Welcome to june
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Can we get a mulligan on 2020?
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Should have saved some uni to top that with, and then hold up the other uni for scale.
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Haha I hear you. Let’s hope the second half of this year is somewhat smoother? It’s already been tough for restaurants.
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Every time I think it can’t get worse and things should rebound soon, something else happens. So now, I just try to be zen about any expectations.
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Pizza Wagon… for linner… or lupper.
Their whole pies seem more saucy recently. Not a huge fan of that but at least it’s tasty. I kind of like Grimaldi’s with the dollops of sauce right on the cheese.
Pepperoni mushroom
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I think they’re all just meals now. It’ll be 9:00PM and I’ll ask my wife “shouldn’t we be eating dinner or something?”
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The crust looks very light. How was the under carriage?
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The cornicione was light in color but it was nicely risen, slightly crunchy/crispy. Really good.
The underside was brown.
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I noticed that too, I actually prefer the slices at Pizza Wagon, they seem to have less sauce which doesn’t dominate the flavor.
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Cafe Hiro (Cypress)
Staying local this weekend to avoid any calamity that may make travel challenging this weekend. Cafe Hiro is open for dine in service. They’re filling every other table and have partitions between some. They wanted to remind me that they were open for dine-in, but I politely declined.
Albacore tuna salad with housemade miso-ginger dressing - for $13 you great great seared tuna on a bed of greens and sliced onions…it’s not super exciting, but the dressing is delicious and it’s just delightful. I was too lazy to plate it properly.
@JeetKuneBao pro tip on mentaiko on the uni spaghetti! It added an extra something that was delicious. Going to make it my standard going forward now.
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@attran99 Nice! I knew you would like it! That’s the move! I was tipped off on the mentaiko add on from the waitress.
Any recent trips to Little Saigon?
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Not recently. I’m interested in seeing how everything is slowly opening back up. Perhaps next weekend I’ll make a pick-up adventure of it.
I know there’s been some interest in Belle Vie’s reopening, so from weeknight take-out:
@paranoidgarliclover @PorkyBelly
GRILLED SARDINES
BEEF TARTARE
THE MIXTE - cheese and cured meat plate
Really happy with the spread in the mixed plate, and the tartare and sardines were perfect.
Their bread has always been oddly weak (hard, chewy, flavorless), but it’s hardly a crime with all the butter and rich food it comes with.
This was at 5:30 on one of the 6PM curfew nights, so unfortunately the tables were empty and it was just Cedric polishing wine glasses. I am a big fan of Belle Vie and hope they manage to weather this challenging time.
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That’s some pretty impressive plating inside of a box…and even with travel, it still looks great.
Yea, the plating was incredible. Belle Vie is really a neighborhood place for me even though it’s on Wilshire and across from that Rite-Aid complex, so I appreciate Cedric’s friendliness and the effort put into this all the more.
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So interesting; I totally agree that the bread is flavorless, but I actually kind of like the texture! I think the crumb, esp, is pretty decent. I don’t mind the flavorless part b/c I think it makes a great accompaniment for (any) butter and the mussel broth. 
I actually do think a more sour bread can detract.
We had their paella 1-2 wks ago, which was respectable enough.
Glad the meal was good. I also hope they survive. I’m also relieved they have an expanded menu.
My contribution for now is my fav mint lemonade (if you don’t like a very vegetal mint lemonade, this may not be for you). Literati has face shields up around the counter and had a small group (3 people) seated on the patio. It was really nice to see people out there again. The manager apologized for giving me the lemonade in a sippy cup, but I was totally fine w/ that. 
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Nozomi
Grabbed a deluxe nigiri set and a few extra a la carte nigiri.
The negitoro is still amazing and have to order every time. The shima aji, akami and uni stood above the rest along with the negitoro.
Extras
The kohada was amazing, always one of my favorite kohada in the entire city. 
The kimendai was also damn good.
The saba handroll had excellent flavor, unfortunately it suffered from sitting a bit too long. Can’t wait for their sushi counter to reopen so I can eat this beauty fresh. Right now, it can be ordered with marinated vinegared saba or fresh saba. I opted for the marinated.
They gave us a gift, one of which was two cups of Matsuri koshihikari rice, my favorite domestic grown rice! They also gave us some fruit and a cold tofu, such nice staff and a great gesture!
Cosa Buona
Excellent chopped salad. Such finesse with every ingredient not overpowering each other and the dressing was really fucking tasty.
Necessary order of smoked mozzarella sticks. The marinara was superb, a bit of sweetness and enough tartness to balance just right. The shaved parmesan cheese made it a touch salty but when dunked in the delicious marinara, it wasn’t so apparent.
Sausage pizza to make the meal official, and it was excellent. Lovely leopard spotted crust and the flavors of the mustard greens, chili and sausage just went went, damn near perfect execution. The dough was a touch too thick for my liking but still, damn good and it was take out.
New items at Daiso, magnetic poo for scale?? 
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That’s an astonishingly handsome salad…
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Chablis and dim sum Friday brunch
Sake (Midorikawa Junmai, Niigata prefecture) and William Fevre Chablis Premier Cru Montmains 2015 to kick off Friday night. M & M!!
New offering: sashimi set from Sushi Yoshizumi
Silky pristine isaki, aged kinmedai, botan ebi, aged Chutoro, aged akami, Hokkaido scallop, straw smoked aged sawara, kohada, thicc slices of sakura masu, and uni that had a puffy marshmallow like texture with some notable creaminess that was surreal
Stewed hamburger bento with a delectable tomato daikon oroshi and ginger braise sauce, kiriboshi daikon, puffy potato salad, tamagoyaki, creamed corn croquette, pickles, okara salad. Leichi, Santa Clara
Den Sake Brewery batch #10 x Wako SF’s omakase
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