May 29, 2009 4

The Nickel Diner (Downtown)

//// By in 06: Downtown LA, Favorite Food Entries

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Heard lots of good things about Nickle Diner, a retro-hip diner at downtown LA. There has been a lot of hyped for it ever since it opened, we tried to go there one time but it was closed. I love the cute window displays very much. The interior looks authentically like a small neighbourhood diner from the 50s. There’s a nice retro feel to the place, the walls and ceiling weren’t perfectly “renovated”, or may be they were made to look aged. Since it was a popular place, we had to wait a bit for a table on a late Sunday morning.

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5th and Main: Spicy BBQ Pork Hash with 2 Eggs $9.25

Wow very delicious! A food coma induced dish, the BBQ sauce and the meat were really good. The runny york of the egg went really well with the sauce. It’s more spicy than I expected.

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I wanted to eat something a little healthier so I got the Stuffed Avacado with quinoa salad, black beans, red peppers, squash, corn and cilantro. $8.50. I also got a side of the chicken apple sausage $2.75. Both were very good. All the ingredients tasted fresh. I’m a big fan of quinoa, and the mixture of beans, peppers, squash, corn and cilantro worked very well. Muliple flavors in every bites.

They’re also famous for the maple glazed bacon donut. Unfortunately we were so fulled by the end of the meal to have room for it. Definitely will come back to try it. Their brunch and lunch menu were reasonably priced, most items were under $10. I’d love to try their dinner as well.

The Nickel Diner
524 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 623-8301

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May 21, 2009 6

Nem Nu’ong Ninh Hoa (Rosemead)

//// By in 01: San Gabriel, Favorite Food Entries

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Nem Nu’ong Ninh Hoa is a Vietnamese restaurant that specializes in grilled pork and banh beo. I was glad to find a Vietnamese restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley area that offers more than just pho. In fact don’t expect to find pho here as there’s only one noodle dish on the menu. We ordered all their specialties, or what we thought were the most interesting items on the menu.

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Nem nuong (Grilled pork) platter. ($13.99) The menu said the platter is for 2 people but I think it’s enough for the 4 of us. The platter includes: 4 grilled pork skewers, 2 pickled pork patties, 2 pork patties grilled in banana leaves, 8 thin shrimp egg rolls. It came with bunch of herbs (cilantro, mint and lettuce) and rice paper. We weren’t exactly sure the proper way to eat the grilled pork so we just use logic and creativity. We tried: 1) dipped the dry rice paper in the water to soften them and wrap the pork, shrimp egg rolls and some herbs with it. 2) Use the lettuce instead of rice paper. Everything was delicious. I especially love the grilled pork patties in banana leaves. The banana leaves gave a nice aroma and subtle flavor to the meat. The pickled pork patties was interesting too, they had a subtle sour flavor to them (lime?) and the texture was springy.

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Two servings of Banh beo. A central Vietnamese dish, one serving contains 12 little dishes of steamed rice cake topped with dried shrimp flakes. We got 2 servings under the waiter’s recommendation but I found it to be too much for us, even though we manage to finish all of them. It’s served with sweet fish sauce. Tasty but I think I don’t need to eat more than 4 of them since they get a bit one note.

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The only noodle on the menu: The Chefs special – Bun bo hue. Again it’s a central Vietnamese dish, it’s a beef noodle soup with beef shank, oxtail, pig feet and pig blood. The noodle was thicker than the usual ones in pho. The soup was very flavorful, you could taste the lemongrass in the beef broth and it’s not too spicy. The meat were tender.

All three dishes were fantastic. Next time I go there I would get them again. It’s nice that they offer specialty dishes you don’t see often in other Vietnamese places.

Nem Nu’ong Ninh Hoa
9016 Mission Dr. Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 286-3370

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May 11, 2009 3

Seed (Venice)

//// By in 15: Venice

I found this small macrobiotic vegan cafe called Seed nearby where I worked. Its clean, minimal and natural decor  is a breath of fresh air among that grungy part of Venice.

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The menu is surprisingly well rounded: salad, rice bowl, curry bowls, panini, burgers and dessert.

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Saisai Donburi Macro Bowl $12 contains: Kabocha, kale, shiitake, arame, bean sprouts, sauerkraut, daily bean, brown rice with balsamic-miso sauce. Very full and healthy tasting (I could do without the beans). The sauce is a bit too sour for my preference.

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Blackened Tempeh Burger with Sauerkraut with house mango salsa and mustard-vegenaise spread. Very yummy! The very puffy buns are very nicely toasted.

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Italian Soysage Panini $10.50 with roasted red pepper, arugula, vegan soy cheese and pesto. The ‘soysage’ is surprisingly tasty…actually the whole combination is delicious. The vegan soy cheese taste more like cooked egg white.

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Awesome Sweet Potato Fries! $4.5  The condiments are Japanese style.

Too bad their price is a bit too high for an everyday work lunch, but I like the space and pleasantly surprise by how yummy the food are. If I would ever commit to a Vegan diet, eating like this wouldn’t be so bad at all.

Seed
1604 Pacific Ave Venice, CA 90291

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May 11, 2009 1

Danny’s Venice Deli (Venice)

//// By in 15: Venice

I was working near the Venice beach and was looking for places to eat. I came into this restaurant despite it giving a tourist vibe with its huge space and “famous people from Venice” caricatures on the wall. The menu looks like a mix of Californian, diner comfort food and Jewish deli.

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The Famous Venice Plunge with Certified Angus Pastrami $12.95 The french roll is fresh and puffy, and the pastrami is pretty good. But the price is very ‘tourist’.

Danny’s Venice Deli
23 Windward Ave. Venice, CA 90291

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May 8, 2009 Off

Huckleberry (Santa Monica)

//// By in 16: Santa Monica

Another new breakfast place to try!

Huckleberry is a new bakery in Santa Monica. I came here on a Tuesday only to find out they open on Wed-Sun. So I came back on a crowded (expected) Sunday morning.

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Customers aren’t supposed to wait in a table without an ordering number at the counter (long queue), but some people still do it anyway.

I wasn’t in the mood for carb so I didn’t try their bake goods (which looks good). The breakfast menu is a bit limited and $$ though (such as $10 for Granola).

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Poached Eggs with Farmer’s Market Vegetables. $12  I picked the same item as my previous entry Bottega Louie to compare. The flavor is light and the veggie choices are common lack varieties (green beans!?).  The heirloom tomatoes are so sweet and nice though. I expected so much more,  so definitely not worth the price.

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Green Eggs and Ham. $12  I was expecting something like this, turns out it’s more like Eggs Benedict with green sauce. The muffins are good but overall nothing special.

The ingredients are fresh and all but our impression was a ‘meh.’ Perhaps the popular Bread pudding would have been redeeming? We were going to get it but after the not so satisfying meal we decided to forget it. The crowd and stressful environment kind of defeat the purpose of a ‘lazy Sunday morning” as well.

Huckleberry
1014 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90401

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