Haven’t been since Brooke sold it. It was always a good place to get yummy nosh and drinks in the area that kept the quality up to the standards of the price.
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Could not resist a hot butter and salt donut, prolly best donut!
Also there’s a yokocho sign across the street from pinwheel. Assuming Izakaya? They have a for hire sign.
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phew–almost a thousand posts since i last checked in on this thread but i think i managed to finally skim them all!
on my list for this summer:
komatsu (it was on the list in dec 22 as well but somehow didn’t end up there)
otafuku
sushi chitose (couldn’t get in last time)
ali’i fish company (might try to hit them up on the way from lax to seal beach)
sweet rice
tomizo ramen
a question re the pch night market in wilmington: it doesn’t look likely that we’ll be able to get there on a weekend evening. still worth it on a weeknight?
have i missed anything else in the thread that people would recommend highly? korean is not a priority. because a) we’ll be eating it at home; b) garden grove is close to seal beach anyway; and c) just got back from five weeks in seoul.
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Some others izakaya hachi, sidecar donuts, la espanola, and tempura tendon carlos jr. If you are staying near seal beach i would encourage more exploring of garden grove/costa mesa/westminister area so many good restaurants.
The night market is only really busy on the weekends, there will be a couple of stands on weekdays but not anything worth making a special trip for.
Also a lot of restaurants in long beach worth checking out. La parolaccia, ammatoli, speak cheezy, little coyote, gusto bread
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thanks–we ate at and enjoyed izakaya hachi in costa mesa on the last trip.
do we have a separate thread for oc recs?
I don’t think we have a specifically OC centric thread, just little saigon and you can search for OC stuff. But I don’t know if anything in south bay is super destination worthy, just more like good local eats.
https://www.foodtalkcentral.com/search?expanded=true&q=orange%20county
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For Tomizo Ramen, get the cilantro goyza and baby scallop side. Aunty Maile’s Kalua pork and cabbage is really good. Kansha Creamery, Pollo A la Brasa Vermont.
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second Kansha Creamery. Also, I’m a big Kitikata ramen fan, although it is a very specific style of ramen - very light broth and very white, curly noodles that are more like what you might find in a beef noodle soup than a ramen…
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Kansha Creamery is especially cool if you can catch them on a night where there’s a collab with Kuramoto Ice for shaved ice and ice cream. But that may be just for summer…not entirely sure.
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Tried Kuramoto for the first time last year. Made a big mess, think I’ll bring a plate next time. 
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Borjstar Shawarma Shop for their mixed beef/chicken shawarma wrap eaten with their spicy sauce.
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Borjstar is definitely on my list anything else I should try there?
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The best item there for me is the chicken and beef mixed wrap. They crisp it up in the shawarma fat on the flat top; the flavors of the ingredients just go well and the spicy sauce puts it over the top.
I have had other items, the kapsalon is tasty but a tad greasy if I had a second item to order. But I just always go back to the mixed wrap.
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Ok I’m getting your order!
Borjstar schwarma wrap is delicious. Love the simplicity of chicken and pickles wrapped in a nicely griddled lavash pita type thing. Great garlic sauce and hot sauce. So good.
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@js76wisco and @A5KOBE influenced
Did a borjstar and Gardena bowl bang bang, I’m rarely in that area so I had to stop in at borjstar with our planned gardena bowl lunch.
They don’t pick up their phone at borjstar but the chicken wrap was delectable. So simple but sublime with sauces. The guy taking my order said “that’s the best thing in the menu” lol. Will be back!
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Next time chicken and beef wrap mixed together, it’s not on the menu but you get the best of both worlds. They will charge you for the beef which I believe is slightly more in price.
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Aunties. Breakfast burrito with Portuguese sausage.
Got to speak with the owner Bradley. Learned a few things……
In Hawaii, Portuguese sausage is longaniza. In Torrance/Gardena Portuguese sausage is the patties.
Gardena Bowl Coffeeshop has gone thru many different families in their 40 year history.
TNT Aloha was sold off.
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