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Restaurants

Anchor Hitch - Mission Viejo

May 31, 2016

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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The Backhouse - Koreatown

May 18, 2016

I love Los Angeles. It's a blessing to live in such a multicultural community. We literally have culture right here in our own turf. There's nothing that you can't find to eat. We have Vietnamese food, Oaxacan food, all kinds of Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Cuban, French, Italian, etc.

Yakitori is something that is widely eaten in Japan and something that I preferred to have when I was there a few years ago. But grilling meats on a stick isn't just a Japanese thing though they did perfect some of the best versions I've had. You will find more yakitori houses located in Torrance. But since we are so diverse, there are more and more locations now serving up cuisines locally so you won't need to venture off too far.

The Backhouse serves items you would find at your typical Izakaya. From yakitori, to sushi, and to many fried nibbles, to lavish ramen noodles to soak up the alcohol you spent drinking all evening. But that's really how you do it anyways.

3500 W. 6th St.Suite 301, Los Angeles, CA 90020

Here are the few, many items that we had.

Our appetizers were a seared Salmon and Albacore Carpaccio. The Albacore Carpaccio wastopped with crispy garlic, onions, extra virgin olive oil, and garlic ponzu. The Salmon Truffle Carpaccio was topped with truffle shaving, japanese pickle, ponzu sauce, and white truffle oil. What's not to love about truffles right?

The corn tempura, however, was so amazingly delicious. The dipping sauce, which I believe was some sweet garlic miso, was velvety and oh so perfect with the crunchy tempura. Great beer food.

A few yakitori samples here to show. Shiitake, cheese tsukune, beef tongue, and rib eye. Everything tasted delicious and memorable. The special beef tongue was very tasty.

Other items we had were negima and grilled jumbo sweet shrimp. The negima was made with chicken breast instead of dark meat.

The sushi sampler we received was a very fancy one featuring some of their best fishes they had to offer for that evening. I can't complain about any of this. They had special uni creations such as their scallop and uni combination topped with caviar.This needed to be devoured in one bite. No exceptions.

Other Uni creations were Uni with Red Snapper wrapped with shiso. I'm in love with shiso. I can eat almost anything that involves shiso leaves. It's so aromatic and fragrant. There's just isn't anything that reminds me of it or can come close to what this taste like. Again, topped with caviar that automatically creates a one bite experience.

Delicious lamb chops grilled and served with a sweet miso butter sauce. Just give me a big bowl of rice and I will be a very happy happy girl. Cooked medium, just the way I like my lamb to be. I find it more gamey tasting when it's closer to rare.

Dessert was a giant crepe filled with vanilla and bananas, topped with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, brûléed bananas, fresh fruits, and mochi ice cream.

The drive wasn't that bad on a Friday night coming from Pasadena. I recommend an early arrival to grab a table. Seats do fill up fairly quickly with EMC Seafood downstairs.

Eat, drink, eat some more and drink some more.

3500 W. 6th St.Suite 301

Los Angeles, CA 90020

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Perry's - Dusit D2 Hotel Constance in Pasadena

May 9, 2016

Was delighted to be invited to a social event by Citymenu and Damon Eats from Instagram.

Perry's is a fusion of Cal Asian flavors with seasonal ingredients sourced at local farmer's markets in a contemporary dining experience. Located in Pasadena, you will find Hotel Constance tucked away on the corners of Colorado and South Mentor Ave.

A little information on the restaurant:

“Celebrated Restaurateur of the Eatery on Allen, Bacchus’ Kitchen and Claud & Co. Catering, Claud Beltran is lending his epicurean experience and culinary team to Perry’s where he creates a fusion of Cal Asian flavors with seasonal ingredients sourced at local farmer’s markets in a contemporary dining experience. Alfresco dining is available in the historic courtyard.”

— dusit.com

There were a few things to try. Everything we had were bright and refreshing. From octopus carpaccio to a matcha doughnut. They also serve breakfast at 6:30AM and closes at 10pm on weekdays and 11pm on Friday & Saturdays.

928 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA, USA 91106

Street parking is available, but valet is offered upon arrival.

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Okumura - Encino, CA

April 28, 2016

It was Angela's 30th birthday. The great part about it was we didn't have to think hard on where to eat. The second great part about it was finding out about Okumura. Located in Encino on Ventura Blvd, you will find Okumura's restaurant wedged between Fat Stogies and a Salon. If you need further assistance locating this place, it's in the same plaza as Starbucks.

17302 Ventura Blvd, Encino, CA 91316

We knew what we wanted coming here. And as for any fine Japanese sushi restaurant, I would highly recommend to order their Omakase. Omakase is basically the Chef's choice. Just thinking about it now, I think this is the first Omakase experience that I had. The only coursed Japanese meal that I've had was a Kaiseki in Japan (which by the way, was F***ing amazing).

We were seated right in front of the head chef and owner himself, Ryota Okumura. He was very kind and friendly, but was also very detailed to his surroundings. There was a refined delicacy to how he moved around his station. It wasn't long till he started pumping out our course.

Itadakimasu

Served with edible gold flakes, mix greens, and a soy vinaigrette. The tuna was extremely fresh. The first thing that I probably noticed was how lightly the dish was composed. Yes, it looks beautiful, but the flavors were not heavily masked. The vinaigrette just adds a nice touch to the natural flavors of the fish.

Served with crispy onions, ponzu sauce and a sliced cherry tomato. Another simple dish, but perfectly executed. The onions were simple, and not over fried to the point it over powers the fish.

Amberjack, pico de gallo, micro mix, and nihazu. Very delicious and bright. This screams spring flavors and hello summer. The pico de gallo was such a classic touch. Why didn't I think of that?

Some of the best things in life is everything you see in that bowl. The chawanmushi is a simple well balanced flavors of dashi, eggs, edamame and shrimp. Served atop with uni and ikura. One of the best tasting chawanmushi I've had. The custard was not too salty, which worked perfectly with the uni and the ikura.

Chef Ryota's recommendation. Trust him, this was pretty amazing.

Gari - The chef plated each of us with pickled ginger. Now it's time to get started.

Hotate - Scallop

Shima Aji

Halibut

Sawara

Blue Fin Tuna

Toro

Ika

Engawa with Liver

Kanpachi - with Yuzu Kosho

Seared Toro

Ikura

Uni

Hotaru Ika - Firefly Squid

Bonito, Ume, Shiso and white fish

There's no need to describe every single one because to be honest, they were all mind blowing. There wasn't that one piece that we didn't agree with. The sauces were perfect. The seasonings were right on the mark. The amount of wasabi in each wasn't dominant, but you know it's there. Each fish is prepared with expertise. The toro, for example, was deveined so that it will literally just melt in your mouth. The fishes were all extremely fresh like it just jumped out of the water and slapped you in your face.

One thing to point out. The seaweed really stood out to me. It was later mentioned, which was no surprise to me, that the seaweed was from his mother's hometown. To have great sushi, every little detail that goes into each bite matters.

If I HAD to pick one that stood out to me, I would have to go with the Blue fin tuna. Maguro is the staple fish that everyone loves in Japan. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of tuna. But this one it particular, was so simple, but the fish tasted so different as I started to chew. Towards the end, it had the slightest faint of the briny fresh sea water. To say it in one word: extraordinary.

Before dessert was served, we were all served a small bowl of miso soup.

Sweet surprise

Who would've thought that Chef Ryota would serve panna cotta at the end of an epic meal? This really reminds me of dessert in Japan. Just by presentation, it really looks like he was painting his own Zen garden. Served aside with some strawberry & vanilla mochi, this was the perfect close to take away.

I'm not sure how much the Omakase here runs. We had 1 bottle of beer and 2 small bottles of sake. 4 of us. Total was about $450. So if drinks were not included, I would just estimate around $80-$100 for the Omakase. Mind you that we came in at 6:30pm and left at almost 9. It was well worth it for the experience. It's not something to do everyday. And if it was something you can do everyday, then tell me, why are we not friends?

I am confident to put my money to say that Chef Ryota is extremely talented. The food that he serves is not only fresh, but his preparations are mastered in comparison to the restaurants I've had in Japan if not better. People talk about the best foods are in Japan. I can somewhat agree on some things, but I don't to the fact that you have to go there to have great Japanese food or in this case, great sushi. Okumura will definitely deliver.

17302 Ventura Blvd, Encino, CA 91316

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Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop - Costa Mesa

April 21, 2016

I love being in Costa Mesa even though I haven't really figured out all the go to spots. Spending your day somewhere else you are not familiar with can be challenging. It really depends on what to eat in the area. That's always the biggest question. I got the opportunity to taste some food from Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop. They do have a few locations, but why not pick one that I am more comfortable with and getting the opportunity to explore at the same time.

3321 Hyland Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Chopshop is located outside the OC Mix. I've never been to this side of Costa Mesa. Just being here was exciting enough. They have a pretty wide selection of items to pick from. Luckily, they had a Sunday Brunch menu that we were able to pick from. Huevos Rancheros. Almost immediately I knew that's what I wanted. But. John also wanted it. We can't both order the same things. That just doesn't happen. I let him have it. I am always the nice one, remember that. I ordered their flat iron steak with 2 gourmet sides: Roasted Yams & Red Onion, Pomegranate Quinoa.

Steak was delicious. Perfectly medium rare. The seasonings were simple. Roasted yams with red onions, can't complain. The Quinoa, however, were cranberries and not pomegranate which was a bummer. But I did enjoy the sweetness of the cranberries. It actually complimented the yams really well. Lucky you. Lucky me.

I don't know how to say this... but this tasted like the Mexican Taco from Taco Bell. BUT, in the BEST way possible. And come on, who doesn't love the Mexican Taco from TB? The Huevos Rancheros is consisted of over easy eggs, refried black beans, chipotle sauce, pico de gallo, avocado & crisp corn tortilla strips. Ridiculously crispy, the sauce is also extremely flavorful, egg, cheese, guac! I would highly recommend this. Also, this is not as heavy as it looks. It was very light, but extremely satisfying.

After your done, make a stop at the OC mix to check out some shops.

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Wine & Dine

Anchor Hitch - Mission Viejo

The Backhouse - Koreatown

Perry's - Dusit D2 Hotel Constance in Pasadena

Okumura - Encino, CA

Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop - Costa Mesa