I love your pizzas.  I love your chicken.
With love,
My Stomach

Love Letter on Urbanspoon

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AhnJoo Truck – Food Network Star Cooks Up Korean Grub

by Franklin on April 28, 2011

As a Korean American, I love Korean food.  I ate it growing up, and it gives me a sense of home when I eat it. I was excited that the AhnJoo Truck was going to be at the Santa Anita Food Festival, and it was my first stop.

AhnJoo is something of a snack or appetizer you have as you drink — alcohol.  The name is perfect for the truck because they serve some great bar food.

I had their Korean fried chicken with garlic glaze, and their Korean Nachos.  The fried chicken was very tasty.  The drum sticks were covered in this garlic sesame glaze that was deliciously sweet.  The pickled daikon radishes made it stand out even more.  Eating the chicken with the pickled radish was a great combination.  This is a classic Korean dish and this one hit me in my soul.

The Korean Nachos was my least favorite, but good nonetheless.  It was a base of fried rice cakes topped off with cheese, marinated pork, and kimchi salsa.  I still have a huge problem with eating Korean food with cheese. The Korean diet does not consist of anything dairy because there was no dairy back in old-school Korea.  These days, the trend for Korean fusion restaurants is to put cheese on traditional Korean cuisine.  I find it odd.  I guess I am a traditionalist after all.

I was glad that I tried the AhnJoo Truck.  Debbie Lee from the Food Network started the truck, and her culinary background shows in her menu. I may come off as sounding a bit biased, but I like to think that Korean Fusion recipes started this whole food truck craze in Los Angeles, namely Kogi BBQ.  Food trucks aren’t going anywhere (though they are), so it is always a treat to try new ones.  AhnJoo has provided some home felt eats from a truck.  Thank you guys!

Ahn Joo Mobile Cart on Urbanspoon

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Lobsta Truck – My First Lobster Roll Rolls Into Town

by Franklin on April 26, 2011

Living in Los Angeles, I rarely have the opportunity to have Lobster Rolls. In fact, I never had a lobster roll in my life.  Shocking!  It’s more of an east coast thing anyways, right?  I mean, it’s lobster. When I think of lobster, and lobster rolls, I think of states like Maine or east coast cities near the water.  That is why when I saw the Lobsta Truck at the Santa Anita Food Truck Fest, I jumped on the opportunity — the opportunity to try my first lobster roll — from a food truck of all places.

Let me just tell you a little about this food truck fest.  This places was packed!  There were so many people waiting in line for food, and the Lobsta Truck had one of the longest lines.  Kudos to you guys.  Check out the video below to see how long it was. (It’s fun to listen in on the people chatting in line about what they ate.)  The line literally snaked around other trucks and other lines.  It almost became hard to distinguish which line was for the Lobsta Truck.

This truck offers a simple menu — lobster rolls, crab rolls, and clam chowder. They even have woopie pies and ice cream sandwiches, but I came here for the lobster roll and clam chowder.  So how was my first lobster roll?  Freaking delicious — I mean, it is lobster after all. Yeah, it was my first lobster roll, and I don’t have any value of comparison.  It is lobster — it’s good no matter what.  Thankfully, at 12 bucks a pop, they sure didn’t skimp on the meat.  There were huge chunks of lobster meat in every bite. The best part was the split top bread, perfectly buttered, and perfectly toasted on each side.  The worst part was noticing that I had fished it all.  All good things must come to an end, and this time around, it was the lobster roll.

This truck opened my eyes to lobster rolls.  Where can I get a good lobster roll in Los Angeles anyways? Until I find that restaurant, the Lobsta Truck is going to have to do for now.  By the way, you guys should feel honored @LobstaTruck — you guys served me my first lobster roll!

Lobsta Truck on Urbanspoon

{ 9 comments }

Rutabegorz – Earth Day on Good Friday, A Vegetarian Meal for a Carnivore

by Franklin on April 23, 2011

It was Good Friday yesterday.   It was also Earth Day.  That meant no beef, no chicken, no pork.  Shucks.  This also meant no driving to work, recycling all of your trash, and free coffee at Starbucks.  Though I didn’t walk to work, I did eat at Rutabegorz.  These guys are serious about going green.  As much as they are conscious about the environment, they have a hefty vegetarian friendly menu.  This poor carnivore was not happy.

We started off with the 41 cents Earth Day Delight Dip.  It was a blend of cream cheese, almonds, mango chutney, curry, and cranberries.  At first I got the cream cheese flavor, then the nutty texture, sweet fruit, and the kick from the curry.  At first it was a bit odd, but I loved it in the end — the curry needed a bit getting used to.  And why 41 cents?  They were celebrating their 41 years in business.

I tried the boca veggie chili burger and the Mexican Cesar salad.  This burger was humongous, but no size or soy patty is going to fool me!  Don’t get me wrong, the thing was delicious.  Melted cheese, red onions, bean chili, and the soy protein all mixed forming an open faced sandwich in front of me was a task.  It was messy, and it was filling.  The way I look at it, it made me appreciate meat a little more.

The best was the salad, hands down.  My favorite cheese was in there — feta!  That’s all you really need to keep me happy — all you need to get me to eat salad.  I loved the crunch of the tortilla chips and the bite of the pepitas were so mouthful.  You won’t see me eating a lot of salad, but if anyone can make me, it’s Rutabegorz.

Boy do I miss meat.  Eating like a vegetarian is like giving a T-Rex twigs for breakfast.  Eating a boca burger is like giving a great white shark a human shaped blob of seaweed.  Eating like a…well, you get the idea.  Despite my animalistic ways, I enjoyed my time at Rutabegorz — I get them.  They are all about the environment and vegetarian eating.  They aren’t like a bunch of hippies serving food and saving the world.  They are passionate about what they do and they surely found their niche in the Orange County.

Rutabegorz (Fullerton) on Urbanspoon

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Litz Restaurant – Singaporean for a Change

by Franklin on April 22, 2011

My cousin and I had planned on having lunch on Saturday.  It was refreshing, as I don’t ever see him or hang out with him enough.  I called him around noon — no answer.  I got a text from him shortly after, telling me that he is hung over, and feels horrible.  I wasn’t quite sure if he meant he felt horrible from last night’s binge or about canceling on me. Either way, lunch was out of the question.

After a bit of recovery and rest, he made his way to my place — dinner was in the cards.  After checking online and other sources, he remembered a place he ate once.  We looked up the Singaporean establishment and surely, this was where he wanted to eat.  I never had Singaporean food ever, so I jumped on the chance. Litz Restaurant was where we were headed.

The place looked run down, dingy, and small.  The decor?  Stuck in the 90s.  They also got a score of 66 on the safety inspection.  I don’t know what the exact grade is, but that has to be in the “C” range.  “D” range? Already content on this place, and knowing that I have a pretty strong stomach, I gave it a try. I took the safe route and ordered the shrimp fried rice.  My cousin, not a fan of change, ordered what he had before, the pork chop with mushroom cream sauce.

I was surprised — despite the greasiness, my fried rice was not bad.  I would order that again any day.  My cousin’s pork chop was good too.  I wasn’t a fan of the cream sauce, but the actual pork chop was crispy and juicy.  To top it all off, me and my cousin were fine the next morning. No signs of food poisoning.

I learned a few things that night.  I learned not to judge a restaurant by its cover.  Don’t be afraid to try new things, I told myself. And most importantly, I realized that there are a lot of unique Asian cuisine around my neighborhood.  I will definitely try more things close to home.  I look back at that night.  I had good company and new foods – this is what dining experiences are made of.

Litz on Urbanspoon

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California Fish Grill – White Ruffy for not a lot of Green

by Franklin on April 21, 2011

Fish is my favorite food.  No wait…  I can’t do that to my beloved beef — the perfect marriage of fat and meat, cooked to a medium rare, with juices dripping everywhere.   But Sashimi is my favorite food, and that’s fish.  Hmm.  I am caught in a dilemma here.  I may retract this statement in a later post, but for the time being, fish wins it! There’s so many variations and tastes of fish, so many ways to cook it, and so healthy too.   At California Fish Grill, all they serve is fish.  They have the freshest fish delivered daily and is cooked(grilled) to order — none of that frozen mess.  This place is the real deal when it comes to fish.

I tried a variety of stuff on the menu.  My favorite is the Swai.  At first, I was a bit curious as to what the heck Swai was.  It turns out that it is a variation of a shark or catfish, or both? It is also California Fish Grill’s most popular item — they call it the “white ruffy”. Of all of their fish, The White Ruffy is my favorite!

My order came with a bed or brown rice, side of cole slaw, and the Swai fish Cajun style.  I saw the cook place my fish on the grill. It looked so good and tasty, I could not wait to eat it.  As I waited for my food, I went to the salsa bar.  There I grabbed some lemons and some tartar sauce.  I also get some garlic butter on the side.

The fish was so flavorful from the Cajun spices.  The texture of the Swai is similar to tuna and catfish, but the flavor is unparalleled.  At times I would dip it in the sauces, but it is perfect on its own. Eating it with the brown rice and cole slaw is such a good combination.  I usually dip the piece of French bread that they include into the garlic butter.  The perfect seafood meal.

Usually a meal including fish or seafood is pricey.  I guess that validates my point as why most people don’t order the fish — but at 8 bucks for a fabulous seafood meal, fish is back in the game. California Fish Grill also serve fried fish and shrimp, along with tacos and salads, but I’m a simple man.  I just like the fish as is. No batter, not chopped up or anything.  Just season the filet with the spices, grill it over flames, and I am happy.

California Fish Grill on Urbanspoon

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Cook’s Tortas – Bringing the Sandwich Out of its Shadow

by Franklin on April 20, 2011

I am writing about the unpopular kid at school.  He yearns to be noticed amongst the populous, but can never compete with the popular kids at school.  It’s not that he is lesser than his peers — he just needs to be given a chance.  Often times, the torta lives under the shadow of the burrito and taco.  Nobody really gives them a second thought at restaurants.  Thankfully, Cook’s Tortas gave a chance on the torta, and it came out on top.

Cooks Tortas only serves tortas and no other Mexican cuisine — no burritos or tacos here.  Their chiabatas are baked in house which is always a plus.  You know a restaurant is special when they make their own bread. This restaurant exudes a certain sense of classiness — They draw a fine line between greasy street food, and gourmet cuisine.   They also serve fresh aguas frescas just to top it off.  Pair that with one of their signature sandwiches, and you have perfection.

I had a chance to try some of their sandwiches.  The carne asada had grilled skirt steak, avocado, pico de gallo, lettuce, and mayo.  The bombero had steak, peppers, and cheese.  Both were very delicious.  On my first trip, I also had the Ahogada which had slow cooked pork which was a bit spicy and double dipped in some kind of sauce or a jus.  The meat was tender and great for carnivores like me.   The carne asada tasted like a burrito, as it had the same ingredients, but on a ciabatta roll.

The bombero was more of what I like — it had the savory beef and sauce that really hit the spot.  Their meats and ingredients were all fresh, and you could really taste the meat for what it was.  To top it all off, each sandwich came with one side.

A lot of people come here for their aguas frescas.  I sampled some of their drinks and it was unbelievable.  It was something I have never had before, at least not of that caliber and attention to pure taste.  If not for the tortas, come here for the drinks.  It is some of the best drinks I have ever had.  I think they could break even just selling the drinks — I’m serious.

With their drinks and sandwiches, they know what fresh food is all about — It comes down to the ingredients and the quality.  When it comes to Mexican food, I am usually a burrito and tacos kind of guy. If I ever become a torta guy, it would be because of Cook’s. They certainly do bring the torta out of the shadows, and puts them on top.
Cook's Tortas on Urbanspoon

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Meet n’ Potatoes – Meat n’ Potatoes n’ Tomatoes

by Franklin on April 19, 2011

A food truck selling sandwiches?  How easy is that?  My mom can make sandwiches. Even my 8 year old son (if I had one) could make a sandwich.  Just meat and cheese between two slices of bread right?  Yup, that would indeed be a sandwich.  But the questions is, how good is that sandwich? Not good at all I bet.  You used regular bread? Pre-sliced?  Lame.  And what is this bologna meat you keep talking about?  Sounds disgusting.  I want a good tasty sandwich.  Less of a sack lunch, brown bag sandwich, and more of a manly, fill you up sandwich.  I’ll just go to the guys at Meet n’ Potatoes and get the real deal. Thanks.

These sandwiches they make are bomb — they are delicious!  The bread was so soft, and the crust was nice and chewy.  Freshly baked bread, sliced to order is the way they do it.  That attention to detail is what I like about this truck. Bread is the main hold together component of a sandwich — it should be important.  I ordered the pastrami, and their pastrami was amazing.  Salty and meaty and so so good.  I just want to tell you that I love pastrami. It is my favorite deli meat, and theirs satisfied my love for it.

The coolest part is that they put french fries in the sandwich. Not on the side, but inside the sandwich!  This was so good.  I didn’t have to take a bite of a sandwich, then the fries, then the sandwich — none of this back and forth mess.  I just took bite after bite after bite.  The acidity of the slaw they add went so perfectly with the fries. The provolone cheese melded all the flavors and rounded it out nicely.

A good sandwich always has to be balanced — flavors must come together in harmony.  The Meet n’ Potatoes pastrami sandwich was a perfect marriage of flavors. Most sandwiches taste like what they are, a sandwich — one flavor.  But theirs tasted like bread, meat, fries, tomatoes, slaw, and provolone all in one.  Each individual ingredient came through to form a perfect sandwich.

They offer other “meets” too — chicken cutlet, roast beef,  and turkey to name a few.  I would stick with the pastrami, as it is their best seller.  Maybe I am a little biased as you already know that I love pastrami.  Why would you stray away from pastrami anyways? Do you not want a good sandwich?  Check these guys out.  Follow them on twitter (@MeetnPOTATOES) and see where they are headed next.  Do whatever you have to do to get your hands on these.  One question I have is why they spell meat with a double “e”. Do they mean like, “we meet up, then we have potatoes?”  That doesn’t sound right, but no biggie.  Honestly, I don’t really care.  Heck, they could misspell all the words — I’ll still get my pastrami sandwich one way or another.

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Cafe Xpress – A Vegetarian Meal for a Carnivore

by Franklin on April 18, 2011

This cafe was a new addition to the Atlantic Times Square shopping center.  The food here is very casual, as is the atmosphere.  The inside was very clean (something you don’t see everyday in Chinese restaurants in Monterey Park).  They had flat screens everywhere which was good for days my Los Angeles Lakers play.  Prices for entrees are really affordable and it is always a relaxing time here.  The icing on top is that they offer a free drink with every entree.  That is a great deal!

My favorite thing here is their chow mein.  Do you like chow mein?  Do you prefer the thick kind or thin kind?  I prefer the thin kind and Cafe Express does it wonderfully.  Something simple as chow mein was so delicious here.  It didn’t even have meat in it — just soy sauce chow mein.  Grabbing some with my chopsticks and eating it plain was a treat. This dish is simple as it gets, and as good as it gets.

I also tried the squash casserole.  It was a great vegetarian dish, as it had nicely cooked squash and mushrooms.  Squash is something I don’t eat often, but this time around seemed like a good time.  It was very hearty, though not my favorite of the bunch.  This vegetarian meal calls for some meat, thought I didn’t get any this time.  As you know, I am a carnivore at heart.

My go to meat dish would be their calamari.  It is so good, and the best there is.  It seems to me that restaurants take on the calamari differently.  Some fry the rings, some fry calamari nuggets,  but this place uses real squid.  The batter is very light.  My favorite is the spicy salt they sprinkle on these fried morsels.  The dish was so flavorful.

Eating at Cafe Xpress is always great.  Clean environment, good cheap food, and lots to choose from makes this place stand out from the rest.  I guess that’s the beauty about eating at cafe’s because they offer so much variety.  Despite having lots to choose from, I will stick with my chow mein and calamari.  Eating good food, watching the Los Angeles Dodgers, cheering for my Lakers, all in the comfort of Cafe Xpress.  That is the good life.

Cafe Xpress on Urbanspoon

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Chomp Sushi and Tepan Grill – Get it Raw, Get it Not-Raw

by Franklin on April 15, 2011

Its a Friday night, and you live in Orange County.  And not the OC where you surf everyday and relax at the beach.  I am talking about Fullerton, downtown Fullerton to be exact.  It’s full of drunks and party goers on any given weekend.  And why wouldn’t it?  DTF is laced with bars and nightclubs, and more bars all along Harbor Blvd.  It’s close Fullerton College and Cal State Fullerton.  Sounds like a perfect recipe for a party town to me.  But I’m not here to talk about partying — that would be a whole other post all together. I am here to talk about a Japanese restaurant — Chomp Sushi and Tepan Grill.

I have been here a number of times, and I always have fun.  The staff is lively and friendly, the crowd is usually young, and the food is great.  Friday and Saturday nights are usually busy — it is downtown Fullerton after all.  They are also busy for Sunday champagne  brunch.  There is a self seating bar (one for sushi, other for drinks), regular tables, and tepanyaki grill stations.  Though I’ve tried the brunch and the tepan grill, I will be posting only about what is on the regular menu.

Sushi at Chomp sushi is what most of the patrons order.  They offer a wide variety of rolls and dishes.  We ordered the Sexy Mutha roll and the Caliente roll — two of their most famous rolls.  The Sexy Mutha had shrimp tempura, avocado & radish sprouts rolled with rice and soy paper and is topped with spicy tuna, masago, green onion and sesame seeds.  The Caliente has Shrimp tempura, crab & avocado wrapped in spicy tuna, topped with seared albacore, ponzu sauce, jalapeño salsa & sliced jalapeños.  The interesting thing about the Caliente roll is that it has no rice in it.  It is all fish and seafood, which I loved.

Along with our sushi, we ordered a combo plate.  This included soup, a main meat dish (we added one more for $5), and a side.  The dish consisted of salmon, kung pao shrimp, and chow mein.  This dish was a bit odd to me, as it was a Japanese restaurant taking on a Chinese dish.  Though the salmon was very tasty and flavorful, it did not have the “wow” factor like the sushi did.

Downtown Fullerton is filled with places to eat and drink — It attracts all kinds of people. Have a fun night out with a large group eating tepanyaki style or eat sushi at the bar.  Either way, Chomp Sushi can feed the need for good Japanese cuisine.

Chomp on Urbanspoon

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Vermon/Wilshire Station Farmers Market – Koreantown Going Organic

by Franklin on April 15, 2011

Who would have thought that Koreatown would be having a weekly farmers market?  I never knew, and I am happy there is one so close by.  I was going to the bank one day to get a check, and look what I stumbled upon.  A great little get together of local foods.  They have fresh produce, peanuts, cheeses, Hawaiian chicken, and a lot more.

I had their pita bread with goat cheese and hummus.  The cheese was very strong and buttery smooth, just how I like it.  The pita bread and hummus were really good together as well, though a meat would have been a perfect addition.  I want to try some of their other stuff as well.  Maybe the Hawaiian BBQ or other full on meals they have.

All in all, this is a great thing for Los Angeles.  It is in the middle of the city, and city people need to be exposed to fresh food more often.  The farmers market is at the Wilshire and Vermont Metro Station.  They gather there every Friday from 11AM – 3PM.  Go there for lunch, or get some fresh food to cook for dinner.  It’s always a fun time at farmers markets.

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Lunchy Lunch – Canned Meat Sandwiches

by Franklin on April 14, 2011

Meat is so delicious. Beef, chicken, bacon, fish, whatever. It is so good. Meat from a can though? Really? Well, I eat it. I know it’s not gourmet or anything, but that doesn’t mean its not good. Yeah, so I have a little guilty pleasure for Spam. Big whoop! I’m Asian, and I like my Spam. Actually, I love Spam, and these sandwiches were yummy. So what sandwiches of canned meat did I have? If you haven’t guess by looking at the pictures, it was Spam and tuna. Not on the same sandwich, of course.

My girlfriend packed us some lunch before heading off to Disneyland. I’m a pretty lucky guy, I know. Sandwiches and cookies — can’t get any better. The Spam was on an English muffin and had egg and cheese. The tuna was just mixed in with some mayo and cheese. Both were tasty and filling.  We finished it off with some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.  It’s a classic, and always makes me happy.

If you haven’t tried Spam before, give it a whirl. It’s not gourmet, or classy, but come on. It’s good. Pardon my Lost reference, but if I were to be stuck on an Island like Jack Shephard and John Locke, what would I take? Beef? No, it’ll spoil. Fish? I’m on an island, remember? There’s plenty of seafood. Chicken? Nope. Spam! 🙂

 

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Buttermilk Truck – Breakfast on Wheels

by Franklin on April 12, 2011

It was a sunny weekend in Los Angeles, and I was driving down Sunset Boulevard.  I was minding my own business, two hands on the wheel, no cellphone in my hand.  Heading west, I saw a food truck in the corner of my peripheral vision.  It was the Buttermilk Truck!  Nobody can mistake that boy’s red outlined face smiling at you (what is that all about anyway?)  So I parked at the nearest spot, and headed quickly over.  No line?  Sadly, it wouldn’t open until 10 minutes.  But it was okay, because I was first in line!

Siren Studio was holding the South West Regional Barista Competition.  The Buttermilk Truck and the Lake Street Creamery Truck were there to feed hungry competitors and spectators.  It was an event I would never forget — and the food was unforgettable too.

My patience was rewarded as they opened their truck for business.  I walked up and said, “Hi, can I get the Hawaiian breakfast sliders, buttermilk biscuit bacon sandwich with the hash browns, and the red velvet pancakes?”  She replied, “the egg in the biscuit sandwich come runny, is that ok?”  I smiled and said, “yes, that is fine.”  I love runny eggs.  Some say it is my weakness.  Either way, I knew this was a good sign.

Everything was very good.  The bacon biscuit sandwich was delicious.  Though I wasn’t a fan of the actual biscuit itself, the apple-wood smoked bacon was thick and meaty — each bite was velvety smooth from the runny yolk.  The Hawaiian sliders had Portuguese sausage, grilled onions, and eggs scrambles all between none other than, Hawaiian bread.  This stuff was pretty good.  The spiciness from the sausage played nicely with the sweetness of the bread.  The hash browns were interesting, as it was infused with garlic and rosemary.  The red velvet cakes was a nice little dessert.  It was very chocolaty as it should, and the butter frosting they put on top  was great with it.

Having the opportunity to try the Buttermilk Truck was a treat.  It might have been because of the spontaneity of the whole thing, or the novelty of it all — either way, the whole experience was unforgettable.  What can be better than eating good food in the perfect weather in the city you love?  I am sorry, but it doesn’t get any better.

 

Buttermilk Truck on Urbanspoon

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Pain du Monde – Beachside Bakery and Eats

by Franklin on April 10, 2011

So you are shopping at Fashion Island and you  get a little hungry.  You want something good and fast, but not fast food.  Maybe you want something from a bakery or cafe.  How about a sandwich maybe?  Something like Panera Bread or Corner Bakery, but not exactly that?  Well how fitting, because Fashion Island has Pain Du Monde.  Pain Du Monde is French, and it means bread of the world — this place is serious about their bread and baked goods.

Upon walking it, I just had a feeling it would be good.  It’s a small bakery and cafe situated next to all of the expensive restaurants.  And since it’s a cafe, it won’t hurt your wallet. It looked like a coffee shop, but most of the people there were eating.  “Hmm, must be some good eating over here”, I thought to myself.  I saw in the front, a whole display of baked goods and a menu full of wraps and sandwiches.   I ordered half of their southwest chicken sandwich and tuna salad sandwich.

The Southwest had chicken, jack cheese, guacamole, and other veggies on a cheddar jalapeno roll.  The kick from the southwest sauce really made this sandwich stand out.  The tuna salad sandwich was great too — It had a fresh tuna taste that was clean and not overly “mayonnaisey”.  The fresh tomatoes and greens were perfect in it as well.  Both sandwiches were delicious as I would want to try the others.  I also gave in and ordered a cinnamon twist.  I was hesitant on getting a dessert, but sometimes I have to indulge myself on trips like this.  Are you with me?

This thing was massive — they served it on a plate, and it didn’t even fit.  I could tell by looking that the outer layer was going to be flakey — you could see all the layers of the dough.  The inside was also very yummy — the best part.  You bite in, and you get the crunch from the outside, and inside you get that mix of the dough with cinnamon and sugar.  The whole thing was scrumptious —  when I start using words like scrumptious, you know it’s good.

I’m glad that this was one of our stops.  It was good food done simple — none of this fancy shmancy stuff.  They also have these cafes in Corona del Mar, Newport Beach, and Dana Point.  I think these guys like to stick near the water.  That is alright by me because I like the beach, and I like Pain du Monde.

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Los Angeles Beer Fest 2011 – It is on!

April 8, 2011

The LA Beer Fest is here!  On Saturday, April 9, 2011 Sony Studios will host the event.  There will be food, music, and of course, BEER!  Look out for international and domestic beers as well as LA’s gourmet food trucks.  It will be from 12PM – 3PM and 5PM to 8PM.  As for that 2 […]

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Taste of Brea 2011 – April 8 (5PM – 9PM)

April 6, 2011

Brea is a small city on the outskirts of Orange County. Though small, it offers some great cuisine with fine restaurants. This Friday, April 6, 2011, they are holding a Taste of Brea to celebrate just that. The City of Brea, along with partnering restaurants will show off what that have to offer. $20 lets […]

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Dragon Beard Candy – No Shaving Cream Required

April 6, 2011

Upon reading the post title, you’re probably wondering what the heck this is.  Well, the story is, about 2000 years ago, the Emperor invented the Long Xutang candy.  He got maltose cut into sections and extracted them into fine filaments of thread-like candy and wrapped them together.  At the time, it was only served to […]

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King Taco (East LA)

April 5, 2011

I realized that none of my posts were on Mexican food.  It is way over due!  As for my first post on Mexican food, I give that honor to King Taco.  It is my go to spot for good and cheap tacos and burritos.  It’s close to where I live, and it is in the […]

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Santa Anita Park Food Truck Fest 2011 – Wait…Pay…Eat…and Repeat

April 4, 2011

What an event this was.  If you are a food truck lover, you definitely missed out.  Santa Anita Park hosted the event, and held nearly 80 trucks of all sorts.  Asian fusion, Mexican, Cajun, American, desserts, you name it.  They had it all! Upon arriving at the race track, I was a bit discouraged from […]

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Union Station – Truckit Fest

April 2, 2011

Do you know who Phillip Dane is?  Well he is responsible for the L.A. Flea Market at Dodgers Stadium and the Fairfax High Flea Market in Hollywood.  For us foodies, he created Truckit Fest.  Union Station will be the location on the first Sunday of every month.  That means, they will be having one on […]

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