Hide Sushi

Sushi! I love me my sushi, and I've passed by Hide Sushi enough to see that this place is super popular (I see people waiting outside for a table at all hours of the day!) I was forewarned about their cash only policy, so I made sure to get some cash that day when I met up with Daphne, Robert and Owen.

We snagged a seat in the back and quickly ordered, we were very hungry. They were very fast in delivering our food to the table, considering the amount of people in the restaurant at the time.

Two sets of each kind of roll, spicy tuna and spicy yellowtail, arrived first. These were delicious rolls, very freshly made, great quality fish, good texture on the rice. We devoured these very quickly, so tasty!

From the left: salmon skin roll, California roll, and then a spicy salmon roll to round out the plate. The salmon skin was Robert's favorite, he always orders it, and I definitely agreed with his decision. We described the salmon skin as "salmon candy", crunchy, fishy and savory, I wish more places had it as a fast food item (KFC could try to go out on a limb to try to get more asian customers?). California rolls aren't really my favorite, but this version was nice, very generous with the avocado. Salmon was good, I could have had more of those too.

Some nigiri - from the left front - unagi, (eel), sweet shrimp, and salmon. Starting with eel, which is my favorite meal ender, I love the sweet sauce and the savory taste it has, I always have one to end my sushi meal. Salmon nigiri was very good, no overly fishy taste (which is Owen's judge of good salmon), and super tender once eaten. They went quickly.

Daphne had ordered the sweet shrimp, as she had heard to order this (later, you will see the fried shrimp heads), they do not waste any of the huge sweet shrimp. However, she tasted it and instantly did not like it, so she gave the other one to me. Honestly, I am not the biggest fan either (raw sweet shrimp has an interesting texture when eaten, the best way I can describe it is it makes my mouth feel...fuzzy and powdery), but I don't like letting things go to waste, so I had it. I think I'll stick to cooked shrimp from now on.

The fried shrimp heads were the redeeming factor to the sweet shrimp sushi, after turning their bodies into sushi, the heads are fried whole. Snapping off little bits of antennae and legs, each piece tasted like the best shrimp chip I've ever had. I would devour a plate of these, given the chance. Please don't judge me...sometimes I'm a glutton...

Last plate...more spicy tuna and a tuna roll. I already chatted about the spicy tuna, so the tuna roll, good ratio of cucumber and tuna (very generous with the tuna). I liked that it was cucumber bits instead a big chunk of cucumber like I'm used to, it gives a great cucumber flavor to the roll instead of overpowering everything.

We were super full after all these rolls, and I remember that the bill was quite reasonable. Great quality, great price, really nothing more I can ask for. I need to go back soon.

Hide Sushi
2040 Sawtelle Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025-6230
(310) 477-7242

Truxton's American Bistro

I hadn't seen Brook in awhile, and met up with her for lunch one weekday. Since I had never tried it, I wanted to give Truxton's Bistro a shot (last time I had tried to eat there, it was completely bogged down with a party, and we never even got to be seated - no one ever showed up at the front - a huge negative, there always should be someone greeting, right?) I decided to give the place another chance, after all, there were a lot of people there, that's at least a good sign right?

Scanning the menu, I noted that a lot of the menu items were pretty pricey, but I was still willing to try, if anything to check out the quality. Of course, my usual drink order...

A nice frosty arnold palmer, very welcome on that hot day.

Brook got a meatball(?) pizza, I think it was meatball anyways. The other toppings included red bell pepper, onion and a slight dusting of parsley. The pizza crust was impressive, very thin but still managed to keep all the toppings secure and didn't bend under the weight of itself when picking up a piece. Brook only ate like, a quarter of this, and saved the rest, it was rather big.

I got a turkey club sandwich, with sweet potato fries. I think I got this mainly because this would be Owen's order of choice if we were to go again, and I wanted to gauge how good his order would be, plus I wanted to bring half of this home for him, as he was sick that day (yes, he's sick a lot...a lot of headaches :( ) I remember enjoying the sweet potatoes a lot, as they were crispy, well seasoned and the perfect fry size. The sandwich itself was made of fresh carved turkey breast, a pleasant surprise (I dislike the water packed stuff but have come to terms with it when served this at restaurants, Owen DETESTS water packed turkey and will completely reject a sandwich if it contains it), good mixed baby greens and tomato, with bacon, but I could be wrong as this was awhile ago. This was a very decent sandwich, however, very pricey (I think it was around 12-13 for the sandwich, and an extra dollar or two for the upgrade to sweet potato fries.)

The atmosphere was nice and very busy, I'm sure a neighborhood restaurant is very welcome around these parts, in terms of variety (oddly, there are 3 Mexican restaurants within spitting distance of each other around here...). The price point is a bit high for my taste, but I can see myself coming here once and awhile.

UPDATE: I went here again with Owen and my parents this past week, to get some breakfast. I had gotten a breakfast burrito, with chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, pico de gallo and cheese. My side dish was fresh fruit (I had a choice of potatoes but went with fruit.) Owen got their french toast, my parents got scrambled eggs and toast, and bacon, and snacked off each others' and my plate. The food was pretty good, the fruit was very sweet and my mom really liked my breakfast burrito. However, one thing was driving me nuts - there was this annoying loud squeaky noise whenever the servers went through the door to the kitchen, which was very often. I know it was a little thing but it bothered my experience enough to ask the server to fix the squeak, which didn't happen during the busy morning rush. I hope they fix it by the time I go back next time.

Truxton's American Bistro
8611 Truxton Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90045-3910
(310) 417-8789
www.truxtonsmaericanbistro.com

Koreatown Galleria

Just a quick post (I have much to catch up on, and it's almost the new year..!), but one hot summer day, I decided to stop into Koreatown Galleria for a quick lunch after I had gotten my haircut.

Don't exactly remember what the name of the little stand was in the food mart, but I craved Korean cold noodles. This was a really great combo - Korean cold noodles and Korean bbq marinated beef ribs over rice combo. The springy, cold and tangy noodles make slurping them a joy...I am instantly refreshed after eating these. The beef was very tender, I didn't really finish all the rice but the meat was great, and with the kimchi-ed bean sprouts, kimchi cabbage, and pickled veggies, it was a perfect meal. I should have taken my leftovers back home but I had some more shopping to do, so I figured it would be a waste...I'll remember to do that next time.

Koreatown Galleria Food Court
3250 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90006-2367
(323) 733-6000
koreatowngalleria.com

Sugarfish

This is from when Marcie and I finally got together one day to celebrate both our belated birthdays. She had wanted to try Sugarfish for ages, and we finally made it there, early enough so we were the first customers of the day on a sunny Saturday mid-morning.

I'm most intrigued by Nozawa's "Trust Me" menus, how for the most part, that's all they offer, you can get a few things more a-la-carte but that's it. Marcie and I both went with the "Trust Me" menu selection (not the Trust me lite, I wanted to try the crab roll!).

A plate of edaname was brought out for each of us to nibble on. Tasty pods of edaname are always fun and a great way to start a meal.

Second dish, a chopped tuna sashimi, with green onions and ponzu sauce. Each piece of tuna was like a glistening ruby, so tasty and fresh. I'd have to say the quality of fish was excellent across the board, very clean and tasty flavors. The portion was quite small, but a great start.

Next up, 2 pieces each of Albacore and Salmon Sushi. Same thing all around - super fresh and tasty. I remember the rice being nice as well, although it was a little more crumbly than I would have liked (a lot of grains fell off en-route from plate to soy sauce to mouth), but the fish more than made up for any minor complaints about rice.

Another small plate arrived - one piece each of Yellowtail and Halibut Sushi. Nothing more can be said about the quality that I haven't said before, just top notch and very delicious.

As the waitress put down this plate, she cautioned us to eat this sooner than later, as the seaweed is crisp and fresh. The Toro Hand Roll was really amazing, the fish was very luscious on the tongue, and the rice issue was resolved by this method of eating, as the rice was enveloped by the seaweed. I could have had 2 more of these.

Last plate was the Crab Hand Roll, same rules applied as the toro handroll. The crab meat was SO sweet, each bite was just like fireworks in my mouth. Hrm, in a good way.

I felt pretty good after that lunch but I think I probably could have done even more, maybe some a-la-carte items to finish it off. I am definitely going again soon.

Sugarfish
4722 1/4 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-6905
(310) 306-6300
www.sugarfishsushi.com