Thursday, August 28, 2008

Father's Office (Culver City)

The obligatory and necessary post about Father's Office - THE place for burgers. The anticipation for Father's Office Culver City to open was nervewracking -drive bys during their construction time led to disappointment, and a sign that said "FO..." When I found out it had finally opened, I managed to drag Owen and Bryan out to eat there, the third night it was open.

For a Wednesday, the place was HOPPING, but then again, maybe it was because it was so shiny and new. We waited in a line just to get in. After being let through their beautiful wooden framed doors, it was confusion everywhere. No host or hostess. But I'm here for the food?

I guess it doesn't matter, and part of the "appeal" of the place - again, it's a bar. You order at the bar, everything, beer, food, whatever, and then pray to high heaven to get a seat before you get your food. We managed a small cramped seat for three, sharing the table with 2 other people. The seating on the patio/open air area is nice, but again, everyone's vying for any seat available, so it's mercenary.

I ended up ordering for the boys, as they saved my seat, and after a longer than average wait (total wait time at this point was about 45 minutes from starting to wait in the line to get in to when we finally got food to the table) they finally set down the fabled magical food.

Father's Office Culver City
The sweet potato fries, "a la carte", served in a mini cart. Cute. These fries are really good though. Some of the best I've had. And no dipping these holy fries in ketchup - they only have aioli (blue cheese kind or regular kind.) I didn't mind at all - with aioli that good, ketchup was the last thing on my mind.
Father's Office Culver City
And HERE is the oh so talked about Father's Office burger. It's a really juicy, delicious, dry aged beef patty, molded in an oval shape to fit the bun, which is more sub sandwich style than hamburger bun style. The bun keeps the caramelized onions (cooked down to a sauce more than anything else - the onions were a shadow of their old oniony selves), maytag blue cheese and gruyere and peppery arugula all together in a perfect package. The fries were super tasty as well, dipped with more aioli.

Father's Office Culver City
Here's how half a burger at Father's Office fits into Owen's hand. A hefty burger, to be sure, but every single bite of this burger is something to be savored. Check out the pink medium cook of the meat, the way the juice of the burger gets caught by the bottom of the bun...it's a thing of beauty.

The cheese, especially, has quite a note in this burger - sharp, distinct, but mellowed out by the onion soup topping, and offsets the arugula. It's just a masterpiece. I managed to save half for later, which took all my energy to not just go to town on both halves of this burger in one sitting. The meat, is just SO good. This high quality of meat used for burgers is such a treat.

I just had some fizzy water for a drink, but I wanted to mention that this was some of the best fizzy water I've had - they use the same carbonation system for their beers, I think, so the water is especially bubbly and delicious - plus, it's free. Hooray for that.

So the burgers meet all expectations, but the difficulty of getting this burger is daunting. I can't just order a burger to go and eat it at home - I'd have to wait in line JUST TO GET IN, and then wait in another line, order and pay, and then wait for them to make it, and then wrap the thing up myself, and slink outta there. A lot of trendy people come to drink here, and don't leave (completely understandable, after all it is a BAR...) I just wish they had a restaurant or takeout window or something, ANYTHING for the people who just want a burger and not drinks. But it is not so, so we just follow the rules and wait in line for half an hour just to get a chance to get this mystical burger. I guess if anything, that prevents me from having this burger more than once every season, which is probably better for my heart, hah. Until next season, I will dream of this burger...

www.fathersoffice.com
3229 Helms Ave., Los Angeles

Sprinkles Cupcakes

My first Sprinkles Cupcake...it's like the first time you go to anywhere that has so much buzz around it, like Pinkberry. However, my first experience with these charming cupcakes were not marred with an actual trip to the Sprinkles store...it was brought right to our office! Cam's mom surprised the creative team with a bunch of cupcakes for Cam's birthday! Thanks again!

Here's a pillaged box, with a bunch of them already snatched and consumed. I love the look of these cupcakes and their "trademarked" candy circular nipple thing on top. The frosting looks so clean, and not haphazardly slapped on top. However, it's really difficult to figure out what flavors these cupcakes are. I just had to make an educated guess as to which one I wanted.
Sprinkles Cupcakes
What favors are these? I guess I won't know till I try them all...
Sprinkles Cupcakes
Notably, these set of cupcakes are frosting-less - for the more health conscious cupcake connoisseur. I BELIEVE the flavor is pumpkin. Maybe. I don't know. I only had a half of a cupcake myself.

So, WHAT cupcake did I end up having? I had a strawberry icing, vanilla cake cupcake. And dang, was it good. Flecks of strawberry laced the icing, it was a light flavor, but in the end, a cupcake is a cupcake, and it was sugary as hell. I'm more of a fan of subtle desserts (like fruit flavors, or something sweet but not TOO sweet), but you have to try everything once.

I didn't get a picture of MY cupcake, but Mark offered to display a cupcake he was eating:

Sprinkles Cupcakes
As displayed perfectly by his palm. It's a chocolate sprinkles, chocolate frosting and vanilla cake cupcake. I really like the shape of this cupcake - the sprinkles liberally rolled onto the frosting, the texture it creates. It's a good look.
Sprinkles Cupcakes
And here's a cross section of the cupcake, after a bite has been taken. Look how thick the layer of frosting is - it's a BIG mouthful of creamy sugar. The cake itself is moist enough, but I prefer a moister batter than this.

The cupcakes live up to the name and hype, but I admit I'm not the best judge of cupcake character. Every once and awhile is good though...

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Piknic

For my cousins' graduation lunch, she had set up the restaurant to be at a place conveniently close to LMU, and her choice was this restaurant named Piknic. It's located in the new complex in Playa del Rey - I didn't even know it existed, since it was well hidden from the main street (I usually zoom by on Jefferson Blvd. in my best effort to get away from the gnarly traffic of the Marina..) This place almost seemed exclusive, since it was the only restaurant in the group of high end condos and apartments. The place was bursting with people, and most of them nicely dressed. This was the place to be!

Emileigh had a huge reservation with Piknic, but most of the party didn't get there until later because of traffic from LMU. A lot of second cousins were gathering, and we were encouraged to order...since we were starving, we did...
Emileigh LMU graduation 2008
We ordered some spinach artichoke dip, which came at the same time as everything else, so it was kind of awkward. We were starving so I forgot to take a picture until we had dug into it a bit. It was pretty good!
Emileigh LMU graduation 2008
A half demolished French Onion Soup...there was a ton of cheese on this, and the soup itself was rich and deep. A really solid french onion soup, enough of a crouton to broth ratio, with plenty of carmelized onions in the soup.
Emileigh LMU graduation 2008
I ended up getting a Steak sandwich. Isn't it a thing of beauty? The steak itself was really good, not overcooked or dry, and a good amount of cheese melted all over it. The bread was especially good, and kept everything inside the sandwich - check those grill marks! The fries were really tasty, good mix of textures.
Emileigh LMU graduation 2008
Owen got a turkey club sandwich, as he usually does and will whenever there's one on the menu and it's lunchtime. This was a killer club. The bread was nice and grilled, and thick, like texas toast. The bacon was ample, and I think there was avocado on there as well. The turkey was from a carved bird - the most preferred kind of turkey! Owen requested sweet potato fries, which he prefers over regular fries. He could not stop eating them!

Owen really wants to come back here for a breakfast sometime. They have an ample menu of smoothies with fresh fruits, and the breakfasts that the others had ordered looked pretty good as well.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill

On a rare rainy day in LA during lunch, we headed over to Farmer's Market/The Grove to meet up with some other coworkers that were already eating at Chipotle. However, the place was full to bursting with people, and we decided to run to the other side of the parking lot and check out Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill. The place was pretty full, but we managed to get a booth pretty quickly.

The menu was pretty standard BBQ place fare - I'm assuming it's a chain, but it's not a chain I've been to or heard of other than this place, so it's new to me. We all decided on the lunch special, as the choices for their combos were reasonable and we all wanted soup, to warm us up.

Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill at the Grove
A breadbasket arrived, with very delicious rolls. I think they had been coated in butter and herbs. These were still warm and fresh, and had a good crust to them.
Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill at the Grove
We all got the clam chowder. Pretty decent, but nothing out of this world. Considering how hot it's been around LA, the thought of soup is almost too much right now! But on that day, the warm soup was perfect for the cold day outside.
Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill at the Grove
My combo consisted of half of a BBQ beef sandwich, with au jus, and a loaded baked potato, with cheese, bacon bits, sour cream and chives and butter on the side. I liked the bread on this sandwich, and the au jus was a bit salty but good for dipping. I managed only a few bites of the baked potato and brought the rest of it home to share with Owen :)
Wood Ranch BBQ and Grill at the Grove
Similarly, Annette and Grace chose half sandwiches (pretty much the same as mine), and Grace chose mashed potatoes, while Annette chose mac and cheese. It was good, but it was a lotta food.

This place was actually pretty okay. I usually have a dislike of most chain restaurants, but this was pretty good. I'd go again, but with so many choices at Farmer's Market, and Dupar's down the way, it might be awhile before I work my way back here.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Obi Bear

Ray had been singing the praises of Obi Bear's Korean fried chicken, so we met up there for a late dinner. The area around Obi Bear is a bit dodgy - I felt a little nervous as I was walking down the street from my car, (I wasn't aware of Obi Bear's parking lot, which is like a secret or something - no signs, just a caged area for cars. I ended up parking on Western, which was a few blocks away.) Funnily enough, Obi Bear is right next to an AA meeting place - convenient for people who fall off the wagon, I suppose. Location is everything!

Anyways, walking inside, there is the bar, and a bunch of booths. There was no seating in the non smoking area, so we had to go to the smoking area. On to the food!
Obi Bear
Some salty snacks to get people in the mood for drinking. Dried salt coated peas, pretty good- nice and crunchy.
Obi Bear
So here's what we got - the Korean fried chicken. It came with shredded cabbage with a thousand islandly sauce on top, jalapenos and the chicken, of course. There's also a tiny dish of seasoned salt too, I forgot to get a picture of that.

Here's a close up of the radishes, which definitely separates Korean fried chicken from other fried chicken I've had. The radishes are in a sweet brine, crunchy and with a good bite to each piece.

Obi Bear
So here's the lowdown on this chicken - first off, it tasted a lot like chinese fried chicken, which I used to have when I was younger, during big Chinese banquets. (where are the shrimp chips!?) Take a piece of the chicken (with the paper thin fried skin, if you can). The seasoned salt is sprinkled on top. Take a bite, then quickly grab a piece of radish, and eat that right afterwards. The combination of sour, salty, crispy, crunchy, savory and textures is just...great. Swallow, repeat process. A bite of salad inbetween this cycle is always good too. A solid thumbs up from me.

I haven't had the other incantations of Korean fried chicken yet (Kyochon, Bonchon) but I heard about the gnarly wait times for ordering (sometimes up to 40 minutes?). Obi Bear's chicken came out pretty quickly, so I have no complaints there. I'm coming back - now that I finally know where their parking lot is.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/o-b-bear-los-angeles-2

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Cynthia's Restaurant

Meeting up with some old coworkers from the 'flix, we decided to meet in a halfway point between our two workplaces. Jane suggested Cynthia's restaurant, known for their comfort food. I trekked down the street for an early lunch - it's not too far but it's a solid 20 minute walk...

It wasn't too hard to find them - they were the only ones in the restaurant! I guess we really did take an early lunch...

After a quick look at the menu, I quickly made my choice. The waiter was kinda...weird. A little forward. I don't really know how to describe it, he was really forward and left an awkward feeling. Well, that didn't change the quality of the food, so here goes...

Cynthia's Restaurant
Jane and I got mini sliders with fries. Each of the patties were different - turkey, angus and kobe. I couldn't taste the difference between the angus and the kobe one - I think Kobe beef is really like any other beef when it's in burger form. The turkey one was a little dry and needed a lot of dips into the ketchup. Overall, pretty decent but I've had better burgers in my life.
Cynthia's Restaurant
Peter's chopped salad - he's trying to eat better, and this was a great step in that direction. I felt a bit guilty eating mini burgers in front of him. He mentioned that the salad was quite good though, so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad.
Cynthia's Restaurant
Erika got what the restaurant was known for - their fried chicken, with a side of fries and salad. This is a pretty upscale chicken plate! Maybe it's because I don't usually have salad with a bunch of fried chicken...maybe I should more, to make up for eating the fried chicken! In any case, Erika seemed to like this.
Cynthia's Restaurant
To get the full effect of "comfort food", we got a dessert of bread pudding for the table. This was probably the most mediocre bread pudding I've had. Nothing special. I didn't have very much of it - too sugary without having a good taste. Oh well.

It was great to see my former co-workers, but I had an issue with Cynthia's later - I found out that they had charged me twice for my credit card! I called the restaurant, which reassured me that the charge would be taken off (an issue with their credit card company, I think, because a whole bunch of people had the same problem.) Not their fault, but definitely a hassle. It was kind of pricey, too, but it was to be expected because it was on trendy 3rd street on the expensive Beverly Hills City Limits. It was okay but I don't see myself going back here very often.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Daikokuya Ramen

After a goodbye drink over at Tom Bergin's (home to the Irish Coffee!) a few of us decided to go out to eat some late night grub. Kurt suggested Daikokuya, which I had only heard good things about, so we made the trek to Little Tokyo.

A bit of a wait later, we were seated in a small booth. The place was hopping - tons of people waiting, a small amount of space to feed them in. We were handed laminated menus, held together by binder clips...
Daikokuya Ramen
Kurt suggested we get the combination - the ramen, plus a small fried rice. He insisted that this fried rice was some of the best around. Also, he insisted that we get the extra "pork back fat" added to our ramen soup. Trusting his recommendation, we ordered as we were instructed. Noticing our surroundings, there was some funky old Japanese themed posters on the walls, an old TV that relied on its' tired bunny ears antenna for its' broadcast, and the kitchen in full view of anyone who was willing to look up. We soon got our food...
Daikokuya Ramen
The salad that came with the meal - it had overtones of a coleslaw. Shredded cabbage/iceberg, with a creamy tasty dressing. The dressing is what made it pretty good - I kept going back to this salad inbetween bites of my main meal.
Daikokuya Ramen
Which came right after that. A huge bowl of ramen, with a pile of negi (green onion), a whole soy sauce boiled egg, pork slices, that delicious back fat ridden broth, with fat floating on the top like jewels in an ocean. It really was good - the noodles had a good bite to it, with a perfect amount of green onion in each bite. There was a huge quantity of noodles too - I usually run out of noodles before I run out of everything else, but it was not the case here - I was totally full before finishing all the noodles. And the broth! A deep hearty flavored broth, made with pork bones (bone marrow is such a great flavor), and made even better witha scoop of mashed garlic condiment. This is definitely comparable to some of the ramen places I had in Japan.
Daikokuya Ramen
The fried rice did not disappoint as well. It was very flavorful, good amount of that greasy sheen that good fried rice has, bits of onion, egg, pork shards...it's a tasty bit of rice. I might just go back here just for this rice...

This place usually has a long wait time to get in, but it's pretty worth it. A must try if you're a fan of ramen.
http://www.daikoku-ten.com/

Langer's Deli

During one of my first weeks at work, I was a bit bogged down with learning the ropes, and couldn't go out to lunch one day. My coworker Zeke was headed to Langers, and promised to bring back a sandwich - and he definitely delivered! Thanks again!

I had been wanting to go here for ages - pictures of their legendary sandwiches were mouth-wateringly good, and pastrami is one of my favorite deli items. When Zeke came back with a bag and I opened it up...it was a mixture of feelings. Excitement, anticipation, joy...
Langers
First, off, the condiments. What's a sandwich without the little extras? These pickles are number 1. Seriously. Number 1. Best pickles I've ever had, ever. Right amount of sour, not too crispy or too soggy - just...perfect. And you can't have a pastrami sandwich without mustard, so a few mustard packets were in order. The pickles were packaged in an airtight package, a convenient 2 per pack. They definitely thought ahead!

Langers
Unearthing the wrapped sandwich...
Langers
...to reveal a thing of beauty. Ohh man. This looks good.
Langers
The meat was perfect. Succulent, thick, cut by hand pieces, not too salty, not too fatty. These slices were laid out on fresh rye bread, with a good crispy substantial bite to the crust. A smear of mustard from the pack, just before taking a bite - it was an EXPERIENCE. I manged to constrain myself to only eating half, and then sharing the other half with Owen when I got home, which he was extremely happy to do. Great sandwich. I really don't know what else to say. Just...awesome!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Ice Kiss

After a big group gathering for my birthday dinner (Korean bbq, always good for groups), Korean Ryan and Helen suggested getting some shaved ice and boba. We headed to one of their favorite places, Ice Kiss, which was a short drive from where we were eating at Tahoe Galbi.

We snagged a few tables outside and placed our orders - while we were waiting, we played with an old jenga set that was available for patrons. I admit the jenga set was kind of gross -when a jenga set gets to the point where the wooden pieces get slimy, I think it's time to retire the set.

Anyways, the desserts came and everyone dug in...
Ice Kiss
Owen and Bryan got a funnel cake, each. They chose not to put any "extras" on it, but even when it's plain it's pretty nice. Whipped cream dots all around the edge of the plate, powdered sugar, fruity pebbles, and fudge drizzled all along the top. Any kind of fried dough is good dough, right?

Ice Kiss
Here's Derek's version of his funnel cake, with all the fixin's...strawberry ice cream, fresh cut strawberries, more of the fruity pebbles and whipped cream. This was definitely good for anyone with a sweet tooth, and he scraped his plate clean.

Ice Kiss
This was an order of the shaved ice - green tea macha style. It comes with sliced fruits (strawberry, kiwi, banana), a scoop of green tea ice cream, red bean, mochi bits, condensed milk and whipped cream. It was really nice and refreshing, and the mochi bits were definitely the best part - chewy, soaked up some of the sweetness from everything in the bowl. Shave ice is a really good dessert for me, I think - not too sweet, I love ice, and it's great to share.
Ice Kiss
This is Helen and Korean Ryan's order of strawberry shaved ice - a lot like mine except that there's strawberry ice cream instead of green tea.

This place was pretty good! I liked that we could chill and play board games if we wanted, and they provided blankets if you got cold. Nice little touches like that are very welcoming to guests.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Kifune Japanese restaurant

Discovering a new sushi place is like meeting up with a person you've only met on myspace. Yeah, you've checked out their stats, personality, photos, likes and dislikes (menu...) but you never know how it's going to be until you actually meet up. To tell you the truth, I've never met anyone on myspace that I didn't already know, so this is what I'm assuming would happen if I ever got into that scenario. Anyways, we went to Kifune, after a friend insisted this was the best salmon sushi ever. It definitely did not disappoint...

Kifune
Started off with a salad and miso soup. I liked the dressing on this salad - nuclear orange, atop icky iceberg lettuce mix. I guess it wasn't that bad, but in recent times I've become an iceberg lettuce hater. Miso soup is always good.

Kifune

Spicy tuna rolls came next. We had a choice of sushi or sashimi with our meal, and this was one of our choices. Pretty good, but not too memorable.

Kifune

Our other choice of sushi - tuna roll. Tuna is one of my favorite kinds of sushi. Again, these were good but not horribly memorable, as compared to what was coming up next...

Kifune

And here is what Kifune is known for - their salmon sushi. Just looking at that plate makes my mouth water. Each of the pieces of sushi were two bites - a generously sized sushi. They had a great fresh oceany flavor, and just melted on the tongue. Totally delicious.

Kifune

Here's where it all went crazy - we ordered the "Treasure Ship" for the three of us to share. It had EVERYTHING you could ever want from a Japanese restaurant: Beef teriyaki, Chicken teriyaki, Sesame chicken, Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura, Salmon teriyaki, Snow crab, Seafood kushiyaki, All served on a wooden craft boat. This was HUGE. It was enough food for 6 people. It was all really good though, and you can't beat that presentation - it just looked amazing. And it was a pretty good deal for 3 people (I think you can order it for 2 people, 26 dollars each. So about 50 for 3 people. Pretty good for a sushi place.)

I was TOLD this was a secret place to go to by my friend...but I am passing it along to you. Hopefully this makes up for not posting for such a long time....

405 East Washington Street
Marina Del Rey, CA 90291
Telephone: (310)822-1595

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Vegas Birthday Trip

Wow, it only feels like yesterday when I went to Vegas, but that was around 4 months ago, so I'm glad I'm finally posting about it. I'm only going to focus on the food, as most Vegas trips usually just involve us walking around everywhere, gambling sometimes, and then walking around more. That's pretty much it. Oh, and this time we stayed at Monte Carlo. I think I've stayed at 6 different hotels on the strip now. This one ranked a little lower on my list - I mean, the rooms are okay and all (no noticeable dead bodies in the closets or between the mattresses) but I've definitely been in nicer rooms on the strip.

So on to the food. We decided to go to the Wynn Buffet, as we heard many good things about it and wanted to check it out. Our walk from the Monte Carlo to the Wynn was pretty nice, but it was a long walk, and by the time we got to the Wynn, a lot of us were pretty thirsty. We got at the Wynn at a good time - around 4pm, between lunch and dinner, so we just walked in, instead of waiting forever in line. Sweet. They were also having a special Easter dinner menu, so Alaskan Crab legs and shrimp were the special! Even sweeter!

This is a plate of what Amber got, I think. Check those crab legs. They had pre-split them so it was really easy to get to the meat, which was the sweetest crab meat I've had in my recent memory. The shrimp, in Ryan's opinion, tasted too much like iodine, so he warned us against them.
Here's a plate of what I got - mostly meats. Check that rack o lamb! And a salmon handroll! This place has everything! The fried poultry in the background is not chicken but it is actually quail. And the prime rib - to die for. It is that good. Oh, there was also ceviche. Very decent as well.
This is the scary pile of crab leg carcasses that were the product of all of our crab destruction. Truly scary, how many crabs perished because of us. But they were so delicious.....


What is in the cup, you ask? Looks pretty scary, no? It is - it is CLARIFIED BUTTER. I didn't have any - this is Dean's cup. He took a bunch of crab legs, shelled all of them, put the meat in a pile and then poured a bunch of this on top and ate the best crab meat pile in the world. I think he lost a few days of his life, but I think it might have been worth it.


This is some of the choice desserts they have at the Wynn Buffet. At this point, anything that has dough in it was pretty much unappetizing, as we were pretty full. Some stuff still looked pretty good though - clockwise from top right - coffee gelato, with a bit of bread pudding, tiramisu cup (very cute!), chocolate tart with gold leaf on top, caramel eclair, and hidden behind the dish, is bananas foster. I didn't eat all of it, but definitely got a taste of everything, which was excellent.

Later that night, we checked out the Fremont Street Experience (the suck! It's just a bunch of stock footage playing on the ceiling and music playing!) and ended up at the California Club. Helen had a huge craving for their oxtail soup so we went to their 24 hour diner to get it. California club seems tailored towards Hawaiians and Asian people, as most of the items on the menu were Asian themed/inspired.

Since we were there after 10pm, there was a special - the 4 dollar steak plate. YES. 4. Dollars. It also came with two sides, and Ryan chose stringy overcooked green beans and mashed potatoes. I think Ryan noted that it sucked, but really, that's what you get for a 4 dollar steak plate. They totally overcooked it.
The oxtail soup fared much better- this is delicious comfort food to me. It came with two huge scoops of rice - unnecessary but nice that they added it. There were tons of pieces of meat in this soup, and delicious marrow to suck out of the bones. It's not like, THE BEST oxtail soup I've had (that award goes to my mom's version) but it was very decent for a restaurant. I think this bowl was a very reasonable 8 dollars, which really hit the spot for a late night treat.

Of course I stopped by Bouchon again, for brunch - I LOVE that restaurant. I didn't take pictures, because I figured my last outing sufficed, but this time around I again got their daily special - crab omelette with bacon on the side. The bacon was sooo good. They really hooked it up. Everything there was superb, as last time. I can't wait until they open their LA location (however, not until 2009, and I'm sure I should call now if I want to eat there next year, hah)...in any case, Vegas always hits the spot!

Buddha's Belly

On one of our rare outings for lunch (it's hard to drive anywhere for lunch, especially since my car is not parked in the same building as where I work. It's a 10 minute walk just to get to my car), we decided to go to Buddha's Belly - a trendy place off of Beverly Blvd. The place was hopping with people -mostly people from nearby businesses, I was assuming. We got a table outside to accommodate all of us, which was pleasant enough but service was a bit slow.

Buddha's Belly
Julian got a Singapore Seafood Noodles -shrimp, mussels, scallops, flat squid ink noodles, red and green bell pepper, egg, onion, nira chive, cilantro, spicy yellow curry. I didn't try any of it, but he finished it and he said he was still hungry, so I guess it wasn't very filling.

Buddha's Belly
Kue and Grace both got Spicy Tom Yom Koon Thai Ramen Noodle Soup - shrimp, thin egg noodles, lemongrass & red chili broth, tomato, straw mushrooms, cilantro, kaffir lime leaf. They seemed to like this alright, and it looked like a pretty big, filling bowl of noodle soup.

Buddha's Belly

I got Seared Ahi Tuna Salad - sushi-grade ahi tuna, organic mixed greens, ginger, fried onion slivers, wasabi sesame seeds, wasabi-yuzu dressing. This was totally disappointing. Check out how PAPER THIN the ahi tuna was - if you held it to the light, you can see through it. I don't know why this place was totally shafting me on ingredients - I mean, I'm paying 13 dollars for a salad, and I'm glad they used mixed greens instead of romaine, but I severely felt angry after eating this. Ahi tuna sliced this thin should be wrapped around something...like...bacon. Ha! I guess that would take away the healthiness of this dish. But seriously. Boo.

Buddha's Belly
Evan got the best thing at the table - Spicy Peanut Noodles - shrimp, chicken breast, flat rice noodles, celery, mushrooms, edamame, spicy peanut sauce. I had a taste of it and it was really delicious - rich because of the peanut sauce, which had a great consistency and flavor. If I ever had to come back, I'd get this instead of my rich people salad.

It was a nice lunch out, but I still feel burned over the price and cheapout of my salad. It's pretty trendy because of the location, so part of you're meal you're basically paying for ambience.


http://www.bbfood.com