Chinese Porridge at Lu's Garden (San Gabriel, CA)

As it's getting colder where I live (and a tiny bit in LA too), I'm missing one of my old favorite SGV spots: Lu's Garden. I love getting porridge here and ordering all kinds of side dishes.

They have all kinds of dishes displayed in deli cases, which you can order with rice or porridge (go with porridge). There's grounnd pork, tofu skin, pork intestine, braised pork and eggs, various vegetables, Chinese sausage, and just so many more. You can pay for each item or get a 3-item combo (the way to go if you ask me).

My favorite combo to eat with the porridge is some ground pork with tofu skin and pork intestines, but of course, there are a lot of options for everyone. After all, the best thing with Chinese porridge isn't just the porridge but all the things you're eating it with. It's not for everyone, of course, with the more adventurous items on the menu.

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Happy Hour at Estate Restaurant and Bar (Santa Monica, CA)

by guest blogger @btsunoda

When the conversation at the next table is easier to hear than the person that I’m eating with, I’m generally not having a good time. This type of occurrence has been more frequent of late because many restaurants have adopted a bistro format with small tables and uncomfortable chairs. I recently had the opportunity to visit Estate Restaurant and Bar to experience their new happy hour menu, and luckily, Estate's layout provided plenty of space to diners to be comfortable.

The interior of the Estate Restaurant and Bar is a modern take on what restaurants used to be like. Estate Restaurant and Bar has different seating areas and plush booths and individual seats. Because they don’t attempt to use every square inch of the restaurant, there is a general feeling of spaciousness. Even the bar has cushioned comfortable chairs.

Their happy hour menu had plenty of discounted food and drinks. We started off with the Tuna Crispy Wonton Tacos  ($9)
  
Instead of frying taco shells, they use wonton shaped like a tortilla, just like classic tuna tartar. The contrasting colors and textures were both visually stunning and delicious. The tuna was fresh and the ginger nicely enhanced the tuna.

Char siu pizza with hoisin sauce? I had to see what that was all about.

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A Tasting at Clio (Boston, MA)

I read recently that Clio, one of Ken Oringer's restaurants in the Eliot Hotel in Back Bay will be closing while Uni (also his restaurant) will be expanding into its space. I was a bit bummed by it since I recently tried Clio and enjoyed it. So, I thought I would blog about my experience there before they close, in case you guys would be enticed to go try it out! Plus, it's one of the only photos I took with my new Sony a6000 before it was stolen when my house got broken into the second time ... sigh.

Anyway, I had grabbed a Gilt City deal for a tasting menu at Clio, which was a pretty good deal for this restaurant. Clio has had a number of great bartenders behind the bar and albeit some have moved on to new restaurants, they still had a nice cocktail menu when I went. Being a root beer lover (don't give me that Dr. Pepper nonsense), I obviously went with the Sarsaparilla Flip (sarsaparilla spice rum, root beer reduction, egg white, nutmeg brulee, $14)

Dinner starts with an amuse bouche of nori with white umami cream cheese, lemon cream cheese - a rich umami bomb.

The first course was a Chilled Courgette (zucchini, basically) Soup, marinated mussels, rose geranium, truffle vinaigrette

The soup is a local marrow squash with smoked salt foam.

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