2013 LA Street Food Fest

This past Saturday I went to my first LA Street Food Fest held at the Rose Bowl and boy was it hot. I mean it was literally 100 degrees. Luckily, the event organizers were prepared but it was still hot as Hades out there. This event is outdoors so come prepare with sunscreen and a large brim hat. The lines can be long and at some stands very slow moving so wear comfortable shoes. I saw people bring in trays like the ones from cafeteria lines. I wish I would have thought of that. The trays were helpful because you can then collect a bunch of samples and head to a shady spot to enjoy sitting down while everyone else has to eat their samples right away in order to free up their hands to get more. You might also want to bring wet wipes because food will get everywhere. I mean you are there to pig out, not look like a pig.

I've only ever been to the Rose Bowl to run races so this was a complete 360. Hold on, I take that back. This event is kind of like a race in that it is a game of how well you can pace yourself when faced with more food than your stomach can possibly hold. Sure, you can try to strategize and plot your plan of attack and many do but you won't win because it's mathematically impossible with over 100 vendors. Needless to say, this event had me beat half an hour into the eating fest. By the end of the second hour I couldn't even stand to look at another piece of food. Oh but what a day it was!

Dante Fried Chicken (Sock-It-To-Me Fried Chicken) - served w/ a tiny little biscuit covered in honey. There was a lot of hype about Dante's since they were a vendor from last year and many food bloggers said that they were a must-try, so it was on my short list of pit stops but it was just okay for me. I went back to try to get another sample but they ran out pretty quick.

(left) Starry Kitchen (Singaporean Chili Crab Gumbo w/ Buttermilk Beer Beignets) - this was one of my favorites. The buttermilk beer beignet was rich and fluffy and I could have eaten a million of them.

(right) Short Order (Mini Pork Belly BLTs) - this sandwich had a very good flavor with one slice of bread smeared with an avocado cream and the other with BBQ sauce.

Then we entered The Taste of Mexico Area. Fasten your seat belts because it is about to get even more caliente!

La Casita Mexicana  (Green Ceviche & Ceviche Nayarit-style) - the green ceviche was made with a white fish, while the other one was made with shrimp. Both were excellent! Nice lime flavor.

Ceviche Project...oh boy was the line for this ever so long! I think we waited about 30 minutes to get a sample. The chef was very meticulous with prepping each sample, which explains why the line was moving so slow.

Tuna Tiradito w/ Spiced Plantain Chips - the tuna tiradito was amazing! It was topped with sorbet. Unique! The shrimp ceviche was not as good. The shrimp tasted weird, it had a mucky taste that I didn't care for. Maybe some of the uni sauce got on it by accident. I don't do uni, I don't care how unsophisticated that makes me sound. It is just a taste that I never got accustomed to and I eat Japanese food pretty regularly.

The master at work.

John Sedlar/Rivera - Tortilla Florales Tacos

Look at the neat edible flowers pressed right into the tortilla topped with a sweet Habanero jelly. So good!

Badmaash (Badass Butter Chicken) - I love Indian food and this is one of the reasons why. I could have eaten an entire plate of this stuff.

Fred 62  (Slow Smoked Pork Belly w/ Rojas con Crema Macaroni & Cheese) - what's not to like about a fried mac n' cheese ball stuffed with smoked pork belly? Absolutely nothing. This was another vendor on my short list and I'm glad I got a chance to taste this. They also put out these tiny pop-tarts later in the evening that I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of that were pretty tasty.

Dang Brothers Pizza

Mariscos el Mazateno (Tijuana, Mexico) - Taco de Camaron Enchilado - this vendor came all the way from Tijuana to take part in this event and let me tell you...this taco ranked very high with me. I'm pretty sad that they are so far away.

A collage of all the amazing foods that never made it into my belly.

Ice Cream Social Area - did someone say dessert? So many dessert...no...too many dessert is more like it...so little stomach space.

The Donut Snob - what can I say, they were worth the 50 miles I'm going to have to run this week in order to burn off all this food.

Cupcakes from the Cupcake Vineyards truck - this is what it looks like when two cupcakes kiss.

Later that day, I passed out on the field of the Rose Bowl in a food coma. The grass is so well cared for that it is amazingly soft and feels just like carpet. Yeah it's just like passing out in your living room floor but better because it's the Rose Bowl and how often can you even do that.

What a day! See you next year!

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

The "S" stands for Hope

I went to the movies yesterday. I saw a display for the movie Turbo coming out on July 17. What I wouldn't do for some turbo injections.

I actually went to see Man of Steel. What can I say, I like me some superhero. Also, Henry Cavill is not exactly bad to look at for 2 hours. Not.at.all.

I liked it more than I thought I would. Lots of foreshadowing for future DC character tie-ins. I'm actually not all that familiar with the whole DC Universe so it's interesting to pick up a couple of details here and there.

I've signed up for a short race on the Fourth of July! Anyone else? This will be my first July 4th race. Here's to hoping it won't be too hot.

Finally, for my foodie readers, I'm going to be at the LA Street Food Fest this weekend stuffing my face sampling the fine offerings from 100+ food trucks. You pay an entrance fee and the the food/drinks are inclusive. If you don't hear from me in a weeks time, just know that I probably died a happy delicious death.

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.

Source

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.

Source

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

2013 Pasadena Chalk Festival

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of going to see some amazing artists in action at the 2013 Pasadena Chalk Festival. I use to draw when I was younger but somewhere along the way I've really lost touch with art. My heart still skips a beat whenever I see an artist bring an image to life. The process of creation, from the heart/mind, through the arms/hands/fingertips, onto the paper, canvas and in this case...sidewalk. From the moment I arrived at the festival, I was mesmerized by the colors, the techniques, creativity...so much to take in. I wanted to see it all. I definitely had a kid-in-a-candy-store moment there.

Here are some of my favorites.

This one was at the top of my list. Gorgeous!

I love watching the artists at work.

They were auctioning off a helicopter ride at the silent auction.

And we are clear for take-off...

Sensory overload in the best way possible!