January 2019 Weekend Rundown

I feel like I need to have this on a shirt. It’s brilliant.

Does anyone know what it’s called or how common it is? I don’t think I’ve ever seen or eaten that…

Didn’t you answer your own question a while back?!

Fascinating! I would’ve never considered a zwah bing lightly sweetened, although I guess I can sort of see that. And zwah bings I’ve seen/eaten before usually look more bread-y.

The only pictured almost looks like strips of apples.

Hee, hee.

Forgive me if this is what zwah bing means but I believe at You Kitchen they call it Hand Grasping Cake.

That’s pretty much what zwah (grab) bing means. :slight_smile:

Oh cool! It’s such a whimsical (and aspirational) sounding translation, I assumed someone was taking poetic license. Thanks!

Went to the Pocket Burger Shack in Sunset Beach (in between Huntington and Seal). Not gourmet or fancy by any means but very fulfilling with bacon, egg, avocado, juicy patty, and sauce.

Had a great time with the owners who are Thai. Talked about Thai food mostly.


Bring a beach towel, blanket, Martinellis, flameless candle, and some burgers.

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Started the weekend a bit early with a lunch at R+D Kitchen in Newport. Their carnitas sandwich special of the day was super good with the fresh slaw and pickled onions. The salad I got was woefully overdressed…it took the sparkle out of the greens, jicama, and apples. They make a fun pimento cheese that they call queso as part of their duo dip plate with guacamole that’s pretty tasty…and their margaritas are solid…so solid, I had two with lunch. Lucky me…I didn’t have to drive home.

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Happy Harbor (Rowland Heights)
Dim sum with friends for lunch. The bean curd with shrimp and meat, shrimp and chive dumplings, and preserved salted egg yolk buns were especially good today. I always forget to ask them to cut the gai lan in half…it’s a bit awkward to eat and handle the whole stalk.
Peris Restaurant (Hawaiian Gardens)
Some of the best Persian food in this area. It’s a family-run business that we’ve been frequenting for years. There’s something so delicious about their basmati rice. I always pick the boneless chicken and beef kibbodeh plate. Everything seems so carefully cooked…seasoned well and so moist/juicy. Their trio appetizer platter is of your own choosing and super plentiful…we like the borani, hummus, and garlic sauce. The husband and the chowpups are animals and always get fries so they can dip in the garlic sauce. Service is exceedingly kind if Mike or his wife (the owners) are tending to your table. I’ve used them to cater parties at my house often and don’t make it a point to dine in often enough.

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Old San Luis BBQ

Tri tip sandwich, corn pie and fries. Corn is considered a vegetable so this is a well balanced meal.

Anyone know where to get this corn pie in LA? Tri tip was excellent, fries were crunchy and corn pie was tasty, albeit very heavy.

Holbox x Chichen Itzá

Another shrimp torta cuz I’m addicted.

Lechon tacos, decent.

Chicharron tacos…some of the best in town, add that habanero salsa and pow!

…and of course, potato salad.

Kagura Torrance…yup

Free labor

Look at that juicy, cheesy, delicious fried pork. :crazy_face:

Stan’s plain buttermilk bar

Anepalco’s chilaquiles con carnitas

and some really tasty tacos de pulpo con huitlacoche…really good

Mozza LA

Brussel sprouts

Chicken wings alla diavola…only miss of the night, rubbery wings albeit a generous portion. Eating this at the bar risks flinging hot sauced chicken parts at your eating neighbors. Extra napkins required if you go savage mode like I did.

Octopus salad…lovely…plenty of octopus flavor and enough aroma to fill the room with that oceanic perfume. Really nice bright flavor and the octopus was perfection. Not much order, but pairing this with the right a heavy dish like the lasagna would be quite nice.

Tutto Italiano - Bianco Dinapoli Pomodoro…the nduja was quite spicy, overall pretty tasty although not as epic as the egg, bacon and potato pizza I usually inhale.

Desserts

Meyer lemon pie, gelato and budino. All three were great, although the peanut butter gelato killed it. I am big on peanut butter sweets, that I could probably demolish a full quart of this stuff. Seriously dangerous. The budino was excellent as usually. The meyer lemon pie was light, palate cleansing in between bites of the other desserts.

Devouring da peanut butter side of the gelato :raised_hands:

Mozza still fiyah :fire: :fire: :fire:

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Dessert to cleanse the palate for your other desserts. Awesome.

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I hit the budino and meyer lemon pie last week…perfect combo

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I’ve been eyeing those chilaquiles–how were those? That dish looks bananas.

Mariscos El Bigoton


This was great! But if we are comparing I would put Mariscos El Tocho over Bigoton for these seafood towers. El Tocho’s salsa negra is on another level.

Tasty Noodle House (Las Tunas)


I thought the Shui Jien Bao was just okay. I wish it was crispier in the bottom and slightly more filling.
The Beef Noodle Soup…the broth is savory and one note vs Taiwanese version with sweet, savory, and spicy notes. With that said it’s not a bad bowl of noodles. Very good slurpping!!! The broth can be a bit boring for some. The Beef is well cooked and tasty!

Labobatory


Pi Pa Gao!!!
Aww yes the Chinese cough medicine! This was fun and interesting to try. But after awhile…yeah. Awesome that they pulled this off.

Roasted Oolong Milk Tea
Yeah the oolong is from the mountains in Taiwan blah blah but this was too much milk. If they can’t pull off a basic milk tea then what’s the point??? Yeah I’m calling them out. The honey boba is good though!

OG Luscious Dumpling/One One Dumpling

They sold out.

Golden Deli.

Do I really want to wait for cha gio???

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Very good, maybe not destination worthy, but definitely hit up when in OC good.

The dish is plated perfect so you grab that sauce in every bite. Perfect balance so your palate isn’t fatigued.

Definitely worth a try if you are down here. Probably the best non-traditional variation you can find in So Cal

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Ooooo gotta go check out El Tocho, thanks for the tip.

Hamberders from the White House commissary

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I get a McD’s craving every now and then. Sometimes I act on it sometimes I don’t.

I don’t care what anyone says I love Chicken Nuggets dipped in both sweet and sour and bbq.

Only thing missing is some Vanilla cones

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Spent the afternoon in Manhattan Beach.

The Arthur J
Our Napa/Sonoma wine club had their annual LA/OC party this afternoon. To compliment their fine chards/Pinot Noirs/Cabs, there was a plentiful selection of charcuterie and formage with fresh grilled bread and tray-passed steakhouse offerings. Lamb chops with chimichurri, seared salmon with carmalized fish sauce, crispy pork belly, flat iron steak bites, cheeseburger sliders, chicken meatballs with gravy, and mushroom flatbread. I really need to have dinner here sometime…the bites they serve are truly fantastic.
Love & Salt
While Chef Michael has departed, this place is still popping. It was full in no time after opening. The English muffins were not on the menu tonight. We were rather comfortable after snacking and drinking at Arthur J, so we just ordered some dishes to share. The creste de gallo is a must order for me…and I feel like it’s gotten better since the last time I had it. The toothsomeness of the pasta was just perfect and the sauce with bone marrow…we ordered bread so we could sop up the sauce with it. We also had the octopus which was cooked well and a bit aggressively dressed with green and beans. Enjoyed the charred broccoli with lemon and toasted breadcrumbs. I should have convinced the group to get the duck egg pizza, but everyone else was pretty comfortable and not really gung ho to order more. Service was great as always. Cocktails were solid, too…after 3 hours of drinking wine, it’s hard to want more wine.

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