January 18, 2007 2

The Kitchen (Valley)

//// By in 01: San Gabriel

Read a review on a new Dim Sum place The Kitchen on last week issue of LA weekly. Of course we had to check it out right away.

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Turnip pastry is great! I’ve haven’t seen this dim sum item at other dim sum joint. Marinated fish jelly and pork, the sauce on the jelly fish is sweeter than ones I usually have and I love it.

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Macau Baked EggTart, the top is not as burnt as I like, but the crust is fresh and crispy. Mushroom Shiu Mai with Abalone, a creative gourmet take on the traditional shiu mai, very good!

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The skin of steamed Shrimp Dumplings is really nice. They’re thin, soft yet springy. Color is translucent, which is a good indication of what good shrimp dumplings should look like. XO Sauce Turnip Cake, they don’t offer the traditional pan-friend turnip cake (one of my most favorite dim-sum item). This is their take on pan fried turnip cakes with xo sauce which is delicious. But I still crave for the traditional kind more.

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Country Style Tofu with Shrimp, chinese name for that type of tofu is 玉子, it’s a special type of tofu that’s incredible smooth and soft while the textxure is firm and springy at the same time. The shrimp cake on top of the tofu is delicious as well. Definitely a highlight of the bunch. The Stuffed Taro is rather bland tasting and too oily though.

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Sweet Ricejongs with Abalone (chinese name is “Pearl chicken”) reminds me New concept‘s but I think The Kitchen‘s are better. There’re more abalone pieces too. The Scallops Rice Noodle Roll got good soft and springy skin, another good indication of “good dim sum”.

Overall I’m very impressed with this new dim sum joint. One unusual thing about this place compare with most Chinese restaurant is that, it heavily show case the chef/owner behind it.

The Kitchen
203 W. Valley Blvd., Alhambra
(626) 289-4828.

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January 17, 2007 8

Fred 62 (Los Feliz)

//// By in 04: Los Feliz

I had dinner with my friends at the 24 hours opened hipster diner Fred 62 (blogged it long time ago) for some organic comfort food!
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Onion Rings. Both of my friends ordered the Chicken Potpie, very gourmet presentation!

As for me, I ordered breakfast…^^;;
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Hash Brown and Sausage
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Pancake Tartin: topped with Caramelized Apples. Oh so good~ The pancake was airy and light, though a bit burnt at the bottom. The caramelized apple added a crispy layer and sweet+sour flavor~

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Apple Punk Tart with Pumpkin Icecream. Crispy pastry, very good!

Check out their menu for all those fun sounding pancakes! Very satisfied!

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January 16, 2007 2

Gaja Moc Restaurant (Lomita)

//// By in 17: South Bay

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It’s been awhile since we last had do-it-yourself Okonomiyaki. We blogged Tombo long time ago and since then, whenever we tried to go there it’s close. I hope it’s not close down? Finally made it to another do-it-yourself Okonomiyaki Gaja Mo that’s way over at Lomita. We got the “most popular no.1” Modern Mix, Not sure why it’s called that, it’s mixed seafood with pork.

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Lots of different sauces on the table. We just followed the instruction sheet, Jon handled most of the cooking. And well as you can see in the picture, it doesn’t turn out too perfectly ^^;; It just fell apart when we flip it. Probably easier if there weren’t so many chunky pieces.

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Next we had the Spicy Mentaiko and cheese monjya-yaki. Again we didn’t do that good of a job cooking it. Some of the mochi didn’t melt completely. But it taste good anyways.

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Japanese jelly in vinegar sauce, a very strange tasting “dessert” indeed. It’s taste like…vingegar with jelly! It’s good for clearing the okonomiyaki taste from your mouth.

There are many other Okonomiyaki and Monjayaki mix on the menu. I can’t wait to go back to try the others, even though it’s quite a drive to get there. They also have Japanese style pasta, yakiniku, yakisoba and noodles on the menu too.

Gaja Moc Restaurant
2383 Lomita Blvd. #102, Lomita, CA 90717
(310)534-0153

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January 12, 2007 9

Chameau (Fairfax District)

//// By in 09: Weho

French Moroccan restaurant Chameau has been on top of my ‘always wanted to try but never made it’ list.
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The lights, the colors, the textures! Modern
interpretation of Traditional Morocaan decor~ We’re too in awe by the interior, it was hard to concentrate on the menu…^^;;

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Cinnamony Sangria and very soft and incredible Seseme bread, the olives are good too. However, we waited and waited forever for the bread. The waiter came by once to tell us they had to re-bake the bread as the previous batch was burnt. The bread eventually came after we reminded them twice (came with the appertizer). This slowness was alarming and will prove to persist thru-out the night.

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Duck Bastilla with Sweet Almonds, cinnamon and cilantro $10. Smokey grounded duck with this complex blend of sweet and salty flavors and crunchy and crispy texture, I love it! This is just too good~

After that incredible appertizer, we must have waited for almost 20-30 minutes for our entrees. -__-;;;

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Grilled Lamb chops with smoked eggplant puree and red pepper jus $24 Joan ordered this medium rare, but when they came it’s well done. By then we waited too long for the food to complain. We mentioned it when the waiter came by to ask, he quickly dash to the kitchen to bring out 2 newly grilled lamb chops. This time the timing is perfect. Very good~

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I got the couscous entree: Lamb Shank Tagine with a Honeyed Quince and Vegetable Couscous $24. This is cooked in traditional couscousiere. The lamb shank is very tender, moist and spiced. The couscous are moist as well, very lovely to eat (feels so pillowy~). There’re so many different types of colorful veggie. This entire plate is so tasty~

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Mint Tea and Raspberry Cream Bastilla. Easily one of the most delicious dessert ever! *_* It’s similar to the duck Bastilla texture wise: lots of pine nuts, sweet glazed almond, cinnamon, sugar, fruits inbetween the crispy pastries. The cream at the center is so airy and light, very fresh tasting. Even though our stomachs were bursting we just have to finish this.

Even though there are many tables came after us, we were the only table left by the end. Perhaps due to under staff (the entire place only has 1 waiter and 1 bus boy. The hostess wasn’t present when we arrived), our dishes took way longer than normal. On the same night, there were overbaked burnt bread and overcooked lamb…is something wrong with the timer… (or understaff in kitchen as well so the lack of attention…?)

But the food and interior are absolutely amazing, it is too bad that the service was a little slow. The menu has many interesting dishes, we would definitely go back!

Chameau
339 N Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 951-0039

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January 10, 2007 2

Nicky D’s Wood-Fired Pizza (Silver lake)

//// By in 05: Silver Lake + Echo Park

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Nicky D’Lux, toppings are pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, black olive, green bell pepper and onion. The toppings and sauce are tasty in the traditional pizza way. It’s good but not particularly special (since I’m not a huge fan of pizza, the creative toppings/sauce like Mozza‘s appeals to me more). Though I love the crust very much! It’s traditional style, thin, cripsy outside soft inside. Delicious~~

DSCN9559.jpgI love the cozy interior a lot, looks like someone’s home. They even lit the fireplace. I like that their pizzas comes in 3 different sizes. Also you can do different toppings on one pizza, wished I knew that ahead of time since I also wanted to try the garlic clam pizza.

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