jschyun

You know, I've asked around why Taiko is so popular. That place is frequented by a bunch of old-timers who apparently love the sushi bar. I don't get it. Unfortunately, for you, in that same plaza, there is a very good dim sum place that you missed. They carry my favorite dan tat, in California. Also, there's a good Korean soft tofu joint, just across the street. Oh well. I've been going to Ango Tei, in Costa Mesa, thanks to people on this board, and it is really good. About as good as some of the places where I go to in L.A. IMHO, L.A. has the best sushi/best value for the quality. Of course NY keeps sucking up all our restaurants, so I guess that is changing. --I have to admit that the omakase at Kiss Seafood in SF is a pretty good value though. OC in general isn't a dining destination. However, there are a few exceptions.

Sounds like a horrible meal, through no fault of your own. $65 for shitty surf and turf is kind of high, but I never go to Laguna for anything food related, so maybe that's the going rate there. I don't trust the "fine" dining in OC so I avoid these places like the plague. Next time, just before your trip, maybe you could post a request for recommendations. I've been doing this recently, with great results.

LA Times Food Section -- August 4, 2004 To view the articles below, register a username with www.latimes.com. Registration is free. There is a separate Calendar section with more food articles, but you have to pay a fee for those. Height of fashion -- Anya von Bremzen Ferran Adriá and his Spanish cohorts are creating a new tapas scene that features things like "egg foam with truffles spooned into eggshells and nestled in an egg carton". Tapas are now intellectually as well as gustatorily stimulating. Recipes. Height of Fashion -- Jordan Mackay A story about Spanish sherries, great for eating with tapas in the middle of summer. At end of article are locations where the sherries can be found in L.A. The fondue explodes: Chocolate's everywhere -- Sarah Grausz A story about the new party fad: a chocolate fountain. This is a 3 foot fountain that constantly spews warm chocolate and you're supposed to dunk stuff in there. Girl power captures the kitchen -- Cindy Dorn She writes about her 12 year old daughter's experience going solo in the kitchen. Recipes. Say the magic word -- Leslee Komaiko "Secret" menu items in certain restaurants (like In & Out's 'animal style' burger) are the topic in this article. Second part is about small bites in L.A., featuring (soon to be closed) Alex, Falcon, and Amuse Cafe. Wine of the week -- S. Irene Virbila 2003 Keller Estate Oro De Plata Sonoma Coast Chardonnay: "Keller Estate has its lush, vanilla-scented Chardonnay too, but this one, made with the same estate-grown grapes, but vinified entirely without oak, is a slam dunk with sushi, sashimi and other Asian food. Gold with reflections of palest green and light citrus notes, it's entirely food friendly. Give it a pad Thai and it sings. Pour it with miso-marinated black cod and it cuts right through the richness. " (about $19) Only 653 cases of this stuff were made so get it fast. Culinary SOS Recipe for red bean pancake with coconut sauce, from Yujean Kang in South Coast Plaza. Correction "A photo on the cover of last Wednesday's Food section showing a hostess at the restaurant A 16 was credited to Kim Kulish. It was taken by Randi Lynn Beach. "

I definitely love chocolate, so thanks for the rec. It didn't occur to me to ask you guys for chocolate for some weird reason. What is the best place to get good cheese? Does Ken's sell cheese? I don't recall cheese in the pics, but that would be convenient. Wow, I got a lot more than I bargained for. But I must say, Hung Far Low is still a top priority. On a side note, I always liked Caprial's show. I guess it was cheesy, but I do love cheese. She seemed like a nice person doing good things. Is she still on? Haven't seen that show in ages.

No detective work really. Also, if you're interested in a dining partner and eat your dinner late, I'm usually avail. NB: You're talking about Yi-Cho which is right near the airport, there's no other ones in Newport Beach. It's kind older, upscale. A lot of Caucasian folk there, so obviously English is not a problem. Food's alright. I haven't had their mool (soupy) naengmyun but their bibimnaengmyun, specifically the hwe bibimnaengmyun was decent. if you don't like stringy, chewy fish bits, you might do better to order the regular bibimnaengmyun. Since you're in Irvine, the best soft tofu restaurant is Gaju in Irvine. It's a branch of the Garden Grove store, and everyone seems to like the Garden Grove one better, but I think they're both pretty good. Another place, Irvine Soft Tofu House is more along gringo tastes, not my fave, but they're very popular. They did have pretty good galbi though, before they remodeled, haven't tried it since. I can't think of anything else in the vicinity. Oh wait, there's a fairly new korean supermarket in Tustin, off Redhill and Walnut. I know because during the grand opening they sent out flyers with these incredible deals that my parents took full advantage of. I forget the name because I generally go to Garden Grove to shop. However, I've been there a couple times and they have a cool, very popular little food court. They even have a stall where a lady sells different kinds of dduk. pretty cool. This supermarket used to be a Ralph's and is well stocked with pretty much everything you need, except misutgaru, as I once found out. --Oh and Hwang Hwe Do is now my favorite naengmyun. Partly due to the incredible price (they also have specials involving naengmyun+mandu and naengmyun + boiled beef), and partly because it's pretty good. Also at Hwang Hwe Do, they serve their naengmyun with shredded radish pickle. Asian radish is supposed to aid in the digestion of the buckwheat noodles or something like that. That's from Korean food science, which I'm not really that good with. Come early during lunch hour, because it gets packed. Yum yum! hope this is useful.

I would think that the higher you are in the food chain, the more poisons have had a chance to concentrate themselves, so that large fish (e.g., tuna) are more likely to have high levels of mercury and DDT wiped out condors. Sorry for going off topic... Right. So that is why vegan moms should theoretically have fewer things like mercury, PCB's, and other foodborne toxins than meat eating moms. I read on some vegetarian site that this is actually true in practice, not just theory. Of course the source is biased. However, it is perfectly logical to me that this should be the case. And to rephrase what Katherine said, meat eaters are not protected by fair housing laws. So even in lawsuit happy U.S., you would probably not have a case. Heck, even if they were protected by fair housing laws, there are some ways to get around it, including living in a house and just renting out a room in the house. Also, I could be wrong, but I believe another way to get around it is to sell rental units by yourself (without the help of a real estate professional), and you can discriminate as much as you want, as long as you're the owner and doing it yourself. But then you get screwed if the person that buys it from you turns around and sells it to a meat eater. I suppose you can do something about that though.

Looks like I'm definitely going to be in Portland this weekend. I was looking over some of the older threads and jotted down a list. Can you tell me which ones are no longer good, and which are must do's? Thanks a bunch! Most of these I saw on ExtraMSG's site. Thanks a lot for the pics and the grades. Those really helped a lot. Gelato: Mio Gelato or Staccato Gelato? Breakfasts/Bakeries: Original Pancake House or Mama's Corner Cafe? Ken's Artisan (definitely going here) St. Honore (saw those pics on ExtraMSG's site!) or Pix Patisserie for French style? Lunch: Higgins (I wanna try the burgers) Wildwood (because Dixon said it was great food, great deal, burger) High End Portland: Caprial's Cafe Wildwood Paley's Place? I'm definitely going to Bewon. By the way, here's the link to the real Biwon, forbidden garden of the kings. Also, I am going to have to go to Hung Far Low so I can take a pic of me in there. I wanted to try other things, but looks like we'll be pressed for time. Oh well. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Though I don't know any vegans with kids personally, every one of the the female breeding vegans I've ever read about breastfeeds. In fact, I read that breastmilk from vegan moms were much less likely to contain PCB's and I forget what other stuff. Stands to reason, since they're eating lower on the food chain.

So I guess this is a good thing then. We now know where to get fresh bread morning and afternoon. (Taking notes)

Your "take" on this idea?? Are his arguments sound?? Well, I don't know that vegetarians are always healthier, but in general, the ones I know are actually pretty healthy and active. However, i did read a piece in a magazine for vegans, about some vegan staffers who went on the Atkins diet (vegan version). They lost weight and ate more veggies while on the diet! Sociable vegetarians? Well, I guess it depends on the vegetarian. I don't get that one. Most vegetarians I know live with non-vegetarians. Not sure about the vegans. Also, this is a huge generalization, but I feel like vegetarians of my acquaintance do seem to care more about the environment, animals and other stuff like that. Yes this dude is limiting his customer base to 3% of the population, but he is small enough so that this niche market may be sufficient for his rental business. Even in California, I don't think this type of discrimation, based on eating habits, is illegal. There are a host of other things you cannot discriminate againt, but you can even get around those under certain circumstances. FWIW, I like the American vegetarian junk food. I love veggie corn dogs as I have mentioned a million and a half times on this board. I'll never go back.

Interesting. I would have thought that the shells would mean more fiber and make the stools loose.

I was thinking that your boss might be more impressed with Mission 261 than with Sea Harbour, esp if he is a dim sum newbie. If this means anything, I personally think that Mission 261 is the Yank Sing of SoCal. Basically this means, that it's expensive, nice rooms and good china, and you'll find a lot of Caucasians there, but they love the food. Tell him to go to the main room, which features a chinese guitar(?) player and a huge tv playing stuff like tournament golf (I think only on weekends but not sure). IMHO, the food varies wildly from really good to really bad, but is not consistently bad or good. Sea Harbour, by contrast, is still a nice looking restaurant, but not nearly as fancy. Also, it is very crowded with Chinese and people like me. But their food is consistently good, just not as pretty.

Squeat is being modest. Obviously, the bakery owners are the idiots, not him. What a crazy world we live in. My theory is that in the Mission, the bakers are too tired from a night of poetry reading, or maybe rallying for some cause. Therefore, it stands to reason that they have manufactured a story so that they don't have to get up early in the morning and knead bread...or something. --edited to clean up quote

where's the goldilocks and red ribbon bakeshops located in california?? Well, it was hard to find the website for Red Ribbon, but this article gives you an idea of the cities where they're located. I'm most familiar with the one in La Palma (or Cerritos, forget where the boundaries lie) here's a list of all the Goldilocks stores in CA Hope that helps.

I think you have the right idea. The bar at Farallon is great. A friend of mine considers their martinis among the best in SF. I went to Farallon for lunch one time, I tried one of his martinis and I thought it was very smooth, but then again, I am a drink dumbass. I wouldn't come back here for desserts though. Romantic? Not for me, but definitely funny. if your hotel is in Union Square this is an easy walk.

I agree with your brother. I vote not romantic. I've gone a couple of times over the years, and I don't recall service being great, but I don't recall it being horrible either. The food is good, but compared to other restaurants in the same price range, you might think the arrangement, mise en place, or whatever looks simplistic. This can work (works for me), but for some people i think it just doesn't. But I wouldn't go here for a romantic occasion because the dining room is largish and can be loud. -- I like Boulevard's room too. --It's friendly in an American way. I think Farallon is kind of a weird choice for romance, but who am I to say? I thought this one dim sum restaurant (Kirin on Cambie) in Vancouver was kind of romantic. However, I will say that Farallon sort of looks like an expensive, underwater version of Rainforest Cafe, and to my knowledge there cannot be a view because it's off Union Square.

Holy cow, this is exactly the kind of restaurant my better half would like. Come to think of it, Carolyn Tillie and he have almost identical food likes and dislikes. It's eerie. It was through him that I learned that California rolls are not necessarily evil (esp if they have real crab, and you're eating them in Maui, but I digress) Is there already a thread on converted shacks/chains/whatever turned into other restaurants? If no, then I'd like to mention here that I know of at least 1 Taco Bell that was converted into a Korean restaurant. It even still has that bell tower thing. Haru Bang (grandpa's room) in I think Buena Park.

You do it for the love, dude. the love.

Ahaha! You and your Dirty Harryesque opinions never fail to crack me up, for some reason. Seriously, to each his own. For instance, some people, and I am not one of these people so don't yell at me, think that jook tastes like warm snot. Not being a snot eater, I'm afraid I can't corroborate this one.

Well, if you get so angry at the price of milk, you decide to go soy-WOL, IMHO, the only soy milk worth drinking is Sun Soy. Actually, I'm less picky than that, but Sun Soy is easily the best. Take it from someone who can't have milk (well, I can, but it causes people around me great suffering)

In all fairness, I would like to say that Cheesecake Factory is a California import, which of course, explains everything.

Noir de Crimee seeds and plants are widely available in California, tanabutler. If you can't find it, some of the reputable mail order catalogs have it, for less than it would cost to ship a tomato. It's supposed to be the same as Black Krim but somehow Noir de Crimee gets more taste raves. I personally think it tastes better than Black Krim. Great story. Nice to see a farmer getting recognition.

"Greasy foods and chocolate cause acne" They say in the article that foods will not have an effect on acne, but I disagree. I know that the moment I eat a piece of meat, 5 days later, I will get acne. If I don't eat meat, it doesn't happen. when I have eaten meat without realizing it, I have gotten acne. Other people may react to other foods. I suspect in my case it might have something to do with hormones, possibly the hormones in the meat. But I have nothing to back that up.

I was at 99Ranch today, trying to remember where I saw hodduk. I realized what I was thinking was hodduk was probably the red bean shau bing. I'll have to do some more research, but my guess is, the Chinese from the Shandong province came to Korea and somehow popularized this treat, along with chiachiangmyun, jjampong and the other usual suspects.

Close. It's 18th/Guerrero, and I second the recommendation. Wow, you're good. Where do you go besides Tartine for croissants/pain au chocolat?