not Taipei/LA: KOGI TACO and GET SHAVED TRUCKS

Mmmmm. I don't know why there isn't Hawaiian Shaved Ice in Taiwan, but it would be the perfect extension to the already popular top-it-with-anything shaved ice places in Taiwan. Sweet, fruity and colorful, I headed to the trucks at T-Lofts on Olympic after finding about Get Shaved's Shave Ice from twitter.



After looking at the extensive menu, I decided on Root Beer, Strawberry and Dreamsicle (Orange + Vanilla). I loved how the ice was finely shaved (rather than chunky) and the flavors were sweet but distinctive. It started to melt as we were waiting in line, so I had to eat it quickly.



I had already eaten lunch so I was took a tiny bite of my friend's tacos. It was different than I expected- I thought the meat would be sweeter and there would be kimchi, like my own little experiment. Instead there was some spicy shredded lettuce atop of the diced and grilled meat. There was no sweet and savory combo.





I think I'll stick to the carnitas and carne asada with guacamole that I've been craving when I'm not here since that's a lot harder to come by for me. But if you're still curious, you can find out where to line up for the Kogi tacos or Get Shaved by checking out them out on twitter: kogibbq or getshaved

A few days after this, I found out that Diddy Riese in Westwood also has shaved ice- and only for $1!! For $1.50 you can get it topped with ice cream or get an ice cream sandwich with two cookies. Mmmm

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble uploading pics from my camera to my computer... so until then, all pics are from my iPhone.

not taipei/los angeles: IHOP

Did anyone miss me? I was in LA and again was too busy eating, in meetings, cleaning and working to catch up on my posts. SIGH!

But I'm back in Taipei, discovered some new places that have popped up while I was gone and should have some weekly posts again soon.

Somehow with the jetlag, I always end up at IHOP the first day or two when I return to LA. It's open early, the pancakes are fluffy and it's near my house. But it seems the prices have gone up in the past few years, or maybe everything has slowly creeped up. Can you say $4 gas? Crazy! There are a lot of little cafes that have breakfast/brunch that are cheaper and even tastier, but maybe not open at 6am.

I also ate at some new places that friends recommended that you should try if you are in the LA area- get the carne asada plate at PACO's TACOS on Centinela, the $1.25 tacos or a $5 burrito from TACO AZTECA (so cheap and good) or even better, anything from family friendly LA CABINITA (long wait but worth it!) in Glendale.

Notice any common thread of what I stocked up on while I was not in Taipei? Haha.

Yesterday when I first got back to Taipei, I headed to get some hot shao bing- yo tiao or chinese fried doughnut sticks inside a sesame flatbread, with some fresh sweet soy milk or do jiang. There's a little busy place near the intersection of Song De Road and Xin Yi Road, that has great Chinese breakfast.

So look forward to my catch up posts. Here are some of the places on my to-do list that I'm looking forward to getting done:

- PAUL (French bakery and cafe)
- BLACK AS CHOCOLATE
- the chocolate cake from POZZO
- VVG BON BON
- AKASAKA RAMEN
- SASHIMIYA

See you soon!

not Taipei part ONE: BIG TOMY's, SOUPLANTATION, RED ROCK CASINO and SIN BALA

hi everyone!

Sorry for the long blogging vacation. Actually my three plus year old Powerbook G4 decided to crash over the holidays.

Luckily, it was before the Applecare insurance expires mid January.

Unluckily, Apple Stores/Genius Bars don't do data recovery.

So luckily, the nice people at Computech SOS were able to recover pretty much all my data from my failing hard drive, replace it and move all the old stuff to the new drive. There are still some kinks I'm working out (they didn't restore my address book, so I have to do an "add email" to all my emails) and I had to do a software update to fix the iTunes and Quicktime before I could open it.

But I was definitely very SAD for a few weeks before I knew for sure whether or not they could recover all my photos and videos (apparently 35 gigs worth!)- so this is my warning to you- back up your data!!! Whether it's to an external hard drive or to CD/DVD or somewhere else online, it's totally better than the last resort of paying hundreds or thousands of dollars of having an expert do it for you!

Anyways, as always, I have been eating lots of great food over here. Some highlights:

Gyros and chili cheese fries from BIG TOMY's- YUM! Although I like the gyros from The Great Greek better (on Olympic and Bundy), you can't beat the chili cheese fries here. It's open 24 hours and there is Orange Bang to wash it down with. Three things that pretty much don't exist in Taipei.



SOUPLANTATION offers an all you can eat variety of soups, salads, pasta and breads/muffins, as well as a frozen yogurt machine and fruit. It's not the most gourmet thing in the world, but it's comfort food and the price is right, seeing that most salads these days are $6-$15 and soups are at least $3-6 a bowl. Personally, my favorites are the chinese chicken salad, the chili, the clam chowder and the chicken noodle soup. Plus gotta get the blueberry muffins, cornbread and a bit of froyo, but avoid the pastas- always seem very bland.



After overloading on food in Vegas, we had a simple brunch before we headed back to LA. An off the strip hotel, the cafe at RED ROCK CASINO offered a variety of breakfast and lunch options. My strawberry waffle didn't disappoint (at about $8) with a light crispy texture, lots of sliced strawberries, and sauce or maple syrup to drizzle on it. I also thought their Griddle breakfast (at about $10) was a great deal with 3 eggs, hashbrowns, sausages and ham steak. BTW- pretty packed for an off the strip casino (about a 20-30 minute wait for Sunday brunch) and looks like a glitzy strip hotel, but off on its own with an in-house bowling alley and movie theater.



Lastly, haven't had Chinese food in awhile and ended up at SIN BALA, a shaved ice/Taiwanese food cafe in Arcadia. Their specialty seems to be chinese sausages, but I ended up getting a Squid Potage vermicelli soup and sharing a shaved ice with my family. Personally, I don't love the black sugar syrup on the shaved ice (about $4) (it's got a strong flavor, almost gingery to me) (just pour on the condensed milk please!) but you can request it without it the next time. Five toppings are included and piled underneath the shaved ice- this time we got red bean, rice mochi balls, ai-yu and boba along with the condensed milk. It was not the best shaved ice I've ever had, but passable. They also have other small eats like oyster omelet (also vegetarian style with mushroom), wonton noodle soup, and scallion pancake. I also thought the service was pretty nice and friendly.




BIG TOMY's
11289 W Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 479-0601

SOUPLANTATION
21309 Hawthorne Blvd
Torrance, CA 90503
(310) 540-4998
and other locations

Grand Cafe at
RED ROCK CASINO
11011 W. Charleston Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89135
(702) 797.7777

SIN BALA
651 W Duarte Rd. Ste F
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 446-0886

not taipei: breakfast, sushi rolls, THE COUNTER, YOGURTLAND and KWIK E MART

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted... I'm back in Taipei after a short trip to the states. Everytime I go to LA, I tell myself that it means time to write up and post all the backlog posts that I have to work on, but the opposite is true- I'm soo busy that I barely have time to read other people's blogs much less work on my own.

But I did take a few pictures to show and tell. WARNING TO MY TAIPEI READERS- not in Taipei! So don't browse if you are hungry, since you will probably not be able to find something similar to satiate you in Taipei. (If you can, let me know!) Ugh, I'm getting hungry just looking at the pictures again.

I ate A LOT of American style breakfasts while I was in LA. One- the jetlag and short trip made sure that I was up early and hungry, so that was the perfect excuse to go have some waffles.

I had breakfast for the first time at Mimi's Cafe which was supersized and full of families. The food and service is what you'd expect from a chain restaurant- the muffin was cake-like, the breakfast burrito was lunch-like, I didn't taste any crab in the crab corn asparagus quiche, but we still left stuffed.

On the other hand, I savored the fluffy and maple syrup drenched french toast and a few bites of a awesome huge goat cheese, sundried tomato, basil omelette at Novel Cafe.




It's surprisingly usually not crowded, the service was friendly and everything (except the pancakes) tasted like it had just come out of the kitchen of someone who cared about how their food tasted and made with fresh ingredients.

I revisited my love for what I think may be the near perfect waffle at Campanile on La Brea. I even had time to make my own waffle and eggs at home, though I didn't really care for the Archer Farms apple strudel mix I bought from Target.



I had lunch with friends at the Westwood Farmer's Market which has moved since the last time I went. Sarah at the Delicious Life reminded me how much I wanted I wanted to go again. I bought some fresh flowers, basil and hummus, ate some tamales (get the blue corn over the regular corn and the pork carnitas) and gyros, drank a not-big-enough $2 cup of strawberry lemonade and walked around eating samples of hummus, cheesecake, fruit and honey in the LA sunshine.




Although I don't have any evidence in pictures, I ate my share of carnitas and chicken enchiladas on this trip. The food is simple, but always hits the spot unlike the chore and surprise of not knowing what are you going to get when you "Mexican" food in Taipei.

And though I found spicy tuna finally in Taipei, I loaded up on the monster Theta Animaniac (a snowball of spicy tuna over fried crispy rice) and rolls from California Roll Factory as well as tried out rolls from Ami's. I wasn't in love with their baby lobster roll (a bit dry and well, isn't it crawfish?), but the Las Vegas roll was good, though their spicy tuna seems to have an extra dash of Tabasco than I'm used to.




Although I had heard about Yogurtland from Elmomonster, it's not the same unless you visit it. A row of self serve yogurt machines, you can pile on the yogurt and fresh fruit and toppings to your stomach's delight, at the cost of US$0.30 an ounce. You might think the pint sized empty paper cup is too big, but it makes you (or made us) pull the levers until we had about 1 pound of yogurt plus fruit. The picture isn't pretty with melted yogurt of half a dozen flavors and colors, but it tasted good. If I had to go again, I'd get the chocolate mint, blueberry tart and mango flavors. Avoid the artificial tasting peach flavor.



It's pretty brillant since the customer gets to do it exactly the way they like it, and maybe you don't feel like $3-4 dollars worth of yogurt, you can just get a taste. But since you don't know how much it actually weighs, you might pay more than you think. I guess the more you go, the better you'd get at doing it.

I even got to wander around a Kwik E Mart in Burbank- with offerings like Buzz Cola, Sprinklicious donuts, Squishees and other Simpsons stuff for the tourists and fans. There are only 10 in the world and who knows how long they will be around now that the Simpson's movie is coming out. I had to wait a bit for parking, avoid the kids who were trying to find the Buzz cold that one lucky girl had in line, and avoid the people taking pictures with the signs.




I bet the 7-11 owners wish that it could be permanently a Kwik E Mart since I've never seen a 7-11 so busily trafficked. I almost wish I had picked up some pink frosted Krispy Kremes.

Last but not least, the you could go to the Counter and eat a different burger everytime you go, since you can choose your cheese, toppings and bun. On this day, I picked feta cheese, corn salsa, roasted red peppers and onions on an English muffin which is not strong enough to hold everything.



So it's back to Taipei and my love hate relationship with the food here. I've heard about a few new places, so hopefully we'll have to time to visit them!

MIMI's CAFE
25343 Crenshaw Blvd
Torrance, CA 90505
(310) 326-4477

NOVEL CAFE
1101 Gayley Ave
Westwood, CA 90024
(310) 208-6410

WESTWOOD FARMER's MARKET
Thursday 12-7pm
at the end of Davis at Constitution
310- 861-8

CALIFORNIA ROLL FACTORY
11629 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone:310-996-2366

AMI JAPANESE RESTAURANT
1051 Broxton Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90024 (310) 209-1802

YOGURTLAND
14775 Jeffrey Road, Suite J
Irvine, CA 92618

KWIK E MART
611 West Olive Avenue (at Verdugo)
Burbank, CA 91506

THE COUNTER
2901 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 399-8383

not taipei: i strongly recommend JOHNNIE's PASTRAMI

If anyone can tell me where to find a pastrami sandwich like this in Taipei, I will treat you to lunch there. (And yes I've tried the pastrami at the Diner and definitely not the same!) Ohhhh- juicy but not overly greasy pastrami with some squirts of hot mustard, lovingly hugged by two toasted soft buns. Huge sandwich you can share or pack to save the other half for later. Can't forget the chili cheese fries to complete your classic diner experience. Open late for your cravings and super busy at lunch.

So for my 5 readers out there, what are you guys craving in Taipei from back home?? Put it out there in the blog universe in the comments, and maybe other readers will be kind enough to share if they know where they can find it!

JOHNNIE PASTRAMI
4017 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 397-6654

hours: Sun-Mon 10am-1am;
Tue-Thu 10am-2:30am;
Fri-Sat 10am-3:30am

$$ (cash only)

not taipei/brunch/american: i strongly recommend CAMPANILE

CAMPANILE
624 South La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
USA
(323) 948-1447

website: campanilerestaurant.com

brunch: 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM Sat/Sun only
lunch: 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM M-F
dinner: 5:30/6 PM - 10/11 PM M-W/Th-Sat

$$

Visit reviewed: 4/1/2007



Someone needs to find the recipe to the Belgian Waffle ($10) that Campanile makes and deliver it to me ASAP. It was the most wonderfully light, crispy, airy delicious waffle I've had in a long time and it melted in my mouth while I quickly devoured it before anyone else was even halfway done with their dish. AND tell me if they use a special waffle maker.

It's not that hard to make a decent waffle- I do it when I can, when I have the craving and I'm not too lazy to drag my cheap-o Target waffle maker off the kitchen shelf. It's perfectly delicious to me (and many others that I've made brunch for), especially with bananas and honey on top. But to make a DIVINE waffle like the one at Campanile that day, that is hard. Especially after all the cold and botched hotel waffles I had in Korea and China. Ugh. It's not that hard to make a decent waffle, but apparently it is harder than you'd think. So sometimes I don't feel like my brunch dollars are worth it on a waffle, especially when it usually doesn't come w/ any sides, but today it was.

But back to Campanile- it's a pretty infamous brunch place in LA and gets very packed, so reservations are highly recommended. It's on La Brea and near a lot of touristy spots, so you can do your thing afterwards. There is also a little bakery adjacent to it so you can take home some fresh bread or a panini for later. The space is open and bright, with white tables and white paper with proper service without being overly formal.



Other people in our party had Cast Iron Spanish Eggs ($15) and Steak and Eggs ($18) (choose the way your want your eggs) which were also good, but I was pretty happy with my choice. Other things that tempted me on the brunch menu- the Eggs Benedict, and the Quiche Lorraine. I also liked the dinner menu more than the lunch menu (you can check it out on their website) since grilled meat and desserts always make me happy.




So brunch places in Taipei, take note... and try and find the recipe!

not taipei/dessert: AUNTIE EM's KITCHEN

So I'm headed back to Taipei after lots of great food and travels in the states- so don't worry back to your regularly scheduled programming soon. But I had to share a picture of the adorable and delicious cupcakes I love from Auntie Em's Kitchen. I would much rather eat these than the overrated cupcakes from Sprinkles- even though I have to trek to Eagle Rock to get them.

The picture is of their mini cupcakes which go for $1+ - and their regular sized giant cupcakes ($3+) are almost as big as a pint of ice cream with a helmet of frosting and the dense yet moist cupcake underneath- definitely enough to share, but only if you felt like it. Personally, I love the red velvet and the coconut. These may be the best red velvet cupcakes I've ever had- and yes, better than the ones at Doughboys (a bit heavy) and Sprinkles (not as moist)! The cream cheese frosting of the red velvet is a bit more sugary than smooth cream cheese, but works with the less sweet taste of the moist red velvet. The coconut shavings mesh with the slightly lemony cake. There's also chocolate (which is on the dark chocolate side to me) and carrot.

There also a ton of other freshly baked pastries- and oh yeah, they serve food. Delicious homestyle food, sandwiches and salads and a mean strawberry lemonade. Eat it in their cozy cafe style restaurant after ordering at the counter, or get it to go.

Either way, I am going to be drooling and daydreaming about these cupcakes on the plane all the way to Taipei.

AUNTIE EM's KITCHEN
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
(323) 255-0800

website: http://www.auntieemskitchen.com

hours: mon-fri 8am to 7pm
sat-sun 8am to 4pm

$-$$

not taipei: SIMON/AUREOLE/DEE's/EL TARASCO

I had hoped to update the blog by being able to work on my backlog of posts and half written reviews, but my time is not my own when I'm not in Taipei.

So until I get the chance to carve out the time to do that, I will be posting a slice of the good stuff I have been eating the past month.

LAS VEGAS

SIMON at the HARD ROCK HOTEL

Sort of a frou frou steakhouse in the back of the Hard Rock Hotel, SIMON served unusual and very tasty breads such as pretzel bread, zucchini bread and cinnamon muffin-like bread in their complimentary refillable bread basket.



The mediterrean appetizer plate's portions were quite sparse for the price, though the flavors were good for the sponge-like mini-pita breads.



I ordered the meatloaf, but should have stuck to the filet mignon- as the meatloaf was dense, bit too salty and not quite what I expected. It was like an overgrown cousin of a burger covered in sauce and cut in half. I suppose I expected a softer, melt-in-your mouth Japanese style meatloaf? I barely took three bites and didn't even care to finish the rest.



But everyone else mostly cleaned their plates and the calamari appetizer and the sauteed mushroom sides were a hit- as well as the HUGE ball of cotton candy (otherwise on the menu for ($8) the waiter brought us free of charge.


BUFFET at MANDALAY BAY

I liked the lunch buffet at Mandalay Bay- they offered a decent selection of fresh fruits as well as the standard rows and rows of heated foods. The cocktail shrimp were fresh and plentiful, and the lamb chops were actually tender and flavorful. They carved prime rib for you and had sections for meats, salads, Asian, Latin and seafood. It was the first time I had seen carnitas at a buffet, much less a Las Vegas buffet, but it was surprisingly good. I went back for seconds of the tender carnitas and Spanish rice while I didn't sample too much of the Asian food. The desserts were hidden away from the main part of the buffet, so you could have missed it if you didn't look for it. But with rows of mini lemon meringue tarts, tiramisu cakes and cheesecake, you should definitely save room.



AUREOLE

Intending to get a light dinner, we unknowingly walked into a set set-course menu at AUREOLE, which offered only set courses for their menus in their main dining room. Not until we read the fine print outside after the dinner did I realize we could have ordered ala carte upstairs (I think)... so we dove in and had a very elegant and fun dinner for a $$$ price.





I had a scallop trio appetizer, wild salmon main course and warm chocolate cake dessert. With the scallop trio, I preferred the center grilled scallop over the variations of it being fried or in the rice paper, but the salmon was grilled just right.



my friend's osso bucco

Though I thoroughly devoured my chocolate cake, I didn't care for the pistachio (?) ice cream on the side that just tasted like cream, as pretty as it was..




Instead, I would have liked to have some fruit flavored sorbet like my friend ordered, which came in a sampler tray almost like a pastel mini-rack of pool balls. We had fun guessing what each flavor was.



SALT LAKE CITY

DEE's had diner food at amazing prices- my breakfast all day French toast combo plate was under $6 with four huge slices of Texas French Toast and three huge hockey puck sausages and an over easy egg. Maybe it was late, maybe I was hungry, maybe I had been eating fake American breakfasts in Taiwan for too long - but it was the best breakfast I have had in a very long time.



LOS ANGELES

EL TARASCO (to-go)

Something about chicken enchiladas just gets to me... I love it when they are soaked in the red sauce and baked til the cheese is melted and gooey on top.. the bite of the corn tortilla and the shredded chicken is heaven. Plus you have to have carnitas taco with guacamole as well.