Eat. Travel. Eat!

Opened at the start of 2020, Pearl River Deli (PRD) is a burgeoning Cantonese food concept operated by chef Johnny Lee , located next to Howlin Rays in Los Angeles' Chinatown's Far East Plaza. Extensive forum posts on Food Talk Central ( 1 , 2 ) and articles published by  Eater , Los Angeles Times , amongst other outlets, have highlighted the innovative cooking going on: a focused menu of Cantonese classics with the volume turned up alongside weekly specials featuring cuisines not limited to Thai, Vietnamese, Yunnan, and more. Hence, on a recent outing in Los Angeles, I had to make a stop here to experience PRD for myself. I phoned my order in via phone, and got an expected wait time of 20 minutes. The estimate was correct, with my order just about to be boxed up when I arrived. Notably, pickup was rather safe, with payment done at the doorway entrance (hand sanitizer available),  a vinyl shield protecting the employees from the outside, and all employees wearing masks. Outdoo...

Recently brought to my attention was thali. Literally, it describes a metal plate in which is used to serve food. But, it also be an eating experience--where food comes in an all-you-can-eat format. Unlike a buffet however, the employees at thali restaurants serve the food directly at your table, refilling your thali as you progress through your meal. A friend of mine noted Rajdhani Restaurant in Artesia, CA as a good example of such experience in the Los Angeles area. Known for its vegetarian thali, the restaurant is quite popular. Indeed, we waited for around 10 minutes before getting a seat.

Maccheroni Republic specializes in "artisan handmade fresh organic pasta" at an affordable price point, and is quite popular in the city, having long waits (now made more convenient, with a Yelp waitlist feature ). We decided to check it out for lunch during their DineLA week earlier this year. Stopping by at its opening time for lunch (11 AM), we didn't need to wait long for a table, as the waiters quickly brought a small queue of customers waiting outside to their seats both inside and outside of the restaurants. The interior was rather cozy with tables located quite close to each other, so we opted to sit outside, which was kept warm in a rather cool morning with several heaters.  Alongside each table was bottles of oil (both olive and chili) and vinegar to accompany the bread, which was crusty outside and soft inside.

Lao Xi Er Noodle House (老西兒面馆) is a recent entrant to the San Gabriel Valley noodle scene, specializing in Shanxi style noodles. Located in the southern part of Arcadia, Lao Xi Er adds a different perspective to a mélange of varied dining options located less than one block away from one another, not limited to Italian ( Alex Di Peppe's ), Vietnamese ( Pho-licious ), Japanese ( Mako Sushi ), Mexician ( Cabreras ), Taiwanese ( Cafe Fusion ), and Chinese ( Fishing Boat Chinese Cuisine ). After hearing about Lao Xi Er from Clarissa Wei's post on  Eater , we visited and since then, Lao Xi Er has become one of our go-to places for noodles. Within its small, humble surroundings (there are around 10 tables in the restaurant), the husband-wife duo and their team serves up a small selection of noodles, soups, dumplings, and a handful of appetizers and entrees that are quite well-executed.

We've greatly enjoyed our past visits to Larchmont's Cafe Gratitude , and so we were glad to hear that Cafe Gratitude has also opened up in Downtown's Art District--making a for a shorter drive to enjoy their creative vegan and organic foods. The Arts District location takes more of a light colored approach (instead of an emphasis on turquoise), with white chairs and benches, grey walls, yellow chairs, green plants, and woods throughout the entire location. It's also much larger than the Larchmont location--we made reservations, given Cafe Gratitude's general popularity and dineLA, but found out that the restaurant was less than half full when we entered. Unlike some of the Yelp reviews about this location, service was great right from the moment we entered the restaurant. We were happily guided to our table, our waiters noted the dineLA menu and dinner specials, checked up on us to make sure we were ready to order (took a while given the many options!)...

Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, Lidia Bastianich , and Nancy Silverton's Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza have been extremely popular restaurants in Los Angeles, commanding queues that were hours long. So when we were recently in the area and found out on OpenTable that we could reserve seats for lunch at a time just less than a half an hour prior to arrival, we took the opportunity. Pizzeria Mozza is a relatively small restaurant, located adjacent to the larger Osteria Mozza (open for dinner only) and Mozza2Go. Inside, light toned woods and yellows set the tone--a skylight, which was filtered with a yellow skin, provided most of the lighting. A friendly vibe was immediately set with the upbeat employees, who immediately seated us and went through the menu in detail once we told them it was our first time dining here. We found out popular items, and also some notable differentiations--pizzetta meant a smaller pizza, and that any pizza that didn't list "tomato" on i...

A growing 100% organic, plant-based restaurant chain, Cafe Gratitude offers healthful vegetarian foods in a positive, modern, and friendly ambiance. I was recommended to visit it by a friend, who lauded the positive atmosphere, and was pleasantly surprised by how tasty the vegetarian fare was. Inside, Cafe Gratitude is happy, positive, and clean, with natural tones and casual furnishings. The mood is set by the positive adjectives not only listed on the menus ("I am...") and boards, but also the employees, who are content and wear shirts that say "love" and other terms. Mindfulness, health, and wellness permeate the entire environment.

After looking at Ma Dang Gook Soo's handmade noodles and acorn noodles featured on Gastronomy and Buzzfeed / The Actors Diet respectively, it didn't take much more to make our own visit to Ma Dang Gook Soo. When we visited on a Sunday evening, Ma Dang Gook Soo was operating at system capacity. The restaurant was full, but it didn't take much for us to wait in line before getting an open spot. Seated down, lots of people were enjoying the noodle options, seasoned spicy rice cake ( tteokbokki ), and bibimbap. Moreover, the friendly waitresses were eagerly serving the customers. When I wanted to learn more about some items which were only written in Korean on the wall (it was actually soy broth noodles), the waitress took her time to answer, and when I asked her about the soy broth, she even brought a small bowl for me to sample before deciding whether to order it.

  Having read Edwin Goei of Monster Munching's positive review of California Fish Grill and a recent feature on its poke on Stick a Fork In It of OC Weekly and being in the mood for poke and cooked fish while in Irvine, we finally visited California Fish Grill, a fast-casual seafood joint. During our weekday visit at lunchtime, it was packed, with local employees and families coming in for lunch. Both indoor and outdoor seating were packed except for the bar near the kitchen, people were ordering both take in and take out, and the kitchen's grill was completely filled with fish filets. Talk about good business! We began our meal with the New England Clam Chowder Bowl (4.49 USD) , a large bowl for a very reasonable price. It was not jam packed with clams, nor was it very heavy on the clam flavor (instead favoring the cream instead), but it was freshly made, with the potatoes cut into sharp cubes, and veggies cut into small pieces. We also liked that it came with oys...

In search for some healthful Korean food--soups and porridge--I found out about Jook Hyang, a standalone Korean restaurant on Olympic in Koreatown. An abalone, chicken soup, beef bone soup (cooked for a week), porridge specialist, Jook Hyang offers a wide range of offerings dedicated to the three items--abalone sashimi, abalone porridge, abalone and chicken soup, and a page full of different porridge items. Walking into the restaurant, you'll see an abalone tank and bucketfuls of cornish hens. All these quality items and work spans throughout the restaurant and offerings, which also includes bamboo rice entrees, korean barbeque and seafood, banchan, and other items. It also translates into slightly higher costs--lunch is slightly cheaper if you order the sets, but otherwise, expect to spend around 15-20 USD per person, if not more.

We heard about Santa Monica Seafood as a reputable place to not just buy fish, but also to eat, and thus visited Santa Monica Seafood during a trip to Orange County. During our first visit, the cafe had just opened (11 AM), and being one of the first customers, they were very attentive, immediately requesting drink orders and introducing us to their daily specials. Bread and butter were available on request after ordering, and it was quite delicious-- fresh, crusty sourdough bread with a tender interior coupled with soft, unsalted butter! We had plenty of this. We wanted a smaller lunch, and so we went for soup and oysters. First, we ordered the large New England Clam Chowder (8 USD), a highly recommended item according to our waitress.

Earlier in 2014, I went on a trip to Asia, namely Beijing (some of the posts already written are: McDonald's China: Sweet Taro Pie , Wuyutai Tea- Wangfujing, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China: Jasmine and Matcha Soft-Serve Ice Cream (and a comparison to McDonald's version) ). Asiana proved to be the most cost effective option at the time of booking, with only Eithad as the only other choice that was less than $2000 roundtrip! This was initially shocking to me and travel agents, who were surprised that Chinese carriers had an exorbitantly high cost for the dates I wanted. With Asiana and the costs that I wanted, I ended up with two flights in order to get to Beijing: LAX-ICN, and ICN-PEK, with a seven hour layover at ICN! (shock, but also a good opportunity to do some fun things) This blog post covers the LAX-ICN sector.

Caesar's Palace has quickly become famous for their Bacchanal Buffet, which is now the top-rated buffet in Las Vegas. Yet, during the holiday season, wait times were hours long, and prices were at their highest. Moreover, a quick visit inside the buffet did show lots of good options and a nice design (the same designers designed Cafe Too as well), but this experience was hampered by loud catwalk music from the speakers. the Given these factors and our limited time in Las Vegas, we decided to pursue another option: Nobu, located next to the Nobu Hotel lobby inside Caesar's Palace.

We happened to visit Las Vegas recently to update ourselves in all the changes that have been made over the recent years. After arriving at The Mirage and completing our check-in process, we headed for dinner, only to find limited choices, for many of the fine fining establishments were closed. So, we looked to the Cravings Buffet, a place we had visited five years ago . What's changed so far with Cravings? Many Las Vegas hotel dining establishments (including Cravings) now have electronic touchscreen monitors featuring information about the restaurant, as well as menus, at the entrance. With enticing items like osso buco, eel and tuna nigiri, and brown butter salmon, we went into the queue. (Unfortunately, as we would find out later in the meal, the digital menu isn't 100% accurate) Though we did happen to have VIP access to the line, the regular line happened to be shorter, being 8PM when we visited. Yet, even with the shorter lines, it still took ten minutes unti...