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Spear Steak and Seafood - DTLA

April 20, 2016

You know, when I think about breakfast, I think about things that I grew up eating. I wasn't that kid that got cereal or oatmeal for breakfast. In fact, we didn't eat breakfast during the weekdays at all. Even now, my breakfast is a cup of black coffee and whatever is left of my opened bag of cookies. Being a hardcore carnivore eater growing up, I find solace when I see steak on the menu. I would say 99% of the time, I would order steak if it's on the menu. And that 1% is only when I feel pressured to get something new.

Spear Steak and Seafood House in DTLA not only serves the obvious steaks, but they also do Sunday Brunch. They have 2 items on the menu that I normally gravitate towards: Steak & Eggs and Crab Benedict. During Sunday Brunch, Spear's also have $10 bottomless mimosas. With $7 parking validation, that's pretty awesome. Although I don't recommend anyone driving under the influence of bottomless mimosas.

800 W 6th St, Ste 100

Los Angeles, CA 90017

First, we coffee.

Attentive staff that keeps your cup filled. I don't know how many cups I had, but I was wired for sure.

I love Eggs Benedict. The only reason why I don't order it is pretty obvious. Butter. But, when lumps of crab meat is involved, there really isn't any reason to say now. And boy, was this delicious.

The binding of the crab was extremely simple. A slight crunch of the crust with a nice flaky bite from the crab. For $16 and the amount of crab you get, this was definitely worth it and a must order. Served with crispy fingerling potatoes. Go ahead, dip your potatoes in that ooey gooey Hollandaise sauce.

So I've been really into flat iron steaks. And if you haven't really tried a flat iron, I highly recommend you doing so. It's extremely delicious. It's much leaner than your Rib Eye or New York, but it has an incredible beef flavor. I would say... it feels like a Filet meets a New York. Served with fresh hash, sunny side eggs, ketchup & salsa verde.

Always medium rare. The steak was cooked perfectly as you can see. The salsa verde had a surprisingly spicy kick to it. I don't find salsa verde sauces to be really spicy, so this definitely caught me off guard when I dunked my first piece.

I will be back soon to taste their sushi menu. They have specialty cut rolls that I would love to try. This is a nice spot to hang out for brunch, or to follow dinner with tons of drinks. Because really, REALLY, who just has ONE drink?

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Ixtaco Taqueria - El Monte

April 5, 2016

John and I went to the gym before finding Ixtaco Taqueria. We were hungry. Needed food, but it wasn't quite time for dinner yet. Don't you just hate that? What's a good post workout meal that is satisfying, fills up, but not too much, between 3-6? It's pretty hard. Because when I eat, I mentally get ready for it. I kick the protein shakes to the curb. Don't swing no snack bar in my face either. I want meat and greasy food that I can get my hands on. My hair was a mess, but I didn't care. No one complains when there's tacos. No one.

We stumbled upon Ixtaco when we were headed for a quick fix at Mitsuwa Marketplace. Luckily, John read my mind and rerouted to this joint a few miles down from where we were at the moment. Nothing a quick U-turn can't fix. Have you seen how I drive? There's no playing games when tacos are involved. I tell people this all the time when they get nervous, just close your eyes.

10021 Valley Blvd, El Monte, CA 91731

As you can see, they do have a decent selections of tacos to choose from. I would definitely need to be back to try out the other menu items.

This was their coconut and mango. Both refreshing on a hot-supposed-to-be-spring day. Handcrafted to suit natures best produce. My coconut drink was nice and subtle. The mango had a sweeter bolder kick which always pairs great with tacos.

I ordered 2 Asada and 1 Roasted Duck.

I was probably 9 the first time I had tacos from a truck. There was one where I used to live in Glassell Park called Gorditas Lupitas. The tortillas at Ixtaco reminds me of Lupitas. In other words, comforting. My mom and my dad used to stroll down the street. I would remember what a treat it was to eat tacos. The delicious chewy tortillas with the spicy salsas. These totally brings back memories.

Their roast duck taco was my favorite. If you are familiar with Chinese roast duck, this is exactly what it is in a taco.. with cilantro and onions.. and salsa verde. I am not complaining. It totally makes sense. If you think about how Chinese would use steamed buns or thin flour pancakes to wrap roast duck, this is no different. I'm not sure how consistent the duck is prepared here in a taco, but if it's served with tons of skin, I am happy with that. So much flavor and super moist. They also serve this in a burrito as an option as well as a quesadilla, torta, sope. I'm telling you, they have options.

I love sopes because it's fried. They make their own here like their tortillas. What I love about this is the slight crispy edges with the hot steamy chew you get. You won't find the same texture from store bought sope shells. It's just not the same as to when it's handmade. I would order this a little more extra crispy next time.

Yummy grilled elote. Corn that's been charred, buttered, slathered with mayonnaise, cheese, lime juice, and to what I believe was a chipotle style mayonnaise. It make look like a lot of mayonnaise, but trust me, that's the best part. Comes piping hot in a plastic container. Great to carry on in the car when you are on the go.

Langostinas burrito! Loaded up with rice, beans, and a layer of purple cabbage. Squeeze as much lime as possible then douse with some spicy salsa. Lick your fingers after. Napkins are only used at the end of the meal.

10021 Valley Blvd, El Monte, CA 91731

I know El Monte isn't very local to a lot of you folks, but it's always fun to explore. I love places like this, because it creates an experience I wouldn't expect to find. I don't always need to be in Los Angeles. Getting away, driving to a different city, and finding a totally random restaurant is the best part of being a true foodie. So go and explore.

Happy taco hunting.

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Tacos Tu Madre - Westwood

March 13, 2016

LA has definitely been a taco staple exploding into different counties. What I find is there are more contemporary fusion tacos than what you would find the past decade. Tacos Tu Madre not only offer your fusion tacos like Korean BBQ or Duck Mole, but also stays within your comfort zones by offering Asada, Carnitas, Al Pastor, Lengua, and Chorizo Egg which I HIGHLY recommend.

Tacos Tu Madre - 1945 1/2 Westwood BlvdLos Angeles, CA 90025

This menu was taken a few months ago when I first visited the restaurant. This menu is located outside their take out window, but they also have one to look through for more in depth options. I've included their most recent menu to the left.

As you see, besides the tacos being more sophisticated, so are the prices. But, there are also more component to each taco that you order here. I brought John with me. Like myself and many of you who grew up with $1 tacos, find it blasphemy when a taco costs $1.25.

But as the economy is growing, so is everything else. That's right, a bundle of cilantro can cost 99 cents. Avocados are expensive as hell. And lemons are only used if it's a special occasion. You catch my drift.

This is my favorite from everything I've had. For $4.75, this is totally worth it. Served on a crispy tortilla shell, the ahi tuna is cut in chunks and mixed with avocados, spicy citrus yuzu ponzu sauce, chives, sesame seeds and seaweed flakes.

The only thing I can say, is I can't extract the yuzu flavor. For some reason, I tasted a lot of ginger. Maybe I have poor taste buds. Maybe they don't even have any ginger in house. But it's extremely fresh and something I would never complain about. I would definitely order 2 of these and be content.

There are options to order this in a Burrito or a Bowl for additional charges. A burrito or bowl will supplement as a meal.

In other words, the Darth Maul version. How can you not think about that just by looking at these colors. Or maybe even Deadpool. Each chip has a helpful amount of salt, but not too much. Just enough to balance the guac. I couldn't help but dive back into this from time to time. Avocados are the good types of fat, and I will keep telling myself that everything it touches will become just that.

In the platter above, there's Duck Mole, Korean BBQ, Crispy Fish, Carnitas, and Lengua. The tortillas is not your standard 2 sheets, but one presumably hand made. You gotta eat these fast because the tortillas does break apart if it sits for a while. All the tacos were packed with flavor. I ate these tacos not keeping in mind with what I've grown up eating, but to keep an unbiased opinion based solely on flavors. So yes. I will pay over $3 bucks for a taco.

Street corn is my thing and something I love to make at home. This is not your elote you would find on the streets. Mayonnaise was missed, and it seems they use red chili flakes instead of cayenne. This does make eating a lot easier, and less messier than it would be on a cob.

They have desserts like red velvet churros and frozen horchatas to help you move on with your day. The red churros were interesting and definitely had no resemblance from a traditional churro. These are much more dense. I would love the cream cheese frosting to be sweeter as well has the roll out of the cinnamon sugar that is coated.

Putting everything in thought, I would be back. Space is extremely limited, but tables turning over is fairly quick. It does help there are 2 Starbucks within a 1 mile radius. They do have street parking with meters, a lot where you need to pay, or residential which is just around the corner which is what we did. Trust me, after these tacos, you should take the walk.

Tacos Tu Madre is snuck away, but has a giant colorful mural. If you are lost, but close, it's in between to 2 Starbucks I mentioned.

Good luck.

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GJELINA - Abbot Kinney

February 10, 2016

GJELINA is the first restaurant I've tried when visiting Abbot Kinney for the first time. On Abbot Kinney, there are a few blocks congested with little stores and restaurants to check out. I don't remember why we chose GJELINA that day, but I am happy we did.

GJELINA is one of those places where you might see a celebrity walk in. I've seen a few, but I'm pretty infatuated by their brunch menu to even care. I forget how good the food is here. Though I never had dinner, I can honestly say GJELINA is one of the best breakfast-brunch restaurants you can ask for. Not only is it pretty freaking delicious, but the items are priced fairly.

It was for John's Birthday that I decided to take him here to celebrate with a good brunch meal since we had to spend time with family that evening to celebrate Chinese New Years. There are a good variety of items to select from, but there are some dishes that are too hard to pass up.

I'm just going to dive right into this.

Duck Confit Potato Hash

*Potato hash, duck egg and grainy mustard*

Duck confit is very hard to find executed well. Most of the duck confit has I've had in my days were either too dry or not confit enough. And, the potatoes are so flavorful. Almost if they were based in the duck fat. There's nothing more to say I love you than a beautiful yolk with a nice tart grainy mustard to cut through the richness. Do I need to say more?

Moroccan Baked Eggs

Merguez, Chili, Tomato Sauce, cilantro & Spiced yogurt

I highly recommend this as well. A beautiful tomato sauce with chilies and lamb sausage cooked in, baked on top with 2 eggs. The spiced yogurt is everything you need to bring out the beautiful flavors of the merguez. The toast looked intimidating at first because it's fairly large, but just enough to finish this dish.

But wait, there's more.

Pizza Pomodoro

Nothing beats a good Neapolitan Pizza than from GJELINA. They do it well. The crust is insanely thin, crispy, nice cushion crust, and that beautiful yeasty tang we ALL love about a Neapolitan pizza.

Comes out piping hot with some fresh basil tore on top, a dash of oregano and some more condiments on the side for you to play with. Yes, I dipped the crust into my Moroccan eggs.

Is it Christmas already because everyone is say Hallelujah up in here.

Happy Birthday John.

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Little Beast - Eagle Rock

February 9, 2016

Little Beast

1496 Colorado Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90041

I've heard about Little Beast for quite some time now and having had lived in Eagle Rock for over 10 years, it definitely feels like home every time I am back in the area. Little Beast was highly recommended by friends all over. This just felt like the right place to celebrate John's birthday. He didn't want a big party or dinner so I promised him I wouldn't throw him a surprise birthday party like I had the past few years (whooops).

Little Beast is located on the corners of Colorado and Loleta Avenue. There is valet parking as well as street parking on Colorado if you are lucky. We arrived 10 minutes before our reservation, but there wasn't any trouble at all to seat us. We were seated outside in their patio which was lovely. There is a canopy outside to shield you from the rain if any, and heat lamps to keep you warm if chilly. Glancing through the menu, I already knew I wanted the Crudo and the Octopus from their small plates.

First things first, drinks.

Beer for my brother and I, and Stumptown coffee for John (french press).

It wasn't long at all before our small plates came flying out from the kitchen.

California Sea Bass Crudo

The crudo is composed of blood orange, cucumber, radish, yuzu vinaigrette, crispy wonton in between and topped with a frisée poof. This was definitely a palate opener. It was pretty hands down that this was the best rendition of this dish we had. As simple as it sounds, I think the most important part of a crudo is having an extremely balanced acid ratio which was beautifully balanced by the yuzu and the slight spiciness of the fresno chiles. I'm sure we can order 2 of these next time.

Indian Butter Octopus

To be honest, we didn't expect the octopus to come out like this. The "Don't judge a book by its cover" is playing hard on this one. That first bite I took, I felt my eyes roll back. The spices were beautiful and complimented the octopus so well. The fingerling potatoes seemed roasted or fried before it was tossed into the sauce, the flavors were harmonious. The brussell sprouts were also drizzled lightly with a simple vinaigrette which cut through the slight richness of this dish.

Charcuterie

Charcuterie is always a fun item to order. The meats were beautifully laid out on a wood board with delicious pickled condiments like caperberries (one of my favorites, great on carpaccio) and cornichons. We also received a plate of bread to go with out meats and I can't believe how much of it we actually ate.

Hickory Smoked Spicy Pork Meatballs

Ok. So you might not believe it, but I think these are the best tasting meatballs that I've ever, EVER put in my mouth. Let me tell you that the sauce on it's own is dynamite. I've never had smoke executed so perfectly like they did with these meatballs. I could have this in a jar. Buy it frozen. If I lived across the street I would be here for this a few times a week and THAT WOULD BE DANGEROUS. I think this was the best thing we had that night. And the reason why I say that is because it's a meatball. How can one meatball taste so different from another? I think, that if you can make one item that is extremely universal to our tastebuds, and then slug a curve ball like "WTF that was not what I was expecting!" it deserves to be the best thing of the night. They were moist, smokey, spicy little balls and I guarantee you will love it.

Mains

Roasted Mushroom Rissoto

The mushrooms used were king oyster, maitake, and porcini. The risotto also included thyme, black truffle, and parmesan. The flavors were creamy with a sharp roasted mushroom funk you would expect in any mushroom risotto dish. Black truffles always leave a nice touch to any dish no matter what it is. It's totally necessary.

Braised Short Ribs

The polenta was nice and creamy that balances the saltiness of the sauce that was used to braise the short ribs. The short ribs were also a good portion considering all the items we've had so far. It was definitely fork tender with nothing much for you to do but to spoon the meat around the polenta into your mouth. The veggies were carrots, turnips and asparagus.

Caledonia Prawns

The Caledonia Prawns were served over fried wild rice with porkbelly, edamame, carrots, cilantro and a honey soy vinaigrette. This was from their special items menu. The flavors were definitely different from what we had all night. John and David weren't too fond of the wild rice, but I loved the texture. Also, the honey soy vinaigrette was money. I can totally see this sauce glazed over a roasted pork belly. UGH!

I HiGHly recommend Little Beast whether you are from the area or visiting. Little Beast definitely made a bold statement to the neighborhood that you don't need to travel an hour through traffic to have fantastic food. They definitely know what they are doing, you just better make your reservations to find out.

1496 Colorado BoulevardEagle Rock, CA90041 (323)-341-5899

Instagram: @littlebeastrestaurant

Twitter: @LittleBeastEats

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Wine & Dine

Spear Steak and Seafood - DTLA

Ixtaco Taqueria - El Monte

Tacos Tu Madre - Westwood

GJELINA - Abbot Kinney

Little Beast - Eagle Rock

Little Beast

Mains