Catfish Flakes and the Giant Mussels

I've been hearing so much about Jitlada, a Thai restaurant on Sunset. It's a bit far (waa~y past the Sunset Strip), so I haven't been. But we've recently made the drive to try it out.
Jitlada sits in a small strip mall (like many, many other good restaurants in LA ... what is it with strip malls in LA ..) that, most definitely, lacks parking spaces. We drove around but couldn't find parking or street parking, so we ended up parking across the street at the 99c Store (I think that's what it was). Psst ... don't tell please ...

We ordered a pad thai - standard and safe.The pad thai is pretty good and I thought it was definitely one of the better ones in LA. Not much for me to say here though, it's really pretty standard? And I've been getting bored of this sweet dish. Moving on to the more interesting items! :)

I've been hearing a lot about the catfish and green mango salad, so I got that also.
I've read the reviews so I've been expecting this. The fried catfish is, well, really looks nothing like a catfish! It looks like fried flakes ... only when you eat it does it taste fishy, although the texture is again not really what you would expect out of a 'catfish'.

The crispy-but-slightly-soggy flakes, the sourness of the green mango, and the flavorful crunchiness of the peanuts make this dish great. The first bites were a bit of a surprise regardless and seems weird, but it really grew on me. By lunchtime the next day (leftovers) I was chowing this down and craving more ...

Lastly, we ordered what Jonathan Gold proclaimed as one of the "Best Dishes of 2007", the New Zealand Green Mussels! (How can you not try it??)
What came were possibly the biggest mussels I've ever seen:
I mean, usually, the meat of the mussels occupy only 1/3 of the space the shells provide, but these mussels .... these fat, juicy mussels, fill up the shells like they're pregnant!
The slightly spicy broth were excellent but not overpowering. Just right.

Jitlada is definitely a great Thai restaurant. I do wish it was a bit closer to me so I can go more often! I'd definitely be back whenever I can find someone to drag all the way over here for Thai food ... (not like it's close to anything else either :/ )
Those mussels are definitely, definitely, worth the trip over and over again ...

Jitlada Thai Restaurant
5233 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-3104

Late Night Run to Donut Man

How far would you drive for donuts?
Donut Man in Glendora sits on the historic route 66 ... definitely out of the way, both from Westwood or Pasadena, but Pasadena is definitely closer than the time I made a midnight run there from Westwood. But with all the reviews surrounding it, I had to go and try. Luckily they're open 24 hours and the drive is that much shorter late at night - barring any road constructions ...

Donut Man carries all the varieties of donuts you might expect to find in a donut shop:
Your glazed, your cake donuts, your chocolate twists, your apple fritters, your crumbs ...
And yes, those are all good. But their specialty, and why people make this drive, is their
But of course, no late night drive to Donut Man is complete without getting their specialty fresh fruit stuffed donuts:
Depending on the season, they offer strawberries or peaches. So far thought, I have not had the chance to try out the peaches one (when do they offer those anyway? In the fall, I heard. We'll see). A glazed donut stuffed full with fresh syruped strawberries. Truly a heavy duty dessert; there is no way to eat this without a fork.

Sure, sure, it's a loong drive just for donuts, but we're young and foolish :) As I get older I don't think I'd be doing this anymore, but for now, seeing that I enjoy driving late at night ... it's worth the drive for me.

Donut Man
915 E Route 66
Glendora, CA 91740-3608
Phone: (626) 335-9111

Animal Instinct

I tried out Animal last week after reading a Chowhound thread on it. Still unsignaged, we went for a 7.15 reservation and when we got there, only two other tables were filled. But surprisingly it was still loud, probably because 1) there was a table of six men drinking and chatting and 2) what's with the wall, tile floors, and hardwood tables and chairs, harsh sounds tend to reverberate.

At any rate, let's move on to the food.
For appetizers we started with the Pork Ribs with bread and rocket salad:The ribs were kind of fatty, but otherwise they were perfect! Tender meats falling off the bones ... the sauce was also amazing!
I've had the Niman Ranch ribs at Slanted Door but these ribs here surpass Slanted Door's by a biiig margin.

The bread was soaked in olive oil. Besides the arugula, it was definitely not really a healthy plate :P

We also had the Marinated leeks, spinach, poached eggs, serena and bacon:
I really like eggs, and poached eggs, even for dinner. There was a lot of bacon which adds to the flavor of the leeks, although I liked the spinach in this dish better.

I had the quail fry for my entree (unfortunately the picture is blurry, I'm so sorry!)
The sauce was good, but it was too much with the quail fry - together they become too salty. But it was perfect for the grits and greens.
Oh, and great thick bacon. Again, great with the other sides, but for me, the fried quail legs should be eaten in isolation to get the full, unadulterated flavor - and not get salt overdose.

My friend got the monkfish with beans
The monkfish was also pretty good, juicy and the broth is good. But, I was too preoccupied with my quail fry :P If I had to choose ... well no question about it, quail all the way.

One of the desserts we got was what the waitress recommended,
Who would've thought to put bacon on a chocolate cake? (I must say this restaurant puts bacon on a lot of things :P ) but it works surprisingly well. The bacon bits give both crunchiness and a bit of saltiness that go well with the rich, sweet chocolate.

The other dessert we got was the White peach and Mulberry Crisp.
What is the difference between a crisp and a cobbler anyway? I'm not really sure yet, I'm going to have to look this up. But anyway, the crust of this crisp was what I would expect from a cobbler (but I may be completely wrong), but it was very good nonetheless. The combination of the white peach and mulberry went very well, and it was perfect since it would otherwise be hard to decide which one to get! I was missing my ice cream with this though - don't know maybe I'm just too used to it? Pies/cobblers/etc seem to always be too rich and sweet to me not to cut with some cold vanilla ice cream?

My final judgment? I thought all the food was great. Creative and interesting ideas with solid preparation. Reasonable prices, good service. I would definitely, definitely be back, despite the loudness (the only bad point).

Animal
435 N Fairfax Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 782-9225
www.animalrestaurant.com

Nice to Meet You, Charlie Palmer

On Saturday I went to South Coast plaza in Costa Mesa, killing two birds with one stone: 1)visiting Kat in OC who's been complaining that I don't visit :P and 2) trying out the 4 courses for $40 deals at the Charlie Palmer's at Bloomingdale's. This post is kindof late for those who want to try out the deal, since tonight is the last night ... but I thought it was still a good intro to Charlie Palmer's.

They had an eye-shaped window that looks into the kitchen. It was pretty cool to see them at work, and one guy even posed for a picture!
We were seated in the room next to their wine collection, and it was a darker room than the main dining room with brown leather chairs instead of white. I personally liked the brighter room, but it's no big deal ...

Besides the waiter/waitress, one of the sommeliers came by and introduced himself, which I thought was nice (we haven't ordered wine or anything).

So the 4 for $40 meal started with: Tasmanian salmon tartare with passion fruit-lavender, watermelon radish
I really liked the passionfruit-based sauce, both the sweetness and sourness worked well with the salmon and it was also interesting, and the masago on top gave the whole thing a nice kick.

Next is the Roasted Corn Soup with Chanterelle mushroom Ravioli:I think this was my favorite of the night. And I'm not just saying that because I'm in love with corn (or am I?). The soup was flavorful, but not too salty like I was afraid of, and the combination with the chanterelle mushroom ravioli worked very well.

Kat's friend also ordered the Kobe beef burger sliders from the lounge menu. There were 3 mini burgers so she gave each of us one (thanks!)

The burger was pretty standard - the meat was very very juicy, which I liked, but at the same time was a bit 'rough'.


For the entree I got: Pan roasted sea scallops, with sunchokes, sugar snap peas, herb jus
The scallops were pretty big, tender and juicy. The sauce I thought was just okay though, and if it wasn't for the interesting vegetables it would've been a rather boring dish.

Kat's friend ordered the Prosciutto crusted pork tenderloin with salsify, black mission figs
I tried a bite of the tenderloin, and it was pretty good. It was not overcooked so the meat is tender and juicy. I actually liked this better than my scallops ..


The chocolate molten cake for the dessert was not bad. It was not anything special either. Without the ice cream it's a little too rich and sweet. But then again, a rich chocolate molten cake is good.





Instead of petit fours, they gave us 'beignets'. They were tasty, but I think they're more like donut holes. Good donut holes.









All in all I'd say the 4 for $40 was a good deal. As for the restaurant itself, it has solid food, ambiance, and service. It's pretty 'standard' high-end restaurant with all the right components, good for business meetings, taking guests, etc, but not one I would make as a "destination."

Charlie Palmer's at Bloomingdale's
3333 S Bristol St
Costa Mesa,, CA 92626
Phone: (714) 352-2525

Help me find my love!

While in Peru I met a tall, dark and handsome man.
Cold, and slightly sweet, full bodied, and absolutely smooth - not to mention rich.
But, alas, now I am back in LA just pining away.
So, someone help me find him again! My beloved Cusquena Negra ... is it anywhere in LA?
If anyone knows where I can go, we won't forget your kindness ...

Corn Pizza, Twice Over.

Zelo was recommended by a friend of mine as "the best pizza in town" so obviously I had to check it out. I suggested it to a group of friends when we were meeting up - funny, we seemed to have pizza everytime we meet up ...

What's so unique about Zelo is their cornmeal crust, and their signature pizza is their Corn pizza:
This consisted of the cornmeal crust+white corn+marinated onions+mozzarela+chives. Being a corn lover, this pizza was totally awesome! The cornmeal crust is definitely different, and unlike regular dough, actually has flavor and (when done right) enhances the whole pizza.

You can order by the slice ($3.50), half ($10.00), or a whole pizza ($18.00). They're normally cut up into six slices but since there were four of us, the workers were nice enough to cut them into fours for us :) extra points for service ;)

Below is the the corn pizza and the mushroom pizza (from the specials):
The corn, like I said, was *amazing*. The mushroom pizza was also good. The basil and sundried tomatoes were a really nice touch, but it still can't compare to the corn one.

We also got another of the specials, the spinach pesto. It's apparently very popular so it shows up on the specials a lot.
I think pesto makes everything that much better, so naturally I like this one a lot! They put a lot of pesto sauce. Spinach, pesto, and basil? How can you go wrong? The corn is still our favorite though (A friend of mine told the waiter that he should've told us to just order the corn pizza and nothing else :P But I'm glad I got the spinach pesto too!).

We ordered three slices for each person, which ended up being A LOT, since the cornmeal crust made the pizza very dense and very, very filling.


Zelo

328 E. Foothill Blvd

Arcadia, CA 91006

www.zelo.us

Finally, a bit of yumminess on the Promenade

There was never much on Third Street Promenade as far as food goes. A couple of edible choices here and there, but no "destination" places. In fact, I haven't been back to 3rd street promenade in a couple of years. But when Anisette Brasserie opened its doors a few weeks ago, that all changed.

We were seated on the second floor, where we got a nice view of the the first floor.
Our waiter was young and seemed to be new at the job - there were awkward moments when he was taking our orders etc. But he was really nice so, oh well, on to the food.

The hostess recommended the peas gazpacho, so I ordered it.There's a touch of mint that really made the soup that much better, but I realized I'm still not that big on gazpacho. Trying to eat this whole bowl was too much for me.

I actually ordered the croque madame, but they brought me the croque monsieur instead :/
The waiter apologized and then brought an egg on the side. He was a cute frenchie so I guess I'll forgive him ...
Here's the gruyere-cheese-goodness:
Delicious - and better with the egg! That melted gruyere cheese on top of the bread really made my day. It came with the "chef's fries" which I thought were just like regular fries. I was never big on fries though so I'm not one to judge ...

Someone else got the brasserie burger, cooked medium rare.
Avocado, tomatoes, ... and brie! Who would've thought of putting brie in a burger? Awesome! The bread was great and -of course- I loved the cheese :D
Overall a really good burger ... hm I think I still like the Grace burger with truffle cheese... I'm gonna have to do a double take on this one!

Desserts were $8 and based on what we got that seemed a little steep. I don't remember what this one was called - but it's the one with strawberries and lavender ice cream (when they put up their menu online I'll let u know what it is ...):A bit too much whipped cream and meringue for me personally. I really liked the lavender ice cream, though.

We also got the chocolate mousse:
Now this was a delicious chocolate mousse! And the toast was also a nice touch. It seemed a bit like eating toast with nutella (which, who can argue, is awesome? ;> )

Thanks to Anisette, I've been to the Promenade twice in the last two weeks. That's more than I've gone in the year before that! :D
Since it's new and has a nice atmosphere, and plenty more dishes to try out (such as the Feuillete of Scrambled Eggs with White Crab Claw Meat that's supposed to be *amazing*), I'll be back some more and recommending it to people.

Anisette Brasserie
225 Santa Monica Blvd
Santa Monica, CA
(310) 395-3200

Pizzeria Mozza: Pizzas and Hypes

With all the hype surrounding pizzeria mozza, I got curious and decided to walk in and try it one night. I called the day before and couldn't get reservations, but there was only two of us and we got seated at the bar immediately. Lucky :)

As with other hip restaurants, the place is loud and it's hard to hold conversations unless you're sitting right next to each other so the bar actually ended up working out just fine.

We placed our order and waited. It took a while to get served - we were starving so it might have seemed longer than it really was. We saw a bunch of salad dishes going by and they all looked really great. Too bad we didn't order any this time around but next time we definitely have to try one.

We got the mussels for appetizer:
I really liked the bread and the broth, but I didn't really dig the yellow sauce. It was a slightly spicy mustard-based sauce and I thought it overwhelmed the mussels! I would've been much happier with just the mussels and that yummy broth :(
I've definitely had better mussels elsewhere.

For our first pizza we had: Prosciutto Di Parma, Rucola, Tomato & Mozzarella
It was definitely good prosciutto, and the rucola is a great touch. Personally though I'd like more tomato and cheese. You might say that that's just because I'm used to the normal pizza and want something similar, but I still think that this pizza is a little bit on the dry side. But again, though, the prosciutto is definitely good.

The dough is good and as you can see their crust rose more than normal pizza crusts and is "puffier" which is also a plus. It's not as dense and filling.

On average the pizzas are $15 and each one is little more than an individual serving. In our mind this was definitely expensive for pizza, although it is better than most (but is it a better deal than, say, Zelo?).

For the second pizza we got: Wild Spinach, Finocchiona & Cacio Di Roma
The spinach was crispy and there was a little spicy kick to it. Overall it was closer than a "normal" pizza, although with much better cheese and dough. The prosciutto was tastier and more interesting.

I also saw them making this one pizza and put a raw egg right in the middle:
I didn't remember from the menu which pizza this could be, but it looked really interesting - I'll have to find it and try it next time.

All in all I thought the pizzas were pretty good. I wouldn't mind coming back, although it is expensive at $15 per pizza. On the other hand, it wasn't so spectacular that I would be craving to come back anytime soon ...
I do want to try those huge salads that looked really yummy, though.

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 297-0101

Omurice! Finally!

Not too long ago I was running around town trying to find a decent omu-rice. For those of you who don't know, omu-rice is a japan-ized western dish consisting of a chicken fried rice (in ketchup sauce) wrapped in an omelette. Typically it is then garnished with more ketchup, but I've been searching for a place that serves it with demi glace sauce instead.

Why? It's all because of this dorama I watched a couple years ago. The first minute of this video says it all.

At any rate, I went to multiple Mitsuwa food courts with no luck. Tried an omelette spaghetti at Spoon House, and so on. But it's just not the same. A fellow Chowhounder told me that Blue Marlin had good seafood omurice. Hmm ... seafood omurice was not exactly what I was looking for, but eventually I went there anyway.

And what did I find??

The original omurice, with demi glace sauce!!! It was not the perfect omurice - the chicken pieces were scarce and rather big, and I would have liked the eggs to not be so well done (I want the omelette to 'melt down' when I cut it ... like in the last minute of the video!) - but otherwise it was everything I wanted!

Blue Marlin uses free range eggs which really enhanced the flavor of the omurices they served (yes, I am convinced free range eggs are tastier, and that it shows in these omurice dishes). And they have various, creative omurice dishes, such as the seafood omurice:

The inside of the omurice is the same as the original - ketchup chicken fried rice. Eating that with cream sauce may seem weird but the whole dish actually worked very well and was delish~

They also have omurice napolitano, etc which I have not tried. Again, it was not perfect but the omurice at Blue Marlin is really pretty good. The service sucks - I asked for a refill for my tea three times and still did not get any until after I paid my bill - but I would still come back whenever I get that craving for an omurice ...

Blue Marlin
2121 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025-6200
Phone: (310) 445-2522

Makeover for East Colorado?

The part of Colorado Blvd east of Lake is considerably boring compared to the Old Town area west of it, but relatively recently a new neighborhood favorite has popped up.

Daisy Mint is a small, cute Thai restaurant that may seem out of place among the neighboring mattress stores, etc. The inside of the restaurant is decorated somewhat eclectically. A dark (but gorgeous) painting of sumo wrestlers, mirrors, and empty picture frames and bird cages - which some thought to be rather creepy, but cute and quaint nonetheless.Compared to its typical Thai restaurant counterparts, Daisy Mint's menu is relatively limited. It only fills up one sheet of paper, front and back, but includes salads, soups, noodles, curries, and a small variety of other dishes. However, they also lean on the healthier side and use better quality ingredients.

Daisy Mint also offers selection of teas - some more uncommon than others. On my first visit I ordered the roasted nuts tea.

I'm not really sure what it is exactly, but it looks and tastes like almond+sesame milk to me ... plus perhaps other types of nuts. It tastes pretty bland, actually.

I've been there twice and on both visits forgot my regular camera :( since I usually just run off there from school while starving. So you'll have to bear with my phone camera instead.

I got the green curry the first time. The taste was not as 'bold' than your typical curry dish, but very comforting. I love the eggplants.

The next time around I ordered the 'Daisy Noodles'. The only thing missing from this dish (for me) is some meat ...
It is glass noddles in red curry sauce served with lettuce (salad lettuce), bean sprouts, and peanuts. It is an interesting combination and I like the slightly spicy curry sauce.

Thought I have yet to find a dish that blows my mind here, I like the quaintness of the place and thought that the food was good and rather creative. I'm sure I will be back many many times (walking tiredly from school)!

Daisy Mint
1218 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA
(626) 792-2999‎

I haven't been slacking (that much)!

It may seem like I have been lurking for over 2 weeks ... but I really haven't! (not that I was /that/ productive either though)

So go check out my other blog, the Traveling Gourmet Pig
I'll be somewhat regularly updating this with my food adventures in Peru in the next couple of weeks :)