Din Tai Fung @ South Coast Plaza?

Tongue is definitely a cut, ha!

Have you ever sprung for the wagyu?

Thanks again for all these great tips

No, my EBT allowance does not, ahem, allow for such indulgences.

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I must be doing something wrong. I’ve not been impressed by Vaca on any of my visits. I much prefer Pueblo over Vaca.

Well that’s a strong recommendation for Pueblo then; we’ll have to try it.

Vaca has great cocktails. Most of the tapas we’ve tried have been pretty good (some great) but the mains were mostly disappointing so maybe that’s where you’re going wrong. I’ve only had one proper meal at Vaca plus wine, queso and some charcuterie on another visit and enjoyed it both times.

Has anyone been to Habana for their rum flights?

The Salt & and Butter are amazing

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Agreed on the cocktails. And their food isn’t bad, it just didn’t think it was great.

This, this, and this again.

In y’all’s (!) humble opinion of course.

Seriously why are people so confused. They make it so obvious.

Wait wat.

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lol

so what does the B in XLB stand for ? :wink:

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Bao ( 包 ) ain’t dumpling ( 餃 ) …

The “B” is a literal phonetic translation of the Mandarin word for “wrap”.

And if one wants to peel back another layer, XLB literally translates, annototatively and not phonetically, to be “small cage wrap”.

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Well we made it to DTF right before closing on Xmas eve with no wait but I have to agree with ipsedixit… everything was fine but nothing was particularly exciting. I don’t understand all the built up hype (huge lines & regularly long wait times) for these XLB at all. I’m not sure if our experience at the Costa Mesa branch is reflective of other locations, but they weren’t very flavorful and a few of the skins broke apart as they were lifted out of the steamer. I’ve had much better at a number of spots in the Bay Area which I certainly wouldn’t consider destination worthy. The ribs were pretty good though a touch dry; imo the best thing that we ordered. The spicy pork and shrimp wontons weren’t bad but nothing I’d rush back for. The fried rice was sort of boring. The green beans were also disappointing. We skipped the rice cakes. Nothing was bad but nothing was great either.

Bella Cuba, on the other hand, was fantastic! The pollo asado was my favorite. I had the combo pollo y puerco and the tostones which were excellent. I loved everything about the place from the home cooking to the warm service and honest prices. We tried to go to Taqueria Zamora for brunch today only to discover they’re closed through the new year so we went back to Bella Cuba and I had the bistec de palomillo which was pretty good and a killer coco batido. Their beans and rice were great too. We stayed two blocks away at the Westin (across from Vaca) and really enjoyed it so we’ll definitely be back whenever we visit the in-laws and we’ll have to give Zamora another shot.

On our way out of town this evening we stopped at Guisados in DTLA for taco samplers which were dy-no-mite! I almost ordered a second plate.

We’re currently shacked up at a dingy holiday inn express (had some free night certificate for some reason) in the jewel of SoCal: Lebec. Can anyone recommend a decent and sanitary eatery in the area (within 1.5 hrs drive) for breakfast/early lunch on our way back to SF tomorrow?

Thanks again for all the solid recommendations

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One of the Bakersfield Basque restaurants?

Is Bakersfield a significant detour off the 5 though? (my wife claims it is)

Bakersfield is on the 99 so if you went there and then immediately doubled back to the 5, yes. But if you keep going north on the 99, not nearly as much. I have taken the 99 up north just for a change of scenery. I figured maybe an extra half hour.

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If the detour to Bakersfield feels too daunting (and it will add an extra 30+ minutes to your drive to get back to I-5 from 99 either via Hwy 58 or Hwy 46 to the North), you might want to consider just driving 3 miles up Frazier Mountain Park Rd. to either Big John’s Mountain Grill or Red Dot Vegetarian Kitchen. Both are on Mt. Pinos Way. Or you could grab a burrito at Tita’s Pupuseria truck in Buttonwillow.

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Can vouch for Tita’s brick & mortar

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Branding.

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My breakfast consisted of an animal style cheeseburger with chiles at in n out 15 minutes up the hwy. One night in Lebec is enough to motivate anyone to head for home on the quickest and most direct route possible! I would like to drive the SE route along the 99 sometime as Bakersfield has lots of old time warp spots that look like fun (Wool Growers, Woolworth’s lunch counter, Luigi’s, lots of old divey cocktail lounges, etc)

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