The gravy was rather on the salty side, and I wish the Wagyu patty had been cooked less, but it was super beefy and delightful. The Wagyu Moco is a new menu item. I also enjoyed the peppery dresssing on their cabbage salad. The mac salad is a throw away item…could have lived without it.
The chowpup had the Wagyu beef and chicken plate. It was so good, he inhaled it. The single bite of beef I stole from his plate was delicious. Thanks to @ipsedixit who first mentioned this place on this board.
I had Nagomi’s cream puff last night…it is singularly the best pastry cream-filled cream puff I’ve had in a very long time. The sugared top of the profiterole gave it a nice crunchy texture and the pastry cream was just perfect. I wish I had gotten more than one. I instantly wanted another one when after inhaling the first.
Daughter’s deli (daughter of langers) new shop on sunset for lunch yesterday. Really tasty pastrami, they source the same as langers. This place is worth a look.
Karaage at menya musashi was great (also hit Anzu karaage around the corner as a comparison right before… which was decent but Menyas was superior) Ramen was killer as always
Portofino Trattoria (Brea)
I was a bit tired of eating holiday leftovers, so we headed out to one of our favorite Italian places. The chef and his family are from Naples…I have no idea why they selected Portofino as the name. The menu is wide to cater to the neighborhood. I usually order cioppino, linguini frutti de mare, or their vongole pasta…all of those are great. But I was looking for less pasta, so the owner’s uncle suggested sole piccata. The sole was perfectly cooked and crispy underneath the vibrant piccata sauce…I rather liked the fact that their piccata sauce was a bit thicker so I could dip my al dente vegetables in it. My side of rigatoni was also al dente and tossed in their house meat sauce. Dinners come with soup or salad and housemade fresh baked bread. It was a nice change of pace of holiday prime rib, ham, and tamales.
The chowpups ordered the mostaccoli, fettuccine Alfredo, and housemade ravioli in tomato cream sauce. They devoured half and then took the rest home as leftovers. They love coming here for the friendly service (the owners are cousins of our friends and we come often enough for them to recognize us) and San Benedetto iced teas (lemon and peach)…it’s one of the best bottled and flavored ice teas we’ve ever had.
Sotto is reliable as always. I can’t believe that I didn’t really appreciate the place the first couple times I’ve gone, but I am really glad we can get this level of Italian cooking in this part of town.
Didn’t take a picture of it, but the linguine bottarga and the paccheri are our favorites for pasta. This time, we also ordered the olive oil poached cod - it’s a different preparation from the fish we had last time, which was grilled with skin-on.
Hit Langers for lunch. The line looked loooong but moved quite quickly. We got the #19 and the #44 (Hot pastrami, Sauerkraut and Nippy Cheese Grilled on Rye). The #19 was irresistible as always.
Had a great lunch here, not sure why there’s so much hate for this place. Everything I had was super fresh, bright, and full of flavor. Reminds me of a poor man’s carbone.
la woman - local burrata, basil, olive oil, sea salt
One of my favorite pies in la.
point judith fried calamari, arrabiata, aioli
Great. Fresh and tender squid fried and seasoned to perfection. Pro tip: save some of the spicy, garlicy arrabiata sauce for a crust dip.
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