What You Didn’t Eat at Your Office Christmas Party December 17, 2006
Posted by starbright31 in Bougie, Food Memories.add a comment
I know, I know, it’s another non-review of something that you can’t have locally. But if you’re willing to spend a few thousand dollars on a 7-day cruise you can have a meal similar to this (but with even more choices of food).
I work for a cruise line that shall remain unnamed. Earlier this month, the company had a holiday luncheon onboard one of our ships:
Unlike other ship visits, this meal was a lot better than I expected. This luncheon included:
Baby green salad with shrimp
Prime rib
Christmas pudding (a.k.a. fruitcake)
Raspberry creme brulee
And the two moochers that accompanied my mom and I to this luncheon:
Great food! The prime rib was so huge, and it was cooked just the way I like it- still bloody in the middle. The only downside besides dessert (I’m not a fan of fruitcake or raspberries, but for those who do like them, I heard it was delicious) was the restriction on what drinks you could order. They offered us apple, cranberry, and orange juice, and iced tea, but no soda. If I slipped a twenty to my waiter, I’m sure I could’ve ordered something else, but oh well.
Classic Canadian Fast-Food December 17, 2006
Posted by starbright31 in Food Memories, Outisde Los Angeles.add a comment
From November 23 through November 30, I had the pleasure of going to my second home away from home, Canada. While it was great to see my family again, I was more excited about my reunion with what I’ve been craving for since my last visit in December 2001, Canadian fast food. And most importantly- poutine.
Poutine (pronounced, roughly, poo-teen, or poo-tin; exact Québécois pronunciation in IPA [pʊʦɪn] — listen to it in .wav format) is a dish consisting of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy (usually brown gravy) and sometimes other additional ingredients. The curds’ freshness is important as it makes them soft in the warm fries, without completely melting.
Poutine is a fast food staple in Canada; it is sold by many fast food chains (such as New York Fries and Harvey’s) in the provinces, in small diners and pubs, as well as by roadside “poutine trucks” and “fries stands”.
Poutine is available in only a few places outside of Canada, including the northern United States and a handful of Canadian-themed restaurants and pubs throughout the rest of the world. Some popular Canadian travel destinations (such as Mexico, Florida, and Taiwan) are also known to have poutine available, but only sporadically or at the behest of Canadian expatriates. – Wikipedia
Now when I mention poutine to friends and family, I get a 70/30 response of “Ewwwww! That sounds gross!” over “Mmmmm, that sounds awesome.” Of course, I prefer the latter. And when I go into detail of what poutine is, I gush over how that combination of hot gravy and melted cheese work so magnificently with French fries. The following are pictures of poutine I had during my recent stay:
This was purchased at the local Costco in Burlington. The cheese was too cold and the gravy wasn’t hot enough to melt most of it. The fries, however, were excellent as they were crispy around the edges and steaming hot.
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.
Midori-Ventura Blvd.’s Best Bet-UPDATE December 10, 2006
Posted by foodies in All-You-Can-Eat, Expensive, Japanese, Sushi, Trendy / Hipster.2 comments
Yet another reason why Midori Sushi isn’t like the rest: It’s got a freakin’ mouthwash dispenser in the bathroom!
For those of you who aren’t from Cali or Los Angeles for that matter Ventura Blvd. from end to end (And that is a REALLY vast end to end) boasts countless restaurants, boutiques and Starbucks. If you miss a restaurant, there’s one within 2 ft. of another, but ever since last year when Renee’s sister Ivy told us about a really good sushi restaurant with a bomb ass all-you-can-eat sushi meal, we’ve been going there ever since at least one every other month.
Restaurant: Midori Sushi
Location: 11622 Ventura Blvd. Studio City, CA (818) 623-7888 In the daytime you can park on the street and pay a toll and at night there is Valet for $2. Ventura is always busy at night so it’s best to valet at dinnertime. However, a walk after you eat is also a good idea.
Type of food: Japanese, Sushi, All-You-Can-Eat
Essential Orders: Far too many to list. Pretty much everything that they make is great. You don’t have to get All-You-Can-Eat, but it’s best to since most to all of the time that’s what you spend anyway. My addiction is their Calamari Tempura. Tiny crisy, light ringlets of calamari on top of slawed cabbage with a soy vinagrette. You don’t have to eat the cabbage. I usually use that to hide the discarded pieces of sushi that I can’t eat.
Renee and others can witness and atest, it’s the first thing I order, hell–I order it 2 times at once and certainly it’s not the last thing. I also always get the baked mussels–Broiled mussels with a spicy mayonaise, and my favorite sushi there is their ono (Hawaiian mackerel).
Things to Know: When going to Midori, it’s more than just a meal–it’s a game. And with a game there are rules:
- You only have an hour.
- You can only order after you’ve finished everything on your plate.
- Anything you don’t finish, you will be charged full price for the cost of the roll.
Renee is out for the count
Usually when Renee are going there we’re already going in with a game plan of what we want and what we can eat and if we can’t eat it, it has to be something that the other person will eat so that he/she can pick up the slack for the other. Also, keep an eye out–you never know who’s dining there. Last time Renee and I saw the El Pollo Loco Guy.
Renee’s Take: My favorite sushi place on this planet is Midori. The mere mention of going to Midori lights up my eyes and puts any crappy feeling I have about the day go away. While Jamie starts the meal off with calamari tempura ringlets, my usual first round order has to be a negi-hama handroll: 
This handroll filled with yellowtail and scallions never fails me. I feel like you get more “meat” out of a handroll than ordering a roll or nigiri. They also have a really tasty salmon skin handroll here too. My roll of the moment has been any roll with deep-fried soft shell crab- so I usually order a Spider Roll anywhere I go. My second round consisted of a Spider Roll (right) and a roll with spicy and deep fried crawfish (left): 
The crawfish roll was a bit too heavy for me, and there was too much rice in there. But the spider roll was proper with big cuts of the crab in between each bite. This next round had some of my order and my brother’s: 
The roll on the left with avocado and eel on the top is the dragon roll- if you’re a fan of unagi that’s a great roll to get because the sauce that’s drizzeled over the whole roll is sweet and complements the eel. I believe the pieces of sushi that surround the plate are salmon, yellowtail, ono, and albacore. It’s not pictured here- but I highly, HIGHLY, suggest that you order the albacore belly and yellowtail belly as soon as you start your orders. You can only order them once each, and if you’re there at night they can run out fast. By the end of the night, as you can see my picture above, I was stuffed up to **here** (I’m gesturing my right hand directly above my head). As Jamie said above, if you don’t eat everything you order- you pay extra. I didn’t want to risk that even though I had the hardest time trying to scarf down these two last pieces: 
These two pieces from the crawfish roll were my Everest! With enough water and breathing, I was able to eventually eat them. The price of dinner is very reasonable, considering all the food you can order here. The all-you-can-eat lunch is $19.95, and dinner varies from $23.95 on weeknight and *I think* $26.95 on weekends.
“SHOT.” YOUR NEW FAVORITE 4-LETTER WORD. September 25, 2006
Posted by foodies in Bars, Outisde Los Angeles, Places to go when you're drunk, Trendy / Hipster.add a comment
Location: 923 8th Ave (Cross Street: Between 54th Street and 55th Street)
New York, NY 10019 View Map
Phone: (212) 245-3212
I’d like to think that I’m an organized person and I have my jet-setting trips planned to the second. So of course I’ve scheduled a night to get completely fucked up and when my bestfriend Peter told me about a place that specializes in nothing but shots and not metion accessories–I said nothing and simply nodded my head and let him lead the way!
Silver stars dangle throughout narrow, red-walled saloon, perhaps foreshadowing what the local and after-work crowds will be seeing after they throw back the bar’s 100-plus different shots. Five plasma screens flash with sports, while a digital jukebox plays everything from ’80s hair bands to modern pop. Creative shots, which are typical of the namesake city, run different prices.
Essential Orders:
Since I had no idea when the hell I was ever going to be back under such cheap circumstances (ahem, staying for free at a friends’ place) and not to mention, knowing someone in the inside, Peter and I were especially feeling adventourous in choosing what we were going to drink.
Being a bit shy and awkward in a new place, we tried their new “Snakes On a Plane” shot. It was on special for $3!
You can’t see it that well, but there’s a lemon rind that’s supposed to be the snake! If the owner is making it–he’ll do his bestest Samuel L. Impression!
One that I tried was “The Top Gun Shot”. You wear a hat and dark glasses while “Danger Zone” plays in the background. Get a friend with you and he gets to be your ultimate wingman–Mother Goose!
“The Jose Conseco Shot”- Straight from a syringe–Need I say more?
“The Monica Lewinsky Shot”–No Cigar, but then again, no hands either.
Oh, and did I mention there’s a wig involved?!
“Truth Syrum”–For the Ladies
And the craziest one of all–”The Full Metal Jacket Shot”.
Yes, girly-style the push-ups were–I at least was able to do 10!
Alright, soldier!
Now, for this one, I have no idea what the hell I was going to get myself into. But when I put an army helmet on and my bartender not only did 2-3 shots of Seagrams’ for extra confidence and started shouting commands and I quickly threw back a shot of Wild Turkey and then proceeded to do 10 pushups on a floor–a bar floor, and I got up quick again and threw back another shot of Wild Turkey, I did not know that they were going to take it that far! Thank god I’ve been working out for the past 4 months. I knew that would come in handy. Thank god I didn’t look like some chicken-shit weakling.
Service: 10 out of 10. The bartender was very nice and personable. She also made the drinks very well.
Things to Know:
- 5 IMPORTANT WORDS: THE BARS CLOSE AT 4 a.m.
-
Save Money-Each week a new batch of shots goes up for a $3 pricetag all the time, but daily happy hour from 4pm to 7pm also means $3 drafts, $4 bottled beers, $4 well drinks, and $5 Guinness. During Yankee games, pitchers of Bud Light are $12.
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No food is served, but the bartenders are happy to let you bring outside meals in.
