More Comfort Food - Curry House

Sawtelle is a popular destination and was my hang out place when I was at UCLA. I used to go eat at Curry House a lot (still do, somewhat) so I thought I should finally make a post about it. Good, cheap (relatively) comfort food that I crave when I'm feeling a bit under the weather.

They have (unfortunately) getting more and more crowded and during a weekday dinner there can be a 15-20 minute wait :( And they used to be my "fast" food go-to place too.

Besides curry, Curry House also serves spaghetti, gratin, and 'hamburger' (Japanese style - grilled ground meat) on a sizzling hot plate. My favorite item there though, is their curry pan! When fresh, the crispiness of the bread is amazing!

Some of the dishes come with soup and you can choose either miso soup or their corn potage. I always get the corn soup - I love it! I love corn, and their soup is semi-sweet and creamy. It's not an earth-shattering soup, very simple. I mainly love it because it's the kind of soup we used to sometimes have at home.

When I come here, I like to get pork katsu in some form or fashion (although sometimes I have to get the crab omelette curry too!). This time I ordered the pork katsu curry in the stone pot.
The food came in a sizzling hot stone pot and the server will ask if he should mix it up for you with the curry sauce.

Curry House also have an assortment of desserts, starting from the ever present parfaits to somethings a little different like tofu cheesecake, or, what we got that night, sweet potato cake:
Their desserts are not bad, a bit heavy on the whipped cream usually, but it's a better version that the kinds of stuff you normally expect from this type of place.

For everyday dining, Curry House is such a great place to have nearby! I'm sad now that at Caltech there's nothing remotely close to it :(


Curry House
2130 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone: (310) 479-8477

Greek Fest. Opa!

As you can see from the "upcoming food events" calendar, this month is crazy! This past weekend was both the Long Beach lobster fest and also the LA Greek Festival at the St Sophia Cathedral.
On Saturday I decided to check out the Greek Fest with a friend of mine. Silly me didn't check the time, so I went there at noon and .... they don't open til 1 pm. D'oh!!! What kind of festival opens so late >_< Oh well. We swung by Wien Bakery real quick then came back.

I ran into LA&OC Foodie while waiting in line. Small foodie world :)

Upon entering we were greeted by this fine man in toga who was handing out FREE grapes. Cool guy in toga giving out free food - what more can you ask for?

Inside the festival, there's a looong line to the food court. We waited there for a bit then decided that we really would rather have some gyros instead! So we left the line and went around the corner, where they are slicing up some gyros.
Gyros ($8) in my hand, we went to find a seat. They had a nice seating area near the dance stage - but most of them were taken already. We finally managed to find one way in the back though.
The gyros were great! Delicious and the meat was pretty good quality. I also like the fresh pita that they were wrapped in.

Of course you can't forget to grab a bunch of pastries either to eat there or on the way out! Their selection was not bad. I got some baklava (of course!)
The baklava was delish! Crunchy flaky buttered pastries .. yumm.

I also got some kataifi (I get the ones with nuts in them, do you guys notice?)
The pastries are pretty good and I should've bought more baklava!! Sigh, darn you stingy gourmet pig >_<

Overall I thought the festival was pretty fun and the food was great. It was kind of small though and there was not much to see otherwise. There was a cooking demo at certain times, and also a salsa performance - which I still don't understand the connection to a Greek festival ...

Chabuya: Best of Sawtelle Ramen, Not Best of LA

Ahhh, Ramen. There's hardly anything else that would hit the spot like a nice bowl of ramen would. But what if you can't make it all the way to Daikokuya? Much less Asa or Santouka? What if the best you can do that night is Sawtelle? Well, Chabuya was the obvious option in my mind.

I'm a sucker for miso, so of course I ordered the miso ramen with pork. I also added an egg (+$1).
Pretty good, pretty good. I like the addition of sesame seeds and fried shallots. The soup is not nearly Daikokuya-level. It's not bad and is actually pretty flavorful and rich, but somehow ... rather boring. I agree with rameniac's contention that Chabuya's soup is a "one note samba". Still, I could live with ... at least temporarily. It is actually quite good compared to the other ramen-yas on Sawtelle.

They also have the "Zembu" option which, like the name says, contains ALL the toppings. Although actually it doesn't have all the possible toppings they offer. This bowl below also had tofu that cost $1 extra.
So the $1 for additonal toppings can be pretty expensive. I mean, extra tofu for $1 is fine, $1 egg is okay, but $1 for green onions ... ? You serious?

Anyway Chabuya has its faults, but overall it's still a good bowl of ramen, and at least there' no 30 minute wait out the door. When I can't drive all the way to Daikokuya, Chabuya is still my go-to place.

Chabuya
2002 Sawtelle Blvd

Los Angeles, CA, 90025

(310) 473-9834

Bug Bites!

Somehow the members of my lab got to talking about bugs and eating them a few months ago. Finally we managed to get people to go down to Typhoon in the Santa Monica airport tonight.
Typhoon is a Pan-Asian restaurant just below The Hump (I think owned by the same people also). Definitely has a nice view with the small planes there and all.

There were 10 of us and we ordered family style - bugs and nonbugs.

The first one that came definitely had a shock factor and was probably the grossest of them all. This was the chicken-stuffed waterbugs:First of all, we were shocked (and disappointed) that there were only two bugs on a $10 plate ... and since there were 10 of us it was a bit hard to share ...
So they were salty and crunchy ... with an aftertaste. The chicken? Could barely taste it with all the bug's exoskeleton pieces swirling around in your mouth ... They remind me of fried shrimp skin- salty and crunchy and otherwise doesn't taste like much.

We actually didn't order this but I guess they thought we did anyway ... this was the scorpions on shrimp toast:
Again, there were only two of them - plus the scorpions were tiny. I didn't get to have this one so can't tell you how they were.

Then we had the seaworms, also deep fried and served on lettuce wrap:
I was actually most scared of this one, but it turned out to taste and look pretty harmless. The seaworms to me tasted (and looked) like anchovies. My first bite was incredibly spicy and my mouth was burning. It didn't happen again though, I think it was just a piece of green chili in there.
Next we had the crickets, which rumdood said it was good (if he remembered correctly from years ago).
The crickets were somewhat small, but these were probably our favorite out of the bugs.
The potato strings do mask the flavors though, so you have to try the crickets by themselves.

The last one was the Chambi ants, also served with potato strings. Looks like an ant hill ...
The ants were harder to pick out to see how they taste, since they're so small. Eating them with potato strings mask the possible ant flavors. I think they do give subtle but distinct taste to them, but with the deep fried salty potato strings it's hard to be sure.

All in all, it kind of felt like the bugs were just a gimmick. They don't really taste like much - but then again that is not necessarily the fault of the restaurant. The prices definitely insane though, $10 for two pieces of cockroach-looking waterbugs.

Obviously the bugs - although drained our wallets - didn't really fill us up, so we ordered some "normal' stuff. Among others we got the Mongolian lamb:
This was actually really good. They served it with a bunch of this flaky bread that was delicious. The lamb retains its "lamb taste" which we liked, and the spices were pretty good.

Typhoon
3221 Donald Douglas Loop S.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 390-6565

Scoops: The Ultimate End of Summer Loot

Summer's almost over, and it's still hot. The only good thing about this heat is how much better it makes certain things, like icees, smoothies, and of course - ice cream! So it was time for me to check out Scoops on Heliotrope. (this is a backpost from a couple weeks ago - when it's even hotter!)

It seems like such a weird location. A small, cute place decorated with christmas lights next to dark industrial buildings on a small street. But it's known to be the best ice cream in LA, so the crowds still gather, sitting on small tables outside.Scoops offers a variety of flavors - from really unique flavors to dairy-free and vegan selections.
We ordered the large one - 6 flavors!! It was less than $6 and it ended up being 2 large full styrofoam containers! They are very generous and much cheaper than, say, gelato places!
So the flavors we got were:
Strawberry Lingonberry, Chocolate coconut, lemon mint sorbet, raisin and white wine, black sesame

(I didn't take a picture since we got it to go and everything was in a styro container with the lid on)

AMAZING! I felt like I have not had ice cream this good in a long time! The strawberry lingonberry was my favorite. Their ice cream is very smooth and creamy, their sorbey really refreshing. Their chocolate ice cream was wonderful - very chocolatey.

Of course, we couldn't finish it all so we ended up taking one container home. It didn't refreeze too well :/ (melted on the way home) but it was still very good. It's a bit far from my place, but nonetheless, mark my words, I will be back, even when it's no longer hot outside!


Scoops
712 N Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 906-2649

Cheap Eats Under $5: Sam Woo's Wonton Noodle

More on good, cheap eats around LA! Unfortunately most of the ones under $5 will be around the San Gabriel area, but this one has branches all over, so you can find it in, say, Van Nuys too!

Sam Woo BBQ is pretty popular and has branches in downtown, Van Nuys, and of course, the San Gabriel area. They are usually popular for their roast duck and chashu (BBQ pork), but more on those another time! Right now I want to focus on their cheap wonton noodle soup: $3.95!This particular bowl is from the Alhambra location. It's a pretty big bowl and will definitely fill you up. They give you about 4 wontons, stuffed with pork and even shrimp. I really love the thin noodles - the thinness creates this wonderful texture in my mouth :)
The broth is pretty fishy compared to higher quality places, but it's flavorful and for the price, I think it's a great bowl! It hits the spot and doesn't hit your wallet that hard.

Sam Woo BBQ
514 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803
(626) 281-0038

Upcoming Food Events!

9/5 - 9/7/08 LA Greek Festival
Saint Sophia Cathedral
9/5-9/7/08 The Original Long Beach Lobster Festival
Rainbow Lagoon, Long Beach, CA
9/10/08 The Pie Hole (Pushing Daisies Tour) - they're giving out FREE PIE!
3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica. 9 AM- 3 PM
9/11-9/14/08 Hokkaido Fair
Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance and Costa Mesa
9/13-9/14/08 LA BBQ Festival
Santa Monica Pier North Parking Lot
9/14/08 7th Annual Taste of Santa Monica
Santa Monica Pier
9/19-9/21/08 The Port of LA Lobster Festival
Ports O'Call Village, San Pedro, CA
9/22/08 5x5 Chefs Collaborative Dinner (the LAST ONE!!)
La Terza

Oh, and then there's the much dreamed of - but can't afford - American Wine & Food Festival (9/26-9/28/08). The main event I've been drooling about is the Chef's Grand Tasting Dinner at Spago featuring Joel Robuchon, Eric Ripert (from Le Bernardin), among others. $750 per person ... anyone wanna pay for me ? :P Help a poor starving student ... ?

Amazing 5x5 at the Water Grill

After reading tangbro1's review of the 5x5 Collaborative dinner at Melisse, I decided I had to try at least one of the upcoming ones, so I made a reservation for the Water Grill dinner on August 31. The guest chef for this dinner was Giuseppe Tentori of Boka (Chicago). Portion of the proceeds goes to the SoCal chapter of the Special Olympics.

We started with some amuse bouche by David Lefevre (of Water Grill). No, these aren't all mine. There were three of us, so one of each :)From the right was daikon radish, then crab cakes, and ... foie gras!

My favorite part of this amuse bouche, was of course, the foie gras!
The foie gras was amazingly smooth and rich! It was soooo good! It was served with an apple gelee, and the sweetness complements the foie gras perfectly! It was a bite of heaven!
A nice dish. All the accompaniments cut the richness of the uni and complement itvery well. You really have to eat them all together to get that unique combination of flavors!

Big Eye Tuna with Petite Mache, jicama, watermelon, pineapple. Served with quail egg and black quinoa, shellfish emulsion
Giuseppe Tentori, Boka
This was a nice and refreshing dish, with the watermelon etc on top of the fish. The tuna slices were nice and thick and the fish was fresh.

It seemed to me that the big eye tuna dish would've worked better as an amuse bouche and then followed by the richer foie gras and uni dishes ... not that I would've traded the fact that Chef Lefevre wanted to give us foie gras and uni for anything in the world O:)

Pan Roasted Sea Scallops with American Caviar and Yukon Gold Potato
Michael Cimarusti, Providence
The sauce was myer lemon-based but it was not tart as I was expecting. The diced potatoes gave it a bit of crunchiness - it reminds me of eating kettle chips :)
Scallop was nice, big and juicy. I think the saltiness of the caviar really took the dish to the next level.

Santa Barbara Spot Prawn Risotto with Asparagus
Gino Angelini, Osteria Angelini
I love Angelini's style - just simple yet excellent. The prawn was amazingly fresh and tender. The risotto was al dente and flavorful without overpowering the prawn. When I get hungry one night, out of all of tonight's food, this would probably be the one that I crave for.

Roasted John Dory, Mushroom Tart, Chorizo-Torpedo Onion Marmalade, Red Wine Mushroom Jus
Josiah Citrin, Melisse
This dish was good and nicely presented. The John Dory was tender and flaky. Overall it would've been very good, but then ... it was a little on the cold side, like it's been sitting out for a while :( Such a bummer ... Also, the toast was no longer crispy/flaky - it had gotten soggy due to sitting under the mushrooms.

Hawaiian Mero with Kobe Oxtail and Red Wine Sauce
Walter Manzke
Mero is a type of bass. It was nice and tender but it was cooked in duck fat on top of being a bass, so it's a very rich piece of fish.

Also, from the left we have the kobe oxtail on top of potato, followed by bone marrow on top of a slice of carrot, then spinach on top of celery root (and then the mero itself).
As you can see, this was a very rich dish. I started eating it, and while it was very tasty I felt that it needed something to cut the richness, so I decided to order the wine that was supposed to be paired with this:
Demetria, Syrah, Santa Ynez Valley, California 2005
The wine had been previously decanted and the result is an outstanding, smooth red wine! In the end the glass came out to $15, but it truly did go very well with the dish and cut the richness for me.

Yogurt Parfait with White Nectarine Sorbet and Clementine Sauce
John Park, Water Grill
This was also served with pistachio cake and pitted bing cherries. The white nectarine sorbet was superb. The yogurt parfait was nice and tangy - it has the consistency of flan, except not as smooth (since it's yogurt). Goes well with the pistachio crumbs and the clementine sauce.

Next came a big platter of the petit fours, including churros, pistachio and chocolate macaroons, lychee and pear jelly, peanut butter and jelly in white chocolate, and chocolate ganache.
The churros were extra sweet since the ratio of sugar coating/dough is particularly large in this case.
My favorites were the chocolate macaroons and the chocolate ganache.

Although we were stuffed, there's still one more little thing to devour. A small malt ice cream dipped in chocolate with rice crackers.

Overall it was an amazing meal! Having these chefs cooking for you themselves instead of the chef de cuisines really made a big difference, I think!
All the dishes were very well prepared and well thought of. If you guys can make it to the next one at La Terza, I would recommend it :)

Also, I managed to take photos with the chefs after the meal, fun fun :P

Ode to the Griddle Gods

Late Friday night I was perusing Chowhound ... and Diana posted the menu to the Griddle Cafe, that boasts an amazing array of pancakes and french toasts, including (basically) an oreo pancake, apple streusel pancake, cheesecake pancake/french toast, pumpkin pancake, etc. My fate was sealed. The Griddle Cafe for brunch tomorrow! Luckily an old co-worker of mine that I hadn't seen in 3 years was in town and said she'd go with me!

We got there around noon and the place was crowded. We waited for about 20-30 minutes before finally getting seated.

I originally planned on getting their nutella-stuffed french toast, but then when we read the menu again we were really drawn to the "Devil's Daydream" french toast .... chocolate bread with bittersweet chocolate chips, topped with whipped cream. Mmmm ... After seeing the surreally large flapjacks on other people's tables we decided to just split one.

The food took a while to come - it looks like they have a pretty small kitchen and only a few kitchen stuff to manage all the customers they have in the packed restaurant.
So our french toast finally came:Now don't be fooled, these slices are huuge! It was definitely a very rich breakfast (or lunch?), full of chocolate! The bread itself actually was not too dense, which is good - otherwise I won't be able to handle it! It also has the right moistness and so does not require maple syrup or anything on top of it.

We could even barely finish our one slice each of this, but we both thought it was yummy!
So I had a rich dessert for lunch .... :P but it was the weekend!

Anyway, I definitely have to bring a group here next time! That way we can order more varieties and split them all!

The Griddle Cafe
7916 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 874-0377
http://www.thegriddlecafe.com/

Eme's Little Bunting

I have heard rave reviews about Ortolan, so I finally decided to give it a try. Ortolan's chef, Christopher Eme, probably has two claims to fame: 1)He was a chef at L'Orangerie and 2)he is married to actress Jeri Ryan.

We were there on a weekday for an 8 o'clock reservation and the restaurant is almost empty - only two other tables in the front dining room, which had these really nice white booths. After my dinner that night I was undecided about their service, and I'll tell you why...

We were seated immediately and were asked if we would like any wine or champagne. We don't really drink so we declined and just asked to tap water. It seems like after this we were ignored ... For about 15 minutes in such a practically empty place, we were not given any menu. After 15 minutes someone came by and asked if we were ready for order. "I'd like to see the menu" was, naturally, my only response. (I wanted to add "Uhm, helloooo???!" to that).

Anyway, after that, the menu came immediately. We ordered crispy langoustine and seared foie gras for appetizers. Maybe because these were big ticket items, maybe because the guy could see that I was *unhappy*, or maybe because I were taking photos of the food and they figured out I'm a blogger - whatever it was, the service from then on was impeccable.

The first amuse bouche were two types of soups (warm) served in test tubes with straws.

The orange one was a carrot soup - good (I don't like carrot soups ...).
The red one was a tomato soup, and I don't remember what the green foam was. This was delicious!

The second amuse bouche was different than most other places - a pretty big bowl of eggplant caviar, to share for the whole table.
I loved it. It was unique and delicious. The flavors worked very well together and it has a nice, rich, creamy texture. I also loved the presentation in the stacked bowls.

The crispy langoustine appetizer was supposed to be one of their signature dishes:
It was okay ... From a signature dish I was expecting flavors dancing around in my mouth, but that didn't really happen. It was good langoustine and all, but overall didn't really stand out in my mind. Three pieces of langoustine - $24 ... hmm, I didn't think it was worth it.

So moving on to my seared foie gras:
Now this is more like it!!! This wasn't on the menu but was suggested to me by the server when I told him I like foie gras but not terrine. The seared foie gras was served with cherries - a sweet combo! One of the better foie gras dishes I've had and my favorite dish of the night.

So the chef (Eme) comes out to each table to explain all the main entrees to everyone. I thought it was nice to maintain some personal interaction like that.

One of the entrees we got was the Cod with Paella:
I thought the paella was a bit bland for a paella and the sausages being on the side was rather hard to cut and thus to incorporate into each bite. The cod, on the other hand, was perfect. In other words, it was cooked perfectly and had just the right tenderness and flakiness. And by "right" I meant "ooh, I never knew this is how cod could really be!"
So, 100/100 points for the cod, but the dish in its entirety needs to be tied together better.

For my entree I got the Pork "Maine-et-Loire" three-way.
Interesting presentation. The best part of the dish is the pork confit hidden under the spaghetti carbonara. The bulk of the dish was the two pieces you see to the left. They are, unfortunately, a little dry :( I loved the spaghetti+pork confit and the stuffed bell pepper, but the rest was just okay ...

I got the "Lime Gelee, Coconut Emulsion" dessert because it sounded interesting.
I was kind of disappointed ... It wasn't really anything special and it was also pretty small.

We also got the chocolate tart (with raspberry and vanilla ice cream)
Much better! A rich and dark-chocolatey chocolate tart. The raspberries and the vanilla ice cream helped cut that richness perfectly. Yummy.

Oh, and I didn't take pictures, but one of the highlights of our meal was the chocolate truffles that they gave us at (near) the end (before the petit-fours)!! They brought a tray with jars of chocolate truffles with different flavors: coconut, lime, earl grey, praline .. mm what else...
Anyway, these chocolate truffles were very2 good. I didn't know how many we can have, so we just asked for two flavors each. They were so good that I asked them if I can buy some to take home!! After asking the pastry chef, they agreed. I chose the flavors I wanted and brought home a box of about 8-10 truffles. They charged me for an additional dessert, which was $12. It ended up being a great deal! Cheaper than, say, Chuao (or Leonida's, even?) and much better truffles!

Chef Eme held the door open for us as we left the restaurant! This made us leave the restaurant feeling happy and important and that the restaurant gives amazing service (but then I remembered their initial blunder - which left me undecided ... I guess overall they do give really good service).

Ortolan
8338 W. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048.
(323) 653-3300
www.ortolanrestaurant.com

Hainan Chicken Rice Hunt

A friend of mine told me that he'd found the best hainan chicken rice place in LA (although he did say the place had also gone downhill :/ ), so for his birthday I told him I would treat him to a meal there - two birds with one stone!

He told me to meet him at Savoy in Alhambra. A place named Savoy in Alhambra? And it's Chinese? That's a new one ... I'm more used to Phoenix-Royal-Ocean-Seafood-Star-Palace type names. But I guess Savoy was kind of a "fusion" place (they serve pizzas - Asian style), although they are apparently still known for the Hainan chicken rice.
Savoy is a small place - they have about 5-6 tables inside, and a few chairs at the counter. Then they also have a few tables along the sidewalk. We put our name down and waited about 10-15 minutes and got a table inside.

We both ordered the Hainan chicken rice of course! this was taken with my phone camera, so the quality is not that good, sorry.
The rice was fragrant, almost the way I remembered it from back home. The chicken was tender and pretty juicy, and not too fatty. So the rice was just a weee bit dry, but if you just dump a lot of ginger on it, it's all good :)

We did both have to ask for extra ginger, but they gave us a big dollop with no hassle.
I haven't had a lot of hainan chicken rice in LA, but the one at Savoy was pretty good! It was as good as I would expect from places back home, and I think I wouldn't really expect much in terms of better ones in LA. I really enjoyed it and remember it fondly. I'll definitely be back often for it!

Savoy Kitchen
138 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801

(626) 308-9535