Seafood is the Way to Go in Dubrovnik, Croatia

What do people eat in Dubrovnik, Croatia? Fresh seafood – lots of it. Despite my initial fears that a restaurant housed in Old Town filled with tourists could not possibly be any good, Proto, was a pleasant surprise. Some purists may scoff at the food served here, saying it's not as authentic as it could be. That may be true, but it was darn good and that made me happy.

Established in 1886, this restaurant served a hearty tomato-based fish soup with a twist. This coastal town located in the southernmost tip of Croatia very close to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina is also known for its dried orange peels that are packaged and sold candied. And it took me a second to realize the subtle citrus and sweet flavors in the soup served at Proto came from the orange peels. There were just enough peels to balance out the salty fish broth with tomatoes.


Another appetizer that hit the spot was fried baby sardines, which had a very light batter and the crunchiest texture.

The star of the show was undoubtedly the main course of grilled fish and squid. Filets of sea bass and whole pieces of squid drizzled with a lemon parsley sauce were refreshing and the squid was cooked to perfect chewyness. The plate also included grilled shrimps in their shells, potato slices and steamed mussels, all of which tasted fresh and just the thing to have on a hot, summer day.



I also had a seafood pasta in a tomato sauce that was good but my limited knowledge of Croatian food leads me to just say, it was good but not as delish as what awaited me in Italy no less!

Stay tuned for posts on some ridiculously amazing food and wine in Greece and Italy!

Dondaegam: What's Not to Like About this Porkfest ?

What makes a barbecue joint good is the quality of its meat and condiments. That is certainly the case for Dondaegam in Koreatown, which specializes in pork barbecue. Order a sampler and you get pork belly, pork loin and marinated pork that will cook tableside and be popped into your mouth with some spicy lettuce and green onion mix that complements the meat perfectly.

Add its well fermented kimchi and it's pure heaven. The pork belly gets crunchy, almost like thick bacon, so the added texture contrast makes this experience even better.

Dip the unmarinated meat first in one of two sauces, sesame oil, salt and pepper and then dab a sriracha-based spicy sauce onto the greens mix plus meat concoction.

Wish I could write more but I'll let the images speak for themselves. It's juicy, not frozen meat and very lean and tender.

J. Gold gave it a rave review and it's by the same owners as the much-beloved Park's BBQ that is known for its beef.

Dragon: Go for the Noodle + Entree Lunch Deals For Great Value

Whenever I get a hankering for decent jjajangmyun (alternately spelled Chachiangmen), the classic Korean-Chinese black bean noodle dish, I head to Dragon, or Yong Goong in Korean. It has one of the best lunch deals in town, offering a meat or seafood dish as a combo for anywhere from $8 to $13.

The combo meal also includes fried rice and a fried wonton but neither are remarkable so I'd stick to the noodles and main dish.

My main dishes of choice are the tangsuyook, or sweet and sour beef, or the Kung Pao chicken that has a slight kick to it. Sure. Neither one of them is healthy by any stretch. Both are deep fried and somewhat smothered in sauces. That's where the kimchi, raw onions and pickled daikon radish that accompany any meal come in to balance out the grease.


The raw onions can be dipped in what I call black bean essence -- a dense paste of unadulterated black beans pureed and seemingly seasoned only with salt and a dab of oil to soften it. It's an acquired taste but one worth checking out. Just don't do it on a weekday when you have to return to the office and have to face your co-workers with some pretty potent onion breath.





For those who want spice all the way, jjamppong may be more up your alley. Jjamppong is a soupy noodle dish that is a hodgepodge of all things seafood such as squid and shrimp whose broth is so spicy that it bears a red-hot hue. It doesn't mess around with spice so beware.

I'm a sucker for complimentary desserts and I absolutely love the little morsels of deep fried (I know, again) sweet potato pieces covered with clear syrup that hardens like candy by the time they reach the table and are quickly popped into my mouth. These lovelies basically taste like candied sweet potatoes, also known as matang in Korean and sold on street carts in Seoul. Whatever they're called, they're delish. A great finish to a meal.

Best and Worst of Santa Ynez Wine Country: Burger Out at Los Olivos Cafe

Who knew that the highlight of my Santa Ynez wine country trip would end up being (besides the wine, of course) none other than a bloody burger with one of the best barbecue sauces I've had west of Texas?!

I had three burgers in two days because I'm a burger fiend but only one of them at Los Olivos Cafe in a tiny sleepy town just outside of Solvang took the prize. This patty was juicy, flavorful and had just the amount of bite that I liked, albeit a teeny bit overcooked.

Still, it was plenty messy to eat. The sesame bun was warm and firm enough to withstand the huge mound of "the works," including tomato, red onion, romaine lettuce, pickle, cheddar cheese and a dollop of thousand island dressing. While taking a bite may leave stretch marks on the side of your mouth, it's well worth it. The combination is fantastic. The fries were crispy, warm and not over-salted. The barbecue sauce that seems to have been made at the premises from scratch was out of this world. Maybe it was also the excellent Los Olivos' house Pinot Noir that I washed it down with that made it all the better. Still not at Houston's level, mind you, but very good (The 'cue sauce was hands down better than Houston's, however. I wanted to drink it.). Just remember to skip the unremarkable pizzas.

P.S.: Stop by Stolpman Winery Tasting Room known for its Syrahs if that's your thing. It's delish.
The second-best dish I had was the Maytag blue cheese souffle at Root 246, Bradley Ogden's new place in Solvang that also got a decent review by the LAT last week.

I'm not even a huge blue cheese fan, but it had me at souffle. It was like blue cheese mousse that was made milder from the cream or whatever they added to the souffle to make it so delightfully fluffy and airy. The blue cheese was sandwiched in a crusty puff pastry shell that made for a great mix of textures. The accompanying strawberry and watercress salad gave it a refreshing counterbalance to the slight heaviness of the blue cheese. I love eating things like this that are clearly dishes that would be very hard to make at home. There's a reason souffles take so much time and care to perfect!

I also liked the pan-fried chicken that came with mashed potatoes and topped with thin apple slices and what looked and tasted like giant raisins. Although chicken breasts are usually too dry for me, the chicken was perfectly juicy with a crispy, salty skin that seasoned the chicken nicely. The potatoes were a tad bland (thank God for the Tapatio they had handy) but I liked the salty and sweet/tart interchange with the chicken and toppings. Not as revelatory as the souffle but still good.

I didn't have any of the dishes LAT raved about but the calamari and burger I had were not worth raving about at all. The calamari was overcooked the first time and then the second time as well so we barely touched it and they thankfully didn't charge us for it. The burger was average and I wouldn't get it again.


Next up, the Hadsten House in Solvang had a very juicy (Please excuse my excessive use of this word. What can I say? I can't stand dry meats.) pork chop but they poured far too much of the fig and apricot sauce over it that overpowered the meat with its sweetness. I like a sweet sauce with pork but this was too much, as it took it away from the nicely-brined pork chop that would have been able to hold its own without being smothered in candy. I learned a long time ago that the secret to the best pork chop was brining it in apple cider + water or some kind of liquid to ensure the moisture is retained. Avoid the scallop appetizer that sounds enticing. It was overcooked and drowning in bacon and bread crumbs and as a bacon-lover I can safely tell you that it wasn't a good thing. The service at dinner was appallingly rude and annoying but breakfast food and service were both good. So much for consistency. Desserts were ok but the portions were ridiculously large.

Now for the worst of "Sideways" country (brace yourself for reminders here at every corner): Avoid Little Mermaid on the main road like the plague. Split-pea soup and a sampler of traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches were below average. There were chicken liver sandwiches topped with beets and pickles and cheese sandwiches topped with radishes and carrots that were ok but not enough to order again. The sausages sampler that came with a scoop of mashed potatoes and green beans looked and tasted like a frozen TV-dinner gone from bad to worse or straight-up plane food. Either way, the worst of images and analogies.

I was seduced by a cute-little shack called the Big Bopper Drive-in and made the mistake of ordering the namesake burger that was so incredibly overpriced (for a shack burger, that is) and positively disgusting. I can't believe they actually sell this as an edible piece of meat in between bread. The tacos are supposed to be ok but I'm not going anywhere near that place again.

So, I had to have the famous Aebleskivers, little fried doughy balls with powdered sugar and raspberry jam that this town is known for. I found the ones at Solvang Restaurant to be too flour-y and didn't like them. But maybe it makes a great one that I just happen not to like.

Here's another tip for winos: Check out Curran, Melville and Lucas & Lewellen tasting rooms for some awesome Pinot Noir and other wines this region is known for. I was ecstatic to have discovered a late harvest white that actually smelled and tasted like it had lychee in it! Priceless.

Cafe Surfas: Avoid Food, Keep Shopping

After hearing raves about the kobe burger at Cafe Surfas, I had to try it, although not without skepticism. The verdict: completely overrated. Not only was the burger overcooked when it should have been medium rare, but the patty didn't taste fresh (nor did it have a reddish hue that fresh meat patties have when cooked medium rare right). The bun was too dense and the works, including arugula, red onions, tomatoes, cilantro avocado spread, smoked paprika mayo and aged white cheddar cheese, didn't mesh very well together. I think the quality of the meat just killed it.


We're glad that they made the burger again after we sent back the overcooked one, although it came with less than forthcoming service (actually, the service was pretty darn bad throughout except they did try to do some damage control after the fact and comped our desserts).



There was something odd in the air among workers there -- like they were all miserable and therefore weren't going to bother with dealing with customers. When we asked for condiments, one had the audacity to tell us to go buy it inside the store. What?!

The pastrami panini that was like a melt was nothing remarkable. All sandwiches came with a salad that seemed too heavily dressed.

As for the mac-n-cheese, oh my, the pasta was overcooked and it basically tasted like plane food. It was painfully obvious that it had been made hours ahead of time and had been sitting there for a long while.

This cafe has so much potential but I felt like its management must have slipped because the items were interesting but just not well-executed at all.

The biscuit with "homemade raspberry butter" was underwhelming, not least because the butter was neither melted enough to spread it nor flavorful in the least. A minor point: the top of the biscuit had a sheen like a croissant, when in fact the authentic Southern biscuits I'm used to seeing usually do not have a sheen (probably glazed with egg yolk in the baking process).

I will be returning but not for the food. Surfas is like a candy store for me, after all -- I could spend hours browsing the isles of their gourmet foods and restaurant equipment. A major complaint about their food section: can you believe that they carry one single brand of radish kimchi and that the company is based out of none other than New York City? And we're in LA, capital of the best Korean food outside of Korea, no less. Outrageous. Surfas' management will be hearing from me for sure.

Brunch Roundup: Best and Worst Pancakes in West LA

I usually don't like to go out for breakfast or brunch but circumstances have "forced" me to eat out on these occasions and as a result, I've sampled seven places famous and not.

Here's my rundown:


BEST FRENCH TOAST
Although I can't say I've tried all joints offering French toast, I can safely say that Amandine Cafe on Wilshire serves up a pretty good one. It's two slices of what tasted and looked like brioche bread, well-toasted on the outside and soft on the inside, and you can top it with your fruit of choice (I chose bananas once and strawberries another time). The cappuccino was also good. I would skip the omelet and stick with what it does best. The plain and chocolate croissants weren't bad but not as good as in Bread Bar.

The space is a bit cramped but it has its own parking lot so that's always a draw. I haven't tried the sweets but I'm sure they do a decent job of those.

BEST BREAKFAST SAUSAGE
I liked Bread and Porridge's sausage that are locally made gourmet sausages that come in seven varieties. Being a spice fiend, I, of course, chose spicy Portuguese and it didn't disappoint. Besides being a good sausage to begin with, the sausage was grilled to perfection, complete with beautiful grill marks. As I bit into it, I tasted the smokiness from the grill and the juiciness from the inside exploded with spicy and salty flavors.

The nice thing about this place was that it didn't look like the kind of place that would but accompanied with our order came a small bowl of black beans and another bowl of pico de gallo -- that wonderful fresh salsa! Unexpected but a very pleasant surprise that definitely complemented the food very nicely.

The other stuff, on the other hand, were nothing to write home about, including its supposedly famous corn bread, which was bland and dry, and its pancakes, which were mediocre.

BEST PANCAKES
Speaking of which, I'm not even a huge pancake person but I have to give it up for John O' Groats close to Westside Pavillion for making the lightest and fluffiest buttermilk pancakes this side of town. Its biscuits aren't bad either, but its ethereal pancakes will lift up your spirits, no doubt.

BEST EXOTIC BREAKFAST/BRUNCH SPOT
Ok, maybe the corn-based arepas from Venezuela aren't that exotic. But when you're not in the mood for the same ol' same ol', head over to Coupa Cafe in Beverly Hills for some hearty Venezuelan fare.

There is a special breakfast arepa that comes with scrambled eggs, gouda cheese and bacon. Not your thing? An item called perico has an arepa with scrambled eggs, peppers, onions and tomatoes. The latter, according to the menu, is allegedly a favorite dish of the new big-haired conductor at the Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel, who's Venezuelan.

It's worth trying their other non-breakfast-y items like empanada, which is deep fried corn dough filled with anything from ground beef, chicken to "fresh young shark," which I haven't tried.


The pabellon, filled with shredded beef, black beans, sweet fried plantains and queso paisa (stringy white cheese), was delicious. I also liked the sauces it came with, some infused with cilantro, parsley and some kick. Gotta love kick.

The Venezuelan coffee was not too shabby either. It also has outdoor seating, which makes for good people watching, if that's your thing. On one lazy Sunday a while back, I saw a sunglasses-wearing Julianne Moore walking by. So LA...

BEST BRUNCH BUFFET
If you don't really know what to eat but want something healthy and good, go for a drive to Malibu and get thee to Inn of the Seventh Ray.

It's run by a bunch of new age hippies who appreciate solidly-made food. I usually don't like buffets unless it's Indian food, but this one had a variety of interesting salads, grilled vegetables and flavorful sauces that came with grilled fish. I didn't mind the steamed crab legs that I made sure to grab enough of. Another perk is the beautiful outdoor surrounding. You're smack in the middle of nature. It's also romantic if you need an unusual date spot. The ocean-side drive there filled with greenery is also spectacular. I felt transported out of the urban craziness and into the serene nature.

Now for the duds --places that get a lot of raves for certain specialties but did nothing for me. Wouldn't return to any of them.

Most overrated pancakes, fried chicken and waffles: Pann's Restaurant (Dry chicken, flat pancakes and waffles and hash browns that were drowning in bad-quality butter.)

Most overrated (and overpriced) pastries: Huckleberry (I love Rustic Canyon, as you may recall my recent post raving about its burger that just may rival my all-time favorite one at Houston's. But the brunch items were bland and weak.)

Worst overall brunch experience: Jack n Jill (That this place has lines despite poor food and mediocre service is a clear indication of a dearth of good brunch places in Santa Monica. So unremarkable.)

Starry Kitchen II: If You Don't Like the Food, Get Out and Don't Come Back!

I belatedly found out that my negative (gasp!) review of cult-favorite Starry Kitchen had caused somewhat of a stir on its fan page with all sorts of haters out there for yours truly. That explains the huge spike in visitors that one day, I told myself with some amusement.

What was truly disturbing, however, was the reaction from the owner when I went to pay the restaurant another visit to see if I'd like it the second time. This was before I knew about the outrage among fans. He, who usually borders on solicitous to incoming customers as he gregariously sings the virtues of his food, how to order, etc., took one look at me and blurted out, "You hate this place" and moved right on to the next customer standing in line behind me.

I don't expect to be given favorable treatment when I visit a restaurant but I don't expect owners to be rude to me when I give them a negative review. In fact, I've had owners and employees of restaurants write to me apologizing for the bad experience and letting me know they take what I wrote in stride and hope I will return for a better experience.

If it had been a scathing review that was malicious, that'd be a different story. But I had merely pointed out that the fried pork in my sandwich was cold and the sandwiches were bland and flavorless. I felt the same way about the curry rice that came as a side. Don't even get me started on the unremarkable japchae.

Ironically enough, the crab cake wrap I had on my second visit was a lot better -- the crab cake was actually warm and while it was still on the bland side, I guess that's what the Sriracha sauce is for. I just wish that restaurants wouldn't have to tone down their flavors and heat quotient to cater to a certain type of customer base.

The owner proceeded to "diss" me one more time throughout the course of my second visit although eventually he was "forced" to take my order. It's really no skin off my back if he treats all unhappy customers that way. I just think that it violates the fundamental notion of hospitality, which is to make it a pleasant experience for your customers -- whether that is through the food, ambiance or perhaps most importantly, the service.

True, it's his establishment and he can refuse service to anyone. But as a budding restaurateur, would you really want to be in denial about the existence of anyone who says anything negative about your food? Do you think that your food is that perfect? Well, it isn't and this is true for any startup restaurant that is test-driving different menu items. Things like serving a fried sandwich that is cold isn't a matter of taste or preference. It's a given that certain foods must be served at certain temperatures.

I wish I had tried food from its NoHo days but all have to go by is its downtown location. There are far too many restaurants I want to go to for me to be compelled to return to this one, but all I have to say is that arrogance was never a virtue for a restaurant.