An education!
Bin Dou?
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capital seafood in monterey park
Yup you are pretty much correct.
Pulled a quadruple bang today.
Holbox (DTLA)
This place is a darling hit. The seafood is stupendous. We tried the kanpachi-uni ceviche, giant clam ceviche, and the famous torta de camarones that so many FTCers rave about. The uni was nice, but the giant clam ceviche was amazingâŚsuch tender slices of clam and the sauce was so bright with a hint of heat. The torta was good, but I felt there wasnât enough shrimp in itâŚeach bite did not have shrimpâŚbut it was tasty.
Chichen Itza (DTLA)
Perhaps the easiest bang in all of L.A. We ordered a selection of tacos and tamales from their menu. Our companions ordered the cochinita pibil, carnitas, and chicharron. We picked up the chicharrones and their 2 versions of the vaporcito tamal (steamed and fried). The chicharrones tacos were a delightâŚthe textural contrast was so good! The pibil was perfect as always. The two different tamale preparations was interestingâŚthe fried was tasty since it was crispy, but it also took on a lot of oil and was greasyâŚthe original was very goodâŚbetter than the version at La Flor de la YucatĂĄn. One of our guests love the habanero hot sauce so much that I gifted her with a bottleâŚI still canât believe that folks steal those bottles off the tables when they are so inexpensive to purchase.
Birrieria Gonzalez (East L.A.)
Made our way to the third stop of the afternoon for some wonderful birria de res. We were pretty full from out other stops, and it looks like theyâve updated the menu since we were here during the summer. Vampiro is back on the menu and it is delightfulâŚI love the crunchy contrast of crispy cooked tortillas and melted cheese with the luscious birria.
Churros Don Abel (East L.A.)
Since we were in the neighborhood, we treated our guests to some freshly made churros and cafe de olla. One of our out of town guests had never had a churro before so it was super cool to share the experience with him.
The goal was to hit Carlosâs Tijuana Tacos by our house as the last stop, but our guests had also gone to Eataly and Tartine Essex earlier in the day. They were done eating.
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Angler dinner with wild boar for 4 ppl great qpr also had potatoâs, beet, raddichio, house rolls and tar tar. No pics
Sacrificed Colorado grass feed baby lamb that we cooked in a cochina box purchased from Huntington meats
Hiho burger
Bang banged with uovo next door amatriciana was tasty
Went to han bat sul Lang tang (no pics) for a rainy Saturday night dinner and finished with some pizza wagon dessert
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Epicurus Gourmet (North Hollywood)
Imported food stuff gifts are always purchased here. We came by on Saturday and found the pleasant surprise of Eric pouring wines and champagnes from his personal collection. We had a very nice cremant and some wonderful red from 1971âŚI was too focused on my mission to remember the wines.
For those looking for Amerena cherry panettone, you are out of luck because they sold out as of Thursday last week. They have a selection of 3 different panettones as of Saturday afternoonâŚnot including the 22 lb. monster being sold at the reasonable price of $300.
I picked up a selection of formage and charcurterie for our holiday snacking purposes. They had some interesting Mexican honey (avocado blossom and multiflora blossom). I picked up a lot of small snack items as giftsâŚthey have tins of Amarettini cookies for $12âŚthatâs my general gift this year since they ran out of the cherry panettone.
I really love this store.
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capital seafood in monterey park
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Going today!
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I ate at Brera on Friday nightâitâs a Sixth and Mill, sharing the parkign lot and building with the pizza restaurant (6th + Mill), and down the street from Bread Lounge.
The space is quite large, and had nice holiday decorations. We didnât have reservations, and got seated right away. My dining companion has some mobility issues and entrance into restaurant, and getting seated was easy.
She got a negroni, I had a mezcal and chile cocktail, and we chatted a bit. The server checked in with us over and overâwhen we were at the restaurant it was pleasantly busy but easy to walk in without reservations and the place wasnât at capacity the whole time we were there. The amount of times the server checked in with us to get our appetizer or drink order, I got the feeling they restaurant wants to be on the pacing scale of Bottega Louie.
After we gave our drink order we sipped and thought about it, and then placed our appetizer order. We hadnât decided on a main, and when we asked if we could keep the menu as we decided, the answer was âyesâ but given as the server rushed away.
My friend and I shared three small plates and one main. The small plates were smol. We had the zucchini blossoms, the polenta and a pork loin sliced on toast. The polenta came out in four squares, roughly the size of postage stamps, and as thin as two manilla folders put together. It was good not great, and combined with the okay quality of the other small plates all made me feel like âAch, I wasted a holiday get together.â
For our main we decided to have four lamb chops (came with parsnips) and with the sommelierâs help, chose a glass of barolo. I drink, but not in a thoughtful way. My dining companion loves the strategic conversations about what to order, what tastes go with which dishes, etc. The sommelier suggested the barolo, warned us it would be $25/glass (which is what itâs priced on the menu), and then when dining companion didnât choose it immediately, the sommelier said âWell if you will choose the barolo I can give you a taste.â [barolo - fenocchio, piemonte, italy 2015]
Is that the standard now? Only tastes given after you give your okay to purchase? I empathize from restaurant cost viewâIâm sure itâs expensive to give tastes to everyone that wants one. Anyway, we each got a glass, and enjoyed our chosen main of lamb chops. It was the best dish of the evening.
For dessert we asked our server for a recommendation for a dessert that was easily shared. He suggested the doughnuts, and when they came out had five on the plateânot four or six. They were good as hot dough with sugar on top usually is, but the idea that the number given wasnât easily shared between two people kind of summed up my experience there. The bill including all the food, drink and tax before tip was $200.
I wonât return on my own dime, and Iâd be curious to hear what other people think of their experiences.
Overall we were there for about 2 or 2.5 hours. I picked up my car from the almost empty valet lot a little after 9
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Illyanna Maisonet shared her recipe for the delicious pernil featured at her Puerto Rican Christmas Dinner in her first feature in the L.A. Times.
https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2019-12-19/recipe-pernil-puerto-rican-roast-pork-christmas
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I think thatâs the first time Iâve seen runny scrambled egg char siu over fried rice (with frozen peas/carrots).
The base of the pineapple bun resembles those really old school cafes/restaurants in Hong Kong that does old school HK style westernâŚthose sweet buns that they give you with butter on the side with classics such as cream of chicken or corn or mushroom soup.
Perfect candidates for McChelin wine pairings (Riesling territory) lol, especially those delectable cream soups.
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flavored with maggi sauce to boot to maximize msg content
i think a sancerre would be a better match because of its acidity and crispness to cut thru the richness of the soft scrambled egg and and fatty char siu
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Pizza Wagon of Brooklyn (thanks to my fellow FTCers)
Got the pepperoni and Sicilian - could have used slightly more crisp on the âroni cups but awesome crust in both instances and perfect amount of cheese, acidity to the tomato sauce
Yangâs Kitchen
My second visit, and clearly this place has been polarizing. I am still enamored with the beef noodle soup. The braised pork rice was really tasty - crispy bits of pork combined well with the brightness of the micro greens. Yet again, itâs not going to taste like the fatty lu rou fan I had in Taiwan recently.
Mori Sushi
Always a great time here. Met some new friends (including a representative of Sakasyu, who supplies Mori and Hayato, among others, with a lot (all?) of their seafood). We killed off 4 bottles of sake among the 4 of us (plus Maru San!)
Post dinner bang at Apple Pan
No pic of the hickory burger I destroyed, but the cheese fries were really nice after four bottles of sake 
Okiboru
First time here, and this might be my favorite tsukemen in LA. Not perfect, but the itch when Iâm craving Rokurinsha styled gyokai tsukemen
Post ramen bang takeout of Liang pi noodles from Qin West
Myungrang Hot Dog On Sawtelle
Pretty decent âcornâ dogs with what I suspect is rice flower. I ordered one with squid ink batter and it tastes like there is rice flower. A nice chewy consistency. Wish the dog itself had a little more snap.
Rossoblu
Was a big fan of Sotto and this was my second time at Rossoblu for dinner. Personally liked the nonna pasta and really enjoyed the suckling pork (though it seemed more deep fried than roasted Chinese style)
Post Rossoblu bang at Superfine. Unfortunately they only had vegan slices left, and the topping was way too salty. Been before and know the potential though, so will go back at an earlier time
Zhengyalov Hatz thanks again to my fellow FTCers
This herbal wrap was absolutely satisfying and delicious. Pictures donât do it justice, as from the pics, it looks dry and crispy. When you order it there, itâs hot and steaming, the wrapping is warm, substantial, and has a nice chew, and the herb stuffing is moist and of course bright and herbal. Loved this place. They do one thing, and do it extremely well (even though I have no experience with this type of food ). Had a piece of paxlava (not pictured) that was awesome. Also really enjoyed the cinnamon tea.
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Great sake at Mori!
Were the two bottles of Toko brought in or on the sake menu? Either way great choices for sure with the food there. The Toko Sunrise Junmai Ginjo I actually tried it with the food of Din Tai Fung with very nice pairing results 
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how many pieces of nigiri? and whatâs the damage for food only pre tax and tip??