Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

Products I Love

09 Jul 2015

Trader Joe’s Mini Sheet Cake

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I blame my current obsession with Trader Joe’s Mini Sheet Cakes on my friend Quyen. She posted an enticing Instagram of the product a month and a half ago, and ever since then, I’ve consumed a cake a week. While that might sound like an exaggeration, I assure you that it isn’t—my appetite for super-moist cake iced thick with super-sweet frosting knows no bounds.

The cakes come in two flavors: Dark Chocolate Ganache with a “smooth ganache cream cheese frosting” and Chantilly Cream Vanilla Bean with a “smooth vanilla bean buttercream frosting.” Both taste equally fetching and are irresistibly priced at $3.99.

The chocolaty creation, with its tender base and rich topping, tastes like it was baked in Duncan Hines’ or Betty Crocker’s kitchen, in the best possible way, of course. The ratio of cake to frosting, practically one to one, is just about perfect for someone who appreciates her sweets very, very sweet.

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Restaurant Review

01 Jul 2015

La Azteca Tortilleria – East Los Angeles

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As much as I love exploring the San Gabriel Valley’s restaurant scene for my weekday lunches, I was thrilled to discover recently that East Los Angeles is a stone’s throw from my office. Easy access to some of the city’s finest Mexican food is most definitely a lunchtime game changer.

For my inaugural midday jaunt to the Eastside of town, I wrangled a crew of fellow food lovers and headed to one of my favorite spots: La Azteca Tortilleria.

When the shop’s original owners, Alex Bernal and his wife, Maria Rodriguez, retired in 2010 after three decades of making tortillas the old-fashioned way, from scratch and in small batches, their good friends Juan and Candalaria Villa purchased the business and continued the tradition. It’s a painstaking process, to be sure, but the results are truly fantastic.

The difference between a store-bought tortilla and the handmade wonders here is like night and day. While the former cracks as it rolls and tastes like the plastic it’s wrapped in, the latter is hefty yet plush and is capable of curving around copious amounts of pork, cheese, beans, or most likely, all three.

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Restaurant Review

25 Jun 2015

Q Sushi – Los Angeles (Downtown)

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I had the pleasure of dining with my mom at Q Sushi a few Fridays ago. She’s been taking care of June while The Astronomer and I are bringing home the bacon, so this meal was a small token of our gratitude. Bà Ngoại is the best!

Chef Hiroyuki Naruke, who ran a six-seat sushi bar in Tokyo’s Roppongi district prior to relocating to Los Angeles, serves a hyper-traditional, omakase-only sushi experience at Q. I am a total purist when it comes to sushi, so I knew that Q and I would get along swimmingly from the start.

Priced at $165 per person, the omakase typically begins with a slew of tsumami (small appetizers), followed by a perfectly orchestrated parade of sashimi and nigiri sushi courses. All in all, it’s a 2.5 hour feast comprised of 20 or so courses that passes by much too quickly.

Taking care of Mom and me this evening was Chef Rui. He seemed a bit chattier than Chef Hiro, which was a good thing, because I had plenty of questions up my sleeve (per usual).

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