The Fat Dog - Pau & Johnny - Part 2

March 1, 2016

To continue from Part 1 where Pau, Johnny and I were hanging out at the Idle Hour, we decided to make our way to The Fat Dog.

11050 Magnolia Blvd - North Hollywood, CA 91601

After having a liquid brunch, we were literally turning into Zombies with no sense of direction. I mean, Pau literally lunged to the streets without looking and stopped traffic with her super powers as we trickled behind her. She was on a mission. A mission for Swedish meatballs.

I love it. I went to tinkle and came out with food already on the way. Since we were just snacking, they do have some fun nibbles that are worth to try. Let's start with the sliders shall we.

Any beer loving fiend would love cheeseburgers of all sizes. These little decadent-pinky-worth buns with bacon, meat, cheese and guacamole can keep you fixated with your eyes crossed for a good minute.

Comes with fries. But, I would order more for other reasons I will share with you in a bit. But deng, I just love finger foods so much. I don't count calories, but I do think about the amount of food I consume at the end of the day. So little bites like these (x's 54674861231) makes me extremely happy because that means I can try more food. And who, who, does not want to try more food? For goodness sake. Look how delightful Johnny looks in the back enjoying a bite of a mysterious item. I swear it wasn't candid at all.

I really... really.. enjoyed these wings a lot. I'm not sure if it was from all the beer I drank, but these were zippy. It felt almost as if the wings were marinated in buffalo sauce or rub, and then deep fried. I really don't know how they did it, but it reminds me of dry rubbed ribs. Served with celery and carrots, with their house bleu cheese dipping sauce. Thumbs up. I am ready to come back for this one.

If you love IKEA Swedish Meatballs, you will love the ones at the Fat Dog. Served in a heapfull, there are plenty of reasons to share. There's nothing fancy with this dish as there is nothing fancy at the ones you would find at IKEA. But, these are comforting as F#$k as they should be. This is where the extra fries would play along. Or, just order the fries with this gravy and lingonberry sauce to top off. Money.

I will be back really soon because there were still a lot of items I would like to try. Love you Pau & Johnny dearly.

Until next time. Eat & Drink responsibility.

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IDLE Hour - Pau & Johnny - Part 1

February 25, 2016

I've known Pauline and Johnny for quite some time. I would say 14 years or so. Johnny and I have stayed friends after High School and I really consider him as one of my best friends. I still kept in touch with Pau from time to time mostly through social media. It wasn't long before Pau and I geeked out over our love of food. And it was about time we rekindled our friendship after a decade of not seeing each other.

Pau arranged our meet at the IDLE HOUR in North Hollywood.

4824 N Vineland Ave - Los Angeles, CA 91601

As punctual as I am, I can't believe that I was the last one to arrive. Don't worry, that will be made up shortly with a few drinks. It was weird to see Pau again. But, it didn't feel different. And it almost feels like just yesterday that we were in High School all over again. There wasn't much awkwardness at all if any. And it literally took no time before the first round of drinks started.

Pau's first drink was a mimosa while Johnny dove into his bloody mary. I steered away and ordered a Ballast Point IPA. And, it wasn't long before we ended up doing rounds of IPA.

Besides the usual work and stuff, life really just went on. There wasn't much to catch up on since Johnny and I have kept in touch, I see the life of Pau through Instagram and Facebook and vice versa between them. So basically, we just talked about food and really digged into the roots of our favorite things to eat. One thing I love about these 2 are the love of food they have for all cultures. There isn't anything these 2 would not try. And you know what? It's hard to find true foodies that embraces all foods of the world.

We didn't order much to eat. Just beer. And more beer. Until we realized we really should order food before getting passed out drunk on the sidewalk. Pau wasn't too hungry. Johnny was contemplating over short ribs. And I had my eyes on the chilaquiles. We decided to go for the chilaquiles since something to share was satisfying enough from all the beer we had.

The chilaquiles were large enough to share between 3 of us. The sauce was flavorful with a slight kick of heat that creeps up after. Some queso crumbles topped with 2 perfectly sunny sides. Yes I will order this again.

After ordering another round of beer, I've became a total snapchat guru. Though, I don't remember how to use it now. I'm sure it will all come back to me once I have my hands on a beer.

This was probably around 2. Stay tuned for part 2.

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Intelligentsia - Abbot Kinney

February 14, 2016

To continue on with celebrating John's Birthday, we went to Intelligentsia after our brunch at Gjelina. I find the location in Abbot Kinney much more sophisticated than the one is Pasadena when it comes to flavor. Cappuccinos are always our go-to at a roaster like this. I love the dairy ratio here compared to what I received in Pasadena. I wouldn't say I am a connoisseur, but I am confident to say I am pretty close to one. There were days when we used to have nothing to do but hit up local coffee shops in Los Angeles. Those days of drinking caffeine for fun is something I truly miss... so this was definitely a treat not just for John, but for me as well.

Walking in, you will see a glass filled with baked goods. Go ahead, pick something.

Step up to a barista when you are ready to order and they will be more than happy to get your drink on the way. The smell of fresh ground coffee beans just does something to me that I can't explain. I always find the smell to be intoxicating. I love getting into a car that has the smell of hot coffee sitting in the cup holder. Or that first brew you make when you are trying to get breakfast ready. It's kind of like, potpourri that wakes you up. I love every bit of it.

I like to add a little raw cane sugar to enhance the espresso. Watch it get swallowed up and sucked in like a black hole.

Stir. Love. Enjoy.

1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

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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

The Fat Dog - Pau & Johnny - Part 2

IDLE Hour - Pau & Johnny - Part 1

Intelligentsia - Abbot Kinney

GJELINA - Abbot Kinney

Little Beast - Eagle Rock

Little Beast

Mains