jschyun

Wow, thanks for idlis and dosas, my favorites. This series looked so authentic, I almost expected her to use a dosa stone. That grater looks dangerous. I leave the grating to the experts. Thanks again!

Over the years, Gold has done a number of pieces on L.A. taco places. Here's one: Roundabout: Tacos Alfresco Didn't J Gold do a piece, a while back, on L.A. taco trucks? I couldn't find it.

This is exactly how I would describe it. I have experience at the Orange County Maggiano's. I always order pasta, usually the linguine with clam sauce, and it always comes out al dente, well flavored sauce...decent. I think they do the basics pretty well, and the restaurant (at least the OC one) is comfortable, if somewhat loud. -edit Service has always been competent at whenever I have gone here. Also, I think the big portions really win people over. More is more, contrary to popular opinion.

In my library, I seem to remember books that show you how to make recipes that either copy well known products (that one that shows how to make your own twinkies, peanut butter cups, etc) or have copies of well known recipes from the back of the box. I think it's been done a lot, from different angles, but that doesn't mean that there isn't yet another angle to be found, on the subject.

I also trust the Golden touch. LA Weekly hasn't been the same for me since he left for Gourmet. Yeah, he does that Q&A, but not the same. Does this mean he's back?

can do the weekend of the 13-14 for Korean bbq. bu ga sounds great. most people here are in L.A. though, so maybe we should stick to L.A. places. i might check bu ga out tonight! thanks grandcru!

The Chinese also have at least one mother sauce, to my knowledge.

Yeah, I guess these are really common in Korea, because all my relatives save one have a kimchi refrigerator. I think they might even be selling them in L.A. now.

I love mooncakes, and when I read about Eastern Bakery in SF, I realized that was the place I have been getting them. I used to go there for sesame balls too, if I'm not mistaken. I am not Chinese (Korean) so I don't have the shroud of tradition to hold me to them. I eat them willingly, for the pleasure of eating them! I think it's the melon (seed?) ones that I get or maybe it was lotus paste. I don't remember, because I don't get them that often. I don't like the egg yolk kind.

Hey, tejon, let me know if you want company when you go. I've been meaning to check this place out myself.

Here in CA, I've seen burrito stands run by Koreans (it was actually pretty damn good!) Also, the sushi buffets are ruled by Koreans (Onami, Todai). I wonder if it's because it's easier to do Chinese or Japanese than to do Korean properly. Korean food itself seems to defy bastardization. How do you Americanize soondubu? Bibimbap? On the other hand, I found out there is a Korean sandwich place, in the Bay Area, somewhere near Fremont. You can allegedly get Korean barbequed beef on a bun there. *shudder* One of these days I'll have to go there and check out this senseless atrocity.

The Date Shack off PCH in Orange County.

Korean food is very popular where I am. We here in Los Angeles/Orange County are lucky enough to have thousands of Korean restaurants. So we don't have to go to ones with garbage piled in the front, although I have never seen that here. Ever. We have so many Korean people here that the restaurants are popping up all over the place. A bad Korean restaurant here will die fast. In Irvine, CA, where I live, Korean food seems to be very popular with...Chinese people. There's a soondubu restaurant (Gaju Soon Tofu) in the Chinese strip mall here that is totally packed, mostly with Chinese. There are a lot of Koreans too, but the Chinese are there in droves. The one time my Chinese boss took us to lunch, we went to a Korean soondubu place. My current fave is the Kaisong style restaurant Yongsusan. I like the starter soup they have there; it is somewhat expensive for a casual lunch/dinner though. It's light and more like the food actually served me in Korea. However, it probably wouldn't satisfy a big eater. When I was in Korean 2 years ago, I was astounded at the many types of Korean restaurants my extended family took me to. I went to vegetarian restaurants, Buddhist temple restaurant, this fabulous restaurant that had a multigrain rice that was light as a feather, with little round grains of black wild rice. I went to small family joints, several sushi restaurants (not very good, as they insist on using fresh out of the water fish that has not had a chance to experience rigor mortis so the flesh is still chewy). I wanted to go to the street vendors, but we always drove past them. So I never tried toekkbokkie in its natural setting. There's even a buffet restaurant in Apkujongdong area where you can eat and drink all you want (even booze!) for the equivalent of $6. It was amazing. My uncle, 6'2", 72 years old and still a very big eater, goes there at least 3 times a week, even though he can easily afford pricier joints. I think some of the new style Korean food will trickle down to L.A. and then to the rest of the U.S., and perhaps more non-Koreans will find that Korean food is not all about barbecue, bibimbop and soft tofu.

my favorite gulab jamun comes from ambala sweets and spices in Artesia, CA. I also usually buy their jelabi (sp?), but it's not my favorite. They also have a lot of snacks and a pretty good masala dosa, esp for the price (I think $2).

It's Juliano's and it's in L.A. Demi Moore is a regular, supposedly. Juliano's

I always get excited about gardening in the spring but then my interest wanes to almost nothing in the fall. I don't understand why, there are so many things to plant (after this heat wave dies down): yellow and orange carrots, yellow,striped and red beets, peas, snow peas, snap peas, potatoes (!), lettuces. I don't care for chard, but I'm going to try broccoli from seed (romanesco). I have at least $100 worth of seed that I bought this year. I get a little frenetic when I see something I like. Right now, Martha Stewart seeds at KMart is 40% off, so I bought a couple packets, even though I don't need them. Also, I used to trade seeds with other sad addicts at gardenweb.com In the spring I use up space in our server room to grow my little plants. The computers keep the little buggers warm during the cool months of Jan and Feb. Next year, I think I'll plant more of the Sungold cherry tomatoes. They totally rock. My boyfriend sits on the ground and eats them right off the bush. Well, so do I, actually. My favorites are Sungold cherry tomato, and Rond de Nice squash. What a wonderful squash that is. Productive and delicious. Also, I love the persian cucumbers. I really liked Celebrity cuke, and Summer dance cuke. It's a long Japanese variety. Next year, I'm trying Amira. Everyone seems to like it. Next year, I won't be planting so many tomato varieties though. I planted 13 varieties and it was just too much. Sudduth Brandywine is a keeper. Italian Gold as well. I hated Pink Ping Pong. Not that thrilled with the Santa grape either.

I'm on a diet so I had whole wheat tube pasta with roasted garlic marinara and diced up green onions. It was actually pretty good. Oh yeah, and 3 Nonni's biscotti and Earl Grey tea. That probably wiped out the calorie savings.

I was thinking this would be funnier in NY. Here, I sometimes wonder if people would even notice. They'd go, eh it's just another L.A. wacko. I mean, I like the L.A. wackos, but Californians inherently lack a distinct code of behavior. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I often order dessert with dinner. And I eat it with my dinner. I just tell everyone I'm Pennsylvania Dutch and this is part of my seven sweets and sours.

Tuesday night I made jumbo shrimp and scallops in green curry sauce, extra lime on top (I like that for some reason) with sauteed greenbeans, and just for the hell of it, some peas. I had it all over brown jasmine rice from Trader Joes. The rice, according to package instructions was very dry so I'll add more water to the rice cooker next time.

Well, it looks like everyone can do it for a weekday lunch except me. Oh well. Maybe next time. --edit-- I would pay money to see someone ask for pastrami with mayo, hold the mustard, on white bread with the crusts cut off.

Well, lucky for you, you have Polly's for coffee.

This place has been written up as an awesome chocolate place. I happened to be in Del Mar to eat at the very well hidden Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I had some time to kill after dinner, so I went to Encinitas in search of Chuao Chocolatier. I ordered the 9 piece box and basically filled it with an assortment. I would normally get one or two of everything, but for some reason, I didn't this time. Good choice. When we got home, half of the pieces were filled with an inexplicable grittiness. Also, the flavors were muted, although they do use dark chocolate, el rey. Somehow it tasted harsh and not very good. The only really good piece was their nutella piece. They think they're being very innovative by putting all sorts of weird spices and teas in their chocolate pieces, but in my opinion, they couldn't pull it off. However, I did get a box of the fruit pates (10 for $6.50 I think). They were quite good. Softer somehow than usual. Lush against the tongue. Unfortunately, they only have 2 flavors. All in all, not worth a drive to San Diego. But if you're in the area, can you buy me a box of fruit pates and I'll pay you back?

Hehe, you're a funny guy.

Recently, I made the brash declaration that Langer's has better pastrami than the New York joints. (looking over my shoulder as I write this) Here's the thread where I made my risky statement Brash Langer's endorsement I'm going to NY in a couple of months to reaffirm my heretical beliefs. JFinLA suggested that maybe some others may be interested. Good idea! You should never eat pastrami alone.

Hey how bout I put this in the California forum. Sweeeett.