Memorable restaurants of 2011

Might not be the best meals, but these are the ones I remember.

Aronia de Takazawa (Tokyo) - Jimmy and I thought this two Michelin star restaurant was more delicious than three star restaurants in the states. Highly, highly recommended if you make a trip to Japan. Then again, we only tried one three star restaurant in Japan, and there are a TON. I'll go next year with an updated report!!

Tender Greens (Pasadena) - You can taste that they use good ingredients, plus the white meat chicken is actually tender, not overcooked like in most places. Some might say it's expensive, but I think $12 is totally worth the quality that you get.

Ike's Sandwiches (San Francisco) - When my cousin Eurie said it used to be better, Jimmy, Jane, and I looked at each other wondering how in the world could it be any better? By far the best sandwich I've ever had.

Mozza to Go's prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich (Los Angeles) - Nancy Silverton's bread + good quality ingredients = awesome sandwich.

Kagaya (Los Angeles) - The regular meat is already the best shabu I've ever had. Not sure if they have supply issues with the meat imported from Japan, but the last premium meat I ordered was mediocre. Sad, because it used to be amazing. $45 + tip for a five course meal, totally worth it.

Harajuku Crepes (Los Angeles) - I think this place is FAR better than crepes in Harajuku. Good ingredients makes a huge difference.

French Laundry (Yountville) - I thought the food was better than Per Se, plus our waitress was awesome. Getting to shake hands with TK was just...the happiest moment in my life. The "Pommes Anna" was my favorite dessert ever.

McDonald's fries (La Canada) - Yes, I would rather drive out here to get fries than eat bad fries at the local McD's. Seems like the execution here is just better - their McRibs and fries are the best I've had anywhere!!

Santouka Ramen (everywhere but West LA) - With apologies to Jason C, this is still my favorite ramen in LA. Yes I know it's not as good as ramen in Japan, but it still totally satisfies my ramen cravings. But then there is...

Ippudo (Tokyo) - Jason C doesn't like this place either (can you tell he hurt my feelings?), but this is currently my favorite bowl anywhere. But yet I do know that there is better Yokohama-style ramen in ...uhh...Yokohama, so stay tuned till my next trip!

Yun Noodle (Arcadia) - They might have some bad days, but it's usually pretty tasty. I usually get the zha zhang mien here. The other stuff is pretty good too.

Zero zero (San Francisco) - Might not be the highest rated pizza in SF (I'm no pizza douche), but it's still my favorite. Love the margherita!

Laduree (Tokyo) - I thought it wasn't THAT much better than Paulette at the time (except for the caramel, which is HEAVENLY) but after having Paulette twice since I came back, changed my mind.

banh beo

Place: Cung An Dinh*

Location: Hue, Vietnam (31 Kiet 177 Phan Dinh Phung St)

Recommended by: Manda

Summary:

One of my favorites from Vietnam - banh beo. Essentially, it's fried pork rind on a rice cake, but it's oh so good. If I recall, this small restaurant only had a few items on their menu, but every patron in there had stacks of these small plates. It comes with a fish sauce, which you spoon onto the rice cake and then scoop the whole thing out. I actually found a restaurant in San Jose that serves it, but it isn't as good as the one from here.

*I'd recommend visiting this restaurant earlier in the day, before it gets dark. It's hidden in an alleyway, quite far from touristy areas, so it was hard to get a taxi.

Yakiniku

A guide to Japanese meats.

Shortbread cookies

 Source: thekitchenlink.com

Place: Tartine
Location: San Francisco
Website: http://www.tartinebakery.com/
Recommended by: Danae
Summary: I'm usually not such a fan of shortbread cookies, b/c frankly, I find them boring. I don't really have a problem with the flavor... but yes. It's just boring.

Enter Tartine's shortbread cookie. It's light (in texture, but probably not in calories), and unlike other shortbread cookies, it's on the thicker side. I like that it's a little crumbly, not quite crunchy. But the best part? The finely granulated sugar on top. Man, that stuff is good. It's just sugar... but somehow when it's ground that fine, it just makes it taste elegant and sophisticated.

Better yet, the recipe is super easy and doesn't use any exotic ingredients like Ad Hoc's vanilla paste. I made them yesterday, and the recipe is fantastic!

Worst foods I've ever had

After a chat with Eugene today, I started thinking about the worst foods I've ever had. I can only think of 4 things I've eaten that were absolutely disgusting. I'm not sure which was the worst, so these are in no particular order...

1. Bernie Botts Every Flavor Beans - vomit flavor

I originally got these from the snack bar while Harry Potter was in the movie theaters. At the time, I didn't know they were for real - I thought they were the standard Jelly Belly flavors (whose flavors I had memorized on sight, since my mom used to buy them a lot), but that they just relabeled them as gross flavors for fun. Wrong. unluckily for me, the first one i had was Vomit, which I ate thinking it was going to be strawberry cheesecake. And yes, it tasted like vomit. I spit it out.

So I did what any sensible person would do and brought the rest of the box to work, where me and my coworkers sat around a trash can and tried every flavor. :) booger was disgusting. mud, earwax, sardine, and grass were all gross, but not nearly as bad. Lucky for me, i think i must've had an early edition, because now there are many more flavors... the most disgusting of which is Toe Nail. BARF.

2. Natto

This is another case of eating something thinking that it was something else. For the record, natto is fermented soy beans. I was at a breakfast buffet at a hotel in Japan, which had a mix of eastern and western breakfast foods. I'd never seen, nor heard of natto before, so I thought it was some sort of oatmeal or cereal. And you know, when you eat oatmeal, you take a big spoon and dig in. Wrong. Barf. it tasted like barf. much like the vomit jellybean.

3. Durian

I'd always been aware of durian, and always steered clear. My first taste of durian flavor was at a friends' house - somebody had brought durian flavored marshmallows. I'd always been curious about durian, and i figured in marshmallow form, it couldn't be that bad. Wrong. It tasted like someone farted in my mouth. seriously.

Fast forward to 2009, in Bali, Indonesia. My friend really wanted to try fresh durian, and wanted us all to try it too. So we stopped on the side of the road and bought one from a fruit vendor. I have to say - the flavor wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. However, the smell definitely was. And the fact that the smell lingers on your lips FOREVER... oh man. I think I ate 5 altoids, and even rubbed them on my lips, and the smell still didn't go away. nasty.

4. Scallop guts

When I was working in NYC for a few weeks, I used to frequent Sushi Yasuda. Since I was by myself, I'd sit at the sushi bar. I asked the sushi chef for some recommendations. He noticed that much of what I was ordering was on the creamier side, like uni. So he recommended scallop guts. It sounded pretty disgusting, but since he thought I would like it because I liked uni, I gave it a try. So now, think about eating the intestinal tract of any animal - that firmness mixed with the sliminess, and imagine how remnants of the animal's waste might still exist in that mushy, chewy, gushiness.... yeah. i couldn't get over that thought when eating it. maybe it was more mental, but i just couldn't eat it (also, it was hard to chew and didn't really break down in my mouth). i tried to just swallow it in one big gulp of water, but it was just too big. it is the only time i have spit out sushi... and they only had cloth napkins, so i had to spit it in my cloth napkin and hide it in my lap. i tried to hide it from the chef, but i think he noticed. i don't think he liked me much after that, he was much less friendly. i think that was the last time i went too.

Tony's Pizza Napoletana

Place: Tony's Pizza Napoletana
Location: San Francisco,CA
Website: tonyspizzanapoletana.com
Recommended by: danae

Summary:

After my first heavenly experience with Grimaldi's in Brooklyn, I became a pizza snob. I no longer could handle greasy cheeses, flavorless dry crusts, or sub-par quality ingredients. Nope, an awesome pizza became all about awesome cheese, perfectly crispy yet chewy crusts, and top of the line ingredients. i tried many a pizzeria in the bay area, but none compared to Grimaldi's until Tony's came along.

I first heard about Tony's when ooj sent me a link about a new pizzeria opening in San Francisco. I immediately recognized Tony's name, having watched the food network pizza challenge episode twice (I know, I'm kind of a loser like that). And it lived up to everything i hoped for - their margherita pizza is AMAZING. first of all, the crust is awesome. i think I've read that their pizza oven for this particular pizza (Tony's has 3 different pizza ovens on locations, all to create different types of pizzas) heats up to 900 degrees, and they cook the pizza for 90 seconds. 90 seconds!!!! They have mastered the perfect balance of a smoky charred crust without it being *too* crispy. It's napoletana style, which i understand typically has a somewhat soggy middle... which I don't totally mind so much, though I would prefer it to be a little less soggy. The cheese and basil are perfect and amazing, but what really sets this pizza apart is the sauce. I am usually not a tomato sauce fan - I usually find it too acidic and a lot of times it overwhelms the other flavors. However, the pizza sauce on Tony's pizzas is absolute perfection. No hint of the typical sourness, and it's in fact slightly sweet. The sauce here makes the pizza, which is a testament to just how good it is.

Big thumbs up for the margherita. The fig pizza is ok... I find it a little too sweet and just a little *too* unconventional for my tastes, but j enjoys it. However, stay away from the new haven style clam pizza. It's just not good.

Roasted chicken

Place: Pollo A La Brasa
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/pollo-a-la-brasa-western-los-angeles
Recommended by: ooj
Summary: Expertly cooked so the breast meat is still tender, and the meat bursting with flavor, this is hands down the best chicken I've ever had. The aji sauce is spicy for gringos, but I recommend eating the chicken without it anyway. The chicken is that good.

-- edit --

Bouchon is better. :)

Cupcakes

Place: Sprinkles
Location: Beverly Hills, CA
Website: http://www.sprinkles.com/
Recommended by: ooj
Summary:

LA cupcake rankings (and recommendations):
1. Sprinkles (cinnamon sugar, red velvet)
2. Vanilla Bakeshop (vanilla)
3. Polkatots (strawberry shortcake, dulce de leche)
4. Dots (red velvet)
5. King's Hawaiian Bakery (red velvet)

Italian sandwiches

Place: Roma Italian Deli
Location: Pasadena, CA
Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/roma-italian-deli-and-grocery-pasadena
Recommended by: ooj
Summary: The 4'6" man who makes one kind of sandwich. Yelp reviews say it's a sandwich you can only get in Italy. I say it's one of the yummiest sandwiches I've had. Different slices of meat, cheese, a drizzle of olive oil on the bread...and I believe everything is imported from Italy. Yelp warns to never tell him what you want on the sandwich. He might scare the living daylights out of you.

One more thing to pick up at Roma is the pizza, Pizza Romana (Annie saw these at Target too). It's not quite as good as Tony's, but it's a quick fix. Actually, I like it better than most LA pizzas.

Kona Coffee Ice Cream Float - Kope lani

Place: Kope Lani
Location: Kona, Big Island, HI
Website: http://www.kopelani.com/
Recommended by: danae
Summary: I LOVE coffee, but I'm kind of a wussy coffee drinker. I pretty much only drink coffee in the form of lattes and mochas, because I like sweet, sweet, creamy coffees. Dessert, basically. Also, caffeine is just bad for me, for several reasons, so I'm just not supposed to drink coffee. Even decaf sometimes does me in. So I try not to drink coffee often, but sometimes I just can't resist, since I love the flavor of really good coffee so much! When we were at the Big Island, I really wanted to try some Kona coffee, to see if it was worth the hype. And, well, it totally was. We went to like, 3 different locations looking for Kona coffee, and dude, apparently, people only drink coffee here in the mornings or something? It was about 3 pm, and everywhere we went was closed. Finally we found Kope Lani which was open all day... and better yet, they served a coffee ice cream float, which is 2 shots of kona espresso plus a scoop of whatever flavor of Big Island Ice Cream you want. I forget the actual name of the ice cream we chose, but it was kona coffee ice cream with cinnamon brittle. And O. M. G. It was SO GOOD. The ice cream basically fulfilled the cream and sugar requirement of the coffee, but also just really emphasized the glorious flavor of the kona coffee. And, since it was a warm day, it was nice to have the hot espresso countered with the cold ice cream. The only thing I would say negatively is that the ice cream melts too quickly (which, i guess is to be expected). Maybe if I ever go back here, I'd ask for an extra scoop of ice cream. Oh yeah, and it's kind of expensive... though, I don't think it's unreasonable. I think it was about $5, and if you think about it, a latte would be about $3 anyway, and a scoop of ice cream about $2. Anyway, it was so good that we ordered another one, that was exactly the same... and I totally ODed on caffeine and felt sick the rest of the day. But I think it was worth it.