2017

153 posts

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December 29 posts
Jun-Men Ramen Bar, New York
Japanese

Jun-Men Ramen Bar, New York

Ramen in . We had the tonkatsu ramen and the I shoyu ramen, each with unique broths and ramen noodles. Tonkatsu had thin and more firm noodles with a heavy rich broth. The I Shoyu ramen had a wavy slightly thicker noodle with a little shoyu flavored broth. On a cold night, I believe the tonkatsu is better choice. And any other day, the shoyu would be a fine choice. Didn’t get to try the ox tail ramen (only 20 bowls a day). But did try the stuffed chicken leg with foie gras, which was very interesting with subtle flavor and texture. Thanks for video from But the 1 hour wait sucks. But on a cold winter night the hot soup is just right

The Well, New York
American

The Well, New York

Sandwiches we had the brisket, corned beef, and pastrami. With the chicken noodle and matzo ball soups. Without the mustard the brisket was quite dry. The corned beef wasn’t as tender as it could be. The pastrami is still what needs to be ordered. The mazto ball soup was a bit too salty and the chicken noodle was much better than expected. This is the busiest week of the year, in which we waited over 45 minutes for a table. And after all my complaints, Katz is still worth it.

The Kroft, Anaheim
Italian

The Kroft, Anaheim

Porchetta Sandwich at A tasty sandwich. But was a little disappointed in how they prepared it. I though they were going to pull out a large chunk of the rolled porchetta and have a big slice for my sandwich - instead it was chopped pork from a warming container. I expected bold flavors from the spice rub, yet was overwhelmed by green chutney. Right before they closed the sandwich, they added chopped pieces of the chicarrons/pork skin. If I didn’t I would have been more than happy. Then we also shared the cheeseburger poutine. The kids loved it. I wish they chopped the burger patty, like I asked them to.

November 25 posts
JJ Bakery & Cafe, San Gabriel
Taiwanese

JJ Bakery & Cafe, San Gabriel

Awesome Taiwanese breakfast at JJ Bakery & Cafe. We shared the Rice burrito with fried egg and sausage 特製鹹飯糰 （香腸&蛋）what makes this better was the crispy Chinese oil donut. The one at Four Seas was too soggy and not crispy. Then we had the black sesame crisp with fried egg 燒餅夾蛋 This is an old favorite I hadn’t had in awhile. Usually people like it with the oil donut. And then we had the egg pancake 蛋餅. Unlike four seas - the pancake wasn’t as crispy (which is the way I remember it and like it - maybe other people had/liked it a different way). And lastly we had some vegetable noodles 雪菜肉絲麵. This was refreshing and cut through the oil and grease. Next time we need to try Yong Ho to complete the comparison.

Golden Dei, San Gabriel
Vietnamese

Golden Dei, San Gabriel

Vietnamese Dinner tonight at we had pho and chicken curry. The pho is a favorite of my wife’s. I’m ok with it. It’s not something I would go out of my way to choose or order. Therefore my selection of chicken curry with French bread was my pick. The soupy curry, similar to Thai, is not as thick as Japanese - it doesn’t matter much to me.... the chicken quite tender and juicy - which is great but they had bones. I don’t like bones in my curry (Canto cafes curry also has bones 🤬). But I did like the soft crunchy bread used for dipping in the curry. I like this use of carbs.

Four Seas, Taipei
Taiwanese

Four Seas, Taipei

Taiwanese breakfast with Rice Burritos 飯糰, egg crepe roll 蛋餅, fried radish cake 蘿蔔糕 and salted soy milk 鹹豆漿. I love the rice burrito, but I like the fried crullers to be more crispy. The egg crepe was was yummy and salted nice, but unfortunately the crepe was too crispy - I like it to be little softer. Yes I am picky but I liked these versions when I was in Taipei. But with 四海 Four Seas - I like it enough to return since it might be one of the better Taiwanese breakfast in SGV.

Shan Xi Cuisine Restaurant, Arcadia
Chinese

Shan Xi Cuisine Restaurant, Arcadia

Shan Xi cuisine in Shanxi province, where noodles rules over rice, is just west of Beijing. Popular for lunch and dinner, with locals, new Chinese immigrants, and those pesky millennials. We had soup-less ground pork noodles, known as Zha Jiang Mian 炸醬麵 - which is my favorite. Then we had the popular cat ear noodles soup 貓耳朵 - which seems like Italian pasta - was the most interesting. Then we also shared a knife cut vegetarian noodle 刀削麵. I love the chewiness of these noodles. You should watch how they make and cook these noodles. And the last significant dish was the fried pork meat balls. I insisted on adding this to our order, even though we were full, since I saw almost everyone ordering - plus a picture of it on Merrill Shindler’s review. Good place. Noodles had better texture than Valley Blvd’s Mian.

October 22 posts
Rolling Rice, Rosemead
Chinese

Rolling Rice, Rosemead

Yummy Rice 飯香 - Shanghainese cuisine in Rosemead. I was craving 蔥油拌麵 scallion oil noodles - so I coerced my family to have Shanghainese food tonight. Yummy Rice (yes it is a funny name) featured a staff all from Shanghai. The noodles were just ok - flavor was good but the noodles weren’t the ones I liked from shanghai. The 紅曬肉 Braised pork belly was very good. The luscious fat melted with eat chomp. The fried jelly fish and dark soy fish was ok. Didn’t care too much for it. The spicy frog legs was a favorite of my wife’s. The vegetable fried rice was a bit too oily, also. I am not sure I would return, due to the noodles. They have 小籠包 steam pork dumplings that I am tempted to try, next time.

Beef noodle soup 牛肉麵, minced pork noodles 雜醬麵, fried...
Taiwanese

Beef noodle soup 牛肉麵, minced pork noodles 雜醬麵, fried...

Beef noodle soup 牛肉麵, minced pork noodles 雜醬麵, fried pork chop with rice 排骨飯, Beef ball soup 貢丸湯. Yummy classic Taiwanese dishes. The beef noodle soup is ordered by almost everyone. Enjoyed the hearty beef broth, which is so bad for my gout. The pork chop has. Nice crisp crunch with a bit of sweetness. So bad but so good. I think this is one of the better Taiwanese restaurants in the area.

September 6 posts
Shin Yeh Taiwanese Cuisine (欣葉), Taipei
Taiwanese

Shin Yeh Taiwanese Cuisine (欣葉), Taipei

Taiwanese street food - . We had the beef Ban Mien (noodles) - 牛肉麵. The broth was rich and slightly spicy - very good. Noodles were interesting but good - soaked up the broth. Loved the pickled mustard greens, could use that on everything. Wish is was hotter (not lukewarm). Then had the Rub A Belley with rice - braised pork over rice 滷肉飯. The chunks were too big and wish for more seasoning like dried onions and shallots for depth. Not sure what creamed corn was there for. The Taiwanese sausage was yummy. I remembering that we used to play dice for sausage on the streets of Taipei outside of the clubs. The oh Ah Jian (oyster egg omelette) had nice spicy kick. (I would guess this is a tough sell as well as the next one). The favorite dish was clearly the century egg tofu salad 皮蛋豆腐 when you get this, make sure you mix everything up to merry the flavors. I wouldn’t change anything with this dish. Am I too critical - maybe. Would I come back - yes. Sorry for the wall of txt. . . .

August 14 posts
One of my favorite ramen shops in LA, Los Angeles
Japanese

One of my favorite ramen shops in LA, Los Angeles

One of my favorite ramen shops in LA. Super crowded on a Saturday night. It strangely they are now the Spirit Airlines of ramen, which means everything is a la carte. Their basic ramen is just noodles, broth, green onions, ginger, and a couple of slices of pork. Everything else, like typical the typical egg, bamboo shoots, corn, seaweed, etc is extra. Sure they have preset combinations - which is so American. Anyways.m, I still like the place, but hate the wait. Check out their big festival at the beginning of September st their Gardena location. I think we might just go. .restaurant.gr

July 23 posts
June 18 posts
May 3 posts
April 2 posts
March 3 posts
January 8 posts