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Showing posts from October, 2011

Easy Earthen- Rowland Heights, CA

  Easy Earthen is a new, smaller outpost of the original Earthen Restaruants located in Hacienda Heights, Calfornia, that features the most popular items from the original Earthen in a short, one page menu.    (click on the picture for a larger version @ flickr) Easy Earthen's setup is also relatively simple. The customer orders and pays at the counter instead of at the table, and all food items from the menu are presented in color on the large poster boards. Servers do however take care of the rest of the experience, bringing the items to the tables, asking for any necessary items, filling up on water, and busing tables. The House Chicken (7 USD for the small size) is a very popular item at the original Earthen, and is done in the same style at Easy Earthen. The chicken is firm, if not a bit boney, but it is the garlic sauce that makes the dish definitely worth ordering. It was fabulous with the bed of sliced cucumbers below the chicken, and we even requested an extra sauce

Mitsuwa Marketplace: Sanukiseimen Mugimaru and Miyabi-Tei- Costa Mesa, CA

Three new vendors have joined Costa Mesa's Mitsuwa Marketplace food court: Sanukiseimen Mugimaru, Don Don Tei, and The Loft Hawaiian Restaurant. On my last visit, one companion and I tried out Sanukiseimen Mugimaru while my other companion went to Miyabi-Tei. Sanukiseimen Mugimaru has a cafeteria style layout; first, line up at their udon pictures, and then tell the employee what you would like to order from the menu. With udon, the freshly made noodles will be heated/boiled up at that time and the noodle bowl will be heated up in the same cooking water, with the employee moving the bowl around. I find that unsanitary, but they did pass certification! For onigiri or tempura, continue to the counter where you can select as many items as you would like. The next stop is the cashier, where you can get utensils as well as condiments including sauces, ginger, green onions, and fried tempura batter bits for extra crunch on your udon. During our visit, the menu was quite limited, b