Category Archives: Food

Gjelina: Pronounced Guh-Juh-Lee-Nuh?

Posted on September 1, 2010 by m@| Leave a comment

After a Sunday stairs session with some friends, we decided to get some brunch at Gjelina. I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this restaurant. At first I didn’t see the “L” there and though it was pronounced guh-ji-nuh.

Michelle just wanted the coffee, because she liked the way the sugar cubes looked.

Poached Eggs with Lentils,  Escarole & Salsa Verde.

I forget what this dish was, trout?

Housemade Spicy Pork Sausage.  Incredible.

Smoked Salmon with House Pickles, Tomato, Caper, Shaved Onion & Grilled Bread.

Poached Eggs, Soft Polenta, Braised Cavolo Nero & Crisp Bacon.

Lemon-Ricotta-Chestnut Pancakes.

I hear the pizza is pretty good here, but because we started exercise too early in the morning, we couldn’t get to any of the after 10:30 AM menu items. Next time we sleep in and get pizza!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Food, Photo

Tagged ,

Damn you picky eaters!

Posted on August 30, 2010 by m@| 2 Comments

Have you ever had to grill up meat for a party and each person like theirs cooked a different way? Medium. Medium rare. Then there’s always that strange one, who likes his meat cooked well done. Seriously, who does that? (I’m looking at you Chris.)

Fortunately someone created this little gadget to get around all the guess work. Personally I like to just poke at the meat to figure out how cooked it is, but this seems like a novel idea for those that are unsure of how firm their meat should be at each stage of cooking.

I wonder if I could get this thing to tweet my BBQ status.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Food, Photo, Things to Buy

Tagged , ,

Daikokuya must have been better in a previous life.

Posted on August 27, 2010 by m@| 1 Comment

Again, hop into my DeLorean and let’s go eat at this spot Daikokuya I just heard about from a friend. Well maybe I didn’t just hear about it but the long lines always deterred me, especially when it’s for ramen. I’ve been spoiled in Gardena where good ramen shops are everywhere and waiting is something you don’t have to consider.

There are probably just as many people standing outside on the sidewalk waiting to get into the joint.

These sausages are good. I haven’t found a sausage that I don’t enjoy in my mouth. Yes, that is what she said.

I don’t know what happened to the gyoza, but they turned into a giant pancake. It’s okay though. They covered it up with a mountain of green onions. No one will know.

This is good ramen. The broth is excellent, definitely some of the best I’ve ever had in all my ramen consumption. The noodles, however, are just okay. When you put that together it’s a bit disappointing after the wait. Perhaps the wait raised my expectations or maybe it was too much to eat before I actually got to the ramen, but I was just expecting more from the fabled Daikokuya.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Food, Photo

Tagged , ,

Ho Duk

Posted on August 26, 2010 by m@| 4 Comments

After a meal in K-Town on Friday we decided to find a place that sells Ho Duk, which Michelle described as a sweet pancake. Apparently there aren’t a lot of places that sell this but Michelle knew. What’s this place called? I think it’s called that cart in the parking lot of the Korean market that sells those dessert pancakes. More specifically it’s in front of California Market on 5th Street and Western Avenue.

Here’s the cart. When the nice man in the cart tells you it’s hot, you best believe him.

This pastry tastes like a churro that you’d get from Disneyland but with less sugar, and you won’t have to bend over and take it in the butt from Mickey just to get this sugary treat. They’re only $1 each.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Food, Photo

Tagged , ,

Downtown Culver City Summer Nights

Posted on August 25, 2010 by m@| 1 Comment

Since the wedding, Michelle and I have been pretty lazy. Yes, we no longer have a wedding to worry about, but we can’t bring ourselves to be productive in other areas. Our place is still a mess of wedding paraphernalia, and we really haven’t cooked very much. In one of many unproductive nights, we decided to check out Culver City Summer Block Parties. These special Wednesday nights, although labeled summer, run through October apparently. At five minutes to 7:00 PM I said, “We should go to Culver Hotel. They’re having free, passed mini appetizers on the hour.” Before I could get a response, Michelle was out the door and I was following her.

Some popcorn to munch on while we decide what to eat.

Meatball. It tastes…like a meatball. What does a good meatball taste like anyway?

Mini grilled cheese bites were also being served. I could really do without the sourdough bread, but Gruyere is an excellent choice.

Here are the mini sausage corn dogs with spicy mustard and ketchup.

Chicken drummettes. For the life of me I cannot remember what this tasted like other than that I know I really liked the sauce.

I do remember this. Steak sandwich. Give me this any day over any of the gourmet burger joints in Los Angeles.

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Food, Photo

Tagged ,

Goodbye America, you fatass!

Posted on August 24, 2010 by m@| 2 Comments

Tuesday after we came back from Palm Springs, Michelle and I went to the airport to see our friends off. Her sorority sister and her husband moved to Singapore, at least for the time being. While at the airport, we were looking for a place to sit down for a while, and in front of our eyes was Pink’s. I knew they’d opened a few new location including one at the airport, but I didn’t know where it was until now. What better way to leave America than with an artery clogging hot dog and some chili cheese fries?

While it was sad to see our friends go, we know they’ll be back. If they don’t miss us I’m sure they’ll miss the feeling of having diarrhea from Pink’s, especially on an 18-hour long plane ride

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Food, Photo

Tagged , , ,

Way to class it up a notch, pho.

Posted on August 24, 2010 by m@| Leave a comment

After eating breakfast at Norma’s in Palm Springs, we decided we had enough heat and headed home. On our way home we decided to get some pho. Michelle kept reiterating after the wedding that she had not eaten pho in over four weeks because of our flourless diet. Since we never get that far east very often we decided to stop at Pho Huynh, a place Tony recommended to us a long time ago. (Apologies to Melody LAX. I promised I wouldn’t use a Yelp link until they changed their shady rating practices, but I couldn’t find another good link.)

Pho with Filet Mignon. This makes pho bearable for me. When combined with better meat, it’s no longer the peasant of noodle soups. It’s more of a working middle class noodle soup. Well played Pho Huynh.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Food, Photo

Tagged , , ,

We’re a long way from the coast.

Posted on August 22, 2010 by m@| Leave a comment

When we were getting recommendations for places to eat in Palm Springs, Roy’s came up. I really didn’t want to check out a restaurant that is part of a chain, but after striking out at so many other places that were closed for the summer, I figured it was a safe bet. Plus Michelle loves seafood and had never been to Roy’s before.

So familiar. I wonder how seafood handles 115 degree weather.

When making reservations there’s a drop down box to select the occasion for the meal. It’s just enough to make your wife think you actually planned something special.

Roy’s Canoe Appetizer for Two. Hey, there are two of us in this marriage. That’s perfect. Before I’d just have to go ahead and eat two portions.

Michelle, doing everything in her power not to swallow the plate whole.

My Shellfish Sampler.

Yes, dear. I planned the whole thing!

So when you’re stuck in the middle of a sweltering desert and all the locals have gone to cooler places, seafood is an okay choice as long as it’s from Roy’s. The flavors aren’t always my favorite there, but the food is always fresh and cooked perfectly.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Food, Photo, Travel

Tagged , , , ,

Reversing the effects of a diet.

Posted on August 20, 2010 by m@| Leave a comment

Is it possible to take thirty days worth of wedding dieting and negate its effects in less than half a week. Yes, and it’s delicious and awesome. The foundation of ruining any good healthy body is a hearty breakfast.

Banana pancakes, eggs, and sausages at Overland Cafe.

Eggs Florentine. I at least had chicken sausage to slow the diet reversal.

Here’s something I knew about Palm Springs but it slipped my mind this trip. It’s hot during the summer, and when it’s really hot, the locals leave. That includes a lot of the restaurant owners.  A lot of places we wanted to go packed up and left for the summer. Our first meal in Palm Springs was Al Dente, a recommendation from one of Michelle’s readers.

Jumbo Shrimp. Grilled perfectly.

This spaghetti was only slightly al dente for a restaurant with the name Al Dente.  Still it was delicious. Michelle had the lobster ravioli, which was creamy and rich. It just doesn’t photograph very well.

Michelle was drawn into this place by a sign that read, “World’s Best Bloody Mary.” It’s even written on their glasses. It must be true.

Michelle’s omelet.

I forget what this was called but it had salsa and hot sauce so I ordered it. I did not regret it.

This is how Michelle rolls. The home-made hot sauce was awesome here.

Michelle’s fish tacos. The pickled onions I did not like. They were way too overpowering.

This we liked. Macaroni and cheese with lobster meat. It was delicious, but I got too excited and burned the roof of my mouth. Not being one to learn my lesson, I actually kept burning the roof of my mouth bite after bite. Totally worth it.

I still need to go back to Palm Springs to  get my Bacon Flight at Cheeky’s and a burger from Tyler’s. Maybe I will take the Bacon Flight and put it on a Tyler’s burger. Writing that sentence just made the urgency to return to Palm Springs go up exponentially. *sigh*

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Food, Photo, She's So Lucky

Tagged , ,

Oh, no he didn’t!

Posted on August 18, 2010 by m@| Leave a comment

Oh, yes I did. I am a married man now.

While my contract with Michelle won’t allow me to release all the details of the wedding yet, you can plenty of the unofficial wedding photos online. There are no less than 2,000 photos floating around the Internet from our wedding. I’ve never seen so many cameras at an event. I went blind at one point from all the flashes going off.

So what am I allowed to show you? I guess the rehearsal dinner is okay to post. We went to Back on the Beach for our rehearsal dinner since it was close by our wedding venue.

It’s a salad. Refreshing but still a salad.

My out of focus Steak Frites.

South of the border.

I didn’t actually taste the tacos, so I had nothing to say about them. The steak was okay but not worth a trip to the restaurant just to try it. This pasta was great. The sauce was creamy and spicy and each bite was as satisfying as the previous.

Of course it wasn’t all about the food. It was a time to recognize the people close to us. Here are the groomsmen and me with their gifts. Welcome to The Dark Side.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Food, Photo

Tagged , , ,

Rss Feed Tweeter button