Gypsy Den (Anaheim) 8.11.14

Yesterday, I was looking for a healthy brunch place to meet with some out-of-town friends but also make my 11:30 pick-up time for my son from his half-day camp.  So, we ended up at Gypsy Den near the end of Center Street Promenade.  I had been to Gypsy Den for lunch and for coffee, but not for breakfast/brunch so we decided to give it a try.  We settled in with iced coffees & jasmine tea and looked over the brunch choices.  Our server noted the popular dishes as the Eggs Ole, Breakfast Sandwich and Brioche French Toast and while I really wanted to try the French Toast, I figured, protein would be in order so I went with the breakfast sandwich.

Breakfast Sandwich

The Gypsy Den Breakfast Sandwich is fried egg, lettuce, tomato and choice of real or veggie bacon on a potato bun, served with fresh fruit or red potatoes (they were out of red potatoes when we went but I wanted fruit anyways).  The bacon was a little crispy for me, but probably not for a normal person (I really like soft, some would call it soggy, bacon), but the egg was nicely cooked with a runny yolk and the potato bun was a soft delight.  I appreciated the assortment of fruit that clearly wasn't melon from a bag.  It was a pretty yummy breakfast sandwich.  Definitely simple, but satisfying.

One of my friends ordered the house made granola with seasonal berries, yogurt and honey (adding almond butter and banana which came out beautifully presented and she said was really tasty.  (I would have considered getting this too, but this is my breakfast staple at home so I thought I'd splurge a bit on the breakfast sandwich): 

Housemade Granola

Our other friend ordered the spinach scramble: spinach, feta, onion, egg with veggie sausage (or bacon) served with toast and fruit (or potatoes) with added avocado.  He also enjoyed his plate and was impressed with the presentation of the food: 

Spinach Scramble

Both my friends really enjoyed the funky vibe of the Gypsy Den space (where they also hold Open Mic and host live music regularly in the evenings) and we enjoyed eating on the outside patio (which is also dog-friendly) as we caught up and talked about their Southern California adventures and the importance of GPS.  I often forget about the Gypsy Den because it's all the way down Center Street Promenade, but I was glad to have a good excuse for brunch to rediscover this gem.  

Umami Burger (Anaheim) 8.10.14

After returning from my short trip to San Diego with the family, I got to go out with a couple of my girlfriends for dinner.  We wanted a place with good food, a full bar, where we could hear one another within walking distance from my space.  On the weekend, that pretty much meant the packing house was out (it's got great food options, but to have real conversation and a drink with dinner, was a taller order.  So, we just walked over to Umami Burger.  

I'm a fan of Umami Burger and this location in particular, since it is my child's favorite restaurant in the world (What can I say? He's the child of a foodie) and lately, though the food and service are always consistently good, I've been feeling in a little bit of an umami rut.  So, it was really nice to come with my friends who haven't been to Umami before.  

FYI on the drinks, we each had a black razz mojito which was really refreshing and not overly sugary which is really nice.  It wasn't particularly strong and didn't taste like alcohol, but it was yummy. I probably wouldn't have splurged on yummy at $12 a drink if I wasn't with friends, but they also do a late night and 3-6 Happy Hour where signature cocktails are $8.  (Note: I've also had Rico Suave which was stronger and is also good) 

So, onto the food: 

 House Pickle Plate

Okay, so I never would have ordered this plate, but one of my friends loves pickles so she had to try it.  Top (L--> R): Pickles, beets, teriyaki mushrooms; Bottom: Snap peas, carrots, sweet/spicy peppers.  It was actually pretty good though.  I am not a beet fan, the snap peas/ peppers were a little spicy and the carrots were a little weird texturally for me, but I really liked the mushrooms and the pickles themselves.  The pickles were crunchy with great flavor that wasn't overwhelming at all.  The mushrooms were a little sweet and delicious.  

Thin Fries 

Sweet Potato Fries

Umami Sauces

I like Umami potatoes and sauces.  We went with the thin fries & sweet potato fries although usually I end up getting the smushed potatoes. (I was having a thin fry craving) Umami does potatoes well and serves them with a trio of: garlic aioli, diablo sauce & jalapeño ranch as well as a bottle of their special umami ketchup.  The aioli was a little off last night, but is usually my favorite with the ketchup a close second.  Fries were hot and crispy; sweet potato fries were sweet, crunchy and caramelized. Not much else to say here except well cooked potatoes = happiness.  

The Original

So, I am a sucker for the Original which is an umami patty (they grind their own sirloin for the patty) with a parmesan crisp, roasted tomato, shiitake mushroom on their house bun, prepared medium.  Juicy, umami goodness.  I love this burger.  

My friend had the green bird without cheese and said it was amazing (my other friend also had the original, but couldn't finish hers because there's a good chunk of meat on the burger).  I've also had the ahi tuna burger which I love when I'm a little burnt out on red meat.  My husband gets the Sloppy Mami (a vegetarian sloppy joe) whenever we come here as a family and FYI, for families, the kids meal here (slider, side & a drink) prices out to be about the same as a kids meal at IHOP with a drink ($8:  Seriously, no contest on taste). 

I have 9 Yelp Check-Ins at Umami Burger and that only counts the number of times I remember to check in here, so yeah, definitely a fan and hope you will be too.  Happy Eating! 

Snooze (Hillcrest, San Diego) 8.10.14

Okay, so, I didn't try everything, but based on my meal, the look of everyone else's meal AND the fact that I had a 1.5 hour wait, the summary is this: Snooze is AMAZING. I don't even like brunch that much and it was completely worth every minute of the wait. Yum. So yummy. If you're in the area, go to Snooze, even if you have to go to a nearby coffee shop or grab a jamba juice while you're waiting.  It is so good.

So, here's the food, but I'm just going to talk about what I actually ate (I was there with friends and picking off most of your friends' plates is just uncouth...):

Breakfast Pot Pie: Rosemary Sausage Gravy over puffed pastry topped with a sunny side up egg with a side of hash browns

3 eggs anyway (in this case scrambled with mushrooms & spinach), hashbrowns & a sweet potato pancake (topped with ginger butter & caramel)

Snoooze Spuds Deluxe: Hash browns with cheddar & jack cheese & choice of two toppings (in this case, tofu & spinach) 

Kids Pancake platter (with plain pancake, fruit & hash brown)

So, before we get to my dish, I just want to say that everyone was happy with their plate and I really appreciated Snooze's philosophy of custom creations so everyone gets what they want.  Normally the three egg plate comes with toast, but my friend subbed a pancake, my husband could get something that was meat & egg-less. My kid got fruit that was not defrosted melon & grapes (I love good melon, but a "fruit cup" at a lot of breakfast places. Ugh, gross.  Real berries--YUM).  Happy.  Really happy. 

Caprese Benedict: Summer ripe heirloom tomatoes tossed with pesto, cream cheese hollandaise over poached egg over mozzarella on toasted ciabatta bread with a drizzle of balsamic reduction & house hash browns.  

Holy Mother of breakfast.  This was AMAZING.  Literally, one of the best breakfasts I've had in recent memory. I loved the cream cheese hollandaise.  You could definitely taste a bit of cream cheese, but mostly it added richness to a mild hollandaise.  The balsamic & tomatoes added a little acidity.  The eggs were perfect, the mozzarella had just the right firmness and the ciabatta was the perfect toasty bread layer.  The pesto was light and didn't overwhelm the natural sweetness of the heirlooms.  And those hash browns, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.  Great to mop up some of the residual hollandaise & egg yolk.  Yum x infinity.  I could eat this every other day of summer (with a day in between for some type of juice cleanse that would allow me to digest the richness of this breakfast). So, so good. 

Service was good and friendly.  Food was fantastic.  Wait was lengthy, but worth it.  Try Snooze.   

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!