plan check on sawtelle is now open!

Always thought CH can carry more Yelp angst. And also be more of a dating site.

No, we took the moral/passive aggressive high road of tipping 20%+.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

plan check on sawtelle is now open!

Service (server: Ryler? Yah, I'm calling you by name, you obnoxious, unservicing, condescending, righteous tool) was probably the worst I've experienced in LA so far in '12.

It was a weekend evening, after the dinner rush, nowhere near last call. Restaurant was humming along, but the buzz seemed to have cooled.

This dude clearly hated everyone in his section. He effed up checks, forgot to return for drink orders, didn't request busser to minimally provide silverware/water, and just copped major 'tude, then passed the blame when confronted. A neighboring table also ended up hating him. No apologies from the server, no compensatory action on the bill, no nothing. ~$55 for 2 drinks/3 apps later, we were a furious table.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Any good restaurants for moms & babies in Pasadena?

Congregation ale house.

The food's "OK", nothing to write home about (as is most of Pasadena), and not as good as the "other" beer pub in Pas, but there's plenty of outdoor bench seating, and they don't care if there are babies bouncing off the walls.

It's also an order-at-counter followed by bussed food kinda place, which really works because there won't be evil eyes constantly coming by to check on your self-conscious party.

More importantly, I don't know how others survive kids, but they have a very decent draft list, and nobody will judge you if your'e double fisting 10MO + an IPA. Of note: beer coasters can be rather entertaining for an infant.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best Take Out Dim Sum - SGV

Next you're gonna tell us you like leftover pizza.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Burnt ends etc.

Thanks.

So, totally not the same things ;)

Also, where to get burnt ends in LA besides Kansas City (style?) BBQ in NoHo: http://www.kcet.org/socal/food/midnight-snack/midnight-snack-the-kansas-city-bbq-company-with-derek-houck.html
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/745053 ?

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Burnt ends etc.

I was under the impression burnt ends and "rib tips" are NOT the same things?

Can a BBQ expert chime in?

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

FOODIE ON A DIET :( ... Need Healthy Restaurants

Cabbage Patch/Food52 (which is also coming to West LA), and +1 True Food Kitchen -- surprisingly tasty).

But really, beyond fatty-fat places like Oinkster/Animal/Umamicatessen, it's not about the restaurant, it's about self-control, blah blah blah.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best Take Out Dim Sum - SGV

LOLz & a +1

Yum Cha and "Best" in the same thead is the oxymoron of the day.

With that, also +1 on chandavkl's Capital Seafood to-go rec.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best noodle soups in San Gabriel Valley?

Mrs. He of DSW, the Tianjin lady that I got to know best at DSW, has returned to China. Monterey Park is the new Dongguan. IIRC, her son was having a hard time finding employment, and life was generally rather difficult.

I've sent a note to someone who might know Eric Lam's whereabouts, but haven't heard back.

Also, can we talk about how absolutely horrid Doe Jon Station has become? I mean, that stuff is just despicable, with Garage Restaurant being the only Chinese breakfast place serving food that is more vile.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Last Meal in LA? Leaving after 20 Years

Indeed Chicago has many a delis. And Italian beef. And jerk chix. Ribs. Fantastic nouveux Mex. Solid Thai options. Armenian/Polish, blah blah blah.

What it doesn't have: Vietnamese/Chinese food (I don't care if Tony Lu opens his 10th restaurant), omakase, the beach(es).

Combine JL & linus's posts -- pound omakase lunches for a week, Chinese/Vietnamese dinners for a week. Take beer to Huntington Beach, sit with the kids & drink.

Lake-effect snow was so, so depressing.

And may I suggest LTHforum ? Fantastic folks.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

H & H Restaurant Opens In Monterey Park

Thanks for giving them a try. Don't know how much longer they'll last there. Pretty sure chandavkl can verify that spot is basically haunted.

To answer your post ( http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/682322#7356164 ). Yes, the Lanzhou noodles/skewers menu were clearly added well after the restaurant was opened last summer. In fact, (I'm too lazy to check the records) pretty sure the joint has already been flipped since July. Hence, the noodle/skewers menu only in Chinese. Sorry about that, I should've mentioned.

Don't know what else to order here, not sure I'd go back for anything else. The pan-Northern Chinese menu is just too scary. Someone else can take it for the team? FWIW, prefer these Lanzhou-style -- in case someone questions "authenticity" ala whether JTYH is actually Shanxi -- over the Malan noodles of similar thickness. There's a certain opagueness in these noodles that call out to me.

If "kevin"'s reading: the Lanzhou la mian are available in:
Red Braised Beef Noodle Soup
Red Braised Beef Tendon Soup
Beef Tendon Soup (clear broth)
Sichuan-style Dan Dan Mian
Zha Jiang Mian
Mixed Seafood Noodle Soup

The stir fried noodle odub ordered appears nowhere. To add to the obfuscation, the take-out menu clearly touts: "knife-cut noodles", while the noodle menu writes: "Lanzhou la-mian". IDFK.

[edit: after staring and thinking about these noodles for the last 10 min, I think I'll take the Chowchickie back for zha jiang mian. She loves that isht. I do not. But a dry/tossed noodle will feature the carb strands upfront without having to deal with the shat soup]

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Bludso's Texas Sampler - will it hold?

Call ahead, call ahead, call ahead.

It'll hold for hours and hours.

Since you'll be stuck in traffic, why not stop off at Randolph's as well? If it's a Friday, there will be fantastic ribs that bears a comparison.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

101 Noodle Express - Culver City????

Since we're all about bumpin' up (some rather ancient) noodle threads today:

http://kuishinbomeow.blogspot.com/2007/01/malan-noodles.html

Peripatetic, someone should've answered you re: "authentic"/"real" hand pulled noodles eons ago.

Malan, since they opened, have always employed Latino noodle-pullers. I don't know if that qualifies as "true", but that's neither here nor there.

If pulled by hand, "shou la mian, if shaved by blade, "dao xiao" mian. Ain't flying into Lanzhou anytime soon, so I feel rather freaking fortuitous we have so many options in LA as is.

Old chow threads:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/771014
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/656045#6224874
etc.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best noodle soups in San Gabriel Valley?

FWIW, confirmed ex-owners of Tay Do Quan Hy will NOT re-open elsewhere.

I know no one cares, but to this day, I wonder where Pho Le Loi boys went.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best noodle soups in San Gabriel Valley?

http://www.yelp.com/biz/h-and-h-monterey-park
429 W Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754

It was a Sichuan style restaurant late last year, then it switched to Dong Bei cuisine, then it added Lanzhou noodles & skewers (but still apparently kept the Sichuan menu).

All kinds of schizo fo sho, but the hand pulled "pasta" would impress even the most ardent Italian noodle freaks.

If they can throw these actual "ramen" into a bowl of Jidaiya's tonkotsu miso , I wouldn't have to eat another bowl of noodles again in '12.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

800 Degree Pizza Falls Flat

Ha.

I'm ok with 800deg stocking boxes. When there are no seats, how else will you be able to eat the pizza while standing on the sidewalks of Lindbrook?

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best gourmet ice cream and patisserie?

Briefly mentioned here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/827331#7063586

Very "I'ci"-esque flavor combos, quality base, great mouth feel ("not overwhelmingly rich"), nicest proprietor (inspired by the SF ice cream scene, as well as DLebovitz). I much prefer it over Carmela & the rather vomitous Sweet Rose.

But that location, and the lack of PR, means LA will still flock to the unsavory Yelp favorite even after Neveux shutters.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Last Meal in LA? Leaving after 20 Years

When I left LA for Chicago ~ a decade ago, my last meal, w/ the trailer in tow, was at Roy's. Don't make the same mistake.

Thank god I came back. Hope you will too.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Sunday brunch near Disney Hall?

KTCHN105, at its old loft/garden space, was quaint, cute, with blah food. Best thing was the pickled pepper that accompanied the bloody mary. Now that they're "popping up" at Gorbals, I find the remaining reason to go is that bloody mary, and maybe the juice bar.

I'd counter with MF Gourmet. It's a 10min walk from Disney, and you get to take Angel's flight up. The pastries are delightful, and they have cute counter seating. No bottomless mimosas though, obviously.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Help with choosing 1 of 3

For celebratory purposes, I'd much rather do O. Mozza than pizza. Pizza & crostinis don't shout "hey look at me, I graduated, and I shall rid you of your angst."

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

800 Degree Pizza Falls Flat

Not fast enough. One should finish a 800deg pie in the time it takes from oven to campus. It doesn't travel, at all. I try to eat the first slice before the pizza even hits the table.

Forget the hype, look at the product -- $9 pizza with quality toppings that doesn't involve industrial pepperoni. The fact Lamonica was mentioned means someone missed the "point".

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Why aren't eggs more prevalent in traditional Chinese/Taiwanese breakfasts?

Man tou jia dan and dan bing are 2 of the most commonly observed breakfast items in China, doesn't matter the region, doesn't matter the variation. Egg flower dou jian is also a common variation that can be seen all over, even at a po-dunk road side shack. Taiwanese modern breakfast sandwiches have been made with fried egg & ham for decades now.

I don't think the thread title holds true -- eggs are everywhere, just not served American short order style.

TonyC in General Chowhounding Topics

New Farmers' Market in Pasadena Playhouse District opened last Wednesday

Spenser Farm was telling me the newish asphalt was roasting them alive and it's best to come around dusk.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Sweethome Grill Opens Up In San Gabriel

Thanks to motivation provided by "bulavinaka" in this post: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/847925#7349909 , made it to Sweethome for a nooner. And she was nice.

After seeing the "knife-cut"-ish noodles, I asked the waitress if they were hand made, and she confirmed with "hand-pulled". Don't know about y'all, but these do NOT look like hand-pulled noodles. Whatevs, they were tasty, albeit inconsistently cooked. Definitely not as Q as the H&H Langzhou specimen.

Call me gringo, but I really enjoyed the clean/crisp/mundane-modern decor (carried over from Taste of Bangkok), and the genuinely pleasantly waitstaff that offered a completely different experience from Shen Yang/Northern Style. Prices are in line with Shaanxi Gourmet, and they also serve lamb pao mo for those chasing that dish.

The skewers aren't that offaly (they didn't have chicken ass), but there's lamb kidney to go with the chicken gizzard. Kokekokko, this isn't, though the cold pork tongue, grilled "man tou" and 5 color cold "lian pi" will definitely bring me back.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best gourmet ice cream and patisserie?

Also, where else in WSGV will you get Intelli powered espresso?

I love Oh My Pan as a neighborhood biz & a cordon bleu trained pastry guy, but Cloverleaf... I wish they'd open one south of the 10.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Jeni's ice cream, now in Bristol Farms, Silverlake

My apologies. Good to know.

Does NOT change the fact that Jeni's has to travel 2200 mi to LA...

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Jeni's ice cream, now in Bristol Farms, Silverlake

GEEBUZ.

At that price, support your local creamery.

Also, Jeni's uses cornstarch. No thanks, I can make purer ice cream at home.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Best gourmet ice cream and patisserie?

As great as the croissants may be, Proof's savories are more compelling (for me). The "strata", the chive/gruyere biscuit & the quiches, despite the fact they don't pair well w/ the CogCoffee, is even tastier than the morning rolls/lemon bars, etc.: http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/01/review_proof_bakery_atwater_village_proof_is_in_the_pudding_tarts_strata.php

TonyC in Los Angeles Area

Can someone verify the Edison happy hour deal?

It's just 1 $.35 "martini" per person. Nothing after.

TonyC in Los Angeles Area