GoodEatz's Profile
Where can I buy European butter?
I get it at the large market on Westminster and Brookhurst in Garden Grove. It is called Beurdell Buerre Demi-Sel and it is from France. I took your classes in Pasadena a long time ago and I use what I learned there every day.
Where can I buy European butter?
And the brand I like from trader Joes is Plus Gras I think, which means extra fat. Really good and not too expensive. Cherie taught me that! Hi Cherie! Also, there is a European butter in the Asian markets by the checkout stand. It is in a tin meant for shelf storage. It too is high in fat and delicious. Great for camping because it needs no refrigeration.
Anyone tried the Globe in Garden Grove?
I am curious what people think of the other items on the menu. So far I have tried two different sandwiches and one pizza.
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The Globe Dine Bar
12926 Main St., Garden Grove, CA 92840-5115
Anyone tried the Globe in Garden Grove?
I went there the other night and the food was excellent. I sat at the bar and had one of their Belgian beers on tap, but what impressed me the most was the sandwch I had. It was lox and brie with chopped egg and greens on a fresh bagette. It came with the best fries I had ever had. I guess they have some Belgian method of making fries. Darker than usual, they came with a decadent tartar sauce for dipping. I think it was 7 bucks. Why people spend 5 bucks on subway when places like this exist I will never know. Garden grove is great for Korean and Vietnamese food and now Belgian too!
Cafe Di Vang 2 --- anyone been here?
If you like young, pretty girls and iced coffee go there. Sports on tv. Loud Vietnamese music. Smoking is allowed.
Favorite things you've eaten at LA casinos?
Since my first post, I have eated at the Bicycle Club again while playing cards.
Yes, you eat at the table while you are playing so take that into consideration. It won't affect the quality of the food, though, and I was once again very impressed.
I ordered the Mariner's Seafood Salad and an appetizer of two rolls of Goi Cuon (Vietnamese spring rolls).
The seafood salad was mounds of real lump crab meat, bay shrimp, tomatoes, olives sliced egg, on top of shredded lettuce and surrounded by sliced cucumber. I chose French dressing. The salad was delicious and fresh-tasting.
The Goi Cuon was pretty good too. Comes with the sauces you would expect as well as a dish of chopped peanuts. The size is much bigger than you get in Bolsa restaurants, but not as tightly wrapped. The shrimp, noodles, garlic chives and pork inside were all tasty. It wasn't the best I've ever had, but still good.
The Bike is also known for Ciapinno on Fridays, and a terrific Thai BBQ chicken at any time.
I don't know if you can eat there without playing cards. It seems like they took out the restaurant that was there and replaced it with a deli.
Favorite things you've eaten at LA casinos?
At Hustler, you can't go wrong. Here's what I had the last few times:
1) Halibut with mixed vegetables and rice pilaf. The 10 oz fish was broiled perfectly and the veggies crunchy and not overseasoned. The rice pilaf was good, but nothing special.
2) Salmon and shrimp linguini. This is a nice piece of salmon, underneath sauteed shrimp, and resting on a bed of linguini. The sauce is a balsmic pan sauce with garlic and chopped tomatoes. Reallly, really good.
3) Beef and chicken kabab. Hustler used to be weak in the persian food department due to customer pressure they came out with a great kabob plate. You get four kabobs, one is fliet mignon, one is chicken breast, one is small tomatoes, and one is onions. I really like that they are separate. These come with buttery basmati rice, and a small dish of yogurt topped wtih nuts and other seasonings. They add a couple of pita triangles too. No hummus, tzaziki or berry powder with this dish, but it is still very good.
At the Bicycle, you HAVE to order the Cold Fish Plate - Four kinds of Jewish smoked fish (BBQ Cod, whitefish, salmon, etc), cream cheese, bagels, olives, veggies, etc.). It's my favorite.
Good Food Within Immediate Area of Best Western in Rowland Heights
There are so many restaurants around that you really don't need to rent a car and you will be able to try a different place for every meal if you want to.
If I were you, I would use Yelp to get the most liked restaurants within a couple of miles and then cross-reference them with Chowhound. Yelp is really good at finding places close by and you can read those reviews. However, 4 stars on Yelp doesn't mean much. It doesn't necessarily indicate good food. That's why you should get a list of candidate restaurants from Yelp and then run searches on Chowhound to get your final list. Chowhounders focus more on the food and less on the service, atmosphere and price. Someone on Yelp will give some place 5 stars if the waitress was cute.
Any good late night Thai in the SGV?
Yep, Krua Thai on Vincent x Vine in West Covina. They are open late.
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Krua Thai Restaurant
13130 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, CA 91605
Anyone know where to find COCONUT FLOUR at a decent price?
I was just at Sprouts in Brea (on Birch across from Embassy Suites) and they have it. Didn't note the price though.
LAX: 4 adults, 5 kids, 3 hours. . . .
Don't chance it. Take the kids to In & Out Burger just outside the North side of LAX, watch the planes fly overhead and get back to the airport an hour early just in case. It's not gourmet but most people on this board agree it's the best fast food burger and not available outside of CA/AZ/NV
Does anybody know good Vietnamese restaurant?
My friend got his at Cafe Lu on McFadden and Harbor Blvd.
Noble Romans Pizza
Oh, I wish I had taken a picture.
Everyone knows I like to eat inexpensively. My three kids wanted pizza so I grabbed the glossy magazine we get that is full of coupons and found one I hadn't seen before called Noble Roman's, best pizza in the city, or something like that. Hmm, never heard of it. Wonder if it's good, I thought.
It was $7.99 for a plain large pizza (10 slices!) or $9.99 for a specialty pizza so it can't be THAT good. I opted for a Hawaiian pizza to please the kids. I called and ordered it but I could've sworn the lady said "Brevity-Six" or something other than Noble Roman's when she answered the phone, but the kids were playing and I didn't hear her. She took my order, I'm good.
So I waited 10 minutes, plugged the address into the GPS in the Prius and took off with all three kids.
Sure enough, I see Noble Roman's logo on the front of the busy local 76 station at Imperial Hwy and State College Blvd. I park, tell the kids to lock the door as I go in and get the pizza. I went inside and walked towards the pizza oven but there was no one there. I saw my pizza waiting in the out tray of the oven. I waited in the gas line to pay for the pizza, the cashier went and got it for me (did she wash her hands?) and I brought it home.
I wish I had a good ending for this story, but I don't. It was the worst pizza I had ever had. Worse than the frozen mini pizzas you get for less than a buck at the grocery store, worse than Chuck E Cheese and worse than Pregos on week-old pita. That bad.
A far better deal for four people would be to go buy slices at Angelo and Vinci's takeout counter called Woppo's. Each slice is less than $3 and feeds one adult or two small children. Next time....
Does anybody know good Vietnamese restaurant?
I "know someone" who has been to several cafes in the area and all they have is hot coffee, iced coffee, free iced tea and various smoothies including my favorite, coconut, which at one place is served in a coconut. I have yet to find one that sells food. Friends rave about the avocado smoothies.
Name Your Price at Johnny Rebs
This is going to sound like an ad but I can assure you it’s not. I have no association with the restaurant.
Yesterday, I had an enjoyable breakfast at Johnny Rebs in Orange. I had the pulled pork breakfast and my friend had the bacon breakfast. We shared the meats and both were delicious. I’m a biscuits and gravy lover and their gravy was good (but not perfect) with the right consistency and a peppery kick. The herby country potatoes were the best. I’m going to try to duplicate their potatoes at home.
The restaurant was nearly empty despite having delicious food and a normally busy lunch and dinner service. So, I was pleased when the manager came over to tell us about their latest promotion which I promised to tell Chowhounders about.
Starting today and during the entire month of April, Johnny Rebs is having a “Name Your Price Breakfast” from 7-11am, Monday through Friday only. Basically, you order what you want and then pay what you like. I’m sorry but I didn’t find out if it’s just for the Orange location or for the other locations (Bellflower, Victorville and Long Beach).
Because of the quality and portion size, their breakfasts are a little pricey – normally around $8. This is your chance to go there and try their breakfast and pay exactly what YOU think it’s worth.
The manager I spoke with is named Jenn Z and our charming waitress was Brie. Please tell them Dustin said hello.
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Johnny Rebs' Southern Roadhouse
2940 E Chapman Ave, Orange, CA 92869
Review: Hong Kong Palace in Rowland Heights
Based on the positive reviews from two friends of mine and a couple chowhounders, I decided to try Hong Kong Palace for the first time. I’m not Chinese but I brought a Chinese friend and my kids who are normally pretty picky.
We went Saturday at lunch time which is commonly a very busy time for a dim sum place and it was. We only waited about a half hour though.
Immediately when approaching the property, I noticed a smell outside the restaurant which was like something rotting. I couldn’t tell if it was from the guy selling fruit at the front entrance or the fresh fertiziler in the planter, but it smelled like death. It was probably just the fertilizer, I told myself, so I just needed to relax.
While we were waiting I took one kid to the bathroom which is near the busy corridor leading to the kitchen. You get a good view of the secondary prep areas that are off limits to customers but aren’t quite in the kitchen. This area was cluttered and dirty but in a way that you know it’s mostly the traffic that comes from being very busy. Lots of servers dressed in yellow or orange were going back and forth for fresh carts, trays, tea, etc. and there isn’t time to put things away or use the broom.
Our number was called and so we followed the hostess to the table. The busboy wasn’t quite ready for us, and so we stood in the crowded one-room restaurant waiting while women pushed carts into us, around us and through us. Very busy, but I don’t mind busy if the food is good.
We sat down and it was a lot dirtier than most dim sum restaurants. The chair covers were stained as was the tablecloth. Besides the permanent stains, the tablecloth had recent wet blemishes as well. This is kind of gross, even for a good dim sum place that puts flavor above sanitation which I’m not usually above frequenting, but this time I had my kids with me.
We ordered some good food. My kids loved the shrimp balls, the shrimp dumplings, the bbq spare ribs, the bao with the bbq pork inside, and of course the sesame balls. I liked the beef balls, the chow fun, the Chinese broccoli and the shrimp dishes as well. Everyone really liked the hot tea.
There was a serious problem with the sesame balls though. One of my kids handed me a half eaten ball with a small black hair baked into it. It was clearly not a planted hair because it was baked into the ball but sticking out at the same time. My Chinese dining partner summoned over one of the men in suits and he promptly took the sesame balls away and took the sesame balls off our bill. Clearly he wasn’t as shocked as we were to see hair in the food, or he would have done more than just take it off the bill.
My family and I don’t let things like that bother us or our appetites, but many of my friends would have immediately left the restaurant with blue faces and dry heaves never to come back. We kept eating like troopers until we were full.
I probably won’t be back though. The food was pretty good, but not above par for LA-area dim sum. If the lack of cleanliness is apparent in the smell, the floors, the linens and you see the odd hair in your food, they probably take more serious shortcuts in the kitchen where there are no judgmental customers. This could lead to serious food-borne illnesses, so I’m going to go with the other options in the area from now on – such as Happy Harbor and New Capital.
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New Capital Seafood Restaurant
1330 Fullerton Rd, La Puente, CA 91748
Hong Kong Palace
19101 Colima Rd, Rowland Heights, CA 91748
Happy Harbor Restaurant
1015 Nogales St # 126, Rowland Heights, CA
Biscuits and gravy
For sausage gravy and decent biscuits, I like Johnny Rebs (Orange, Long Beach, or Bellflower).
My favorite B&G is Jenny's Country Kitchen which uses country ham in their gravy. They are on Telegraph x Carmenita in Santa Fe Springs.
Biscuits and gravy
I like Jenny's Country Kitchen in Santa Fe Springs for B&G. It's not sausage gravy - they use country ham - but it's my favorite in Los Angeles.
For good sausage gravy (and biscuits) go to any Johnny Rebs location.
Mulege find
I just got back from Mulege, Baja, Mexico. Just outside the city there is a restaurant called Ray's. It used to be located at a beach called Santispac but now it is located in the middle of nowhere, in alfalfa fields outside of Mulege. To get there you have to ask someone where Icehouse Road is (local American and Canadian snowbirds are all around) and then follow that road, which becomes dirt, out in the country until you start seeing signs for Ray's. It's the only thing two story or lit up for miles, so you can't miss it once you start following the signs.
There is a small bar and about 15 tables, on the second story of a farm house. A Tecate sign hangs on the front. Inside is nicely decorated and romantic. Lamps made locally hang from the ceiling and the windows are all open for fresh air.
The menu on the whiteboard was the same on the two nights I went. Local cod, breaded scallops, calamari, ribeye, lobster, or coconut shrimp. All entrees come with fresh grilled local vegetables and a house salad with the house dressing. Ray gave me the recipe but I probably shouldn't share it publicly - it was a carrot vinaigrette. The complimentary appetizer on my second night was local goat cheese (really local - you can see the dairy from your window) on tostitos. The optional appetizer was a delicious Oysters Rockefeller. We had that both times we went. The oysters were 125 pesos, the twin lobster tails were 180 pesos and the other entries were around 120 pesos. Right now you get 13.5 pesos per American dollar, so you can see what a deal this is. For dessert they had a killer Kalhua Coconut rice pudding for 35 pesos! Drinks were reasonable and everyone gets a free blended Brandy Alexander.
I'm attaching photos. The food was excellent. I had lobster on night #1 and the calamari on night #2. The calamari was pounded thin and sauteed in garlic. Very tender. The lobster tails were about 1/2 pound each and steamed with some better. All the food was properly seasoned and attractively presented.
Ray is a restaurantuer orignally from Cuba who knows how to take care of customers. He personally greets everyone and remembers names. He brought out my iced coffee just the way I like it on my second visit. You'll see customers on their way out poke their head in the square hole into the kitchen to compliment the kitchen staff or leave a tip for them.
I wanted to try the coconut shrimp even though I"m not a fan, so Ray brought two out just for me to try. He is really great.
Mulege is between Santa Rosalia and Loreto on Hwy 1 on the Cortez sea side of Baja. If you are ever driving through, have someone point you to Rays. By a long shot, he has the best food for miles.
Where to watch the Angels game with kids?
I want to watch the Angels game somewhere in North Orange County but it has to be a place I can bring three kids, ages 4-7-10. I was thinking of a pizza place, but if you have any recommendations (good food, lots of other Angels fans, kids won't be bored, reasonable prices, etc.) I'll take 'em!
Between Pomona and Fullerton...anything great?
I recommend the Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch:
http://www.rkr.csupomona.edu/
Biscuits, Biscuits, La la la!
My favorite Biscuits and Gravy are from Jenny's Kitchen, a very small hole-in-the-wall at Telegraph x Carmenita. Second, is Flo's Airport Cafe who seems to have a really good gravy, but the biscuits don't taste as real as Jenny's. Either Flo's will do, but I prefer the old school greasy spoon atmosphere and hustle of Flo's Airport Cafe.
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Jenny's Kitchen
13319 Telegraph Rd, Whittier, CA 90605
Flo's
5650 Riverside Dr, Chino, CA 91710
Flo's Airport Cafe
7000 Merrill Ave Ste 8, Chino, CA 91710
Early Dinner at Royal Capital Seafood Restaurant
Last week a friend and I had an early dinner at Royal Capital Seafood Restaurant (Euclid x Westminster) in Garden Grove. I hadn't been before but it was always busy at night so I was glad to finally try it.
I'm a Round Eye and not experienced in Chinese food but I think this is Hong Kong style Chinese. I'll just tell you what we ordered and what we thought of it and leave it at that.
#1 Snow Pea Leaves with Garlic – This was the first dish out of the kitchen (literally 3 minutes after we ordered it) and it was perfect. Crunchy sprouts and leaves wilted with lots of garlic. I could have eaten the whole plate. I think I could be a vegetarian if I could eat like this all the time. $8.95
#2 Shrimp and Asparagus – This was the second dish out. The shrimps were large and free of head, shell and vein. The asparagus was cooked perfectly. The sauce was a clear garlic-based sauce. The portion size was appropriate since it was $11.50.
#3 Beef Chow Fun - the waiter asked if I wanted it dry or with gravy. I've been asked this question before when I order a chow fun (means wide noodle I think) and I like it dry. It came last and was delicious. Not oily at all, big pieces of beef, garlicky, and a very large portion for $8.95. I took what we didn't eat home and it fed three more people.
With lots of leftovers, there was no problem getting three containers to go which the waiter packaged up for us. The service was excellent but there was only one other table occupied. The nice touch was the delicious jasmine tea (complimentary) and that the menu was in Chinese, English and Vietnamese.
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Royal Capital Seafood Res
10911 Westminster Ave, Garden Grove, CA 92843
Danny's Kosher Pickle in Covina?
It's good but probably not the New York style Jewish deli you think it is. It's a coffee shop that carries a respectable selection of Jewish deli type food like Maztah Ball Soup and Pastrami on Rye. Potato pancakes are good.
I go there for breakfast, where for about $4 you get pancakes, an egg and really good bacon. You can buy some items like cheese, meat and fish in bulk (at very reasonable prices) but you'll see that's it is a coffee shop and not a deli.
REVIEW: Five Guys Burgers [moved from L.A. board]
I just went to Five Guys (www.fiveguys.com) Burgers and Fries for lunch. It’s at the Southbay Pavillion, Avalon x 405 in Carson. Five Guys has lots of locations back East, but this is the only location in California and it just opened. This is my review.
To me, Five Guys is a cross between In-n-Out Burger and Fatburger. It’s like In-n-Out Burger because it has a very limited menu, uses fresh meat and potatoes, company colors are red and white, and focuses on speed, quality and service. It’s like Fatburger because it is in a mall set up with indoor and outdoor seating, offers several burger toppings, the meat is very juicy, and it’s not cheap. For example, I ordered a hamburger, small coke and large fry and paid over $10.
I’ll start with the fries. At Five Guys, the large fries is enough for two but it’s not worth the $4. They use a natural cut with the skin left on and use standard seasoning salt. Their whiteboard said the potatoes were harvested from some city in Idaho on some recent date. This is similar to the way Starbucks posts the roasting date of their new Pike’s house blend. The fries were hot, perfectly fried and not too greasy. It seems to me that if you leave the skin on your fries and use seasoning salt, you can charge a preimum for your fries.
The burgers were delicious and reminded me of a backyard burger I make myself, except without the outdoor grill flavor. Five Guys uses a regular griddle and not an open grill. The Five Guys burger tastes like one I made myself. Maybe it’s because I chose the condiments. At Five Guys, you get to choose which of the many toppings and condiments you want on your burger, all at no additional charge. Toppings include sautéed mushrooms, grilled onions, jalapenos, pickles, green peppers, and others. I chose my standard mayo, mustard, ketchup, plus grilled onions and lettuce.
If you order a burger you get two patties automatically. Good thing because a burger is $4.39 at Five Guys; A cheeseburger or bacon burger costs more. You see how you get over $10 pretty fast? The patties are not quarter-pounders. They are probably eighth-pounders so you aren’t really getting more meat than other quarter pound single patty burgers. However, the quality of the meat is clearly superior. It is juicy without being greasy, has an odd hand-formed shape and has a great beef flavor. This might be due to never frozen beef.
The atmosphere is like any fast food place but with new, excited employees out to impress the boss who was wandering around the whole time asking people how they liked the burgers. There are signs all over every wall saying “Zagat rated” and “#1 Burger in Pennsylvania Two Years in a Row”. They really are proud of these ratings and voting results. The problem with these signs is they are only necessary for my first visit – to raise my expectations a bit. After that, they are just annoying and self-aggrandizing. Who cares if you were voted the "best all-American burger" by Washingtonian Magazine in 2000? Makes me wonder what happened in the years since?
There were some minor problems that come with a new store opening. The soda machine was out of Coke syrup until I told someone who quickly fixed the problem and dutifully informed me that it was fixed. There were about 50% too many employees. Several were standing around doing nothing. The ketchup comes from these dispensers and one of them was broken or empty. Most of the tables were people sitting waiting for their to-go orders. I don’t think I would open a fast food burger place without a drive through. They need benches or an area for all the to-go lunch customers.
I forgot to mention the one feature that no fast food restaurant has. They give away peanuts in bulk the way Northwoods or Johnny Rebs does. You can grab some peanuts after you order and go sit down to wait for your number to be called.
To summarize, the food was delicious but overpriced. The atmosphere was average and the service was excellent.
I will be interested to read what others think of this place.
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Five Guys Burgers
20700 Avalon Blvd, Carson, CA 90746
Help finding great take out in Northern O.C.
La Palma is close to Cypress, home of Cafe Hiro. I just went there for a couple appetizers the other day. My favorite appetizer was a special that day - seared tuna (Ahi or Albacore I think) in cubes with cubed buffalo mozarella resting on shredded daikon and drizzled with a miso/ponzu dressing. It was so good (and reasonable at $8) that I almost ordered another one to go.
Search on Cafe Hiro and read other people's reviews. Like Thai Nakorn, Cafe Hiro is universally liked on CH.
Henry Moffett's Chicken Pies
Even though the service is friendly and the chicken pies are good, I won't dine there because of the filth and the hours. They close at something like 8pm. If you dine in, you'll notice the poor condition of the place and the grime. I feel sorry for the place because it used to be one of my top 10 favorites 15 or 20 years ago. I will stop by once in a while to pick up a few chicken pies because they really are good (no veggies in these pies to get in the way of the chicken). I have never had a surprise in a pie there (bone, gristle or cartilege) which is great. Can't say that about empenadas (Filipino, Argentina, etc.) or other chicken pastries which can have one or two surprises inside. Last time I picked up a Napolean for my wife (around $2.50!) because it's her favorite and she said it was excellent.
Cofffee with siphon
Here's a place that recently opened. All coffee is siphoned and you can choose which bean you want all the way up to the expensive Jamaica's Blue Mountain.
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UCC Coffee Shop
1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789
Lychee Syrup
Just use the syrup from the canned lychees which are available from any Asian supermarket.
I started making Lychee Martinis, the signature drink from Brodard Chateau, after learning the recipe from the bartender there. I don't have actual ratios for you because I use my eyes but it's about 1.5 parts quality vodka, .5 parts peach schnapps and .5 parts lychee syrup. Shake with ice and pour over a single lychee in a chilled martini glass.
This cocktail is wonderful and you can't taste the vodka or the peach. It tastes like lychee and goes down way too easily....
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Brodard Chateau
9100 Trask Ave Garden, Grove, CA
West Covina, tonight
If you like Filipino food try the bagoong fried rice at Max's at Azusa x Amar. They are known for their fried chicken, which is good, too. Bagoong is like salty brine shrimp paste and it makes the fried rice taste great.
I bring my family to Elephant Bar, which has good food, but it is a chain, of course. Elephant Bar is on Vincent x West Covina Parkway.
I'm a big fan of Scardino's pizza, but it is "to go" only. Vincent x Francisquito.
Krua Thai in on Vincent and Vine. It has received good reviews on Chowhound.
