Possible bang @ Raku today
15 Likes
A little late with this one, but two weekends ago we tried Spago takeout. I’ve had the tasting menu but never the smoked salmon pizza. Figured this would be a great time to try it. We brought one home and I was a little shocked that it came in a DIY kit, but it came out great. Can’t wait to get another.
13 Likes
All Day Baby -
Biscuit Window! Because their biscuits are magnificent, I put in an order. I got a chicken biscuit for one of the chowpups and a bacon breakfast sandwich for myself…and the last 4 plain biscuits for later use. There was also wine involved.
I’m glad I don’t have access to this everyday…I would gain an excess of #COVID19. The chowpup loved his generous chicken biscuit. The chicken was moist, tasty, and crispy. But it was too much for him…he only ate 75% and packed the rest away for later.
So when I picked up, Lien gave me an awesome tip. ADB biscuits can be frozen and warmed up in the oven for later use. She says she does it all the time. I may buy these things in bulk next time and try this.
Pearl River Deli -
Spur of the moment trip to coincide with my ADB pick-up. Wanted to make my trip into the city more interesting.
Chef @JLee knocks it out of the park! I scored a pound of pork jowl, noodles, shrimp scramble, rice, and 4 egg tarts…was unsuccessful in trying to score a last minute Hainan chicken…alas, they were all sold out.
The pork jowl is hands-down amazing! Super tender and tasty…and the char! So good. If you thought the char siu was fantastic, the jowl will blow your mind 
. I’ve got banh mi supplies, and this pork jowl is going to be in one for dinner tonight.
The scramble was for one of the chowpups, who loved it so much from our last order.
I’d like to say how awesome the PRD team is. They are always so nice and friendly when I call or come to pick up. I showed up early and found just a couple of other folks who were also probably early for their order, too. They tried to see if they could score a chicken set for me, but no luck. They did say that it’s very possible Hainan chicken may make an appearance next weekend and that they were working on assuring that they would have more chicken available.
Holy cow! This is one of the finest egg tarts I’ve ever had. The pastry is super flaky, tender, and crispy…there were so many crispy layers! The filling was delicious…luscious and not too sweet. If you can get your hands on it, get it…it’s so good!
For folks looking for hard to get items, please call the PRD team when they open. I think I heard that the pork jowl and the egg tarts were sold out when I picked up around 12:30PM.
19 Likes
Abbott Kinney - Venice Beach
I am lovin’ walkup to-go windows. Sipping Margaritas on the sidewalk while waiting for tacos. There’s something New Orleans about it. The strong margaritas in cool, reusable, glass bottles (bottle collector here!) were the spiciest item on the menu.
The tacos are wrapped in nice, double tortillas.
Pollo Adobado
Maybe they got the dry chicken memo. We got moist chicken and flavor-wise it was my fave of the three tacos.
Cecina Tacos (Pork)
Peads & Barnetts’ Pork Loin in Guajillo Chile Marinade, grilled & served w/Pineapple, Pickled Onions & Tomatillo Salsa w/Lime (fresh, tangy, salty salsa 
). Maybe a tad more char needed but it was hubby’s fave taco.
Carne Asada
No complaints. 
The Red Salsa for the Asada had a savory flavor like tomatoes in chicken broth, but I doubt it because they’d have to disclose that… right? And don’t expect either salsa to blow your mouth out. But, salsa doesn’t have to be 
to be good (I loved the verde). I remember getting Guacamole, but I guess no photo - it was delicious w/the right balance of lime, salt & no tomato.
We ate tacos on a bench overlooking Santa Monica beach and tried to avoid feeding the begging squirrels.
These little guys belly crawl right up to you and stand on their hind legs, rubbing their little front paws together like trained seals begging for a snack. And they’re so skinny! The squirrels in our backyard are as big as cats. It’s a dilemma - save the bluffs or give a starving squirrel tortilla!
Thanks @NewTrial for recommending 4 choice spots (tacos por favor, teddy’s red, valle, the rose). We picked Valle because it’s a pop-up. There was a guy hangin’ outside drinking a beer like a Venice hanger-outer, then sitting inside eating at a table by himself. My hubby saw that and wanted to sit inside too. I said he gets to sit inside because he’s probably the owner. He said not possible. The owner of Valle, Gjelina & Gjusta isn’t a scruffy, blond, surfer dude with his bicycle parked on the sidewalk. Yep. Welcome to Venice. He’s friendly and chatty and said with the warmer season coming tacos are the best fit for that spot (formerly MTN) … in other words the plan is to stay.
14 Likes
LOL I think I’ll defer to my backyard mulberry trees on this one… Pretty much every day this past month at home:
15 Likes
James Sugishita x Raku collaboration FUTOMAKI… Tamago, anago, and kyuri in the giant roll, and a half-portion of that delectable chirashi also. The rice is pretty much perfect.
18 Likes
I’m pretty sure I need that in my life.
5 Likes
2 Likes
Ditto. Gotta love the box, too. What’s the pricing like?
2 Likes
Can I have that as my daily lunch?
3 Likes
$70, $60 for return customers if you return the previous box to James-san…
Addendum: But honestly, I’d tip him well. He’s a super nice young man, tries his absolute best to please, delivers the boxes himself (!), and is humble almost to a fault.
12 Likes
I went for the “Cantonese chirashi” over the weekend 
at Ming Kee in San Francisco 
A super steal at $8.75 and a heaping pile of char effing siu!
19 Likes
So on the top of my SF list.
1 Like
That queue!
2 Likes
I miss Ming Kee so much!Queue for the 'Q !!!
(Now if only they came with bamboo noodles with ‘Q’!)
2 Likes
Interestingly I took a photo of the queue, and shortly thereafter one of the employees came out and yelled “anyone here to pickup rice plates”. I left the line, went in and asked can I order rice plates to go here and she said “tell me what you want”. It wasn’t bad even in the queue…it is actually set up for social distancing, minus the taped sections on the ground 6 ft apart from another, like Trader Joe’s lines. However I heard horror stories about even longer lines on Sunday and Monday (obviously), running out of ducks by 2 pm and one customer exclaiming one older lady just said “no” like the Soup dictator in Seinfeld when they asked about oh no ducks, can I get a soy sauce chicken or some other bird…lol, without clarifying what the “no” meant.
Hmmm maybe two years ago they did have a noodle soup (egg noodles or ho fun) option instead of rice, but they got rid of it. So much faster and efficient to scoop out rice and serve. Blue collar guys and us pigs gotta move on to the next job…or bang.
Had the spare ribs once years ago, a bit on the dry side. Ate in the parked car right across the street, no messing around, so straight up char siu with a mouth full of rice and some ginger scallion oil to cause aroma explosions like eating one whole piece of giant saba battera or saba bousushi in one bite. 
8 Likes