Archive for the 'Los Angeles' Category

Pailin Thai Cuisine – Los Angeles (Hollywood)

Published by Gastronomer on February 7, 2012 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Restaurant Review and Thai. 3 Comments

My Thai food cravings can swing one of two ways: familiar or foreign. Sometimes I want to cozy up to my standbys, while other times I desire something sassier and spicier than just pad Thai.

When the latter feeling hits, I find my way to Pa-Ord for crispy pork and boat noodles, Jitlada for green mussels and crispy morning glory, and most recently, Pailin Thai Cuisine for fermented meatballs and curry noodles.

A series of appetizing posts from Sino Soul inspired me to seek out Pailin’s Northern Thai cuisine. The homey restaurant was humming when The Astronomer and I came in for a weeknight dinner. We settled into the booth closest to the stacks of Thaitown directories.

Even when I’m in the mood for novel Thai offerings, I can’t resist ordering a Thai iced tea for its creamy sweetness and dependable spice-squelching properties.

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Valentine’s Day Sweets For Your Sweetie: Le Bon Garçon, Cutie Pie That!, Magnolia Bakery

Published by Gastronomer on February 3, 2012 in Dessert, Los Angeles and Products I Love. 1 Comment

I was sold on Valentine’s Day back in middle school when my crush* gifted me a heart-shaped box filled with chocolates between first and second period. No matter that the drugstore batch tasted like Halloween leftovers or that the “relationship” lasted barely a week—I was totally smitten and as far as I was concerned, Valentine’s Day ruled.

While the good ‘ol days of pastel-colored conversation hearts and flimsy perforated cards are over, I can still appreciate honoring February 14 with something sweet for my sweetie. Here are a trio of locally made desserts that will charm the pants off just about anyone. You’ll see…

Justin Chao of Le Bon Garçon crafts the most brilliant caramels I have ever tasted. Every batch is made from scratch using the best ingredients and no preservatives, which results in a soft and silky caramel that is truly like no other. It’s quality you can really sink your teeth into.

For Valentine’s Day, Le Bon Garçon has created a limited-run blood orange-infused caramel called Caramour, as well as beautiful packaging to go with it.

Other flavors available include classic salted caramel, passion fruit, and macadamia nut. Make sure to place your orders by February 7 in order to ensure delivery by Valentine’s Day.

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Dinner at The Spice Table – Los Angeles (Downtown)

Published by Gastronomer on January 18, 2012 in Downtown, Los Angeles, Malaysian, Restaurant Review and Singaporean. 7 Comments

My first visit to The Spice Table wasn’t a great one. I came to the restaurant with high expectations and left feeling mostly underwhelmed after a lunch of wings, coleslaw, and Vietnamese sandwiches. Although The Spice Table’s dinner menu is a completely different beast, I didn’t have any desire to try it after my initial introduction.

Sometime last December, I received a $50 voucher from the Malaysia Kitchen Los Angeles campaign* to dine at one of their partner restaurants. I selected to return to The Spice Table after skimming the list of eateries participating in the program.

While the voucher wasn’t enough to cover the entire cost of dinner there, it provided me with the incentive that I needed to give the restaurant another try. I was hoping for an altogether better experience this time around.

The Astronomer and I bypassed the official Malaysia Restaurant Week menu and chose a suite of dishes that sounded delightful to us. The beef tripe ($10) from the “Satays” portion of the menu was the first to arrive.

Marinated in soy, garlic, and palm sugar, the tripe was impressively tender and surprisingly sweet. While I’ve always had a thing for a tripe, The Astronomer has been more hesitant to open his heart. He declared these skewers to be the best preparation of tripe he’s come across.

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Kobawoo House – Los Angeles (Koreatown)

Published by Gastronomer on January 16, 2012 in Korean, Koreatown, Los Angeles and Restaurant Review. 5 Comments

A few days before leaving town for the holidays, The Astronomer and I met up with a group of friends for a weeknight dinner at Kobawoo House, a porky palace that’s been around since 1983. I get the shakes when I go too long without a meal in Koreatown, so it felt damn good to be back in the land of kimchi and all-you-can-eat meat this evening.

Due to the restaurant’s popularity, layout, and capacity, our party of 12 could not be seated for a solid 45 minutes. Additionally, we were split between two tables. This place isn’t great for big groups, but with the promise of pork belly to come, everyone remained in high spirits.

As soon as our butts hit the seats, hot tea and an array of simple banchan arrived at the table. My favorite of the bunch was the green onion-specked omelet, which was served cold. We requested a second helping of it because one slice per person just wasn’t gonna cut it.

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Ton Chan Ramen – San Gabriel

Published by Gastronomer on January 13, 2012 in Japanese, Los Angeles, Restaurant Review and San Gabriel. 3 Comments

For the third year running, the Eat My Blog crew went out for a soul satisfying ramen dinner following our annual bake sale. After standing on our feet the entire day hawking sweets for charity, all we wanted to do was sit down, relax, and slurp our hearts out.

Located next door to the perpetually packed Golden Deli, Ton Chan is considered by some to be the San Gabriel Valley’s strongest ramenya. Here, the tonkotsu broth is made fresh daily with konbu seaweed and pork bones. The broth is boiled for nearly a full day to achieve the desired rich and milky consistency.

We shared a few appetizers before the the noodles arrived. The spicy tuna roll, which consisted of twelve impressively plump pieces, was well constructed and legitimately spicy. I often think about picking up a to-go order of these when I’m dining next door at Golden Deli.

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