I didn’t see one posted for the weekend, so I took the liberty.
The Wine Country (Signal Hills)
The first weekend of the month always has some large format wine tasting paired with food. This weekend, it was rosé paired with roasted lamb, boiled potatoes and carrots, and homemade aioli. From my understanding, the shop’s owner’s wife catered the food…and the tarragon aioli was delightful. There was also assorted cheeses, pâté, and salami. For $30, we received 12 tastings of the 12 rosés they had available and all the food. Most of the rosés were reasonably priced under $26 per bottle, and I was pretty impressed with their offerings. I came home with about 6-8 bottles for my own cellar. I bought an assortment that could drink alone or ones that would pair with food. It was a delightful afternoon…we stopped by Rossmoor Pastries for dessert to-go afterwards.
Yeah, I loved it. Plus I think it’s great for people like me who can’t really afford to splurge at a place like Bavel.
I really liked everything, but my favs were the fried chicken and the shakshouka. Loved dipping the laffa in the latter.
There was a bunch of other things on the menu that sounded good, too. I can’t wait to go back one day and try them.
I’m not sure if this counts as a bang, bang and bang. I’m a middle aged man with 2 kids so my bang game is not great.
Sunday
Wadatsumi - great little spot. Got there right when it opened at 11:30. Was done by 12:15 and they had a line out the door. $12.95 for grilled fish special with salad, home made tofu, rice, pickles, miso soup and chawanmushi is quite a deal. The tempura was surprisingly nicely fried.
Hisaya - I like both types of chestnuts but didn’t get the ice cream. Too full.
Monkish - picked up a growler, had a pour and traded a sour bottle for 5 cans. Useful.
Thanks for the report @foodshutterbug. So you also experienced that strange / hostile behavior? I’m glad it wasn’t just us.
Overall, there’s just better Yakitori here in L.A. with much more welcoming atmosphere, so even though it’s so close for us, we probably aren’t in a hurry to go back soon.
Spam Royale for me with (perfect) over-easy egg. My friend had a kalua pork omelette, which came out a bit odd because there were no vegetables whatsoever, and the meat tasted overwhelmingly of Liquid Smoke. The potatoes were good though!
My first visit to the new location. Everyone was nice, but the space isn’t as fun and comfortable as the old place, and the food is definitely different. Low sodium Spam and barely any soy sauce or fat in the Royale. Healthier maybe?
Lunch on the patio at the Raymond. Protip: patio, even on a cloudy day, is the better seating. (It was nostalgic, I was a waiter there in 1980. The interior hasn’t changed at all and the dark, somber booths are best saved for wet winter evenings). Glass of Pinot Grigio 'cuz it seemed the right speed. The spinach salad with strawberries and shrimp was pretty good stuff…shrimp were perfectly grilled, a nice char/sweetness to the edges, and the berries actually tasted like berry (unlike other strawberries I’ve had lately). My friend enjoyed his Cobb salad…another glass of wine woulda been nice if we’d had more time.
