Fish & Chicks March 8, 2008
Posted by foodies in American, Cash Only, Cheap, Uncategorized.add a comment
Northridge Fish & Chips
Location: 10336 Reseda Blvd., Northridge, CA 91326
Phone Number: (818) 360-3474
Type of Food: Seafood, Cash Only, Deep Fried, Cheap Eats
After wandering aimlessly one afternoon on a day off with Renee and after getting her fix at Red Mango (most likely another post for another time) we decided to walk in. I know, I know, real fish and chips and even then, fish and chips in NORTHRIDGE. This place has stood the test of time since 1968 and this place is proof that what you see is what you get and less is more.
Stolen moment. NOT
The place visually hasn’t changed since it’s opened and I remembered why I found this place so familiar; my parents used to take me here when I was little. Looking at the place takes me back, and there’s a big visible window where you can see the guys cook the food. But seriously, why mess with a good thing!?
Essential Orders: Their menu is small. But for reals ya’ll: 2 words: Fish & Chips. Don’t plan on getting anything else other than that because, sorry to say, everything is just filler.
The Money Shot. Boo-yeah!
We ordered a 4 piece fish and chips and calamari and chips. Their fish is so good. Beer battered and fresh. Everything is made to order; no heat lamps or premade food that’s been chilling for forever and a day. The batter is light and flavored while the fish was still moist and GIHUGEN. Each piece was about 6-8 inches–way bigger than other shit seafood shacks like Red Lobster and WAY BETTER quality. Honestly 1 piece is enough for 1 person. Unless you’re really hungry.
Their mushrooms are also very tasty, but watch out, don’t get overzealous like me and try to take a bite off of the bat because not only are you going to burn your mouth, but all of the moisture bursts out and you burn your front as well. And remember, like I said, everything is just filler.
Their calamari was pretty much out-of-the-bag-shit that you could find in the grocery store and their clams were mediocre, and a while back when my brother got an order their shrimp tasted like it came from Albertson’s or something.
The Bill: Always depends on how many people but usually it’s around 5 or 6 dollars and you totally get what you pay for.
Things to know:
- Cash only!
- If you’re short on time you may want to call in advance; first come first serve
-
Everything is made to order, if you peer over to the fry station, there is absolutely NO old food lying around
-
On weekdays between 12-2 p.m. they have this Happy Hour where 1-2 pieces of fish and chips are only between 2-3 bucks only!
-
Sometimes if I wanna save a buck or two, bring your own drinks. He doesn’t say anything to me. Next time I’m gonna bring Boddington’s to see if he’s gonna say anything.
- Watch your clothes they have the cheapest paper plates. It’s the thinest barrier between you, and the sticky old table.
Going Japanese–Late Night December 10, 2006
Posted by foodies in Cash Only, Cheap, Curry, Japanese, Late Night Eats, Places to go when you're drunk, Trendy / Hipster.add a comment
Koraku Restaurant
Location: 314 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA 90012-4221View Map
Phone: (213)687-4972
Type of food: Comfort Japanese food, ahem–no sushi
There are times when you can’t have dinner at 5, 6, 7 or 8 p.m. for that matter. Maybe you were at the bar and didn’t want to weigh yourself down so you could get that good buzz or maybe you saw a late movie and forgot.
In my case is because I’m at my weekly Brazilian Capoeira classes and don’t get home until 10:45 p.m. and with all the cart wheelin’ and hand stands, I tend to eat light and early, so sometimes after practice, I’m starving for something satisfying, and not to mention good, so I was ecstatic when my friend Pat told me about a Japanese comfort food that was:
A) Open till 3 a.m. on Monday-Fridays
and
B) Not a damn Denny’s Restaurant
Located at Little Tokyo in Downtown LA, it’s a great place to hit when you’re not craving the usual burger and fries and want a hearty bowl of ramen, or maybe hot tonkatsu (breaded pork) over steaming rice.
Essential Orders:
It is totally visually evident that the gyoza is freshly made. The thiness of the wrap isn’t thick like the instant out-of-the-bag kind like at Vons or Ralph’s. They’re big, and they come hot and steaming from the pan right to your table. It’s served with hot chili oil and perfectly moist. If you’re a fan of heat like I am, this amount of chili oil does not do this justice.
All courses also come with a bowl of miso soup and their own cabbage salad, but since I don’t eat rice, I ordered the seaweed salad that was also very good! They kind of went to town on the green onion in my soup, but lately it’s been cold as all hell and I wasn’t on a date or anything so I totally didn’t mind that.
Usually when you go to Japanese restaurants, they give you only ONE whole pork cutlet, but this is the only place I’ve realized that gives you TWO! The tonkatsu was crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside. Not only did it come with a bowl of rice, but another side of cabbage salad, and potato or macaroni salad which were also very very good.
My friend (and sister of other Eat This Blog Creator, Renee) Ivy, got the Hamburger Cutlet. One thing that we agreed on other than the fact that the food was so good is that they don’t pour the tonkatsu sauce on top of the meat, and instead give you a squeeze bottle (which we were tempted to gaffle)
Unfortunately our eyes were bigger than our stomach, because the portions were such a good size that we brought home a decent amount of leftovers.
Service: 8 out 10. The waitresses there are very nice and attentive, even when it’s really busy ours was always able to refill our glasses at just the right time and always seemed warm when greeting and serving us.
Things to Know:
-
I’m honestly not sure about parking in the daytime since all of the times (which have only been 2), have been after 11 p.m. Parking in the night doesn’t seem like such a problem. You can park anywhere really since the metermaids all stop monitoring around 6 p.m.
- If it’s only 2 of you, you may want to sit at their countertop area. From there you can watch the chefs make your food. You’re THAT close to them.
- On weekends, you may want to already expect some sort of a wait. The place is pretty small and narrow– Like a hallway even
- Most importantly, CASH ONLY is accepted.
Chinatown-New York Style September 25, 2006
Posted by foodies in Cash Only, Chinese, Outisde Los Angeles.add a comment
Chanoodle Restaurant
Location: 79 Mulberry St., New York 10013 (Btwn Bayard & Canal St.)
Phone: 212-349-1495
One of the places that I’ve wanted to visit in New York was Chinatown. The last time I was in New York I was about 4 years old and honestly don’t even remember if I went there or not, but I did want to go and experience the hustle and bustle. I love the smells of the spices and the scent of vases and rugs. There’s something about that scent that takes me back to when I was 5 years old eating an egg custard pie, wearing MaryJanes and playing with toy guns chasing my brother throughout the streets of Chinatown. So therefore, I was definately psyched to be walking the streets down there.
Peter and I were real lucky to find this place. Since we did not know where to eat we pretty much relied on how American friendly, clean and if there were ANY newspaper clipping from the Times or the Voice and Chanoodle had both!
The place is a bit small for a Chinese restaurant. Only several 4-top tables. The menu however is very vast and American-friendly at the same time.
Service: 8 out of 10. The staff was very cordial. I figure if you go to big cities such as Vegas or NY, the staff should always be nice, but this staff was extremely nice. They even boxed the leftovers, which is always a plus!
What to Get: First of all, I order several dishes that I always have to get, and the first and foremost that I got was their peking duck. Since it was only Peter and I, we got the half order. To tell you the truth the half order is enough, even for 3 people. The set up was very nice; a plate of thinly sliced meat and skin and another steamed dish of buns and a bowl of hoisin sauce and scallions. The best part was that the waitress even made the duck right at our table!
Peter was loving their fried rice. The one thing that I really did love was that they used white meat. Yeah, I like white meat more than dark. Like my men! (J/K!) Anyway, Peter said that he really loved it because they didn’t have carrots.
I also got their House Special Chow mein. Their noodles were crunchy and hot, but unfortunately the sauce needed more salt. It was bland.
Things to Know:
- Cash ONLY.
- There are TONS of great little shops to visit!
Ohhh….exotic fruits in Chinatown…ah shit, I feel like Rachel Ray
- Like Chinatown, but hate the food? Little Italy is just a few blocks away!
An Italian firehydrant?
The sites and shirts of Little Italy. Yes, a little picture crazy.
Jamie Does Nathan–er I mean Nathan’s August 31, 2006
Posted by foodies in American, Cash Only, Cheap, Fast-food, Hamburgers / Hot Dogs, Outisde Los Angeles.add a comment
Nathan’s Famous Hotdogs
Location: 1310 Surf Ave., Brooklyn, NY
So for the past week I’ve been in NY. This trip has been planned MONTHS in advanced. I think I deserve it–after all, I’ve finally made it to LEVEL 5 and it feels awesome. To be honest, I had no idea what the hell I was going to do in New York, but I definately knew where I wanted to eat!
Since 1916, Nathan’s Famous has been serving Coney Island the best in hot dogs. Now almost 90 years later has become an institution in the state of New York and overseas!
Service: 7 ot 10. The lady that had helped us was real nice and even though the place is constantly packed, they know the value of urgency and understand the demands. Not really tableside service, more like counterside. Pretty much fast food, but truly fast and fresh.
Things to Know:
-Their public restroom is the ONLY decent place to take a piss in. And other than the bathrooms in Astroland where there are rides and such, it’s also FREE.
-Don’t go to Coney Islands just for the hot dogs (even though that was the only reason I went there). They also have an amusement park, a beach and tons of other really cool sites.
What we ordered:
First and foremost, 3 words; Fresh squeezed lemonade
Good God, their fries are a thing of beauty. Since business is constantly moving the fries came HOT. They were crispy on the outside and potato-y in the middle. My bestfriend Peter got regular, I, being the adventourous one got the Creamy Garlic and my, my, my, I wasn’t disappointed. The fries were slathered with buttery garlic goodness…And let’s not mention the cute pitch fork that you can use to eat them and then use as a weapon if need be!
And of course, I got their chili cheese dog. The dog itself was SO good. These dogs truly popped with the first bite. Nice saltiness, not dry at all. The buns were steamed and not stale or hard at all. I was really hungry since it was a long subway ride from Queens so I pretty much wolfed it down, I should have taken the time out to truly savor it.
My only reserve was that the chili was a bit much, and I didn’t know it had beans, which I really am biased towards since I like my chili without beans. I also didn’t know that they serve only grilled onions, which I pretty much scrapped off, I’m more partial to the raw ones to offset the texture. Another thing was the condiment/hot dog ratio was a little excessive too so by the end my hot was one big mess.
But all in all, Nathan’s is definately a must for the Hot-Dog Lover. It’s like a football player going to the Super Bowl–except for Foodies.
Not Tickled Pink August 2, 2006
Posted by foodies in American, Cash Only, Hamburgers / Hot Dogs, Late Night Eats, Overrated, Places to go when you're drunk, Stay Away, Trendy / Hipster.add a comment
Pink’s Hotdogs
Location: 709 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038
Hours: Mon-Thurs,: 9:30 a.m.-2:00 a.m., Sat. & Sun.: 9:30 a.m.-3:00 a.m.
Where do you take your psuedo-New Yorker bestfriend for his last night in LA before he goes back to the Big Apple, where coincidentally is the place where hot dogs is their state’s forte?
Pink’s of course. Or at least I thought of.
Honestly, going to restaurants while you’re trying to commit to a lifestyle change is hard. I’ve been doing it now for 3 months along with excercise 5-7 times a week. So when I want to cheat, it better be worth it and that’s why I decided to fuck Taco Bell and go to Pink’s at 12 in the morning.
Pink’s Hotdogs is one of LA’s historical landmarks and has rarely changed it’s outside for the past 70 years. The place is famous. I can’t really tell you all of the times I’ve seen it on the news or on Food Network.
They’ve got the standard fast food; burgers, fries, hot dogs. What they’re really famous for is their personalized special dogs that are named after films or movies star.
From one side…
To the other…
Estimated time waiting: 2 hours
Time actually eating: 15 minutes
Their lines are epic. I think when Peter and I lined up it was around midnight and it took over an hour before we could order. Now, if the food was actualy good, it probably would have been worth it, but alas, it really wasn’t.
Service: 7 out of 10. Ordering is very organized. They’re staff works real hard and gets the food quick to you, but they did screw up my order.
What we ordered: Peter ended up getting “The Lord of the Rings Dog”–a stretch 10 inch with onions rings slathered with bar-b-que sauce. Unfortunately there was too much and he had to scrape off the sauce. I, being the purist I am got the chili cheese dog with onions. Unfortunately the ESL workers thought I said mustard. Yeah, because onions and mustard sound just the same and because of that, my dog tasted real sour. If I didn’t actually took apart the whole hot dog and bun I wouldn’t have known that there was mustard! My dog didn’t even pop the first time I bit into it.
Looked good for a second
Yeah, this place is hipster, trendy and overrated.
Go to Scoobies. Fuck, should have gone there instead. I even thought of going there instead of Pink’s.
Like finally scoring a date with a hot guy and then finding out that he can’t kiss. Ugh.
