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Worthwhile. Comfort.

One of the places my girlfriend and I wanted to try.
Yep. Yum. Straight up. It was awhile back but definitely still good. I was glad we got a chance to try it because my girlfriend is a busy frickin' bee. Work work and work. Funny 'cause she stresses a lot and it's difficult for her to put that stress aside. However ... when it comes time to eat she's open eyes, open nose, open mouth, indulge.
Bread. Freshly, baked in house. I recall being pretty hungry so we ate a good amount. Plus, Napa is not very close to many things. Butter was salty, creamy goodness. Actually, maybe too salty ... haha.
Tearing up that basket.
Salad with capers and a sweet-ish vinaigrette. Very refreshing, balanced. Except the chickpeas were a bit salty. Good contrast in texture but I could not eat too many of those things due to the salt.
I did not mention but, if you are unaware Ad Hoc is pretty much a set price per person and the food just comes out. Very much family style. So imagine you come home with your friends for dinner. Your mother is surprised to see you brought guests. (Hopefully, your mother did not shun your friends and kick them out). She'll end up deciding to cook more so everyone can enjoy dinner together. Anyway, I like this aspect of Ad Hoc, very warm, very inviting. Very easy to get your elbows dirty on the table and just shove food into your mouth and not care if you smeared all that sauce onto your cheek.

Back to the Flat Iron Steak with bleu cheese. It was good. It was salty. What do you expect from American/French? Salt brings out those flavors that make you salivate in ecstasy. Oh just talking about it while staring at this picture make my tongue crave more. But don't ever forget to down a couple gallons of water during and after the meal. Cooked perfectly. Potatoes and steak are best buds and just so happens the potatoes pick up a good amount of sauce so when you bite into that steak and pair it with the potato. Yum, chew, slight crunch from the potato, cream from the cheese, savory from the reduction sauce (whatever it was). Dang. Your face will be exhausted just from smiling.
Toasted bread, cheese, and honey. You know, I love Northern Californian food. I love Seattle food. The greatest thing about it is wanting to buy food locally. The quality really shines and your tongue can appreciate it. Your wallet might not but who gives a crap, indulge sometimes otherwise you need to .... alright I won't continue with my sentence. This was simplicity. Thick, creamy, savory (cheese) in one hand (or on one utensil) with toasted bread drizzled with a super, slick, non-excessively, sweet honey. I forget the type of cheese but it was a bit dry, breaks off in chunks, easy to bite into. easy to chew, very creamy with a bit of a musky tart outer layer. There is something about tart + sweet + creamy + crunch. It definitely places with all your oral senses ha ha.
The dessert. Fresh Fig Panna Cotta & Citrus Cookies. At least I think it was citrus cookies. Who cares it was good anyway. The fig panna cotta was damn good. I was just nibbling and enjoying how refreshing it was then my girlfriend devours hers and snatches mine and hurls the mini jar at me in disgust as if I wronged the establishment somehow for not releasing my inner beast on the dessert. Just kidding, my girlfriend loved it though, she loved it so much I gave her a bunch of mine. I was a bit full because she did not want too much of the steak.

Thomas Keller. Oh I want to get dirty with French Laundry. That will have to wait until my food savings account is higher though. It's great. My Better Half and I enjoy this place more than Bouchon. Go, you must eat there since it's easier to get in than French Laundry. I really really wish we got a chance to try their famous Fried Chicken but that's usually on ... Mondays I believe? One day, we will go back for whatever they're serving that day and maybe, hopefully, even that Fried Chicken.

Ad Hoc
6476 Washington St.
Yountville, CA 94599
707-944-2487
http://www.adhocrestaurant.com

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Dessert. Quick.

I'm craving dessert right now and stumbled on this. Just a quick upload. Some times when I want a dessert, it doesn't have to be super sweet. Even that subtle sweetness is fine. Or fruits. Fruits for dessert are great. Maybe it's because I have Asian blood. It's alright if you want to make that type of stereotype, Asians always offering stupid slices of oranges after your meal. Well, fruits are good and they got some vitamins. What's not to like? On a serious note ...
Silky tofu with tapioca and mango. Yum. Do you like silky tofu when you go to Dim Sum? It does not have the candied ginger sauce but it is sweetened a bit and has mangoes to do with it. Phoenix Food Boutique is an Asian cafe with some desserts. There's a gang load of them in Rowland Heights and in the San Gabriel Valley. Been opening up like crazy. They have some alright food but I usually just go for dessert. This, the mixed fruit tea or tapioca, and this Black Sticky rice with mango and tapioca. It's a bit similar to above except sweeter, with warm black sticky rice. Try it!

Phoenix Food Boutique
1709 Nogales St.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-810-8988
http://www.phoenixfoodboutique.com

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Chain. Tacos.

Chain restaurants. What an annoying headache they are. I try my best to avoid chain places since quality of ingredients or processes usually gets trumped by the thousands/millions of dollars they're bringing in. Either that or they just taste like crap. All the fast food restaurants, sit down chains such as Cheesecake Factory, and franchised eateries. So back to what I was getting at, I like King Taco. I'm no expert in Mexican food but my taste buds let me know that this place is not too bad and I will not be required to run for the toilet hours after my meal.
Carne asada tacos. Small, snack size really. Real tacos aren't supposed to be huge anyways. I like these. Lots of onion and cilantro. I enjoy putting the red salsa on. Flavorful spice. Yum. I do have one little irk about this though. Since King Taco does get busy, I'm sure they end up just keeping the beef and once done it goes onto the steam tray. I haven't had many carne asadas where the meat was still juicy but King Tacos ... well ... some of those pieces can get jerky tough. At least the salsa provides some moisture. There's obviously better places in the Downtown LA for some great Mexican eats but I'll have to look into that when I'm in the neighborhood.
Tortas. I like this thing. Has some crumbled cheese, the bottom is slightly fried which gives good texture. So you get salty/savory, creamy, cool/refreshing (from the lettuce), spice from salsa (if applicable) and a crunch from the bottom. It is a bit difficult to eat and of course everything starts falling everywhere so make sure to hold onto that plate before you get some torta droppings on your clothes. Honestly, there is not too much to say about this place. They're very fast in service like a fast food joint but the quality is definitely better than some places and at least it is clean (from my experience).

King Taco
406 N. Mountain Ave.
Ontario, CA 91762
909-933-9150

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More. Ramen.

I assume there's more ramen places popping up near the Rowland Heights area and San Gabriel Valley which is good because I do not always want to dedicate the time and drive to Little Tokyo or wherever else. What can be said about Daikokuya ...? Big name, probably around these parts.
My girlfriend being silly. She's wonderful.
Little, basic, side salad/slaw thing. I think of it as slaw. The greens in there are mostly cabbage too so it's quite textured. The dressing is the usually Thousand Island variant. Better Half did enjoy it at the time. She tends to at least take a couple bites from it but I just leave it.
Fatty slices of pork. Delicious. Juicy and tender.
Katsu-Don pretty much. The shoyu/mirin mixture had a bit too much mirin. Was a little bit sweet for my liking but the actual pork was not over fried. Small portion so it's better, more room for ramen (if you have a big appetite) but better for sharing. My better half and I aren't gluttons so a combo with side fried rice or small rice bowl of some sort will leave us content. These bowls are good portion sizes for one person (or mild sharing in this case).
The ramen. Oy, what can I honestly say about this? Not too shabby. I hate, hate, hate the overpower and overuse of the green onions. Doesn't make sense to me because the broth soaks up the flavor. You don't get a good taste of the pork. Meh, that's why I just get the green onions on the side. Daikokuya has this other option for extra fatty broth. I forgot the name but that thing is heavy. *Edit: My Better Half just informed me that the fatty broth is kotteri.* If you love your pork essence, that is the one to get. Daikokuya, this location, is a-okay. I have heard the original Little Tokyo location is hands down, way better but I'll have to go there sometime to give it a judge. I like this place. I really really enjoy their rice dishes so yeah I would go back for either ramen or other things they have to offer. Swing by for your fix.

Daikokuya
15827 Gale Ave.
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
626-968-0810
http://www.daikoku-ten.com

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Waffles. Late at Night.

So there aren't many places nearby with waffles. Yes, there's the waffle trucks and whatnot but I'm not the type to stalk those trucks on Twitter follow them to the edge of the planet. Found this place randomly when I craving something sweet. Ends up they serve up coffee too, Coffee Bean coffee. Hoorah.
Menu.
 Beans from the Coffee Beans.
Korean shaved ice. Never tried it and had no idea Koreans were into shaved ice. I am not sure if it was their recipe but I was not a fan of this. The ice was literally just ice. I was not expecting snow but I was expecting finely shaved ice. This was like ice chunks. Hahaha. Not a like of mine.
The waffle. Yum. It was pretty good. I do not like the whipped cream but I usually just sort of push aside all the cream. This waffle is Asian, that should mean something. Not too crispy, not too fluffy, not too sweet. One thing I really must say: the pink scoop of ice cream is divine. I love this ice cream. YUM! It has a slight sweetness to it. Texture is a good balance between creamy and icey. I have no idea where they get this stuff but I want to buy gallons worth. My taste buds love excitement so eating this waffle with a cup of black coffee was just great. Late night snack. Win. Lastly, service is very friendly and eager to help out.

Cafe Haus
20627 Golden Springs
Diamond Bar, CA 91789
909-598-0815

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A Boba Place.

Mmmm hmmm. You read that title right. Why would I eat at a boba house? Tea Station for that matter? You know I definitely do not have a good reason but I ended up here one day. I think we were close by and thought "Hm, I wonder how their food is, we see a lot of people eating there so let's try it."
Assorted cold dish appetizer. Needed more sauce. You're better off going to a nearby Taiwanese place, would be better and cheaper.
Ramen with egg & ham. Tasted like they bought packaged ramen and made it for me. Fail.  Horrible of me to think I would get anything half decent.
Popcorn Chicken. You can get this anywhere. Would be cheaper.

Mmmm hmm. Eat better elsewhere and cheaper. Nothing else to say.

Tea Station
18558 Gale Ave.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-839-2588
http://www.teastation.us

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Ramen. Comfort.

Oh ramen, how I enjoy thee. Good ramen is hard to find. Package ramen ... well I will not talk about that because I believe there is someone who just reviews packaged ramen all the time. It's not bad but it is nothing compared to the authentic Japanese brew. Mmmm, tonkatsu ramen. My fatty favorite. There's some pretty good places but the most consistent amongst the other locations (in my opinion) is Shinsengumi. So busy and so good.
Never thought to get this at a ramen place because ... I do not know the reason but I guess I was just afraid it wouldn't be good. Takoyaki, what can I say about this octopus wheat ball? First off, the octopus is small and lacking. I can't blame them, hell I do not know the right wheat to octopus ratio but the piece of octopus in this was very small. Flavor was eh. Personally I would pass. The only good thing I would say about this is that the wheat ball is not dry. The technique put into this was good, they did not allow one side to get more fried than the other and made sure not to overcook the sucker.
I love trying new things of course and this tangy lemon thing seemed interesting enough to grab my attention. Again, technique good, moist chicken, flavor was a bit more on the citrus side. I did not enjoy pairing it with my ramen. Pass on this too please.
Crack spicy miso paste. YUM. I love putting this into my bowl of ramen. Shinsengumi you need to add all the sides for extra. There are a couple toppings that you get by default: egg, bean sprouts, green onion, pickled ginger, chasu. My Better Half enjoys getting seaweed and bamboo. If I did not know any better she's a reincarnation of a panda living in Japan. She enjoys her bamboo and sushi quite a bit.
Mmmmm. Tonkatsu Ramen. The cool thing about Shinsengumi is the ability to choose the firmness of your noodles, density/flavor of the broth, and level of oil (pretty much pork fat). Heavy broth is really salty. Light is okay. I prefer normal. So my usual order: tonkatsu ramen - firm noodles, normal broth, heavy oil with spicy miso. I tend to add about half of the miso paste and it adds quite a flavorful kick. The paste is usually good for a couple people unless you really love spicy. So back to the ramen, very good. Always cooked to order and they get it spot on all the time. I eat fairly similar t a hyena, extremely fast and cautious as if I feared a lion was creeping up on me. However, my friends tend to eat at a normal pace. There is nothing wrong with this but I did notice near the half end of my Better Half's bowl, the noodles seem to get a little bit on the soggy side. I would suggest getting firm noodles if you like a little chew to your carbs and even if you eat a bit slower because at about half time your noodles are going to transform into normal firmness. This place is good. I love straight ramen noodles. I love the fattiness pork essence from the broth. I love how the chasu falls apart when I pick it up with my chopsticks. The wait is a bit long but if you are in no hurry, come to this place, let the Japanese yell at your when you come in and exit the building so you can enjoy this piece of their culture. Although I do not have any pictures, try their desserts. They tend to be good. If not try anyways because I love balancing salty with sweet after a meal. Last thing, more traditional Japanese ramen places (like this one) do not allow to go orders.

Hakata Ramen Shin-sen-gumi
8450 E. Valley Blvd., Ste 103
Rosemead, CA 91770
626-572-8646
http://www.shinsengumigroup.com

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Vietnamese. Nearby.

This will be a very brief post. Close to where I live the choices for food are very slim. There's not a whole lot of variety. There's a ton of the larger shopping centers with all those typical crap chain/franchise restaurants: Red Robin, Mimi's Cafe, Islands. Nothing too great. The Vietnamese restaurants nearby usually disappoint too. I'll usually only go to the ones nearby if I'm hurting for it and I don't have a choice or don't have a car to drive myself to a better restaurant. When I do have a choice I drive some miles to the neighboring city to Pho Super Bowl. At least it's not Pho <insert number here>. The interesting about Vietnamese places when I've gone to Westminster is this: if there is a specialty (which is usually indicated in the restaurants name) then all the other entree items will suck. For example, if a place is known for their broken rice (the name will have something like Com Tam) then their soup noodles or noodles in general will be crap or average at best. But Pho Super Bowl does everything not too shabby. Not the greatest but above average for their Pho and rice dishes. Sadly, no broken rice here.
I tend to just get Rare Steak in my pho. Not too much lime, MSG ... I think it's pretty balanced. I like this place. Obviously, there's way better in Westminster or San Jose but both are far and when I'm hungry I don't want to take up so much time away from eating and digesting. Haha. I believe the regular bowl is $5.50 or so. Pretty fair price.
Charbroiled Pork with Egg Roll. Usually my chosen dish. It's good. I mix in a bunch of chili paste into the fish sauce. Yum. The only issue with this dish is the portion size; however, a lot of places outside of the Vietnamese community just do not slap on a decent portion of the actual charbroiled meat. I guess I can't complain since I should not be eating a lot. The other thing I like about this restaurant is the mom and pa feel of it. The owners are actually nice too. Go check out this place if you're want some Vietnamese food.

Pho Super Bowl
329 S Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
909-860-2704 
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P.S. Please forgive me for any typos. My Better Half is the one who usually points them out to me since she's a perfectionist but uh ... yeah she's busy so deal with my stupidity until she has time to let me know I need to fix stuff. Haha, thanks.

Back In. Something Sweet.

I have been lazy to the farthest extent possible. Well, actually I've been keeping busy but lazy in terms of not updating this freaking blog. All the blame goes to the photographer, I mean camera. Haha, I think my issue is having a plethora of pictures and just lacking the desire to actually log in to post. Is it the typing? Nah. Is it the pictures? Most definitely not. Whatever it is shame on me. Please remember a lot of my reviews will be quite belated considering the fact I've been to so many restaurants over the past year or so. I got into cupcakes awhile back. Not sure how or why but they're fun to eat so I'm quite critical and particular about my cupcakes.
My Delight CupCakery. Oh my yes it is a delight in my mouth and tummy. However, for MY taste, the frosting is still a bit sweet. I have friends who love Sprinkles. I think those cupcakes are utter crap. I can taste the diabetes from Sprinkles' frosting.
Got three small cupcakes to try. If there's small ones I'll usually get a couple of these as samplers then choose the ones I like after.
Clockwise: Maple Bacon. Carrot Cake. Vanilla.
They're actually quite famous for their Maple Bacon. I'd have to agree, it's pretty dang good. I was a bit confused when I heard about it but figured I'm up to try new things so I got one and loved it. The carrot cake was good but I dislike walnuts so I trashed all those nuts on the side. Yeah, sorry but I trashed those nuts good. The third cupcake didn't stand out. Was fine but I would not pass up the other offerings this bakery brings out of the oven.
Two Red Velvets to go. One for my Sweet Half. Other for my lame ass.  Was good. I tossed the Dove chocolate or whatever that thing is on top. I do not need the extra sugar. I want cake and a little bit of frosting. With all of the cupcakes from this place I still threw away about 2/3rds of the frosting from each cake. As mentioned, my actions do not indicate in any form that these cupcakes are no good, I'm just a weirdo and like x portion of cake to x portion of frosting.

I like this place a lot. I have been back a few times. They've actually grown a lot too, they have a Food Truck or two. I'm sure you could check out their website and chance down those trucks like a dog if you choose so. Try them out if you're craving some baked sweets.

My Delight CupCakery
1520 Mountain Ave., Suite B-108
Ontario, CA 91762
909-988-4151
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