I had my heart set on chirashi sushi from Soregashi for my birthday lunch, but alas, I was mesmerized by the cherry blossoms at Descanso Gardens. Having a new camera to play with could’ve factored into my poor time management skills…
I picked up a fish curry with appam and vegetable pakora from Mayura. The fish curry is one of my favorite dishes there, but the salmon was overcooked. The taste improved a couple of days later. Taiyaki from Deli Taiyaki and sakura mochi from Fugetsu-Do in Little Tokyo for dessert. Back to crappy iPhone 5 photos…
I took home a couple of slices of pie and a piece of focaccia. The banana browned butter chess pie was the winner and champeen! The focaccia was tasty, but incredibly rich.
Then, I indulged with the fish sampler and a citrus/avocado/gem lettuce salad from Gjusta. Life couldn’t be any more perfect at the moment. Sigh.
My in-laws treated me to brunch from Din Tai Fung (Glendale branch). Their mascot had a bit of a mishap and was sporting an oven mitt to hide his injury…
Planning to see the cherry blossoms at Decanso. How long are they around???
Ah, I was there Sat evening. To make it on-topic, partner and I went to Pinot Bar for dinner. I have pics, but I haven’t yet uploaded them. He had the shortribs (DELICIOUS), and I had the burger (surprisingly beefy flavor, and the medium rare was a true medium rare!). Poor servers were literally running for the kitchen after they left the seating area; someone said that they had a new chef, so I think they might’ve been running a little behind. Still, we got out in time for the show, and that’s all that matters.
Given that they have a bit of a captive audience, I thought the food was quite good and not unreasonably priced. I would not mind eating there again.
Friend was randomly at the show, too. He said he went to Otium and thought it was “amazing.” Not sure what he had (or if he has much of a palate).
I feel so guilty, @paranoidgarliclover… Luckily, I don’t think it’ll be too long until her bakery opens.
The Cherry Blossom Festival is happening on the 11th and 12th, but tickets are already sold out. However, members get free tickets. Perhaps give them a call. If you can make it out on a weekday, I believe you should be able to avoid the ticket requirement.
Sounds like you had a great weekend. We liked Nicole Rucker’s Chocolate Chess Pie when she rotated it in one weekend at Smorgasburg. Thanks for the thoughts on her new items.
Gjusta Smoked Fish Plate: Perfection! Which Fish did you get this time? Love their bread!
Thank you so much for your birthday wishes, @Chowseeker1999! Normally, I’m a fruit pie (apple, berry, etc.) kind of person, but the browned butter chess pie was just so outrageously good, especially with the caramelized bananas. Ack, Gjusta’s smoked fish plate was one of the best things I’ve eaten this year. I had gravlax and two different types of hamachi. I really wanted sable, but they were out on Saturday.
Whoa, thanks for the tip about the sakura at Lake Balboa, @J_L! I had no idea. Your photos are glorious by the way!
Well, I guess I absorbed all the calories and fat on your behalf, @paranoidgarliclover. You can rest easy knowing that you can still fit into your jeans. I do hope that you get to try her bakery when it opens.
どうもありがとうございます, Bula-san! Translation: thank you very much. Ha, cherry blossoms have that lulling quality.
Yeah, I think everything’s blooming earlier with the copious rain and warm weather. So glad to have J_L’s tip about Lake Balboa too.
The bergamot basil sorbet was pretty good. I think it’s meant to be a palate cleanser type of thing - very floral and a bit sour. It wasn’t exactly crave-worthy, but it was really interesting.
Bacon and leek quesadilla, fried egg, potato, burnt tomato chile, oaxacan cheese, chives. The tomato chile was terrific, as was the leek. But over all this was very salty, with the bacon – essentially thick cut pork belly, kind of overwhelming everything else. The fried egg was perfectly cooked though – runny in the middle, but crispy on the edges.
Bit of a service glitch today, maybe they were overwhelmed by the opening rush. Almost 40 . minutes between ordering and getting our food. Generally it is much faster.
LOL - I can read hiragana, most katakana, and some kanji. I was forced to take Japanese when I was a kid - hated it since it was all day saturdays - who the Hell goes to school on Saturday when all other (non-Asian) kids are having fun? I didn’t learn shit since I resented almost every moment.
Took a couple of years of Japanese at UCLA out of guilt - remorseful for resenting those forced early years. Far more intensive (as is par for UCLA). Had to learn and memorize hundreds of the thousands of kanji. Use it or lose it - lost it!
Oops, sorry about the misunderstanding, @bulavinaka. The translation was for non-Japanese readers since there was a discussion about inclusivity a while back.
I had a similar upbringing. God, I hated giving up my Saturdays to go to Japanese-language school. Everyone else got to eat cereal, watch cartoons, and goof off. But no, I had to be a nerdy, studious kid. Then, I rebelled and studied Spanish and French in college - as well as Japanese. Now, I’m disappointed that I didn’t apply myself… I turned on the Japanese keyboard on my iPad a while back, and I force myself to write messages in Japanese. It does help!
UCLA at is the first raw fish sushi I ever tried. I think it was central campus, and I would go down and get spicy tuna rolls and avocado rolls. I fell in love…
And my first Korean food was at an odd little hut in Westwood. It had an ordering window and a few round, plastic, bolted-down picnic tables under an umbrella awning. The bulgogi bowl was a revelation to this Euro-Cali beach bunny.
Vamos a Texcoco in Escondido. The menu is pretty similar to Aqui es Texcoco in Chula Vista and LA, and everything was great and the people who work there are so damn nice. I especially loved the delicious and hearthy lamb consommé of which I ordered another (large) to bring home. Their horchata and champurrado were really good as well.
