No, BUT I discovered their take-out. It's great--we don't get nickeled and dimed (25 cents for water?!) and we can get downright nasty with those buggers in the comfort of our own home!

My in-laws from Ireland and France are meeting us in San Francisco for a week and then we are all driving down to Los Angeles. There will be 10 of us + my two toddlers. Having spent way too much time reading this board this morning and yesterday, I realize that I'm looking for good food that meets really specific criteria:

1. someplace that can fit all of us without a long wait (see toddlers)

2. food that may not be as good in LA, where we'll be spending a week. I don't mean to start a flame war but LA has plenty of good Chinese (all regions), Korean, Mexican, and South American (Mo-Chica is a current favorite of mine). From what I've read, it seems Italian is getting hot in San Francisco. I will admit we do not have a lot of good Italian and only 1 or 2 good pizza places. I already plan to go to the Ferry Bldg as we do not have something comparable in LA.

3. reasonably priced--about $40 a person for our splurge meal and preferably less than $20 per person for regular meals. These people have already spent $$$$ to get over here and 1/2 of the crowd are students...

We are staying near 24th and Judah St. so have access to the MUNI. Any help is much appreciated!

The food is only okay but you will hit your price point and get extra points for a cool looking underground place at Bar Fu-Ga on San Pedro. http://www.izakayafu-ga.com/

Yep! They have it at the Marukai in Little Tokyo. It's waaay down at the bottom of the shelf and the stock is not extensive, but it's there. I've also seen it in a store in K-Town. It's on Olympic with a Lee's Electronics Store in the same mini mall. Sorry, I don't know the name. Have never seen it in SGV.

So, I went to the Boiling Crab in Alhambra the other night and waited 2 hours for a table! 2 hours! Never again. But I still loved the food. Can anyone tell me what goes into one of those "whole shebang" deals? I'm guessing a stick of butter per pound of shrimp with old bay seasoning and some limes and a mess of garlic. Not being from the South, I'm at a loss as to what else should go in there. Can anyone give me a good approximate recipe for, say, 2 lbs of shrimp? Thanks!

We just finished a gut job remodel of our kitchen and bought all our appliances from Absolute Appliances. They are family owned and will price-match. Edward was really knowledgeable and never tried to give me the hard sell. He gave me the prices and then let me go out and see if I could do better. I couldn't.

http://www.absoluteappliances.com/

This is a great post and I thought I'd add to it having recently returned from Paris. We stumbled on L'Ecurie near the Parthenon one Saturday night at 8 pm. We didn't think there was a hope of getting a table, especially since there were 6 of us, but the owner could not have been nicer. He directed us down a steep flight of stairs to a vaulted cellar, probably dating to the middle ages, with a bunch of tables and benches and lots of lively people eating steak and drinking wine. The set menu, to our immense surprise, was 3 courses for 17.50 Euros!! That included a salad or pate starter, a grilled meat with fries entree and a dessert. I ordered the tomato salad, Bravette (?) steak au poivre (for an extra 2 Euros) and the creme caramel. Others ordered the entrecote and chocolate mousse. Everything was great. We couldn't believe our luck.

L'Eurie
2 rue Laplace, 75005 Paris, France

First, the article did note that the type of whale they were serving was endangered.
With regard to your point, I think that it is not always a matter of hypocrisy as a matter of ignorance. It's hard to keep track of all the endangered/unsustainably raised fish out there even with the lists provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, etc. Besides, I haven't seen Chilean seabass or Patagonian toothfish anywhere in a long time. Consumer outrage, even if selective, makes a difference.

NY Times article about the filmmakers who won the Oscar for best documentary conducting a covert operation on the Hump in Santa Monica to show they illegally serve whale. It's hard to believe that they were so blatant about serving something illegal. Call me a cynic, but I would htink they would keep it for their regulars and not for two random people who happened to walk in. Has anyone come across this? I will not be patronizing the Hump anytime soon.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/us/...

I second Church and State. I really loved their bouillabaisse. It was like perfectly cooked seafood in lobster bisque.

FYI--Trader Joe's used to carry it and then stopped, much to my chagrin since it was the best jarred sauce I'd ever had. I recently saw it at Pavillions as a "new item" for $6.99. Pretty expensive for jarred sauce, but the ingredients (organic tomatoes, slivered garlic, olive oil and sea salt) appear to justify the expense. Still good, but saltier than I remembered. I fixed it by adding tomato paste and vino and some of the pasta water. I hope Vons has it on sale at some point.

So, I had a brain fart and bought a frozen turkey 2 weeks ago, thinking htat Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Well, it wasn't and now the turkey has defrosted. I put it in the coldest part of my fridge. Can I still roast it and eat it even though it will have been defrosted for over 20 days? Aside from health and safety issues, will it be any good? Or should I just go buy another turkey and cook this one already?

Fish King in Glendale always has ahi poke and I think the octopus one. They sometimes have other flavors on special.

Did you know there are flavors of that meaty treat called Spam? There's Bacon and Hot n Spicy (it's injected with Tabasco sauce!), to name two that I like. Alot. But I've only seen Hot n Spicy at the Marukai Market in Gardena. I live in Pasadena. You see the problem? Last time, I asked a friend to buy my five cans, thinking that would last me at least 5 months, but then my dad ate some at my house and took a can home and my aunt did too and before I knew it, I was down to 1 lonely can. Can anyone tell me where I can get it? I've looked at 168 and 99 Ranch in Alhambra with no luck. Forget about Ralphs and Vons.

I'd have to vote for Cole's for the lamb dip at least. They were handcarving the lamb and it was perfectly cooked (pink) with great au jus. And the bacon potato salad was great too. Parking is not a problem because I work 3 blocks from Cole's.

Last time I went to Phillipes, I thought the beef was too salty.

Really? It didn't look like it had much cream in it (it was darker than your usual). And I don't think it was fresh spinach. Too mushy.

So, went to Peter Luger for the first time this weekend. While the porterhouse was great, I was really taken by the creamed spinach. Does anyone have an inkling as to how it's made?

I've used their tuna and salmon to make poke. I recall it was about $10 a pound but the quality was pretty good. Can't tell you whether it would be as tasty as a sushi bar without the marination. But no one died or got sick so that's a good sign.

I know this is a LOOOOONG post but I couldn't help but add to it. My mom was never a good cook. She grew up in a rather wealthy home in Vietnam so she never had to learn anything domestic. Of course, all that changed when we arrived in a basement tenement in L.A. While she did try and some of the stuff she made was edible, my favorite memory is when she tried to make gravy from oyster sauce--"C'mon try it. It's brown like gravy. It's saucy like gravy. It's gravy!"

I can't remember the name of the place, but it is on the second floor of the building that houses Euro Pane. Great food and great atmosphere.

I usually buy at least 6-10 steaks when they are on sale and stick them in the freezer for probably 2-3 months without any problems. I wrap them individually in foil then ziplock bags and have not had any freezer burn. Just make sure to wrap them securely.

I love Pinkberry and its ilk, but I find the quantities to be daunting, especially since I usually get the stuff after some sort of meal. Which is to say that Yogurtland is the best option I've seen. I recently had dinner at Izayoi and we wandered over to Yogurtland afterwards. Boy, were we surprised by the variety. There are about 10 or so flavors. I had the pistachio (tastes like pistachio!) and the "tart plain" or something like that. Then, I put some blueberries over it with a couple of cheesecake bites (c'mon, I can't be good all the time). It's 30 cents an ounce and I watched these two girls pack a big cup full of toppings and 3 types of yogurt. Their total came out to $5, which is a steal considering how much it costs elsewhere.

So, 'hounds. Can anyone recommend place with a similar "by the ounce" philosophy in Monterey Park? I want to try that Noodle House reviewed by exilekiss recently. Thanks.

Oh yeah, I know they plan to open a Yogurtland on Valley, but the website says "coming soon" and I can't wait that long!

Went to one of those rubber chicken lunches. While the chicken was as predicted, the side of cous cous was fabulous. It had dried cranberries and pine nuts in it. I've been trying to find a recipe by using the words "cous cous, pine nuts and cranberries" to little success. It seems like it should be very easy to make. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

One of the best tuna bowls is in Little Tokyo called T.O.T. I don't know what TOT stands for but it's on 2nd Street in Little Tokyo Plaza. The bowl has a scoop of spicy tuna, some slices of tuna sashimi, a salad of greens and a scoop of rice. All for about $9.

I used the blender to puree the soup. And of course, I used Idahos. Oh, well, I will know better next time.

Well, I used a blender (that's what the recipe recommended). You think that may have been it? How else do you get it smooth, though?

Help! What do I do with gluey potato and leek soup? Can I thin it out with lots (I already tried some) of water/broth? Or do I just start over? What did I do wrong? I suspect I cooked it too long and then manhandled it. The flavor is good. I used ham hocks to make a broth, then added potatos and leeks sauteed in bacon grease.

So we just moved to South Pasadena and are really excited about how many good restaurants it has for the size of the city. But since we're now on a budget (accommodations in this city aren't cheap), can you all recommend any budget places in the area for us to try? I'm thinking specifically of El Sereno, Highland Park since Alhambra and Pasadena are so well covered in other posts.

Oh yeah, a friend of ours from Hong Kong is also visiting so I would like to take him someplace great but not too budget busting. And, no Chinese or other Asian for obvious reasons.

P and I went to Josie for their Monday corkage free night. We'd been to Josie before and P loved it. I, on the other hand, didn't remember hating it so I agreed to go. Anyway, we had an 8:15 reservation and were seated promptly in the backroom. The entire place was about 3/4 full. Service was very prompt, kind of too prompt. Like they were trying to rush us out without rushing us out. For example, teh amuse (mushroom/gruyere quiche--alright) came out almost immediately after we ordered. And then, the apps (wild mushroom sandwich and seppia w/ lentils--both fab) came out less than 5 minutes after we finished the tiny slice of quiche. All told, we had our amuse and apps within 15 minutes of sitting down! Now, I have to admit that the speed at which the apps were cooked (or reheated) did not detract from the taste, but it was kind of weird. We hadn't even really settled down yet and our wine didn't even have a chance to catch its breath, much less breathe. The portions were more than generous so by the time the entrees came around, I was already over halfway full.

For entrees, we had the shortrib tagine and the special papardelle with venison ragu. Both were really disappointing. The shortribs were overly cooked and very dry. The tagine sauce was a little too sweet for P and I would have to agree, but that may just be a matter of taste. The papardelle was better but the venison, which came in tiny pieces, was also really dry and overcooked. Needless to say, we did not finish either dish. I even wrote a little note in the comment card about how dry the shortrib tagine was (and complimented them on the apps, to be fair).

We ended with the cheese plate, to get over the disappointment of the entrees. Ona plus note, our wine was great and they decanted it for us, which was nice considering the no corkage fee thing. Total was $130 w/ tax.

All in all, will not be rushing back.

I wholeheartedly agree. On the current menu, there is a duck dish (mallard?) thta is indescribably good. I'd say it was even better than the beef cheeks.