Rinjani - Glendale

New Indonesian Restaurant opened in Glendale not too long ago. Serving up classic Indonesian satay in a modern contemporary space. 

Here are a few things I tried:

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Iced Coffee and Thai Tea

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Satay Sampler 

Comes with 4 different satays:

• tofu
• tempeh
• ayam/chicken
• domba/lamb

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Fried AYAM (chicken) - Served with vegetables, tofu, tempeh, sambal/spicy sauce. You can have this grilled instead of fried. I just can't pass up fried chicken. This was my favorite.

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Rendang

Braised short ribs with coconut milk and lemongrass.

Located on 107 E Broadway at Brand Blvd Glendale, CA 91205. Parking is available at the Exchange structure on Maryland and Broadway with 90 minutes free!

Big Catch - Universe

Uni is something that you hate or love. I've never met someone that's an in between. Even if you were, it's a lie and the most likely truth is that you hate it.

When I heard that Big Catch Seafood House is offering a special Uni-verse 8 dish course it's a no brainer that my heart just melted. Not even thinking that this would be the best place to take a date for valentines day, but a date that I can take myself. 

The uni is from Maruhide. Most of you know it as the Maruhide Uni Club. These red sea urchins are caught along the Channel Island off the Santa Barbara in California, also called Aka-Uni in Japanese. It has a sweet, creamy texture with a beautiful deep orange/red color. For a limited time, Big Catch is collaborating with Maruhide to create unique course such as this. It brings the Uni Club closer to you so you don't have to trek out to long beach. 

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This is the full grand slam of the meal. The glass of champagne is additional and pairs really nicely. If you're not a fan of champaign they also have a full bar for your liking.

The 8 course consists of:

• Uni Onsen Tamago - Hot Spring egg / Salmon roe/ dried seaweed/ pickled wasabi/ dashi soy
• Uni Blue Fin Tororo - Blue fin tuna/ Mountain Yam/ pickled cucumber/ ohba leaf/ uni soy
• Uni Oyster with Ikura - Kumiai oyster/ Salmon roe/ scallion/ ponzu
• Uni Toro - Fatty tuna (belly)/ flying fish roe/ ohba leaf/ kombu soy
• Seared Uni Scallop - Seared Scallop/ Mango/ Sea Salt/ Olive Oil/ Ohba Leaf
• Uni Garlic Flan - Garlic Flan/ Salmon Roe/ Micro Rainbow/ Chives
• Uni Toast - Dried Seaweed/ Chives/ triple creme cheese/ toast
• Mini Uni Pasta - Uni Sauce/ Flying fish roe/ dried seaweed/ chives

You can get everything I mentioned for a promotional $88. Will eventually hit up to $108 so I would recommend giving it a taste. This course is limited to 5 orders per day. If you plan on making a reservation ahead of time, make sure to mention you would want to order this.

Below is a closer look at this amazing feast:

Let me know your thoughts after you've given this a try.

Big Catch Seafood

2 S Garfield Ave Ste 100 Alhambra, CA 91801

(626) 282-8590

Sarabeth's - Japan

Sarabeth's first opened their doors in 1981 in New York. It makes perfect sense that they are now in Japan if you understand how the restaurant culture is now. There are 5 locations now: Tokyo, Lumine Shinjuku, Nagoya, Shinagawa, and Osaka. People love cafes in Japan. There are so many French and German inspired ones more so now than I remembered 5 years ago when I visited Tokyo. Maybe 10 years ago, we can agree that Japanese food is better in Japan. Even though I'm sure in some cases, that is still true, we can certainly agree to those that have explored Southern California enough to confidently say our Japanese cuisines (sushi, izakaya, yakiniku, etc) is comparable. 

This time around, I wanted to check out more cafes and unique spots. Honestly, it's inspiring to be at these restaurants than to hit up all the sushi joints. That's not what Tokyo is about. You will soon realize that your journey begins once you start exploring without the restriction of places you should be eating at. To me, that defeats the purpose of finding little gems that gets outshined by word of mouth publicity. I'm not about that. 

And even though Sarabeth's is a chain, my experience was by accident. This restaurant was stumbled upon as we were headed to Tokyo Station. This experience however, is still my first.

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We were probably the 3rd group to arrive at around 10. By 11, the cafe was pretty much 75% full. 

Cappuccino 

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Lemon pancakes. Slightly dense, but the lemon flavor was nice. It's one of my favorite flavored pancakes so I wanted to see how this was done.

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Classic eggs benedict. I would say this is one of the best if not the best, eggs benedict I've ever had. Simple, but the execution is always important. The hollandaise sauce was rich and lusciously wrapped over the shall I say, perfectly poached egg. They used British muffins instead of English which changed my whole view on making these. So much better as the egg yolk seeps in. Yeah try and picture that. The ham is slightly charred to bring out a slight smokiness from the ham. 

1-8-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo TEKKO BUILDING. 2,3F

Tasty Duck - San Gabriel

I grew up on a lot of food now that I think about it. Roast duck with a few bowls of steamy white rice is one of my top comfort foods. The way the fat drips into the rice with all the natural flavors just makes my feet tap. Peking duck is kind of like that in a different way. It's sophisticated and more refined. There's more technique to get peking duck perfect. With that said, there isn't anything sadder than a peking duck with saggy skin. No one wants a saggy skin.

There are different combos you can order here aside from ordering dishes individually. This combo comes with the Peking duck 3 ways. The classic Peking duck comes with thin pancakes, hoisin, cucumber, and scallions.

I find it truly amazing. I haven't had enough Peking duck in my life, but many to roast duck that I can say this is delicious. Skin is crispy, meat is tender. The pancake wraps had nice flavor. This is a must.

Soup is also made as part of the 3 way duck combo. 

Sprout stir fry with duck. Not a huge fan of this. Mainly because my mom made me pluck the end of these sprouts growing up.

Happy Family. Wine chicken, beef, and jelly fish salad.

Filet mignon cubes with black pepper sauce. Always a favorite.

Scallop and veggies served over a crispy noodle basket. One of my favorites as well. 

Not in the combo. Sticky rice with BBQ Eel. I highly recommend this. I'm a huge fan of sticky rice. Eel has a natural fat that renders through the rice. There's something absolutely heavenly about this dish. Remember to pace yourself.

Enjoy!

Momed - Atwater Village

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Momed is one of my favorite casual spots to hit up. It's tucked away the residential area within Atwater Village. You would really need to want to come here in order to find it. I've had a few items from the countless times I've been here. Here's what I tried that I haven't introduced before.

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Duck Shawarma

Blistered cherry tomatoes, black mission figs, garlic aioli, arugula, onions, rolled in house-made lavash. Hearty and definitely amazing. I absolutely loved these momo chips. You get a choice of salad or these chips. I highly recommend the chips... I mean... there's already arugula in the wrap. I loved the black mission figs in this wrap. It added another level of texture and sweetness that complimented this succulent duck.

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SHORT RIB FRICASSÉE

braised short rib, roasted fingerling potatoes, caramelized onions, applewood smoked cheddar, arugula, 2-sunny organic eggs, ciabatta.

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Short ribs were tender. Nothing beats a runny egg yolk with a nice hearty bread to scoop it all up. A great fuel starter before hitting the gym or to recover from a hangover. My stomach is grumbling all over again.

3245 Casitas Ave Los Angeles, CA 90039