NOLA: The Beignet Hunt

I stopped at almost every cafe on the streets of the French quarter featuring beignets, hunting for the best ones and encountering disappointments.

In the end, the best beignets are that of the well-known commercialized brand. I guess there was a reason for its commercial success after all (sorry mom and pop shops).

Cafe du Monde's beignets are puffy, fluffy precious things, "lavishly covered", as they say, (shake the bag with the beignets and powdered sugar to cover em up) with powdered sugar. Their beignets are nice and fluffy, while the other places' beignets are too dense for my taste.
They're perfect, really.


Cafe du Monde
Various locations in New Orleans, LA
http://www.cafedumonde.com/

Getting My Ramen Fix at Santouka LA

The Santouka in Costa Mesa has garnered quite a bit of fame, but when the LA outpost opened I was still skeptical whether or not it will be quite as good. However, as the reviews come flooding in, it seems like the LA Santouka is pretty good after all, and even more consistently so than the other outposts.

I've tried both the miso (pictured below) and shio ramen, which were both good, but yes, the shio ramen's broth stands out.
The noodles themselves were nicely done, although compared to the broth and the meat, this is not Santouka's strongest point. Pork slices were nice, tender and flavorful. The meat was actually quite sweet. There were only two pieces, alas ... I think three would've been perfect :)

The broth at Santouka is very flavorful without being as fatty as Daikokuya - and indeed has more 'depth' than daikokuya or chabuya's. You can actually still see some of the spices they've put in. All in all I loved it and won't mind going there every other day!

They also have ramen sets which come with hardboiled egg and either natto or ikura with rice.
The only bad part about Santouka is that because it's inside Mitsuwa it closes fairly early (7:30 pm) :/ I rarely can make my way there in time if it's not the weekend.

Santouka (inside Mitsuwa)
3760 S Centinela
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 391-1101

www.santouka.co.jp

Matsuhisa: Overpriced "Omakase"

I suggested Matsuhisa to my friend Kat for a lunch get together once, because she wanted to go to a sushi place she had never been to before.
I previously had a good experience at Matsuhisa when I ordered their upper-priced omakase, but alas, our experience this time around felt like such a ripoff and none of us has been back since then.

I ordered a la carte this time around and started with the crab taco.
This was good as the crab was fresh and meaty, and the crunchiness of the taco shell made a great combination.

I also got the eggplant dynamite as it seemed interesting.
Interesting and pretty enjoyable, though nothing special.

I also got the mushroom buckwheat risotto (since I wasn't full)
Risotta is al dente and mushroom tasted good, but to eat by yourself this dish gets boring.

But enough about my meal, let's move on to my friend's disappointing omakase meal.
She had chosen the least expensive omakase, which I believe was about $70.

They started off the omakase with some hamachi tartar
Kat enjoyed this and the hamachi was pretty fresh - so far the meal is starting off decent.

Second item was salmon carpaccio.
Again, fresh salmon. My friend was complaining a bit that salmon is pretty cheap, though.

Then they served the hamachi salad. Wait. Hamachi, again?
Okay, so the hamachi sashimi was actually good, but two hamachi dishes in an omakase? It seems to be pretty poorly planned - or they just didn't really care at all.

Next she got the oyster fried in filo dough.
Although my friend did enjoy this, the dish was only $5 on the regular menu, so getting this as part of a $70 meal is kind of ... a ripoff :(

The other cooked item was the miso cod.
The cod was good and well prepared, but this dish can be easily found at many japanese restaurants.

I didn't even bother to take a photo of her sushi plate, as it was quite disappointing. She basically got the most ordinary, cheapest selections such as salmon (yes, more salmon), ebi (no, not ama ebi), unagi ...
$70 would have gone a loooot further at Sushi Zo. And he definitely wouldn't keep repeating hamachi and salmons throughout the meal!

The dessert they had for this "cheapest" omakase is pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. My friend got fried bananas with vanilla ice cream.

I won't argue that the food at Matsuhisa is of good quality, but the omakase she got that day was such a ripoff and disappointment. We really don't think all the items she got are really worth (or even actually added up to) $70, and the repeated fish just suggested that they put very little thought into planning the omakase!

Neither of us has been back ever since, and probably never will.

Matsuhisa
129 N La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 659-9639