Kings Head Pub and Restaurant (Part 2)

Whenever I think "Fish and chips", I first think about some of the fish and chips I had in England. And then I think of the fish and chips from King's Head in Santa Monica. Daphne and I headed there one night, before going to my friend Annette's show (Random Ninjas rule, by the way!) I was ready to try something new tonight though...and that new thing was this:

...a scotch egg! I had only read about these, and was determined to try one that night. I was not disappointed, it was a really filling appetizer. The boiled egg was perfectly boiled, not a hint of grey around the yolk, and super creamy. The sausage that was wrapped around it was nicely seasoned, not spicy at all, and almost melted in my mouth upon trying a piece. The breading was not greasy, and the gravy went perfectly with this. What an amazing food invention, the British think of everything!

Daphne got the special of the night, corned beef and cabbage,(in this picture, the cabbage is hidden underneath the mound of corned beef and gravy) which also came with a side of veggies. This place does gravy extremely well, I wanted to mention. This dish also came with...

...randomly, some raisin bread. I tried some of the corned beef, very nice and tender. Corned beef is one of my favorite meats, but after having the scotch egg, I was already pretty full.

And this is the king size order of the fish and chips at King's Head. Daphne and I split this, as all the fried stuff was starting to get to me (and my arteries). This was excellent as always, the fish itself was tender and flaky, and not mushy. The batter was crispy, light, and flavorful. Love these fish and chips!

I also love the atmosphere here as well, and the waitresses are actually British and it adds to the whole English feeling in there. I'll be back!

King's Head
132 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 451-1402
www.yeoldekingshead.com

Chicago for Ribs

I've been trying to tone down some of the spending recently, as times are tough, and one of my methods to save some cash is to buy gift certificates from restaurant.com to restaurants around my area. They were having a killer deal on gift certificates during the holiday season (80% off their regular prices...I think I paid maybe 2 dollars for each 25 dollar gift certificate), so I bought a bunch of them, in the hopes I will use them to get some deals. It might not be the most frugal thing I've done but at the same time, I gotta have some vices in my life right?

Well anyways, I used a gift certificate the other day to go to Chicago for Ribs, which I had only been to a long time ago (during college, this place was down the street from us.) It's a chain, which I usually stay away from, but desperate financial times call for desperate measures!! Bryan and I went here for a lunch, while he had jury duty. Seated in a booth, I had to get my usual drink...

...an arnold palmer. The glass screamed out the logo for Chicago for Ribs, I guess it's justifiable, since we're eating there. A decent arnold palmer.

Bryan got the cheeseburger, well done (his usual lunch order at a place like this.) It came with waffle fries, coleslaw, and a wedge of pickle. He managed to finish this (it was like a mission, the determination was in his eyes!), no small feat because this burger was I think a full half of a pound before cooking. I particularly like the waffle fries here, but then again, I just generally like waffle fries. I'm sure the burger was decent, again, Bryan didn't leave a bit of burger at all.

Here's some cornbread that came with my meal. I didn't really eat it, as I'm not really the biggest cornbread fan, so I took it home and it got stuck in the back of the fridge, and by the time I unearthed it, it was a pale, mummified and hard as a rock. Sorry poor cornbread, for your untimely waste.

I got the chicken fingers plate, with waffle fries and baked potato. I know, heavy on the carbs, but I only ate half of this meal, as I was feeling a little too full from some soup I had earlier in the day. The waffle fries - again, awesome. The amount of chicken on this plate was way more than I was expecting, so that was nice. A few dipping sauces came along with this - ranch and bbq, and I asked for some honey mustard, which they were really cool about. If I'm going to eat like a kid, I might as well have some fun with it, right? I was getting flashbacks of grade school, dipping my chicken nuggets in all those sauces, which was fun! The baked potato was alright, just a baked potato.

So another chain restaurant under my belt, and really, not so bad. I mean, you probably still won't see me at an Applebees' (will. not. go.) but for a quick lunch with no fuss, I'd go again.

Chicago for Ribs
8311 Lincoln Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90045
(310) 670-7427

www.chicagoforribs.com

Wako Restaurant

I met up with a few friends at Wako, at Ray and Kue's recommendation. I got there a bit early, so I wandered around a bit. The plaza that this place is in is directly transported from Korea - I was blown away at the arcade, where I really felt I was back in Hong Kong, when I visited there with my family long ago - they even had seats at the arcade terminals, so you could be comfortable while you kicked someones' ass at Street Fighter! Anyways, back to Wako...

The place was pretty well lit, and service was friendly and quick. We were seated and gave our orders - their signature dish - and were instantly given these bowls with sesame seeds at the bottom..

A mortar and pestle set, which we then used to crush all the sesame seeds while we talked. It was kinda fun, just absentmindedly mashing the seeds, and it gave off a nice aroma. Once we were done, our waiter came around and poured a very GENEROUS amount of donkatsu sauce over the crushed seeds. And then he brought this plate out...

A tray of awesomeness! My pork cutlet donkatsu, fried to perfection, conveniently pre-sliced so I don't have to bother with a knife. The little metal mesh that the donkatsu sits on is crucial to the secret of keeping the fried pork crispy, as the bottom of the cutlet doesn't get soggy if it's slightly off the plate. Ingenious! The salad is quite simple, shredded cabbage with a bit of dressing, I wasn't wowed by this dressing but it wasn't horrible. Side dishes include a bowl or white rice, a bowl of miso soup, and some kimchi-ed radish bites. I really like the combination of kimchi to this dish, it added some needed spice and heat.

This was a delicious choice. However, the only cruddy thing is the parking - it's a minimal fee valet situation in the parking lot with validation, but they were extremely slow and quite...angry. Someone got so fed up they angrily grabbed their own keys while the parking attendant owner was telling him off...I dunno, I'd say if you can score street parking it might be suggested but maybe it's just because I was there on a really busy night.

Wako Donkatsu Restaurant
3377 Wilshire Blvd
Ste 112
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 381-9256

Niko Niko Sushi Restaurant

Yes, I've been horrible, I'm STILL catching up on my posts from the holidays. But here's a quick one for everyone. I met up with the future in-laws for a pre Thanksgiving sushi meal at Niko Niko Sushi Restaurant. Parking is a bit tight here, as they share a parking lot with Winchells' Donuts (I think), but we managed to get a spot.

Service was quick, and we ordered a bunch of rolls...get ready for the amazing spread that was presented before us...

Dude. That's a pretty handsome looking variety of rolls. Trying my best to remember what was on this platter...starting from lower left, going clockwise - yellowtail sushi, salmon sushi, albacore sushi, california roll handroll, california rolls, tempura shrimp roll (times 2!), spicy salmon rolls and spicy tuna rolls. Whew! That's a lotta sushi - we didn't even finish it all, and we had Owen's brother with us (he's in high school, so he has that voracious high school appetite still!) Everything was pretty tasty, so I was impressed. I don't think the prices were too horrible either, so I think I will be back.

Niko Niko Sushi Restaurant
10839 National Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

Grace Restaurant - Appetite Stimulus Dinner

The other Appetite Stimulus meal that I had through Open Table had to be somewhere where I wanted to go for a long time, and so I chose Grace Restaurant. I was really jazzed to be able to go to a restaurant I knew would normally cost me an arm and a leg...the appetite stimulus price was still a bit more than I'd like to pay for a usual meal out, but to have the chance to eat here! Whoo! Anyways, enough griping about my food budget (which is pitiful nowadays!)...let's get on with the post!

The restaurant had accidentally canceled my appointment right before I was about to leave the house...I frantically called them back and said, YES I'M GOING TO BE THERE please do not deny me a seat OMG...! They brusquely apologized and reinstated my reservation...whew...! Upon arrival, they even made light of the situation, mentioning that yes, in fact I WAS there, heh.

The place itself had very dim lighting, which is not really my preference in lighting schemes (I like seeing my food, maybe not in blaring fluorescent lights or anything, but maybe a little more lighting would have been nice), and we luckily had a table instead of being seated along the half booth, half chair side of the wall. The other patrons there looked rather cramped and sitting very close to one another. Sometimes I like that, but I didn't feel too chatty that night. I was there for the food, and ready to chow down...

A very nice glass vase full of water (still) was set at our table, so we could easily refill our water glasses when we so chose. Props to the nice choice of glassware - I love the shape of this carafe. I also got an iced tea, as they did not have lemonade to make arnold palmer. Owen got the wine pairing, but I neglected to take pictures of that, as it was...wine in wine glasses. But I'll discuss what he had, from what I remember...

The appetizers started coming. I can't resist any kind of salmon, especially if it's a raw or smoked kind. And when I saw this on the menu, I absolutely had to order it - House Cured Salmon, which consisted of roasted beets, heirloom tomatoes, horseradish crème fraiche, and of course, the house cured salmon. The creme fraiche added a nice contrast to the flavors of the salmon and tomatoes. I usually don't care for beets but these were done very well, and didn't mind them. I also noted the nice use of microgreens on top- very pretty!

Owen got the Fall Squash Soup, with a topping of duck confit and pistachios. The wine that came with this soup was a glass of 2005 Silvaner “Trocken,” Wittmann, Rheinhessen, Germany. Owen really loved the this course, everything worked really well together. The texture of the soup was beautiful, the duck was the salty that the slightly sweet soup needed. I even think I liked this more than my salmon dish - and I love salmon, so that's saying something. The wine was very well matched to this soup (says Owen).

Owen's choice was Oven Roasted Leg of Colorado Lamb, with Byaldi confit, and olive infused lamb jus. I knew he'd order this one, whenever he sees lamb on a menu he'll usually go for it. The lamb was super moist and cooked perfectly. The taste that I had was excellent. The au jus that came with it was the perfect accompaniment, as were the very thinly mandolin-sliced veggies. The wine, however, Owen did not like as much as the first one that came with the soup:
2003 Madiran “Vielles Vignes,” Château Peyros Southwestern France.

The beef dish (I forget the exact name of the dish!), an additional 10 dollars add on to the appetite stimulus meal but worth it. Cheese and onions were melted over the top of really succulent beef (very small amount though, a few more bites would have been perfect!) The green beans were good too. I wiped this plate clean.

A blown out photo of Owen's cappuccino, which was a pretty sight - love the way the foam curls like a cartoon version of fresh snow. I'm sure it was good, but I don't really like foam too much. My loss, I know.

Dessert! Owen's choice was obvious to me, right when I saw it on the menu: Boca Negra Cake Affogato - dark chocolate cake, vanilla malt ice cream, espresso, brandied orange slice. Chocolate PLUS espresso? That's melding two things Owen loves dearly. However, he could not finish this, as it was way too rich. The one tiny bite I had overwhelmed me with flavors - I personally like more subtle flavors, so this wasn't for me. The wine that went with this was a
2005 Banyuls Rimage, Les Clos de Paulilles, Languedoc, France. Owen did not finish his glass. He was way too full at this point.


I went with the Apple Upside Down Bread Pudding - buttermilk ice cream, apple cider syrup, cranberries, brown sugar walnuts. The carmelization on the top of the pudding stuck to my teeth immediately, so I was concentrating on trying to dislodge the stuck caramel from my poor molars after the first bite. Also - maybe it was a bit TOO tart for me...I don't think I'd order this again if I had the choice, maybe a simple sorbet or ice cream would have done the trick.

I would love to revisit this restaurant, perhaps for one of those burger nights on Sunday I saw advertised on their website...anyone interested in joining me for a Grace burger night?

Grace Restaurant
www.gracerestaurant.com
7360 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 934-4400

Panera Bread

For a quick lunch fix before making a major grocery shopping run at Trader Joe's (I heart Trader Joe's so much, but going grocery shopping while you're hungry is probably the worst thing you can do - and especially in a place that has some of the best frozen food I've ever had), I usually stop into Panera Bread, located right next door. There's usually a ton of people here during the day, typing away on their laptops - I guess free wi-fi is just that awesome (well, it IS pretty awesome, heh.)

This is a standard order at the register, and pick up yourself kind of place. And this is what I usually order:

A "You pick two" combo - A half sandwich, Bacon Turkey Bravo, on focaccia, and a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup. You get a choice of a side, and I usually pick the whole wheat grain baguette. This is a filling meal - their sandwiches are usually something I can only eat half of anyways. The bread in the sandwich is fresh, the turkey is pretty tasty. The soup is pretty comforting. The cheese flavor is pretty nice, and has a lot of broccoli florets and shredded carrots running through it, which adds pleasant texture.

All the bread here seems to be baked fresh here daily. I've always had a decent and satisfying meal here. It's probably one of my top fast service food places to go to.

Panera Bread
8647 South Sepulveda Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90045
(310) 641-9200

Akasha Appetite Stimulus lunch

Once I heard about this Appetite Stimulus promotion that Open Table was offering, I was determined to take advantage of it by going to a few restaurants that I've been dying to go to for ages. Akasha was on that list, because I had seen it go from abandoned boarded up retail space for sale to a modern classy looking restaurant. Amber insisted it was some good eats so I was definitely IN, and convinced her to join me for lunch. Good company always makes lunch better!

Once we got there, there was a major line to get seated - the restaurant had enough spaces, but the hostess was lagging. Isn't she supposed to stay there, and someone else leads patrons to their tables so the front is never abandoned? I thought that was a bit odd. We finally got led to our seats, and was presented with the Appetite Stimulus lunch menu.
Three courses, 24 dollars total. Seems like a pretty good deal, considering their regular menu is quite expensive! For instance...

...We each got an arnold palmer, which was quite expensive for its' own good, but still very tasty. I think they used some special iced tea or something, however, I don't think it constitutes such a high price for one glass, no refills. Ah well.


Amber and I both chose the canneleni bean hummus, truffle salt, flatbread and carmelized onions. Embedded in the hummus, was some really flavorful olives, however, the hummus had a huge deficiency in salt. It REALLY needed more salt, it was quite bland. The flatbread and carmelized onions were excellent, I really enjoyed those. Amber had quite a time trying to pick off all the onions though (she dislikes onions - yes, she's nuts :)) but I think they were great. I was actually pretty full after eating this (all those beans.)

Amber chose the grilled shrimp salad - local greens, pistachios, yogurt chutney dressing. Amber asked for them to hold off on the pickled onions that would have come with the salad. The shrimp was quite tasty, and what made this dish was the smattering of pistachios in the salad. The dressing was very good, not too heavy even though it was creamy (I attribute this to the yogurt). Amber admitted it was quite filling, and she was surprised she finished all of it.

I chose the grilled steak salad - bibb lettuce, pickled red onions, gorgonzola, tarragon mustard vinagrette. The grilled steak deliciously tasted like a Hong Kong style beef jerky! I know that can be construed as an insult, but believe me, it's not at all. The marinade they used was quite sweet, the taste was a great combo of savory and sweet. The salad itself was studded with gorgonzola bits, which I loved, and everything was quite enjoyable all together. I was quite satisfied with the size of the salad and maybe I should give it another shot as a regular thing I should order at restaurants...well, maybe.

Dessert time! Amber got a slice of apple pie. The bite I sneaked was very tasty, and I almost wished I had gotten the apple pie instead, if solely for the virtue of having some vanilla ice cream, which looked very appealing to me at the time. Instead, I had gotten...

...the pumpkin pie slice, with a dollop of freshly whipped cream. This was pretty good in its' own right though, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. The fresh whipped cream was a nice touch, the spices very spot on, the crust was really good. I saved exactly half of this pie for Owen who majorly appreciated it.

I think I'll be back here to try their burger, and also to maybe try some of their other appetizers. I like the interiors of this place a lot, but I think some of their service issues were a bit odd, as this place has been open for awhile, and their drinks a bit overpriced for what you get. I am still willing to overlook that for the superior quality of their food.

Akasha Restaurant
www.akasharestaurant.com
9543 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 845-1700

Take a Bao

I had heard there was a bit of a buzz around the new food court restaurant in the Century City Westfield mall, Take a Bao, mostly good but some not so good. I was super skeptical because most fusion asian food places just disappoint me, and taste like Panda Express lite. Hey, I know everyone breaks down and gets a Panda craving every so often, but it's a case of lowered expectations - I walk through the doors of a Panda Express (not recently, believe me), and I already know I'm dooming myself to a rock in my stomach and a frown on my face...anyway, that's not THIS review, maybe another time when I want to torture myself!

So Take a Bao! It had been under construction for ages, and I admit it looks like they did a good job. Everything is nice, clean and new, the kitchen is exposed and the cooks were quickly cooking up orders as they were being taken. We placed our orders, I remember Owen getting a really tasty iced tea (I think their coffee and tea supply were from LAMILL, one day I will head there, I have been hearing some really great stuff about that place), and their buzzer that indicated that our food was ready had a really cute slogan on it - "Take a seat"...I think it said. It buzzed and we balanced the trays to our table. Maybe I should have gotten the baos, the namesake of the restaurant, but baos hold a special place in my heart, and I decided to go with...

...here's the Chinese Chicken Salad. This was surprisingly really tasty. The thing that made it was the light dressing, which wasn't too sweet and gave the right amount of tang to the greenery. The chicken was a bit bland, but with a bit of the dressing, it was miraculously saved. Magical dressing, perhaps?! Iceberg is something I avoid usually, but is perfect for Chinese Chicken salad. I kept catching myself picking up more and more of the salad. I'd get this again if I was feeling in a salad-y mood (a rare occurence, but sometimes it happens!)

I had a weird craving for some chicken noodles, so that's what I ordered. What a mistake. The taste was so bland and the sauce here was the exact opposite of the Chinese chicken salad - it was thick, weird tasting and didn't really add the necessary flavor to the dish. The noodles were a lo mein type noodle, okay but again blander than heck. I know it was part of the presentation, but to have to mix the noodles myself were a bit tasking - the noodles were long and the sauce (the only source of unappealing flavor) was sitting on top of the noodles but below the toppings, so it was hard to coat everything. I would definitely not order this again.

Next time, I will muster up enough indifference to get the baos. Maybe I can get over my extreme caution and finally take the dang bao.

Take a Bao
10250 Santa Monica Blvd Los Angeles ca 90067
phone 310 551 1100
http://www.takeabao.com/

Oyako Japanese Restaurant

I met up with Owen for lunch not too long ago near his workplace in Venice. He had mentioned a Japanese place where he enjoyed a lunch bento box, so we headed there. It ended up being a place called Oyako. The interior was pretty cute, the seats were little cubed ottomans (although, a few of them were a bit stained, which was a bit...gross...) and had a laid back vibe (as most places seem to have in Venice.) On to the food!
An arnold palmer, my usual drink of choice. They used a different kind of tea, one with more flowery notes in it, so the taste was really nice and refreshing.

Miso soup, it was okay, nothing special but I don't remember too much tofu in it, which was unfortunate. I prefer more tofu and seaweed, personally, but I think as long as the miso isn't too salty, it's passable.

The main event - the lunch bento box - I chose teriyaki salmon. It came with a choice of 2 pieces of california rolls or 2 pieces of spicy tuna rolls (I chose spicy tuna), shrimp and vegetable tempura, salad and rice. The salmon was good, the teriyaki was rich and sticky, but tasted right. The tempura was freshly fried, but I've had better tempura battered things. The shrimp in particular was a bit weird, it was only half a piece of shrimp instead of what I'm usually used to, which is the whole shrimp fried with the tail. I think mine was just a fluke though, as Owen had a proper full shrimp piece. The spicy tuna was good. This didn't seem like a lot of food but in the end, I was really full.

The place is pretty good, nice for a little lunch spot but I admit I've had better and more satisfying lunch bentos, not to mention cheaper, but I am paying for the ambience and location. I'd go back to try their sushi rolls, but I wouldn't necessarily make a trip out to Venice/Santa Monica just for this place.

Oyako
2915 Main St
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 581-3525

Sushi King

A couple weeks back, Daphne wanted to show me the awesomeness which was Sushi King (she has had nothing but good things to say about this place), and so Owen and I met up with her there. The place is small, bustling, darkly lit and busy, but I suspected it would be on a Friday night. We managed to get a very squished table for three (more like for 2, but we squeezed in.) A quick glance at the menu, and with a few suggestions from Daph, food started to arrive at the table...

Sea Bass Misoyaki, one of the house specials that Daphne ordered. This is one of her favorites. I tried a bite and it really was good, the sauce was really tasty and it was not overcooked. I think it's a bit pricey for the amount you get but it might still be worth it for the flavor and preparation.

Owen and I ordered 2 sushis to start - salmon and I think, albacore. I'm not exactly sure that was albacore. Both were excellent though. Soft, tasty and creamy.

Another starter - spicy tuna tempura. It was basically a flat pressed amount of spicy tuna, run through batter and quickly fried. Almost anything fried is delicious, so this was no exception. I don't know that I would necessarily order this again (as there were many other things on the menu that were intriguing to me) but it was a solid starter.

Owen and I shared an order of a sushi set - from the top clockwise: tuna, whitefish, salmon, yellowtail, cut rolls were cucumber and tuna, makarel, shrimp, octopus and tamago. Everything was pretty tasty - we shared each piece, and it really was good, each piece was solid. (sorry about the bluriness of the photo, it was dark and I didn't want to bother any of the other diners with the flash of the camera).

We also ordered a rainbow roll, which was really good, great to try all the different kinds of fish. The California roll that all the fresh fish sat upon was fresh, and the crab inside was tasty. We made quick work of this roll.

Daph suggested for us to try the yellowtail, so we asked for 3 more, one for each of us. It really was amazing, a big succulent bite of fish. Melted in your mouth, just something special.

I think that Sushi King was a good middle of the road place that has really good quality fish. I know there are better places around, but in this price range (about 40 each, and we were stuffed) it was one of the better sit down Japanese restaurants I've been to in awhile.

Sushi King
1330 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403-5411
Phone: (310) 395-0120

Empress Pavillion

One of my relatives was in town, so I took her and her daughter (well, she's about one year old, so I mean she was taken out but didn't really eat very much) out for Dim Sum, and the most convenient place I know of is always Empress Pavilion, mainly for their easy parking situation (Empress is located in Bamboo Plaza, and has tons of parking in their structure.) I know that I have to get there super early (usually, I leave my place around 9am to get there by 10am, around 11:30am it's completely packed and the wait time swells to around 30-40 minutes). This place is popular! Mainly I think it's because they stop dim sum service around 1pm so it's always a rush to get there on time.

This is a traditional dim sum place, ladies with huge dangerous steaming carts, showing their wares as they wheel on by. I usually get a few staples that I must get when I go to dim sum...

Hargao, or shrimp crystal dumplings, are the number one thing I always look for when going to dimsum. My grandpa judges these by the thickness of their skin (the more see through and thin the skin is, the better the dumpling), and these are pretty decent. I love dipping these in hot mustard before biting them in half. They're definitely best when they're fresh (most things are, aren't they?)

Next up, in the foreground, fung gyiao (phoenix legs, or better known as chicken feet), and in the background, siu mai dumplings. I don't always get chicken feet but they're alright, the chewing around the bones is almost fun. The sauce is pretty good this dish, although one of the pieces that I had, still had a claw they hadn't clipped off yet. Kinda..ew. Siu mai awas good, as usual, meaty and succulent. Again, they're really good after a dip in some hot mustard.

Last up, some dessert - egg tarts, which are usually my favorite, and cha-siu bao,(pork buns) the steamed kind. These egg tarts were way lame - the egg mixture had been way too overcooked, so the texture wasn't right. And it tasted just...off. Plus, as a super special surprise, as I lifted my egg tart to my mouth, I noticed there was a huge gnarly hair sitting underneat my tart. Awesome! Ah, well, such is restaurant eating. The Pork buns were ordered mostly for my little cousin, who ate little bits of it dipped in the chicken feet sauce (she loved it!)

I usually head here for dim sum but I admit this was one of the less awesome trips I've had. I was completely stuffed afterwards though, it was mostly just to two of us eating so we didn't get as many dishes as I'd get if we had more people with us. However, it was relaxing and we weren't rushed or anything, so that was nice.

By the way, Happy thanksgiving! I know this is a very un-Thanksgivingish post, but there you have it :)

Empress Pavilion
988 N Hill St (in Bamboo Plaza)
Ste 201
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 617-9898
http://www.empresspavilion.com/

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant

Julian and I met up for a lunch, because we both had the day off (me for an indefinite amount of time, him for just the day). We met up at Howard Hughes Center, so we could catch a movie afterwards (RocknRolla - you've seen one Guy Ritchie movie, you've seen 'em all). We love sushi so we went to Kabuki, the only place at Howard Hughes Center that has it. More sushi posts, I know! I think I need a sushi line directly IVed into my bloodstream...


I started off with an arnold palmer, with green tea instead of regular tea. This was pretty tasty and was refilled once, so I was happy. Love the color on green tea...so pleasant!

Complimentary edaname was brought to the table, also with an extra bowl so we could discard the edaname shells. It's edaname..hard to mess up.

We each got a bowl of miso soup to start, nice and warm, and not too salty. Fresh green onion and tofu and seaweed permeated this soup. One of the better miso soups I've had recently.

Now to the main event. We ordered a number of rolls to share - from the closest roll to the end - BCD Roll, Baked Scallop Roll, and Spicy Tuna roll. All of these were quite tasty and very fresh. The BCD roll had a mixture of veggies like shredded carrots and crabmeat, it was good but probably my least favorite of the bunch. The Baked Scallop roll was basically a California Roll, but had scallops on top. The scallops were a bit addicting - they weren't overcooked and had a good bite. Even the California rolls they were atop of were solid, with real crabmeat, or at least a close proximity to that. The spicy tuna was great, really tasty.

This is an order of the Kabuki Omakase Deluxe lunch. There were more cut spicy tuna rolls, and from the left - shrimp, albacore, tuna belly (?), salmon and tuna. Again, spicy tuna was solid, and I remember having the tuna and shrimp. They were okay, not melt in your mouth, but decent quality.

We wanted to try out one more cut roll, so we ordered the tempura roll, which was basically a california roll dipped in tempura batter and then deep fried. I was disappointed with this one, as it was a bit cold, and obviously deep fried earlier in the day, so the fried bits were not fresh. What's the point of deep frying a california roll if it isn't even fresh??

Overall, the lunch was pleasant and good company always makes food better. Kabuki is not my favorite sushi place, but service was quick and the sushi was overall good. I'll probably be back here again.

Kabuki Japanese Restaurant
6081 Center Dr
Ste 203
Los Angeles, CA 90045
(310) 641-5524

www.kabukirestaurants.com

Bobbi's Coffee Shop

Back in San Jose for Judy's wedding, and stopped off for breakfast at Bobbi's Coffee shop with a few friends before heading back. Brian had never been here before! I couldn't believe it. This place has quite a soft spot in my heart, sometimes we'd come here before late date days at school. It was worth getting up early for this.

The place is pretty small, and you seat yourself. The booths are covered in old pleather (real? I dunno), the chairs are those old chairs that you see in old bingo halls. The menus are laminated, and the prices are super reasonable. A waitress asks who wants coffee...I opted out that morning, but a few of us wanted it. I chose orange juice. We made our orders and the food started piling in...

Owen got a pancake combo, that came with 2 pancakes, 1 egg over easy, 2 sausages and that's pretty much it. It doesn't seem like much but it was pretty filling - pancakes expand in your tummy! He liked these a lot.

Jay ordered a linguica special - 3 halves of linguica sausage, criss-cross cut and grilled, with 2 eggs over easy, hash browns and wheat toast. A moment to chat about the hash browns - these are the hash browns of my dreams. Every hash brown I have had, or ever had, must be compared to these hash browns from Bobbi's. They are seriously good, crunchy, crispy, potato-y, with a shot of ketchup these are a piece of heaven.

This is my plate of corned beef hash - corned beef hash, hash browns, poached eggs, rye bread toast. Kind of a carb fest, but I so rarely get to come here, so I went all out. This is like the perfect breakfast. Perfectly poached eggs, nice and runny, superb hash browns of course, corned beef hash that wasn't too salty, and rye bread, already buttered. I can think of nothing better.

Brian got something different than he usually gets "just for fun" (Brian's catchphrase when he orders something different) - biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and fruit instead of hash browns. The gravy is a sausage gravy, and it's not too salty either. This seems like a small amount of food, but once you started eating it, it was so rich and filling. Brian only ate most of one of the biscuits, and kept encouraging the rest of us to eat it. (he always does this - his enemy is carbs!) It was pretty tasty but I don't think I would order this myself. I only like biscuits and gravy a small percentage of how much I like corned beef hash.

Bobbi's is an institution to me. I hope it never closes.

Bobbi's Coffee Shop
1361 S De Anza Blvd
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 257-4040