Ramen House Benten - San Gabriel

Recently I drove by the restaurant that used to known as Ton-Chan. Before that it was called Ajiman's. Obviously, there has been a lot of turnover at this location. It may have something to do with the fact that this space is located right next to the very popular Golden Deli which always has a long line in front no matter what time of day you go. You would think that since GD is always so busy that whatever nearby restaurants would catch the over-spill of customers but GD devotees are hardcore. They are not phased by the long wait nor the very cramped seating inside. I guess the stomach wants what the stomach wants.

I should probably stop talking about Golden Deli since this is not a post about them but rather about the new restaurant that has taken over the space next door called Ramen House Benten. I was excited that it was another ramen house but was also wary that it would be "just" another ramen house.

We walked in and noticed right away that the place has been simplified, I guess some would call it Zen. White walls, a couple of wooden tables, black curtains separating the dining area from the kitchen and this black board with the entire menu written on it. The prices are very similar to the place that use to occupy this space but the menu has gotten a lot...well simple. Only four items to choose from. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe it's a bad thing.

We came in for an early dinner on a Sunday so the place was not too crowded. Not sure what the normal wait time is during peak hours. We were seated right away and the waiter brought us complimentary organic rooibos or green tea!

After taking our orders, the waiter points our attention to some plastic containers on the table that contained bibs and hair ties. How accommodating!

Spicy Miso Ramen - this is not my order but I did taste it and it was pretty spicy and delicious! You can't really see the noodles in this picture but it is the wavy kind, similar to the noodles from Santouka. I'm definitely going to have to go back and get this bowl.

Shoyu Ramen - this was pretty good. It reminded me a little bit of the ramen from Jinya down in Costa Mesa but that location has shut down now so this opening is impeccably timed just for my benefit. :0D The broth is very flavorful and not too oily. The noodles in the shoyu ramen are thin and I'm not really a fan of that but I can't really knock this bowl just for that since it is a personal preference. The egg is runny on the inside AND injected with broth so that when you take that first bite, all that broth comes bursting out. I don't know how I felt about all that broth injection. It kind of diluted the taste of the yolk a bit.

Fruit and Herbs infused lemonade! Yum.

This place is definitely worth a return trip.

Ramen House Benten
821 W. Las Tunas Drive
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 910-5075

dineLA Restaurant Week: Bouchon Bistro

I was in Beverly Hills over the weekend! Good ol' 90210.

It was such a beautiful day! My little point-and-shoot camera loves this overcast lighting. I do too! I don't come to these parts very often mainly because it is a haul to get up here from the OC but I made an exception today.

Why? Well, if you don't already know, it's Restaurant Week in LA (July 15-26). Two glorious weeks to sample food from restaurants all over LA. Almost all of them are offering a deal of some sort or prix fixe meal to entice you in. It worked because here I am.

I've wanted to eat at Bouchon for a couple of years now. Awhile back, Sister K and I had this crazy plan of trying to get a reservation at Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Napa. Those plans didn't work out but it is still on both of our bucket lists. One day.

When we were not able to float "Project French Laundry", Sister K did some reading and researching and one day she told me about one of Thomas Keller's other restaurant, Bouchon in Beverly Hills. So this was much closer to us than Napa and much more affordable so perhaps we can start here.

When LA Restaurant Week rolled around this year, I was so excited when I saw that Bouchon was on the list. Let's go in shall we?

Bouchon's dineLA 2013 prix fixe menu.

After we were seated, the waiter takes our order and then brings us this warm and crusty little loaf of french bread. No basket required!

For the appetizer course or "Entree" course as they call it I selected the Salade de Melon. It had cubes of watermelon and compressed cucumber, pickled kohlrabi, in a pickled watermelon vinaigrette. Really light and refreshing. I'm one of those people that like a little salt on my fruit so I thought this was tasty and visually stimulating.

For the second course or "Plats Principaux" I selected the Cavatelli pasta. The pasta is hand-rolled! The cheese sauce had a very nice flavor...imagine a "kicked-up" mac n' cheese. So creamy!

And for dessert...Lychee Sorbet on a coconut cookie floating on a summer fruit consomme. The consomme tasted like watermelon and strawberries among other summer flavors. Those little green leaves are mint. This was so refreshing. I never thought that a little scoop of sorbet could satisfy my sweet tooth after a meal but it did.

This Peach and Almond Tart is another dessert option on the prix fixe menu.

Here are a couple of other items that I got to try a la cart.

They have a great bakery onsite and this Chocolate Croissant was one of the best that I've ever had. It was extremely flaky with very defined layers. You need to eat this.

Until next time!

A Little Bit of Cuba In My Life

Happy Friday! It's especially happy for me because I'm on vacation next week! Woo-hoo!

My sister came down to visit me today while her car was in the shop nearby. We ended up grabbing some lunch at Santouka where I ran into Emil. He commented that we keep running into each other and we do but only because he likes a lot of the same foods that I do and he runs all the races so I'm bound to run into him at a couple of them. Swear that I am not stalking you! ha ha. End of tangent.

After work, the husband and I went to get some dinner at Bella Cuba. I don't know why but I suddenly got a craving for paella today out of nowhere so I did a little web surfing and found Bella Cuba. Strange thing was that I didn't even end up ordering the paella. If you come here for paella, just know that it takes 45 minutes for them to cook it up. I'm sure it's worth the wait.

I was going to wait a couple of days before posting about this restaurant but I decided to just write about it today because I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some other stuff to write about come Monday. So without further ado, here is my first Cuban food experience.

The restaurant is very cozy inside. I didn't take a photo because I didn't want to be rude while people were trying to enjoy their dinner but trust me it is the kind of place that I would take friends to for a nice casual meal. As soon as I walk in, I see that almost everyone is drinking sangria. I hear that they have some pretty good sangria here. Thinking back I have regrets that I didn't just order some. I guess I'm going to have to go back. ;0)

As we were looking over the menu, the waiter brings us some bread. Not just any bread but buttery garlic toast. The husband commented that it tasted like the bread from a grilled cheese sandwich except without the cheese. He was right. Tasty!

We shared an order of chicken empanadas and they were amazing! An order is $5.50 and consist of two good sized empanadas. These are also available with spinach or beef filling. The filling was super flavorful and the crust was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. For me, the secret to a good empanada is the filling and this one is done right. Very good.

I decided to order the Arroz Amarillo Con Camarones (Shrimp w/ Yellow Rice) $16.95. It had all the amazing flavor of paella but in a more manageable size. The portion was still very generous with lots of fresh shrimp nestled in a bed of very savory and flavorful rice topped with peas and red pepper. I could not stop eating this. Good thing I have a pretty long run tomorrow.

So how was my first experience trying Cuban food? Que delicioso!

Bella Cuba
3930 South Bristol Street, #114
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 545-5711

Green Zone Restaurant - San Gabriel, CA

I've been doing a really bad job of keeping my restaurant review postings updated lately. Let's just say that I can't remember the last time I did a restaurant review.

Luckily over the weekend Sister K found the Green Zone Restaurant in San Gabriel, a neat little restaurant that was new to us to try. I'm going to take a stab at classifying this restaurant as an organic Chinese/Taiwanese/Japanese fusion restaurant just based on a casual scan of the items on the menu. They are known for their organic food and Hainan chicken. I actually don't know how we ended up on the topic of Hainan chicken. Maybe I said something like I wanted rice and chicken when the topic of dinner came up.

I've only ever had Hainan chicken one other time at Asian Tapas in Irvine. It was just okay. I knew there was better Hainan chicken out there and was confident that the San Gabriel Valley area would not disappoint.

When we walked into the restaurant, I noticed baskets of produce by the entrance. I guess they also sell organic produce here should you feel inclined to do some grocery shopping after your meal.

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We sat right in front of this mural painted by artist Zack. I think my sisters commented on how detailed this mural was and that we don't normally see stuff like this in restaurants in this area.

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We shared this Taster's Sampler. Pictured on this plate is 3 orders. You get one of each and 2 rolls with each order which is $3.50. Shrimp rolls, prawn wrapped in tofu skin and salmon triangles. It was piping hot and crispy. Overall it was good.

My sister and I shared 2 dishes. One of them being this clams sauteed with white wine in a garlic broth served over linguine dish. The clams were fresh but the broth and pasta tasted under seasoned or lack that certain something that would have made this dish better. My sister and I agreed that it could have had a richer flavor, more depth and more salt. I'm not a salt fiend but this could have used more. Maybe it was meant to be a healthier version of this dish.

We also shared this Hainan chicken dish which was pretty good. The chicken is poached and served with lemongrass flavored rice (the lemongrass flavor is very subtle, not over-powering at all). I really liked this dish because the chicken was cooked perfectly (thigh meat), was boneless and skinless (note: at some restaurants, the chicken is often served with the skin and bone intact). The garlic chili sauce that was served with this dish was very good. I even liked the ginger scallion sauce and I'm no fan of ginger. The ginger flavor was very subtle which I liked. I would definitely eat this again.

This restaurant is unique in that there are not too many organic restaurants in the SGV or ones that offers healthier options (i.e. being able to sub brown rice for white rice). I also saw some amazing sounding salads on the menu that I would like to try on some future visits and they even have sukiyaki.

This restaurant is not very large so make a reservation ahead of time to ensure a timely seating. Also, if you check-in on Yelp you get a free organic vanilla bean ice cream. Plus, unlimited passion fruit ice tea.

Green Zone Restaurant
534 East Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 288-9300

Mokkoji Shabu Shabu Bar - Irvine, CA

I can't say that I had a very productive weekend because it was the first weekend in a while in which I was able to relax at home and basically do nothing. That was pretty much exactly what I did...nothing.

My brother-in-law E and Sister S hosted an early Thanksgiving at their place. As you can clearly see, it was fabulous! They sure can cook!

We also meet with our wedding officiant on Sunday. This is him here marrying another couple. They call him the 'marrying man', if that's not credibility than I don't know what is. We were supposed to meet at a Starbucks but it was so crowded that we had to move the meeting to a nearby Subway sandwich shop. And so we all sat down inside a Subway that day and hashed out what I hope will be a fun and sweet ceremony.

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All the mawwage talk really built up an appetite. Well that and the fact that we had only eaten one meal that day. We didn't know what we wanted at first so I asked M if he wanted something healthy and he didn't seem to mind so I took him to Mokkoji, a shabu shabu joint I stumbled upon after shopping at Kohl's one day.

Shabu shabu is basically the Japanese version of hot-pot, which is just cooking your food in a clear broth. Yes, you literally have to cook your own food but that's half of the fun. After you sit down, they bring out a pot of hot seaweed broth, if you don't like seaweed, don't worry because you can hardly taste it. Along with the broth, you also get a bowl of ponzu dipping sauce (an aged soy sauce with a vinegar-y taste) and another bowl with just black sesame seeds in it that you can grind up with a wooden pestle that they provide. They then pour a smooth peanut sauce over the ground up sesame. So you get a light sauce and a more rich sauce. I love the ponzu sauce! I think it goes good with everything.

It was at this point that our waitress pulls out a small amber colored bottle with a dropper top from under the counter. She then asked if we liked it 'hot', well yeah but what the heck is that stuff? It's pure capsaicin she tells us, it's the stuff that makes things hot. We decided to pass on it but the waitress informs us that the restaurant record was 35 drops by some guy. Probably a crazy guy if you ask me.

So this is what you start with...

Then you order your protein. M ordered the 2 item combination of shrimp and chicken (2-ways, whole and ground up and formed into meatballs).

I ordered the salmon and boy was it was fresh and fatty. It was so good! I ate some of it cooked and some of it raw. It was good both ways.

So this is what you end up with after you throw in everything on the veggie plate that comes with your protein order. The plate includes baby bok-choy, udon noodles, Japanese squash (kabocha), sprouts, napa cabbage, enoki and oyster mushrooms, mustard greens, a couple pieces of sliced carrots cut in the shape of flowers and a cute block of firm tofu with the restaurant's name branded on it. So you basically just throw all the veggies in the pot so that the broth can get all nice and flavorful and then you slowly cook your protein as you eat so that it is piping hot and not get overcooked.

If you still have room after your meal, they make you an after meal  rice porridge with the leftover broth from your pot. When you are done eating your main meal, they come over and scoop out any remnants from your pot and then they put in some regular white rice, finely chopped carrots and onions, sesame oil, a red spicy red sauce (sorry I forgot to ask what it was) and a fermented sesame paste (black in color). They stir it until all the liquid is gone and the rice has a risotto-like consistency. The rice is really flavorful and I am normally really full by this point so I usually take it home for the next day. On this particular visit, one of the chefs recommended that I heat it up the next day and serve it with a couple of fried eggs on top. Genius!

I forgot to mention that you also get a nice face steam along with your meal. This is like the poor man's special blur feature.

Mokkoji Shabu Shabu Bar
14041 Jeffrey Road
Irvine, CA 92620
949-451-0011

Blaze Pizza & Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop

Long time no restaurant review. Oh, I've been eatin', just not talking about it. Just kidding. Well, I have a two-fer today to make up for the slack. Let's get right into it. Blaze Pizza and Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop are two fairly new restaurants that recently opened up in Irvine and Costa Mesa respectively. If you're looking for some new places to fill that void in your tummy, go check out these two places and don't tell me that I never tell you where all the good places are.

Blaze Pizza is located near UCI in the University Center. I can't remember what shop use to occupy that spot but no matter because that area is now always busy. I tried to go here a week after their grand opening but the long lines made me make a hard right into Lee's Sandwiches for a quick bite instead. About a month later, I went back and this time the lines were more manageable.

So I did as I always do when I go to a new restaurant, I poured over the entire menu making sure that I get just the right thing because I do not want to have 'ordering regrets' later. You know what I'm talking about...ordering one thing and then lusting after someone else's food when it comes out.

So if you are feeling creative, you can build-your-own, if not, you can easily just pick something off their signature menu. If you've ever been to Chipotle then you'll be a pro at this build-your-own pizza thing. Same principle just with pizza.

I built this city beauty! A 'build-your-own' with veggies that I liked, which looks like mushrooms, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, pineapple, tomato slices, basil and sauce. Yeah, I basically like it all!

And the crust blazed a trail through my heart...

My boss came into work the other day raving about Greenleaf and shamed me for not knowing about it. Strange thing was, I did feel ashamed for not knowing about this amazing place. It's everything that I love about a restaurant. The decor is garden-like and what I can only describe as 'green'. There is a large community table at the center of the restaurant surrounded by regular tables. The food is very healthy and very delicious at the same time. They have a fresh juice bar and the service was lightning fast the evening I was there after work. I mean, we ordered and got our food in what seemed like 2 minutes.

Lemongrass Chicken salad - all the ingredients tasted so fresh. This salad had all the flavors of a tropical meal...grilled pineapples, sliced mangoes, shredded coconut. It went so well with the pineapple/kale juice that I also ordered. The salads are more expensive than your average salad but they are made with quality ingredients and the portions are large.

M ordered the Mexplosion! It had a wheat tortilla under the salad...so kind of like a salad burrito.

Blaze Pizza
4255 Campus Dr, Ste A120

Irvine, CA 92612

(949) 725-0012

Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop
234 East 17th Street
Costa Mesa
(949) 200-3950

Dog Days of Summer

We've been experiencing some hot days, especially in the SGV. Days so hot that all you feel like doing is seek out the nearest Paleteria. 

Peleteria is the Spanish word for Popsicle shop. These popsicles have real big chunks of fruit in them. They come in both plain and creamy. The selection is wide, varied, exotic and colorful. A refreshing treat on a hot day. La Reyna De Michoacan means the Queen of Michoacan (a state in Mexico). I see the name Michoacan often associated with Paleterias so I am assuming that paletas are popular in that region. I really should look more into that and perhaps I will soon.

Is there a better way to spend a hot summer day?

Okay, maybe you're not in the mood for a popsicle but how about a frozen chocolate covered banana covered with crushed pecans...

...or a Chamango! If you've not tried a Chamango...well you must. I can only describe it as an icy, salty and fruity delight. This particular shop also sold ice cream, elotes (corn with spices), tortas, bionicos, fresh fruit juices, candies and a whole lot of other stuff. A little bit of something for everyone.

There are many places to get paletas in LA and OC. On this particular day we went to a shop in El Monte very close to my old high school. Strangely, I never came here when I was in school but now you can't keep me away.

Paleteria Y Neveria
3560-P Santa Anita Ave
El Monte, CA 91731
626-444-0073

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some paper-crafting for an upcoming event! More on that later.