January 9, 2009 2

Citron (Palm Springs)

//// By in 05: US Other

Upscale hotel chain Viceroy has one at Palm Springs. The French restaurant Citron inside seems a bit pricey and expected. So we came here for breakfast only (we stayed next door).

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Beautiful pool and very designed, but I think our next door pool (just as nice) was bigger and more comfy.

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Farmer’s Market Vegetable Omelet with basil pesto, feta cheese. Incredibly tasty even if it’s just with vegetable. The feta cheese made it a bit rich and filling.

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Il Tegamino: poached farm egg, spring vegetables, parmesano reggiano, garden herbs, aged balsamic vinegar. I think it is that wonderfully rich and delicious aged balsamic vinegar that made this simple dish extraordinary. I feel like tasting different flavors in every bite. SO GOOD!

There’re a lot of details went into these two plates, everything is carefully sauteed and seasoned that you felt like there’re mutliple flavors going on (that go together). Seeing how well made the breakfast are, their dinner should be good too. Next time~

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January 9, 2009 1

Johannes (Palm Springs)

//// By in 05: US Other

Went to Palm Springs over the holidays. It’s not known as gourmet town out there in the desert (even though there are a lot of $$$ steakhouses), but we did found some pleasant surprises!

During research, the food from Johannes during research was described as “cosmopolitan” and “Pan-Asian-Austrian cuisine.” It sounded like one of the more exciting restaurants in that region.

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The Mushroom soup is absolutely fine! So delicious~

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Roasted Foie Gras with Gooseberries, the used of berries gave a nice winter central European flavor. I thought the foie gras are a bit under seasoned and the berries are a bit too sweet and sour for it.

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Kangaroo with Plum Sauce and Roasted Bosc Pear. Wow the Kangaroo meat is so lean and tender, very flavorful and tasty. The pear gave a very ‘perfumed’ winter spice flavor.

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Vietnamese Tiger Prawns and Yellow Thai Curry Sauce. The prawn are so fresh and sweet. The curry sauce is light but tasty.

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Dessert sampler (from right to left): Apple Strudel “The Best Ever” (despite the quotation remark, I was never a fan of aple strudel). Tahitian Vanilla Creme Brulee. Bread Pudding.

Hearty but not heavy, it was a very good winter meal. The sauce and flavors tend to run a bit toward the sweet side because of the fruity berries ingredients, but I enjoyed all the dishes nontheless. The fusion menu looked exciting and I feel like trying more.

Johannes Restaurant

196 S Indian Canyon Dr Palm Springs, CA 92262-6604

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December 30, 2008 4

Central Basco Restaurant (Chino)

//// By in 18: Greater LA, Favorite Food Entries

Centro Basco specialized in Basque cuisine. Basques is a small region between the border of Spain and France that has their own language and culture. Seems like this place is a gathering place for the community of Basque people in LA. Most of the customers are white hair elders (men with beret hat especially) who speak the Basque language.

Every Sunday they have a special set lunch menu, the day I went was ‘Blood Sausage.” My friends said they’ve had “oxtail” before which was absolutely divine.

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The lunch room opens at at 12:30pm. People gathered at the bar area (very crowded) to drink and chat. When the bell rang, everyone lined up and waited to enter the dining hall.

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The dining rooms are very spacious. Most are communal tables. Our party had about 24 people, so we occupied the longest table in the house. There’re also lots of charming historic and personal photos and paintings on the wall.

The meal is served family style. Each table are served with:

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Homemade bread, wine and Cheese. They have their own winery. It’s practically an all-you-can-drink feast. The bread and bleu cheese was so good!

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Delicious salad and vegetable soup (I’m already a little full by this point). They will bring out more on your request.

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Lamb: incredible! I heard that Basque cuisine consist mainly of stew meat. The meat is so tender with deep flavors. I can’t stop eating more of this, even knowing the main course is coming up.

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Blood Sausage. Wow this is fantastic~ the ones I’ve had before simply can’t compare. There seems to be some tongue meat mixed in so they have very good textures (and not gooey). It is so tasty.

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The giant Flan for table to share. It doesn’t look too pretty but it’s actually very good and not too sweet. What a satisfying yummy feast and a very unique experience as well. Didn’t feel like LA at all!

Central Basco Restaurant (909) 628-9014
13432 Central Ave, Chino, CA 91710

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December 29, 2008 3

A&J Restaurant (Alhambra)

//// By in 01: San Gabriel

It’s holiday time so we’re very behind in update.

A&J Noodle is known to have very good Taiwanese Beef Noodle. We tried to come here in the past but it was closed (on a Wednesday).
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Appertizers: Pickled Cucumber, Seaweed. The Pull Pancake is hot and fluffy.

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Chinese Beef Burger is juicy and quite heavy. I love the Taiwanese style fried pork.

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Pig ear. Crispy, crunchy and tasty~

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Beef and Tendon Noodle. Very good! The handmade noodle got a light and good texture, the beef are tender and marinated. The soup is dense with flavors. Though there’re a lot more noodle in the bowl than the accompanied soup + meat.

This place is solid! It’s definitely one of my must go for beef noodles!

A&J Restaurant
1269 E Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91801

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December 11, 2008 5

Animal Restaurant (Fairfax district)

//// By in 09: Weho, Favorite Food Entries

One week after Joan went to Animal Restaurant, I gave it a visit too. On the website it saids their menu changes daily, though it seems like my night was pretty much similar Joan’s night, with some slight tweaks.

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Love the Animal Lunchbox at the bar! We got there at 6 so the place was still empty. But they said there’ll be a party at 8 so we were seated at the bar.

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Burrata, Green olive, Capers, Beets and Organic Raisin $10. This is one of the dishes that varied slightly from Joan’s night. The giant raisins were so sweet that the sweetness almost dominate the plate’s flavor. It’s refreshing and wonderful.

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Foie gras, Biscuit, Maple Sausage Gravy $22. I love Foie gras as always. I could do without the biscuit, but it’s a good separator. The maple sausage gravy was very thick and sweet, it almost could be another small plate dish on its own.

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Pork ribs, Balsamic, Delicata Squash & Rocket Salad, Pecans $15. This was a huge entree size dish. The ribs were very tender. Despite dripping with heavy sauce, the sauce was not too strong tasting.

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Turbot with Sweet Onion and Corn. The fish was slightly overcook but it’s still delicious. The sauce was sweet and buttery, so despite the light flavors it ended up being very heavy and filling.

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Since we were sitting at the bar, we kept hearing the staffs raving about this amazing special pumpkin pie of the night, and that there’re only a limited amount of them available. We were so full (from the unexpected huge Pork ribs plate) already but we felt compelled to try. The Pumpkin Pie is DIVINE tasting! It has spoiled me forever…

Agree with Joan, this is my favorite new place in LA.

Animal (323) 782-9225
435 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

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