Showing posts with label hot and soupy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hot and soupy. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Hot and Soupy #5: Mariscos Chente's New Winter Menu

Mariscos Chente made a big wave in the past year in the Los Angeles low-brow dining scene with their much lauded Sinaloan seafood cuisine. Recently they rolled out a Winter Menu and Street Gourmet LA, a long time Chente supporter, set up a small blogger tasting. Throughout the dinner, Street Gourmet LA guided us each dish, and where they come from , etc.

To get authentic Sinaloan seafood, the owner Maddalena routinely buses down to her hometown of Nayarit to procure some fresh seafood!

Tortilla chips and salsa while you wait. Watch out for the green salsa - it was way spicier than the red!

Our first soup was the Albondigas de camaron(shrimp albondigas), a common Sinaloan dish. Albondigas is meat/shrimp balls and is in fact a national dish that varies throughout Mexico. Seafood albondigas are typically found on the coasts. The broth consisted of shrimp stock, tomatoes, oregano, jalapeno, cilantro, and vegetables.

The albondigas were firm and chewy. The broth has quite a kick to it, and on that foggy night near the ocean, this hot soup was quite a treat.

There are three other seafood soups they're offering, which uses a common broth (made of fish stock, tomato, jalapeno, vegetables) but just varies in the seafood proteins they put in them.

The fish soup contains moist and tender pieces of seabass, including the skin and jowl.

The 'mixto' contains shrimp, fish (seabass, same as above), and octopus.
The octopus in this soup was so chewy and delicious I would highly recommend getting the mixto over either the fish or the shrimp (which they also offer). The broth here is not as spicy as the albondigas but I personally prefer it because it was richer and flavorful (though the rest did prefer the albondigas' broth).

Mariscos Chente is also offering a series of seafood tacos this winter.:
The deep fried fish(halibut) and shrimp tacos are topped with cabbage, tomato, onion, and homemade Thousand Island.
The batter here isn't as crispy as I would like, but the thousand island dressing is a really nice touch.

The highlight among the tacos was the Gobernador, a specialty of Mazatlan which consisted of sauteed shrimp with Monterey jack cheese, peppers, and onions in a flour tortilla finished on the grill.
Sweet and rich, these nicely grilled tacos packed a punch.

To wash it all down, we had Maddalena's special jarritos (also known as Palomas) which is typically made with Squirt, salt, and tequila but she squeezes in some orange in there for a flavor boost! Served in these clay vessels, the drink was quite refreshing and addictive. Mariscos Chente doesn't have a full liquor license so you can order this as a "virgin drink", but if you want to sneak your own tequila into the jar, I'll keep mum ;).

Who knows how long they would keep the winter menu up, so you might want to hurry and taste the Gobernador and their soups for yourself.


Mariscos Chente
4532 S. Centinela Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 391-9887
Mariscos Chente on Urbanspoon

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Hot and Soupy #3: Kaori Sushi, $50 Omakase, and Lobster Soup

I try not to come down to Orange County much (what would I do there?), but when I have to (i.e. when former roommate Kat's 9 Lives demands a visit from me), I ask for good food. The last I visited her in OC I was coaxed with some omakase at Kaori, a Korean-run sushi joint in Fullerton.

OK, this visit was actually quite some time ago, but I thought it would be an appropriate post for the "hot and soupy" series because the most memorable part of the meal was the lobster miso soup.

Now why would I go have omakase at a korean-run sushi place in Fullerton of all places? Well, Kat's previous report of a $50 omakase that included live lobster was pretty enticing.
Apparently you can call ahead and tell him you want to spend $50 and that you want the lobster soup so he can go buy lobster for you.

Turns out here at Kaori, $50 goes a long way.

We started with some vegetable tempura, followed by some Ankimo with ponzu sauce.

The came a plate of softshell crab.
Nice and crunchy although a tad heavy on the sauce.

Amaebi

Marinated oyster.
The Sashimi plates were also pretty impressive. We got two plates throughout the night consisting of toro, uni, hamachi belly, and more.
While they aren't the best pieces of sashimi you'd find around town, the quality and variety were both quite good considering the price we were paying.

A series of sushi came next, from Albacore belly to Ono with jalapeno ponzu sauce.

The sushi chef Gino showed his own flair too with local ingredients, as exemplified with the Anaheim Chili stuffed with salmon, topped with sriracha sauce.
It was just a li~ttle spicy for my level (I'm training, believe me), but it was a pretty creative dish. An Asian, fishy take on Chile Relleno?

Finally came the main attraction. The headliner of the night. Live lobster!
Live lobster sashimi in a $50 omakase? You have to call ahead and tell him you want it so he can go buy one for you, but if you do, a lobster will be killed and snapped in front of you.

Well, enough with the gore. Here's the delicious part: Live Lobster Sashimi
That's not all though. The best part is still to come. After you're done with the tail sashimi, he will take the rest and make an amazing Lobster Miso Soup.
This was the tour de force of the meal. The soup had so much flavor and texture from the miso base, the bits of lobster meat, and - perhaps the key secret ingredient - the lobster eggs which really added a lot of texture.

The meal ended with a simple matcha ice cream. Being my first time here, I was actually rather worried at the end, incredulous that the meal would actually only cost $50, but there it was on the bill: $50 per person.

Definitely a great deal for some omakase and while the sushi isn't at the level of the top joints in town, the lobster miso soup is worth a try.

Kaori Japanese Restaurant
500 N Harbor Blvd #C
Fullerton, CA 92832
(714) 871-9395
Kaori Japanese Restaurant on Urbanspoon
Kaori Japanese Restaurant in Los Angeles

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Hot and Soupy #1: Handmade Soba and Udon at Ichimiann (You Never Knew It Could Taste This Good)

I've eaten at Ichimiann so much it's a wonder that I hadn't written about it sooner, but this cold winter weather is the perfect time to start it off as the inaugural post of my "Hot and Soupy" series of posts!

Ichimiann is a place I found through Exile Kiss' blogpost, lauding it as the one amazing teuchi(handmade) soba place in town. I was on a crazy soba kick and wanted to venture further than Yabu.

Ichimiann, aka Bamboo Garden, is a tiny shop on a dilapidated side street right next to Foster's Freeze and looks just like a typical noodle shop.
Cash only, you can place your order and then take a seat at the bar by the wall.

The rite of passage for all soba noobs is the Zaru Soba, so even though it doesn't meet the hot and soupy winter theme, it simply cannot be left unmentioned. Zaru soba gets its name from the bamboo sieve that it is served on and is typically served with tsuyu (a mixture of dashi, sweetened soy sauce, and mirin), scallions, and wasabi.
Mix the scallions and wasabi in the tsuyu, then pick up the buckwheat noodles and dip it in the tsuyu.
This is the dish that best highlights Ichimiann's excellent handmade soba, the wonderful texture and the flavor of the buckwheat noodle itself. The soba here is devoid of that doughy and powdery taste and texture that I always hated in mass produced noodles.

If you want hot soba, however, Ichimiann has plenty of options for you, from a simple bowl with poached egg to many more. The flavors of the broth are subtler here, unlike many places which tend to be salty, but it is ultimately more satisfying and worth savoring.

When you want your protein you could opt for the unagi soba topped with grated yam.
Even though this dish made me realize I'm not big on japanese yam, the rest of the dish was excellent. The unagi is nicely grilled and lends a nice flavor although I did miss the crisp texture of the unagi before it's soaked in broth and yam.

When Exile Kiss did a second post, this time on the udon noodles at Ichimiann, I had to go back and try that too (even if I'm still a soba girl).

A bowl of beef sukiyaki udon seems like the perfect meal for a chilly Saturday morning (ok, afternoon).

Ichimiann's udon is thin, unlike the type you normally see in stores and restaurants.
The sukiyaki udon bowl is bolder in flavor than the other soba dishes that I've had and it really hits the spot. The udon, while thinner than usual, is wonderfully chewy without that doughy consistency.
Ichimiann's subtle but deeply satisfying flavor doesn't leave you overwhelmed and dehydrated like some salty dishes might, but instead it just keeps you satiated all day long.


Ichimian Bamboo Garden
1618 Cravens Ave
Torrance, CA 90501
(310) 328-1323
Ichimian Bamboo Garden on Urbanspoon
Ichimian Bamboo Garden in Los Angeles

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