Epicurious Eats

The Backyard Cafe - the 2009-2010 Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl

2011-05-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

May 1, 2011

The tenth place on our cheeseburger crawl was The Backyard Cafe, a relatively new restaurant (by cheeseburger crawl standards - it only opened up in the last three years) in West Columbia. The first thing to note about this place is that it is really far away from the center of downtown Columbia, about a solid 20 minute drive...I really wish it was closer, because I would probably be going there much more often, but it is a bit far away for lunch if you want a quick bite to eat and you are in downtown. The second, more noticeable thing about this restaurant is that it is in a small converted one-story ranch house - basically, the outside still looks like a regular ol' house (and is in a residential neighborhood), but the inside walls were all knocked out to provide a homey locale for the Backyard Cafe.

This place was also the source of some drama among our cheeseburger crawl denizens. Yes, you may ask, rightly so: how in the world can you have drama over the rating of cheeseburgers? Well, it can happen - mainly because some of our venerable cheeseburger raters believed the cheeseburger offered at the Backyard Cafe violated our original competition rules - the patty was a lot bigger (more like the places we excluded from our list like Pawley's Front Porch) and it didn't really qualify as a dive or established local place because it has only been around for a couple of years. But, this was one of those times where I decided to put it on the list anyway because I felt that the cheeseburger was just within the bounds of the rules - I call my choice "editorial discretion." =)

At the Backyard Cafe, they offer a whole bunch of other lunch dishes other than the burgers (including homemade ice cream, which is absolutely delicious, btw!), but their burger menu is also pretty varied, with bacon cheeseburgers, chili cheeseburgers, and even a garden burger for vegetarians out there. They don't automatically put ketchup and mustard in the cheeseburgers though - a problem which lowered the scores of Flarké particularly.

A couple of general comments about the cheeseburger: almost everyone who ate the burger (or other sandwiches) raved about their food. I ordered their pimento cheeseburger (pictured above), and thought it was the best I've had in Columbia so far - great quality meat, the patty and the burger bun were just big enough to make for a good-sized burger, without being too hard to eat (a problem I sometimes have with Pawley's Front Porch, but that is another post entirely, I suppose). They also provided a side of dill sauce, which added a great dimension of flavor to the cheeseburger which I liked. Andy excitedly commented: "Clearly, this is the best burger we've had so far - that's what a burger should be like."

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:

Average Rating: 4.125

Epicurious E.: 4.5

Flarké: 3.0

Hambone: 4.5

Andy: 4.5

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: The bun was a regular white burger bun, not toasted.

Meat: It was a thicker patty, nice grill marks, juicy, with a tasty, meaty flavor. Evidently they make handmade patties each day.
Cheese: They have a good variety of cheese toppings - from cheddar to bleu cheese and a homemade pimento. I lived the pimento cheese a lot - it was a really high quality cheese, lots of flavor, yet not too strong to be overpowering, and they melted the cheese well on the burger.
Fries: Slightly thicker-cut steak fries; they were fried perfectly, salted just right.

Presentation and condiments: Because this was a restaurant, they had a leg up on the presentation - a large, black plate for the burger. They did provide ketchup, but as Flarké noted, they didn't automatically put ketchup or mustard in the cheeseburger.

The Kingsman - the 2009-2010 Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl

2011-05-01T19:57:00.004-04:00

May 1, 2011

I know, I am incredibly late on finishing these cheeseburger tour posts, but fortunately, I took notes right after we ate the cheeseburgers at each of these places in 2010, so all the ratings and comments were still preserved for memory, even though it is now 2011. Better late than never, I guess? =P But I will finish up these last couple of posts, if only to make sure that I can declare a winner in the Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl!

The ninth place on our cheeseburger crawl was the Kingsman, a local restaurant on Knox Abbot just over the Blossom St. bridge in the Parkland Shopping Center. It has a wide menu of sandwiches and other lunch fare, but I came here specifically to try their pimento cheeseburger (which is not that easy to find, even around here). During their lunch hour, it is really full and busy with locals - they have a counter up front, as well as two large busy rooms in the back.

At the Kingsman, they offer a whole array of different cheeseburgers, from their "Famous Pimento Burger" to a bacon/mushroom cheeseburger, and a curious-sounding "Kingsman Pizza Burger".

A couple of general comments about the burgers: Flarké said "It's a commentless sort of place...this is the kind of place where you should only have the burger simply with mustard and ketchup, because adding stuff on it messes it up." Both Hambone and I ordered their "Famous Pimento Burger", but noted was that our buns, burger patties, and the pimento cheese were both cold, which was really odd, especially considering that I knew that they were cooking up burgers fresh, because I walked past their cooking area where they were flipping patties. Maybe they were just really busy or having an off day, but it definitely negatively affected the ratings of the cheeseburger.

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:

Average Rating: 2.83

Epicurious E.: 2.0

Flarké: 2.5

Hambone: 3.0

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: The bun was a slimmer white bun, not toasted.

Meat: It was a slimmer patty, and again, the meat was kind of cold. Strange, because it is cooked fresh. Only slightly flavored.

Cheese: They offer a lot of different kinds of cheeses (cheddar, mozzerella, and of course, pimento). The pimento cheese had an interesting flavor – even though it was cold, and not really melted, it had that a sharp pimento as well as a slight cheddar component as well.
Fries: They offered steak fries, which weren't bad, but they could have been crispier.

Presentation and condiments: The burgers came on a simple large white plate; it was appreciated that the burger was already cut in half! They had a nice variety of condiments on the table – both ketchup, A-1 sauce, salt and pepper.

Jestine's Kitchen - Charleston, SC

2011-05-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

May 1, 2011

After living in the South for awhile, I figured it was time to try Jestine's Kitchen because I wanted to see what the restaurant's true identity was - a massive tourist trap with tremendously overrated Southern food, or a venerable Charleston institution that was worthy of the label and the long wait in line. Just reading the reviews made me kind of curious, just to find out if this restaurant was more Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde, because at a certain point, food is either good or not, isn't it? Unfortunately, the answer to that is actually no, it depends on how much experience you have eating a certain food (i.e. have you grown up with a particular cuisine your entire life, or is it your first time eating it?). And yes, there is a long line and wait for this restaurant, especially on the weekends, so if you feel like eating here, unfortunately, it isn't as simple as "let me just show up and try their food."

So, if you're interested in going to Jestine's Kitchen for the first time, I am going to offer two different answers (they are kind of tongue-in-cheek, only because I figure I might as well have some fun with this), depending on which group you fall into, but y'all are first going to have to answer one question: Have you grown up in the South, or lived here for more than five years? If yes, go to answer #1. If you said no, because you are a visitor from the Northeast, Midwest, West coast, or possibly overseas, I suppose, or you haven't lived in the South long enough to be have tried any, or very little, Southern food, then go to answer #2.

Answer #1: You like Southern food. A lot. You don't go outside to go and bbq hot dogs or hamburgers, etc., because you know that bbq is properly used as a noun, not a verb - you obviously go and grill out, or cook out. Sweet tea runs through your veins. You say "Yes Ma'am, Yes Sir" or "No Ma'am, No Sir" and possibly "Bless Your Heart" without thinking twice, and will smack your child silly if they don't do the same thing.

Thus, because you have lived a true Southern life, you are going to be EXTRA irritated by the wait for Jestine's Kitchen. You are going to grouse about it, complain about all the tourists who don't know any better while waiting in line, and then when you finally eat their food, you are going to be able to easily name five or more different restaurants (either meat-and-threes, or southern buffets) off the top of your head that have better Southern food than this place, which you wouldn't have to wait long for. So my advice, if you really still want to see what the big hubbub is about, I advise only trying their food in the wintertime during the low tide of tourist season. Because a long wait isn't worth what you are going to eat, because you have undoubtedly already eaten something better some time during your life here. And Jestine's Kitchen does offer decently good Southern food (although a bit more expensive than usual), just not enough to justify all the craziness you are going to have to experience just to eat it.

Answer #2: You are a visitor that isn't from the South and wants to visit Charleston because you heard it is a nice, charming Southern city (and it is, btw). You do go out and bbq hot dogs/burgers on the weekend or Memorial Day, and have never been corrected on your usage of the word "bbq". When you order "tea" at a restaurant, you expect it to be just regular ol' iced tea without any sugar, or maybe hot in a china cup, but definitely not so saturated with sugar that it could possibly put a diabetic person into an instant coma. If someone says "Yes Ma'am, Yes Sir" or "No Ma'am, No Sir" to you, you are probably going to look at them quizzically and then ask them to call you something else, because when they say that to you, it makes you feel kind of old.

Because you are what Southerners label as a "Yankee" (or even worse, if you are from the crazy West Coast, and don't even get a label), you should go to Jestine's Kitchen for your visit to Charleston whether it is fall, winter, spring, or summer, because it is likely going to be among the best Southern food you are likely ever going to get outside of the South. You will be ok with the wait, because you probably have waited in line for an hour to eat something before, and it really isn't going to be that big of a deal for you, especially because you are on vacation and don't plan to visit Charleston/the South again for a little while at least. The food at Jestine's Kitchen will definitely be the most authentic Southern food that has ever entered your mouth, and you will come out of the restaurant happy that you went.

Ok, now onto the important stuff - the food. =) I came with a bigger party for this meal, and so I got to try a lot more food than I usually do. We ordered an appetizer for the table, an order of fried green tomatoes. It was decent, but I wish the fried batter coating was a bit thicker, because it flaked off it a bit easily.

An order of cornbread - there is no more important accompaniment to any Southern meal than cornbread, and it was decently good here - not dry, and I liked that they put honey with the butter.

The first of several entrees we ordered for the table - a meatloaf sandwich, with some fried okra (yum, I always enjoy fried okra!) and cole slaw.

One of the daily specials that Jestine's Kitchen offers - a shrimp and sausage gumbo. I liked it a lot - it was thick, slightly spicy and very flavorful.

The entree I ordered for myself - some fried chicken. The first thing that caught my eye about this fried chicken platter was how GIGANTIC the fried chicken pieces were. They were seriously the biggest I had seriously ever seen - the photos really don't convey how large it was. Regardless, the fried chicken was good - it was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, decent amount of salt and other spices. Not the best fried chicken I've ever had, but definitely within the second tier of good, quality fried chicken.

The last entree we ordered, the fried pork chop plate, with a side of green beans and mac and cheese. This pork chop was pretty delicious - I loved the breading on the pork chop, and it was decently juicy on the inside as well.

For dessert, we ordered a slice of Jestine's Kitchen's coca-cola cake. This was an excellent slice of cake - admittedly, I didn't taste the coca-cola really, but it was rich, moist, and sweet. Definitely something you must order if you go.

Bowen's Island Restaurant - Charleston, SC

2011-04-16T14:43:00.003-04:00

April 16, 2011

To me, nothing epitomizes the food of Charleston, SC more than an oyster roast, and if you don't know anyone locally who will throw an oyster roast for you, then the best choice for you is to go to Bowen's Island Restaurant. I know there are lots of good Southern restaurants in Charleston, but honestly, I feel like if you are a tourist from somewhere else in the United States, a local, or a visitor from somewhere else in South Carolina, you gotta go to this place at least once, especially if you've never been to an oyster roast before. And even if you yawn because you've been to oyster roasts your whole life, Bowen's Island has great, local oysters that they grow locally, which makes the experience even better because the oysters are that much fresher. For those of you that don't know what an oyster roast is, look below at the second photo and explanation.

Before I jump into the food, I will note one REALLY important thing: the wait at this restaurant is really, really long. Seriously. They open up at 5 pm - 10 pm, but if you don't come at opening on the weekends, be prepared to wait at least an hour to an hour and half on the weekends before you can even reach the cashier to get a table - it is really popular with the locals! I heard the wait is not nearly as bad on the weekdays, but I haven't independently confirmed this yet.

Second note: They have a system going on, which is kind of confusing if you just show up for the first time and don't know what is going on. What follows is a complete explanation in case you need it - it really isn't as complicated as all the following text implies, but I'm trying to be a little helpful, people! ;)

1) If you look at the above photo, the restaurant is split into two floors - the ramp leads up to the top floor, where you order and can also sit down (there are also larger tables next to the actual oyster roast area on the bottom floor). Go and line up - if you are lucky, the line will still be inside the restaurant. And if not, be prepared to be waiting on the ramp outside.

2) After you line up, you will probably be passed a plastic menu by the last person in line. The menu is not long - just about a page. Basically, what you are ordering is how many oysters you want for your group (you can get all you can eat oysters if you are hungry, which is worth ordering for the table if y'all enjoy oysters), as well as what kind of fried seafood you want (they have a fried seafood platter - it is an assortment of fried fish, fried shrimp, crab cakes, french fries, and hush puppies...gotta love that fried Southern food!). Bring a book, a good conversationalist that tells great stories, or some knitting if that's your thing, because you are going to be waiting awhile.... =)

3) When you get to the front of the line, you will finally be able to order your food/drinks, pay the cashier, and give them your name (if you ordered the fried seafood). They do accept credit cards now (they only accepted cash before, but the restaurant has changed its policy now). If you are ordering oysters (which you should, why else would be going, anyway?!), the cashier will give you a plastic tag, which indicates how many oysters (or all you can eat) you ordered. The cashier will also give you some cotton towels and oyster knives to crack open the oysters, just in case you didn't bring your own.

4) Walk to the bottom floor to pick up your oysters (you can go out the main door you walked in, or you can go the easier, less-crowded way - walk to the other side of the restaurant, and walk out the side door to a set of stairs on the side). The bottom floor is pretty simple - just two large rooms made of cinder blocks - follow that hissing sound and you will find yourself at the oyster roast area (photo below). Wait in line, show the guy your plastic tag, and he will give you a tray of oysters (based on the # of oysters you ordered, of course). And remember to tip the guy, they are doing important work in that oyster roast area! =)

5) Walk back to your table and enjoy your oysters! Btw, one last tip: if you are a large party and ordered all you can eat oysters, you might want to sit on the bottom floor, that way, you won't have to walk up and down from the oyster roast area to your table multiple times - it is a pain to walk up the stairs and open the door with a tray of oysters, trust me. The tables downstairs also have a built-in bucket area in the center of the table, which makes it more convenient for everyone to toss out their oyster shells. If you sit upstairs, you might have to find a plastic bucket for your table to toss your empty shells into.

So this is the oyster roast area that Bowen's Island has on the bottom floor. Pretty simple, but oh, the deliciousness that comes out! =) Fresh, locally harvested oysters are constantly being tossed on the grill and steamed until they are cooked. Oysters roasts only exist in the southeastern part of the United States, and they are a delicious way to enjoy oysters if you like seafood.

Here is a tray of the oysters that we ordered. Sooo delicious! Yeah, it's a little bit of a pain to crack open the oysters, so if you're lazy, you at least better bring someone else to open them for you, but I think it is fun to do - part of the experience of an oyster roast is to open up a freshly steamed oyster with your oyster knife and eat it, the oyster tastes much better when you've put forth all that effort to get to it! =)

Lastly, a photo of the regular sized fried seafood platter we ordered. If I remember correctly, you can also order the fried fish/fried shrimp/crab cakes/french fries/etc. on its own. The large seafood platter is pretty much the same as the regular, except they have one extra fried fish piece, I think. They also offer a small little cup of cole slaw...I kind of wish they gave more of the cole slaw! All the fried foods were fresh and good - not great though...you really should be going for the oysters, if you come here - but it provides a nice variety in between eating all those oysters.

I can't yet say that Bowen's Island is the best place for an oyster roast in Charleston (there is another famous place, The Wreck of Richard and Charlene, that I definitely want to try in the near future, but they don't have the selection of fried foods that Bowen's Island offers), but even having been to a couple of local oyster roasts after moving to South Carolina (as well as the gigantic yearly lowcounty oyster roast Charleston throws in the winter), I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here, and suggest that everyone go at least once!

Monza Pizza - Charleston, SC

2011-04-16T13:29:00.000-04:00

April 16, 2011

As a big fan of Neopolitan-style pizza, when I visit Charleston, I almost always find an excuse to stop by Monza Pizza at least once during the trip. Neopolitan-style pizza is not your average American slice of pizza - the base of the pizza, the dough - is thinner and comes out crispy, but it is also soft if made well. It's usually topped with slices of fresh mozzerella, and if it comes out good, it is uber-delicious! =)

A random side note: I haven't really taken the opportunity to write about pizza so far on this blog, mostly because my experience with pizza growing up all the way to a couple of years ago was probably like most of America - a mix of the basic chain pizza offerings (pizza hut, dominos, papa john's), your basic local mom-and-pop pizza joints (I feel like everyone growing up here in the U.S. must have memories of at least one greasy pizza joint that they frequented during high school and/or college), with a sprinkling of more upscale-types of pizza - often cooked in a wood-fired pizza oven, and some deep-dish pizza. All of them were decent, but nothing really ever stood out in my mind (with the exception of Mulberry St. Pizza in Los Angeles, home of the most authentic and delicious NY-style pizza in the Southland - they import their water from N.Y. which is taking things seriously, I must say!). Some ingredients were more fresh, some less so, some pizzas were greasier, some tomato sauces more spicy, some more bland, etc...you get the picture. I never really got excited about pizza - not until I tried my first Neopolitan-style pizza place (at some random place in NY, I don't recall the name). After that, I realized I found my pizza match - my pizza soulmate, if you will ;), and I have been hooked on finding good Neopolitan-style pizza ever since.

Of course, I forgot to take an outside photo of Monza Pizza, *sigh*. So, although I can't help you find the restaurant (hopefully I can add a photo some other time when I get back to Charleston), I can point out the most important thing in Monza Pizza - their wood-fired oven. Although it isn't essential (Varasano's in Atlanta, the best Neopolitan-style pizza I've had in my life so far - and a place that I will definitely write about soon - uses an electric oven), something about the wood helps a lot, for some reason....I think the wood imparts a slight smokiness that adds an additional dimension to the flavor of the dough.

Monza Pizza doesn't just serve pizza...they also serve pastas (I never tried, but then again, the pizza here has been so tasty, why would I want to?), as well as decent selection of antipasti and small salads that serve as a nice addition to the main pizza meal. The photo above is of their antipasto plate - a selection of salami, prosciutto, cheese, pickled vegetables, and olives.

A beet salad - just a simple mix of arugula, beets, some ricotta, and balsamic vinegar.

The first photo of some of the great pizzas they have at Monza - this is called the "Fangio" - a pizza for those who like it a little spicy, with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, housemade sausage, jalapeños, and onions. A random note - each of the pizzas (and theme of the restaurant itself) has a fun, interesting name centered around Italian motorsports, which I find amusing =).

Up next is my favorite pizza at Monza, mostly because I love myself a good slice of prosciutto - the "Volpini", made with tomato sauce, prosciutto, a generous helping of arugula, and dusting of pecorino romano.

Lastly, another favorite of mine at Monza - the "Count Louis". It is made with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, and pepperoni, and the fact that I find it delicious with the pepperoni is pretty unusual for me - I usually hate pizzas with pepperoni, because the quality of the pepperoni is usually not the best, which makes the pizza really greasy because the pepperoni releases all that grease when it is baked. But, they use good quality pepperoni here, and so no greasiness, yay! I wish they put more mushrooms on the pizza, but that is the only complaint I have for this one, and that is a nitpicky one, at that.

All in all, I definitely enjoy Monza Pizza - while it isn't the best pizza I've ever had (I have a definite Varasano's addiction...), it is definitely the best pizza I've had here in South Carolina so far.

Food for Thought - Random Thoughts of the Week

2011-04-06T14:34:00.004-04:00

April 6, 2011

Ok, so I've been accumulating a whole bunch of random news about food and the world in general these past couple of weeks, and I figured now is as good a time as any to post it up:

Great food news of the month: In-N-Out, the best fast-food burger chain in the world, in my humble opinion (Five Guys, while very delicious, has nothing on a classic In-N-Out cheeseburger for me), is now expanding to Texas! http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/in-n-out-goin-to-texas?gt1=47001/ Now, I only have to fly halfway across the country to satisfy my In-N-Out cheeseburger (with extra tomatoes, grilled onions, and an extra toasted bun) cravings! =P. And just in case you were wondering where the best In-N-Out in the world is: http://epicurious-eats.blogspot.com/2007/10/best-in-n-out-in-world-kettleman-city.html

A rare story about when the intersection of "good for the environment, good for your stomach" hits: http://www.slate.com/id/2287760/. I kind of want to wander down to the Florida Keys to try some lionfish now...

On a non-food note: I know this girl has been splashed all over the web, but I kind of feel bad for her in a way: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-17/rebecca-black-friday-and-cyberbullying/?cid=sexybeast:featured1. Just in case you haven't seen it yet (doubtful, but you never know), the music video for Friday is below...it is one of those situations where the lyrics are so horrible, it is just hilarious ("Yesterday was Thursday, Today is Friday, Tomorrow is Saturday" still cracks me up). But she didn't write the lyrics, so don't blame her, blame Clarence Jey, the co-writer of the song. He evidently was trying to cash in on the whole teen Mylie Cyrus "Party in the USA" thing, but missed the target really, really badly. But, instead of him being associated with this crap-tastic song forever and ever, everyone is going to think of this poor girl's face instead!

The original music video for Friday:

And a really funny parody of the video by Conan O'Brien:

While on the topic of parodies, here is something extremely funny, but also food related - only Stephen Colbert could get Ben and Jerry to come on his show and shoot a homicidal ice cream cone (I also find Jon Stewart walking out with a bat really hilarious as well):

Part I:

Part II:

Onto other food-related news:

Here is a list of some crazy sandwiches: http://bites.today.com/_news/2011/03/01/6161502-breaded-bliss-7-crazy-sandwiches But that GLT (G is for Gribenes, fried chicken skin) at The Gorbals in L.A. looks awesome, I really would like to try it sometime.

All I have to say is - Gross!!!: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/03/human-breast-milk-seized-london-icecreamists-food-safety-.html

Only in my home state of South Carolina: http://www.thestate.com/2011/03/30/1756930/sc-officials-warn-grocers-not.html

A news article about food coloring...maybe Red Dye No. 9 is bad for you, but still, that grey popsicle just makes my stomach turn: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/weekinreview/03harris.html?_r=1

Finally, a story about the possible rise in popularity of goat meat in the U.S.: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/goat-meat-the-final-frontier/2011/03/28/AF0p2OjC_story.html?hpid=z10 Makes me kind of curious to try a goat-meat burger. I have tried a lamb/beef burger at Mediterranean Tea Room here in Columbia SC, and it actually is pretty delicious, so I don't see why a goat meat burger would be bad...

Cypress - Charleston, SC

2011-03-29T22:14:00.000-04:00

March 29, 2011

Cypress definitely is one of my favorite restaurants in Charleston. It is run by the same owners as Magnolia's (posted earlier), but in terms of the cuisine it offers, it is a whole world away than the more traditional Southern food dishes offered by Magnolia's. Cypress was recommended by a good friend of mine who lived in Charleston for many years, and as is usually the case, you can never go wrong with the experience and knowledge of the locals! =) Because this restaurant is in the South, you can definitely see a Southern inspiration in some of the dishes they offer, but like a lot of new "american fusion" restaurants these days, the menu also is inspired by flavors from lots of other locales as well. So why do I like Cypress so much? Frankly, every time I have had a meal there, at least one dish has been fantastic - in general, the dishes have been consistently cooked well, always balanced with both great flavor and texture, and I also love the vibe of the restaurant.

I don't usually take photos of the interiors of restaurants, but for me, the interior design of this restaurant adds a lot to the enjoyable vibe of the restaurant. For instance, the lights on the ceiling change colors occasionally - blue in this photo - but it isn't intrusive at all. The restaurant dining area has several large open areas, yet the feeling is also intimate - I suggest reserving for one of their booths if you are on a date =). Lastly, the lighting is fantastic - it is dark enough that each table is private, yet each table is also illuminated with a light discreetly set in the ceiling above the table, which makes the food easy to see and photograph as well. Yay, no dark photos! =)

Our first set of appetizers, sashimi tuna & oysters on bottom (with a cilantro-lime glaze and pineapple wasabi), and a carolina cup oyster on top (garnished with green tomato and wasabi, served with a horseradish-lemon mignonette) To be honest, I don't usually make a habit of trying japanese-style dishes when I am not in a japanese restaurant, but the sashimi tuna & oysters were surprisingly good. I enjoyed the contrast of the raw tuna with the raw oyster, the seafood was quite fresh, and the cilantro-lime glaze added a nice subtle tang to the dish.

Our second appetizer, a roasted beet salad. Now, I'm not sure if I will ever find a beet salad as fresh and delicious as the one that I had at Marche Moderne, but this one was pretty tasty as well. The salad was served with a goat cheese mousse (from Split Creek Farms, a local farm in the area), toasted hazelnuts, mache, and a red wine vinagrette.

This pork chop was one of our two main courses, and it was a huge highlight of the meal. This photo doesn't come even close to doing justice to the dish - it was a bone-in, thick-cut fresh pork chop from a local farm, Eden Farms, who evidently supplies FIG as well...FIG evidently isn't the only sustainable cuisine game in town ;). The pork chop was extremely juicy and flavorful, perfectly seared and simply seasoned with some sea salt and other spices (possibly some paprika and fresh pepper, I didn't ask though). In fact, this pork chop was the BEST pork chop I have eaten in my young-ish life so far - if every pork chop was as good as this one, I would be ordering it everywhere (and slowly getting fat and broke). I particularly enjoyed the thick cut of the meat (like a really thick ribeye steak). Ha, I have been rhapsodizing so much about the pork chop that I almost forgot about the sides served with the dish: brussels sprouts, bacon, chestnuts, and sage.

P.S. As a side note, although it isn't photographed here, I also recommend the rack of lamb offered at Cypress. They definitely cook their meat well here!

The second entree we ordered was a crisp wasabi tuna glazed with a ginger-garlic sauce, served with edamame and shiitake mushrooms. Unfortunately for the tuna, the pork chop was so awesome that it completely overshadowed this dish. It was fresh and well cooked, but not even close to as good as the pork chop.

Err, here is dessert. Sorry, I can't be more descriptive than that, but I forgot to write down what we ordered, so you can just make up a name for it - I'm just going to call it "chocolate hazlenut yummy-ness", not that I actually remember what it tasted like - and acribe whatever your favorite dessert flavors are to the dish. Sometimes, your imagination can be better than the real thing. =)

Jack's Cosmic Dogs - Charleston SC

2011-03-28T22:12:00.001-04:00

March 28, 2011

Before I start this post, I have to disclose the complete and utterly strong bias I have in favor of local hot dog/sausage joints (not larger franchises, I thinking of you, Jodi Maroni's...) . I LOVE these places - maybe it is because I have fond memories of hot dogs from childhood (dodger dogs are awesome!) - but most likely it is because I know how great these places can be, having lived near the best local hot dog/sausage joint in the world: Top Dog on Devine St. in Berkeley, CA will always be my all-time sentimental favorite, although Hot Doug's in Chicago definitely gives it a run for its money.

So after I heard about a local hot dog joint in Charleston, I obviously got very excited and had to make a special trip to it! (well, it actually ended up being two during that weekend). Jack's Cosmic Dogs is technically in Mt. Pleasant (with a new location on Folly Road in James Island), and although it is a bit off the beaten path (at least for the typical tourist who is in downtown Charleston), it is a fun place for those that appreciate a simple hot dog and fries...and as anyone who likes these places knows, a place that specializes in just hot dogs/sausages is few and far between.

So, I actually first went to Jack's Cosmic Dogs shortly after another meal (because we were passing by it and I wanted to try it as soon as I could), so I only ordered a hot dog and fries. First positive for Jack's Cosmic Dogs - you can order fresh-cut fries - awesome! - I always get a little sad when I can only order potato chips.

A close-up photo of the hot dog I ordered during the first visit - a galactic dog (chili, cheese, and cole slaw), but I subbed the spicy mustard out for the sweet potato mustard after hearing that Alton Brown (of Food Network fame) said that the sweet potato mustard was the best mustard he had ever had. To be honest, even though I had eaten just a little bit earlier, I kind of wished the hot dog itself was bigger, considering the cost of it. And the chili could have been more flavorful. And the sweet potato mustard was good, but it made everything just kind of sweet. Regardless, I still loved eating the hot dog and fries....remember my bias? =)

So, we passed by Jack's Cosmic Dogs the next day, and I got another hot dog, just for fun =). This time, a Planet Dog - a hot dog with jamaican relish and yellow mustard. The jamaican relish was just a bit too sweet, but I still enjoyed it, although that's really not a surprise, is it?

FIG - Charleston, SC

2011-03-28T21:02:00.001-04:00

March 28, 2011

Adding to the large amount of posts, comments, yelps, etc. about this acclaimed restaurant almost seems unnecessary, because pretty much everyone who has been to Charleston has probably been to this restaurant, or has heard of it. And what is there not to like about it? First off, the name is simple, but whimsical - FIG stands for Food Is Good - after I saw that on the restaurant's website, I was pretty much sold without even looking at their menu, so amused I was by the name, as well as completely in agreement with the owners of FIG about the phrase (I wish I had though of that name for my blog!). Second, they are completely committed to local, sustainable sources for their foods, which is always great. Third, there are a ton of positive comments, rave reviews, etc. about it.

So why did I even bother with this post? Well, after going to FIG, my general feeling about this restaurant is: YMMV. I have absolutely no complaints about the food at FIG - all the ingredients were incredibly fresh, the flavors were light, flavorful, and served as a good accompaniment to the food without overwhelming the freshness of the food, the dishes were plated well, there was a lot of variety to choose from on the menu, and the restaurant's design was clean and modern (a little crowded though, and also kind of dark, which made my photos come out bad, apologies for that). But, while everything was good, nothing about the food or the restaurant was particularly great or memorable to me...hence, no comments about each individual dish from me for this post. And my friends and I tried a pretty fair portion of the menu. I'm completely glad I went to try FIG, but there are other restaurants in Charleston that I've enjoyed more (offhand, Cypress, Justine's Kitchen, Bowen's Island, and most of all McCrady's are in my personal tops, all of which I will post about when I can).

So, with all that being said, YMMV. Maybe you'll have an absolutely great meal, like a lot of people other than me have experienced. Or maybe you will be like me, and get a really good, but not memorable meal (maybe my expectations were too high?). Anyway, I've been writing too many of my random thoughts about the restaurant without showing the food, so without further ado...

P.S. At least for my own purposes, this is more of an "American fusion" kind of restaurant (i.e. a restaurant that incorporates a lot of different flavors from different cuisines), rather than a restaurant that serves Southern food. I have a feeling that most Southern restaurants don't generally have a mezzeluna knife to make their pasta with. ;)

The first of five appetizers we ordered to share for the table - a kobe-style wagyu beef tartare, served with a parsley salad and potato wafers.

Second, chicken liver pate, served with pickled grapes and toasted brioche. In keeping with their sustainable cuisine philosophy, the chicken liver was provided from a local farm, Keegan-Filion Farms.

The third of the appetizers, crispy pork trotters from Caw Caw Creek (another local farm), served with a sunny side up farm egg, endive leaves, and a mustard vinaigrette. I do have a distinct memory about this dish, but not a good one - the fried pork trotters, while beautifully presented, were also kind of greasy =P.

The fourth of the appetizers, a sheep's milk ricotta gnocchi bolognese.

The last of our appetizers, a sweet potato mezzeluna, with pecans from John's Island (really local, John's Island is approximately 15 minutes away from downtown Charleston), sage, and parmesan.

The first of two entrées, an Eden Farms boneless pork chop, with a sweet potato puree, brussel sprouts, and pink lady apples.

The second of our entrees, Strube Ranch wagyu bistro steak, with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, salade verte, and a sauce agrodolce.

For dessert: a sticky sorgum pudding, with pecan ice cream.

Hominy Grill - Charleston, SC

2011-03-26T21:25:00.000-04:00

March 26, 2011

Finally back to food posts again... =)

I feel like every city where you can find a lot of good food always has at least one small, charming, crazily busy and popular breakfast place. In my childhood hometown (the SGV), that place was Marston's in Pasadena - insanely long lines for breakfast, at least an hour or two by nine am on the weekends (what is it about weekend breakfasts that make everyone think it is ok to wait that long for breakfast food, lol? That is a rhetorical question btw, kind of anyway).

In Charleston, that place is definitely Hominy Grill. Ever since I've moved to the South, I've had a continual interest in finding the best of four different kinds of southern food: fried chicken, bbq, sweet tea, and grits. In my visit to Hominy Grill, I was hoping to be lucky enough to find the best grits in the South (or at least a reasonable facsimile to compare to all the other grits I've tried). And at least from the sign for the restaurant on the side of their building, it looked like I went to the right place!

So, especially in the summertime, the waits on the weekend get really long (the typical hour or two that I mentioned above for Marston's is your typical guideline for a breakfast place like this), because it is a charmingly, but slightly irritatingly (at least while you are waiting) small place. In Charleston, the long wait for table at Hominy Grill most likely result from all the tourists that come into the area from the North (and West) looking for a good ol' Southern breakfast. I've been to Hominy Grill on two occasions now - the first time on a Sunday in the summer, and the second on a Sunday in the last week of January. The photo above is a partial view of all the people waiting outside for breakfast on a summer day - I actually couldn't get the whole group into the photo - and when we went in the dead of winter, there was no line - we walked right in, no wait, plenty of tables to choose from...well, you get the picture. =) I definitely enjoyed the second visit more - it felt much more intimate, with just locals sitting there and enjoying the beautiful mild winter day. Is it worth the wait in the summer? Hmm, difficult question, with no good answer - if you are a breakfast connoisseur, then probably. If you aren't, then the wait might irritate you, especially if you are hungry.

The first of a series of photos from our first summer breakfast at Hominy Grill, of a mimosa - (OJ and champagne, in case you've never ordered one) and a plain old cup of OJ that I ordered for myself off to the side. What better to start off a breakfast on a nice day than people's two favorite drinks - OJ and alcohol? =).

We ordered some fried green tomatoes with some ranch dressing (another one of those southern dishes you can only find in the South) as an appetizer. They weren't particularly memorable to me - they just kind of filled me up, and I ended up feeling like I should have not ordered them...

The first of our main dishes for sunday brunch - an order of shrimp and grits. Although there may be places with better grits (if you know of any, please tell me so I can try them!), these are the best I've had so far in the South. It's kind of hard to explain why they were better...something about the texture and taste - smooth and creamy, yet also slightly thick and gritty, but also not too watered down. I've had plenty of grits at different places before this, and have not been too impressed so far, but after eating the grits here, I understand why people can like them so much. Cooking grits must be an art, not a science. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. The shrimp sauteed with mushrooms, bacon, and scallions on top was a sophisticated twist on the simple shrimp and grits I've had elsewhere, and were delicious also.

The shrimp and grits came with a side of cornbread...

And you have to balance a savory breakfast dish with a sweet one, so we ordered some french toast - in this case, cinnamon french toast with an apple maple syrup and pecan butter. The french toast was slightly crunch on the outside, thick and soft on the inside, and the cinnamon provided a nice spice contrast with the sweetness of the apple syrup.

This was the second of our sunday brunches at Hominy Grill, this time in January - although we were lucky, it was a gorgeous, warm day in the 60's, so we got to sit outside again. I didn't feel like breakfast this time and I also saw a daily special on the menu that interested me more - a sliced pit roast lamb shoulder po' boy sandwich with molasses bbq sauce, on a french baguette. It was served with a side of ginger cole slaw (vinegar based) and a piece of pickled okra. I like the sandwich - the french baguette was soft, and the lamb had an slightly smoked flavor and a chewy texture.

After enjoying their grits so much the first time, I of course had to order them again, at least a side of grits. Just like last time, it was smooth, creamy, and thick (without being too thick that you it could hold up a spoon).

We also ordered their onion, leek, mushroom, red bell pepper and goat cheese omelette (I think it was also a daily special, but I'm not sure). This was actually the better of the two dishes - very tasty, and the goat cheese was mild, but flavorful. It was served with home fries and toast.

We ordered dessert the second time around - we heard that their buttermilk pie was good, and so I couldn't go without ordering a slice! It was incredibly delicious...I couldn't pick out the buttermilk flavor, but it was sweet and creamy, with just the slightest hint of lemon. Awesome dessert, definitely a must try!

Magnolia's - Charleston SC

2010-04-11T16:58:00.000-04:00

Magnolia's is a classic "New Southern" restaurant, if there ever was one. Before it opened in 1990, Southern food was simple, home cooked food, but Magnolia's ratcheted up its dishes with visual appeal and introduced new flavors into the cuisine, to such an extent that there are a whole lot of restaurants in this vein now. The decor of the restaurant is much more "old" Southern than the cuisine, though, and has a southern plantation kind of feel to it. It has become one of those Charleston institutions that is a must-visit for anyone coming to visit the city, and on a recent visit to Charleston, I happily obliged in trying out the food here. =)

Because we were on the coast, we were almost obliged to order something with seafood in it, so we started off with a bowl of blue crab bisque, with fresh chives.

As a main course, I ordered a southern classic: Buttermilk fried chicken, served with cracked pepper biscuits, mashed potatoes with sausage herbed gravy, collard greens, and cream-style corn. I'm going to be honest - I was kind of underwhelmed by the dish, mostly because I think the fried chicken was cooked too long...I found the buttermilk coating of the fried chicken to be a bit too thick and crunchy, and the chicken was a little dry and not as juicy as a lot of other pieces of fried chicken I've had in the South. The biscuit had the same problem, in a way - it was baked too long, and came out a bit dry, and was kind of thick-tasting as well. The collard greens and corn were delicious though, but overall, I don't think this was the best representation of Southern cuisine I've had so far.

For our second main dish, we ordered another reinterpreted Southern classic: shellfish over grits. The shellfish consisted of shrimp, sea scallops, and and lobster over grits with a lobster butter sauce, topped with pieces of fried spinach. The grits were pretty good, but not as smooth and creamy as the grits at Hominy Grill (also in Charleston), but the seafood was fresh and cooked very well.
The highlight of the night was dessert: we ordered the sweet potato bread pudding, served with a scoop of brown sugar ice cream. This was a bit of Southern dessert heaven, and was one of the better desserts we've had in the South, sweet with great texture. Definitely a great end to the meal.

Taqueria Guadalajara - Columbia, SC

2010-04-11T15:08:00.000-04:00

On Decker Blvd. (which was recently relabeled the new “international corridor" by the City of Columbia) sits a small little restaurant, Taqueria Guadalajara. It is as close as a person in Columbia can get to one of those street taco stands that you might find while walking around in any city in Mexico. If that description doesn’t appeal to you, or you like your Mexican food with lots of cheese and sauce, then this isn’t the place for you. But, if you like simple, traditional Mexican food, it is a place you should try at least once if you have one of those “taco” cravings. It offers really simple, but fresh and absolutely flavorful traditional Mexican tacos and burritos, and not much else =).

If you are going to look for it, the above photo of the restaurant will only be so helpful…in reality, you should look for the really prominent “Sandwood Plaza” sign while driving on Decker to find it. The plaza is split into two ends – on the northern ends sits a pretty decent Korean market and a Korean restaurant, D.J. House (not bad for a quick Korean food fix, but Hero is better if you have the time to sit down and eat, IMHO). Taqueria Guadalajara is tucked away in the corner on the southern end of the plaza.

The entire menu is on one sign in hanging in the restaurant. As the sign indicates, this hole-in-the-wall really isn’t one of those places that offers very much variety: You can get a taco or burrito with one of seven meats (listed on the left hand side of the menu, translation in parenthesis): asada (steak), barbacoa (a stewed/steamed beef), lengua (beef tongue), tripa (beef tripe, aka stomach/intestine), pollo (chicken), al pastor (a marinated/spiced pork), chorizo (spicy sausage). The rest of the menu says that they offer soups, quesadillas, and at the end of the week, they offer menudo, clam soup, and a seafood cocktail. It seems that they also offer tortas (a mexican-style sandwich) in either ham or some other style that I am not familiar with.

All of us came for the tacos though; I ordered a carne asada burrito and two tacos, a taco al pastor (pictured above on the right), and a barbacoa taco (the last photo). The taco came open in a corn tortilla, with just a sprinkling of cilantro and onion on top of the meat, which is the simple, traditional way of serving soft tacos. The taco al pastor was incredibly good - the meat was wonderfully spiced and flavorful, with hints of garlic, salt, pepper, and the other mexican spices used to flavor the pork. Had I known it was so good, I would have just ordered a whole bunch of tacos al pastor, and been incredibly happy. =).

The style of the burrito was very simple, just onion, cilantro, and the meat, in this case, carne asada. The meat was decently juicy, and nice and flavorful. I preferred the tacos, but I suppose it would depend on what you felt like that day.

Although this is one of the more badly centered photos I've ever taken, here is a shot of the barbacoa (stewed/steamed beef) taco. The barbacoa had a very mild beef flavor and was incredibly soft in texture, almost falling apart. A great meal, and I am glad that places like this exist in Columbia! =)

Doc's Barbeque and Southern Buffet - Columbia SC

2010-04-11T14:47:00.000-04:00

Doc’s is a relatively recent entry into the world of southern bbq buffet in Columbia (circa 2006), but since its opening, it seems to have endeared itself to the hearts of many of the locals. I think it has a fantastic location for those famous/infamous Gamecock football tailgates (it is on Shop Road, right near Gamecock stadium), and it has a pretty decent variety of southern food, including some interesting specialties that I haven’t seen so far in my jaunts through the South. It is also one of the cleaner, nicer looking southern bbq buffets I’ve been to, for those of you who are into that sort of thing. =)

So what’s so interesting about its food offerings? Let’s take a look at the food they offered on my visit there:

First, the hot vegetable offerings – some corn on the cob, collard greens, green beans, and baked beans.

Gravy, hash, and rice…

Some fried offerings: Fried chicken, fried catfish nuggets, and a dish I didn’t try (and therefore am unable to identify at this time…!)

Mac and cheese and corn casserole…

And of course, pulled pork: for those of you that are purists, this photo might offend you, because it is all presauced…a vinegar based bbq, Doc’s “sweet blend” bbq (a mustard based bbq, not that sweet, from what I remember…), and more of the sauce on the right side, which I thought was a nice touch.

Some cold vegetable offerings: cole slaw, potato salad, and pickles.
And dessert, a chocolate cobbler. Can you ever go wrong with a chocolate based dessert? =)

For those of you that are a bit more adventurous in your southern food offerings, Doc’s offers something particularly different: fatback. For the uninitiated of you (of which I previously belonged to, before Doc’s), fatback is basically a pork rind with the skin on. A cut of fatback includes both the pork skin and the fat right under it, and in the South, is fried until crispy and crunchy. I tried it, but to be honest, I found it was like eating a really crunchy piece of lard (at least, what I imagine a piece of lard to be, if it was thinly sliced and fried to a crisp). It was really oily and without much flavor. I was glad to try it, but only because I know not to eat it ever again =P. But hey, for those of you who love pork rinds or chincharrones, this just might be the thing for you. =)

One of the two plates of food I had at Doc’s. I tried both the vinegar and mustard based bbq, and of course, a whole lotta fried chicken! =)

After eating their food, I feel like Doc’s is like the poor stepchild to the two other main southern bbq buffets in Columbia (aka the two pigs, Palmetto Pig and Little Pigs) with regard to two of the most important measurements of southern bbq, the pulled pork and fried chicken. While neither the pulled pork or the fried chicken isn’t necessarily bad, it just isn’t quite as delicious as other places I’ve been to. But, for those that like a good variety in their southern bbq buffets, Doc’s is still a pretty good choice.

No Name Deli - Columbia, SC

2010-03-16T13:00:00.001-04:00

Columbia has a plethora of "hole in the walls" that all the locals know about, but you would never find or even casually run across unless you talk to one of them. No Name Deli, on the corner of Marion and Elmwood, definitely falls into this category. Even though it's on Elmwood, which is an exit of I-126, I drove past it probably a dozen times while on the way to somewhere else without noticing it. And yet, it is one of the most popular delis in the downtown Columbia area, and, for good reason, because it offers a great variety of deli sandwiches, soups, and specials, including a Greek salad the restaurant claims is the best in the Carolinas (a claim that I can't really verify, because I haven't ordered it yet, and I don't like Greek salads enough to try every one in North and South Carolina, so I'll take their word on it).

A couple of random notes about the place so you look like a local when you walk in =): first, the place only takes cash, no credit cards. Second, if the place gets busy (which it does, often by 11:40 during lunch), on the floor, there is a yellow brick path that snakes around, so the line doesn't extend out the door, and remains in the restaurant. Third, you order at the counter and they go fast, so be ready to know what you want to eat before you reach there, so you won't hold up the line.

Because this is a deli in the South, why not offer five flavors of sweet tea? =) Their wide variety of sweet tea is pretty amazing to me (although sometimes, it is a bit too sweet for me); the sheer number of flavors of sweet tea beats everywhere else I've been to in the South so far. As you can see, they have a pretty wide menu of sandwiches with deli meats and hot cooked meats, soups of the day, and a whole bunch of specials on the right side, including my favorite, the Monterey Chicken sandwich...
Although this chicken sandwich isn't quite as good as Drake's in my opinion (another local place in downtown Columbia, I have a short post for there, if you're interested), it is quite good anyway, as well as a bit different. The Monterey chicken sandwich consists of a breaded fried chicken filet (usually decently juicy), bacon, swiss cheese, and some shredded lettuce and tomato on the side. It comes with a side of either fries (which are usually extra crispy and fresh, quite delicious), or mayo or vinegar pasta salad (the mayo is pictured above) . They are really generous with their portions, so it makes for a great, if filling, lunch meal.

Frank's Market - The 2009-2010 Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl

2010-02-28T21:27:00.001-05:00

The seventh place on our cheeseburger crawl was Frank's Market, a small restaurant on Two Notch, right past Beltline Blvd. in a small plaza next to an Auto Zone store. Frank's is a local place that has been around for thirty years or so and is mainly known for its "meat and three" offerings, but we also heard the place served up a pretty decent cheeseburger as well.

Everyone raved about the waitresses at Frank's - Flarké and Hambone said: "We liked the waitresses, and how they know what you want to eat and how much of it you should be eating", and Betsy noted: "I thought the waitstaff was super nice, and they even brought us Hershey's Kisses afterwards!"

Their cheeseburger menu is pretty simple, but they offered it in two sizes, in both a 6 and 8 oz. One important thing to note - the fries don't come with the burger, and have to be ordered separately. The fries had a good flavor and texture (crispy on the outside, soft on the inside), but they could have been warmer. Flarké said the fries at Frank's usually come out better though.

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 3.87

Epicurious E.: 4.0
Flarké: 3.5
Hambone: 3.5
Betsy: 4.5

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: Bun was a thicker white cafeteria-style bun, not toasted. Flarké liked the bun-to-meat ratio here.

Meat: The patty was a good, thick-sized patty, with nice grill marks and a slight crust on the outside, juicy on the inside. The flavor of the meat was great and the meat could be tasted more because of the thicker sized patty. The 6 oz. patty was definitely enough for a lunch meal. =)
Cheese: Just American cheese.
Presentation and condiments: This is a simple diner, so the burger and fries came in a large basket, but there was plenty of space for the burger, fries, and some ketchup. There was salt and pepper on the table, but we had to ask for the condiments separately.

Frank's also offers fried hot dogs - I ordered one with slaw and chili. This was one of the better chili/slaw dogs I've had around here - chili was decently flavorful and the dog itself was juicy, but Edna's is still the best around Columbia so far.

Rockaway Athletic Club - The 2009-2010 Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl

2010-02-21T21:35:00.000-05:00

The sixth place on our cheeseburger crawl was Rockaway Athletic Club, on Rosewood Dr. I heard that this place used to be a true dive before it burned down, but with the rebuild, it is now a lot nicer. A lot of people are probably know this place because of a visit by President George W. Bush back in 2005, in which he ate one of their pimento cheeseburgers which they are known for. The place itself is one of those places you would never find even IF you were looking for it - there is no sign in front, and the only way you can find it is to look for the long brick building pictured above.

So this place does have one sign to identify it...it is just a really, really small one that is partially hidden behind a tree, and on a fence behind the parking lot of the actual building. =)

At Rockaway's, they offer a lot of different cheeseburgers, as well as sandwiches and other dishes, but I obviously had to order the Rockaway Pimento cheeseburger. =)

A couple of general comments before we get into the details about the cheeseburger and fries:

Hambone said: "This is the place to come to for a pimento cheeseburger." Hambone reported feeling sick afterwards, but said, "If it makes me feel really sick, it is really good."

Andy commented: "The pimento cheeseburger and pimento cheese fries are an interesting concept, but it could have been executed better."

Flarké commented that the cheeseburger was much better before the building burned down the first time, and would have rated a 4.0-4.5, but it was not as good now, although the bacon on the cheeseburger was well cooked.

Beandip, a regular on our cheeseburger crawls who doesn't usually eat cheeseburgers, had one at Rockaway's and concluded: "I haven't eaten a cheeseburger in over a year, but that was pretty damn good and I would eat another one."

For me, I found that the pickles were really sour to me, and so I didn't eat any. I found the burger itself to be a healthy size, just a bit smaller than Endzone Grill. They offer an option for grilled onions. The burger had a lot of pimento cheese on it, which made some of the ingredients slip around (e.g. grilled onion), and made it slightly messy for me.

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 3.75

Epicurious E.: 3.5
Andy: 3.5
Flarké: 3,5
Hambone: 4.5

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: It was a bit too thick and sometimes getting in the way of the flavor of the burger, and not toasted. I was a bit puzzled about the flavor of the bun; I think it is just your standard white restaurant bun, and when I asked about it, the person said it was just a regular white bun purchased in bulk from U.S. Foods. Andy didn't like the bun, he thought it was just an average store-bought bun, which I found to be a an accurate description of its flavor.

Meat: It was a thicker patty, and it came out overcooked and a bit dry for some of us
(as well as a little more flavorless for me). Flarké noted "Usually the burgers are undercooked (more of a medium rare), but today it came out overcooked (more of a well-done).

Cheese: They have a lot of different choices for cheese, including American, Swiss, Cheddar, as well as the pimento cheese. I thought the pimento cheese was pretty good, although Andy was not as impressed with it as he thought he was going to be.

Presentation and condiments: A white dish with lots of space, you order fries in a separate basket. Ketchup comes on the table, along with salt and pepper.

If you go to Rockaway's, I personally think the pimento cheese fries are a must-order. They usually come with the pimento cheese poured over the fries, but we ordered it on the side, to avoid the coagulation you get when the cheese gets cold. The Big W told us he heard the pimento cheese dip for the fries had some Velveeta cheese mixed in. I thought the fries by themselves were your average crinkle-cut french fries that were warm, but a tiny bit too crunchy. But, with the pimento cheese dip, it was much more delicious, although they can really fill you up fast though. Hambone says: "Melted pimento cheese to dip fries in is always a plus."

Short Street Cakes - Asheville NC

2010-02-21T18:02:00.000-05:00

Short Street Cakes is a small bakery located on the outskirts of Asheville, and while the location itself is unassuming, the baked goods coming out of here are anything but ordinary. We stopped by here just before driving back to Columbia SC with hopes of getting a sweet snack to enjoy on the three hour drive back, but ended up with several extraordinary desserts, including a slice of chocolate ganache cake that was by far the best that I've ever had in my entire life! Even though I'm currently a whole state away from this place, part of me seriously wants to make the three hour drive back right now just so I can try some more of their desserts - of course, I have a major sweet tooth, but that kind of comes with the territory for a place like this =).

The bakery specializes in lots of vegetarian and gluten-free bakery options, which is pretty singular in itself, and they also do a lot of special-order cakes. The two cupcakes pictured above were both vegetarian, but still moist, and if someone did not tell me that before I ate it, I would not have been able to tell at all.

We also bought a slice of chocolate ganache cake - the only way I can describe this cake is to say that it was a slice of chocolate heaven. =) It was wonderfully moist, thick, and rich without being dense, and the flavor - well, frankly, words fail me. I can say that the chocolate flavor of this cake favorably compared in quality to the fudge brownie from Baked NYC, in that both just taste wonderfully "chocolatey" without being overly sweet. This place will now be a definite must-visit for me whenever I go to Asheville!

Fig Bistro - Asheville NC

2010-02-15T12:10:00.000-05:00

While up in Asheville, North Carolina for a long weekend trip, we visited Fig Bistro, a small, intimate French restaurant in the Biltmore Village area, for dinner. As I normally do when I visit anywhere, I planned our trip around food =), and scouted around for the best restaurants in the area, and while this wasn't the highest rated restaurant in the area, it sounded like a place that I would definitely like - simple, seasonal, local French cuisine, fresh in quality and well presented. After eating here, I can report that the restaurant exceeded my expectations by a long shot - the food was absolutely wonderful. Although I can't say it is the best restaurant in Asheville, because I haven't visited them all, I can report that we had one of the best meals so far in our exploration of restaurants in the South (and it compared favorably - if not better - in taste and quality of the food than some of the other high-end restaurants we've visited in the United States, although the menu at Fig Bistro is much smaller). I enjoyed it so much that I broke foodie rule # 1 - try a new place for your next meal - and we went back there for lunch the next day. =)

The chef here at Fig Bistro, Chef William Klein, is very good at his craft, as his bio indicates, with previous experience at 3 star Michelin restaurants in France and stays with two of the best chefs in San Francisco, Gary Danko AND Ron Siegel. His food definitely reflects his experience - simple, yet refined provincial French cuisine, and all the dishes we ordered tasted phenomenal and were beautifully presented. But enough talk - onto the food!

The first appetizer we ordered was a beet salad, with thin slices of fennel and navel oranges, served with orange oil dressing. This was a great example of how well a simple dish can taste when fresh, seasonal, local ingredients are used in the hands of a great chef - the beet was cut up into small cubes and served as the base of the salad, with layers of sliced fennel and navel oranges placed on top of the beets. When eaten all together, the salad was light and refreshing, with the citrus of the navel oranges providing a nice compliment to the earthy taste of the beets and the fennel.

Next, we ordered a half dozen oysters, a special not usually offered on the menu. These were high quality oysters from Washington State, and tasted great in the red wine vinegar and shallot sauce poured on top of the oysters.

The first of our main courses, a special not on the menu (although it should be, this was a truly excellent dish!): duck-cured proscuitto, served with an arugula salad and meyer lemon chutney. The proscuitto was sliced up in thin layers and cured with the duck, which provided the proscuitto with a deep, mellow flavor. The meyer lemon chutney was excellent - usually, chutneys come out a little too sweet for my palate, but this one was just sweet enough to provide a nice accompaniment to the duck, and had small slices of lemon peel to provide a nice citrus kick.

The second course we ordered was a dish off their main menu: a chicken Giradet. Evidently, the dish is named after a chef in France, Giradet. It is a simple pan-seared chicken breast, served with sauteed bell peppers (on the left), and three slices of french bread covered in a duck liver pate. As a general rule, I don't usually like chicken dishes in high-end restaurants too much, because they often come out kind of dry, but this chicken was an exception - incredibly juicy, with a crispy chicken skin. I don't know how Chef Klein prepares this chicken dish, but it was quite possibly one of the juiciest pieces of chicken breast I have ever eaten in my life, period. And, it was well flavored as well - possibly pre-marinated in some kind of salt and other herbs for a long while, if I were to hazard a guess. The duck pate was also great, fresh, and the flavor was not too overpowering, like some pates can be - I always love pate served on french bread. =)

Lastly, our two desserts - the first, a milk chocolate mousse. It is composed of a banana sponge cake, with a chilled milk chocolate center (very dense and sweet, although it matched well with the candied pistachios), topped with a sour cream mousse, and surrounded by candied pistachios. Although the dessert was good, it didn't quite compare in level to the high quality and great tasting food we had as appetizers and for our main courses - not to say that the desserts were bad, but they just weren't as good as the food we were served.
Lastly, our second dessert - a chocolate pot de creme, with a chocolate sable cookie on top. Overall, an incredibly good dinner meal, which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

But, we weren't finished...we so thoroughly enjoyed our meal the night before that I couldn't leave Asheville without going back another time, so we threw caution to the wind and gave up the chance to try some of the other interesting eats (like Tupelo) for lunch at Fig the next day again. =) Although the dishes at lunch didn't offer the same level of complexity in terms of taste, we still thoroughly enjoyed all the dishes we ate...
For starters, we ordered a radicchio and endive salad, with a parmasean and balsamic vinagrette. This was probably the weakest of the dishes we had here - not because it tasted bad - the ingredients were fresh and the flavors were accurate, but the dish didn't stand out like the others did from other high-end restaurants we've been to.

For our second appetizer, we ordered a maple glazed pork belly, on top of a white bean puree, and a bacon apple compote. Interestly enough, the dish reminded me of a Taiwanese stewed pork dish I enjoyed as a kid - the pork was deliciously juicy and soft without being greasy, and the sauce was appropriately salted.

The first of our two main courses - lamb sausage served with garbanzo beans. The lamb sausage was wonderfully juicy and perfectly spiced.

Our second main course was a pork tenderloin with fingerling potatoes - the potatoes were crisped perfectly, and the pork tenderloin was tender and mild in flavor.

Rush's - The 2009-2010 Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl

2010-02-09T20:52:00.000-05:00

The fifth place on our cheeseburger crawl was Rush's, a local fast food restaurant chain with six locations throughout Columbia (as well as two other locations in Lexington and Camden). It was a rainy day, but any day is good for cheeseburgers and fries in my book, so we drove over to the Rush's on Broad River Road by the I-26 to see if Rush's really offered "Fabulous Food . . . Fast!"

The menu at Rush's is clean and simple, with three main types of food of the menu: it offers hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chili burgers, chili and slaw dogs, and fried chicken. A regular cheeseburger comes all the way with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion.

A couple of general comments about the cheeseburger at Rush's: I thought the cheeseburger was pretty similar to Palmetto Sandwich Shop except without the pimento cheese, meaning it was a simple, solid cheeseburger that didn't stand out very much...the burger was definitely made fast though - less than a minute after ordering, the food was ready. Flarké liked that the fries came in a cup. Hambone added "It is better than fast food", and Andy said "This cheeseburger is a step above McDonald's - at least it didn't make my stomach hurt." Andy's comment initially sounded kind of harsh, until I found out that whenever he eats a burger from McDonald's, he gets a stomachache - so, in context, it was a compliment...I think?

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 2.87

Epicurious E.: 2.5
Andy: 3.0
Flarké: 2.5
Hambone: 3.5

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: The bun was a regular cafeteria-style white bun, and it was not toasted. Andy complained about his bun, he thought there was too much bun on my burger compared to the patty, but no one else had this problem.

Meat: The meat was ok - it was not overcooked and the flavor was fine, but it didn't stand out, either.

Cheese: One choice - American cheese.

Presentation and condiments: As you can see from the photos, this is a simple fast food setup restaurant - the burger came in a simple bag, and there were no condiments on the tables.

When I saw that Rush's also offered chili dogs, I figured I'd try one as well. This is a slaw dog, which comes with chili, slaw, and mustard. If I were to rank this dog with the ones I've eaten so far, I would say it was middle of the road, better than Mack's, but not as good as Edna's. The dog itself was a decent size and cooked decently (not grilled enough for me, though), but the chili was a bit bland, not flavorful as Edna's.

Peninsula Grill - Charleston, SC

2010-01-24T21:37:00.000-05:00

Like many first-time visitors to this restaurant, my family and I came to Peninsula Grill with dreams of enjoying a heavenly slice of coconut cake, with the preceding part of the meal before dessert almost rendered a formality. =) Little did I know that this restaurant had much, much more to offer than just a one-note dessert dish, as we enjoyed many delectable and beautifully presented dishes which almost ended up overshadowing the original reason we came!

Before I get to the dishes, I would like to offer a small observation about the atmosphere of the restaurant: although we all enjoyed the food very much, and the service was impeccable, I found the interior design and atmosphere to be, well, a little bit stuffy. I suppose other people might call it refined, but the main dining area was one large room, and lacked a bit of the warmth and intimacy that I've enjoyed at many other high-end restaurants. But the rest of my experience at Peninsula Grill was excellent, so onto the food!

One of the standout appetizers we ordered: sauteed veal sweetbreads, with a butterbean and and shiitake ravioli and grilled shiitake mushrooms.

Chef Robert Carter is a master at cooking meats, to put it succinctly. =) Both the duck dish (above), and the lamb dish (below), were cooked perfectly - tender and succulent. I ordered the duck, one of my favorite dishes to order: it was a pan roasted duck breast in a reduced port wine sauce, served with a spinach flan and a duck confit spring roll.

Our second main plate was the benne crusted New Zealand rack of lamb, served with wild mushroom potatoes, asparagus, and coconut mint pesto. The mint pesto match perfectly with the mild lamb - I've had lamb from New Zealand at another restaurant in Orange County, and although both shared a certain mild sweetness, the flavor and texture of the lamb dish here was excellent, quite possibly one of the best lamb dishes I've had so far. Not only that, but the portions of lamb were quite generous, and I also enjoyed the non-traditional presentation of the lamb, spread out in a fan individually on the dish.

We also ordered the peach glazed grilled gulf shrimp, served with sweet corn risotto and a green onion horseradish hush puppies. Although I was initially intrigued by the idea of a "high-class" hush puppy, the flavor was not as exciting or interesting as I imagined it to be, and the shrimp dish in general was probably the weakest of the main courses we ordered.

For dessert, we of course ordered Peninsula Grill's famous "Ultimate Coconut Cake". An impressive ten alternating layers of coconut anglaise and cake made this dessert stand literally head and shoulders above every other coconut cake I've ever had.

Because we are a dessert-eating family, we ordered two other desserts in addition to the coconut cake to share: a selection of their homemade ice creams (sorry, I don't recall the flavors), with "just-baked" cookies in the above photo, and below, a banana panna cotta pudding, encased in a milk chocolate ganache, served with a homemade vanilla wafer and caramel sauce. The panna cotta pudding was a beautifully presented dessert - the photo is a little fuzzy and definitely does not do the dessert justice - the presentation was so impeccable that I almost felt bad eating it, and the flavor was delicious also.

39 Rue de Jean - Charleston, SC

2010-01-24T18:53:00.000-05:00

Every city needs more French bistros like 39 Rue de Jean - a restaurant in downtown Charleston that you can always depend on for a delicious and satisfying midday meal. For a reason that eludes me, Columbia SC doesn't have any French bistros like this (a note to the owners of 39 Rue de Jean, if you ever read this, please consider setting up a branch of Rue de Jean in Columbia =), I think it would be a hit), but at least I know that anytime I drive down to Charleston, I can always satisfy my cravings for delicious French food at Rue de Jean.

I always like going to places like this for lunch, and like all French bistros I've been too, 39 Rue de Jean has a great mix of salads, sandwiches, and entrees to tickle my palate. Here are a couple of the dishes that they have to offer:

A simple, but delicious appetizer - a fried goat cheese salad, with arugula and red and yellow beets, served with a lingonberry balsamic vinaigrette. I'm not usually a fan of cheese, but it is quite delicious as a fried offering in the salad, and makes a great accompaniment to the bitter arugula.

39 Rue de Jean has a good selection of salads, including this traditional French favorite: a nicoise salad. At Rue de Jean, they serve it with salad greens, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, potatoes, olives, and a piece of rare tuna. The only complaint I had with this salad was that the red potato slices were a little large - I personally would have liked it presented with smaller pieces of potato.

One of the lunch specials they offer: a seared tri-peppercorn filet, served with a side of arugula and black currant cous cous.

As a general rule, I don't think you can ever go wrong with a grilled cheese sandwich that is made with a mix of good cheeses and artisanal bread: the one offered here has a mix of swiss and goat cheese, basil, and sun dried tomatoes. Quite delicious, and definitely one of my favorite dishes at Rue de Jean.

A braised beef sandwich with horseradish aioli, which I ordered with Gruyere cheese, and pommes frites, which is always one of my favorite sides when eating lunch. To be honest, I've never been disappointed with pommes frites (french bistro-style french fries) at any country french restaurant, and Rue de Jean is no exception - the fries are wonderfully crunchy and soft on the inside.

Sometimes, life calls for a simple sandwich - in this case, a smoked turkey sandwich, with tomato, avocado, red onion, gruyere cheese, and horseradish aioli, served with pommes frites. Delicious!

A little dessert after a good lunch never hurt anyone in my book: among the other standard dessert offerings, there was an intriguing gem which I never tried before: a "Vacherin" - vanilla bean ice cream layered with raspberry sorbet and meringue, topped with toasted almonds and whipped cream.

Endzone Grill - The 2009-2010 Columbia SC Cheeseburger Crawl

2010-01-24T15:54:00.000-05:00

The fourth place on our cheeseburger crawl was End Zone Grill, in Rosewood. End Zone Grill is a typical easily missed hole-in-the-wall on Rosewood Dr. near Assembly St. that mainly seems to operate as a bar, but they have a pretty decent selection of food as well on the menu (including an appetizer of gator meat that I wanted to try, but did not end up ordering). Because it is a bar, there isn't much seating - maybe about ten smaller tables, total, although you can also sit at the bar and eat too, I suppose.

At Endzone, they offer three different kinds of burgers - your basic cheeseburger, the "Zone Buster", 1/3 lb. burger, with a slice of American cheese, the "Have It Your Way" burger, with your choice of three different cheeses (American, Swiss, Cheddar) and other accouterments, including bacon, chili, sauteed mushrooms or onions, and guacamole, and the Strasburger, a 1/4 lb. cheeseburger with a 1/4 lb. crabcake. All burgers come with shredded lettuce, tomato, and pickles and curly fries. The above photo is of the "Have It Your Way", and the next photo is of the "Strasburger" (the crab cake is kind of hard to see, but you can tell where the crabcake is, if you look closely at both photos and compare them). Btw, the photos have a blue tinge because we sat below a neon-blue beer light.

A couple of general comments about the cheeseburgers offered at EndZone Grill before I get into the details: Andy said ""Good atmosphere, a good overall burger, nice balance of texture and taste, a bit too toasted for me." Flarké and me both had the crab cake burger - Flarké noted: "Liked the crab, if you are in for something different. A little too well-done." I thought it had all the elements to be a really good burger: toasted bun, large burger patty, lots of selection in accompaniments to the burger, but for me, the Strasburger a bit heavy for a cheeseburger, and I eat a lot.

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 3.5

Epicurious E.: 3.5
Andy: 4.5
Flarké: 2.5
Hambone: 3.5

Although I don't usually qualify the scores, I will this time, because most of us lowered the scores a lot for Endzone because of the fries that we received: they were pretty uninspiring curly fries, without much seasoning, and were a bit cold, like they had been sitting there for a bit. I have a feeling the scores would have been higher had the fries been good. To be fair though, we were a large party in the middle of a lunch rush, which seemed to affect the quality a lot - other than the fries, the Big W reported the cheese on his chili burger was not melted which was a big negative for him (the rest of us did not have that problem, luckily).

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: The bun is a larger cafeteria-style white bun that is slightly greasy on the outside (probably from being on the grill?). It could be a bit thicker for the Strasburger: some people (including me), were having some problems with the bun, as it fell apart. I did order a lot of stuff with mine though. But, for me, a gigantic plus because they toasted their bun, the first place on our list to do so.

Meat: The meat was cooked perfectly for Andy (he got the have it your way), but for me, Flarké, and Hambone, the meat was slightly overdone. We were a big party, so it is possible the burgers may have been a bit overdone because of that. It was a nice, large, meat patty though, and I liked how it had a bit of a crust. Regarding my experience with the crabcake: It is a pretty heavy meal, but I did like the addition of crab. The crab cake itself was really mild, so there was just a mild, crab aftertaste in some bites. It added another dimension to the burger.

Cheese: As noted before, they serve American, swiss, and cheddar.

Presentation and condiments: The presentation was fine, but because the burger was pretty big, the plate was bit crowded. On the table, they had malt vinegar, salt and pepper, and ketchup.

Pho Viet - Columbia, SC (with a quick and dirty primer to Vietnamese cuisine)

2010-01-24T14:03:00.001-05:00

Pho Viet, on Decker Blvd. in the Northeastern area of Columbia, is quite possibly my favorite restaurant in all of Columbia. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but it is without a doubt the restaurant we eat at almost every week, without fail. It offers the best Vietnamese food in these parts (but, considering there isn't any competition around, that really doesn't say that much), and, IMHO, considering all the Asian cuisine in general around here (lumping together Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese), it is probably the most authentic and accurate of all the Asian restaurants in Columbia in terms of the flavors and menu offerings.

For me, Pho Viet = comfort food. It reminds me of the kind of flavors I used to enjoy when I lived back in Los Angeles - while Pho Viet would be an average Vietnamese restaurant back in Los Angeles, here, it is exceptional for the area. I have been going here since I moved, back when the menu was tiny (only about 15 dishes total), but since January 2009, they renovated the restaurant and now offer a gigantic menu of Vietnamese dishes to choose from. I may sound like a shill for the restaurant, but I just really, really like their food a lot, and definitely recommend that you try the food there at least once.

Because Vietnamese food may be something new to some of you around here, I am going to provide a bit more detail for this post than I normally do as sort of a quick and dirty primer to eating basic Vietnamese cuisine. Here are some of the dishes that Pho Viet offers, and that we usually eat when we go there:

This appetizer is probably familiar to everyone: egg rolls. But, I like the egg rolls here better than anything else in the area, because they are made like they are supposed to be - smaller, with a thinner wrapping than the gargantuan American-style egg rolls that are so popular around here.

My favorite appetizer at Pho Viet is a variation on the egg roll - shrimp rolls. They take a piece of shrimp and some green onion, wrap it in the egg roll wrapping, and fry it up like an egg roll, but it comes out much more savory and delicious. I especially enjoy the contrast in texture between the crispy egg roll skin and the shrimp.

The orange and white vegetables on the left are pickled carrots and daikon that are thinly sliced, and serve as a slightly sweet counterpoint to the shrimp rolls (also offered with the egg rolls and other dishes).

At the top of the photo is a small bowl of Vietnamese fish sauce. Fish sauce is used as a dipping/flavoring sauce in a lot of different Vietnamese dishes. It is unlike anything else you've ever tasted, so I can't really describe it if you've never tasted it, but I can tell you how it is made (the more finicky eaters of you scroll down to the next photo right now so you don't have to read the next couple of sentences): it literally is a sauce made out of fish - the fish (usually anchovy, sometimes other fish), is fermented, salted, and then slowly pressed. The residual liquid is a pretty strong flavor, and is the basis of Vietnamese fish sauce. You can buy it in its "raw" form at most Asian supermarkets, but when it is served at restaurants, it is diluted and combined with other ingredients, including some chili paste, for the dipping/flavoring sauce that you see above. I personally love the flavor of fish sauce - it is a little bit sweet, salty, spicy, and a bit pungent all at once. It may be something that you have to try a couple of times first to get accustomed to.

Pho Viet at heart is a pho restaurant, as the name clearly implies. Pho refers to a type of Vietnamese noodle soup that is probably one of the staples of Vietnamese cuisine. The soup is made from beef bones and other ingredients that are cooked for a long time, and a good soup broth can make or break a pho dish. I have heard that the soup broth at Pho Viet isn't quite as good as it was before, but I can't confirm that, because we don't usually eat the pho here, not because it isn't good, but because there are other favorite dishes we have.

The pho dish is composed of a couple different things: the soup base, white rice noodles, and the meat that is served with the dish (usually thin slices of beef sirloin, beef tendon, beef tripe, or other pieces of beef that you can order). Like other pho places, Pho Viet offers a range of different pho that you can order in two different sizes - the small bowl, above, is usually enough for most people. The above photo is of a Pho with a type of vietnamese beef meatball.

Sometimes, there is nothing better than a bowl of pho - the soup is hot and comforting, the broth is flavorful, and for me, you can never complain about having beef as a food group. =)

Every pho bowl gets served with a side of vegetables - bean sprouts, fresh basil, and small slices of green chili - that you can use to put in your pho. Generally, the custom is to place in the basil and the bean sprouts (as much or little as you want), and put in the chili if they want it to be a bit spicier.
Lastly, for every pho dish, you can add in the two different sauces to your pho: on the left-hand side of the photo is a very popular type of chili paste, Sriracha that is pretty much ubiquitous here in the United States. You can purchase it in asian supermarkets, but beware of imitators - some nefarious manufacturers have made versions of the chili paste that look really similar, down to the rooster and the green bottle cap. You have to look for the one made by Huy Fong. It is a spicy chili paste - a small squirt or two will be more than enough spiciness for most people. On the right is another sauce, a type of hoisin sauce, which adds another dimension of flavor to the pho. Neither sauce is required for the pho - you can definitely enjoy the pho without either, or as much of the sauce as you want.

Another type of noodle soup that Pho Viet offers is an extremely spicy noodle soup called Hue-style spicy beef soup (Hue refers to one of the regions in Vietnam). For all you spicy lovers out there, this is the dish for you. This noodle soup is REALLY spicy - so spicy that we usually order it less spicy, because if you order it without any alterations, there is enough heat to burn you up and then some. It comes with slices of beef and beef tendon, pork belly, and onion.

My favorite dish in Vietnamese cuisine is bun (pronounced boon, like Daniel Boone, but without a long drawn out "oo". NOT bun, like a hamburger bun). Bun is a type of vermicelli rice noodle served in a bowl, along with shredded lettuce, thinly sliced cucumber, bean sprouts, and pickled carrot and daikon, along with whatever meat you order. As opposed to the pho above, bun is a dry dish without a soup broth. It also comes with a bowl of fish sauce, which you pour over the bun before mixing all the ingredients together to eat.

Pho Viet offers a lot of different bun dishes, but I would recommend two in particular: a bun made with beef rolls (thinly sliced beef, rolled up with thinly slices onions and then grilled), that is really delicious, or the grilled pork and egg roll bun that is shown above in the photo.

I love the pickled vegetables that come with bun, so I always order an extra bowl of it. =)

Next up is another Vietnamese dish - a vietnamese-style crepe. It is made out of rice flour, water, and either tumeric or coconut milk. At Pho Viet, I think they also add mung bean (which is a flavor I don't like very much). The crepe is filled with thin slices of pork and bean sprouts, then fried. It is served with some lettuce leaves, which you use to wrap up pieces of crepe, and then dunk it in the fish sauce.

For those of you that aren't feeling very adventurous, Pho Viet also offers your regular fried rice. =)
Lastly, for the vegetarians out there, Pho Viet also offers a decent amount of vegetarian options. This is one of our favorite dishes to order - a vegetable noodle soup that comes with tofu. We usually actually order it with a chicken broth instead of the vegetable broth, which destroys the vegetarian nature of the soup, but it comes out much more flavorful.

Bento Cafe - Atlanta, GA

2010-01-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

Bento Cafe serves Taiwanese food, and is in a random plaza in one of the suburbs of Atlanta, where a lot of Asian supermarkets and restaurants are. It was only a couple of months after I moved from Los Angeles, but I was desperately craving Taiwanese food after having the chance to eat it almost every two weeks for about fifteen years straight, so you could say that I kind of wanted it. =). To be honest, I really wasn't expecting to find a Taiwanese place in the South - it isn't an easy cuisine to find even in Los Angeles, where the largest amount of Taiwanese outside of Taiwan itself reside. So when I read a review reporting Taiwanese food in Atlanta, I tempered my hopes, but decided to try it anyway.

I am glad to report that Bento Cafe does indeed serve traditional Taiwanese dishes, so if you are looking for it in the South, you will probably only have a three to four hour drive to eat it. =) It isn't the best Taiwanese food I've ever eaten (not that I was expecting it), but it is about as reasonably accurate as you will be able to find. Translation: If you've eaten Taiwanese food before, this place will rate as a decent meal, but one that you won't be able to get anywhere else in South, which makes it about as good as you're going to get in the South. And Bento Cafe is authentic - I walked in, and was greeted in Taiwanese (which was kind of problematic, because both of us were really, really rusty, but we were able to order some food, thankfully). Just a note: for people who don't speak Taiwanese or Chinese, there may be a bit of a language barrier for you.

For those of you that are wondering what the difference between Taiwanese vs. other types of Chinese cuisine, it is kind of hard to explain, but I will try anyway. For a casual observer, there isn't much of a difference at all, but Chinese cuisine has a lot of regional differences - for instance, in Northern China, there are a lot more heavier and strong flavored dishes, including a lot of noodles, etc. Szechuan cuisine is really spicy, and Southern Chinese cuisine (both Shanghainese and Hong Kong) tends to be lighter in flavor (dim sum is typically a southern chinese type of food). So what about Taiwanese food? Since it is closer to Shanghai and the southern Chinese coast, it tends to resemble southern Chinese cuisine in flavor, but there are some local dishes that aren't made anywhere else.

One of the regional Taiwanese specialities is a simple street food - pork chop rice (or pai gu fan, in Chinese). This is my favorite Taiwanese food, and one of my favorite foods in general, something that I grew up on and continue to eat even now. Taiwanese restaurants that serve this dish fall into one of two camps - they fry the pork chop by itself, or they fry it with a dusting of flour, cornstarch, salt, and pepper. Eating both, I definitely think the second option is much, much tastier, but it is much harder to find a restaurant that prepares it this way. So I cried happy tears of joy when I found out that I ordered this dish and it came out the way I like it. =). The pork chop at Bento Cafe was served with a typical set of side foods - rice with stewed minced pork on top (the minced pork is cooked in soy sauce, sugar, and other spices), along with corn, some bean sprouts, and pickled mustard greens (the green vegetable that is peeking out from under the pork chop on the left).

The pork chop was the best tasting thing on this dish - nicely salted and peppery, and the pork chop wasn't too dry. The bean sprouts and corn were kind of blah, and it was missing a tea egg (egg cooked in soy sauce and tea), but beggars can't be choosers.

Jen ordered another typical Taiwanese dish - it is another street food from the city of Tainan, Taiwan called tan tsai mien in Taiwanese - in English, it is translated as "Tainan Peddler's Noodle". The noodle is served with minced pork, minced pork, a tea egg, and sometimes shrimp, although that varies from place to place.

Aria - Atlanta, GA

2010-01-18T14:56:00.000-05:00

On our first trip to Atlanta, we decided to go to Aria, a restaurant in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. I was expecting a good meal, but as I soon discovered, there are many delectable food offerings here, including one of the most well-prepared and delicious pieces of foie gras that I have eaten so far in my life, without a doubt. =) As a short back story, just a little while ago, I discovered photos I took from Aria and another restaurant while we were on a trip to Atlanta a long while back (a year or so back - I thought I lost the photos, but was happy to find them on a camera we don't usually use). Atlanta is actually the first big metropolitan city we traveled to while in the South, and we were quite happy to discover a wonderful restaurant like Aria on our first trip here. Onto the food!

Because we were in Georgia, it seemed only appropriate to start off the meal with a peach drink, in this case, a peach martini. It was lightly sweet and refreshing, with a piece of fresh peach on top.

We started off with a beet salad with goat cheese and arugula. (Apologies for the dark photos, I wasn't using my regular camera, and it didn't have a low light setting). The goat cheese was relatively mild, which I enjoyed, and the beets were very fresh. Delicious!

As a second appetizer, we ordered a foie gras dish with cherry compote. What was served to us was quite possibly the most delicious piece of foie gras I've ever had. Why? For starters, the serving size was excellent - sometimes, a restaurant serves pieces (sometimes slivers) of foie gras that are just too small to fully enjoy the flavor of foie gras. At Aria, they offer a healthy serving, which I appreciate a lot. Second, the foie gras was fresh - from a local farm in Georgia. Third, the foie gras was cooked perfectly, seared with just sea salt and fresh pepper. Fourth, it was paired very simply, with a little bit of cherry, which was a perfect pairing with the foie gras, because it was only slightly sweet, and the residual tartness matched well with the rich, full-bodied, deep flavor of the foie gras.

We enjoyed the foie gras so much that we ordered a second plate. Cholesterol busting? Yes, definitely. But it was completely worth it - this was a foie gras dish to end all foie gras dishes. Ok, that last bit was hyperbole, but I can say it was the best I've had so far in my life, and that is after eating at pretty good restaurants in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Las Vegas, and New York (pre-blog and post-blog).

As one of our main courses, we ordered the duck, paired with more seasonal cherries. Just like the foie gras dish, this was a generous, and much appreciated, larger serving of duck. =)

As our second main course, we ordered lamb prepared two ways: a slow cooked braised shoulder, and a rack of lamb. Both main courses we ordered - the duck and the lamb - were prepared very well and tasted delicious.

For dessert, one of my favorites - a simple sorbet. They offered four flavors - passion fruit, lemon, peach, and strawberry, on top of a meringue. It was also creatively presented - I liked the architectural whimsy - it was much more visually interesting than sorbet set out flat in a bowl or dish.

Our second dessert - a semolina pudding, served with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and vanilla ice cream.

Overall, our food experience at Aria was wonderful, and if I was closer to Atlanta, I would definitely be going there a lot more regularly. =)

My Doughboys Addiction - Back Again!!!

2010-01-15T09:51:00.001-05:00

Doughboys is back, Doughboys is back!!!! http://www.doughboyscafe.com/. One of my favorite places to eat at in all of Los Angeles was closed in 2007, but it is open again in 2010, and everyone that lives in Southern California are the better for it. =). They have a new renovated exterior and interior, and, they now have an online ordering option! https://doughboyscafe.gimmegrub.com/. Even though I'm on the East Coast right now, I am tempted to order something online and fly back to Los Angeles just to eat there today at lunch =). Seriously. Do you think they would deliver to South Carolina? =).

In case you've never had the chance to go to Doughboys, you have to go and eat there at least once - they have the best red velvet cake in the city (Oprah once anointed the red velvet cake here as the best she's ever had west of the Mississippi), I think their breakfast offerings are one of the tastiest in Los Angeles, and their sandwiches, salads, and soups are truly top notch (bread is freshly baked and fresh) and delicious. Please go and support this wonderful location, this is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles, and I never want to see them close ever again.

I will obviously be back to Doughboys when I go back to Los Angeles, but until I can update this post again, and because the photos are at least helpful in showing how good the food at Doughboys is, below are some photos from my previous posts (Note: all the photos are of dishes are still offered on the Doughboys menu, I just checked, so the photos should be accurate. The posts also have more commentary on the food, just in case you need more info):

The warm portebello mushroom and pancetta salad.

S.O.S. - a breakfast dish, grilled asiago bread and home fries, topped with homemade beef and two steamed eggs - looks kind of unappetizing, but it tastes good, and even better as a leftover, as strange as it sounds. And yes, it does stand for something, look at my previous post if you're really interested.

The pan bagnat: Doughboy's fresh sourdough bread filled with a salad nicoise (tuna, artichoke, green beans, tomato, red onion, olives, capers, peppers, hard boiled egg, and pesto).

A "sandwich" (if you could call it that), called "The Monster" - one of my favorites, it tastes great, although it is really messy: a big, round piece of grilled foccacia (looks like a fat tortilla), topped with melted emanthal cheese, grilled onions, mushrooms, and roast beef, served hot, and open faced (it looks like a pizza and you eat it like a big taco). It comes with some shredded lettuce, diced tomato, and horseradish sauce

And the piece de resistance: tons of photos of their red velvet cake, truly delicious, sweet, moist, yummy cream cheese frosting - this is the best red velvet cake I've ever had, even after wandering around the South for awhile now.

This cake is sooo good, it deserves more than one photo...=)

And a closeup - it is prepared so well, and so moist, that you can easily see it in this photo!

Eat up! And please enjoy Doughboys as much as I will be!

Mousetrap - The 2009-2010 Columbia SC Cheeseburger Crawl

2010-01-05T21:35:00.000-05:00

The Mousetrap Restaurant is the fourth burger place on our cheeseburger crawl. It is a nicer restaurant than a lot of the places we visited so far, at least in the sense that it offered tables or booths to sit at, we ordered from a waitress, and there was even a covered-up piano, which I assume people sometimes sing at in the evenings? In that sense, this isn't quite as fair a comparison to the other places, but we decided to include it on the list anyway. It also offered a wider variety of food other than just burgers, but since this is a cheeseburger tour, all of us ordered the cheeseburgers from the menu.

This restaurant is definitely one of those word-of-mouth places that you would never know about unless someone else told you about it. You would never drive past the place (see the next photo and description), so you could never just randomly drop by. The main patrons of the restaurant seem to be a lot of old-time locals who probably have been eating weekly at the Mousetrap since it opened in 1978.

Two comments about the ambiance of the restaurant: Betsy says: "I like the atmosphere, being in a restaurant that no one knows about, surrounded by older people." Andy says: "I liked Edna's better – I liked being outside at a burger stand on the side of the road."

I included this next photo as a guide to help anyone interested in going to this restaurant. The Mousetrap is a HARD place to find, and is in possibly the most random location for a restaurant that I've ever been to. It is at the back end of an office building on Middleburg Dr. (which itself is a side street one block north of Forest Drive), and if you just try to find the restaurant based on its address (2711 Middleburg Dr.), all you'll see is an office building. BUT, if you drive around to the back northwest corner of the office building, you'll find the Mousetrap tucked away, just like you see in the photo.

And here is a photo of the burger I ordered - the Mousetrap burger. It is basically a bacon and swiss cheeseburger. In addition to regular hamburgers and cheeseburgers, they also offered a pimento cheeseburger using homemade pimento cheese, but none of us tried it.

We all talked about the fries offered here: they were definitely a bit disappointing. Betsy said they were mediocre. Andy says: not impressed. Consensus: middling. They were advertised on the menu as steak fries, but they ended up being thicker crinkle cut fries, a bit too crunchy.

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 3.7

Epicurious E.: 4.25 (yes, usually the ratings are in increments of .5, but this is called the author's prerogative)
Andy: 4.0
Flarké: 3.0
Betsy: 3.5
Hambone: 3.5
NoName: 4.0

-Some overall comments about the burger:
I noticed that the burger is pretty big - not enough to split for two people, but definitely bigger than any that we've tried before. Andy says: "I liked the bacon, it was crispy. Pickles had a good crunch." Both me and Flarké liked the bacon, I thought it had a good smoky flavor, but we both agreed there could have been more bacon offered.

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: I thought it was a great flavor! It is an onion roll, just thick enough and soft. But not toasted =(. Flarké noted hers came out cold.

Meat: The meat was a thick hand-formed patty, big thumbs up, by both me and Flarké. They probably used better meat than the other places. It was a bit dry (Andy concurs), but that also may have been because we were a big party, Flarké pointed out.

Cheese: Standard swiss cheese. I didn't try the pimento cheese, but heard it was uninspiring.

Presentation and condiments: Presentation is good, this is a sit-down restaurant with lots of other dishes, after all - a nice big plate, and ketchup was on the table.

Hero Korean Steak House- Columbia SC

2010-01-03T17:28:00.000-05:00

Hero Korean Steak House & Sushi is a korean bbq restaurant (and sushi place, but I would recommend NOT going here for the sushi) that I think is the best in the Columbia area. (A quick note: if you aren't familiar with korean bbq, there is more info on it below). Hero is definitely better than the other two Korean restaurants that I know of in Columbia: a bit better than DJ House, and much better than O-Bok. It is one of the more personally satisfying restaurant finds for me in Columbia because it is pretty difficult in general to find a korean bbq restaurant that offers charcoal to grill with - back in my hometown of Los Angeles, even with the highest concentration of korean restaurants in the United States, it is incredibly difficult to find (only one place, the best korean bbq restaurant I've ever been to, Soot Bull Jip, offers it), and in Orange County, they have outlawed its use completely. To be honest, I really was not expecting to find a place like this over here in the South, especially in a smaller town like Columbia, but in general, I've been continually (and happily) surprised by the breadth and range of foods you can find around here =).

Hero offers a lot of other Korean foods (including bibimbap), but the standout food, which I think all meat eaters in this world should try at least once, is their charcoal korean bbq. At Hero, you can order their korean bbq two ways: where they cook it for you, and where you cook it over a charcoal grill yourself (more on this below). To order the charcoal grill option at Hero, you have to order two plates of korean bbq meats (which comes out to about $45 and provides more than enough cooked meat to feed at least 4-5 hungry people). The charcoal grill option is so much better than the option where they cook it for you (when they cook the meats for you, I think it turns out kind of greasy, less juicy, and not even close to tasting as good as the option where you cook it over a charcoal grill yourself) that I would recommend against ordering the option where they cook it for you.

For those of you who aren't very familiar with korean bbq, here is korean bbq 101, part 1: there are a whole bunch of different meats you can order (beef, pork, chicken, even seafood), that are marinated in a base of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, onions, and green onions. Some of the marinated meats are spicier than others (as a general guide, the marinated pork and chicken dishes have a spicier marinade that they use). Above is a photo of two of my favorite uncooked meats right before they are about to go on the grill: the top plate is filled with kalbi, slices of marinated beef ribs, and the bottom plate is bulgolgi, thin slices of beef ribeye sirloin.

Korean bbq 101, part 2: Cook the meats over a metal grill. At other places, the fire you cook the meat over is gas, but at Hero, they place a whole bunch of hot charcoals under the metal grill, which gives the meat a nice, smoky flavor. When you cook korean bbq meats over a grill, you can control the doneness of the meats, and in general, the meats come out much juicier. The grill gets hot enough and the meat slices are thin enough that you can cook a piece of meat in a very short time (probably about a minute to a minute and half each side). After you cook the meat, you can eat it plain, or dip it in a flavored soy sauce they provide.

Lastly, although it is not pictured, a lot of korean bbq places offer a basket with pieces of green leaf lettuce to wrap the meats in; you can wrap the meat, along with some rice, in the lettuce and eat it all together.

Korean bbq 101, part 3: With all korean bbq (whether you cook it yourself or they cook it for you), the restaurant will offer a whole bunch of side dishes with the meats for you to eat. The type of dishes vary from restaurant to restaurant, but you will generally always have a large amount of dishes to try. Although I've eaten a lot of Korean bbq in my life thus far, I still can't name all the dishes here, but I will give it a try: Starting at the 3 o'clock position going counter-clockwise: potato salad, kimchee (a spicy pickled napa cabbage), sliced cucumber, radish kimchee (a personal favorite), bean sprouts, two dishes in a row that I can't identify, another different type of kimchee, sliced egg cooked in soy sauce, tofu, sliced daikon radish, and thick sliced spicy cucumber.

The side dishes here at Hero aren't the best I've ever tasted in terms of flavor or freshness, but they are decent and they definitely offer a decent and fairly representative variety of dishes.

This last photo is a horrible one, I will admit - it is the tattered remains of a seafood pajeon. Pajeon is a type of korean crepe/pancake (it is neither as thin as a crepe or as thick as a pancake, somewhere in between) made out of flour and eggs, and pan fried with various ingredients. The seafood pajeon served at Hero has green onion, squid, and other seafood. IMHO, this is one of the best pajeons I have tasted anywhere so far (including the korean bbq restaurants I've tried in California), which is saying a lot. The texture is great - crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and the flavor is savory and delicious. Definitely another must-try if you go to Hero and are feeling adventurous!

Edna's - The 2009-2010 Columbia SC Cheeseburger Tour

2010-01-03T16:26:00.001-05:00

Third on our cheeseburger crawl is an old Columbia mainstay, Edna's. If you polled a lot of long-time residents of Columbia about their favorite burger/hot dog stand, a decent amount would probably pick Edna's as their favorite. This one is officially Edna's #1, and it sits at the intersection of three roads - River Dr., Sunset Dr., and Clement Rd. From what I understand, the reason for the number was at one time, there were several Edna's scattered throughout Columbia, but now, there is only one Edna's left.

All of us talked about the ambiance of the place: It is a true dive - the place seems like a random old burger stand by the road; for seating, they have old wooden picnic tables outside to eat, and there is a local cat that the place feeds. A lot of people take the food to go, or eat in their car. Betsy said it was a place that she might not stop by at normally, but was a place that you only go to if referred to by someone else. Andy said: "The food alone wasn't enough to keep me coming back, but combined the the dive-y ambiance, I'm coming back."

Edna's offers a lot of different hot sandwiches (ham, BLT, ribeye, chicken fillets), but most everyone that comes here orders either their burgers or their chili dogs. Me being the hungry and occasional glutton that I am, I ordered their bacon cheeseburger basket and chili dog. =)

A closeup of the bacon cheeseburger. They have hamburgers, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, and chili burgers.

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 3.9

Epicurious E.: 3.5

Andy: 4.0
Flarké: 3.5
Betsy: 3.5
Hambone: 4.5

-Some overall comments about the burger: Andy liked the balance of the burger and ratio of ingredients. I liked that they were generous with their lettuce, tomato, and onion; there were multiple large pieces of each.

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: A larger size white restaurant bun, but not too thick. Not toasted. =(

Meat: A thick, larger sized patty. For me, the meat could have been a bit more flavored, and had more char on the outside. But, it was juicy.

Cheese: Standard slice of American cheese, nothing special.

Presentation and condiments: Everything comes in a white bag, nothing special; but, the burger is wrapped separately. There was a slight problem with the condiments - they only offered ketchup packs.

The Big W (our in-house connoisseur of Southern cuisine who isn't participating in the ratings of our cheeseburgers, but often attends our cheeseburger crawls), told me to try the chili dog because it was his favorite in Columbia, and he usually goes to Edna's for the chili dogs instead of the burgers. I definitely agree. I thought it was great; the chili was rich and flavorful, the dog was a good size, and it was cooked well and had a good snap to it.

A Three Hour Tour of Devereaux's - Greenville SC

2009-12-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

On a short weekend trip to Greenville, South Carolina awhile back, we took the opportunity to expand our indulge our tastebuds at Devereaux's, a restaurant that definetly aspires to offer a high-end culinary experience like you would get a big metropolitan city like Atlanta, New York, or Los Angeles. It had been awhile since I had a good, creative meal, and after hearing good comments about the place, I was excited to try the food there. The atmosphere of the restaurant itself is very comfortable - warm, but dim lighting (great for dates, bad for my blog post =P), exposed brick walls, etc. However, the space itself is pretty large with higher ceilings, and depending on where you sit, you might get a slight feeling of a cavernous space, rather than a more intimate one.

As for the food, we of course ordered "The Chef's Ultimate Tasting Menu" after finding out something like that was on the menu, because I love to see how creative chefs can get with their food (especially with fond memories of my more recent meals at Fleur de Lys and Water Grill). Devereaux's offers a standard tasting menu of five courses, and the "Chef's Ultimate Tasting Menu" of ten courses. A ten course meal is never going to be cheap, and the one offered here is not for the faint of heart (price-wise), but if you're a foodie, can you ever say no to a large variety of food? I can't. =).

Before getting into the meal, a couple of overall comments about the tasting menu: Overall, Chef Devereaux Greene definetly has an impecabble sense of modern, minimalist food presentation, as you will be able to tell from the photos. And some of the dishes were truly very delicious, although a bit small at times. However, I do have a couple of service-related critiques that hopefully the restaurant can improve on. First, the waiter, although friendly and gracious, could have had more knowledge about the food, and it seemed that he had a lot of area to cover, so we didn't seem him very much. Second, the timeliness of the dishes was a problem - it took three and a half hours for the entire meal to be completed....Gilligan and his friends took a three hour boat tour of Hawaii that they were planning to be shorter than the length of our meal. That comes out to be about twenty minutes between each dish, and with the amount of food provided on each dish, it didn't take long to finish it. We had exhausted every topic of conversation twice over by the time dessert was served. Admittedly, we do eat pretty fast anyway, but a high-end restaurant should have its waiters communicating with the chef to adjust the timing of the dishes served.

Anyway, enough service-related comments. We are really here to enjoy the food, right?

First, we were served an amuse bouche: a crab salad with cumin and carrot puree. A very nice, light start to the meal, and I enjoyed the color and flavors provided by the puree.

Second for the meal was a Tasmanian salmon sashimi, served with a cucumber flower. I've eaten a lot of high-quality salmon sashimi at some very good Japanese restaurants, and this stood head-to-toe with them. The dish was excellent, and one of the highlights of the night for the both of us. The presentation with the cucumber flower was a very nice touch also.

Next, we were served a two-part dish: on the left, an apple and beet tartar, and on the right, a gazapacho with beef.

For our fourth dish, we were presented with a celery root soup with smoked bacon and potato. A little bit too creamy, but I enjoyed the smokiness of the bacon.

Next, a grilled tiger prawn with apple salad. The most underwhelming dish of the night for me, partly because I felt that it would have been more effective with at least two or three, instead of just one tiger prawn. I enjoy minimalist dishes as much as the next person, but too little on a dish seems a bit parsimonious.

The sixth dish was foie gras on a french baguette with bittersweet chocolate and passion fruit. The quality of the foie gras was pretty good, and I enjoyed the contrast in texture between it an the baguette.

A Japanese red snapper in bonito broth. The bonito broth was a bit too light, and could definetly had more body, but it was interesting to see such a simple Japanese dish in this mix of food, but I appreciated the timing of the dish, to balance out the heaviness of the foie gras before we ate the next dish...

The eighth dish was the best dish of the night, in both our opinions: It was quail prepared three ways: at the top, a flash fried quail leg encrusted with panko and stuffed with beef tenderloin; in the middle, pan seared quail breast; and not visible (under the quail breast) was quail risotto. It was a creative trio of quail - the quail leg was fried perfectly with a very enjoyable contrast in texture with the beef tenderloin, the pan seared quail breast was quite succulent and juicy, and the risotto had a deep, mellow, flavor.

The last main course was a soux vide beef short rib. Like all soux vide dishes, the short rib was very tender.

I don't like strong cheeses, so honestly, I didn't appreciate this next dish very much - a Roquefort cheese and jam.

A pre-dessert palate cleanser: a lemon posset (basically, a simple lemon/key lime pudding).

Lastly, at the end of three and a half hours, we were finally served our dessert: carrot cake with vanilla ice cream.

Mack's on Laurel - The 2009-2010 Columbia SC Cheeseburger Crawl

2009-12-28T21:31:00.000-05:00

Mack's on Laurel (also known as Mack's Cash Groceries and Mack's Restaurant) is the second place on our cheeseburger crawl. We call it Mack's on Laurel in an effort to distinguish it from the other Mac's that people know about (Mac's on Main in downtown Columbia, where they play jazz). Mack's on Laurel is, well, on Laurel St. a couple of minutes from downtown Columbia, between Barnwell and Gregg St., and sits across from a local firehouse.

Although it's called Mack's Cash Groceries on the web, I don't know why, because there aren't any groceries within the place - I think it started out as a small market a long, long time ago, before they started making their burgers.

This is definetly a local hole-in-the-wall with its own set of rules that you learn very quickly about: everyone goes through the back door of the restaurant (not pictured) to order their food, because the line starts in the back of the place. Also, don't talk on your cell phone while in line, because you will get yelled at! (They have a sign to remind you, and anyway, the telephone conversation can't be that important, can it?). This restaurant definetly has a lot of character, as Betsy noted: "It is your classic Columbia Dive, you need to be in the know: e.g. should be entering through the back door to get in line and order. Don't be talking on your cell phones! Lots of interesting photos, pictures, and knick-knacks to look at."

In addition to the cheeseburgers that you can order, they also have chili dogs (and slaw dogs, if I remember correctly). The chili dog can be ordered all-the-way with mustard, onion, and chili . It was ok, but was a bit small - if you go, I definetly recommend ordering the burger instead.

And here is the cheeseburger from Mack's on Laurel. It can be ordered all-the-way, with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Ketchup has to be added on separately.

-Everyone had a lot to say about the cheeseburger:

NoName says: "Pretty standard greasy spoon burger, better than average with a sturdy, perhaps too sturdy, bun. Disappointed at the lack of pickle (personal pref.) and the "all the way" was a little heavy on the mayo. Not exactly spectacular but definitely a good burger accompanied by better than average fried accoutrements. The vintage cafeteria/diner atmosphere unchanged since 1971 along with the no nonsense staff go very well with this traditional short order burger."

Flarké says: "The burger is very soft overall, but I appreciate the staff."

And everyone else's comments: "The burger is a bigger burger than Palmetto Sandwich Shop. It is good, lots of flavor in the meat, but also really messy (they put a lot of mayo in it). A good classic burger. It is offered with shredded lettuce, and two well-sized tomatoes on it. No pickle. The fries were excellent -the texture and saltiness were good!"

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 3.8

Epicurious E.: 4.0
Flarké: 4.0
Betsy: 4.0
Hambone: 3.5
NoName: 3.5

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: The bun is a larger sesame white bun, which may be too thick and soft for some. I thought it was good, but again, they do not toast it. =(

Meat: The meat patty was a good size – just thick enough, with a good mild meat flavor to it. Again, would be nice if it had a little crust to the meat, but the texture was really good, and it was well cooked, juicy.

Cheese: Nothing special - just a slice of American cheese.

Presentation and condiments: Presentation was good – burger looks delicious, and they serve fries separately. Condiments on the table include texas pete's hot sauce, salt, pepper, and malt vinegar. Very nice. But no ketchup on the table, they give you packets with the tray. A tiny bit odd.

Palmetto Sandwich Shop - The 2009-2010 Columbia SC Cheeseburger Crawl

2009-12-28T20:57:00.001-05:00

For no reason in particular, we chose Palmetto Sandwich Shop as our first inaugeral place to start off this cheeseburger crawl. Palmetto Sandwich Shop definetly fits the bill - it is a random hole-in-the-wall that is pretty easy to miss on Sumter St. (between Hampton St. and Washington St.) in downtown Columbia. We heard they had decent pimento cheeseburgers, so of course, we had to try it out! They do serve sandwiches, but everyone I saw in there ordered their burgers, so their name is a bit of a misnomer.

And here is the burger all of us ordered: The Palmetto Cheeseburger. It is a cheeseburger with pimento cheese, which can be ordered all-the-way (with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mustard). You have to add the ketchup separetly.

-Some overall comments from everyone about the cheeseburger:

"A solid, if simple and unassuming, burger. Its strength is also its weakness; the burger doesn't stand out, but it also doesn't get anything wrong either. A tiny bit on the smaller side. It's offered with a bit shredded lettuce, not too much (good or bad, depending…), and two smaller tomatoes (would have maybe liked bigger tomato slices?). No pickle."

-Here are our ratings on the cheeseburger and fries:
Average Rating: 3.0

Epicurious E.: 3.0
Andy: 3.0
Flarké: 2.5
Betsy: 2.5
Hambone: 4.0

-And a breakdown of each of the components of the cheeseburger:

Bun: The bun is a normal cafeteria-style thicker white bun, which they press down a bit before serving (for easier eating). But they do not toast it. =(.

Meat: The meat was a tiny bit thin (I would have liked it just a bit thicker, to enjoy the meat flavor a bit more), although it was cooked well (not dry, it was cooked completely through and juicy). Would be nice if they flavored the meat, though, because the flavor of the meat was a bit light, IMHO. Also would have been nice if the meat had a bit of a grilled crust on it, for better texture.

Cheese: The pimento cheese was good – just enough to enjoy the flavor, without overloading on the cheese. It was a more mild pimento cheese, shredded.

Presentation and condiments: Why can't they serve it on a plate? The small little paper container only holds the burger and fries (if barely), and there is no place to put your ketchup. But, the condiments were provided on the table, that was convenient, thanks!

Intro: The 2009-2010 Columbia SC Cheeseburger Crawl

2009-12-28T18:21:00.000-05:00

In a break with the normal posts of this blog by just me, I would like to announce a completely new tradition that I am starting up here on my blog - a semi-regular set of posts on my blog dedicated to a search for the best cheeseburger served here in Columbia, SC. This idea is the genesis of one of my co-workers, Flarké, who has taken the very serious duty of showing me all the good places to eat here in the South, including where all the good cheeseburger joints in town are. =)

In making up the list of places to go to, we have laid down three ground rules:

(1) We decided to stick with local, homegrown places that offer cheeseburgers in Columbia only. This excludes all of the chain restaurants (right now, I'm going to say "Sorry!" to Five Guys - I love their burgers and their fries, but it isn't a local place, it's all over the Eastern seaboard, so it was automatically excluded. I'll do another separate post for them in the future).

(2) We are looking for simple unadulterated cheeseburgers at your local hole-in-the-walls, and not your higher-end places. So Motor Supply Co. Bistro, even though you may have a great tasting cheeseburger (even though you serve it with quinoa, not fries, and to that I say, "Seriously!!??") and Mr. Friendly's, sorry, your restaurants are just too nice to get on the list).

(3) Each cheeseburger (with the fries) is rated on a scale of 1-5 (one being your average cheeseburger and fries from McDonald's, and five being the best you've ever eaten), with increments of .5 allowed (as in a rating of 2.5, 3.5, etc.). Everyone has an opportunity to revise their previous ratings based on each new cheeseburger they try.

The group of cheeseburger tasters includes myself and several of my co-workers (with appropriate pseudonyms to hide their all-important day-to-day identities). We will be visiting a whole bunch of cheeseburger places every two weeks or so (every two weeks just to try to stay a little bit healthier), and giving overall ratings to each of the cheeseburgers based on several categories. Hopefully we will eventually be able to declare a winner for the best cheeseburger in Columbia sometime in 2010 (although the list keeps growing...we'll get through them eventually though!).

By the way, a random note: some of these places also serve hot dogs too, which I will be trying on my own, but no ratings on these, though.

That is pretty much it! I'll be tagging each post in this set with a special "Columbia SC Cheeseburger Crawl" tag, in case anyone wants to review them all together. Without further ado, please enjoy the 2009-2010 Columbia Cheeseburger Crawl!

Mai Thai - Columbia SC

2009-12-28T16:34:00.000-05:00

Mai Thai is one of three Thai restaurants (well, four if you count Baan Swaan, a Thai fusion restaurant that is kind of overpriced for what you get, IMHO) that I know of around here, and it is definitely a pretty decent option for Thai food, for the Columbia area. The flavor of the food at Mai Thai is fairly authentic, if a bit light at times, and uses the freshest ingredients in the area (my favorite Thai restaurant in Columbia, Thai Lotus, offers food with a more robust flavor, but Mai Thai uses ingredients that are just a bit fresher).

Mai Thai is in a random plaza on Sunset Blvd. in West Columbia, and although the outside of the restaurant looks pretty unimpressive, the inside of the restaurant is actually quite pretty, and a nice location for a date if you are looking for it. It is also a good choice if you are looking for a vegetarian meal, as it offers a good variety of dishes with just vegetables or tofu. This restaurant is a favorite of a friend of ours, and here are the results of a meal we had with them:

We ordered the Mai Thai rolls as an appetizer - basically egg rolls, filled with shrimp, ground pork, carrots, onions, scallions, cabbage, and bean thread noodles, with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. The rolls were decently crunchy, although as I noticed throughout the meal, the flavor was a bit light.

Jen's favorite Thai soup, Tom Yum. This soup in some Thai restaurants can get REALLY spicy and hot, although the flavor can be quite delicious if prepared correctly. The flavor of this soup is very distinctly Thai - with lime and lemongrass in a coconut milk soup. They served the soup with some mushrooms. Like the rest of the dishes here, this soup ended up being a bit light in flavor even though Jen ordered it spicy.

Another one of Jen's favorite dishes - Larb. This is another one of those traditionally spicy Thai dishes - here, the larb is served with ground chicken, lime juice, scallions, and onions on a bed of lettuce. It is a nice, refreshing dish with a touch of sourness from the lime and spicy heat, and was the best dish of the night that we ordered.

My favorite Thai dish I like to order - Pad Thai. It is a pan-fried rice noodle dish, with egg, ground peanuts, scallions, and bean sprouts (on the left). You can order it with meat or tofu as a vegetarian option. I wish the flavor was a bit richer, but the ingredients in this dish were fresh.

Another vegetarian dish, this one named "Ginger Lover". It is sauteed onions, mushrooms, snow peas, mushrooms, celery, and ginger.
The dessert we ordered: banana spring rolls. To be honest, this dessert was a bit of a disappointment for me - not enough banana, and too much spring roll. There is a dessert that we usually like to order at Thai restaurants - a flambé banana, but they didn't have it here. We ordered this instead as a replacement, but were a bit disappointed.

Sakura - Columbia SC

2009-12-26T22:24:00.000-05:00

Sakura is one of the better Japanese restaurants in Columbia, in my opinion. The quality of the fish is usually decent, and they have a wide variety of traditional Japanese cooked dishes to choose from, which I am quite happy about. Also, it is one of the only good Japanese restaurants that is open for lunch on weekdays and weekends, which is a huge plus for me, especially when I have a hankering for Japanese food at noontime. =)

So, I know what you're thinking - what in the world does the photo of this random store have to do with Sakura Japanese Restaurant? Quite simply, looking for Coplon's is the only way you will be able to find Sakura. Although the address for Sakura lists it on Forest Drive, you can't see it while driving on Forest - it is actually behind Coplon's and not visible from the street, so as soon as you see Coplon's, drive past it, and you will find Sakura at the back corner. You can thank me for saving you the time of finding it another time. =)

A simple order of two of my favorite types of sashimi: salmon and yellowtail sashimi. The cut of the fish is decent for this area, and the quality and taste is also pretty good as well. The reason Sakura isn't the best in this area in my book is because the sashimi has occasionally suffered from the "frozen" problem I've encountered at almost every Japanese restaurant in this area - namely, sometimes the sashimi, when served, is still a tiny bit frozen (which I know is probably a problem that can't be avoided, considering where we are and the difficulty of obtaining fresh fish for sashimi, but still).

Any decent Japanese restaurant should have chirashi to order off the menu (chirashi is basically a combination of various types of sashimi, tamago (cooked sweetened egg), and shrimp, served over a bed of sushi rice. As it stands as far as I know, Sakura is one of the two restaurants in Columbia that I think even serves chirashi.

Here is a photo of one of my personal favorite cooked dishes at Sakura - a combination platter of chicken teriyaki, tempura, and hosomaki (referring to the sushi that you see in the bottom left hand corner, composed of california and cucumber rolls). Fortunately for me, the chicken teriyaki is actually cooked sort of in a traditional manner here, meaning it isn't prepared in large chunks teppanyaki style (or as someone I know aptly put it, Japanese chop-chop style) like in a lot of other Japanese restaurants in this town.

Sakura also has a lot of different cooked dishes, from various combination platters of chicken or beef teriyaki, tempura, to other dishes, like udon. The large variety and good quality and taste of the Japanese cooked food which is one of the biggest draws for me, and one of the reasons I will keep coming back here.

Lady and Sons - Savannah, GA

2009-12-26T20:13:00.000-05:00

On our first trip to the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia (one of my favorite cities in the South so far), we took some time to stop by one of the most well-known restaurants in the city, Lady and Sons. As everyone knows, the restaurant is owned by Paula Deen and her sons, and it offers everything you can imagine when you think of Paula Deen...plentiful and overflowing amounts of Southern dishes, which will leave you in a calorie and cholesterol-busting food coma. =)

I remember reading a review calling this place an American temple to gluttony - while I think that was a bit of an overstatement, the restaurant IS owned by Paula Deen (tons of butter in her recipes, and creator of the Lady's Brunch burger, the infamous burger made with two krispy kreme donuts instead of bread), and so if you go, are you REALLY expecting healthy salads and other light options? The southern food isn't the best I've had so far, but regardless of your expectations, I think this is one of those places that everyone should visit at least once, at least for the experience. Some people call this a tourist trap, but I think it really offers the kind of friendly, gut-busting food experience I think I might have if I went to Paula Deen's house and had a meal there, albeit in a gigantic three-story restaurant designed to hold every single tourist that visits Savannah (just kidding with that last comment. It is pretty big though).

So the first thing I learned about this restaurant is that Paula doesn't take reservations. Seriously? Well, that isn't quite accurate...you can make reservations at the restaurant starting the morning of the day you want to eat, but not any earlier than that - there is a maitre'd that stands outside, and you make a reservation with them for either lunch or dinner (in the above photo, the stand where the person is located is on the left-hand side of the photo). On weekends, the line starts up at 8:00 in the morning for lunch and dinner spots, and gets pretty long. I actually ended up getting there late, at about 8:45 in the morning, and just barely got a table for 2 for 11:00 in the morning on the third floor of the restaurant (all the floors are the same, from what I can see - each floor has offers its own Southern food buffet area, and has lots of tables for people to sit at). From what I can remember, the dinner spots were equally as filled up by then.

So here was the 11:00 group - a whole lotta hungry people waiting for the restaurant to open. There were so many of us that they asked us to wait across the street!

Shortly before 11:00 am, this lady came out and literally rang the iron triangle to announce the opening of the restaurant for the day. Ahh, what a spectacle. =) She hollered at our group and asked all of us if we were ready to eat - after she rang the triangle, she got everyone so excited that I almost thought the group was going to run en masse straight for the doors in a gigantic mob...fortunately, the actual process is a LOT more organized.

So after the lady rang up her triangle, a matire'd came out and called each of the party's names. The whole process didn't take too long - we were towards the end of the group, and we ended up waiting about 10 minutes before our name was called.

So when you get seated, they immediately start plying you with food, starting with Paula's delicious cheese biscuits (sorry for the blurry picture). And yes, they will serve you as many as you want, for you biscuit gluttons out there.

In addition to the cheese biscuits, you also get served some hoecakes (basically cornmeal pancakes). They are made fresh - I watched as someone made fresh hoecakes at an area next to the buffet - and the hoecakes are delicious, but very filling.

Without really thinking about it, we ordered a fried green tomato appetizer (with an onion relish and a roasted red pepper sauce). Normally, we usually don't have a problem finishing off an appetizer and our main course, but not here. I think if I came back, I would not end up ordering an appetizer, not because it was bad, but because they offer so much food that it was really too much for just the two of us. The fried greens tomato dish iteslf was pretty good - a nice crunchy outside, although I wished the red pepper sauce had a little more punch.

Jen ordered a chicken pot pie for her main course. The top of the dish, the cross-hatched pie top that you see, was pretty intimidating when I first saw it - it is a super-buttery, and really flaky puff pastry pie top. The inside was pretty heavy and creamy, but definetly filled chock full of chicken and other vegetables.

I ordered the Southern all-you can-eat buffet, and it was definetly a treat. Although there wasn't any pulled pork bbq like what I have experienced in South Carolina, they had a whole lot of other food to compensate. This first photo of the buffet was my attempt to capture all the hot food they offered.

I loved this buffet - first of all, there were three types of chicken - fried chicken, baked chicken, and bbq chicken. Now that's what I'm talking about! =)
Lots of different typical Southern vegetable dishes - from left to right, creamed corn, collard greens, lima beans, black-eyed peas, and green beans.
On the right, they offered sweet candied yams (top), and mac and cheese (bottom).

Last, and definetly for this buffet, the least, was a slightly sad salad bar - the ingredients were fresh enough, but no one was eating from it - the salad was kind of like the ignored step-child of the buffet.

Here was one of the two plates of food I ate of the buffet - my favorite was the fried chicken. It wasn't the best I've had in the South so far (Palmetto Pig is my favorite), but it was juicy and crunchy, if a tiny bit too greasy for me. But the flavor was great. As for the rest of the food, everything was delicious and flavorful. I gotta admit, Paula does it well.

Lastly, dessert - a banana pudding. A nice ending, but I was seriously about to explode by the end of the meal - I don't remember a time where I was ever quite so full. Between the biscuits, hoecakes, appetizer, and buffet, I was seriously filled up to my absolute maximum. The walk we took afterwards around all the beautiful squares in Savannah's downtown was quite helpful. I didn't eat dinner that day because I was so full! But the food was good, and both of us definetly enjoyed ourselves. Thanks Paula and Sons!

Shealy's BBQ - Columbia SC area (Batesburg-Leesville)

2009-12-06T20:36:00.000-05:00

Shealy's BBQ is probably one of the favorite and more well-known southern bbq buffets in South Carolina, and for good reason - it has an incredible spread of Southern food that I haven't seen matched at any of the bbq restaurants I've been to so far (but they don't have one of my favorites, hush puppies, what's up with that??). It is deep within the SC countryside, almost a one hour drive away from Columbia, with at least twenty to thirty minutes of that drive off the I-20 exit. But the drive is good in a way, because by the time you get there, you will definitely have developed an appetite for the food, and it is all-you-can-eat! =)

The restaurant itself is very large, with at least three large areas to seat everyone (you get assigned area to sit in after you pay), but it still fills up very quickly. When we got there, we still waited in line for about ten-fifteen minutes or so before getting a seat, but the line moves pretty quickly.

With these Southern BBQ buffets, my general approach is to take photos of individual parts of the food spread to show what they offer, but there was so much food here and it was so busy that I didn't have a chance to take photos of the area like I usually do (and, I ended up missing some of the food - I got all the hot food that Shealy's was offering, but totally neglected their cold vegetable section...cole slaw, potato salad, salad greens, etc. So the fact that you don't see photos of that doesn't mean they don't offer it!). Instead, I got individual portions of everything that I could get my hands on...I was stuffed by the end of the meal, but can't say I didn't try to show y'all everything at Shealy's! =)

For my first dish, I grabbed some of my favorite Southern foods: fried chicken, hash (for a hash explanation, please look at my post for Little Pigs), creamed corn, some green beans, and some corn bread.

I couldn't fit everything I wanted to on the first plate, so I grabbed a bowl as well, and grabbed some mustard and vinegar pulled pork bbq as well as collard greens. Yep, a bowl of meat. =)

One of the specialities at Shealy's is their pulley bone chicken - a piece of fried chicken cut around the pulley bone. Where is that, may you ask? I previously had no idea before going to Shealy's, but I found out it refers to the wishbone area of the chicken. This piece of chicken was cooked pretty well; it was pretty juicy despite being white meat, and the texture of this chicken piece was a bit chewier than eating a chicken breast, if that makes any sense. Interesting, but I still prefer my dark meat. =)

I enjoyed the fried chicken at Shealy's a lot (but not more than my favorite place in Columbia, Palmetto Pig) - I thought it was good enough to grab some more in a second round, along with some other hot food they offered: some lima beans, pasta (not my favorite, I should have grabbed some cole slaw or potato salad), as well as more creamed corn and a dinner roll (you're better off with the cornbread IMHO, they are no different than any other dinner roll I've had purchased in a market).

After two plates and a bowl of meat, I was definitely ready for dessert. And Shealy's does not disappoint! Two types of fruit cobbler (peach and apple), two types of pudding (banana and an unknown flavor), as well as apple pie! I love my desserts, and this was quite enjoyable for me.

If the first dessert plate wasn't enough, I also saw a soft-serve ice cream machine on the way back, and being a dessert glutton, I wasn't going to leave Shealy's without eating some soft serve as well! =) They definitely have something for everyone! (Thanks to Alyssa for letting me borrow her IPhone for photos, got so excited about this place I forgot my camera!)

Drake's Duck-In - Columbia SC

2009-12-06T18:54:00.000-05:00

Drake's Duck-In serves possibly one of the best chicken sandwiches in Columbia, but it is one of those local hole-in-the-walls that you would never find unless you knew someone who eats there (Thanks Flarké!). The one problem with restaurant is its location - it is in downtown Columbia on Main St., and it is harder to find parking around there with all the meters, especially during lunch time. However, it is a definite must-visit for anyone searching for a delicious Southern-style fried chicken sandwich. (Thanks to Flarké for the cellphone pics!)

Although Drake's Duck-In serves both burgers and chicken sandwiches (along with some desultory salads that I would never recommend ordering), I think almost everyone around here comes in for their chicken sandwich. I ordered a simple chicken sandwich combo, with fries and some sweet tea...doesn't get more southern than that! The fries, by the way, are excellent, freshly fried, thick and crunchy. =)

Additionally, you can order the sandwich with a side of honey mustard, which comes in a separate plastic container. I strongly suggest you try it with the honey mustard sauce, it makes the sandwich even more drool-worthy!

Here's a close-up of the chicken sandwich. It's pretty simple, with some shredded lettuce and some tomato, but the taste of this sandwich has got Chick-Fil-A beat by a mile or so. Why? Drake's Duck-In put at least two thick breaded and fried chicken breast fillets in the sandwich, and the meat texture is juicy. It doesn't get better than this!

Sun Ming - Columbia, SC

2009-12-06T14:40:00.000-05:00

Sun Ming is the only restaurant I would recommend in the area for more authentic Chinese food. The location is pretty convenient and accessible; it is off the I-26 in Irmo on St. Andrews Rd. right past the railroad tracks. All the other Chinese restaurants in this area aren't necessarily the worst Chinese food I've ever eaten (Miyo's, a very popular Chinese restaurant in the Columbia area, has decently fresh ingredients), but the flavor everywhere around here is always kind of light and/or bland, and generally just a little bit off compared to the chinese food I grew up with at home and at restaurants in the Los Angeles area. Sun Ming doesn't serve the best Chinese food I've ever eaten, but it is by far the best in this area.

A random note for anyone that might be interested: I have heard that Sun Ming also serves dim sum, but I have not confirmed on what days they do this, nor the quality and breadth of the dim sum they offer.

At Sun Ming, the menu have two sections, one with the standard Chinese dishes (served in individual portions) and one labeled as traditional Chinese cuisine (which I would suggest ordering off, it is in the center of the menu they provide at the restaurant). The dishes in this section are prepared family-style, meaning that they are served with the intention of everyone sharing in the dish, instead of one individual dish for each person. This is the typical way to serve Chinese food, as it gives everyone a bigger variety of food to choose and eat from.

Soup is always a good way to start off the meal: Jen loves hot and sour soup, which Sun Ming prepares decently here: as the name implies, it is a slightly spicy and sour soup, prepared with soy sauce and vinegar, along with bamboo, mushrooms, and pork.

One of my favorite dishes to order when I eat Chinese food, if the offer it - Peking style spare ribs (in pin yin, Gin doo pai goo). It is basically pieces of pork, lightly breaded and fried, with a savory sweet sauce. When I ate it here, it wasn't quite as good as I would have liked - the breading was a little bit too thick and fried a bit too much - but the flavor was pretty decent.

Another one of my favorite dishes to order, walnut shrimp: shrimp, lightly dusted with flour/corn starch and fried, with a light mayonnaise sauce, served with walnuts. When I've ordered it elsewhere around here, it came out completely wrong, and turned out like a sweet and sour shrimp dish, which it should NOT taste like. At least here, at Sun Ming, the taste is basically correct, with the light mayo sauce.

As my parents always told me, a balanced meal is important when you are ordering food at Chinese restaurants - meat, seafood, and vegetables always makes for a good meal generally. We ordered a simple vegetable dish for the meal: a quick stir-fry of baby bok choy.

For me, the coup de grace of the meal was this dish: flounder, steamed whole, prepared with soy sauce, ginger, and scallions. For me, there is no better way to enjoy a fish, and I am glad that there is a place in Columbia that prepares fish in this style, which is the traditional way to eat fish in chinese cuisine. You just pick up pieces directly off the bone and enjoy! It is a simple dish, but Sun Ming prepares it well.

Solstice Kitchen - Columbia, SC

2009-12-06T11:04:00.000-05:00

Solstice Kitchen is definitely one of the better high-end restaurants I've been to here in Columbia (as a side note, I would refrain from comparing the higher-end restaurants in Columbia to higher-end restaurants in cities like Atlanta, Charleston, and elsewhere - Columbia is a smaller city, and its higher-end restaurants are comparable in flavor/experience to middle tier restaurants in bigger cities); it specializes in dishes that I think are best described as modern, dressed-up Southern cuisine, with a touch of American Fusion cuisine here and there. The location is a bit out-of-the-way though, in Northeast Columbia off I-20, about 25 minutes from the center of downtown Columbia. Solstice Kitchen is run by the same owners as one of my favorite restaurants here in Columbia, Mr. Friendly's (which I haven't posted about yet only because I'm not really satisfied with my photos there so far). The restaurant has a relaxed, warm atmosphere, and is a great date place, if you are looking for a private place with good food. My only criticism of this restaurant is that they need to vary their sauces more (see below). Here are the photos from a meal I had when I took the chance to come here for a celebratory event with my family:

Our first appetizer, a rare yellowfin tuna with mango salsa and two sauces: a wasabi ponzu sauce (in the glass), and a basil-orange aioli with cilantro and sriracha. This is definitely a dish that I would characterize as American fusion, quite clearly inspired with Asian flavors (the wasabi ponzu from Japan, and the sriracha, a Vietnamese chili paste).

Another appetizer - foie gras prepared two ways: on the left, pan seared foie gras with a berry compote and a homemade cinnamon toast crunch (interesting twist, but I didn't really like the preparation, especially since I don't like foie gras paired with overly sweet elements), divided by balsamic vinegar in the center, and on the right, pan seared foie gras with coriander mustard and toasted garlic bread (much better, the spicy mustard definetly added a new dimension which I appreciated). As for the foie gras itself, I've had higher quality and better tasting foie gras elsewhere (the pieces here were a bit small), but I did like that I had the option to order it here.

Our last appetizer, a beef tenderloin carpaccio with a black pepper aioli and capers, with fried cauliflower at the top.

One of the salads we ordered: a "Three Way Tomato Salad", with vine ripened, heirloom, and fried green tomatoes, along with the black pepper aioli and a goat cheese sauce. By this dish, I really started to notice that the restaurant (at least with the dishes we ordered), seemed to rely really heavily on similar tasting sauces as accents (i.e. the black pepper aioli and the balsamic vinegar)...I kind of wish they varied the flavors a bit more, especially since Southern cuisine has a lot of different flavors not present in other types of American cuisine.

One of our main dishes: a "Mint Salt Seared Yellowfin Tuna" on top of buttermilk mashed potatoes, and sauteed spinach. This dish suffered from the same problem I mentioned above, namely the profusion of similar tasting dark sauces, this time a sweetened balsamic vinegar.

I hadn't eaten scallops in a long while, and when I saw this dish, I happily convinced one of the members of my family to order it: Sea scallops prepared in a low country shrimp and oyster stew, with polenta cake and an argula-basil pesto. This was one of the better dishes of the night, and I think the restaurant definitely prepares better quality food when it comes to making higher-end Southern cuisine.

I guess that makes two of us that wanted scallops this evening: citrus seared scallops with fusilli pasta, grape tomatoes, spinach, green peas, and Parmesan cheese. I could have done without the cheese, but it wasn't too overpowering.

The last dish: I ordered the "Low Country Blackened Flat Iron Steak", with a gorgonzola mornay, paired with fried green tomatoes and buttermilk mashed potatoes. It was good, but this dish definitely did not need the sweetened balsamic vinegar; by this time, I figured that they used these darker sauces not so much for the flavor, but more as a visual accent. They could still have used a different flavored sauce. Seriously.

The first of our desserts: A wild berry spring roll topped with cinnamon sugar, with preserved lemon/thyme ice cream. If it was fried correctly and had a little less dough, it would have been the perfect dessert, but it was a bit soft, and the spring roll was a bit too thick. The ice cream was very good, though.

A "Bannana-kopita". Definitely the most interesting of the desserts: caramelized banana, vanilla marscapone with a phyllo-dough wrapping, served with a side of vanilla ice cream. Quite delicious!

I'm always glad to see a sorbet dish on the menu; it never fails as a nice, light way to clean your palate and enjoy dessert at the same time. Here, they offered a strawberry and lemon sorbet.

A primer to southern bbq buffet - Little Pigs - Columbia, SC

2009-11-21T13:59:00.001-05:00

Little Pigs, in the northeastern part of Columbia, South Carolina, epitomizes southern cuisine to me in a nutshell. It is a southern BBQ buffet, something that does not exist with any regularity (as far as I know) anywhere else in the United States. Why, I have no idea - it is an absolutely delicious way for a self-avowed food glutton like myself to spend a meal...it is cheap (an average all-you-can-eat buffet costs no more than $8 bucks, including tax), there are tons of options (variety is always key for me), and the food is great - endless amounts of pulled pork, sides, and desserts. And I can't forget mentioning that every one of these places has sweet tea. Yum.

I know y'all who were born in the South are probably reading this and wondering "Why does he seem to be going so wild over this, it's just bbq?". Although it may be something common place here in the south, for me, all the bbq I've had so far I've encountered (in the west and elsewhere) has never been offered in a buffet style form, and definitely never served with pulled pork, which is a specialty in the Carolinas, or so I've learned. I've only had texas-style bbq so far in my life (tomato-based sauces, beef and pork ribs, etc.) Sad, I know. But I've been making up for it as much as I possibly can, believe me. =)

So I digress....back to Little Pigs. I wanted to talk about this place for my first post for the South, because not only does it represent a type of food which I absolutely love now, but also because Little Pigs does it well, and was among the best southern bbq buffets I've had here in Columbia.

Here is a wide-angle photo of the restaurant. It is in a random isolated area near the intersections of the I-77 and I-20 in northeastern Columbia. To me, it is typical in a lot of ways of the southern bbq buffets I've been to so far: (1) it is in a completely isolated location, which you would never pass by and could only get to by word-of mouth, and (2) the buildings are all really non-descript. You could pass by one and not even know of the yummy bbq delights inside the building unless you were looking for it.

A close-up of the Little Pigs sign: I agree, completely habit-forming, I count myself among those that have an addiction to Little Pigs (and all southern bbq, for that matter). An random thought...why does the "pig" come up in name of restaurants and other places more often in the South? Like Piggly Wiggly, the supermarket chain?

So, these next photos are of the southern food they offered at Little Pigs. The food they offered here is pretty representative of what I've encountered so far at southern bbq buffets, and so let's use this one as a primer. First, you've got your vegetable sides: potato salad, cole slaw, collard greens, and green beans.

Next, beans and rice.

Next up: hash, corn, and some mac' and cheese. Hash is something that is completely local to South Carolina...I asked someone what it was made of, and they said it was chopped up bits of pork (which parts, I'm not sure...supposedly meat from the pork shoulder/rump, although I've heard people jokingly say there are other random parts in there, which I probably would be better off not knowing) in a tomato-based sauce. I would probably describe it as a meaty gravy, and it is delicious over some rice.

The main event: pulled pork. Here are two different types of pulled pork: on the left is vinegar-based (which most North Carolinians swear by), and on the right, mustard-based pulled pork (which is the South Carolina style pulled pork). People here take their bbq pork seriously, almost religiously. Vinegar-based bbq is more sour and spicy, while mustard-based bbq tends to taste on the whole a bit sweeter, and more smoky. I'm about to offend a whole state's worth of people, but so far, I've liked the mustard-based pulled pork more =). Sorry North Carolina!
Here are some chicken offerings: fried chicken and baked chicken.
Some fried delights: In the upper right corner are either fried chicken livers or fried gizzards (not 100% sure, thanks to Flarké and Hambone for the info), but below that are some potato chips, and on the right, fried okra on top, and hush puppies on the bottom.
The piece de resistance at Little Pigs: several gigantic pieces of bbq pork, from which you use the tongs to just pull pieces off. The pork is so soft and tender that this is really easy to do. I've been told this is the way they serve their pulled pork in Georgia - no pre-sauced pork (which some people in the South say is the best way). It is an awesome way to serve pulled pork which I've only seen offered in Columbia at Little Pigs...I actually loved this style the most, because you can appreciate the flavor of the meat, and add sauce to your liking.

And you can't forget dessert at a place like this: some banana and chocolate pudding. Delicious! Now everyone loosen your belt a couple of notches. =)

~A small update~

2009-11-21T13:43:00.000-05:00

So, finally this blog will be reflecting my semi-permenant move to a completely new area of the United States - the South! If you ever wanted to read about what someone from another part of the country thinks about southern cuisine, you've come to the right place. There are a lot of exciting and different restaurants around here to try, and I've been tearing into the food around here with a lot of gusto (maybe a little too much gusto, at times, given that they are quite generous with the portions of food around here sometimes). I've already developed an addiction to sweet tea (enough that I named my dog after the drink), and who knows how many other ways my culinary palate will be influenced? =). Although I know that I will never be able to try all the different places that this area has to offer, I hope to at least to do justice to some of the delicious southern dishes I've been encountering so far. So, without further ado, please enjoy these new posts in the South, y'all!

The India Restaurant - Los Angeles

2009-10-25T18:08:00.000-04:00

The India Restaurant in Artesia, CA (in the "Little India" area of Los Angeles, in case anyone was interested) offers some of the richest, spiciest Indian food I've ever had the opportunity to eat. They had a wide variety of food, and everything we ordered was incredibly flavorful and well-prepared. Although I can't eat Indian food all the time (I think my tastebuds would rebel because of the heat if I ate spicy food every day, sadly to say), a restaurant like this makes me want to go back again as much as I can!

One of the two appetizers we ordered: Bhel Puree, which is also a typical Indian snack food. It is puffed rice, potato, onion, and tomato, mixed with a sweet and spicy mint sauce. I loved the contrast in texture of the puffed rice with the vegetables and the slight heat of the dish.

Our second appetizer - vegtable samosas, a tasty deep-fried treat filled with potato and peas.

Chicken tikki masala is my favorite dish, and one I order wherever I go. Here, it is excellent, with a deep-bodied, yet mild creamy tomato flavor that I've never tasted before at any other Indian restaurant.

An order of their tandoori chicken - for those who have never ordered it, tandoori chicken is an excellent dish to start with if you've never tried Indian food before - the chicken is marinated in yogurt and spices, and then cooked in a clay tandoori oven. The tandoori chicken here isn't the best I've ever eaten (that is reserved for Mahan in Alhambra), but it was still prepared very well, juicy and flavorful.

An order of their matar paneer - green peas, other vegetables, and cheese in a spicy curry sauce.

My favorite vegetarian dish - Aloo Gobi. Basically, it is cauliflower and potatoes cooked with spices. The dish was prepared excellently, if a bit too spicy for me, with a good ratio of cauliflower to potato (some other places are a bit too heavy with the potato).

Another excellent vegetarian dish - Bhindi masala. It is okra, cooked with tomato, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and other spices.

Palak paneer - spinach cooked with cheese and spices.

An Indian dessert - rasmalai. If I am describing it correctly, it is a sugar-coated and flattened ball of paneer (cheese) that is cooked in a clotted cream sauce. It is actually very mild and sweet, and the cream sauce was a much appreciated relief after the delicious, but spicy, food of the night!

Hawaiian Food Showdown - Shakas and The Loft - Los Angeles/Orange County

2009-10-25T16:44:00.000-04:00

I don't know if Hawaiian food has spread to any cities past the West Coast, but in Los Angeles, we are blessed with several good Hawaiian food restaurants. Two of them - Shakas and The Loft - are in this post. (I've never been to the third, King's Hawaiian - in Torrance, which I must do sometime!). So for those that are unfamiliar with it, what is Hawaiian food? I'm not from there, but it is a mix of several different cuisines - native Hawaiian cuisine, Japanese, Chinese, and American. It is food that you would see at a Hawaiian luau - kalua pork (a slow-cooked steamed pork, that you often see cooked in a covered pit), poi (mashed taro root), lomi lomi (a combination of diced salmon and tomato), teriyaki chicken, char siu pork - as well as some delicious homemade foods like Mochiko chicken (more on that below) and Loco Moco (hamburger steak topped with two eggs and brown gravy over rice. I like other dishes better, but some people I know swear by it). Let's get on to the food!

Here is one of the plates we ordered from The Loft, in Cerritos/Lakewood. The Loft has several locations spread throughout Los Angeles and Orange County, but of all the ones I've been to, I think the one in Cerritos/Lakewood is the best. Hawaiian entrees (referred to as "plate" dishes) are often served with saimin noodles (on the left side of the plate) and/or macaroni salad (on the right). In the middle are two typical things you can order, char siu pork (Chinese) and kalua pork (native Hawaiian), along with some white rice on top.

My plate dish: mochiko chicken (bite-sized pieces of chicken, breaded with a sweet rice flour and fried), and pork katsu (a pork cutlet breaded with panko crumbs and fried), with some white rice on top.
Two side dishes I often like to order with the plates: a spam musubi (a piece of pan-fried spam sandwiched between rice and wrapped in dried seaweed - almost like a spam sushi). Sounds a little odd, but it is delicious), and lomi lomi (chilled, chopped and diced salmon and tomato, with green onion and sea salt).

One of the main reasons the Loft at this location is the best of the bunch: they have homemade desserts at this one, not made at any other Loft that I know of. This one is a Haupia Cheesecake - a coconut gelatin cheesecake over a walnut crust.

Another dessert: what they call a Sweet Potato Manju (I think): it is japanese sweet potato in a shortbread crust.

A typical meal I order at Shakas, in Monterey Park (they also have locations in Alhambra, but this one is a hole in the wall where I think the food is prepared better)...I start off with a spam musubi...

and a passion fruit drink that I can only find in these Hawaiian restaurants - lightly sweet without being too overpowering...

And the main plate dish - a mochiko chicken plate, with a chinese chicken salad, some mac salad (at the top. The other two containers in the middle are a dressing for the salad and a sauce for the chicken). The mochiko chicken at this location here is my favorite - the pieces are a great size (not too big or small), the outside is crunchy and sweet without a coating that is not too thick, and the inside is tender and juicy, with a hint of soy sauce. It is perfect! (and I am drooling thinking about the taste and crunchiness). I like the chinese chicken salad they offer with it, and the mac salad here is much better than anywhere else. They serve their plates here in a styrofoam container, which is a typical way of plating for Hawaiian plates.

Matsuhisa - Los Angeles

2009-09-13T17:56:00.000-04:00

As far as Japanese restaurants in Los Angeles (and probably the United States, for that matter) go, this place almost needs no introduction, but I will give it a try anyway. For the past two and a half decades, Chef Nobu Matsuhisa has been at the forefront of Japanese fusion cuisine. Many people probably know of the restaurants he started up with actor Robert DeNiro - the simply named "Nobu", that have been springing up in all major metropolitan areas (Iron Chef Morimoto used to work at the Nobu in New York before starting his own line of restaurants). But Matsuhisa, on La Cienega in Beverly Hills, is the one and only original restaurant of Nobu Matsuhisa. (As a random side note, it is right across from Lawry's The Prime Rib...If I died and went to heaven, I would live right smack dab in the middle of these two restaurants). Unlike Nobu, which tends to be a lot trendier and more modern, Matsuhisa is a simple, clean, and unassuming Japanese restaurant on the outside and inside. The food is anything but unassuming. For me, it is the among the best (if not THE best) in Los Angeles. The omakase here is absolutely phenomenal (please look at my post for "The Hump" if you don't know about omakase), although it definetly can get on the expensive side. I've had the omakase here many times, and I've never been disappointed. If you love Japanese food, then the omakase here is one of the places you have to try at least once before going on to the great beyond. Here are the omakase dishes we were served the last time we went there:

First, we were served a seafood appetizer. It was an eggroll (with shitake mushroom and shrimp inside, with caviar on top). It was served with a maui onion sauce, a daikon pepper, and a small cherry tomato.

Next was our first main course: From the left upper corner: monkfish liver with sweet miso, a lobster ceviche, conch with parsley and butter, and halibut sashimi with olive oil and sesame seeds. The ingredients here were top notch, but I have to admit, I wasn't really a fan of the conch - it was a bit too chewy for my tastes.

A sashimi salad, with tuna and baby squid from Japan. The red sauce on the plate is jalapeno sauce on the left and a citrus sauce on the right.

Next, we were served a chilean sea bass with truffles (the pink vegetable is baby ginger, btw). The sauce was a citrus soy sauce with butter. I liked this dish a lot, but I was sad - I was really looking forward to Matsuhisa's black cod with miso, and this dish just didn't compare.

For the past decade and a half, Matsuhisa has been including Japanese kobe beef with every omakase (at least, every omakase that I've had so far). Here is a japanese kobe beef topped with crunchy onions and mushrooms, served with a miso peppercorn sauce. I could have enjoyed another two or three of these. =)

No omakase would be complete without assorted nigiri sushi - from right to left: sea urchin, silver needlefish, clam, golden snapper, otoro. And as always, as you can tell from the color and texture of the fish, the quality of the fish was as good as you can get anywhere.

Time to clean up the palate before dessert - this was a snapper head soup, bushido style. Very warm and comforting.

So, here is the first of our desserts - a shaved ice with a green tea sauce, and a wafer flake on the side.

A picture of the inside: white chocolate ice cream with red bean on the bottom.

A creme brulee - probably the least popular of the desserts we ordered (the omakase actually came with one dessert, but being the dessert gluttons that we are, we ordered a WHOLE bunch more. So much that after we finished ordering it, our waiter asked us in suprise, "All of it?!" Yes, all of it...and yes, we are pigs =). But well-fed pigs).

A chocolate souffle, with vanilla ice cream.

A banana cake.

And the last of the desserts, which was definetly the most popular of the night. From right to left: brown tea ice cream, asparagus ice cream, and nobu beer ice cream. The nobu beer ice cream flavor was absolute genius, which I can only describe as sweet creamy beer goodness. And yes, the asparagus ice cream in the middle had a faint asparagus flavor - not for the timid. All in all, an excellent meal - thank you Matsuhisa!

Quick Eats - Vietnamese sandwiches a plenty

2009-09-13T10:52:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite foods for lunch is a good sandwich, and one of my favorite sandwiches (other than a good chicken salad sandwich) is a Vietnamese french bread sandwich (aka bahn mi, in Vietnamese). The foodie in me loves bahn mi because when it is done well, there are a lot of different aspects to enjoy - from the warm outer texture of a freshly baked french baguette to the sweet crunchy pickled carrots and daikon inside, cilantro, pate spread, and various Vietnamese sliced meats (and for those that love spicy foods, the sliced chili peppers, which I take out!). And the part of me that enjoys a cheap meal (which started in Berkeley during college; I appreciated anything cheap, good, and filling that makes a good meal) loves bahn mi because a sandwich is no more than $2.25 a sandwich, and that is on the expensive end...normally, they are between $1.50 and $2.00.

Here are a couple of my favorite bahn mi places in Los Angeles and Orange County, introduced to me by different Viet friends of mine over the years:

This first one is a photo of Bahn Mi Che Cali - although there are not as many of these as the ubiquitous Lee's Sandwiches, they are expanding from the Little Saigon area in Orange County to parts of the SGV in Los Angeles, and the sandwiches here are MUCH better than Lee's Sandwiches - kind of like comparing McDonald's to In-N-Out. One of the greatest things about Bahn Mi Che Cali is their "Buy 2, get 1 free" special (just when you thought it couldn't get cheaper!!)

This particular store is the one closest to me that I often drive to - on the southern part of Brookhurst in Fountain Valley. A random note - I heard from my friend David that the best Bahn Mi Che Cali is somewhere north of here (I think on Bolsa?), because there are Viet grandmothers making it at that location, which makes it better! =) I never personally confirmed it, but amusing nevertheless.

A photo of the sandwich itself. The bread here is usually soft, with a slightly crunchy outside - although the bread quality does up and down depending on the location - I heard some of the newer places in the SGV may be having some quality control problems. =(. It is a good size - one can definitely constitute a whole meal, and they are also very liberal with the sandwich filling - lots of pickled vegetables, etc.

A close-up photo of the bahn mi, for those who are a bit more unfamiliar with bahn mi. Here is Vietnamese Sandwich making 101: every bahn mi comes with the long, skinny pieces of orange and white are the pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, and tot viewable is a mayo/pate spread that they often put in Vietnamese bahn mi. What varies in each bahn mi is the meat filling - in this one, the pink and white sliced meats are various Vietnamese meats (ham, etc.).

Mr. Baguette is on Valley Blvd. (btw. Walnut Grove and Rosemead Blvd) right on the border of Rosemead/San Gabriel, and it is one of my favorite places in the San Gabriel Valley for a bahn mi because they offer it with a different type of french bread than the regular places.

Mr. Baguette offers a french baguette with sesame, which makes for an interesting change on the standard taste and texture of the bahn mi. You can get either the sesame baguette or the regular baguette (see below).

A photo of a bahn mi without sesame: the baguette here is very fresh, but is more on the thin and crunchy side than Bahn Mi Che Cali, which might appeal to those who don't like the soft, chewy texture of other baguettes.
Mr. Baguette separates out the pickled vegetables and the chili peppers, so it doesn't make the sandwich soggy, and keeps the ingredients fresher in case the bahn mi is taken to go; it is a small touch, but something which I appreciate greatly! =) (especially since I usually have to go hunting for the chili peppers to take them out of the sandwich, since I don't like to have it spicy).

Here is my favorite banh mi place in Los Angeles/Orange County: a place named "Tan Hoang Huong Bakery"; it is in a small plaza on the corner of Edinger and Ward in Fountain Valley.

Here's why it's my favorite: the baguette is thick, slightly crunchy on the outside, with a soft and chewy texture in the middle. Also, they are liberal with the pickled vegetables, they add cucumber, and there is no mayo, just a pate spread. For me, this banh mi is incredibly delicious!
A type of Vietnamese spring roll with Vietnamese pork from Tan Hoang Huong Bakery with a dipping sauce; any good bahn mi place will offer other small dishes to order with the bahn mi like spring rolls, etc. (something which Bahn Mi Che cali does as well).

Marche Moderne

2009-08-30T17:21:00.000-04:00

Marche Moderne is in South Coast Plaza (a mall, but a shopping fashionista’s dream, if there ever was one). Ever since this place opened, I’ve been meaning to try it, especially since there is a paucity of French restaurants in Orange County. The restaurant isn’t traditional French cuisine (I would suggest Pascal’s if you’re in the OC and are so inclined), but instead reinterprets many French classics in a modern setting.

A pre-dinner aperitif.

Our appetizer: a quail and foie gras terrine. The modern french interpretation is very evident in the presentation of this dish; a clean, white dish with the appetizer in its deconstructed form, sort of sparse and minimalist.

A beet salad (technically, a “Santa Monica McGrath Family Farm Beet Salad”), with pine nuts, orange, goat cheese, and basil. This was one of the highlights of the meal: the beets were extremely fresh (yay, Santa Monica farmer's market), and the goat cheese did not have much of the pungent or strong flavor that I usually associate with goat cheese. Delicious!

My main course: a rack of lamb, with a terrine of buffalo mozzarella, eggplant, and bell pepper. I found the deconstructed lamb rack, with slices of lamb placed around the dish to be an interesting take on presentation.

Jen’s main course: a roasted duck breast with brussel sprouts.

Dessert – sorry, I don’t remember what it was…as it sometimes happens, I order and eat dessert without writing it down! =P

Quick Eats - Jerry's Wood Fired Hot Dogs

2009-08-30T16:59:00.001-04:00

I stumbled onto this place while searching for good lunch places in the Santa Ana area (as anyone who is friends with me knows, one of the primary things I think about in the morning is where I am going to eat for lunch). It is a bit of a drive from downtown Santa Ana, but well worth it! (A note for anyone eating at this place…DON’T do take out for these hot dogs…they are freshly grilled, and I discovered that everything gets really soggy extremely fast if it sits in a bag for too long! =P ). To avoid that this time, I went with my friend Huong, and we ate at the restaurant. Incredibly busy, though!

As the name of this place implies, they grill their hot dogs (and sausages) over a wood fired grill. What a great idea…brilliant in its simplicity. They need to spread these restaurants to more places!

They take their hot dogs and sausages seriously here…there are tons of different toppings that you can put on your dog. It is really tempting to load up on everything that you like…but your hot dog ends up being impossible to eat in the end (this, I learned from my first unfortunate experience, where I asked them to put on seven toppings, including cole slaw…it tasted good, but there was too much going on at the same time, and it made for a ridiculously impossible hot dog to eat!)

I ordered a Baja Dog, with ketchup, grilled onions, relish, and mushrooms.

Huong ordered a Bavarian bratwurst with ketchup, spicy brown mustard, saukraut, relish, mushrooms, grilled onions, and tomatoies. We both completed the meal with some french fries. Sometimes, the flavor of a well-grilled hot dog is impossible to beat! Go Jerry!

Fleur De Lys - Las Vegas

2009-08-01T17:42:00.000-04:00

While we were in Las Vegas, we took the opportunity to eat at Fleur De Lys at the Mandalay Bay resort. (A random note: the seating in the restaurant definetly needs to be improved...when we went, there were way too many tables for the space, and the seating felt really crowded...) Lucky for us, Chef Hubert Keller (of Top Chef: Masters fame, for anyone that follows the show) happened to be at the restaurant that night (he is usually at the Fleur De Lys he first established in San Francisco), and we had the chance to enjoy an extremely creative and beautifully presented meal.

Our first dish was a raw Kumamoto oyster (Jen’s favorite!), with a topping of an apple granite. I especially loved the pop of green in the presentation. When a chef starts out with something this beautiful as an apertif, you know you are in for a good meal!

Next was a foie-gras cappuccino topped with a porcini mushroom. The description makes it sounds kind of odd, but it was actually a foie-gras soup with a foamy top to imitate a cappuccino without no actual coffee flavor. I was quite fascinated by the presentation, actually – and the foie gras cappuccino had a deep, warm flavor to enjoy.

A tuna tartare with ginger ponzu sauce.

Apologies for the poor framing of this next photo (yes, I need to take a photography class =P!). The fourth dish was a foie gras terrine with brioche (the bread you see in the background). Unlike the previous foie gras dish, the flavor of the foie gras here was much denser, but equally as enjoyable.

A slow-cooked salmon, with julienned vegetables. The texture of the salmon was quite interesting - not flaky, as one would experience if the salmon was baked; it more closely resembled the raw form of salmon in texture (softer and springier, I suppose), but it was fully cooked through.

A wonderfully tender seared duck breast, with duck confit and some baby bok choy. I always appreciate a well-prepared dish like this, with thicker cuts of duck breast; simple, but delicious.

Next, a dish before the desserts, to cleanse our pallets: fruit, topped with a basil ice cream. I would never think of making (much less eating) a basil-flavored ice cream, but it turned out well, with just enough of the basil essence to make it interesting without being too overwhelming.

The first of two desserts: a chocolate feast. I love variety in general, and this was perfect way to enjoy chocolate in its different forms: clockwise from top, a chocolate pot d’crème, a chocolate macademia tart, a chocolate mille fieu, and a chocolate cake. In the center is a chocolate sorbet.

We ended with a set of freshly baked mandelines with chocolate sauce. Bravo, Chef Keller! =)

Lighthouse Korean BBQ

2009-06-21T21:34:00.000-04:00

Among all the korean bbq places in Orange County, I love Lighthouse Korean BBQ by far. (Yes, I know they don't offer all-you-can-eat bbq, but all the all-you-can-eat places only offer cheap cuts of meat anyway). Lighthouse Korean BBQ is among the row of korean restaurants on Garden Grove Blvd.

Korean bbq in general with fresh meat to grill is always a delicious experience, but the marination they use for the meats here make the korean bbq experience truly drool-worthy. And yes, I am drooling just thinking about eating this right now. =)

They add a small amount of charcoal in the bottom of the grill pan (for that wonderful smoky flavor which makes grilled food stand apart from the rest)....

The main amount of heat is from the gas grill (in the OC, they've banned all-charcoal grills. =(. Oh well). Add a grate on top of the grill pan, and fire it up!

Two photos of all the yummy sides that go along with the foods at all korean bbq places - I'm not Korean, so I can't idenify all the dishes at the table, but there are all the typical ones - different kinds of kim chee, spicy turnip, hot bean paste, potato salad, pae-chang, as well as rice paper sheets to wrap the meat in, and sauces (a salt-based sauce in seasame oil as well as a soy-sauce based sauce). Other than the delicious grilled meats, this is one of the the things that I love most about korean bbq - all the different small side dishes offer a great variet of flavors and textures, which I love a lot.

I'm a fairly simple man when it comes to korean bbq - for me, you can't beat a good kalbi and bulgolgi korean bbq meat. Kalbi and bulgolgi are two different types of meat you can order to grill - bulgolgi (the first meat pictured) is a thin cut of marinated beef, and kalbi is (the second photo) is a thicker cut of sparerib marinated beef. At the better korean bbqs, you can order various types of marinated chicken or pork to cook on the grill as well.

At Lighthouse, the kalbi and bulgolgi here are extremely juicy, and the marination flavor in the meat is a full-bodied, yet mild and well-balanced combination of soy sauce, garlic, sesame, green onion and all the other flavors that make really good korean bbq.

It only seems right for the last photo to be of the delicious meat on the grill - korean bbq is definetly one of my favorite meals, and looking at this photo just makes me want to go to Lighthouse right now!

Avila's El Ranchito - Laguna Beach

2009-06-21T20:25:00.000-04:00

For variety, another place I like to go to in Laguna Beach is Avila's El Ranchito, also on PCH. There are a lot of small restaurants in general on PCH, but this is always a nice comfortable place to get a wide variety of more authentic Mexican food, more than your average Mexican joint. It seems that they have about ten restaurants scattered around Orange County, all family owned, which I always like supporting a bit more (Supposedly, all the recipes are based on Mama Avila's old recipes...can't really verify that, but it makes for a good story, regardless). They also have a coal brazier outside, which is a nice touch, especially since it is right by the coastline.

They always offer free chips and salsa, yay! (although their salsa is a bit too spicy for me - I don't like very spicy foods).

Chingolingas - a flaky pastry filled with chicken, along with rice, refried beans, and guacamole.

Carnitas, along with the ever present rice, beans, and guacamole.

Steak picado (beef stewed with bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and some spices). I always appreciate stewed meats, and this was no exception. Served with...yes, you guessed it, rice, beans, and guacamole.

One of my favorite Mexican dishes - sometimes, there is nothing better than a simple carne asada. I would like to know what they marinate the meat in to make it so tasty. And of course, one last time, let's all say it together: served with rice, beans, and a side of guacamole. I don't mind that the dishes are kind of uniform though - sometimes, simplicity is a good thing.

They do offer desserts - Mexican flan is always good!

They also offer churros, which I love in general...can't beat a warm and crunchy pastry dusted with cinnamon and sugar. This dessert would be perfect, with their pairing of the churros with some chocolate sauce and ice cream...but why stuff them with strawberry filling!? =P *sigh*

Japanese with a twist at 242 Cafe Fusion Sushi

2009-06-21T16:20:00.000-04:00

"242 Cafe Fusion Sushi" is in Laguna Beach, California, right along PCH highway. It is a tiny sushi bar, with only room for about 16-20 people, approximately, but I think it is a must-visit for anyone traveling to Laguna Beach for one reason, and one reason only: there is a sushi-chef/owner there, Miki Izumisawa, who has a very interesting and distinctive take on sushi and sashimi. As both an artist and a female sushi-chef (very rare, even today it seems, among sushi chefs - I remember watching on Iron Chef that there was a old (and silly) belief that females couldn't become sushi chefs because they believed woman's hands produced more heat, which was harmful to the fish while cutting it, but I digress), she creates dishes that reflect both her feminine and artistic nature, which is wonderful to experience in person. Additionally, her restaurant is also filled with her artwork, which makes it an interesting place to sit in. She is more a reflection of the artists' colony side of Laguna Beach, rather than the OC Laguna Beach reality show vibe (*bleh*).

A photo of the sushi bar, with one of the assistant sushi chefs behind it. As you can see, the sushi bar isn't a typical one; the only way I can describe it would be that it is more organic, with a lot of stonework.

We ordered the omakase (as usual - please look at my other posts for more info on what omakase is), and the first dish that came out was albacore sashimi.

The next dish to come out was tuna tartar, on crispy rice. What is interesting to me about this dish is the presentation, it reminds of some kind of wild, natural ocean-inspired sculpture in a way. It tasted great too - I always like the combination of soft and crunchy textures.

A cucumber candy roll (spicy tuna, salmon, and crab wrapped up in cucumber).

This is a presentation of three types of sashimi (salmon, tuna, and yellowtail), with pickled ginger on top. I think this is a beautiful expression of the sushi chef's artistry and femininity: the presentation of the sashimi is beautiful in its simplicity, and to be honest, I don't think a male sushi chef would think of presenting the sashimi this way.

A baked oyster, with crab on top.

Seared salmon sashimi, with peppercorn on the seared edges.

Assorted nigiri sushi.

We ordered one of the rolls off the menu: a Laguna Canyon roll (it is a seared spicy rainbow roll wrapped with seared calamari and topped with salad greens).

And a simple creme brulee for dessert. A very good Japanese meal!

Sunday Dim Sum at 888 Seafood Restaurant

2009-06-21T14:41:00.001-04:00

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Sunday dim sum at 888 Seafood is the best in U.S. - to lead you to that conclusion, we'll engage in a logical syllogism: since I think that it is the best dim sum in Los Angeles, and L.A. is the center of the asian cuisine world in the U.S., that makes it the best in the U.S. See, that makes sense, right? Ok, now I haven't had dim sum at every place in the U.S., but with some good old logical reasoning, I feel comfortable in making that statement. =) Just kidding. I do think it is the best in L.A. for its selection and flavor though.

Although a lot more places (especially in the SGV) are offering dim sum every day, 888 still offers it only on the weekends. And on the traditional day to eat dim sum, on Sunday morning (it's just what we do, don't ask me why), when lots of Asians go to eat dim sum, this place gets really really busy. If you've never went to dim sum at a really popular place, it is an experience worth trying - there are large groups of people (often whole groups of asian families and their friends, lots of groups of eight or more), chatting and jostling each other in the lobby and outside in the parking lot. To add to the general melange of sound, the maitre'd is yelling out #'s over a speaker in cantonese and english. If you want to avoid the crowd, come before ten a.m. You could go later to avoid the crowd (after 1:00 pm), but no more fresh food is made soon thereafter, and your selection of dishes will be quite limited.

A little information for the dim sum novice: it is a type of chinese (more specifically, cantonese) food where you sit down and order food from woman that walk around the restaurant pushing carts of food. Although you can order from the menu, traditionally everyone orders from the woman walking around. As they come by, they tell you what type of food they have (or if you don't speak chinese/cantonese, they can show you the food), and you order what you want. The food usually comes in small portions, and ranges from steamed dumplings and buns to foods that are cooked in front of you (e.g. luo bo gao, the american translation would be turnip cake).

The first cart that came around had a selection of dumplings and steamed buns. We preemptively ordered one of each without knowing really what they were - they just looked good. And that is what you have to do sometimes, especially if you have been waiting for awhile already, because you never know when another cart with the stuff that you want will roll around.

Jen's favorite - chicken feet. Ok, now before people flee from their computer screens in collective horror, it isn't that bad; the chicken feet are steamed, and although there isn't much meat on the chicken feet, there is a lot of skin and cartilage, if you like crunchy and chewy textures.

One of the next dishes that we ordered was one of my favorites: luo bo gao, or turnip cake. It is basically turnip, ground up into a paste with spices added, and then the paste is made into little cakes, which are fried on a grill. I love the crunchiness of the outer layer contrasted with the chewy texture of the interior of the luo bo gao. They are very tasty.
This is also one of my favorites, and is a traditional thing to order at dim sum - they are shrimp dumplings: siu mai (cantonese) xia jaio (chinese). I always order at least two or three orders of these for the table.

These are steamed pork dumplings, also known as cha siu bao. The pork (cha siu) is actually a bit sweet.

This is another type of dumpling, xia chang (in chinese) (although that isn't the most accurate description of this, it is the closest word in english I can come to describe it). The outside is more of a thicker rice-noodle type of wrapping, and it comes filled with either shrimp, beef, or vegetarian, and they pour a special type of sweetened soy sauce on top of it. The shrimp ones are extremely popular (they run out as soon as the cart comes out, usually), and they used to be a favorite of my family. We used to order 4 or 5 of these, and would often clean out a cart if they came by.

Another set of chicken feet, because Jen likes these more - they are more flavorful, because in addition to being steamed, they are sauteed in soy sauce and red chili.

Another one of the more popular dim sum dishes people like to order: ha gao. It is a steamed pork dumpling with carrots. This is another one of those dishes that you have to have multiple orders of.

Although we don't do desserts very well (at least in my opinion - I'm taiwanese btw, so I feel I am fairly qualified to make that statement), I always love this dessert and order it whenever it comes by. It is a mango pudding, and they pour a condensed milk sauce over it with fruits in it (usually melon and a cherry). It is simple, but I love eating it, and I think it always is a good way to end a dim sum meal.

A Celebration of Great Food at Water Grill

2009-06-20T22:17:00.000-04:00

Water Grill has been on my list of restaurants to eat at for a long time, and after going there, I wish I hadn't waited so long! I had heard already heard a lot of good things about the food here, but after enjoying a truly wonderful meal there, I think this place is near the top in Los Angeles for creative, high-quality seafood presentation and preparation. And although I don't usually comment on the service at a given restaurant, I had such a good experience with the entire staff at the meal that I couldn't go without commenting about it; everyone was incredibly polite, pleasant, AND very efficient - it was a quite impressive orchestration of the service aspect of restaurant dining.

A photo of the inside of our restaurant, specifically a view from our booth. I don't usually take photos of the interior in restaurants, but you can thank Jen for doing so. The atmosphere is warm and private, without being overly pretentious; it is very easy to enjoy a good meal here.

We went to Water Grill for Jen's birthday, and they printed out a more personalized menu for us. A very nice touch...sometimes, it is the small details about a place that really distinguish it from the rest. I should also note that they allowed us to keep the menu from that night, which really gives it extra pluses from me as a foodie.

I've probably said this before, but I always love to order the tasting menu to really see how creative a chef can be. Some places just present the same dishes as on their a la carte menu, but not at Water Grill, something which I appreciated very much. The prices were very reasonable for a six-course tasting menu as well.

The dish above was our first dish for the tasting menu, an amuse bouche: a tuna tartar wrapped in cucumber with a sprinkling of caviar on top; a light and refreshing way to start off the meal.

The two photos above are of Water Grill's "Fruits of the Sea" platter, not included in our six-course tasting men, but since Jen loves seafood and it was her birthday, there was no way we would leave the restaurant without trying it. On the platter was a choice of oysters, Prince Edward Island mussels, littleneck clams, dungeness crab, mexican white shrimp, and maine lobster.

Onto the next dish of the tasting menu; a marinated Hawaiian blue prawn with charred octopus, lemon curd, and smoked paprika oil. And it tasted as good as it looks.

I probably should have taken two photos of this next dish, but I didn't =P. The description of the dish is a "european turbo with sunchoke-truffle soup and spiny lobster angalotti". The angalotti, basically a lobster-filled pasta at the bottom of the bowl, isn't visible in the photo, unfortunately (it is the lump in the middle of the soup). The bowls were brought to our table first with just the angalotti, and they poured the soup over the angalotti at the table. I think this soup was one of the better ones I've had so far in my life; I loved the texture - very smooth and warm, and eating the angalotti at the bottom with the soup brought an extra layer of lobster flavor to combine with the rich truffle soup. It was quite delicious, and one of the highlights of the meal.

Next were grilled diver scallops, braised in red wine and fennel, with a confit pork belly, coco beans, and tiny carrots.

Jen loved the oysters so much that we ended up ordering more of them; since we love oysters from the West Coast, we tried some Tottens (from Totten Inlet, WA), Raspberry Points (from Prince Edward Island), and our favorites, Kumamotos (Puget Sound, WA).

We were sent an extra dish not included on the tasting menu from the kitchen - hey, I never complain about free food sent to me! =) - although I didn't write down what dish this was, I think it was one of the appetizers off the a la carte menu: Japanese hamachi crudo with grapes, meyer lemon, and english pea puree. It was nice to have a light dish to clean the palate between heavier foods.

Back onto the tasting menu course again: A veal loin and breast with red wine risotto, chanterelle mushrooms, and sage. Although Water Grill is known in L.A. for their seafood, I have to say that the chef cooks veal equally as well.

Finally nearing the end of the meal! Apologies for the bad quality of this photo; we were served a cardamom and cinnamon carrot cake with candied walnuts, and ice cream - the flavor was orange soursop and cream cheese. A whimsical presentation also.

The last dish of the tasting menu was a chocolate broiche pudding with coconut cream and marshmallows, candied pecans and maple brown butter ice cream.

But we weren't done yet; Since I am a dessert glutton, I ordered another dessert off the menu that I was very intrigued by: a chocolate and peanut butter coulant, served warm with cracker johns, vanilla marshmallows, and banana. Loved the presentation and flavor of this dessert - especially the reinterpretation of "Cracker Jacks", a childhood favorite of mine at baseball games, as "Cracker Johns" (renamed by Pastry Chef John Park).

And finally we are at the end of our meal at Water Grill...a couple of small desserts to finish with. My experience at Water Grill from beginning to end was one of the more consistently delicious and beautifully presented meals I've had so far. And not only was the food excellent, the service was top-notch; with our own dishes added on, we basically had a eleven-course meal that night, and it was under two hours. They were paying attention to our eating pace that night very closely...Jen and I do eat very fast, and we never had to wait very long in between dishes, which means that the timing by the waiter and chef was impeccable. An all-around wonderful experience!

Good meals at Kate Mantilini's

2009-06-20T19:15:00.000-04:00

Kate Mantilini is one of my standby favorites when I am around the Beverly Hills area. It is a restaurant that offers traditional American diner food (and also trendier foods, like seared ahi, although I think their other food is much better). However, unlike your regular ol' American diner, the quality of the ingredients are top notch, and the setting is a lot nicer too (lots of booths, clean minimalist decor).

The restaurant's sign is lit up at night, although you can always see it when you are driving on Wilshire even in the daytime. Fortunately, it isn't right in the Rodeo Drive area; otherwise, I have a feeling that they would be paying a lot more rent money.

We first started coming to Kate Mantilini's for their chicken pot pie, supposedly one of the best in Los Angeles. It seems to be only offered on the weekends though. It is quite delicious; the crust of the pie is light and flaky, and the pot pie is filled with lots of peas, mushrooms, carrots, and chicken, and fresh rosemary and other herbs are added in.

I am a sucker for simple rotisserie chicken dishes, and this is no exception. They prepare it especially well here, it is juicy with a lot of garlic. Yum. And also tasty bistro-style french fries. I usually order this or their hanger steak, both prepared very well.

This dessert is one of our favorites in Los Angeles. It is a simple fruit cobbler, but they get the texture and sweetness of the dessert just right. It has just the right amount of crunchiness in the cobbler itself, and they add cinnamon into the sauce and the ice cream to add a nice counterpart to the fruit.

Tama Sushi

2009-06-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

We went to Tama Sushi for my mother's birthday. I heard very good reviews of this place, and of the sushi chef, Katsu, who is reputed to be one of the best sushi chefs in Los Angeles, able to get the freshest fish around and of course, cut it well. (Btw, Tama Sushi is now closed and moved from Studio City to Beverly Hills, and renamed Katsu Sushi).

Yes, we love omakase (here is a wikipedia explanation, if you are unfamiliar with the term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omakase), and we were looking to be wowed. Were we? Well, I don't want this post to become a critiquing session, so please go to Yelp if you want my personal opinion. I apologize for my distinct lack of enthusiasm in this post, but I think this was one of those cases where our expectations were set really high before we entered. Sometimes, that is not a good thing. Regardless, I did take photos, and the sashimi was excellent, so I feel like I should post them:

An order of their spicy tuna tar-tar. There is a crispy rice on the bottom, topped with the spicy tuna and a jalapeno. This seemed to be a favorite of a lot of the reviewers. The fish quality was good, I have to admit.

Sorry for the lack of detail for these next three dishes - I forgot to take notes on the dishes we were ordering...after we found out the omakase really wasn't a true omakase, we ended up ordering a lot of different appetizers to try to approximate the experience.

We ordered a sushi combination from him. As you can see, the quality and cut of the fish is extremely high. The sweet shrimp, yellowtail, red snapper, and fatty tuna were all excellent.

So here is the omakase dish he offered...I am going to note this isn't what a omakase usually is - it shouldn't be just an assortment of sashimi. Regardless, the sashimi was very good; I don't know about Katsu being the best sushi chef in Los Angeles, as I have had fish of similar quality and cut elsewhere (Matsuhisa and the Hump are two that come to mind, and they have true creative omakase offerings there), but he is clearly a master of his craft, and the fish quality is definetly among the top five in los angeles/orange county.

Mandarin Noodle Deli - One of my all-time hometown favorites

2009-03-26T22:19:00.000-04:00

Ok, so before I start into the details of this post, let me just up front about my bias for this place - I grew up eating here with my family, so I have a sentimental attachment to this place, of course. And my parents ate here back when they moved to Los Angeles in the 70s. But I really do believe that this restaurant is one of the best places, if not the best place, in Los Angeles for beef noodle soup (hong sao niu rou mian) and green onion pancake (tsong yu bing). Btw, Mandarin Noodle Deli and Mandarin Noodle House - not the same place, not anymore at least (see history below if you are interested).

A brief history for those that are interested: the owners of Mandarin Noodle Deli used to be the original owners of the Mandarin Noodle House in Monterey Park...I think she was maybe a daughter or relative of the person who started up the first original tiny Mandarin Noodle House in chinatown. Mandarin Noodle Deli used to be filled with 70's decor up until just a couple of years ago - orange and white tile, octagon-green shaped lamps, the whole deal. I have memories of the woman owner, who would always yell back orders to her husband, the cook, and would a lot of times get kinda grumpy at him. It was part of the charm back then, I think. Anyway, some kind of fracas occurred a couple of years back, and for some reason, the owners at this Monterey Park branch moved out and started Mandarin Noodle Deli in Temple City. The food is now not the same - go to Arcadia, you will not be disappointed!

Here is the current location of Mandarin Noodle Deli, in Arcadia.

Green onion pancake - the best I've ever had in Los Angeles - and that is saying a lot, with all the asian places around here. They make the dough fresh, which makes the texture perfect - chewy and crunchy, and it has just the right balance of green onion. *drool*

Two classic side dishes which I always order - seaweed in vinegar (hai dai), and cucumbers with lots of yummy garlic (xiao hong gua).

I don't even know what to call this in English - Jen calls it "beefy goodness" =). The chinese name is Niu rou da bing. There is beef, green onion, and spicy sauce, wrapped in the fresh dough they make for the green onion pancake. Delicious!

And last, but definetly not least - the braised beef noodle soup (hong sao niu rou mian). For some reason, they now make it in a smaller bowl then they used to, back in the Monterey Park era =(. But, it is still just as good as before! Some people might not like the soup as much as other places, because it isn't as spicy, but for me, it is perfect! What makes this special though are the noodles - made fresh, and so they have a wonderful texture. Feed me this and some green onion pancake, and I'm in heaven!

Crepes and more at Le Creperie in Long Beach

2009-03-26T21:54:00.000-04:00

Crepes are becoming more popular around Los Angeles, but I think Le Creperie is one of the better places for crepes in Los Angeles, in a full restaurant setting. I heard they may have one in Manhattan Beach, but since Long Beach is closer to the OC, we decided to go hear on a cold rainy wintery day. A warning for everyone: this place gets extremely busy, and it doesn't accept reservations, so expect to wait, because it is extremely popular!

First things first - we were cold and hungry, so French onion soup fit the bill.

An appetizer salad.

Jen ordered the French Rivera crepe - with chicken, artichoke hearts, and tomato.

The Barbess panini - lamb sausage, carmelized onions, and mayo, with a side of garlic fries. The garlic fries here are excellent - a strong garlic flavor, and the shoestring fries were nice and crunchy! I would come back just for the fries!

A dessert crepe - one of their classics, the Romeo and Juliet. It had nutella, strawberries, and chocolate sauce, with vanilla ice cream on the side. Can you ever go wrong with this combination of sweets??

Country French food at The Pleasant Peasant

2009-03-26T20:38:00.000-04:00

For some reason, decent casual French bistros/cafes where are hard to find in Orange County, which is especially frustrating for me, because: 1) I like to eat good sandwiches, and a decent French bistro is always a good choice to find such things, and 2) I like my variety. Fortunately, there is a decent French bistro in Newport Beach, the Pleasant Peasant, hooray! =)

(Just a note for anyone out there, the only other good French bistro I could find in the OC was French 75, also in Newport Beach, at Fashion Island. A bit more expensive, but I think the food is better there. No photos though...not yet, at least. Another place that used to be reasonable was Vie de France in South Coast Plaza...but after they moved to their new larger location two years ago, the quality went down a lot, unfortunately.)

A simple, but warm and satisfying soup - the classic French Onion Gratine.

The soup du jour - a carrot puree. Smooth and flavorful, without being chunky, like other carrot soups. Very tasty.

A pate sandwich. I would have liked the french baguette to be warm and toasty, but the texture was nice and chewy at least. They served it with chips...I must say, I think it would have been better with shoestring french fries.

Jen ordered a goat cheese salad - the goat cheese was too strong for me to eat =P.

And lastly, of course, dessert: a Poire Belle-Héléne, a dessert which I haven't seen elsewhere. There is a scoop of French vanilla ice cream, topped with a poached pear, warm semi-sweet chocolate sauce and sliced almonds. Yum.

Gooood Vietnamese in the OC - Brodard Restaurant

2008-03-19T02:51:00.000-04:00

My favorite Vietnamese place in the OC definitely deserves its own post! It has the best rolls I have ever tasted...if God made a Vietnamese roll, and gave it to the world to eat, it would have to be the rolls made by this restaurant. Ok, I'm drooling, let's get to the food!

Note: This place is really hard to find unless you know what you are looking for - it is in a plaza that is on the back end of a 99 cent store on the corner of Brookhurst and Westminster. Enter the parking lot in the back of the 99 cent store, drive past it, and when you see the photo above, you've arrived! =)

Second note: For those of you visiting for the first time, if it is a really busy time of the day, the maitre'd obviously cannot seat you immediately; he reads names off a notepad that is located on a stand that he stands near, so remember to write your name down when you first enter, otherwise, he will pass you by.

Here are the rolls which Brodard are famous for, and which are their specialty: "Nem Nuong Cuon", or pork spring rolls. The rolls are perfectly made, but they don't achieve their godly status unless eaten with their house special sauce (it is a warm sauce, in the bowl at the top of the photo). With the sauce, it is perfect. And I don't know what the sauce is, other than it has lots of garlic - you don't come out smelling the best, but your taste buds are happy!

A close-up shot of the pork spring roll: at the bottom, there is grilled pork paste, a piece of rolled-up and fried wonton skin, lettuce, mint, cucumber, green onion, and pickled vegetables - daikon and cucumber, all rolled up in rice paper.

Another roll that we have tried - definitely not as good as the pork spring rolls, but it always good to try different things. It is a "Bi Cuon"; a roll with crunchy shredded pork skin, lettuce, and cucumber, rolled in rice paper, and served with fish sauce.

Brodard does have a lot of other dishes: this is a typical dish that I often order in different Vietnamese restaurants - it is a a fried cornish hen, served with rice and salad.

For me, the chicken is only good with the sauce that comes with it - a soy sauce that has garlic in it.

Another dish that I also order, depending on my mood: a pork vermicelli bowl, or "bun thit nuong". It has bbq pork, sauteed green onion, pickled vegetables (the usual daikon and carrots - my favorite, I love eating Vietnamese food with them), peanuts, all on a bed of vermicelli. I usually pour the fish sauce all over the food, but I have no idea whether or not that is the correct way to eat it, but I like it that way.

This is one of the two salads that Brodard offers - it is under the section of Brodard Specialities. It is a spicy beef salad, or "Goi Bo". The description by the restaurant - grilled beef marinated in Thai spices over lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, and onions in house vinaigrette dressing - doesn't do the salad justice. It is a warm salad (because of the grilled beef), and is very good because it has a lot of different layers of flavor: spicy, smoky, a little bit sweet, and other flavors which make the taste complex, but great to eat.

A drink that Jen and I like to order - coconut juice. It is lightly sweet, and is a refreshing mix for us, especially with the other highly flavored Vietnamese dishes.