Underbelly (San Diego, Little Italy) 8.9.14

Ah, another weekend of culinary adventure and I'm suddenly back-logged on the blog.  Here we go, with Saturday's contribution...

I found Underbelly after scoping out food near our Downtown hotel in San Diego.  Since I was in San Diego with my husband and son, there had to be pescatarian friendly options and 8 year old friendly options.  I gave my son the choice between ramen and kebab and he picked ramen.  (Yeah, I know, we were in Little Italy, I should have probably gone for pizza, but he had pizza the day before. Gotta branch the kid's palate out a bit.) I was actually really excited because I've been craving soft-boiled egg in ramen for awhile so I figured I could steal a bite (or slurp) from his bowl.

So, after a short walk, we found ourselves at Underbelly which is a block off the beaten Little Italy path on the corner of Fir & Kettner.  While the yelp site says that Underbelly isn't good for kids, that's probably because, from what I've read on yelp, it gets super busy and there are no spoons or western utensils (chopsticks only).  I actually thought the Underbelly staff was nice to my kid (bringing modified chopsticks for him with his ramen) and I heard them say to a family behind us that they could modify the ramen to just do noodles and broth for the kids, but we were there at 5pm and I wouldn't bring my kid a couple of hours later when the restaurant was probably hopping.

Anyways, there are 24 beers on tap (probably as many beers as there are seats in the house...okay, maybe a dozen more seats) and you can do a lot of customization of your ramen with several vegetarian & protein based add-ons to the standard ramen choices, but since we were first timers, we ordered the Underbelly & Vegetable Ramen and a chopped seafood salad.  I really wanted to try the buns too, but I had a feeling this would be too much food for us already.

Societe Publican Beer hiding out in a Lost Abbey glass

I know nothing about beer so I just linked an article on the beer my husband got.  He really enjoyed it and found it refreshing after our short walk down to the restaurant. 

Underbelly Ramen

The underbelly ramen comes with the "standard toppings" of bean sprouts, ginger, scallions (green onions--I actually heard someone ask her dining companion upon looking at the menu, "What are scallions?" hence the explanation), seaweed, and sesame seeds.  Additionally, it has soft-boiled egg, char-siu (bbq pork), applewood smoked bacon & kurobuta sausage.  (Note: The restaurant did not poke the hole in the egg, I did--trying to get a bite of it, prior to remembering my food blogging picture).  The egg and the meat were great, particularly the pork & bacon.  The noodles were a bit al dente for my taste and the broth didn't have a lot of flavor (there was soy, sesame oil & other condiments including shichimi togarashi to add savory/spicy elements to the basic broth, but I was hoping for more umami in the broth itself), but the meat was a winner. 

Vegetable Ramen

This picture illustrates why you really shouldn't food blog when you are hungry because you forget about photo composition and mix everything together before eating.  Sigh. So, the veggie ramen has the standard toppings and truffle oil, 4 types of mushrooms (shittake, hon shimeji, oyster & enoki) and white asparagus.  I loved the white asparagus and liked the broth a lot with the truffle oil and a bit of the shichimi togarashi.  A little doctoring was all the broth needed and it had a much better savory goodness.

 Underbelly Chopped Seafood Salad

The chopped seafood salad has hamachi, white (albacore) tuna and salmon, seaweed, radish sprouts, and cucumber over a bed of mixed greens that are dressed with a soy miso dressing.  It's then topped with sesame seed and what I'm pretty sure is hoisin sauce even though the menu doesn't say that (I did grow up in a Chinese restaurant).  I actually really loved the blend of flavors between the soy miso and hoisin sauces and the seaweed salad was really good even though I'm not usually that into seaweed salad.  The fish didn't have a ton of flavor and I'm not a fan of albacore, but there was a lot of flavor in the rest of the salad.  

Overall, I loved the space, the concept and the service at Underbelly, and there's a ton of potential with the menu, but I wasn't sold on it.  Then again, I'm now comparing all ramen to Daikokuya which is a really different type of ramen and restaurant (read much more traditional Japanese).  Again, you can't win 'em all and if you're not super wedded to authenticity and you like good craft beer and quality meat, Underbelly might be a good place for you to check out.  

Willy's Eatery (Anaheim) 8.8.14

I was looking around on yelp for some breakfast spots to meet a friend and I noticed that Willy's Eatery had reopened after the owners had returned from a brief Greek vacation which afforded me the opportunity to FINALLY try this tiny eatery behind a car wash in a strip mall on Ball Road.  I have to admit that I came in with high expectations.  Willy's has a 4.5 star rating on yelp, over 200 reviews, and boasts the best Eggs Benedict (my favorite classic breakfast dish) as named by Orange Coast magazine in 2010.  So, I came hungry and ready to dig into some great food.

Eggs Benedict with "Those Potatoes"

Of course, I ordered the Eggs Benedict with a side of those potatoes which were hash browns with onions & green peppers.  Before I get into the food, the shop itself is such a charming mom-and-pop hole in the wall.  Ann, the matron of Willy's took our order, asked if it was our first time and brought over drinks and silverware.  It really felt as if she was welcoming us into her home. 

Now, onto the food review.  The ham and the eggs of the Benedict were both really good.  Instead of slapping a piece of cold ham onto the English muffin, the ham (which was a hearty chunk of really good quality ham) had been grilled before being placed on the bread, so that the edges of the ham were just slightly crispy.  The eggs were poached medium, so there wasn't a runny yolk, but it wasn't over poached.  I wasn't the biggest fan of the hollandaise itself, however, but it may just be my personal preference on hollandaise.  I prefer hollandaise that is lighter with a bit of citrus to brighten it.  This hollandaise was very traditional and a little bland.  Overall, a very respectable Benedict, but not the best I've ever had.  Those potatoes were nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with a nice onion and pepper blend.  And, there was a TON of food.  I really couldn't eat it all and I had come in hungry. 

I also got to try the baklava: 

Walnut Baklava

The baklava was really good, particularly if you like walnuts.  I have to confess that I'm more of a pistachio baklava kinda girl, but this baklava was really, really good.  The texture of the phyllo layers and the nutty sweet goodness was incredible.  Definitely a must have for walnut & baklava fans. 

I definitely want to come back for lunch at Willy's to try their Lemon Chicken Soup (a favorite of mine) and Greek specialities, especially since it's so close to home and feels so homey.  I'm sure I'll write another review of the lunch specials as well. Happy weekend! 

Kogi BBQ Truck (Naranja) @GFTBestBuy in Orange 8.6.14

So, after my somewhat disappointing experience at 118 Degrees the previous night, I was elated to find (through check my twitter feed @Chez_hsieh) that the Kogi BBQ Naranja Truck was going to be @GFTBestBuy (Gourmet Food Trucks in the Best Buy Parking Lot on Tustin St. in Orange, every Wednesday 5:30-8:30).  It was a pretty epic gathering of trucks including the Burnt Truck, Lobsta Truck, Barcelona on the Go, Jogasaki Burrito, Bakery Truck and Longboards Ice Cream.  Luckily, I was not actually in the midst of all this deliciousness as I likely would have camped out in the parking lot all night and sampled from each truck until someone had to roll me to the car.  No, I was actually home with my son and texted my husband to do a ride by on his motorcycle to get us some food on his way home.  He is a great husband and once he heard there were pescatarian options, he was in.

We decided to try all of their tacos and get a Blue Moon Mulita with salsa on the side for my son. Oh, the deliciousness.  I wish I were eating it right now (instead of eating a hot dog on a white bread bun with ketchup.  Now you know how I live for the meals I'm not blogging about).  Let's start the review:

Blue Moon Mulita

If you're not spice averse (or 8-years old), this is generally served topped with Salsa Azul (which we asked for on the side--it's spicy) and sesame seed, but between these grilled corn tortillas is melted chesse, grilled onions and chicken.  My son gave it a thumbs up.  There are only two times that we've eaten out that he's eaten faster: 1) first Umami kids burger; 2) Yellowtail roll from Sugarfish sushi in DTLA.  Yes, I'm raising a little foodie, but he doesn't do spice yet.  For other parents who don't want to line up at multiple trucks, this is a great kid option.  

Tofu & Calamari Tacos

In the description on Kogi's website, it says that the tofu tacos are "the kind of vegetarian taco that even carnivores would drool over." This is totally true.  I mean, I'm an omnivore, but I generally hate tofu unless it's done really well.  The Kogi marinade is amazing and the texture of the tofu is perfect.  It's neither overly mushy not super firm.  It's perfect.  I would actually consider ordering a tofu taco (well, except I already have an action plan for next time Kogi crosses my path).  

The other part of my husband's plate was a calamari taco.  So, I have a textural issue with edible cephalopods. I've never met an octopus I enjoyed eating and calamari is about 50/50, but this calamari had the most amazing flavor and texture ever.  If I weren't such a wimp with spice (and maybe in spite of the fact that I am), I would order one of these every trip to the truck.  The taco is spicy but the calamari is perfectly cooked and just slightly sweet.  My husband preferred the tofu taco, but hey, that's more for me. 

Chicken, Spicy Pork & Short Rib Tacos

Now, for the taco trifecta.  The chicken taco was good.  Kogi's site says that the chicken is marinated in a light ginger-soy marinade and it definitely had a light marinated but mostly grilled flavor that was delicious.  I moved on to the Spicy Pork next.  That was delicious.  The pork was spicy, but the spicy wasn't overwhelming and I really liked the texture of the various pork cut mixture.  Really tender and a nice blend with the slaw.  I saved the best for last though.  The short rib was amazing.  Slightly sweet, the perfect blend of flavors, tender meat--I can't even imagine how good this would have tasted right off the grill since after a 20-minute motorcycle ride, and the 5 minutes it took me to eat the other tacos (literally, and I'm a slow eater), it was incredible.  Mmmm, short rib, I wish I were eating it right now.  

So, my plan of attack for next time is a Short Rib burrito, maybe with some extra meat.  Until we meet again, I'll be dreaming of my new best friend, the Kogi BBQ truck. Hope your next meal is as delicious as this one was for me.  

118 Degrees Community Cafe (Anaheim) 8.5.14

Have you ever felt good about eating something, but not felt satisfied or happy eating it?  This was my experience tonight with 118 Degrees Community Cafe in Downtown Anaheim. I was actually really excited to try this 118 Degrees location as I've passed the Cafe several times strolling down Center Street, but it's always been closed when I come by.  This is actually where I need to start the review. The hours on both the yelp site & the website linked above are wrong.  I don't know where to find the actual hours.  However, tonight we were told that they closed at 7pm so it's good that we got there early because originally we had intended to arrive at the restaurant at closing time (since the website said they closed at 9pm and the yelp site said 8:30 pm).

We took a long time with the menu because my friend and I are kinda indecisive and everything sounded really delicious.  The woman who worked the counter (and also served us) was very sweet, gave us several recommendations and was patient when we took our time in deciding.  We ended up ordering the pesto stuffed mushrooms, thai spring rolls and the mole enchiladas.  I also ordered an apple, lemon, ginger juice & my friend had a coconut water.

Apple, Lemon, Ginger Juice (not much to look at, but always tasty)

The juice was fresh juice. I love fresh juice so there isn't much to say about that except that they make an excellent juice.  I know juice is expensive because I also juice at home so it's a $5 juice and it was yummy.

Thai Spring Rolls: Housemade wrap rolled with carrots, cucumber, avocado, squash, coconut

Served with avocado lime dipping sauce

So, the waitress had recommended this and it sounded delicious--I mean, it's basically lots of stuff I'd put in a great salad in a wrap with some dipping sauce that would make a great dressing, right? Not exactly.  My friend tried the sauce first and she was like, "Um, it's kinda...bland" which it was--there wasn't any zip to the dressing (the lime was very hidden and the avocado was pretty muted).  The veggies themselves, while fresh, didn't have a ton of flavor either, so it was just eating a lot of flavorless textured food.  I want to justify the fact that I love vegetables and their natural flavors.  These just didn't stand out to me. 

Next, we had the mole enchiladas: 

Mole Enchiladas: Served in a spicy tomato coconut wrap, mole chipotle cheese, marinated Spanish squash, carrots & avocado -- topped with spicy enchilada sauce and salsa

So, for both my friend and I, the tomatillo salsa (pictured to the far left in the shot) completely stole the show and practically the entire meal.  It was bright with some heat, but really fresh. It had a great texture, chunkiness of the tomatillos with the bite of jalapeño. So yum.  That salsa was what I had hoped for the meal as a whole.  The rest of enchiladas were okay.  There was red pepper and corn in the enchilada in addition to the squash and carrots and the wrap wasn't really a spicy tomato wrap. It was fine, but not the flavor sensation that I had hoped for.  Thank goodness for the salsa. 

Pesto stuffed mushrooms: Pistachio pesto stuffed crimini mushrooms, served warm with farm marinara

The sauce didn't taste like a marinara (I don't like it when something has a name that is supposed to be "representative" of a particular flavor, but it's not that at all), but the pesto was amazing and the mushrooms were great.  I loved the finish of the pistachio pesto and the way it left a nutty aftertaste on the palate.  Although there wasn't a lot of textural variety in this dish, it was flavorful overall. 

At the end of our meal, it was past closing time (7:25 on a school night...oh wait...nevermind), I was still pretty hungry (luckily, Hans' Homemade was on the way home so we stopped in and got ice cream and I came home full), and my friend (who bought my dinner) was out $40.  I felt good that I had eaten a living foods vegan meal, but with all the amazing restaurant choices in the area, I can't say that I'd ever come back.  So, the quest for amazing vegan food continues.  I'll just stick to making myself fantastic tomato salads at home for the moment.  Happy Eating Everyone! 

Shrimp Creole 8.4.14

Yesterday was one of those days.  After dropping my son off for half-day Mandarin camp, I had to stop by the bank for PTA (because in my copious spare time I chose to run for PTA treasurer and was elected), be on a research call with a friend in Colorado, do some searching and downloading of journal articles for an upcoming piece, run back to school to pick my son & his two friends up for a playdate, host the playdate, and then have dinner ready in 30 minutes so that I could head over to the PTA executive board meeting.

I'd imagine I'm not the only busy one out there, so I figured I'd blog about one of my favorite super-fast dishes: Shrimp Creole.  Please note, despite these first two cooking blog posts, not everything I cook uses canned tomatoes (really--in fact the grilled chicken that I made on Sunday was completely a different set of ingredients...really!).  Okay, so here's what the finished dish looks like:

Shrimp Creole--YUM! 

Here's your ingredient list: 

• Onion
• Green Pepper
• Celery
• Cooking Oil
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Shrimp (I use medium, frozen cooked shrimp 80-100 count/lb)
• Canned Diced Tomatoes
• Rice

I am always really cooking for 2 (we have weird dietary conflicts in our house--in this case, the two is my husband & me--sometimes it's my son & me) so I used about a half pound of shrimp, 1 stalk of celery, half an onion & green pepper, 1/2 cup of rice & 1 can of tomatoes.  Feel free to adjust.  

Step 1: Start your rice in a rice cooker (yes, this is a cheat. By assembling mostly cooked ingredients, everything goes quicker); chop the fresh veggies & thaw your shrimp: 

Onion, Green Pepper, Celery

Step 2: Heat the oil and add the red pepper flakes to the heating oil.  This releases the heat from the red pepper flakes--adjust to taste.  It's good without the red pepper flakes too, but then it's just not as creole. 

Red Pepper Oil

Step 3: Add the veggies to the red pepper oil & sauté until onions become slightly translucent.  You don't want to overcook your veggies because then they lose that crispness in the final dish.  

Step 4: Add in the shrimp & canned tomatoes.  Since the shrimp is pre-cooked, it's just about heating.   Simmer for about 5 minutes

Step 5: At this point, if you've started the rice before you began dicing your veggies, it should be done.  Add your rice into your large skillet or wok (yes, a non-stick 12-14" wok is perfect for this dish)

Step 6: Simmer as long as you can before you have to rush off to the rest of your life or feed your hungry self/family, plate and serve

This dish is even better warmed up the day after (like the chili)--once the flavors have had a chance to absorb, but often there's none left at my place for the day after.  Bon appetit! 

No-Bean Ground Beef Chili 8.2.14

Yesterday, it began to rain...in Southern California...in the summer.  We had planned to make hamburgers on the grill, but the rain made me nostalgic for cool fall days (and I was really bored) so I decided to turn our ground beef into some chili.

I searched around on the internet for some decent no-bean chili recipes (although for vegetarian/vegan friends/bean loving readers, this chili would make a great base for a bean chili as well, subbing or adding black or kidney beans for the meat), but didn't really find anything I loved so I decided just to experiment.  I figured I'd use spices that I had that some of the recipes recommended, and then I'd just keep tasting it until the balance seemed right to me.

After cooking for a few years, this has become my philosophy towards food preparation--start with a basic idea of where you're going, use recipes as a guide for ingredients and then modify according to taste.  So, here's what the chili looked like in the mid-simmer stage:

Mmmmm, chili...

And here's what's in the chili (in the order I used it):

• Cooking Oil (I used olive oil, but I don't think it really matters)
• Diced Onion
• Diced Green Pepper
• Diced Red Pepper
• Fresh parsley
• Chili powder 
• Cumin
• Garlic Powder
• Sweet Paprika
• A touch of brown sugar
• Ground beef
• Worcestershire sauce
• Canned tomatoes

Just guestimating, I'd say approximately 1 onion, 1 green pepper & 1 red pepper & 1-2 cans of canned tomatoes (depending on how much tomato you like in your chili) per pound of meat is about the right ratio.  Use the seasoning to taste, but don't put in too much brown sugar unless you really like sweetness.  I found the chili powder & the worcestershire to be the most useful (read copious) seasonings.  Sauté veggies in oil over medium heat, add in dry/fresh herbs & spices, add in ground beef, season with worcestershire sauce--add in canned tomatoes, taste, add salt, taste some more and add in seasoning to taste.  Simmer for about 30 minutes to let the flavors soak in or less if you have less time. Because it really cooks in 10-15 minutes.

For serving, you'll notice there is no real thickener and the chili comes out a little soupy.  I solved this by adding crushed tortilla chips to the bottom of my bowl, piling on the chili then adding some cheddar cheese.  Yum.  And the leftovers are just as tasty (or perhaps more so, as the flavors have had more time to develop).  I didn't need tortilla chips for my morning-after breakfast chili, but it's totally up to you.  Happy Eating! 

Random Honolulu Eating & Drinking Tips

So, before we say aloha to my Honolulu vacation posts, one more somewhat random post on the pleasant, less formal culinary experiences that we had on Oahu.

Musubi & Bento Iyasume

Iyasume Musubi & Bento: A Hole in the Wall, not to be missed! 

The one dining spot that we visited more than once on our trip was Musubi & Bento Iyasume, a small hole-in-the-wall take out place with several locations in Honolulu although the one closest to central Waikiki (or at least, the closest one we found) was across the street from Ross on Seaside Ave.  This location is open from 7 am - 7:30 pm which made it a perfect breakfast stop for us and a perfect, pre-plane flight home stop as well.  

Salmon bowl, Spam ume musubi & Ume onigiri bento

As the name suggests, Musubi & Bento Iyasume specializes in various forms of musubi & bentos.  Musubis are protein (often spam) on top of rice, wrapped with a piece of nori (seaweed) and bentos are combination boxes of various savory treats--the one pictured has an ume (plum) onigiri, sausage (these tasted like little smokies), tonkatsu (breaded fried pork) & tamago (Japanese omelet).  The shop also includes several bowls including the salmon bowl (cooked salmon flakes over rice) and various forms of onigiri (triangular rice "balls" stuffed with various fillings and wrapped in nori).  For those of you not super familiar with ume, it's a type of plum-apricot that is common in Japanese cuisine and has a sour salty flavor and a bright fuchsia color.  There are also shiso onigiri or spam-shiso musubis which contain shiso, a Japanese herb related to the mint/basil family but a little bitter when cooked.  I really loved the spam-ume & spam-shiso musubis as they helped to balance out the saltiness of the straight spam on rice of a classic musubi.  For those of you bacon & egg lovers in the morning, there are also these beauties: 

Bacon, tomago, spam musubi

Aloha Harmony Tea House

If you love tea and don't really want to settle for Lipton on your trip, I'd recommend a stop by Aloha Harmony Tea House in the Embassy Suites. The storefront is actually on Kalia Road and they also open at 7am, which is a plus if you're coming from the mainland and are not quite adjusted to the time change on the first day of your trip.  

My tea supply for the trip with plenty to take home! 

I really like green tea and since there was hot water on demand & a tea pot in our hotel room, I ended up picking up two really nice teas--jasmine pearls & first love, which is a blooming green tea.  Rather than getting the 3oz packs, I asked for just 1 oz of each (there are loose-leaf tea bins) and had more than enough for a pot of tea each day & some to take home.  It's somewhat pricey, but, frankly, good tea is pricey & it was less expensive and better than going to a fine dining establishment for tea.  Really cool to find this place across the street from the beach. 

Magoo's Burger (Food Truck) -- Diamond Head

I'm not a hiker. But, somehow I decided that hiking Diamond Head was a good idea.  We didn't know that we decided to do the hike on the same day as the Waikiki Beach triathlon, meaning an extra half mile walk from the bus stop, but hey, what's an extra half a mile walk...uphill...just to get to the park entrance (we took a cab home).  I did make it to the top and back down to the park where I was in desperate need of refreshment.  Luckily the bright yellow Magoo's Burger food truck was there waiting with shaved ice. 

Rainbow shaved ice

We decided to share a rainbow (strawberry, coconut, pineapple) shaved ice ($3.50) and the sweet, icy goodness totally hit the spot as we sat on a shady bench in the park before heading back to Waikiki.  If you're not into the rainbow, you can also choose two flavors of syrup on the shaved ice for the same price.  I am sure there is better shaved ice on the island, but honestly, location is everything, and this was amazing and refreshing--a great post-hike treat. 

Marukame Udon

Another place that was cheap and delicious was Marukame Udon.  Note--this place is highly ranked on yelp and pretty inexpensive so if you're going in the evening, expect a wait.  We went in the evening, decided the line was too long and went back the next morning where we walked through the line: 

Ontama Bukkake Udon with Green Onion, Tempura Flakes, Tempura Shrimp & Asparagus

This place is a cafeteria style restaurant where a chef behind the counter will get your udon then you proceed through various tempura & musubi offerings before arriving at the cashier. My husband got the Kake Udon, which is the most basic udon bowl, noodles with traditional broth and a spam musubi, but I decided to go with the Ontama Bukkake Udon which has the bukkake (salty, savory, probably soy based) sauce and a soft boiled egg on top.  The soft boiled egg is an amazing addition to the bowl that makes it full of creamy goodness.  The tempura was delicious and well done, although the asparagus was a little chewy. Still, overall, a great start to the day. 

House Without a Key (Cocktails)

House Without a Key is both a restaurant and a bar lounge, but is also a great place to catch some Hawaiian music and have a fantastic mai tai.  In the summer, the sun is too far west to catch the sunset there, but it's still a great time.  I wasn't sure that I wanted to do dinner at the restaurant so I had my husband call ahead to make sure that just doing drinks & pupus (appetizers) was okay.  The restaurant hostess who answered the phone was so nice--she let us know about the sunset view being obscured in summer, but also about the Hawaiian music & hula dancer, that cocktails were out on the patio, and we should arrive by 5:30pm if we wanted to be seated for the music/ dancer.  It was perfect advice.  We got a seat right by the music/ hula dancer: 

House without a Key: Live Music & Hula Dancer

And, we also had some great drinks, including the signature Mai Tai which I highly recommend: 

House Without a Key Mai Tai

There are other places to get cheaper drinks on the island, but for tasty drinks, tasty appetizers (we had the coconut shrimp which was yum -- and they serve a bowl of potato chips to all drink tables), and a great show in a very laid back environment, I'd highly recommend House Without a Key.  

So, that's the Honolulu (Waikiki) wrap-up.  I think I'll start a series on my own food next (after all, I can't eat out ALL the time, especially after Hawaii) so stay tuned for that.  Aloha!