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

Bouchon Bistro - Las Vegas, Nevada

Address: Inside the Venetian at 3355 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Items Ordered:

• Croque Madame: toasted ham & cheese on brioche, fried egg, mornay sauce
  
• Eggs Hussard: ham, tomato, poached egg atop bread with Marchand de vin sauce
  
• Omelette du Jour: crab, cherry tomato, and cheddar 3-egg omelette
  
• Bouchon French Toast: warm layers of brioche, custard, & apples with syrup
  

What better way to end an all-girls Vegas outing than a fancy schmancy brunch at Bouchon Bistro? The Croque Madame was well-prepared, except possibly too much fried goodness, and the crab omelette while good was nothing spectacular. The french toast though was warm and sugary, and delicious, but the Eggs Hussard was the clear winner, with runny egg yolk, ham, and tomato in each bite--like an eggs benedict but not as heavy.

Since girls always get their way, we also received an off-the-menu dessert of raspberry/vanilla push pops compliments of pastry chef Chris Herrin. Even better IMO was the free tour of the Bouchon Bistro kitchen where the magic happens! I left stuffed and satisfied and will definitely return to Bouchon Bistro to try the chicken and waffles and probably dinner too.

--y

Road to Seoul BBQ - Los Angeles, California

Address: 1230 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006

Items Ordered (All You Can Eat):

• Meats: pork belly (bacon style), kalbi (beef rib meat), chicken, bulgogi, beef sirloin, octopus, squid
  
• Side dishes: potato salad, kimchi, rice paper, salad, etc
• Larger side dishes: steamed egg, kimchi pancake

Road to Seoul, how do I love thee, let me count the ways. One, your meats are so flavorful and tender that my stomach is able to expand 10x beyond its normal capacity whenever I visit. Two, the steamed egg is probably the best food invention ever, and three, $16.99 for some of the best all-you-can-eat BBQ is just amazing.

If you can't tell, Road to Seoul is my absolute favorite Korean BBQ restaurant in SoCal. I've been to Tahoe Galbi, Chosun Galbee, Soot Bull Jeep, etc. and there's just no beating the fatty, crispy pork belly and tender, sweet/salty marinade of the kalbi at Road to Seoul. If you're going to fill up on something, skip the bulgogi and stick with the kalbi and pork belly. However, in a large group, I would expand with the chicken, which is super tender and flavorful and the beef sirloin. Oh yeah, don't forget to dip the pork belly in some salt otherwise it will still be crispy but flavorless.

Another of my favorites, which always seems to run out too fast, is the steamed egg. It's just steamed egg, but I could eat 2 whole bowls of it myself b/c it has this silky texture and great eggy flavor that is like soup but more substantial. Sometimes, I imagine going to Road to Seoul by myself so I don't have to share the steamed egg :(. But no worries, if you ask for more steamed egg, 20-30 minutes later they will bring you another steaming hot bowl. Why so long? Because Road to Seoul is the best, and that's the price you have to pay and line you have to wait in to experience exceptional Korean BBQ.

--y

Hakata Ramen Shinsengumi - Gardena, California

Address: 2015 W Redondo Beach Blvd, Gardena, CA 90247

Items Ordered:

• Hakata Ramen with chasu, spicy miso, bean sprouts
• Takana fried rice
• Cold tofu with bonito flakes

Ramen is delicious. I don't know if it's the loads of MSG or pork fat in the broth, but I'm always up for ramen even when it's 80+ degrees outside. My current roommate had recommended Hakata Ramen Shinsengumi (HRS) to me before we visited Daikokuya b/c she said it was her ultimate ramen destination. I arrived around 5:30p on a Sunday and luckily there was no line. I chose my medium-oil miso broth with firm noodles and added spicy miso for a kick. When the bowl arrived, I immediately took a sip of the broth and while it was rich, it wasn't as fatty and full of flavor as Daikokuya's miso broth. The chasu was tender and flavorful though, and the noodles were just the right firmness, however, I still prefer egg noodles over white noodles. Overall, the ramen was excellent, but Daikokuya is still the reigning ramen champion. If you visit HRS definitely get the fried rice b/c my sister and I managed to finish off a bowl of ramen each, tofu, and the fried rice b/c it was so tasty.

--y

Myung Don Kyo Ja - Los Angeles, California

Address: 3630 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90010

Items Ordered:

• Steamed pork dumplings
• Dumpling noodles
• Kim chi

Please excuse me for not having actual names of the dishes...I can't remember what they were called and I wasn't able to find a menu online! Anyway, I visited this place on my lunch break because it is only a couple minutes walk away. How could I have been working in Koreatown for a couple years now and not know about this place?? When you walk into the place, the aroma of garlic hits you immediately and once you taste the dishes, you understand why. Great flavorings in each dish. We eagerly devoured the dumplings and noodles and they were delicious! I can't wait to go back again! Oh, and did I mention its open 24 hours a day?? Move over 24 hour BCD Tofu House across the street (I still like you though)!

--v

Class 302 - Rowland Heights, California

Address: 1015 S Nogales St, Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Items Ordered:

• Mango shaved snow: mango snow, condensed milk, fresh mangoes, mochi
  

I LOVE LOVE LOVE (x 1,000,000) Class 302's shaved snow. It's the best I've had anywhere in the United States. The mango snow is soft, silky smooth, and really just melts in your mouth. The mangoes taste fresh, and mochi is probably my favorite topping for the sugary sweetness and sticky texture. I've had a few of their other flavors of shaved snow, and they are all fantastic. This place is not a very well-kept secret though, the lines are long, and after a certain time they might run out of shaved snow. However, it is totally worth it to visit. If I lived closer, I would probably go to Class 302 10 times a week!

--y