Friday, November 21, 2008

Pho 99

After a night of drinking, again, I had to have some pho. You know, good ol hangover cure.


Being at work nixes any chance of going to a restaurant for lunch, so my co-worker went to get pho for both of us.



Pho 99 was the best place we could find. At $6.25 for a regular bowl of pho tai, it was a decent deal. However, I really think pho should be eaten at the location instead of to go. My soup was warm when it arrived and the meat tasted a bit funky.. but whatevs. I am totally stuffed till tomorrow. Now, if only I could take a nap.



Pho 99 Noodle and Grill
11819 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Itacho Japanese Restaurant






















Ita-cho? Ita-NO-t so much.

Dinner here was a spur of the moment decision. We drove by, saw the place and said sure, why not?

I guess our eyes are bigger than our stomach cuz we ordered a shitload of food.

-Salmon Sashimi- this was one of the freshest salmon I have ever had. It was perfect and tender and melted in my mouth like butter.

Spicy yellowtail roll- pretty damn good too and actually had a spicy kick

Unagi- not bad.. good size, kinda charred on the ends.. I think this is the new trend?! I keep eating charred Unagi every where I go.

Yellowtail sushi- eh.. it was ok

Cold Zaru soba- wtf? The noodles were not that good and the dipping sauce was just plain gross. It wasn't the typical soba dipping sauce and just tasted weird. This was a disappointment. Also, wtf to the quail egg being raw? Raw quail egg = no thanks. I will never eat raw eggs. They should have said this on the menu, cuz I ordered this dish so I could have the damn quail egg.

Fried octopus- good and crispy with tentacles.. Me likey

Steamed white fish with veggies- this was pretty damn good. But the veggies were better than the fish.. Fish was kinda bland, and the sauce it came with to dip in was so sour, it was like dipping into lemon juice. Blech!

Service was okay. *shrugs*So.. given all this, would I come back? Maybe, but I wouldnt make a special trip out here. Oh ya, the bathroom was kinda cool with the mirror and flower.. see pic.


Itacho Japanese Restaurant
7311 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Chosun Galbee











I've been craving KBBQ forever and finally got to hit up Chosun with some friends last Sunday. It's pricey, but I really do think the quality of meat is up there. For 3 people the total bill came to $90. Dayammmmmmm!!

Ok, so we ordered a bunch of food. 1 galbi, 1 bulgogi and a fish egg soup. Personally, I wasn't too fond of the fish eggs, but the soup itself wsa tasty. Galbi was well marinated and cooked perfectly. Bulgogi was tasty as well, nice and tender.

One thing that I didn't particularly enjoy was how the servers kinda rushed us with the meat. They kept throwing the meat on there, when we were still eating. I like to enjoy my food and take my sweet time ok? Like the bulgogi was freakin all cooked and put out on a different plate within 10 min. What the..

I did like the vast amount of side dishes (banchan) they gave us. My faves- fish cake, potato salad, spicy cucumbers and broccoli. The lettuce salad with some kind of dressing was pretty good too. OH!! The seaweed soup- yummy yum yum.. One of my faves. Reminds me of my mom's seaweed soup with beef ribs back in da day.

Anyways.. one other plus for this place. Good ventilation. You don't smell like a smokehouse after. Yay!

Chosun Galbee
3330 W. Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019

Sunday, November 2, 2008

BLT and P Soup




Woke up this morning to rain.. What?? Rain in Los Angeles? I guess fall is finally here.

This gave me the hankering for some good old soup. I crave comfort food when the seasons turn. This recipe is from Rachael Ray and it is seriously my fave soup ever. Well, this and wonton noodle soup. OK, beef noodle soup too. What? I'm Asian, I can't live without noodles soup!

The soup is fairly easy to make. Main ingredients are bacon, leek, tomato and potato. Hence the name of the soup. Just stir it all together and enjoy!! I've included some pix of the process. Yumo!

Mmmm... this beats any store bought soup. And it lasts for days!