What to cook, what to cook? I always ask myself what I want to cook, and every time I brainstorm, I come up with all sorts of new options I (1) haven't tried before, or (2) tried before, loved, and want to repeat. So last Saturday, when I tried coming up with ideas, I thought of a few items I wanted to cook, and then realized a theme: Faux Breakfast!

The appetizer was the start of the inspiration. I love creating cheese plates with meats and cheeses and sauces and toppings, often creating brie and gruyere and sunflower seed and whole grain mustard combinations to wash down with great wines. But by far, my favorite flavor combination is smoked prosciutto with brie and whole grain mustard. After years of experimenting, it still remains my favorite, though some French and sheep cheese combinations with fruit jams have given it a run for its money. So Saturday, I decided to do something creative--put them in a roll form, with the prosciutto wrapping slices of brie and the whole grain mustard. I had to get the combinations of each one just right, but when I did, it took all the work out of the actual enjoyment of the flavors. This was my "bacon and cheese". (It looks like bacon, doesnt' it?)

For my entree, I wanted to cook Korean BBQ, but if I was having rice, I wanted the egg on top. (I'll always want an egg on top of my rice. My cholesterol levels are normal, thank you very much!) So here came the inspiration for "Asian steak and eggs". I found a couple choice pieces of tri-tip, and remembering them to be tender, I wanted to try a Korean BBQ marinade on them. I broiled them for 10-15 minutes, as instructed on the Trader Joes label, but they still came out a little overcooked and only mildly pink. I sliced it in advance so I wouldn't have to slice at the table, then I realized this was a critical mistake. Apparently tri tip dries out very quickly, and regardless of how tender the meat was when it was first sliced, when pieces with fat marbling would turn out to be dry and flavorless. I tried brushing on more of the marinade and meat juices, only to realize it would dry out a couple minutes later. Note to self: ALWAYS go for the rib meat or leave the slicing to the dinner table right before you eat it.

Dessert was simplest, with very little preparation. I had "toast and chocolate". For this, I sliced up a couple pieces of Sara Lee pound cake (forever a classic!) and a piece of chocolate chocolate mochi. Mochi, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is a flavored tapioca wrapped around a morsel of chocolate, so you can hold it with your fingers and bite into it. The chocolate chocolate is my favorite because not only do you get the two different textures, the tapioca and the ice cream, but you also get chocolate chips in the ice cream! Mmmm! It served as a sugary counterpart to the pound cake, which is typically sweet enough on its own. I don't have a picture of this, but you know how Sara Lee pound cake looks--like a loaf of bread and slices of toast!

The whole meal made me miss having people over for dinner and reminded me I need to invite more people over to entertain as guests. I was born to be a hostess in my home!

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Orochon Ramen. From my early college days, pre Man vs. Food, this place was my santuary, making such a delicious version of what is otherwise considered 25 cent college food. As the years went by, I honed in on how spicy I liked my ramen, how much noodle I wanted, which flavor I liked best, and exactly why no other ramen place I've tried has compared to the deliciousness of this bowl of spicy goodness.

The concept is simple enough. Egg noodles in a broth of your choice--miso, soy sauce or salt. The bowl, by the way, is exactly as large as it seems in this picture. It eats up half the table, and it can fit your head.

The fun part, though, comes when you order your level of spiciness. Unlike Thai places that have arbitrary scales of spiciness depending on who's cooking, this place is pretty consistent: a 3 will always be a 3, and a 5 will always be a 5.

Super Orochon 2
Super Orochon 1

1. Extreme Orochon
2. Hyper Orochon
3. Impact Orochon
4. Orochon
5. Osae Orochon
6. Osae - Osae Orochon
7. Non - Spicy Orochon

So not only are you deciding between 1-7, but if you're a superstar, you have the additional options of Super 1 and Super 2. This restaurant's claim to fame is that if you finish the Super Orochon 2 in half an hour (including the broth), you get your picture on the wall. So of course, this became a visit for Man vs. Food. The preparation didn't seem as spicy as other foods Adam has tried (like the Indian food episode where the cook had to use a gas mask to cook the peppers), but it was enough to get him sweating and fully appreciative of the zest and zeal of this legend of LA. Yes, he even finished the broth!

And while the appetizers are good (especially the gyoza), don't bother ordering them if you're not really hungry because (1) they'll fill you up, and (2) they won't arrive before the food. My sister KN didn't enjoy the gyoza because they were pan fried, so if you like the soft boiled gyoza better than the pan fried ones, don't bother either.

Every time I go, I order the Number 5 soy sauce bowl (I know, weak sauce), with extra noodle so I can savor more of the broth... And I'm never disappointed. I can always count on this meal to warm me up, fill me up, and make me happy I chose to come to this place, even on the hottest of days. Like a Japanese bowl of pho, there's simply never a bad time for it, because it's just that good.

I'm on the hunt for a better tasting ramen place, but after years of tasting places in Orange County, I think I'll need to pursue my mission in LA. Suggestions? Send them on by! In the meantime, I'm perfectly content with this as my "safe" spot, especially since they added more tables and kept the food exactly the same: spicy, zesty, and delish!

Orochon Ramen
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St., Los Angeles, CA
http://www.yelp.com/biz/orochon-ramen-los-angeles

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It was like a HOME. And maybe it wasn't really my home, it felt so welcoming and so loving and so delicious that it may as well have been.

Yesterday I was invited to join DD to friends' JT and JT's house. They had a cozy house in Chatsworth, CA, and while the drive on the 405 N during rush hour was agonizing, I would do it twice over again if I'd known what was in store.

DD and his brother and friends chartered a boat this weekend and caught some pretty amazing tuna. The jackpot fish (the largest fish that won the pool of money) was 47 lbs. and quite large. I haven't seen pictures yet, but I can imagine it's a handful! (EDIT: I was provided some pictures of the trip. Check out how many fish there are here! Pic courtesy of H.) So in honor of all of this fresh fish, they had a fish dinner with 10-20 people that turned out to be quite the smorgasbord!

On the menu:
- Albacore sashimi
- Yellowfin sashimi
- Tuna poke
- Seared albacore
- Grilled squid
- Seaweed salad (purchased)
- Deep-fried wings, spicy and non-spicy (purchased)
- Shrimp tempura (purchased)
- Roasted tuna collar
- Roasted calico bass
- Sauteed mushrooms
- Home-made sauces
- Sesame-lotus balls (purchased)
- Melon ice cream bars (purchased)

I told the chef he was doing a Dinner: Impossible meal. And it truly was quite a feat! The fish arrived at around 6:30 p.m., and by 8:00 p.m., everything was on the table, ready to go! And everything tasted amazing. There's nothing quite like fresh sashimi--the texture practically melts in your mouth, and the flavors aren't nearly as fishy as they get when they've been sitting around for awhile. Of course fresh fish is the best start to a good tuna poke, with crushed macadamia nuts and sliced green onions. (*bite* "Oh, it's tuna, so soft and so firm." *bite* "Oh my! It's a crunchy macadamia nut--so crunchy and yet full-bodied!") The rich mix of textures makes this dish totally worthwhile, and so easy to make at home with crushed macadamia nuts and pre-made mix for the onions and fixings.

On the hot-cooked side, you know when I neglect the sauteed mushrooms and the shrimp tempura, typically two of my most cherished and beloved items on any menu, that the dinner is delicious! The roasted collar and calico bass were so tender, and so well prepared, like the first time DD cooked it for me. The seasoning is simple enough, with sea salt and some soy sauce, but when you bite into a tender, moist, warm and rich piece of fish and then bite into a small taste explosion of sea salt, at first it seems shocking, but after awhile, you realize it's the perfect complement and it's simply HEAVEN. Toss in a fork full of rice, and you're all set to be full and dying to go back for seconds and thirds.

I put down two plates and I wish I had room for more, since there was still more food to be had. DD and I talked on the way home about how wonderful the calico bass would taste over a bowl of ramen, and I couldn't help but to thank God for blessing me with so many people who love FOOD. Bons vivants forever!

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I confess, I don't remember the egregious offense. Maybe it was him blowing into my face while he was almost drunk, but I can't quite remember exactly what it was that PP did to cause him to ask, "How can I make it up to you?" Before thinking, I kicked off the smart-ass auto-response. Of course! "Be my slave."

Before I knew it, we were negotiating the terms, deciding that yesterday at noon was too late to start for a whole day, and that he would start the next day. He even text messaged me to ask what I wanted for breakfast. And when offered money, he politely declined. (I would have left money at his desk, but he moved desks and I don't know where he sits anymore.) This is how I was greeted this morning at my desk:

Okay, I admit, that's pretty damn cute. LOL. PP and I are both the resident OCD people in the office, providing Tide detergent sticks, hand sanitizer, 409 spray, and computer air cans to the rest of the people in the office, in vague hopes that everyone else will live as cleanly as we do... (We fail in an office of people who can barely shower, no less keep their desks clean.) That aside, this is such an OCD thing to do. Four packets of ketchup, a packet of salt and pepper, a container of salsa, a stack of napkins, and a knife and fork, all aligned at proper 90 degree angles, except the salt and pepper, which were delicately angled for effect. What could possibly warrant all of these bells and whistles, you ask?

A sausage and egg muffin. Mmmmmmm.... The cafe downstairs from where I work, Cafe 201, serves this grilled work of art every morning, sometimes with more eggs, sometimes with more cheese, and each time a heart-stopping (literally) stack of fatty goodness. Their sausage Chipotle burrito is also amazing. It's not much to look at and it's a disaster to try to eat without getting your hands all oily and greasy, but it's far worth the walk to the bathroom to wash your hands (and, let's face it--burn off some of that fat you just ate).

Again, I guess I'm just a sucker for breakfast.

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Yeah, I was expecting more.

After hearing so much about Chef Joseph Citron, I was expecting Cache Restaurant to knock my socks off. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't bad.... Probably around a 7.... So "good"..... Just not orgasmic.

My list of complaints could go on forever, but the foie gras was bland (but it's seared foie gras, so I can't complain too much), the pork was sort of bland as well with no zest, the steak was mediocre (just a basic wine reduction), and the pizza almost looked soggy. Nobody finished their meals, and there was absolutely no commentary amongst a table of fellow bons vivants. Just silence. Almost as if there was some unspoken assumption that the food wasn't that good and we shouldn't speak of it.

After we paid our bill, we made our way over to a Whole Foods, where A picked up some blessings and gifts for his bartender friends at Grace. Now THERE was a place of brilliance! I had one of the bartenders mix me my usual: "Something girly and strong" (you'd be suprised at all the fun drinks I get). This time, it was an inspired strawberry martini--only instead of stopping at pureed strawberry, slices of strawberry, and vodka, he chose to mix in some crushed thyme, which was faint and distinct enough to prolong that "fresh, first bite of cold strawberry" sensation. It was rather brilliant! Long after the drink went cold, that fresh sensation lingered. Wonderful!

The group also split some mini donuts, which are taste explosions in your mouth. Sweet and spicy and sour and salty and cinnamonny and fruity and doughy all in one taste, with a scoop of ice cream in the middle. Literally. A taste explosion. I have no had anything like this, EVER. I loved it! And T said they change it up every week, which only inspires me to keep going, maybe next time to try the food. Grace might have been a far better pick than Cache, with comparable ambiance, and MUCH better drinks and desserts. Can't wait to try and review the full menu!

Cache Restaurant
3110 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA
http://www.cacherestaurant.com/

Grace
7360 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
http://www.gracerestaurant.com/

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EDIT (10/2009): This place was just closed. :(

The only other time I can remember having food that made me feel like I was in a puebla in the middle of New Mexico (aside from when I was in New Mexico) was at Mesa, Bobby Flay's restaurant in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas. Bobby Flay, from Iron Chef and on Throwdown, is very clearly a lover of all the spices and seasonings and flavors of the Southwest, those zesty combinations that remind you that we live so damn close to Mexico.

I know I might get some hate mail for this, but I didn't like Mesa. I'm not a fan of Southwest cuisine, opting instead for the fresher Mexican flavors of Baja Mexico. Southwestern cuisine seems to heavy, sometimes too spicy, sometimes too sour, sometimes too.... tomato-ey. I didn't like what I had at Mesa, or anything I tried from anyone else's dish. And this is at the restaurant belonged to an IRON CHEF.

So enter Wilson. Located in the burgeoning social district of downtown Culver City, Wilson is just off the restaurant strip, which is perfect for the quiet ambiance for this semi-kitchy restaurant with plastic chairs. Despite the patio furniture indoors and the lamps that looked like they came from Ikea, the place looked surprisingly CLASSY. Walking past the full bar, DD and I sat ourselves in the far corner, where we got a glimpse of the rest of the restaurant and giant mural of chefs rejoicing.

And did they have something to rejoice!

For drinks, DD had a Belgian beer, Delirium Tremens, which was tart, but fresh. I tried ordering the cherry margarita (quite a curiosity!), but they had just run out. I opted instead for the strawberry margarita, which went down like a smoothie. Beautiful. Our starters consisted of ceviche and grilled octopus. Let me stop for a moment, because it hardly does justice to even put these two items in the same sentence--they each deserve their own epic poems.

The ceviche was not your average ceviche. I've had home made ceviches, ceviches made in Mexican restaurants, and ceviches made in Grand Hyatt hotels, and they're all.... je ne sais quoi. Too tart. Too sour. Too.... fishy. They're all a little too much of something, or they're completely bland. This was seasoned to PERFECTION. You tasted the tartness, the sourness, the fishiness, the flavors of the tomato and onion, and yet it wasn't overwhelming. It was perfectly balanced in every way, and perfectly complemented by fried and salted tortillas. Delicious!

Also cooked to perfection was the octopus. The grilled octopus may as well have been flank steak, it was seasoned and grilled so beautifully. While usual preparations of octopus are chewy and leave the diner looking for something to wash it down with, this octopus looked exactly like grilled vegetables and tasted like a steak. When you bit into it, you got it on the first bite, and if you tried, you could probably separate it with a fork. It was so tender and so juicy, and yet you got so much richness of the grilled, charred taste without so much as a hint of burnt taste. It was an opus! (Har har har.)

The main courses were equally impressive, a plate of lengua (tongue) and a soft shell crab burrito, one dish a hard-core return to Mexican roots and the other a defiant Cali-Mex fusion. And while tongue is usually chewy and tough (actually one of the things I love about it), this lengua was refreshingly soft, cutting like butter with a generous side of fat to make it tender and rich. The slices, which usually come out 1-2" in diameter and 1/2" thick, came out looking like slices of filet mignon. One slice was actually 1" thick and 3-4" in diameter. I couldn't finish it, no less work on the side of popcorn tossed in Tapatio we had also ordered (you can see it at the top of the next picture).

DD worked on his softshell crab burrito for awhile, finally opting to eat the goods and skip the whole tortilla and burrito concept, a strategy becoming of El Tepeyac (an LA burrito pilgrimage). The soft shell crab was cooked to perfection, not too tender and not too crispy, and the flavors were so refreshing, they were Southwest meets Baja. The ingredients were clearly fresh, and the flavors were so tangy and zesty that you couldn't help but want more. This seemingly obnoxious fusion was actually very inspired and flavorful, with light vegetables and rice to complement the ensemble.

Would I go again? Hell yeah, if only to try the cherry margarita this time. Would I recommend it? Only to someone who wants to try an inspired twist on Mexican food and hate on every other ceviche they've ever had in their entire life.

Wilson Cafe + Bar
8631 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
http://www.wilsonfoodandwine.com/

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Really, need I say more?

For those of you who have the pleasure of visiting the West Coast, make it your Harold and Kumar mission to find an In-N-Out. It will change your life.

For those of you familiar with In-N-Out, doesn't just seeing the red palm trees on white cups and wrappers make you drool? That's because they offer fresh meat that's never been frozen, handcut fries, handcut lettuce, and all sort of other tough manual labor and suffering that makes everything apparently taste better. (Actually, they manually run the items through machines and manually pull levers and crank devices to cut and churn everything, so the machines do virtually all the work. So much for claim to fame.)

The result?

A luscious, juicy burger topped with American cheese made to your liking. How do you know it's going to be to your liking? Because you can not only custom-order the food, but you can also order items not on the menu! In-N-Out is notorious for only having something like 10 items on their real menu, relying on attendees to know there's a secret menu with all sort of other items or combinations of existing arrangements. You can get fries ordered extra crispy or burgers "animal style" with tons of sauce and cheese and onions or fries ordered "animal style". The sky is the limit!

The end result? One of the best fast food meals you'll ever have for something in the general range of $6-7. Toss in a chocolate milkshake, and you know you'll be working extra long at the gym tomorrow.

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These are dangos. Born before we ever saw the first deep-fried candy bars, deep fried ice cream, or deep fried soda, these deep fried balls of dough are a staple of LA festivals like Tofu Festival, Lotus Festival, and Nisei Week. Tofu Festival was cancelled two years ago, after the likes of Tofu Ninja and Tofuzilla, due to lack of a large enough venue. (And I was looking forward to the next tofu mascot.) Lotus Festival this year was so dull that DD and I ended up buying food from a Mexican vendor off the street, hovering just outside the perimeter of the festival, waiting on people like us, who just didn't find anything appealing in the suprisingly large food court. We munched happily on duros and corn slathered in mayo and parmesan cheese, though I still wistfully longed for deep fried dango goodness...

Nisei Week to save the day! Though the Nisei Festival (J-Town, Aug. 15-23, 2009) was considerably smaller than either of the other two festivals, of the 5-6 food booths they had, DD and I were able to buy four powdered sugar-covered dangos and a couple Asahi beers for less than $10. And while these (in my humble opinion) didn't compare to how I remember Island Dangos tasting, they were still enough to soothe the craving and remind me of why I deal with the parking and the crowds and the funky entertainment at any festival: deep fried dough balls covered in sugar!

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I have always been a fan of breakfast. Any meal that inherently requires frying foods, using oil and butter, and sizzling on flat griddles is automatically BOMB in my book. The smell of eggs reminds me of Saturday mornings at home, when Mom used to make scrambled eggs with any variety of breakfast foods. Some days it was taco meat for breakfast burritos. Some days it was egg-battered toast with powdered sugar for French toast. Other days it was simply eggs and bacon. But through it all, the Asian in her always served it with RICE.

Meet the Kenny's Special. The inspired creation at Kenny's Coffee Shop, located on the corner of Grand and 28th Street. This non-descript building in the middle of run-down South Central is an oasis of flavors and home-made loving. Inside, you'll see bright green walls, adorned with pictures of past guests and fellow bons vivants who have cherished this hallowed haven of good greasy food.

The Kenny's Special consists of one to two pieces of beef steak, adorned with their homemade teriyaki sauce--a thick mix of brown sugar and soy sauce. On the other side, you'll receive a generous helping of fried slices of kielbasa sausage, fit for a king. Perfectly cooked, these tender morsels of love are fully cooked and yet not burned--so as to retain the moisture and that small dose of sausage oils that splash out when you take a bite. Genius. In the last corner, a fried egg--a necessity for any breakfast. Think you're drooling yet? The whole thing tops a huge mound of FRIED RICE. Off to the side, they provide an extra helping of teriyaki sauce and some pickled onions, which I hardly touch because I'm too busy devouring every bit of fried goodness in front of me. "Impressive" was the word used when someone heard I had finished every last bit of food and grain of rice in the Kenny's Special. Yes, it was that good.

And while the occasional excursion to Kenny's is entirely worth it, sometimes you just want that homecooked loving in the privacy of your own home. Sunday mornings were born for this sort of loving. Breakfasts at my place include sausage and bacon and spam and Chinese sausage, with eggs sunny side up and sometimes a mimosa to kick things up. Each dish, of course, is always served over a generous helping of rice.

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Let me start by saying what I have always said to my friends and family:
New York City is my affair, my mistress, my lover, and Los Angeles is the love of my life.

An LA girl at heart, I have been to NYC at least once a year to enjoy not only the atmosphere, but also the 5-star restaurants and the hot dog vendors on the street, who sometimes oh-so-kindly cut me a slice of the lamb rotisserie to top the hot dog. Heaven.

Since I left Los Angeles after college, I didn't get a considerable amount of time to explore the finer restaurants in LA, so I didn't know they existed. Yes, I had been the the generic Beverly Hills restaurants--the Lawry's and Porterhouse Bistros and Stinking Roses of the world--but I hadn't been to any restaurants which compared to New York's fine gourmet dining.

....Until I went to Maison Akira.

Maison Akira, located in Pasadena, CA, is home to Chef Akira, a chef who combines French and Japanese influence into dishes that pay stunning attention to detail, play on the senses, and touch the most complementary parts of the pallate. In short, the meal was orgasmic.

DD and I opted for the 9-course tasting menu, which encompassed almost every prized dish on the menu. The chef paid such amazing attention to detail that he even interspersed small servings of raspberry sorbet to cleanse the pallate after a fish dish!

It was after this inspired meal that my man and I decided it would be a failure NOT to get what they called the "Hollywood Bowl Bento Boxes" for our recent excursion to the Hollywood Bowl. These boxes of brilliance were designed to bring to the classiest picnic you ever had at the Hollywood Bowl, before going into the show. Needless to say, this meal continued to excite and awe, and was nothing short of brilliant.



The menu:
- Soba Pasta Salad
- Shrimp Cocktail
- House Smoked Duck Breast
- House Smoked Salmon
- French Cheese
- Salami & Garlic Sausage
- Ratatouille Nicoise
- Assorted Vegetables
- Bread, Butter and all necessary utensils

Main Course:
Miso Marinated Chilean Sea Bass & Grilled Sliced Chicken Breast
Or
Miso Marinated Chilean Sea Bass & Kobe Steak (add $8.00)

Dessert:
Apple Tart with Caramel Sauce

The price? A mere $25. Can I buy this for a regular dinner without the Hollywood Bowl?

Every single thing that the chef prepared was delicious, and DD and I only left the steamed vegetables and the bread behind, since we knew the chef didn't do anything special to them. Every item was a crescendo, leading to the next item, which was even more explosive. The finishers, the kobe steak and the sea bass, were beyond words. Needless to say, the meal was eaten in silence, with occasional sounds of contentment.

I confess, Maison Akira rivaled Gramercy Tavern and Jean-Georges. New York, something tells me LA is about to give you a run for your money.

Maison Akira

713 E Green Street, Pasadena, CA

http://www.maisonakira.com/

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