Recently in Restaurant Reviews Category

Photos by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.

Sun 10.04.09 - Today Jeremy and Jessica took me to brunch at i gigi's cafe on Western Rd on Hove, Josh Russell and Nik F met us there for a truly delightful brunch.

The food was a fresh riff off the usual breakfast and brunch foods. Each dish was well considered and beautiful as well as tasty. The best part is that each of the servers prepared the dishes on the sideboard right next to us. Fresh. Tasty. Moderately DIY.

Now when is i gigi going to open a Long Beach, Calif. cafe? ;o)

[posted with permission from Black Phoebe :: Ms. Jen, by me (Jenifer Hanen).]

[Re-posted from Black Phoebe :: Ms. Jen with express permission.]

Thurs. 03.26.09 - This afternoon, my Mom and I walked over to Seal Beach's Main Street to try out the new Vietnamese restaurant, Phở Basil Leaf. I had been watching the arrival of a Vietnamese place with trepidation, as I am so spoiled with being less than 15 minutes away from the mecca of Vietnamese food - Westminster and Garden Grove's Little Saigon. My trepidation was further fueled by the menu that Phở Basil posted in the window of the storefront just a few buildings closer to the Seal Beach pier from O'Malley's.

The posted menu seemed to be Americanized Vietnamese. Instead of the usual Phở menu of about 10-15 different variations of beef phở, there were only four listed: beef, chicken, pork and tofu. I have never, in 25+ years, of going to authentic Vietnamese restaurants seen a tofu phở on a menu before.

As a dedicated cha gio bún (Bún chả giò) fan, to see that the only bún options were in beef, chicken, pork and tofu, made me think, "Ugh, the attack of Americanized Chinese-Vietnamese food. Ugh."

Even though Phở Basil Leaf opened over 6 weeks ago, I was waiting to try it out. Waiting for my Mom to be available, so that if the restaurant was dull and Americanized, then my Mom could not force me to go again.

Luckily for us, Phở Basil Leaf was good to surprisingly fresh. The "Summertime Spring Rolls" (as seen above) were fresh and delightful. My Mom declared them the best she has had in years, I thought they were good. My pork bún was good, but not nearly fish sauce-y or basil-y enough. My Mom liked her beef phở.

Phở Basil Leaf is good, but given the immense amount of competition within 7-15 miles, I would love to see them step up their game and aim for a wider variety of authentic Vietnamese and not just dumbed down for Seal Beach's Main Street.

Phở Basil Leaf, give me some rice wrapped pork (not chicken) chả giò for my bun with a big basil & fish sauce kick. Where is the beef phở with meatballs, beef marrow, and fish balls?

Phở Basil Leaf, challenge us. Seal Beach's Main Street is not Main Street America, but a main street in the most diverse metropolitan area in the world, we can not only handle kick ass Vietnamese, but we will drive for it.

Phở Basil Leaf
136 Main St
Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 493-1046

hi, i'm hadashi, and i'm a Skratch addict.
(we love you, hadashi!)

okay, the lunch scene here in the downtown o' my formerly humble CC 'hood is getting more crowded than a good surf break on a holiday weekend. not that i'm complaining; i'm spoiled for choice. but i have to say, Skratch definitely stands out in the soup 'n sammich 'n salad category.

i could go on and on about the swoony deliciousness of the mushroom & brie soup or the ridiculous tastiness of either roasted pork sandwich, but i won't. i'll just tell you that for mere dollars, you can experience fresh, high-quality, creative food that will make your mouth thank you. sure, some of the choices may seem a little pedestrian, but thanks to some great flavour mixing, the taste will not be. for example, get a turkey sandwich/salad (all selections can be ordered as either a salad or a sandwich), and hey! those are Bing cherries and fennel! or that pork -- so nicely complemented by figs. or a jicama slaw. and yes, you should splurge on the oatmeal cookie. you will not be sad about that, either.
we also like that besides using as much locally-grown stuff as possible, Skratch also tries to be nice to Earth by using very minimal packaging, mostly all recyclable.

3867 Hughes Ave
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 558-3400
www.skratchbasics.com

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

The food at Open Sesame, on 2nd Street in Long Beach, is excellent. Tart, tangy, and amazing.

Unfortunately, the last few times I have eaten there, I have had a bad allergic reaction to something, not sure what it is. The last two times, I have mixed up my order or tried something that I have not tried before, but still a very bad reaction. Thus, I recommend Open Sesame to all the rest of you, but I can't eat there any more. So sad.

Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N82.

Seal Beach's new wine bar, The Wine Cellar, has a good selection of wines by the glass at very reasonable prices, plus half glasses if you feel like grazing through several wines, as well as food and wine for sale. The Wine Cellar is an excellent addition to the restaurant scene, not just in Seal Beach, but Long Beach and Huntington Beach.

The Wine Cellar has at any time 5-7 white and red wines available by the glass or half glass on top of wines by the bottle and for sale by the bottle. Every time I have gone in, there has always been a wine that surprised or delighted me.

There are cheese and charcuterie plates available, as well as appetizers, salads, paninis, and a few entrees. I usually bring my own rice crackers and get the "Soft Flight" of cheese (a small treat-cheat) and a charcuterie plate with Jamon or Prosciutto and whatever other sausage that looks good. If I forget to bring gluten-free crackers, then the nice folk at the Wine Cellar are always willing to give me extra apple or pear slices to put my cheese on.

I have not really ventured into the other food items as most of them are pretty gluten-full or involve bread, but my family and friends who have ventured into the menu have loved their dinners. The big favorite is the wild mushroom panini.

My only complaint about the Wine Cellar is the service. On busy nights they are usually short a server and every time I have visited it takes some time for a server to come and greet you. While the food and wine is excellent, it can be an exercise in frustration to wave down a server to order, order more wine, or get the check. My advice is to either go for lunch or if at night - sit at the bar, as all the servers have to come there to get the wine and are thus easy to waylay.

Main Street Wine Cellar
302 Main St
Seal Beach, CA 90740
(562) 430-3200

i first heard about Abraham Partamian, Armenian Baker because of this happy-ending story reported in the L.A. Times. basically, Mr. Partamian got himself a reputation for making the most kick-ass, deliciously authentic lahmajune (think "like a pizza") around -- the Armenian community would drive for miles to get it. his assistants were two boys from Zacatecas, who went to work for Partamian over 25 years ago. they learned all his recipes, made everything perfectly, and became like sons to him. so when Partamian died recently, he left everything -- the bakery building & its contents -- to the two Mexicans. no one contested this; in fact, it seems everyone was really pleased since it meant there would be no end to the deliciousness made there. so of course, when we returned from a trip to Turkey (now there's some food posting i need to do), we decided to finally go try the Partamian specialty. (while their people may not be on the best terms with one another, the food of Armenia and Turkey do share the same roots.)

although the deli case offers a variety of meats & cheeses, the item to get really is the lahmajune. the hot, fresh flatbread spread with a tasty mixture of ground lamb, bell peppers, and spices is possibly one of the yummiest $1.75 purchases you can make in this often overpriced town. and trust me on this one: get at least two, because you WILL want more after eating the first one. we usually get six, bring them home, and devour them immediately between the two of us. (personal fave: compliment the lahmajune meal with hot tea, Middle Eastern style, and a fresh apple. hits the spot every time.)
there's a table in front, and a refrigerator with drinks, so if you want to eat on the premises, you can. it's clean and friendly; there's plenty of street parking. you can also buy halva, Armenian cracker bread, and baklava if you so desire.

5410 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016
(323) 937-2870
hours: Mon. - Sat. 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.; closed Sunday

Sun 07.13.08 - This weekend my Dad was in town visiting from Arizona, actually more like escaping the 110+ degree temperatures in Parker. On Sunday he wanted to go to Casa Vino on Pine Street in Downtown Long Beach for a light supper and wine.

I have known that this wine bar has been in existence for over two years, but have been very reluctant to go there, as the menu on the website was/is very unfriendly to gluten-free folk.

We did go and I was able to find a few of the tapas that were free of at least overt gluten. In the above shrimp dish, my dad ate the bread and I ate the spinach & shrimp.

The wine was good, not as pricey as the reviewers on Yelp would lead one to believe. The staff was friendly and down home. The only thing that bummed me out was the menu and the fact that everything was pre-prepped, pulled out of a ziplock baggie, and then heated up by the staff fellow doing the duties in the kitchen.

If Casa Vino's emphasis is wine, fine. But it would be lovely if they had a menu that was cooked fresh, was seasonal, and had more true Spanish tapas offerings.

The space was lovely and comfy even though with thoroughly modern interior. Another fine addition would be free wireless internet (wifi) for the happy hour crowd.

Photo of today's lunch taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia n95

Tues 07.08.08 - Ever since Julie Wanda introduced me to India Sweets and Spices in the Fall of 2000, I have been in love. I love the hot food counter at this great little Indian grocery store in Tustin.

My first love at India Sweets and Spices was the Spring Dosa, a dosa (large rice / lentil crepe) with fresh vegetables folded into a nice triangle. Then the guy who made the Spring Dosas left for parts unknown. I lamented but moved onto ordering the Masala Dosa every time I went for lunch at India Sweets and Spices. Then a year or two later, all Dosas were cut from the menu. Shock, horror, leaving me to the regular lunch special.

Then I started driving to Udupi Palace in Artesia for my South Indian dosa fix (although I really don't like the Spring Dosa at UP), but for every day lunches, I kept returning to India Sweets and Spices for their lovely, cheap, veggie hot lunches. Each day they offer a rotating selection of 6 veg and pulses choice from the hot buffet.

India Sweets and Spices is the main place for my Pea-a-Palooza festivals as they regularly serve peas & cheese (Mattar Paneer), as well as Potatoes and Peas. Most of all I like the surprise of showing up and looking at the six lunch hot choices, choosing two for my $4.99 plate which will also include rice, raita, fresh crunchy veg plus a lime pickle or two.

Due to my gluten-free life, I usually get a rice/lentil papad or two instead of the wheat-ful chapati or poori. The nice folks who run the lunch counter at India Sweets and Spices in Tustin are very accommodating about substitutions.

The best part is the six picnic tables of which one eats at in the middle of the grocery store. When it is busy, the proprietors sometimes will ask you to share a table. I met Scruffy's vet, Dr. Kali of North Tustin Veterinary Clinic, here about 4 years ago at lunch while sharing a table.

India Sweet and Spices has good hot food, great prices, and it can be sociable as well.

India Sweet and Spices, Tustin
14441 Newport Avenue
Tustin, Ca 92780
(714) 731-2910

All Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N95 camera with permission from the nice folk at the Beef Palace

Thurs 07.03.08 - My Mom's cousin, Lynn, has been raving about the Beef Palace in the old school 1960s shopping center (with cantilever roof!) on the NW corner of Warner Ave and Springdale in Huntington Beach. Lynn started raving about the Beef Palace about a decade or so ago when she lived out in the high desert about 3 hours from the Beef Palace.

While Whole Foods Markets' butchers may get good reviews for being the last of the real butchers actually cutting the meat in the same supermarket in which it is sold, the Beef Palace is the last of the *great* old school independent butchers in SoCal cutting and processing the meat they sell. There are a few others, esp. your local Carniceria, but the Beef Palace is multiple cuts above the fray.

Many of the meat scares and recalls have come from meat that has been butchered and packaged up at a large factory in __insert_name_of_industrial_town_space before it is shipped, sometimes thousands of miles, to your local market. I have been consistently making a choice against listeria and e. coli for years by buying my meat at the last of the remaining local butchers who process all of their meat in house (be it the Beef Palace or Whole Foods or the great little butcher in La Mirada whose name I have forgotten) rather than purchase meat packaged in plastic & foam at the supermarket that was most likely butchered very far away and many days ago.

I love the quality of the meat at the Beef Palace and the price. Both today and in mid-June, I was able to purchase an 8" long, 4-5" in diameter, good old fashioned style boneless pork roast with lots of marbling, of which I can't find that at the supermarket or Trader Joe's, for under $15! Hello! Happy Days. The pork roasts from the Beef Palace come with a good 1/4 - 1/2" of fat on one side, making the roast very moist even when cooked to the recommended incineration for pork.

What I appreciate most about the Beef Palace, beyond the amazing selection of meat cuts that can't even be found at the big Whole Foods, beyond the crowded meat related kitsch decor, is the friendliness and helpfulness of all the staff. And then there are the free potatoes at the check out stand...

Go Beef Palace Go!

The Beef Palace
5895 Warner Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
(714) 846-0044