Summer night out at Tanino Ristorante Bar

After surviving the first week of my internship, I went out with Sophia, Julieta, and Alyssa for a night of fun at Tanino Ristorante Bar in Westwood. We had two conditions when we were deciding where to eat at: (1) we wanted Italian food, and (2) we wanted eat at a restaurant that had a pretty setting. Tanino was a perfect match!

 

Upon opening the door, I was instantly stunned by the interior. Everything from the black and white floor tile to the intricately-patterned ceiling made it feel like I was dining in someone's mansion. Very classy.

We were shortly seated and greeted by a friendly staff of servers. Within minutes of glimpsing through the menu, the waiter came by to see if we were ready, but being our first time at Tanino, we needed much more time. But after just asking for a few more minutes, another waiter comes up and asks if we were ready to order, as if we were taking way too long to order. We spent a few more minutes deciding what to order with the eager waiters hovering over us, and finally came to a decision.

I ordered the Spaghetti ai ricci di mare, which is a spaghetti with sea urchin dish. When I told the waiter my order, he questioned me a few times (more than three!) as to whether I really wanted to order that dish. I was a little taken aback, because I am always instantly drawn to anything with sea urchin, but yet the waiter almost seemed like he was discouraging me from ordering it. So I asked him whether the sea urchin was bad that day or something, and he told me that the sea urchin was fresh, but that the taste is a little strange and wasn't sure I would like it. I guess he didn't know that I'm actually a big fan of sea urchin! Regardless, I thought it was a little weird that he would discourage someone from ordering something off their menu.

Spaghetti ai ricci di mare from Tanino Ristorante

I ended up ordering it anyway, and was so glad that I did because it was so fulfilling! Although the portion wasn't huge (a good thing), it was packed with more sea urchin than I could have imagined. Very impressive. I also liked that even though the description said that it was made with olive oil, that the dish wasn't too greasy at all. It was a very good dish, and I might end up coming back frequently to order this despite their amazing selection of dishes!

Alyssa ordered the Tortelloni di zucca e salvia, which is a tortellini stuffed with pumpkin and ricotta. It sounds super yummy, and by the looks of it, I'm sure it tasted amazing. Moreover, it's one of the recommended dishes, according to the waiters.

Tortelloni di zucca e salvia from Tanino Ristorante.

The Gnocchi was also another recommended dish, and so both Sophia and Julieta ordered the Gnocchi al pesto. That also looked positively tasty. Needless to say, the four of us happily left our plates empty and had the time of our lives!

Gnocchi al pesto from Tanino Ristorante.

Once we finished our main entrees, we asked for the dessert menu and were caught in a dilemma deciding what to order. We all ended up ordering a flourless chocolate cake. I was so glad that our entree portions were a little smaller, so that I could fit in dessert without feeling overly stuffed.

Flourless chocolate cake from Tanino Ristorante

The cake was dense with rich chocolate flavor, and eating it confirmed that we did in fact choose the perfect dessert to finish the meal!

Me and Alyssa at Tanino Ristorante

Julieta and Sophia at Tanino Ristorante.

Overall, the environment really set us up for a fantastic meal! It felt like we were eating like kings, when really, we paid like we were the poor college students we were receiving our small paychecks from our part-time jobs. I also loved that they were incredibly quick in serving our food (maybe only about 10 minutes from ordering our entrees to receiving them), but maybe that's because we arrived at about 9:00 p.m. The only thing about the service was that the waiters kept on trying to tease us and make conversation with us. It was fine at first, but I personally felt a little like they were crossing the line a bit and were a little too talkative. But with my girls with me there tonight, it was pretty entertaining. So I will just end this post and say that I am waving my thumbs up for Tanino! (Just be bold and order that sea urchin spaghetti regardless of what beef they may give you~)


Tanino Ristorante Bar
1043 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Neighborhood: Westwood
(310) 208-0444

Cafe Massilia: High expectations with Low realizations

For a slow and quiet Sunday, my sister and I used up her Groupon coupon on Cafe Massilia located in cute Old Town Monrovia. Settled on a small side street, I would have never discovered it without the help of Groupon. Contrary to it's mild presence from the outside, however, the restaurant was very impressionable on the inside.

Walking into a warmly lit room painted in deep red and decked with timeless decor and small tables, the atmosphere was very cozy. We were quickly greeted with a friendly welcome from the waitress who spoke with a heavy French accent. The whole setting reminded me of when my siblings and I were young and we went on vacation in France, eating crazy family meals in restaurants where we couldn't read what we were ordering. Luckily, below each of the French names of the dishes at Cafe Massilia was a very attractive English description.

Adding to the intimate atmosphere, our appetizers shot our excitement (and expectations) through the roof. We ordered Escargot and the Salade d'Endives as starter dishes and both did not disappoint.

(A half-finished) Escargot Au Beurre d'Ail from Cafe Massilia.

Everything about this dish was perfect: the way the escargot was cooked, the presentation in that we did not need to fork the meat out from the shell manually, and the fact that the oil that it was drenched in made the perfect dipping sauce for a basket full of bread.

Salade d'Endives from Cafe Massilia.

Our starter salad was as equally promising. It smartly paired blue cheese with apples and walnuts within the greens, leading to a combination of flavors that I didn't even know was possible. After finishing up the salad and the escargot, my sister and I were energized with anticipation for our entrees.

Unfortunately, the entrees we ordered left much to be desired. Together, we ordered a baked sea bass and the roasted duck leg with orange sauce to share.

Loup De Mer Massilia (baked sea bass)  from Cafe Massilia.

I could not have been more disappointed by this dish. The texture of the fish was incredibly rough, which was completely the opposite of why we ordered it. We decided on the sea bass, because it is usually prepared very smooth and juicy, but the fish here was dry and unimpressive. Interestingly enough, the menu lists this dish as "The Best of Massilia," but I did not see it as any sort of "best." So then I moved on to the duck, hoping that it would make us forget what we just tried.

Canard a l'Orange (Roasted Duck Leg) from Cafe Massilia.

Although the duck here was paired with a complementary orange sauce, it tasted no better than the sea bass. There was nothing noteworthy about the dish other than the fact that the meat was not roasted to perfection, but rather rough and dry. Perhaps if my sister and I walked into Cafe Massilia with low expectations we may have been impressed, but the setting was so precisely decorated and themed, and the appetizers were done so nicely, that we could not help but have some higher expectations. The only redeeming quality was that we have a Groupon discount for the dinner tonight.

Even so, we thought that we'd give their desserts a try, since we had such mixed thoughts on the dishes before. We ordered their trio sampler of desserts which is "a Sampler of Creme Brulee, Mousse Au Chocolat and Profiteroles."

Three Dessert Combination from Cafe Massilia.

I wish I could say that the dessert was the redeeming dish of the night and made the whole meal satisfying, but this was not the case. Much like the rest of dinner, the dessert was very mixed in quality. The mousse by itself was very rich with flavor and tasty. Likewise, they also served quality creme brulee with the thinnest layer of hardened caramel and the lightest, fluffiest of creams. However, the profiteroles was another expectation left unmet. The pastry encasing the ice cream tasted so stale that I was just glad that there was a generous amount of ice cream to distract from it.

To sum it up, dinner was anticlimactic and merely mediocre. Don't be fooled by our happy faces; this was taken before we tried the entrees.

My sister (left) and me at Cafe Massilia.

Cafe Massilia

110 E Lemon Ave
Monrovia, CA 91016
(626) 471-3588

Flawless Fun at Kiyosuzu

It's always a good time going to Kiyosuzu in Arcadia for some solid and authentic Japanese food. Although a humble little restaurant, the service and quality is impeccable. What really makes this restaurant one of my all-time favorites is that for the premium quality of the food served, the prices are actually very good and affordable. Here's a run down of what my sister and I usually order when we come here.

We like to start off with an order of salmon sashimi, because we can never go wrong with that.

Salmon Sashimi from Kiyosuzu.

Look at that generous portion size! Our other regulars include their super fresh uni sushi, sweet shrimp, and yellow tail hand roll. Compared with other generic sushi restaurants, Kiyosuzu puts their best foot forward not being stingy with their portions.

Sweet shrimp sushi, Uni, and Yellow tail hand roll from Kiyosuzu.

Huge shrimp head that comes with the sweet shrimp sushi from Kiyosuzu.

We also tried their albacore sashimi for the first time. I love that even though we usually stick to salmon or yellowtail when we go to sushi restaurants to ensure that we get super tender and melt-in-your-mouth fish, we can be more adventurous at Kiyosuzu.

Albacore sashimi from Kiyosuzu.

Lastly, we like to end all our meals here with their amazing tempura ice cream (as expected!). I love that their layer of tempura has bits of pound cake in it. Yummy! Not to mention, as with their other dishes, their scoop of ice cream is HUGE.

Green Tea Tempura Ice Cream from Kiyosuzu.

BONUS: Also, if you have not tried it before, be SURE to try out their one dish that is a soup with rice and uni. I'm not really sure what it's called, but we just ask the waiters for their uni soup rice every time and they know exactly what we're referring to. Their soup is incredibly tasty without tasting like it's infused with MSG. Also, the chunks of uni everywhere make the soup even more delectable.

So what I'm basically saying is that, you're missing out if you're not frequenting Kiyosuzu, especially after this post! My only warning is to maybe avoid this restaurant if it's during conventional dinner hours on weekends, because it does pretty packed.

Kiyosuzu Restaurant

921 S Baldwin Ave, Ste B

Arcadia, CA 91007

(626) 445-4756

Gatten Sushi Revisited

This weekend, my sister and I decided to go to Gatten Sushi in Monterey Park. While the first time I left quite unimpressed, I decided to give it another chance since my sister was craving their oyster shooters (more on that later). To start, Gatten Sushi is actually a sushi train restaurant. But contrary to the popularity with sushi trains, I actually don't particularly prefer it over regular sushi restaurants because the fish is almost always warm and not chilled, and also constant attention is centered on getting food. I feel like that just distracts from keeping up a conversation.

For those of you unfamiliar, a sushi train is where a conveyor belt circulates around the sushi bar carrying small plates of sushi. Usually the plates carry two to four pieces of sushi and are priced about $1 to $5 depending on where and what you get.

Anyway, the atmosphere of Gatten Sushi was nice. When we went, there was an abundant amount of waiters and everything seemed very lively with the waiters greeting every customer when they walked in and out. Because my sister and I ordered a lot, I will not attempt to cover everything we ate, but I'll run down a few special ones that we don't usually order.

One of my favorites of the night was the Bonito Katsuo sushi. I liked that the fish was nicely coupled with the onions on top. However, my sister said she actually liked it better without the onions. But regardless, the sushi chefs seemed pretty generous with the fish, and we got thick, fresh, smooth slices.

Bonito Katsuo from Gatten Sushi.

I also really enjoyed the Kobe Beef sushi. As you may recall, I had a pretty bad experience with the beef sushi from Hanabi Restarant, but the one served here in comparison kicked butt! If you get past the fact that it looks raw, it is quite tender, and the extra bit of gooey-ness is a plus.

Kobe Beef sushi from Gatten Sushi.

We also got a plate of the Sea Bass sushi which was the special of the night. It is seasoned with bell peppers and fruit on top. Both my sister and I cringed at the taste of bell peppers on top, and in my opinion, it ruined the taste of the sushi. I would much rather prefer the fish on its own. The taste of the bell peppers on top completely took away and distracted me from how the fish tasted (maybe that was their intention??).

Sea Bass sushi from Gatten Sushi.

We also got a plate of the Tako Sansai, because we were instantly drawn by the mixture of colors on the top of the sushi. I've never had it before ,but I think it consists of octopus, ginger, and some greens in there. It wasn't my favorite because of the blend of textures, and I was a little disappointed that the taste of it didn't live up to the beauty of it.

Tako Sansai from Gatten Sushi.

But enough of these comments on mediocre food. The highlight of my night was definitely the oyster shooter. And I'm not even that big of a fan of oysters. The drink was a little sour which was perfect to balance out the fishy taste of the oyster, and I liked that there was a raw quail egg in there as well. But oh my gosh, it was SO GOOD. Please don't go to Gatten Sushi without trying it :)

Oyster shooter (left) and oyster (right) from Gatten Sushi.

After we had stacked a tall tower of empty plates, we decided to order some desserts. The first time I came here I tried their tempura ice cream and was severely disappointed. It tasted like they just dumped some iced mochi (like the kind from the supermarkets) into batter and oil and put it out for customers. It was overly sweet and the stickiness from the mochi skin made it frustrating to cut apart. The dish was also incredibly small, but maybe that was a good thing considering it was a disappointing dessert.

But this time we were more optimistic. My sister ordered the almond tofu. It was a good thing that we were optimistic, because the dish was worthy to be placed in my list of top ten desserts of all time. No joke. The texture although seems firm at first, is melt-in-your-mouth goodness. The almond flavor is subtle yet noticeable. I'm so ordering this again.

Almond Tofu from Gatten Sushi.

I myself ordered the green tea cheesecake, because I know you can't go wrong with that, and I ended up correct--very good. However, my sister actually didn't like it too much; she thought it tasted too much like regular cheesecake and too little like green tea.

Green Tea Cheesecake from Gatten Sushi

Gatten Sushi as a whole is kind of a hit or miss type of restaurant. On the one hand, they churn out amazing things like their Almond Tofu and Oyster Shooters, but on the other hand they also serve things that should not be served (Sea Bass sushi, Tempura ice cream...). I don't think I'd ever recommend it to anyone if I were to show them a good time in LA County, but I'll probably come again when I can't think of any places to go for food.

Gatten Sushi

500 N Atlantic Blvd., Ste A-125

Monterey Park, CA 91754

(626) 457-5943

The 5 p.m. Lunch at Pa Pa Walk

Yesterday, I went to Occidental College to visit my friend Sophia, as well as meet up with Jackie. Excited to eat something out of the ordinary, we decided to randomly Yelp something. Bad idea. Three indecisive girls with too many options means an hour worth of time wasted (no lie!). We finally decided on a place in Alhambra called 15 Cats--the sister restaurant of Jazz Cat Restaurant. Unfortunately, when we got there, we realized that the restaurant had moved locations! So we decided to just head to San Gabriel and just settle on a restaurant. We ended up pulling into one of the many plazas along Valley Blvd in San Gabriel, and walked into Pa Pa Walk (better known as 趴趴走 or Pa Pa Zou).

The restaurant is not very big, and squeezes in quite a few tables. I imagine that it would be very loud and cramped when it's a full house. Fortunately for us, we arrived there around 5:00 P.M. for something like our first meal of the day. I really like how the walls are decorated with colorful posters depicting some of their top dishes (such as their creamy soup inside brick toast!). In addition, the menus were very helpful, because they not only have lists upon lists of tasty options, but at the top of each section, there is a box full of some of their top rated dishes. As far as service, I can't say much since it was pretty empty when we were there. But if you take that factor out, service was great, as the waiters were very polite and attentive.

Anyway, after yet another prolonged period of deciding what to order, Jackie ended up getting the Hainanese Chicken Rice, Sophia ordered the Three Cups Chicken with Rice, and I got the Stir-Fry Noodles with Lamb.

Stir-Fry Noodles with Lamb from Pa Pa Walk.

This dish tastes better than it looks! When it arrived at the table, I could already smell the strong, yummy aroma. The lamb was a little gamey, but I like it that way, so it worked out for me. It was also thin, and tender. I also grew up not really liking onions, but the onions in this dish were super sweet and fit in with the other ingredients seamlessly. I was a little surprised by how much veggies they put in, but in a good way.

Three Cup Chicken with Rice from Pa Pa Walk.

I also tried Sophia's dish, also known as 三杯雞, and I LOVED it. Apparently, this Three Cup Chicken dish is made from mixing in a cup of soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil. In addition, it is also cooked with garlic slices and basil. The flavor is nice and strong, but despite the amounts of garlic and basil, nothing was overpowering. I think I will order this when I come back to this restaurant.

Hainanese Chicken Rice from Pa Pa Walk.

While I did not try Jackie's dish, she did say that the dish is very good. Again, as with my dish, I was wow'd by how much veggies they put in. Thank you, Pa Pa Walk, for keeping us all healthy :)

In addition to their extensive food menu, they also have a large selection of drinks and desserts. Because we all decided that we wanted to order desserts, we started off with pretty basic drinks. Jackie ordered a black tea, Sophia got strawberry green milk tea, and I got barley water.

Barley water from Pa Pa Walk.

Sophia and her drinks from Pa Pa Walk :D

As you may be able to tell from Sophia's face, drinks were not a disappointment!

Finally, when we were about done with our entrees, we took a look at their desserts. Jackie had her eyes set on shaved ice, which I definitely recommend, as Pa Pa Walk has a wide variety of toppings you can add, and the ice has more of a snow-like consistency.

Jackie & her Red Bean Shaved Ice from Pa Pa Walk.

I originally had my eyes set on the Mo Mo Cha Cha, which is a Malaysian dessert that is like a cold, sweet soup, usually with coconut milk, taro, sweet potato, and tapioca. However, when I tried to order it, the waiter told me that they actually don't serve it anymore! He recommended another similar dessert instead, but I was too bummed to eat anything else :( But maybe that was a good thing, as I was already pretty full...

Regardless, lunch (dinner? linner?) was, as usual, fabulous. The waiting time is pretty average, nothing noteworthy. Prices are quite cheap too. I think Pa Pa Walk is very stable in the dishes they cook, but no big "WOW" factor. However, please do go and try some of their crazy-good shaved ice this summer!

Greetings from Sophia, Jackie, and me!

As always, thanks for reading!

Pa Pa Walk
227 W Valley Blvd, Ste 148-B
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 281-3889