August 2017 Weekend Rundown

I’m going to have to go back now. Damn you.

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Brent’s

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You have to get yourself down to Kareem’s in Little Arabia Anaheim for the best falafel!!!
Falafel is their speciality, in fact other restaurants use Kareem’s falafel.

Got a couple of pizzas to go from Love & Salt in Manhattan Beach.

Roasted Mushroom Pie (creamy taleggio, fontina, thyme):

Soppressata & Black Olive Pie (mozzarella, parmesan, basil):

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Both were very good, however the mushroom one was a tad too salty.

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Wanderlust is serving up some of my favorite ice cream right now.

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After the Paul Simon retrospective and Jewish history exhibition at the Skirball, it seemed like a good time to head to Brent’s and have the pastrami sandwich. It’s been a while and it’s just as delicious as remembered. Well marbled meat, good bread. Had the chopped liver as an appetizer.

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Breakfast at Potzoldencano in Santa Ana

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Best pozole around!!!

That Cafe De Olla, sublime like Brad Nowell. Might be my favorite coffee drink. Just as good as the Olla at Primera Taza in Boyle Heights.


Enfrijolada. Delicious smooth beans with cheese and chorizo.

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Asada tacos from Tacos El Gallito in Harbor City. Not the best, but I was too lazy to drive to LA for better ones. These hit the spot just fine at 1am.

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After midnight food evaluation should be put in it’s own category :grin::yum:

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Angelina Pizzeria Naploeana near Irvine Spectrum.

The pizza was good, not quite as good as Fuoco in Fullerton. We ordered the regular margherita and the diavola pizza. Both tasted fine although I would have liked some other toppings on the salami pizza - maybe olives or red onion. I think both of pizzas were undercooked a touch. The middle was not quite as soupy as it might look in the picture. After using knife and fork to cut off the top it was easily pliable and easy to eat with your hands. The pizza sauce at Fuoco is a little more vibrant. The crust at Fuoco has a nicer chew and flavor.

Angelina has a much more extensive menu and wine list. The meatball appetizer was nice. 3 baseball sizes meatballs with some cheese and sauce drizzled on top with 4 pieces or pizza dough. Octopus and shrimp salad with celery, potatoes, olives, red onion over arugula was a decent sized portion enough for 4 people to split. I’d come back if I were in the area.

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Hangari’s Garden Grove location


The Seafood Kalguksoo, nice broth and noodles.


The Barley Rice.
Take the kimchi, the table side sesame oil, some gochujang, and make bibimbap. KTown location has some more banchan I believe. Barley water is great, too.

2 dishes for 1!!!

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Family dinner at Sushi Mashiko. Our neighborhood standby for sushi and bento. The same sushi chef has been behind the counter for the decades we’ve been going. Convivial atmosphere with plenty of regulars. Not a go-out-of-your-way-for kinda place, but I’m happy they’ve stayed in business all these years since many old(er) school Japanese-American neighborhood joints have since disappeared.

Yami Salad (cucumber, sprouts, smelt eggs, crab in a vinegar dressing)

3 orders of mackerel and 3 of albacore

2 orders of salmon roe (which they cut in half for us to share), 2 of tonight’s special striped bass, and 1 salmon roll

Not pictured: shrimp shumai, mixed tempura, miso soup

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Had to pick up a couple of chickens from Pollo Ala Brasa for the GOT finale, so I decided to grab lunch at Beer Belly.

Got the Duck Cheeseburger, fries, and a pint of the Beach Day orange wheat. I thought the food was good, but not great, and expensive for what I got. The fries were solid but $6 for an order. The burger was fine, but nothing about it signaled duck to me. If you’d said it was turkey, I wouldn’t have argued. Also, the red onion was sliced way too thick and overpowering. At around $16, the P:Q ratio was poor imo.

Oh, well, at least the Pollo Ala Brasa was great as usual.

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My Pasadena lunch rotation is King Taco, Tanakaya, Harlowe’s, Vanilla Bake Shop and Europane. I thought I’d try something new today. Tiffany’s Coffee has a decent menu of Thai/Chinese dishes for lunch. They also do donuts, coffee and sandwiches. Definitely an interesting spot. It was pretty crowded during lunch. About half the people were eating sandwiches with the other half eating Thai food. There is a Subway on the same block and a Jimmy John’s 2.5 blocks away. I have no idea why people would go to either rather than this little spot supporting local businesses.

The pad see ewe wasn’t terrible considering the circumstances. Sometimes you need a little greasy noodle in your life spiked with some chili sauce. $9.78 for a very large plate of noodles, some egg, a few slices of chicken and a lot of brocoli. I’m coming back to try the sandwiches.


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I did the exact same thing. :grin:

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Original Pancake House

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Ikkousha, Costa Mesa location

Pretty thick tonkotsu broth, almost Tsujita Tsukemen thick. Had to increase my potassium intake after this.

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I feel that’s the case for most of their “larger” items (plus the kitchen can be really slow getting the sandwiches out). I do like their rotating taps----so I think the way to go @ Beer Belly is beer and some snacks (like the pork belly chips, brussel spouts or fries w/out a burger).

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Jean Georges at the Waldorf Astoria
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Beautiful room, pretty good food (solid, elevated hotel food, not the same as their New York flagship), not bad service. I ate here several times actually, but these are the only ok photographs. The Santa Barbara uni with jalapeño, yuzu, and black bread was not bad, but not nearly on the level of Saison’s “liquid toast” or Brooklyn Fare’s uni truffle brioche. Maybe Jean Georges is one of the originators of “uni toast,” though?

Yakiniku Yazawa

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Long cut tongue wrapping green onion and garlic sauce. A special that night but I preferred the regular semi-thick cut. The momotaro tomato is a nice starter. Yazawa Yaki / Noharayaki was excellent as usual. Several items not pictured: kalbi, harami, gyutan, shin shin, kimchi, special rice, spicy wagyu soup, oxtail soup.

Connie & Ted’s

A solid place as always. 50 raw shellfish (not pictured), 4 lobster rolls, a bucket of steamers, and grilled salmon. The (Persian?) cucumber (with basil?) sorbet and watermelon margarita sorbet were great together.

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