April 2022 Rundown

Looks like the Playa Vista location has outdoor-ish seating?

Do you really want to revisit complaining about how long it takes a nonogenarian to prepare a burger?

That original discussion surely must rank at a level beyond tone deafness and utter tactlessness into misanthropic churlishness.

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Nah I really wanted to know. 10 mins I’d stop by. 30 mins f that. Thanks for the reply.

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Never seen anything quite like that!

Ditto. It was quite good.

The Sol in Irvine is very nice large bright welcoming space with a good amount of outdoor seating. A big upgrade from the former tenant, El Torito Grill.

Yes… I’ve been to a few happy hours there. They have an inclosed, but still very open patio on the side. I like it better than Ocho… For Happy Hour stuff…

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making drinks great again

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I was not crazy about any of the three Emperical distillates I tasted. I think they’re intended for use in cocktails so the balance is off for sipping. My favorite of the three was the Charlene McGee, smoked juniper matured in Oloroso sherry casks, very reminiscent of mezcal.

https://www.melomelo.us/

Coconut jelly desserts. Tastes great. The jelly was essentially the texture and consistency of soft tofu. Good coconut flavor topped with strawberries. I wouldn’t go out of my way for this or pay $10 out of my own pocket but we were gifted it. Nice cute reusable jars.

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My wife absolutely LOVES this stuff.
Whenever I am on an SGV reconnaissance mission – for FOOD THAT COUNTS (noodles, dumplings, roast pork, roast duck, big plate chicken, etc) – I have a mandate to pick her up a few orders.

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If I wasn’t so cheap I would probably buy more.

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#HappyWifeHappyLife

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And now it’s coming to Sawtelle - space where MaLa Town flamed out

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Mala —> Melo

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First time back to Elite in Monterey Park for dim sum post pandemic and I wasn’t disappointed. We ordered about 12 items and execution was miles better than my recent experience at the Alhambra Lunasia and the now defunct Enlighten Bistro 168. There wasn’t a wait at 1PM so that’s a bonus.

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No wait at 1pm on a weekend???

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Yup. Very surprising.

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Strawberry Death Match: Four strawberries (in no particular order): Tamai, Harry’s Berries, local CSA, and my backyard strawberry. (All berries were procured this week.)

A blind taste test was set up for Mrs. J.L., and she proved to be an excellent test-taker, scoring 100% on correctly ID’ing the berries on her first try.

The winner, by a razor-thin margin: Harry’s Berries. Tamai came in at a close second. My CSA berries and my backyard berries both have a bit of a ways to go before they can pose any serious challenge to the first two…

(left upper: Tamai, right upper: CSA, left lower: backyard, right lower: Harry’s Berries)

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Does anyone know the farming practices of tamai or generally local farmers market purveyors? It seems that tamai sells to a lot of restaurants and is highly respected.

I know organic is not the end all be all; however, I went to tamais website and they just talk about “healthy” without giving specifics. Do smaller farmers generally use better farming practices? Spray less pesticides etc?

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