Sonder in Santa Ana. Asian inspired lounge with great cocktails. Right next door to Kaisen shabu and same ownership group. Really nice cute space. Excellent attentive professional service. Owner came by and was even bussing. A great addition to the area. Nice easy paid parking nearby.
Delicious well made drinks. Somebody back there knows what they are doing. All cocktails are named after artist songs. Cocktails are $12 from 5-6pm.
No pics of pork belly and longanisa skewers but they were both delicious. Each come with a side of white rice. Save the cucumber vinaigrette for dipping.
Pandan butterscotch pudding. Nice riff on the budino. A little sweet but you get the pandan.
Still thinking about the burger I had at bar 109 Tuesday night, simple but so so mighty. great bun to meat ratio. the wagyu beef is cooked with a ton of care (30 minutes to make one burger). loved the onions with the mac sauce. I think it’s a top 3 burger in LA. I’ve tried as many burgers as I can in LA so far, primarily focusing in on simply burger joints, not restaurant burgers. The one burger place that stuck out most to me and became my favorite in LA is Amboy.. on the other hand, Bar 109 was best restaurant/bar burger that I’ve had so far.
I wonder if they’ll ever create a small slider version of this burger and add it as a supplement item]to their tasting menu.
El primo tacos on Lincoln Blvd. in front of Ralph’s - still going strong. great $2 tacos, the al pastor were my favorite. I also really like the burritos here. The horchata is refreshing too and balanced, not too overly sweet. some horchatas are sugar bombs these days.
I go to Little D occasionally, always lunch time, and I really like the squares, but I find the menu/specials quite extensive (and interesting sounding) but the slice selection very very limited. Usually just plain and pepperoni - none of the interesting specials or other options. Maybe they are an evening thing… or maybe just whole pies?
I always go during the lunchtime slice time as well. A lot of the times they do not have the specials in the front - on the cart. I ask them for a monthly special and they make it on the spot with the ingredients needed for the monthly special ready to go in the back workstation. Last time they had a plain square ready to go, then they added the toppings, put it in the oven, and it was ready in 5-10 mins? But you’re right, it’s usually not seen in the front.
Late breakfast at Jongewaard’s Bake & Broil in Long Beach on Atlantic on Thursday. We put our names down and only had to wait about 4 minutes before a table for two opened up. I love the service – prompt, no nonsense; a patron dining next to us took a call on speakerphone and a server came over instantly to (politely) shut that down.
Chicken fried steak, seasoned hash browns, and eggs over medium. Not pictured is the warm blueberry muffin that comes out first and got inhaled. I was hungry.
The chicken fried steak was not great. It was either formed ground beef, or maybe treated too long with tenderizer – either way, the texture was off. But the gravy and the sides made up for it. I didn’t leave any behind. Would I get it again? No. Would I come back? Yes.
Breakfast plate, muffin, coffee. After tax and tip I think was out $27.
Everything is better when you start your day at Phin Smith. My daughter said the strawberry matcha was delicious but not as good as Japan. I said it’s good that she doesn’t exhibit recency bias. She gave me a blank stare.
Arisu was packed on Saturday night. It’s currently number 3 in our OC KBBQ ranking behind Yangmani
(Technically Rowland Heights) and Mo Ran Gak. My mom loves getting the ssam and the rice cooked in the metal bowl.
Antojitos Hondureños Gloria. On Vermont near USC. I really enjoyed the sopa de caracol (conch), which included hearty chunks of plantains and yuca. Also good were the tacos dorados de pollo, with a tasty red dipping sauce.
We hit Cannonball last night. The food is very good with a tight but well conceived menu. Had the roast carrots with burrata (excellent), yellow fin crudo (good but not a reorder), ocean trout with cranberry beans and early girl tomatoes and a chocolate pot du crème. Not sure how often the menu will change and if Hippo is any indication, it may not change enough to keep me interested. That said, the wine list is perhaps one of the best curated lists I’ve seen. Great labels like Chantereves, Pataille, Dancer, Coche, Keller, to name a few. Probably the best priced list in LA. We had a Chavy-Chouet Aligoté that was excellent. Congrats to Joe & Matt.
Birria Barajas chivo Birria plus queso tacos not pictured so damn unctuous and flavorful. Wish I lived closer this would be a weekly pickup. They ran out of their shank which they call pistols. Consommé complimented the meat very well herbal but maybe a touch too salty.
You po noodles were less spicy than expected (I saw some other diners sweating over the Chongqing noodles). The texture of the noodles was incredible – lots of irregularities and craggy bits for sauce to stick to. Great chew.
Fried chicken took a while to come out. I’ve never had anything similar to this; it’s pretty heavy on the breading, and the texture is more chewy than crunchy. Good, but not a reorder. Uncertain if the intention is to eat the chilies with the dish… I wasn’t brave enough to try.
Tam’s Noodle House: Deep fried pork chop with salt and pepper, slippery egg with shrimp, steamed rice noodle roll with shrimp, HK style pineapple bun with butter.
Every dish was a hit. The pork chop is a must order, as are the rice rolls with shrimp. Order the pineapple buns with the rest of your food and by the time you’re done with your meal, you have a perfect dessert with soft, melted butter waiting. Excited to return and try more of the menu.
Popup Bagels soft opening today on San Vicente in Brentwood. My partner picked them up a few hours before I ate them, so there is a bit of an asterisk.
Initial thoughts:
Significantly better than Pop’s down the street. God willing, I will never eat a Pop’s bagel again.
Did not quite reach the same heights as Popup Bagels in NYC. But - first day of soft open, I ate them several hours later, etc etc. Not a fair comparison, yet.
The sesame bagel is good; the everything bagel is great.
Definitely already an upper tier LA bagel, on a similar level as Layla in my opinion, but with a higher potential ceiling based my past experiences with the NYC locations. Not as good as Courage.
