Marugame Monzo (Little Tokyo-DTLA) 9.6.14

To wrap up my binge food-blogging weekend, I present Marugame Monzo, an udon shop that's right next to Daikokuya in Little Tokyo, on 1st Street.  Marugame Monzo hides discreetly behind two fabric flags just 1-2 doors down from Daikokuya.  It's humble entrance belies the awesomeness that is behind its doors.

Sorry I didn't get a picture from the front or of the udon making. I was focused on eating.
Here's what you're looking for though.

I'm mostly going to let the (MANY) pictures that I took about the food do the talking, but I have to say that when I first glanced at the Marugame Monzo menu online on yelp, I was skeptical.  I like udon, but I mean, how different can handmade fresh udon be from the udon I got in packets from the Chinese grocery store as a child.

Believe me. It's like judging all sushi by the California Rolls you get at Albertsons.

Because we were a party of 5, we got a lot of food.  I'll post pics below and then talk about the food I actually tasted along with the reviews of those in my party:

Tempura Smelt Fish w Curry Powder

Smelt fish is salty and this was salty, but the tempura batter was nice and the curry powder gave a really good flavor for this appetizer dish. 

Negitoro Lunch Rice Bowl

Marugame Monzo has a list of rice bowls that you can get as add-ons with any of your udon.  I was really hungry (after only eating a slice of cake--yes, I ate the Parisian for breakfast) so I decided to try the negitoro rice bowl.  It was negitoro (green onion & toro or fatty tuna) with a bit of seasoned soy, Japanese (sweet) mayonnaise and seaweed on top of rice.  It was a small rice bowl portion, but a perfect start to my meal.  I seriously could eat that rice bowl everyday.  Yum. 

Now, to the udon.  We got seats right by the udon window (I know, I should have taken pictures) where the chef rolls the udon pasta dough before cutting it into strips.  We got a good mix of hot & cold udon and it was definitely the best that I've ever had. Here are the pics: 

Uni (Sea Urchin) Cream Udon

So, I hate sea urchin.  Seriously, to me it is a briny, livery, metallic yuck (sorry if you're now reducing all culinary respect you had for me, but I've got to be honest)--maybe it's just having bad uni, but it's too expensive to try again.  Marugame is famous for their Uni Cream Udon though and my friend, Mike, who likes uni ordered it.  He and my friend Erica (who also likes uni) both thought the udon was good, with Erica describing it as tasting like, "Fettucine Alfredo." Thanks, but I'll still pass. 

Sansei Cold Udon (Broth behind)--Mountain Vegetable Udon

This was my friend Erica's udon which I didn't get to try, but the blob on the left is daikon, which is good because she's not a mountain yam fan.  

Chicken Tempura Udon (Hot)

This was my (8-year old) son's udon.  He loved the chicken tempura and liked the udon a lot.  He got 2/3 of the way through everything (plus a smelt tempura) which was a lot of food and then finished the rest for dinner. 

Champon Udon: Veggies, Shrimp & Scallop Udon (Hot)

This was my husband's dish and I did get to try a little of the broth which was super good. It was savory, salty deliciousness.  Yum. 

Cold Udon with Soft-Boiled Egg (Sauce not pictured)

This was my dish with bonito and daikon, green onion & the soft-boiled egg.  Typically, I'm a hot udon kinda gal, but it was hot outside and I needed refreshing cold udon.  Honestly, I think they do a better soft-boiled egg at Daikokuya, but it's hard to compare hot and cold, and the mix of the udon with all the ingredients and the sauce was delicious.  The sauce was just the right mix of savory without being overly salty and the texture of the fresh udon noodles was amazing.  Just the right amount of chewiness, cooked perfectly--it's hard to describe accurately so I really recommend just going there and eating the deliciousness.  

Now, I'm just going to have to figure out, when I'm in the neighborhood if I go for udon or ramen...or maybe next time, I'll try the sushi or get some takoyaki from down the street.  So much good eating in Little Tokyo--wish I lived a little closer!

Porto's Bakery (Downey) 9.5.14

This is actually a chain post from the previous post about Burger City Grill in Downey because this is the view from outside of BCG:

Porto's with its beautiful, beckoning glow

I first was introduced to Porto's Bakery by a friend of ours who lives near the location in Glendale and brought an assortment of Porto's goods to our housewarming.  A few months later, a co-worker celebrated her birthday with a Porto's cake (the Parisian--I only remember because this began my absolute obsession with this cake) and a couple of months ago, just prior to beginning this food blog (wait, there was eating before this food blog?!), I went to the Downey location with a friend of mine for lunch.  Here's what I had then: 

Pan Con Bistec w/ Plaintain Chips & Passionfruit Iced Tea

For savory foods, they have a variety of panini sandwiches like the Pan Con Bistec (Marinated Steak, Potato Sticks (like Pik-Nik potato sticks), Grilled Onions, Tomatoes and Mojo i.e. Cuban Garlic Sauce Pressed on Cuban Bread) that I had and the Ropa Vieja.  They also do dinner plates (which have rice, beans and fried plantains alongside chicken, steak, rope vieja (shredded beef) or lechon (shredded pork).  Those are available after 11am. They also serve breakfast and a variety of savory pastries included stuffed croissants and empanadas.  I liked my Pan Con Bistec, but honestly, I wouldn't come just for the savory food.  I'd probably grab a burger across the street unless I really felt like a sandwich. 

Porto's, for me, is all about the dessert.  So, when I found myself across the street on Friday night, just before closing time (8:30 pm on Friday), I had to drag my brother to pick up some dessert to go (there was no room for dessert after BCG).  After texting back and forth with my husband to get my very picky 8-year old's request, here's what we ended up with: 

Carrot Cake & White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
 

These were for the boys and they enjoyed them.  Contrary to what this post shows, Porto's doesn't just do cakes. It's a full-service bakery with breads (baguettes, cuban bread), cookies, pastries, tarts and mousses (and savory pastries as mentioned above).  Aside from what's shown, I'm also a fan of their triple chocolate mousse and creme brulée tart.  I've had the fruit tart as well which is okay, but I've had better elsewhere, which is something that I really can't say about the pièce de résistance, The Parisian:

  

The best cake I've ever had: The Parisian

The Parisian is my favorite cake in the whole wide world.  In fact, for my birthday at the end of the month, I've actually told my husband that he needs to drive to Downey to get me this cake.  It is a Devil's Food chocolate cake layered and decorated with chocolate whipped cream then finished with chocolate shavings.  The cake is super moist and I love it because the chocolate whipped cream is lighter and less sugary than butter cream with a rich chocolate flavor.  And, I'm a sucker for chocolate shavings. If you love chocolate, you have to try it (and the triple chocolate mousse)--if you're like me and you like chocolate okay, but you're not a total chocoholic, you still have to try it.  It's so delicious. 

A few side notes: 1) Porto's serves excellent coffee and tea (by Art of Tea, one my favorite local tea producers) to go alongside their pastries and apparently really good fresh squeezed OJ. 2)  Be prepared for a long line.  The line moves really quickly so don't be discouraged, but there's seriously always a line.  

May you have your (Porto's) cake and eat it too!

Burger City Grill (Downey) 9.5.14

So, a funny thing happened in the last 3 weeks.  The semester began, effectively ending my joyous summer romp through new dining adventures.  It's not that I haven't been eating, but I've been relying on the restaurants I know, eating a ton of take out and sometimes resorting to really ugly food (seriously, two weeks ago, I brought 2 slices of ham with a slice of cheese and some rice crackers for lunch at one of my school sites--it was the ugliest thing I've eaten in a long time. Tasty, but not photo worthy.

But, last night, my brother was in town so we decided to stop by downtown Downey for some delicious burger goodness at Burger City Grill.  I had sent him the website to preview the menu a week earlier when we were deciding where to go and he said, "I hear my arteries clogging already! EXCELLENT!" A pretty accurate assessment of the menu.

Burger City Grill (BCG for short) specializes in hand-made burgers from certified angus beef.  Their menu is simple and you can sub any burger with a turkey of veggie patty, but we are all about the beef so we ordered a City Slicker (Applewood smoked bacon, Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce) with cheese and an Aloha (Applewood smoked bacon, teriyaki glaze and fresh grilled pineapple slices).  All the burgers also come with BCG spread (their version of 1000 island), dill pickle chips, roma tomatoes, leaf lettuce and red onions on a bun. We also decided on an order of Sloppy Fries (chili cheese fries) and BCG Fries (Bacon, Cheese--I got Cheddar, and Grilled Onions w BCG Spread) and two sodas.

City Slicker with Sloppy Fries

My brother's order was the City Slicker (no tomato, add cheese--I don't actually remember what cheese he got, but you can choose from American, Cheddar, Swiss, Pepper Jack, Provolone & Bleu cheese) with Sloppy Fries.  Since I didn't try his burger I can't say much about it, but I did try the fries.  The chili was tasty and very meaty (no bean, all meat homemade chili) and because they use a thicker cut on their fries, they still held up consistency under the pile of chili and cheese.

Aloha Burger with BCG Fries & Pickles on the side

This was my order.  Here's a closer pic of my burger:

Aloha burger close-up (so you can see the bacon & pineapple--YUM)

When I saw my meal, I felt compelled to tweet and IG "Fatty Heaven" and well, it's true, but hey, you only live once.  I loved my Aloha Burger and BCG Fries.  While the burger was probably a bit more well done than I would have liked, the meat was still really juicy and tasty; the pineapple was well-grilled and copious; and the bacon was perfectly cooked on both the burger and fries--not overly crispy so you can't taste the delicious smokiness, but also not soggy so you feel like you're eating bacon grease.  Everything was held together by a tasty house bun.  An awesome burger and super filling.  In fact, so filling that I couldn't finish the AMAZING BCG Fries.  Seriously, these were some fantastic fries.  If you like loaded baked potatoes, it's a lot like that with a little grilled onion and sauce. So, so tasty.  I brought them home and even rewarmed this morning, my son and husband cleaned them all up (and seriously most fries are disgusting rewarmed the next day).

Oh, and as an added bonus, there's a Coke Freestyle Machine.  I don't usually drink a lot of soda, but I had to try the machine: 

Coca-Cola Freestyle Machine

I got a Cherry Coke, not like a Cherry Coke that you get in cans, like the perfect blend of coke syrup, cherry syrup, and soda water.  It seriously tasted like I got it from a soda fountain.  I kinda wish I liked soda more so I could revel in the awesomeness of this machine.  For non-soda drinkers, there's also passion fruit iced tea, hand-schooled shakes and craft beers.

Can't wait to come back here with my husband and son (BCG Kids meal--burger & fries for $5) when we're on this side of town (or when I have a Porto's craving...but I'll talk about that in the next blog post....)