February 10, 2008 2

Yungui Garden (Monterey Park)

//// By in 01: San Gabriel

Craving a bowl of delicious spicy noodle, we went to this joint at Monterey park specialized in Yunnan and Szechuan Province cuisine.

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From the 3 for $3.50 deli section: pickled cucumber and various spicy pork and beef tendon. Yunnan style Ja Jiang Mien.

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This is the noodle I always get (instead of the famous “Across Bridge Noodle”). Yunnan Noodles with Special Sauce. Even though this came with soup, I prefer it dry. Strong flavorful spicy sauce with marinated pork on smooth rice noodles, very tasty but also very oily.

Yungui Garden
301 N. Garfield ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754

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February 6, 2008 2

NOÉ at the Omni (Downtown)

//// By in 06: Downtown LA

I’m sure many of you know about the dineLA Restaurant Week that started a week ago (ends this weekend). Each participating restaurant would prepare a $35 Prix-fixe dinner menu (or $25 Lunch). It’s a golden opportunity to try some of the high end places, the popular ones such as Grace were fully booked weeks ago already.

We tried NOÉ at the Downtown Omni Hotel last weekend.

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Another good opportunity is to lure us to places we normally wouldn’t check out (location, $$$, etc).

For a $35 Prix-fixe menu (normally at $60):
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You picked the bread from server’s basket, served with truffle butter. Amuse Bouche: tuna sashimi with crab salad.

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For Appertizer there’re two choices: Warm Asparagus Salad with Hazelnut Vinaigrette or Potato and Winter Truffle Soup.

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Entrees: either the Cornish Hen Roulade with Foie Gras (tiny portion, and where’s the foie gras?) or Bouillabaisse with Wild Fish and Shellfish (very tiny plate with one mussel, one shrimp, one scallop).

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One dessert choice: Berry Cobbler with Chimay Ice Cream. Hmm….

The entire course was very mediocre (really nothing to say). To think that normally this cost $60!? I’m astonished.

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February 6, 2008 3

Scallops and saffron cream sauce spaghetti

//// By in Food: Kitchen

IMG_0221.jpg I got some “affordable” saffron from Trader Joe so I wanted to try cooking with it. I always love the seafood cream sauce spaghetti from Akane Chaya so I found a recipes from the internet that’s quite similar to it. The ingredients were easy to prepare, just lots of chopped shallots and butter with some cream added in the end. However I didn’t have white wine so I ended up using the leftover sweet champagne in my fridge which made the dish more sweet than it should. I didn’t dare to use more of it even though the sauce could be thin down a bit more. It’s still very tasty!

January 30, 2008 7

The Hungry Cat (Hollywood)

//// By in 08: Hollywood, Favorite Food Entries

Hungry Cats was under renovation at the end of 2007 by taking up the former painfully i-knew-it-wouldn’t-work short-lived Schwab space. Now not only there’s a new raw seafood bar, they updated their menu to be even more seafood based as well. The more premium line-up just look absolutely mouth-watering.

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You can get LAMILL Coffee here!

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Red Snapper Tartare, Apple, Jalapeno, Mint $15, so delicious!

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Sea Urchin Half Shell $15 Very fresh, but a bit thin and not as creamy and ‘sweet’ as I expected.

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IMG_0269.jpg“Northumberland” Oyster stew $12 This took awhile to come but the wait was worth it. Huge bowl with 3 silky oyster pieces, the stew has really irresistible fresh seafood flavor. It’s so good!

Everything is shared among Joan and I, what a gourmet work day lunch~ Compare to before (see old entry here and here), lunch-wise, it seems to have gone a bit more refine (maybe it just depends on what we order), I like it~

The Hungry Cat
1535 N Vine St. Hollywood, CA 90028

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January 29, 2008 3

Canelé (Atwater Village)

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

We went to the Atwater Village neighborhood sensation Canele when it first opened (see old entry ). I always thought their menu seems inspiring that I felt like trying everything.

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Squash Soup with Dates. The date is a strange addition as it’s not really part of the taste unless you chew on it.

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My partner wasn’t hungry so he ordered the cheese plate. Nice selection.

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Pan-seared Red Snapper – cooked just right to be juicy and smooth, but lacking in flavor (with only some herbs, garlic and oil). Lots of bone-picking. The side potatoes are good but very greasy, I often need the capers from the potatoes to spice up the flavors.

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Flourless Orange Cake. After a couple bites it got a bit scary as every mouthful is soaked with butters.

The canele given when you leave the door was a bit cold and stale. (Oh I missed them so much).

I re-read what I wrote in the past entry and notice the keyword: buttery and oily. This is the same overwhelming impression I have this time as well. I feel like gulping down some schnapps afterward.

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