Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. - Monterey Park

While eating at Hot Pot, Hot Pot! - Monterey Park, I noticed a crowd of people waiting in front of The Open Door, a Japanese fusion izakaya located in the same corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Garvey Avenue. I made a mental note to check it out, but wasn't in any hurry because there was a no photo policy and well, no photos means no point in going, right?

Then in August 2013, The Open Door shuttered and reopened as Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. Same owner, different menu. Apparently, the rebranding also meant a loosening of the no photo policy. While the menu now focused on fried chicken, that didn't mean the Japanese fusion dishes were gone completely.

On a quiet weeknight, lil' sis and I finally got around to checking out Tokyo Fried Chicken Co.

Ye Olde Pepper Companie (America's Oldest Candy Company) - Salem - Massachusetts

After grabbing a quick breakfast at Red Line Cafe - Salem - Massachusetts, second-oldest nephew and his friend and I headed to the waterfront. After a spin around the House of the Seven Gables and the house in which Nathaniel Hawthorne was born, we headed across the street to Ye Olde Pepper Companie, which opened in 1806 and is America's oldest candy company. A chance to get some edible souvenirs with a side of history? Can't pass that up!

According to their website, Ye Olde Pepper Companie began after Mary Spencer sailed from England to Salem and was left destitute by a shipwreck. Her neighbors donated supplies, including a barrel of sugar when they found out she was a confectioner. She made lemon and peppermint Gibralters, which are initially hard but then soften after several weeks and taste like an after-dinner mint. She first sold her candies on the steps of church and then with a horse and carriage. After she passed away in 1835, her son, Thomas, took over the business, but shortly afterward, he inherited a title in England and sold the business to fellow confectioner, John Pepper. Thomas and Pepper had worked together to create Black Jacks, molasses stick candy that would appeal to more masculine tastes to contrast with the feminine Gibralters.

Pepper's son, George, took over until selling his business at the turn of the 20th century to George and Alice Burkinshaw, who were, respectively, assistant candy maker and candy packers for Ye Olde Pepper Companie. The fourth generation of Burkinshaws still operate the candy shop today.

The left side of the building is where the candy is still made by hand today. The right side is the candy shop. October's high season in Salem meant a very packed store. There was basically only room to enter, walk around the center table, choosing wares along the way, exiting after a loop.

Red Line Cafe - Salem - Massachusetts

Why are you waking me up at 6 a.m.? I groaned to second-oldest nephew when he asked what time I wanted to get up. Still operating on West Coast time, he had plugged the meter for the car when I had promptly turned off my alarm and continued sleeping.

By the time I finally got up, the breakfast restaurants that I had bookmarked had lines out the door. It's high season in Salem! Tons of people were already walking around in costume, and all the sit-down restaurants were mobbed. So after striking out at a few places, nephew suggested Red Line Cafe for some sandwiches.

The Lobster Shanty - Salem - Massachusetts

I had a bunch of miles that were expiring soon and with an open invitation from Gourmet Pigs to come out for a visit, decided to do just that for my birthday since I hadn't gone on a big trip in a while. Five days after I booked my flight, she received a media invite to Sacramento to tour a cattle ranch.

Could I change my ticket?

Not without incurring a hefty change fee. Plus, I wanted to go to the Keene Pumpkin Festival that weekend.

Would I mind if she went? She could leave her car for me if I wanted?

Well, sure, in that case, that actually worked out better because I could go up to Salem and spend time with second-oldest nephew.

Evidently, Salem is more happening than I realized. Since my flight came in late, I Googled around for some options and saw that The Lobster Shanty was open until 1 a.m.

Doh! October. Salem. Witch trials. Halloween. It's Salem's high season.

According to the T-shirts, which said, "The Lobster Shanty -- warm beer, lousy food, surly waitresses, rude bartenders, cranky cooks," I think it's supposed to be a dive, but service and food were just fine.

Hong Galbi BBQ House - Los Angeles (Koreatown)

I had driven past Hong Galbi BBQ House many times and mentally made a note to check it out some day. So, when Jin of Seeking Food uploaded some yummy-looking pictures of Korean pork ribs, I insisted we go for lunch next time she had a craving. This was not one of the ubiquitous all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurants dotting Koreatown. Not that there's anything wrong with that; as you know, I'm a frequent customer at such establishments.

Hong Galbi BBQ House specializes in broiled pork ribs. Lunch specials feature the ribs with rice pots or stew for about $30. Not all-you-can-eat prices, but enough to feed two people so it evens out.

Japon Bistro - Pasadena

A week after making my own Hawaiian Salmon Poke and Spicy Tuna Poke, I was still craving poke. It was the tail-end of DineLA and while perusing the list of restaurants, I saw that Japon Bistro in Pasadena offered a three-course lunch set for $15 that included poke.

Score!

Or so I thought.

But, let's backtrack to my first visit in June 2010 with Gourmet Pigs.

Yama Seafood L.A. - San Gabriel

I don't know how many times I've driven past Yama Seafood L.A. on Las Tunas Drive in San Gabriel and not really noticed this rather non-descript Japanese grocery store. Until March 2008 (I know, going a ways back for this one). How could I have missed the large "Sushi Takeout" and "Sushi" and "Sashimi" signs?

Sometimes, I'm not in the mood for a whole sit-down sushi restaurant experience. Sometimes, I just want a few sushi rolls, and you know the American grocery store versions are not gonna satisfy that craving!

Parking is around the back. I ducked in to see what Yama Seafood had to offer that day and have been happily indulging in freshly-made and inexpensive sushi and sashimi at this little mom and pop shop for years.

Snow Monster - Westminster (Little Saigon)

After dinner at Da Nang Com Tam Tran Qui Cap - Westminster (Little Saigon), my friend Ivan and I went across the street for dessert. Actually, I was heading toward TeaZone Lollicup - Westminster (Little Saigon) for their matcha green tea snow bubble when we spied this crowd from across the street.

Ah! So that's where Snow Monster is located! In February 2013, I received an email from someone from Snow Monster who mentioned that she was a fan of the blog "for many years now" and inviting me to try a "fairly new dessert called Taiwanese shaved snow."

"Fairly new"? Really? Because I first blogged about shaved snow back in 2007. She wasn't sure if I had "tried or heard about it." I think I have when I've blogged about shaved snow not once, but twice, thrice, and a fourth time.

Look, I don't expect everyone to remember every blog entry I've ever written, but I do clearly state on my contact page to use my searchbar before emailing me. Don't pretend to be a fan or try to sell your product as something I don't know about when I've blogged about it multiple times and years ago. A simple search before contacting me would have cleared that up. She offered a large shaved snow and a Belgian waffle sundae, and asked that if I had anything negative to say to tell them in person. And to blog within two weeks after my visit. Geez, I can buy my own shaved snow, thank you very much! Pet peeves aside, at least the Snow Monster name was now on my radar?

Anyway, I wasn't going to hold that minor annoyance against them, especially since shaved snow sounded like just the thing on a hot summer evening.

King Hua Restaurant - Alhambra

It started out as a Twitter conversation when David Chan (who has eaten at 6,297+ Chinese restaurants) mentioned the crispy deep-fried milk at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra. One More Bite said she loved the dish. I haven't had sauteed milk since Macau Street - Monterey Park closed a while back and a deep-fried crispy version sounded intriguing.

We made plans to meet up and Gourmet Pigs decided to make King Hua one of her going away dinners before she moved to Boston. Well, I don't know if she picked the restaurant in particular or was more nudged in that direction, but it helped me achieve Cantonese seafood restaurant trifecta (dim sum, wedding banquet, and regular dining at one location). Not that that should be a goal, mind you, just happenstance.

A few years ago, I blogged King Hua Restaurant - Alhambra for dim sum and later that year, attended a wedding banquet so I knew it was a solid Cantonese restaurant. Part of the reason Gourmet Pigs chose it was for some fresh Chinese seafood since she doubted her options in Boston would be as good.

Tacos El Gordo de Tijuana B.C. - Chula Vista

The Banh Pa Te So Nhan Banh Mi (Vietnamese Pate Chaud (French Hot Pastry Pie) with Sandwich Fillings) and other pastries I brought from Au Coeur de Paris Patisserie & Boulangerie - Westminster (Little Saigon) were great, but by dinner time, we were all hungry. So lil' sis, oldest and second-youngest nephews, their friends, and I all piled into our cars and drove nearly to the Mexican border in Chula Vista.

When we pulled up, the parking lot of Tacos El Gordo de Tijuana B.C. was packed; always a good sign. I was also amused by the signage that said, "Now in California." Tijuana-style tacos for which I don't have to wait hours to pass through border inspection? Score!

The taco selection was pretty awesome too - cabeza (beef cheeks), lengua (tongue), sesos (brains), Asada (steak), tripas (tripe), suadero (brisket), and adobada (spicy pork) and buche (stomach) for about $2 each. The mulas, sopes, and quesadillas were $3.75. The mula was new to me. It's basically another tortilla on top.

Au Coeur de Paris Patisserie & Boulangerie - Westminster (Little Saigon)

This story is a bit rambling, so bear with me. It starts several decades ago, when I was in high school and attended a weekend retreat sponsored by the Rotary Club. Our guest speaker was Bob Farrell, co-founder of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour and Restaurants, who sold the chain and became a consultant and motivational speaker. He talked about customer service.

The story goes that a man, who wasn't dressed so finely, walked into a bank to cash a check. He asked the bank to validate his 50-cent parking ticket. The teller refused. He asked to speak to a manager. The manager backed up the teller and also refused to validate the customer's parking ticket. So he said he wanted to withdraw all his money and close out his account.

Sure. Because how much money could this scruffy customer possibly have?

The teller's face paled.

Apologies were rendered.

And refused.

The customer withdrew $1 million.

He promptly took his money and deposited it in the bank across the street.

Decades later, the story stayed with me. I thought it was just a story. Turns out, the story is true -- in October 1988, John Barrier, who made his money renovating houses, went into Old National Bank (now U.S. Bank) in Spokane, Wash. to cash a check and had his 50-cent parking validation refused. So he withrew $1 million. He took his money across the street to Seafirst Bank, who made it a point to treat Barrier well. But whether he had $1 or $1 million, was charging 50 cents for parking worth losing any customer? Farrell's pickle principle is about businesses doing what they can to make things right for the customer. Don't be so tight-fisted about the small stuff, that you lose loyal customers.

Now, my story is on a much, much smaller scale.

Umami Burger - Anaheim

After finishing the Disneyland Half Marathon, I was staaarving. While racing, I teased Valerie Chinn and her husband about taking them to Quan Hy Vietnamese Restaurant - Westminster for the best banh beo (Vietnamese steamed rice discs with dried shrimp) in town. But Little Saigon was too far away when they still needed to get back to their hotel to get ready before check-out.

Then I remembered that Umami Burger opened in Anaheim last year and a bit of Googling turned up that it was only 1.1 miles away. The clincher was when I told them that the burgers were made with Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese Fish Sauce) and that people waited for three hours for tables when Umami Burger opened this summer in New York City.

Media Preview: L.A. County Fair Food - Pomona

Gourmet Pigs invited me to be her +1 at a media preview for the LA County Fair.

Deep-fried foods? Sure!

Unlike the LA County Fair media preview we went to two years ago, there were no food trucks in sight. It was a return to basics. Well, basics as far as county fair food goes, which meant deep-fried, artery-clogging goodness. Deep-fried Twinkies. Bacon-wrapped pickles. Krispy Kreme burgers.

IKEA (Swedish Crayfish Party) - Burbank

The first time I heard about IKEA's Swedish Crayfish Party, I was going out of town to Mesa Verde National Park - Colorado. The subsequent years, it's either been sold out or I forgot about it entirely. I was determined to go at least once!

C'mon, $9.99 (with my IKEA family member discount) for all-you-can-eat crawfish? I'm sooo there!

Now, y'all know I love my crayfish, but what exactly is a Swedish crayfish party? According to the official Sweden site, crayfish were eaten in Sweden since the 1500s by the aristocracy. In the mid-1800s, it became more widespread, but it wasn't until the 1900s that the tradition, as it is now, started. Because of concerns about overfishing, catching crayfish was limited to a few months from August onward. Therefore, a Swedish crayfish celebration heralds the end of summer. Decorations might include paper lanterns depicting the man in the moon, bibs, and paper hats.

Unlike the overly spiced Cajun version, Swedish crayfish are simply boiled with salt and crown dill. No matter, I love crawfish in any form!

I ended up inviting one of my long-time students, who was pretty excited about all-you-can-eat crayfish. You have to go with someone who loves these little mudbugs too, otherwise, you're just eating boiled seafood and Swedish cafeteria food and that's no fun.

AltaMed's 8th Annual East LA Meets Napa & Beyond (Union Station) - Los Angeles

It's that time of year again for my favorite food and wine event, AltaMed's 8th Annual East LA Meets Napa & Beyond. The "Beyond" is a new addition to the title since the event now encompasses more than just East LA and Napa, but the focus has always been on Latino food and wineries. I wasn't able to make the previous year's event, but did attend the media preview for AltaMed's 7th Annual East LA Meets Napa. The highlight for me was when Chef John Sedlar took small groups of people on the roof of Playa Restaurant to check out his garden.

You can see previous posts of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Annual East LA Meets Napa events since offerings vary each year. With 60+ restaurants and wineries, all included in the ticket price, there is always so much to try. I noticed a lot more wineries this year too.

Dessert first! I couldn't resist the gorgeous display and had to check out Flantastic. I can't remember all the flavors I tried, but they truly were "flantastic"!

Sam Woo Crisp Fish Skin Laver Flavour

While at Sam Woo BBQ - Alhambra recently to pick up a to-go order, I saw a young couple in front of me buy a bag of Sam Woo Crisp Fish Skin. Huh! I've never seen this before.

Is it good? I asked the cashier.

She said it was, and at $2 a bag, not too bad of a price to experiment. They had regular and laver flavor. I opted for the seaweed, thinking just plain fried fish skin didn't sound very flavorful. I thought maybe it'd be like the salmon skin in salmon skin rolls at Japanese restaurants?

Bistro De La Gare Restaurant & Wine Bar - South Pasadena

Before my mom left town, my brother wanted to meet up for a family brunch at Bistro De La Gare Restaurant & Wine Bar in South Pasadena. So called because it's next to the gare ie. train station in French, the Mission Street Gold Line stop. The restaurant is nestled between Nicole's Gourmet Foods and a nursery so plenty of potted plants and trees abound. Very cute.

The interior, with its red walls and French posters, gave a very bistro-like feel.

I Ate What? 2009 Eating Out Roundup

I started off 2009 posting about my cousin's wedding, which really occurred near the end of 2008, but when I started my Dining: Best Of lists, it was too confusing to mention meals I ate that year if I hadn't blogged about it yet. Plus, since it's now taking me years to catch up, not to mention revisits, it's easiest to confine this list to memorable meals that I've blogged about that year. I do try to keep events somewhat in the proper timeline though, even if it takes me a while to write about it. So looking back at the meals I ate in 2009 was also a look back at where I went and what I ate and with whom. There were three trips to Portland (Actually, the first is a belated post about a 2008 visit), two trips to the San Francisco Bay Area, and a trip to the Southwest to see cliff dwellings.

I also ate seven courses of beef twice, filet mignon pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup), fancy dim sum, at my favorite ramen place which opened a location closer to home, a hamburger taco and stuffed sopaipillas, Navajo fry bread, and eight courses of fish. So all in all, not a bad year of eating.

But then there were the highlights. So in no particular order, except chronologically as I come across the posts:

Most heartwarming has to be cousin Q's older brother's wedding at Pearl Chinese Cuisine (Wedding Banquet) - San Diego. I'd known my cousin's wife for a quite a while before they got married, before they started dating even, back when they were just friends. Since he's one of my closest cousins, it was just a fun wedding to attend. Since then, they've spawned Pablo and Johannes.

2009 Restaurants: Picture Index

Top 9 2009 Most Popular Restaurants
While my restaurant posts don't get nearly as much traffic as the recipe posts, I always find it interesting which ones you find interesting. A while ago, in an effort to be more organized, I started keeping track of all my recipes and restaurant posts by year. I still need to watermark 2006 to 2008 restaurant pictures, and still need to catch up on 2010 to 2012, so 2009 is the first year that I can actually check to see which restaurant posts were most popular.

Even though I eat much more than just Vietnamese food, out of the top 10 (only 9 would fit in the mosaic picture) restaurant posts, seven of them were Vietnamese. The secret club at Disneyland, Club 33 - Disneyland - Anaheim, snuck in at #2. My cousin's wedding banquet made it to #5, Pearl Chinese Cuisine (Wedding Banquet) - San Diego. And lastly, $9.99 all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue, San Ya Restaurant Korean BBQ & Noodle - Los Angeles (Koreatown), just barely managed to make the list.

What do you think these results mean? What restaurants do you look for when you read my blog? I'll save my most memorable meals for my I Ate What? 2009 Eating Out Roundup, but here you go, a complete index of dining out in 2009. And all I can think is, do I go out to eat that much?

Happy Year of the Snake!

Happy Year of the Snake everyone!

A few days before the lunar new year, my oldest uncle's wife called to tell me to come pick up a banh tet (Vietnamese sticky rice cake). She also gave me some dua mon (Vietnamese pickles) and mandarin oranges.

My friend DP gave me the Girl Scout cookies and a banh chung, the northern Vietnamese version of the lunar new year sticky rice cake. Banh tet is the central and southern version.

I'm pretty bad about the gift exchange this year and am still working on my half.

This morning I met up with my childhood friend for our annual lunar new year meal. I decided to keep it simple and cheap this year, so we went to my favorite, Luscious Dumplings, Inc. - San Gabriel. We got the beef stew noodles, pork and Szechuan pickles noodles, soup dumplings, and three orders of potstickers. We got the regular pork and the pork, sole, and cabbage potstickers. My friend's friends liked them so much that we got a third order. Mmm. Gotta love starting off the new year with a tried and true favorite.