RIP Daisy.

The world's sweetest dog.


Daisy's first day home (8 weeks), after we picked her up from the breeder and immediately shocked her by trying to give her the first bath. She was not what I would call a brave dog, ever. But that water scared the bejeesus out of her. I have never seen a tiny slippery puppy run so fast.

After a few days of completely ignoring her, Jackson finally lets her come snuggle up to him.


Nom. Nom. Nom.

Uncle Flick wrastles.

Learning how to share is a two way street.


Adolescence.


Double trouble.


Daisy assumes the position. She would stare through the kitchen window, compelling me to let her inside.

Sunning herself on the patio.


Both Daisy and Jackson love to travel.

Where she slept, every night of her life after 8 weeks.

Wine tasting in Malibu. Helping us to handle the loss of our dear friend Slim.

At the vet, during the Great Sock Incident of 2009.

Home after the surgeries. In her last few weeks she rested happily, retained her beautiful ebullient spirit and ate like the proverbial horse.



You are already missed.

Mikawaya: Mochi, Gyuhi, Daifuku. Oh My!

Mikawaya

118 Japanese Village Plaza Mall
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-624-1681
http://www.mikawayausa.com/


A couple weeks back, after a beautiful lunch at Hama Sushi, we strolled through Japan Village Plaza in seek of sweets. Mikawaya is perfectly located for buying one of many quick sweets to eat while sunning yourself in the square.



The main draw to Mikawaya is excellent mochi. Mochi, a Japanese dessert, are made from glutenous rice pounded into a paste then molded into shapes. When I think of mochi, and this may be very hakujin of me, I think of the paste wrapped around ice cream. In Japan this is also called yukimi daifuku. Daifuku is simply the slightly sweet paste wrapped around a sweeter filling, such as red bean paste or crushed melon paste. Yukimi daifuku means "snow-viewing daifuku", or mochi wrapped around ice cream and kept frozen. "Snow-viewing daifuku" is such a poetic way to specify.



Mikiwaya is known for their mochi. They get lots of rave reviews (and some pans) on Yelp. I am simply super happy I have someplace, anyplace, to buy mochi near my house.



In order, Mikawaya serves mochi, in order from left to right: vanilla, strawberry, can't remember what the yellow one was, azuki (red bean paste), green tea and chocolate.



This is a store for people with a sweet tooth. Everyone can find a treat here. The long fridge of gelatos and sorbettos is beautiful.



With a mouth watering array of fresh sounding flavors, Baskin-Robbins this is not. Not that I have anything against BR, I just love flavors that sound more exotic to my American ears.



White peach and pistachio together in one bowl sounds drool worthy this morning.



I would eat matcha green tea or raspberry separately. I love green tea ice cream...it has a certain almost lack of sweetness, so slight while that green tea flavor that sits in the back of your mouth.



Another kind of mochi. This is mochi made with yomogi, or mugwort. Daifuku mochi made with mugwort is called yomogi daifuku. So pretty.




The Mikawaya website explains that another kind of mochi, pink gyuhi, "has a mochi type outside and and a sweetened, smooth, white bean paste inside. It is designed into different shapes to symbolize the different seasons".

The mochi we ate that day were delicious. We both shared a chocolate and I ate a green tea. It was not as gobstoppingly amazing as the mochi we ate in Tokyo, but it was the perfect taste at the perfect moment after a perfect lunch.

Summer Fun #2: Small Business Owner Driven Insane by The Food Network

Kristine is a small business owner working and employing people in the construction industry. I know from personal experience she loves cooking, dining out, eating other people's food and sharing her own. She always has 20 questions (or more) about everyone else's food experiences.


Hobby:
Reading (does this count as a hobby?) & I'm starting to get into photography.

image courtesy of Now Public


Last meal you ate:

Just got back from lunch and had half a rack of baby back ribs with honey BBQ sauce, corn casserole, cole slaw, and a biscuit. NOM!

courtesy of nommm blog

Popsicle flavor/ice cream treat preference:

Popsicle flavor = A good old skool Big Stick (cherry & pineapple)
Ice-Cream = Chocolate & Hazelnut Gelato (Villa Dolce is a good one that I can get at a regular grocery store.)

courtesy of Go Pug Yourself


Obama is coming to dinner! What would you serve for a 5 course meal?
Probably something simple and hearty. I am learning to be a better cook but one thing but when I entertain I usually stick to my tried-and-true menu.

1st Course: A simple salad. Probably with some bleu cheese, dried cranberries/cherries in a balsamic vinaigrette

2nd Course: Baked/broiled shrimp dish I make with olives, olive oil, salt & pepper. The oil is great for dipping bread into, as well.

3rd Course: Filet Mignon with sauteed green beans or asparagus, I make a good mac & cheese with caramelized shallots and goat cheese, too.

4th Course: (Damn, I don't think I've ever cooked a five course menu at home. It's always been 3 or buffet-style). Hmmm ... If I'm trying to be fancy I guess I could serve a sorbet of some kind. Maybe something a little tart like lilikoi/passionfruit.

5th Course: a fig tart with a cheeseplate! :)

image courtesy of Martha Stewart


Desert island 3:
You mean a 3 course meal on a desert island? Are we doing this Les Stroud-style? ;)
1st: Some kind of ceviche with fresh fish, shrimp, citrus.

2nd: Some kind of grilled/broiled fish with a simple rice and local veggies

3rd: A simple platter of fresh fruit from around the Island


Cooking mishap?
I focked up on my first Thanksgiving turkey (but who doesn't) ... it's like a rite of passage in the kitchen, right? LOL

image courtesy of Bay Area Bites


Ethnic/culinary heritage? Do you cook anything traditional to this heritage?
100% Korean. I have tried my hand at Korean-inspired meals but I leave the true Korean food to my mom.

image courtesy of kaman's cep 416 blog


How did you learn to cook?

Come to think of it, I never really spent too much time in the kitchen with my mom. I recall stirring the pot or cutting some veggies when she asked but we never bonded too much in to the kitchen. I've learned (and am still learning) to cook on my own. Actually, when the DH and I first moved into together (we were 21), I went through a crazed Food Network phase and got a lot of inspiration from all the cooking shows. My fave FN personalities are Giada & Tyler Florence.

One thing you will never eat.

Shark. As much as I admire a lot of aspects of Japanese culture I think it's fucked up how little they regard the shark.

image courtesy of Shark Divers Blog

Second Chances at BoHO: Hits & Misses But Overall Redemption

BoHo
6372 W Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 465-8500
http://www.bohorestaurant.com/

This weekend a large number of my posse gathered in Los Angeles for one of our semi-annual events. We meet face to face, talk, drink, and bond while enjoying all sorts of activities in the early summer sunshine. There is such an immense amount of group love among these people, that although I always end these weekends feeling physically depleted, my insides feel nurtured for a long time to come.

Staying in a house in Beachwood Canyon, we needed somewhere to dine conveniently located but also offering very good food and a certain amount of flexibility. One obvious choice was used at a previous LA meet up to unsatisfactory affect, and one other easy choice only offered a prix fixe option for a party of ten. I decided on BoHo, not just despite the Mother's Day incident but partially because of it. The service issues on Mother's Day brunch 2009 got BoHo a pretty bad, but accurate, write up at Food, She Thought. Because I loved the atmosphere and my food tasted fantastic, I thought they deserved another shot at my business.

One member of the posse commented on my level of forgiveness despite Mother's Day. I don't consider this an act of forgiveness, I consider it an act of fairness. After reading and agreeing with the major tenets of Food Woolf's Food Blog Code of Ethics, I thought more than twice about my original review of BoHo and have been wanting to go back again. Here are the results.

We arrived 10 minutes late for our reservation, but all 10 of us were in tow. Funnily, they had the reservation under the wrong name with the right phone number and the hostess handled it with good humor and grace. We were shown to the family table in the middle of the main dining room and were well taken care of. EKD and I ordered a beautiful Alabarino at the extremely reasonable price of $36, served ever so slightly too close to room temperature and promptly put in an ice bucket.

In very early reports of the change from Charcoal to BoHo, Food GPS commented that the plan was to have no menu item priced higher than $19. Although some of the initial plans changed, Suaya ended up calling the spot BoHo not Circa 19 and Guerrero is cooking standard style menu instead of family style, the items on the menu illustrate the initial concept. Pulled pork, pizzas, pork chops and so on. The food tastes good.

Our table started with lots of appetizers. My choice was the charcuterie, because I loves. For $16 we were served generous portions of the following...

Whiskey chicken liver mousse. Delightfully flavored, it was way too smooth. I would prefer this a little thicker. But just a hair.

Rabbit rillette, fantastic. Perfect texture, light flavor.

Pork rillette. Probably my favorite item on the plate. Grainy, a little salty like it should be, meaty.

Two kinds of cured ham and a salami. All very nice, sliced paper thin and falling apart slightly as we shared them out. Toasty ciabatta (methinks), olives and cornichons accompanied. Everyone was delighted.

This was my favorite dish of the evening. This could be a destination dish. People are chattering about this on Chowhound. Fried oyster Po' Boy sliders. We ordered a couple plates of these and we could easily have done another couple more.

Succulent oyster lightly breaded and deep fried. Served between a gougeres, with arugula, a swipe of tartar sauce and a little applewood smoked bacon.

Absolutely divine.
French fried perfection. Medium sized, crispy on the outside, soft, warm and potatoey on the inside. Served with a very BBQ sauce tasting housemade catsup and a garlic aoili.You can't really tell from the photo, but I thought the size was far more generous than the photo shows.

This messy looking dish is the burrata and heirloom tomato dish. With red bell peppers, eggplant, and basil in vinaigrette on a crostini. I thought the texture all around was a bit mushy, I would prefer to see the tomato in larger chunks. The flavors were fresh, bright and acidic. It was good., despite the textural issues.

There was some debate at the other end of the table about the flavors in the three bowls of piping hot French onion soup that came out. CT thought it was too sweet, and a couple people thought it was perfection. SP said it had too much cheese. Is there such a thing? She is a self proclaimed cheese whore. Too much cheese? She may get demoted to cheese slut. HM loved all the cheese and I am pretty sure all the bowls went back to the kitchen empty.

The beets were universally adored. Dark red and golden beets that turned hot pink from being baked with the red beets with lots and lots of goat cheese and a lemon onion confit. Served hot, this was earthy, goatey goodness in a cast iron pan.

Next came the entrees. I caved on the oxtails even though VV right next to me ordered them also. Very generous portion, I couldn't even finish half so I shared mine with HM. Oxtail Catalana, with roasted peppers, peas, sherry vinegar that added a lot of sweetness to the juice, simple boiled potatoes and baby carrots.

Really worth eating, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys this level of luxurious fatness in their meat. Oxtails aren't for everyone, but I love them.

HM ordered the short ribs, and luckily for me she loves to share. Braised in Rogue chocolate stout and guajillo chiles, this had just a trace of sweetness, much less than the oxtails. I loved the pearl onions and carrots. In the back of the photo you can see the buttered spaetzle making an appearance. Yum.

GJB just had the Caesar salad with ciabatta croutons. We were a little disappointed in the lack of zing in the dressing. Not enough garlic, and not enough anchovy. Happy with the generous shaving of Reggiano-Parmesan, though.

EKD & JTD were sharing the garlic spinach. Simple and done well.

JTD and CT both had pizzas for entrees, and we all agreed they were undercooked. I am not the world's biggest pizza fan. But when I do like pizza I like it constructed like this, with a low topping to crust ratio. Crusted thinly with a nice puff of crust at the side. But the bottom needs to be brown and crispy. Above is JTD's Delux pizza with mushrooms, sausage and salami.

Above is CT's Margherita, with tomato, basil and mozzarella.

Above is the sadness that is the underbelly of the undercooked crust.

I am not a blogger who gives stars or ratings of restaurants. I prefer to share what I eat and what I/we thought and let readers come to their own conclusions There were a few small misses and some differences of opinion on a couple dishes. All in all though, I would call this redemption for BoHo. I would eat here again, not because they deserve a second chance but because I want to eat their food again. I will know better what to by-pass, definitely considering the charcuterie and most likely never ever passing on the Po' Boy Sliders.

PS: The chef was very amiable about SP's intolerance to gluten and prepared the pulled pork sandwich with no bread and/or gluten products. She was happy, and that pulled pork, while sady unphotogenic, is delicious.

Food. She Thought Gets a Facelift

Copyright 2009 Carrie Ford Hilliker

Some people have commented on/emailed about the new banner on the blog. The woman behind the work is Carrie Ford Hilliker, who runs a small online design studio that builds,
improves, markets and maintains websites.

Copyright 2009 Carrie Ford Hilliker

Carrie can be found via the internet at fordvisuals/. She is also a very talented photographer, in mine and other peoples' humble opinions. View her art work here.


Copyright 2009 Carrie Ford Hilliker

Thanks Carrie.

Copyright 2009 Carrie Ford Hilliker

An Aside: I am becoming my mother.

My personal addiction to zip-lock baggies must equal the carbon footprint of a small tropical third-world country. They have so many uses: snacks & lunches, participant materials for the trainings I run such as post-it notes, highlighters & Mr. Sketch markers, my students kept their rock collections organized in zip-lock bags while constructing their displays, and so on and so forth and on and on and on.


I am sure millions of people all over the country use giant zip-lock bags for marinating. Mom does this. She used to marinate meats and veg in a Pyrex dish and then turn ingredients every 2-12 hours (depending on the process) using a slotted spoon.

Now she, like me, puts everything in a gallon size zip-lock baggy and simply reaches into the fridge and flips the baggy with one hand while holding a full wine glass with the other.

Tonight we will be eating roasted cauliflower and cilantro/garlic marinated shrimp skewers. My poison of choice is one strong-ass margarita and the Laker-Nugget game. Happy Thursday, readers.



PS: Will 2009 be the year they create a zip-lock baggy large enough to brine the 18 pound Thanksgiving turkey?

Moving on at Barbrix

Barbrix
2442 Hyperion Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027
http://www.barbrix.com/Home.html


Nestled at the base of Franklin Hills is new kid on the block Barbrix. Barbrix is good. Maybe very good.

Housed in a lovely little ex-home, freshly stucco'd and nearly stretching at the seams with people waiting, begging and pleading for a table or seat at the bar, I am impressed with their capacity despite what felt like close quarters. Once the furor dies down it will be easier to feel the openness of the space, first represented by the beautiful four sided bar to the left when you walk in the front door. With north facing walls that open up onto a lovely freshly landscaped patio, you can look in at fellow patrons or out over the young shrubs at the hills of Silver Lake. In the rear there is a larger dining room with an L shaped open kitchen, everyone dressed in white and hard at work.

Five small OG picnic tables (two 4 tops ever so slightly rusted like they have been waiting for this opportunity in someone's garage), a string of lights and giant red umbrellas make a festive and friendly spot in which to dine. I cannot wait to eat out here late one summer evening when the mercury refuses to dip below 85. Summer is coming, readers, I can smell it.

The menu is yet another small plates offering. This food modality would feel relentless were there not so many delicious examples all over Los Angeles; Bazaar, AOC, Tasca, Bacaro, and so on and so forth. I am happy to try again.

Love their wine list. None, well maybe one, of the usual suspects, and this always thrills me in a wine menu. I tell the server my favorite whites are Spanish, albarinos and Crios torrontes and she bring me a very serviceable Grasevina from Croatia for $6. Some similarities here with a torrontes, slightly herbaceous and floral without too much mineral. Well done.

D went for a more well known Chateauneuf du Pape for $12 a glass. We have had such good luck with so many Chateauneuf du Pape since drinking multiple bottles of the Chateau Fortia at Church & State last fall. This one does not disappoint. I switched to it as well, after my appetizer. I might have even had two. Three glasses of wine? That is so unlike me. No, no it is not.


I didn't delve too deeply into the beer menu, but it too offers interesting choices. A Celtic wheat ale, Belgian triple ale and an organic English ale. Someone had fun buying booze for this place.

One of the owners, Adria Botta, came by our table. She has worked in service at both Campanile and AOC, while her husband Claudio's pedigree includes a stint at my beloved Four Seasons Aviara as well as both manager and wine director at Campanile. He helped Angelini open La Terza and worked as VP for La Brea Bakery. These are some people who know food and what Los Angeles wants.

We started with a simple ciabatta, one of my favorite breads. I loved the wooden bowl instead of the basket. And for two people? Two slices really is enough.

D requested the devilled eggs. Simplistic devilled eggs, and while I really prefer the devilled eggs at Jar, it's hard not to like any devilled eggs. These are topped with a salty little anchovy and lots of chives. $5 for two eggs. Totally reasonable.

Feeling a little madcap after all the drama yesterday I decided last night was the night to try sweetbreads for the first time. Garlic fried sweetbreads with a harissa aoili. Name something that couldn't be made delicious by lightly coating it in breadcrumbs and garlic and deep frying. Go ahead, make my day. The coating and frying were very light handed, and the gameyness and organ flavors shone through but not in a way that would be off putting to a more timid eater. Delicious. $7.

Next course, vegetables. Farro salad with English peas, onion, mint, pine nuts and feta. The sharp, soft and nutty flavors together are perfectly balanced. Delightful. Could have eaten two orders. $6.

My favorite dish of the night. Roasted cauliflower with green beans, chick peas and charmoula dressing. What I really tasted here was the smoky roasted taste of the cauliflower against the slightly tart charmoula. Good. Very. $5.

Soft candle light is so romantic as the sun goes down. I found myself wishing for a heat lamp, and instead bundled up tight in my little jacket and enjoyed the company of my husband. Anyone following this blog closely knows what challenges we have faced this year, and last night felt carefree somehow despite it all. All that and the flashlight app on my iPhone! Please see pics below!

Halibut. I love halibut. I know some people find it to be a generic tasting fish. But I adore the meatiness of it. And find it works well with many strongly flavored accompaniments. Last night they offered it with sun chokes, chard, alba mushrooms and gremolata. As a kid, my mom made gremolata to season a beef dish. It is still one of my favorite flavors. Garlic, parsley and lemon zest. Barbrix's gremolata is more rustic than Mom's. The pieces of lemon zest are pleasingly large, adding a surprise tartness to the more mellow flavors of the mushrooms and sunchoke. $10.

The prime skirt steak tagliata was my favorite dish of the night (HA!). Placed on a bed of slightly wilted arugula over a pool of olive oil and the smokiest, most sultry-sweet balsamic I have ever had.

Served medium rare (we were not asked how we would like it cooked, just bring it on, please), make sure to get a swoosh of the oil and balsamico and a few leaves or arugula in every single bite. Eat it. $12.


A lovely mid-week repast and locale to share stories, people watch and sit silently, waiting for summer.

Asian Fusion Food Truck Gives the Smack Down to Food, She Thought

Food blogging/writing in my life has not been an end unto itself, but rather a journey. An ever evolving continuum of refining my craft through my own experiences, reading about the experiences of others and in turn editing my own approach. Much has changed since my first post, in good ways. In ways that I enjoy hugely. To this end, I am taking a food writing course from Mediabistro, as recommended at the 826 food writing panel this last week by Pat Saperstein, as reported by Caroline on Crack. Thanks, Caroline!

My first assignment in the Food Writing Boot Camp is to write a news article/profile. The suggestion is something timely, preferably controversial. While I don't consider the new era of the food truck to be the newest culinary trend, per se, I do find it to be controversial in the sense that everyone is talking about it. Therefore, the topic of my first article is the bi-coastal gastro truck trend. This trend (beyond that of the taco truck, and indeed a slightly different target market/end to a large degree) has hit both Los Angeles and NYC by storm in the last year and a half or so. I love a food truck myself, and writing about something for which I have a passion has always been my raison d'etre. Or raison d'ecrire if you will, and I think you might.

One PR rep for a very well known LA based Asian fusion truck had a very negative response to my perhaps sophomoric approach in seek of a first person account of the gastro truck trend. For my first assignment, I emailed several PR/management people of gastro trucks in both NYC and LA. I have had the pleasure of dining at nearly all of them. I have never had the pleasure of being so thoroughly told off, maybe not in my entire life.

My initial query:

"I am a free-lance writer/blogger working on a piece about the
gastro-truck revolution. You, your business, and your wonderful food
are a definite feature in the article. It would be of huge help to
the authenticity and thoroughness of the article if you were to answer
just a few questions about your business personally.

Thank you in advance and please call me if you would prefer to answer
these questions in person.

1) How long have you been in business?

2) In a sound bite, what inspires you to continue to do this work and
further it as a quality offering in the field of the food service
industry?

3) What do you love most about serving people in a mobile fashion?

4) Please share just one brief excerpt unique to serving quality food
on the road.

Thank you in advance, and see you at the truck!
Liz Xxxxxxxx
323-xxx-xxxx
www.foodshethought.com"

While this email may out me as a complete boob/newb to any experienced food writer, I was hoping to cop a friendly and businesslike tone, respecting that PR/management are already inundated with calls asking many of the same questions. Seeking and receiving several extremely friendly, warm and insightful responses from both coasts, I was shocked when, mid-Laker game, I received the following response:

"In the future, though, I'd advise you to be a little more personable -- a friendly phone call, perhaps? Or an email of inquiry 1st. Because to just write a few sentences - despite how flattering they are - and then go shorthand asking questions treats your subject like a vending machine and not a person.

1) How long have you been in business?

you can find this answer online quite easily.

2) In a sound bite, what inspires you to continue to do this work and
further it as a quality offering in the field of the food service
industry?

a sound bite would require a mic and I don't see one.

3) What do you love most about serving people in a mobile fashion?

Serving the people. Seeing them happy. Watching them connect to not only the food, but the strangers in line.

4) Please share just one brief excerpt unique to serving quality food
on the road.

Nevermind. This is ridiculous.

I like Lizzies in general, but you're just going to have to try again. The way in which you framed your questions makes me feel like I'm at a job interview -- and I'm not. You want to get a story, you're going to have to try harder. Obviously you don't know much about us or what we're about. And that's totally okay! But if you want me to help you out, realize that I'm a person, not a machine. I'm someone's little sister who gets paid peanuts.

I'm not saying you need to inundate me with flattery, but why make me do all the work when question 1 could have easily been found online, question 2 makes me feel like a vending machine, question 3 can also be found online and could have been spun in a more interesting way and question 4 is asking for me to write your story for you.

Try again, my dear!

Vxyyyyyyyyyyyyyze"

I am more than willing to learn from any mistakes I make in my quest to become a better writer. Having always been an academic writer and never a journalist, there are mistakes to be made and learn from. However, I would posit that there is more than one way for a PR person to express their disdain. And this is the wrong way. Sadly, I have been a huge supporter, and am afraid I have simply lost my taste for their food.

Summer Fun #1: An Attorney Makes Goins' Short Ribs for Obama

In an effort to make Food. She Thought a more interactive space this summer for my readers and myself I have started a poll! And what better way to kick off the early summer fun than with my mom, sandwiched in between Mother's Day and her birthday.

image courtesy of McClellan Jet Services

Mom is a corporate bankruptcy attorney, working hard over the last year in Sacramento and parts of northern California. She is a mad cook, and the genesis of my love and obsession with food and its trappings can surely be found in my childhood.

Hobby:
Cooking; collecting antiques and (in a very small way) art;
gardening; wine and food.

Last meal you ate:

Buffalo wing salad for lunch.

Ice cream treat preference:

Jamocha almond fudge or peach Melba.

image courtesy of flickr

Obama is coming to dinner! What would you serve for a 5 course meal?

Stuffed mushrooms; mixed baby greens with pears and pomegranate
seeds; short ribs with pureed potatoes [recipe from Sunday Suppers at Lucques]; and panna cotta with Melba sauce.

image courtesy of Hakka House Blog

Desert island 3:
Lemon grass grilled shrimp; mango/raspberry/honeydew melon
fruit salad with lime vinaigrette; and Vietnamese salad rolls. (I'm
picturing the island as warm.)

image courtesy of Popular Asians

Cooking mishap?
Overcooking shrimp on the barbie.

Ethic/culinary heritage? Do you cook anything traditional to this heritage?
Scottish; are you kidding? Bangers and haggis? Not a chance!

image courtesy of Sales in Scotland

How did you learn to cook?

Self taught - I saw articles about all those wonderful dishes, and
thought that the only way I'd get to try them was to cook them myself.

One thing you will never eat.

Haggis; insects.

image courtesy of Thoughts on Parking

Lake Havasu City, AZ via Tokyo

Nijiya Market
124 Japanese Village Plaza Mall
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 680-3280

www.nijiya.com

We started out our journey to Lake Havasu City, Arizona by running an errand in Little Tokyo. Our road trips are always characterized by junk food, candy, In n' Out or Chik Fil A, and being this close to all things Japanese inspired me to look elsewhere for food prior to hitting the road. I strolled through the village and straight into the deli at Nijiya Market in the Japanese Village Plaza Mall. Road trip front seat picnic, Japanese style!


As I walked through the market with a basket, I grabbed anything that looked appealing. Prices are low and I was staring down the barrel of a 5 hour drive through the desert. Naturally, I picked up some Diet Coke.

Wasabi roasted peas are de rigeur when shopping Japan style.

And I never met an onigiri I didn't like. I picked a couple of these up in salmon and a couple made with tuna.

Unwrapping the nori and rewrapping while riding up a freeway on-ramp is a little like folding origami in an earthquake. Both the tuna and salmon gave just a slight nod to some cooked protein inside, but the rice was decent quality and very tasty.

I was thrilled with my main course for lunch. Beef donburi. The entire dish was less than 4 bones. The meat was light and fluffy, mixed with sauteed yellow onions and fresh green onions over more lovely rice slightly saturated with sweet and salty sauce from the beef. The flavors in this were very pleasing.

Just to entertain myself, I grabbed a dish of fried calamari with lemon wedges. This was very lightly fried, hardly crispy and the squid itself was not too chewy. Being one who loves the tentacles, I was not put off by the lack of rings. With a juicy squeeze of lemon this was perfect picnic food. A happy replacement for fried chicken. DH wanted cocktail sauce. Maybe I should keep a bottle in my handbag.

D was thrilled with the macaroni salad. Pasta was cooked al dente and the flavors were very light despite the thick looking creamy texture. I am not a huge fan of macaroni salads in general, but what summer picnic is complete without it (or potato salad, natch).

D's main course was a tempura don. Shrimps, eggplant, green peas, asparagus and one slice of squash tempura'd and served with teriyaki sauce over a generous portion of rice. He nommed.

He has a sweet tooth as big as the sun, so I picked up Botan Rice Candy for dessert. Dessert in the desert, no less.

Pit stop in Ludlow afforded me a Starbucks Double Shot Light Espresso and Cream. I could taste the aspartame, sadly. But it was cold and sweet.

Diet Coke Zero tastes so much like a real Coke that D has to be in the mood for something sugary for him to enjoy.

My driver has also taken to knocking back 5-Hour Energy drinks during long road trips. These are mostly vitamin B, and he claims they do give him a boost.


Ludlow has a Dairy Queen, and it was about 110 outside. After getting gas he deserved an ice cream. Tell me that doesn't look tempting. I dare you.

Lunch at Hama Sushi

Hama Sushi
(213) 680-3454
347 E 2nd St
Los Angeles, CA

Tuesday afternoon D and I needed to meet downtown to do some banking and afterward walked over to Little Tokyo for lunch. Although he loves East, it is not my ultimate favorite so I persuaded him to eat elsewhere.

Hama Sushi is tiny, 18 seats at the sushi bar and two small tables in an adjoining room, if I recall correctly. There is always a wait line in the evening. This afternoon I was excited to walk right in and take a seat at the half full bar.

I started my meal with a wonderful cold sake. In a previous post for Wakasan, I mention a cold sake that tastes of honeydew melon. A commenter asked what sake it was, and I had unfortunately not taken note. I am a bad blogger. Hakutsuru Junmai Ginjo cold sake is similar to the one we drank at Wakasan. It tastes delightfully light, with a trace of melony sweetness. Not sweet in a cloying way, sweet in a fruity back of your mouth kind of way. This could replace Sayuri unfiltered as my favorite cold sake.

To start, I ordered the monkfish liver sushi. The chef suggested I try instead the monkfish liver appetizer.


It was delicious. Topped with green onion, a radish/ginger mixture and swimming in a shallow bath of ponzu, this is a destination appetizer. The liver was perfectly textured and fresh, and the strong flavors (strong compared to the other fish, not compared to beef or calves liver) balanced nicely against the onion and ponzu.


D and I shared the seared albacore sashimi appetizer. The preparation may look different from the monkfish prep, but doesn't taste remarkably different.


It was tasty. However, I think it was a little overcooked. I prefer my albacore truly raw in the middle and some pieces were nearly cooked through.

We also shared two orders of oysters on the half shell. The preparation here may seem to be overly repetitive: ginger, radish, green onion and ponzu. I just don't think you can lose with these flavors on any kind of light protein.

Oysters were heartily sized and fresh tasting, not overly briny.

We gobbled them all down quickly.

D tends to prefer the path most frequently traveled when it comes to sushi. And by frequently traveled, I do not mean California rolls, although a Cal roll does come across the bar at us every now and again. This afternoon he started with the tuna sushi. It was very fresh, soft, cut perfectly so there was no noticeable sinewy bits. More than enough wasabi, he tearfully noted.

He also loves a spicy tuna roll. Several people on Yelp mention Hama's spicy tuna roll. Personally, while I enjoy a spicy tuna roll, I don't find much to comment about one unless there is something wrong with it. They just do not excite me. This one was good. No mayo or miso mixture in the mix that I could detect. (Yes, I have seen and tasted spicy tuna made with mayo and/or miso, and so have you.)

D asked what they had that might be unusual, and I piped in asking on his behalf for crab. They had two kinds of real crab, and D opted for kani (snow crab) sushi. I didn't dare take a bite, it is one of his favorite things. And this was too beautiful not to let him enjoy the whole thing solo.

Still hungry, the bottomless pit ordered a shrimp tempura roll.

I loved the generous crunch of tobiko in this, and the thin way the chef sliced the large roll. I can never eat a piece of sushi or maki in one bite anyway, and unless they are on the small side the maki tends to fall apart in my hands.

Tempted by the chef's friendly and indulgent nature, I asked if there was anything else he thought I should try. He coaxed me in the direction of red snapper. I surely have had snapper sushi before, but it doesn't stand out in my mind. This was amazing. Light flavored and slightly meaty in texture, the flavor did not overwhelm the rice and the chef went lightly on the wasabi. I will be ordering this again.


Overall, I had a great experience at Hama Sushi. I enjoyed having the attention of the sushi chef late during lunch hours, as the bar was nearly empty when we finally left. I really want to visit again for dinner but my dining companion hates to wait for food. This unfortunate conundrum will surely lead me there sooner for lunch again then dinner.

BooHoo on Mother's Day at BoHo

BoHo
6372 W Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 465-8500
http://www.bohorestaurant.com/


This last Mother's Day Mom was in town so we gathered up the herd and headed for the new (and only) gastropub in Hollywood, Adolfo Suaya of the Dolce Group's BoHo in the Arclight plaza. BoHo is headed by chef Andre Guerrero, of Max and the Oinkster.

The decor has been described by Thrillist Los Angeles as a hodgepodge mentality, and by UrbanDaddy as cheeky thrift-store themed. Accurately. I like the homeyness of the decor, and for my personal tastes it would have been impossible to stray too far away from the prior uber chic cougar lounge effort.

I feel like I recognize inklings of what had been before in the raw looking hard wood tables and the matte black industrial pipes, ducts, and light fixtures lingering overhead.

This is all countered happily and warmly by mismatched lamps, sideboards, taxidermy, cushy couches and mismatched cutlery.

I toyed with the idea of writing parallel reviews. I thought one for the person who prefers to view their rose colored glass half full, and one review for the reader who enjoys minging about their half empty highball. Sadly, I am lazy as hell. You only get the one review.

The unfortunate fact is the powers that be chose Mother's Day for BoHo's maiden brunch launch, to very bad effect.

For the person whose glass is perennially half full, let me fill it with a cocktail. The cocktails on Mother's Day brunch were good. Offered on the menu were bottomless cocktails of several sorts. Bottomless cocktails? I just love the word bottomless. Mom filled her bottomless glass with a raspberry sunrise. Sparkling wine, raspberry liquor, mint leaves...this was delightful and refreshing if a little on the sweet side for me. I have a feeling the bartender snuck in some simple syrup to punch up the fruity sweetness. Mom sucked it back.

I treated myself (more on that later) to a bottomless mimosa. The stemware here is nice. I am a sucker for presentation, and glassware is important to me. I would rather go without wine or champagne than drink it out of an inferior vessel.



Yeah, that's a lie.

The menu looked promising. A spin on eggs Benedict, salmon with egg salad, tofu scramble, huevos rancheros, house cured corned beef hash. So many choices, and with only Mom to my one side I knew I wasn't going to be sneaking food from anyone's plate.

Bottomless cocktails, pizzas and dessert. I was slightly intrigued by the kalbi pizza, clearly Kogi inspired. Coconut rice pudding also sounds good as does Italian donuts with lemon curd. I like the lighter sounding flavors in the dessert offerings, something a sweetophobic like me can get excited about.


All the meals started out promisingly with a little side dish. Mom and everyone else tried the yogurt parfait with fresh berries and granola. Nothing wrong here. 'Twas tasty.

I alone nibbled at a beautiful faro salad with tomato, cucumber, kalamata olives, mint, parsley, garlic, olive oil & lemon. Loved. It was a lovely little salad in a small dish to whet my appetite but not dull it.

The main problem started at about the time our side dishes were cleared. There was a long and uncomfortable wait for the entrees. And by long, I mean 30+ minutes. We had a wonderful server who unfortunately apologized to us prior to taking our order, informing us that this was their first brunch ever and they were definitely figuring out where the kinks were prior to ironing them. I am not sure if this made us sympathetic or watchful for errors. She was incredibly delightful and lovely, I would enjoy her service anytime anywhere. I don't blame the problems in the kitchen on the server, and I doubt the manager did either after D spoke kindly to him about our hunger pains.

At any rate, both Mom and I ordered the pulled pork over a cheddar biscuit with housemade gravy and poached eggs. The flavor was wonderful. The pork was meaty and fell apart at the touch of a fork without being overly fatty. The gravy was minimally applied, too minimally someone complained, but I thought the proportions were perfect. The cheddar flavor in the biscuits really popped out through the softer rounder flavors of the gravy, egg & pork. From person to person the eggs were poached really inconsistently in terms of doneness, but mine was OK.

Out of 12 people, 9 were served at more or less the same time. After another 5 minutes, 2 more entrees arrived. We spoke to the manager again about my FIL's meal, and while he apologized profusely, the meal did not arrive. In another 15 minutes or so (yes, another FIFTEEN minutes) D had words again with the manager about FIL's meal. Manager apologized and asked what he could do for us. "Get my father his food, now.", was the obvious answer. No such luck.

It.just.never.came.


For the glass is half full people, Mom ate every single bite of her food. Her side dish, her bottomless cocktail and her entree. She is no slouch in the kitchen and if she didn't like it she wouldn't have eaten it. But as evidenced above, she almost licked the plate.

For you glass is half empty folk, our entire meal was comped. For a party of 12. We do not go looking for handouts. We didn't want a free meal, even after all the bad service. Our family simply wanted an enjoyable Mother's Day brunch together amidst the chaos of the last year. (Loteria, juuuuuusssst sayin'.)

Interestingly and unplanned, our very good friends T, C and C came in for brunch before Star Trek at the Arclight. They were no more pleased with their experience than we were. Maybe even less so. The kitchen was slow, their order was wrong three times and they were unhappy with the quality of the food when they finally did get it.

C's eggs were overpoached, and undergravied.

This was how T's lox and egg salad was served. Just like this. Nothing on the side, no accoutrement, and not enough lox. Puzzling. After sending their food back to the kitchen twice, I found out later their meals were comped as well.

From my position, I see two ways they could have proactively addressed the Mother's Day Fiasco of 2009. If you know you want to be open for the important Mother's Day brunch, do a couple dry runs starting at least two weeks earlier to accustom everyone to the menu for both tasting and cooking. Or, alternatively, over staff the living daylights out of the restaurant like it's opening night at The Bazaar. Just make everyone happy so instead of covering checks you are garnering repeat clients. You people aren't new to this business. And this is your business. Handle it.

On the upside, I like the place, my server and the way my food tasted. The bar is big, the menu is reasonable, there are big TVs in the bar and it is the NBA playoffs. I have a feeling I will be giving them a second chance. Sometime soon.

Thanks to witty Tracy of dClutterfly & One Kid, One World for the title inspiration.

30 Pho'king Spring Rolls at Pho 87 in Chinatown

Pho 87
1019 N Broadway
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 227-0758


Just a short bike trip or a seemingly even more brief car ride away from my house in Los Angeles is Chinatown, and this stray little Vietnamese restaurant, Pho 87.

Pho 87 is not fancy, and looks like it has been there for a gazillion years. The sign is broken, and

the koi pond inside the restaurant can almost barely even be called decorative. But it is spotlessly clean. The main dining area is filled with people eating at the plastic covered tables, even as early as 5:30, all turned toward a postage stamp sized archaic TV tuned to soccer. There are condiments on every table. The one in the back is clearly not Sriracha, they must fill the empties with hoisin or fish sauce for use on one's soup.

April 29th. It has been awhile since I have had the mental energy for blogging. Even this feels like a half hearted attempt, sandwiched between finding something to wear for work that is clean and somewhat professional and medicating my Great Dane within an inch of her life.

April 29th The Furious Seasons have band practice chez moi, and we decide to feed them with spring rolls and pho. D calls and asks for 10 orders of spring rolls. They repeat several times. I remember being in a bit of a haze, staring off into the distance in my sweaty tennis clothes, considering a shower and a cocktail. "10 order? You want 10 orders?" There will be 5 of us in the house and ten orders will be 2 each, plus pho to share. Sounds right. Wrong! Three spring rolls in each order! THIRTY spring rolls.

They came out smiling with a giant caterers tray. Each spring roll at Pho 87 is about as big as a Taco Bell burrito. We laughed. The joke was on D. Someone had to make a trip to the ATM. And Vietnamese spring rolls are a dish best served fresh. R took all but 4 of the leftovers with him to the club after band practice and shared them with his mates. He either has a lot of mates, or hopefully they were hungry.

They are beautiful. Each one is a meal, a light one, for me anyway.

Filled with the typical Vietnamese fresh ingredients of lettuce, rice vermicelli, cilantro, pork and shrimp wrapped in slightly moist rice paper. All these bright savory ingredients are then dipped into nu'roc cham. Nu'roc cham is Vietnamese dipping sauce made from fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and water, and the sauce at Pho 87 also has a fair amount of peanuts. Very sweet, very delicious. I wouldn't mind a little more heat, must remember to buy a bottle of Sriricha for my house.

We also asked for a couple orders of pho, for good measure. I wanted to try the rare beef. To go, it comes in a small plastic bag in the top of a box filled with rice vermicelli, onions, and herbs.

I found the beef to be very lean, and void of sinewy bits. High quality, IMO. Very easy to eat from the bowl with just a spoon, no knife needed.

One serving is way too much food for me, this is more than enough for two people if you include one spring roll each as well.

Into my bowl I put first the vermicelli, then slices of beef, fish sauce, onions, mint and jalapeno.

Next, I pour the flavorful very hot broth over the dryish ingredients, and it ever so slightly cooks the raw beef. Genius.

This was wonderful. Even on a warm spring day, the heat and the flavors were delightful. I admit to being a pho newb. I adore Vietnamese food, bahn mi especially. My friends in SF all rave about pho on cold, wet and rainy days. Now I know it has an application here in sunny Southern California, even in warm weather, because there is just nothing heavy about this dish.

And I also know it can be minutes away, 3 if by car 10 if by bike.