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Anchor Hitch - Mission Viejo

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Anchor Hitch - Mission Viejo

I know. Mission Viejo is more than just a drive for a LA native like me, but there isn't any opportunities I would miss to be able to try new things. When I think of Mission Viejo, I think of this location as a pit stop on my way to San Diego. And honestly, I don't really know what's in Mission Viejo. I was fortunate to taste a few items on the menu of Anchor Hitch during their soft opening. Coming from Santa Monica, the drive took literally 2 hours. And yes, it's far. If you are passing this way, I would recommend you stop by for their hot and cold seafood tower. I love raw seafood, but there's something extremely satisfying about cooked shellfish I would rather prefer. And if you are coming just for this, I would suggest renting a hotel nearby to crash. So lets eat up and drink up.

27741 Crown Valley Parkway, Mission Viejo, CA 92691

The cocktail that was recommended for the night was the Apple Martini.

Apple Martini

Their version of Apple Martini was made with whiskey. This was quite delicious. If you think about Washington Apples, this was a much subtle version of the sweet cocktail we all love. The granny smith apples does give it a slight pucker. This will be a great cocktail for summer.

Hot & Cold Seafood Tower

The hot seafood is composed of prawns, maine lobster, and king crab. The cold seafood consisted of oysters, clams, and a scallop carpaccio.

The maine lobsters were outrageous. I knew there was something good going on with the stuffed head. That char and crispy bread crumbs. The head fat was scooped out and mixed with some sweet potato hash.

The crabs and prawns were also deliciously charred where their shells became brittle. Squeeze on some grilled lemons for zip.

Scallop Carpaccio is served with creme fraiche, edible flowers, shiitake mushrooms and a yuzu vinaigrette. Light, sweet and refreshing.

Oysters and clams are just as you would expect from a fresh seafood raw bar. This tower is great to share for 2 or 3-4 if you want this as an appetizer.

Uni Pasta

I can never get enough of Uni Pasta. No matter where I go, if it's on the menu, it's pretty irresistible. Creamy with little crunchy rice balls for texture. Served up with an over easy egg and a heaping of nori. Delicious.

Seared Rib Eye

If you have the stomach, lookout for their Tomahawk rib eye steak. The one you see above is their charcoal grilled rib eye steak with tempura green beans. Served with Chimichurri and a soy based sauce. The steak was cooked medium rare with a beautiful sear. I prefer the tempura batter to be lighter, but still tasty overall.

For dessert, these blueberry donuts will definitely make you come back even if you don't want to. Hot and crispy with a soft fluffy inside, scoop this with the sweet butter cream made with blueberries (or was it raspberry?) doesn't matter it was DELICIOUS. I'm not a sweet(s) person, but these are freaking addicting.

 

The restaurant is located inside The Union.

27741 Crown Valley Parkway, Mission Viejo, CA 92691

 

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C.O.D Restaurant - Seafood & Raw Bar - Beverly Hills

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C.O.D Restaurant - Seafood & Raw Bar - Beverly Hills

8408 W. 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90048

8408 W. 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90048

C.O.D hasn't quite officially opened yet. They are still undergoing their soft opening which means open to service. Fortunately, most of the menu items were available with some added additions not on the menu. The added additions are normally chilling with the others at the raw bar. It wasn't long before our tasting started. My drink of choice was a glass of red wine.

Minter Sweet Oysters

These were incredibly fresh and creamy. These were plump, sweet and had a slight lingering faint mineral taste. It was pretty much how it was described on the menu.

What I fell in love about C.O.D is the amount of items they had on their menu. You didn't just get seafood, but there were also other items like braised beef cheeks. See the whole spread below:

I was a huge fan of everything you see. Just to dance around the food, the spicy tuna crispy rice wasn't too spicy, but the rice was perfectly crispy with a nice soft chew from the rice. I'm not a fan of overly crispy rice cakes. This was nice and crispy on the outside and hot and fluffy on the inside.

I also loved the crispy pork belly. It was actually one of the favorites on the menu. I recommend ordering a beer to wash this done. It's sharable, but do you really want to? It's fine if you want to try a bunch of other dishes. This is a definite must order. The lobster roll was also extremely freakishly delicious. The lobster was perfectly cooked and jammed packed into a nicely crusted brioche bun. There's nothing better.

Then you have entrees like Braised Beef cheeks served over a creamy quinoa. This was definitely $$$$ quality and NOT something I would expect to find here. So delicious. I've never had quinoa prepared like the way it did here. Very decadent and definitely the show stopper. The uni pasta was also very unique. They use a nori fettucinni which causes the green color. The sauce had mentaiko folded in which is a very classic Japanese tradition used in some pasta dishes. The uni pasta also had truffle, but not over powering. Amazing subtle and friendly to the not so uni friendly crowds.

The desserts were rich and full of flavor. They will be getting coffee soon which will be great to get a jolt of pick me up.

Highly recommend C.O.D if you are looking for a place to dine. Beer, wine and sake are available. I believe a full liquor license will be on its way.

8408 W. 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA 90048

Cheers!

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Spread Mediterranean Kitchen - DTLA

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Spread Mediterranean Kitchen - DTLA

Spread is a new restaurant opened in DTLA that serves a fresh idea on Mediterranean food. A group of foodies and I got to sample some of their menu items along with a few cocktails to highlight the concept of this restaurant. Parking was pretty forgiving if you come early enough to get lucky with meters. There are also local lots you can pay for a flat rate that averages $8.

Spread offers lunch that's no more than $11, but also serves dinner that is both casual and sophisticated at the same time. Cocktails you will find at Spread would be no more than $9. They want to make grabbing lunch a necessity and not so much of a burden. It takes them hours to prep the food before it takes just a few minutes to fulfill after your order. But what you have purchased is quality. They want to make the ease of grabbing lunch a less burdensome part of your day, but also a great place to hang out for happy hour and dinners.

Here are just a few items you will find available. As you can see, they have casual items such as a Harissa beef braised wrapped in a freshly made flatbread to a more sophisticated Falafel Hash that I like to it a Falafel "Crab Cake". They have bright dishes such as a watermelon feta salad with a yogurt mint dressing to a Za'atar fried chicken that won't make you fall asleep.

Dinner is proposed to smaller dishes which makes snacking and drinking at the same time that much more fun. Come with a few friends and try a few dishes with cocktails, wine, and beer. Yes, you should have it all.

334 S MAIN STREET, LOS ANGELES, CA 90013

 

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Sushi Roku - Pasadena

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Sushi Roku - Pasadena

I've been dining at Sushi Roku for over 6 years now. Sushi Roku is not just a place for food, but also a great place to have parties, celebrations, dinners, brunch, or whatever you want to call it. I've sat at this place for hours. With drinks. And friends. I'm not a weirdo, I swear.

I went to Sushi Roku last week to try a new item on their menu. Well, it's not really a new item, but something that is enhanced for the true connoisseur. Their executive chirashi. This was made, because not everyone wants the regular plain oh chirashi bowl. Don't get me wrong. It's still good. But if I can get a larger variety of premium fishes for lunch prices, I would jump all over this like you know, fat kid love cake kind of deal.

First things first, wine, DUH. I want all of you to know that I am a red wine drinker. I just had a bad night of white wine and it just kind of ruined it for me. Kind of like Grey Goose. Drank that thing back in the day with warm Sunny D that ended up NOT a great night to remember.

Butter edamame

Turning a healthy snack into a not so healthy snack. I chuckled a little with that line.

I like to think of the executive chirashi as a mashup of whatever fresh fishes the chef wants to present. Doesn't that look stunning? I got more heads turned looking at this thing than me. I mean I get it. There's no way I can compete, but the wine does help me feel better about myself.

Some of the fishes features were Amaebi (sweet shrimp with fried head), Hon Hon Maguro, Kanpachi, toro, Uni, tai, hirame, & Kinmedai. Of course fish varies from time to time, so don't expect the same. I wouldn't expect the same executive chirashi everytime. This was well worth the $36. The quality was great, presentation was exquisite (of course the gold flakes helped), and it was just an overall really tasty dish.

Sushi Roku is located in Miller Alley. The restaurant is next to Crate and Barrel if you are really lost. If you are really lost, find a security that are floating all over Old Town Pasadena. They are in the yellow polos. And if you can't find them, just go home and cry because you failed in life.

33 Miller Alley, Pasadena, CA 91103, United States

 

 

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3rd Generation Sake Bar - DTLA

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3rd Generation Sake Bar - DTLA

“Located in the Heart of Downtown Los Angeles’ Financial District. 3rd Generation Sake Bar specializes in Ramen, Sushi hand rolls and popular Japanese side dishes.”
— 3rd Generation

Finding a decent ramen place has never been easy. There's so much components that makes a ramen special. 3rd Generation does ramen decently for what is offered in Downtown LA. Besides ramen, the restaurant also serves handrolls, cut rolls, Poke Bowls, and many sides like takowasa to takoyaki. There are also modern spins like spicy tuna burger and pork belly bun. And of course, beer, sake and wine. So you can pretty much get an idea of what this place is like.

I would recommend getting sides and cut rolls/hand rolls. Drink a lot. Snack some more. And then order the Ramen to end your meal. I've worked at an Izakaya for 3 and a half years of my life and had visited Japan as well to say that's what I would do at a place like this. Given the menu.

All in all, it's great to have something away from the pretentious crowds. There's tons of people in Little Tokyo. Too much in my opinion. But again, the restaurant game is strong. So you can basically land on any street throughout downtown to find some great food. Here on 7th and Flower is where you will find 3rd Generation.

Our meal started with snow crab and salmon avocado handrolls. They do have blue crab which is one of my favorite things. Snowcrab was on the tasting menu today so that was what we went with. They have a 4 handroll special that comes with backed crab, salmon avocado, spicy albacore and spicy tuna. A pretty good steal for $14.

Spicy Miso Tonkotsu Ramen

The spicy miso was delicate and not overly salty like other ramen joints I've been to. The noodles were wavy and thick. The pork was cooked perfectly. Served with sweet corn, bean sprouts, green onions, spicy miso paste, tender chashu, and half a soft boiled soy egg. Not extremely spicy, but carries a subtle kick.

3G Ramen - House Tonkotsu Broth

Served with bean sprouts, green onion, soy egg, chasu, nori, fried garlic, and a black garlic oil that gives a light smokey nutty flavor to the ramen. Nothing over powering as well. The noodles were not the same as the spicy ramen, but resembled the traditional wavy noodles we are used to.

Tonkotsu broth is normally made with pork bones. Cooked down for a long period of time. Some places will cook it for a few hours while some will cook it for 24. It's insane the care that goes into the broth. I've warned many friends to beware with drinking the broth. Imagine a bowl of liquid fat just trailing down your neck. Yeah, some places make me feel dirty.

The meal was ended with one of my favorites, black sesame ice cream. Smooth and roasty, this is something I would always order when offered at a restaurant. Not a lot of places carry this on their menu so it's always a delight to see.

808 W. 7th St. Los Angeles, Ca 90017

 

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