Milk, and more

The sign is eye catching no doubt. I've driven by this place a while back and noticed it immediately, but didn't have time to suddenly stop. Then I read all about it on Chowhound etc, so I tried out dinner at Ita-Cho and stopped by this place on the way out since it was just across the street.Milk is a cafe and they serve sandwiches etc, including some pastas on the special menu. They also have a variety of baked goods such as cookies, pudding, madeleines, etc. I also saw that they serve a blueberry popover for breakfast! Gotta try it next time for weekend brunch! :)

But, really, ice cream is what I was there for.

They have tons of interesting, yummy looking ice cream sandwiches, with favors like coconut and strawberry sorbet. I didn't try any this time, but next time definitely. Oh they also have ice cream bars that look rich and delish.
This time we just got scoops of ice cream: chocolate, papaya sorbet, and banana dulce de leche.
Everything was really good, but I made the mistake of eating the chocolate first. The chocolate was the best one IMO :) (but I always think it is ...). The papaya was sweet, flavorful, and refreshing, and actually tastes like papaya. I'd rank them 1) chocolate 2) papaya 3) banana dulce de leche. They were all yummy though. Although, I think I still prefer the smooth texture of gelato ...

It is definitely one of the better ice creams I've had in LA, and one of the best quality-wise. I do wish they have more interesting (i.e.) flavors I could try out :P

All in all, I give them a thumbs up and I'll definitely be back! And try out all those yummy looking ice cream sandwiches.

Milk
7290 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Phone: (323) 939-6455

Real Food

A couple of weeks ago we went to lunch with someone who was a vegan. Since we didn't really know any vegan places, we went along with her suggestion: Real Food Daily in Santa Monica. They serve purely vegan (and of course, organic) food, but with a lot more choices and innovation than most other places.
Of course, you can still go with one of your salads or vegetable sandwiches. They have an amazing portabella mushroom sandwich with hemp bread! Give it a try!

After that we've come back, and the place is always packed. The bad thing is that they don't take reservations, so you end up waiting for quite a while for it. Usually they will send you to the spiritual bookstore right next door and will come get you there when your table is ready.

The special for March was this vegetarian lasagna, which was absolutely delicious (I didn't really catch what was in it, sorry ... next time).
Also to note is the Better with Cheddar nachos for appetizer. They used melted cashew cheddar cheese and tofu sour cream and this was really really good.

Someone got one of the specials which consisted of noodles in peanut sauce topped with some tempeh (for those who don't know, tempeh is made of soy beans- kinda like soy bean cake). I didn't get to try this, but they seemed to really like it.
We ordered the chocolate pudding for dessert. Of course, dairy free and gluten free. And it was amazing. It tasted very rich and chocolatey.
I'm glad someone suggested this place. I would never have tried it otherwise since I don't really venture into vegan eateries, being a red meat lover myself. This place serves really good food though, and it sure comes real handy when you have to take someone vegan/vegetarian out to dinner and need to pick a place :)

Real Food Daily
514 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Spaghetti is Japanese

No, seriously. Well, sometimes. You can't deny that the Japanese has adopted and japanified a lot of western dishes such as the hamburger (no, seriously, what do they call a hamburger-with-buns in Japan?), and spaghetti is no exception.

Gardena is more of a korean town, but this little Japanese shop has been here for years. Apparently years ago it used to be a bakery also and sold pretty good bread and other baked goods. About two years ago they still had French bread but I didn't see any this time around. Now all they had are the cold dinner rolls that you probably just shouldn't eat. Unless you're really hungry.

Spoon House serves mainly spaghetti, with a sprinkle of other items. Don't get me wrong, they also serve more traditional, Italian spaghetti.
Here's the Barca D'Oro, which still looks like a normal, Italian spaghetti. Described as "Italian sauce with seafood."For some odd reason I was craving eggs so I ordered the Napolitano with bacon and eggs. Kinda weird for spaghetti, isn't it? We're getting there. But I enjoyed it a lot.
And there are plenty of other unique, and definitely more Japanese spaghetti offered that we did not get this time around, such as Cod Roe and Sea Urchin spaghetti, Natto&Shiso (seriously? yep), Squid& Wasabi, and even kim chi.

Unfortunately someone was eating the Barca D'Oro when we came and my friends decided that it looked really good, so that's what they got (so no picture of the more Japanese spaghettis this time).

Spoon House does not serve the highest quality ingredients imaginable, but they definitely serve really yummy, cheap, comfort food. Everything I've had here (minus the dinner rolls) have been really good, and I keep coming back for more.

The spaghetti here is always served al dente, and you can watch them cook it in this contraption that you can see from your seat:
Each portion of spaghetti goes into each section for a specific time period. Pull the lever and the pasta will be drained and ready to be served. Neat.

I was looking forward to dessert this time, since I remembered the flan being really good here. Indeed, it was one of the better flans I've had. The ice cream goes well with it, although I could go with or without it.

And we ordered some panna cotta too, don't know why. It was good, but not nearly as good as the flan.




Spoon House
1601 W.Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247