The Shed - Santa Fe, New Mexico

Address: 113 1/2 E Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Items Ordered:

• Chicken Enchilada Plate - Fresh baked chicken, cheddar cheese & onion rolled in two blue corn tortillas & baked with red and green chile. Served with posole.
• Shed Salsa and Tortilla Chips
• Half Jug of Sangria
• Tacos Plate

We visited New Mexico for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, but we wanted to visit other parts of the state. Decided on visiting the state capital for a few hours to enjoy some Southwestern cuisine. New Mexico is know for their red & green chile - I opted for both options (they call it Christmas). I loved my enchiladas plate - everything was so hot and flavorful. I am glad I chose both the red and the green so I got to experiment with both. I slightly preferred the red over the green, but both were great! The chips and salsa started the meal just perfectly, along with the glass of sangria. The wait was pretty long, but we just walked around to the markets while we were waiting. If you're ever in the area, you've got to stop by here!

--v

The Park - West Los Angeles, California

Address: 1400 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Items Ordered:

• Fresh Orange Juice
• Marian's Frittata - wild mushrooms, spinach, onion & gruyere served with toast & home fries
• Side of Spicy Italian Sausage
• Arlene's Breakfast - half french toast, 2 eggs & soyrizo

Weekends are made to enjoy a nice, relaxing brunch. Headed out to the LA neighborhood of Echo Park to visit the Park, a cute little cafe off of Sunset Boulevard. There was no meat in the Frittata, so I opted for a side of sausage to go along with it. Yum! Each item on my plate went so well together. The Frittata was a great blend of mushrooms, eggs, onion and spinach and I really wanted to finish everything on my plate but it was just too much. Everything was topped off with a fresh orange juice - now that's what you call brunch!

--v

DineLA Restaurant Week - Nobu - West Hollywood, California

Address: 903 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069-4709

Items Ordered:

• Mango Cocktail
• Family Style DineLA Menu
• Course 1: Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno
• Course 2: Salmon New Style Sashimi (With Sesame Seeds)
• Course 3: Peruvian Lantern Scallops Tempura with Yuzu Koshio, Roasted Garlic Aioli
• Course 4 (Part 1): Black Pepper Crusted Beef Tenderloin with Truffle Teriyaki
• Course 4 (Part 2): Chilean Sea Bass with Jalapeno Miso
• Course 5: Dessert - Bento Box, Froyo, and Banana Caramel Soy Tobanyaki

I have been eating VERY well. DineLA Restaurant week happens twice every year and it features restaurants all over LA with special Prix Fixe menus at 3 different price tiers. Really, its just an excuse to indulge at ridiculously expensive restaurants. Nobu was the choice of the night and boy was it amazing! We chose to do the family style menu that was special to Nobu - every course was so tasty. My favorite was Course 2 - the Salmon Sashimi, but everything else was so delicious too! Since the portions were small, I made sure to savor every bite I took. From the yellowtail and salmon sashimi, to the scallops, to the beef tenderloin, to the sea bass, it truly was culinary heaven. I'm not a big desserts person, so I'd say those were just okay. Hmm...when can I go back?!

--v

Newport Tan Cang Seafood Restaurant - San Gabriel, California

Address: 518 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776

Items Ordered:

• Ong choy
  
• Clams with black bean sauce
  
• Beef loc lac (French style)
  
• 8-lb whole lobster with ginger and onions
  
• Deep fried tofu
  
• Crispy fried squid with salt and pepper
  

Whenever I get the craving for authentic Chinese food, I will sacrifice my sanity and sit in L.A. traffic on the long arduous trek to San Gabriel Valley or Monterey Park/Alhambra for the good stuff. On this visit I was more willing b/c I have been waiting to try Newport Seafood Restaurant for over a year. If you visit their website on Yelp you will see pictures of glistening delicious lobsters and even a 13.5 lb monster lobster! The lobster that arrived at our table looked spectacular and even though it weighed in at almost 8 lbs, it was so delicious that our table of 7 finished it all off. The clams with black bean sauce and beef loc lac was satisfying with rice and the vegetables were oily and garlicky just the way I like them. As far as the deep fried tofu and crispy fried squid, they were good, but I could do without them in my regular repertoire. Newport Seafood is the type of great, authentic Chinese restaurant that even my parents would love.

--y

Torafuku - West Los Angeles, California

Address: 10914 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064

Items Ordered:

• Fresh homemade tofu with grated wasabi and light soy sauce
• Udon and sushi dinner: udon soup, salad, 1 piece each of tuna, yellowtail, salmon, albacore, assorted tempura and side dish of the day
• Kamado rice set with miso soup
• Spicy tuna roll, rainbow roll, negi toro (chopped fatty tuna with scallions)

Connie had heard good things about Torafuku, especially the Kamado iron pot used to cook the rice and the homemade tofu so off we went for our long 2-mile drive to the restaurant. The interior was well-decorated, and when the dishes arrived, the plating was arranged in a cute manner. After the first taste of the highly-raved about Kamado rice, I didn't understand the hype--it just tasted like regular sticky rice but nothing spectacular stood out from the cooking process. The homemade tofu was pretty tasty, but it had a hint of sweetness so we decided to eat the tofu as dessert instead of during the meal. The BEST part of the meal had to be the sashimi. Each piece of fish was so buttery and smooth that I couldn't wait to take my next bite. We even ended up ordering an additional rainbow roll. Overall, the quality of the fish at Torafuku is amazing, and I would save my money for the fresh-tasting sashimi/sushi choices at Torafuku over the superfluous items.

--y