Omakase at Sushi Kimagure (Pasadena)

I used to complain that there was no stellar sushi in Pasadena, but that was before Sushi Kimagure moved in. The man behind Kimagure is Ike-san from the beloved Sushi Ike that was in Hollywood. The day he decided to shutter his Hollywood spot and open up in Pasadena was a good day for us.

Dining at the sushi bar at Kimagure is by reservation only, and considering our 7pm party did not leave until near closing time, there's probably only one seating per night.

It was my long awaited first visit so of course we had omakase. We didn't get Ike-san as our itamae that night but our meal was still excellent.

It was impressive to watch how fast these sushi chefs were working, especially considering their age!

To start, a vegetable potato salad

Most places may save toro towards the end of a meal, but here they dive directly into bluefin tuna (maguro) and toro as your first pieces.

The toro was superb

Sushi is not just about the fresh fish, but the rice as well, and here at Kimagure they are both excellent. It's not the warm rice of Nozawa (which I sometimes think is too warm and detracts from the fish) but it still melts in your mouth.

Next was another one of my favorite cuts, hamachi belly

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Looking Back at Food Noir, My Fave 2011 The Taste Event at OrpheumTheatre

The Taste events, put on by LA Times, take place over labor day weekend. Last year's was pretty spectacular with them taking over Rodeo Drive and other locations. My favorite, though, was Food Noir which took place at downtown's Orpheum Theatre and the street in front.

It was my first time visiting the beautiful Orpheum Theatre, and I fell in love:

They played short old films and cartoons. Think Tweety, Bugs Bunny, and more! We were able to just come and go at the theatre, resting from all the eating and drinking.

Not only that, Food Noir also had some of the best cocktail bars participating (even more so than The Taste's Cocktail event!)

The Varnish was carving their ice block on site, Cana Rum Bar with their Tiki-style booth, 320 Main, just to name a few.

Plenty of great food as well, like Rivera's famous corn flan with black quinoa

Terroni (correction, according to Darin Dines this was from Drago Centro) mixing pasta in their parmesan wheel:

This year's The Taste will take place on September 1-3 with 5 events and plenty of seminars (last year I went to a pinot noir tasting and rapping session). This time all the events will be at the Paramount Picture Studios, which is fun as well.

Food Truck Festival at The Del Mar Racetrack

Today's post features guest blogger Suzie Hong who went to the Food Truck Festival at The Del Mar Racetrack! This was their 2nd annual Food Truck Festival where guests can enjoy a selection of 50 food trucks along with local craft beers (this is near San Diego, after all, so the likes of Stone, Lost Abbey, etc) while watching the horse races. Here's Suzie's experience:

When I was asked if I could go to the Del Mar Races Food Truck Festival, I was so excited! I have always wanted to go to the racetracks to see a horse race, and I am a pretty big fan of food trucks. Although it was a hot day, it was exciting and not as crowded as I thought it would be!

The boyfriend travels to Boston for work a lot, and has been talking about lobster rolls for the past few months. When I saw the Lobsta Truck with an average length line, I knew this would be my first destination. The $12 Lobster Roll was offered with mayo or butter...uhh, obviously butter please! We decided not to add extra lobster thinking the standard roll would be enough - and we weren't disappointed! The roll came out quickly, toasty and warm with tons of big chunks of lobster. I love that the roll was served on a butter-coated-toasted slice of bread rather than a standard french roll or sub because the crunch complimented the gooey butteryness so well. 

We strolled around the circular lot checking out the other trucks for a while, and found that a large selection of the food trucks were seafood-based. As San Diego residents, we immediately ruled out the Mexican food trucks as well as other seafood ones having just eaten a lobster roll. We wanted something unique, because isn't that the fun in food trucks? 

My eye caught a truck called, Slap Yo' Mama. With a name like that, I HAD to go check out the menu and found just the unique items i was looking for!

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