Faux Pas Bistro: Are Smashed Home Fries a Faux Pas in a Bistro? That's The Least of Their Problems.

I really wanted to like this place. The location is great, the ambiance and open-air setup take me right back to bistros in Paris or New York and service was excellent. But alas, the food just didn't deliver. To be fair, the place just recently opened so line cooks are still "in training," we were told. But it held so much promise.

I mean, look at that incredibly photogenic burger with smashed fries, which, by the way, seem to be the fries du jour. But more on that later. Let's talk about this beautiful burger. No sooner had I bit into it did I discover the patty tasted good but it wasn't cooked right. Not enough redness. It was overcooked the first time and then the second time around as well. We didn't want to be too harsh so didn't ask for yet another round but...I won't belabor the point.

So the patty itself was flavorful enough with decent texture but again, it was somewhat ruined by overcooking. I also had issues with the works -- shredded iceberg lettuce, really? One, it was a royal pain to eat and didn't add much to the mix. Two, iceberg? Who does that for a $12 burger? Could hardly taste the roasted garlic aioli or the cheddar cheese. The sesame brioche bun was ok but it could have been less dense. Yes, I have issues with dense buns. And I just wanted to write that.

The "fries" were more like smashed home fries, which our server had warned us about but I had read the posts about these beforehand so it wasn't a surprise. I thought it was well executed -- even better than at Short Order at the Grove. It's true I not-so-secretly longed for double-fried-in-duck-fat-kind of super crispy "frites" you get at bistros (think Schillers' Liquor Bar in New York) but I still appreciated these for their uber crispiness. And the fact they weren't over salted, a topic I have been known to rant about.

Let's balance the bad with the good. Look at adorable the bread "basket" arrived at our table with a side of tomato spread. The tiny breads were nice and warm although they weren't stellar, they were good, especially with the spread.

I must now judge the Margarita pizza, or Pizzette Marguerite. Not sure it's the correct use of the word, pizzette, at least according to a rudimentary search I did to figure out the difference with a pizza. It's apparently plural for pizzetta, a small pizza in Italian but maybe it means something else in French.

Anyhow, it had none of the airy lightness I recall from the OG pizza in Napoli. The dough was too thick and doughy. There was far too much cheese that made it even heavier. The balance of dough, cheese and tomato sauce was all off. Sliced fresh basil on top was the only decent thing about it and that's not saying much. So we took it back...They were thankfully very gracious about not charging us for something we weren't going to want more of.

So gracious were the host, server and sous-chef that they gave us a pineapple tart with chantilly cream on the side on the house. Again, I didn't love it but it was very generous and nice of them to make sure we left happy. The tart was too sweet and dense but I liked the pineapple brulee that I cracked with the tip of my spoon.

My final rant about the place is the green salad, which was absolutely nothing special. Ok, it's just a starter salad but some tossed greens and two pieces of tomatoes doesn't make a salad. Disappointing for a fancy bistro that presumably takes its food seriously. Why not try to wow us with a seasonal salad like the incredible carrot salad I had recently at Son of a Gun? Bo-ring.

I'll probably be banned from this restaurant as they'll know it was me. I'm not sure I'll be returning though because while service was really attentive and I appreciate them going out of their way to accommodate us, they really need to work on the quality of the food and execution. Like I said, I really do want them to succeed. Honest to God.

But for pizza, must confess that I'd much rather go to Olio a few blocks away. And for burgers, well, you know my faves (Houston's in case you don't!).

Mil Jugos: Decent Arepas, Excellent Guasacaca Sauce in Santa Ana

I always like to have a good arepa and I recently got a chance to have one at a Venezuelan joint in Santa Ana called Mil Jugos, literally translating to a million juices. The arepas were a bit thicker than I like them but the meat filling was ok. I had the carne mechada, which is similar to carne machaca that is one of my favorite torta fillings. It's shredded meat with garlic, tomatoes, onions and red bell peppers. The only thing was I wished it were a bit spicier.

We also had the cheese empanadas, which were fried and filled with queso fresco. They were a bit greasy and the cheese wasn't exactly melted in an oozing kind of way. But they were a good side dish for the meaty arepa.

The sauces were the best part of the meal. There were two of them: one was guasacaca sauce, a bright green one containing avocado, fresh parsley and coriander, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, salt, oil and vinegar. Some like to add chiles for kick. It also had a less creamy sauce that was similar to chimichurri sauce but more finely ground, with the usual suspects of parsley, garlic and some kick.

I also had the tequeños, cheese-filled deep fried finger food often served in cocktail parties. They were ok -- again, I like the stringy cheese that's been melted but the cheese here was more like queso fresco and therefore not oozy like the way I like it.

Still, I'd like to return to try its cachapas and other arepas. But since it's far, in the meant time, I'll continue going to Coupa Cafe nearby for my arepa fix.

Young Kyung: Old School Korean Chinese Classics like Jjajangmyun and Tangsuyook

I think watching one too many Korean soaps had given me a hankering for jjajangmyun, the classic Korean Chinese dish of slippery noodles in a greasy and delicious black bean sauce. That's because of all the many eating scenes on Korean TV, there's always a requisite scene of a delivery man bringing a bunch of glistening noodles that people subsequently wolf down in exactly two minutes. So I went to Young Kyung (also spelled Young King, although in Korean, it's 연경 and therefore should be romanized as Yeon Kyung. Whatever.) in Koreatown, probably one of the most old-school establishments serving the dish.

It's not the most photogenic dish. It doesn't score any points for food porn. Once you mix the noodles up with the black bean sauce, forget about it. It's even less appealing to the eye. But take a bite and you won't be able to stop. The pork and onion pieces in the sauce coat the noodles evenly. Key is to mix it up before the noodles get too dry and start sticking to each other. The noodles were not too soft although they could have been a bit less cooked and the sauce was not too sweet and just salty enough. Some places put too much caramel or corn syrup and ruin the sauce by making it taste like candy.

While the dish is good by itself, it wouldn't be hitting the spot completely without the accompaniment of 1) tangsuyook, sweet and sour pork/beef and 2) Korean Chinese kimchi made with green cabbage instead of the traditional napa. I liked the way Young Kyung served it -- the deep fried morsels of beef separate from the delightfully gooey, sweet and sour sauce dotted with slices of carrots, cucumber, mushrooms and green onions. This way, you only need to add sauce to parts of the beef pieces so the rest stays crunchy sans sauce. And crunchy they were. That's another aspect of the tangsuyook I liked -- the beef pieces were extremely crispy, likely coated in sticky rice flour that make them extra crispy.

Then the kimchi was not bad, although it wasn't great. It was a bit watered down but maybe they didn't want the spiciness to overtake the flavor of the noodles. Gotta love a place that takes their food so seriously that when asked to box the leftover tangsuyook, the server brings two separate boxes, one for the meat and another for the sauce. When I commented on it, she emphatically said, "of course they should be separate!" The quality of the meat wasn't all that great but I was impressed with the care they put into making it crispy and the sauce wasn't too gooey-thick or overly sweet like many other places.

It also serves raw sliced onions with concentrated black bean sauce as a dip and that's only for the brave who don't have to worry about having onion breath afterwards. Pour some vinegar over the onions to reduce the spiciness if you're diving into them. Pickled radishes are usually offered in Korean Chinese restaurants but for some reason, not this one.

For a bit of history, Korean Chinese dishes like jjajangmyun were brought into Korea by Chinese immigrants in late 19th century and is said to have originated from Shandong province in China. The modern-day version is a modified version of the original, which didn't have meat or vegetables and was lighter in color. Many ethnic Chinese in Korea used to run restaurants serving this dish although that has changed in Korea.

At Young Kyung, however, the servers spoke to the Korean customers in Korean and to each other in Mandarin, indicating their ethnic Chinese heritage.

Tea Station: Please Come to West LA

I wish we had a Tea Station out in West LA. I mean, what's not to like about having a choice of 33 iced flavored teas, 26 iced flavored milk teas and 14 flavored snow ice and 20 hot traditional Chinese teas? That's not even all! There's also flavored shaved ice, hot flavored tea, hot fruit tea, hot healthy drinks (like hot grass jelly) and hot flavored milk tea, to name a few.

I got the mango shaved ice with an addition of red bean topping, as I had had my caffeine fix earlier that day and craved patbingsoo, that venerable, seemingly loved dessert of red beans plus shaved ice whose variations are available in several Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese coffee shops.

It was a massive mound of shaved iced, topped with mango flavored snow shaved ice, sprinkled with red beans and condensed milk.

I loved that it stays open until 1am and offers snacks like butter toast (aka brick toast) and a bunch tea-flavored goodies like Pu-Erh Flavored Beef Stew with Green Tea Noodle.

Consider it an East Asian Starbucks, at least in price level, except not yet as ubiquitous and much cooler. It's just sad it's a bit of a trek to get to one.

King Hua in Alhambra: My New Go-To Dimsum Joint

I finally found a decent dimsum place, King Hua in Alhambra, although that doesn't mean I don't crave the razor thin-skinned dimsum had back in Hong Kong. I liked that the skin in these dimsum was thin enough and also liked the shrimp variations it offered. I like the standard har gow (shrimp only dumpling) as much as the next person, but I love when combined with all sorts of greens, at times nuts and cilantro. The additions give the dumpling a whole new dimension.

My favorite was the shrimp with greens beautifully topped with a goji berry, corn and pea. It was one that I hadn't seen in other dimsum joints, and the combination of sweet and tart was wonderful. I liked that this place isn't a cart-type of place. I always like to hail down the ladies with the carts trying to use all sorts of hand gestures to figure out what's in a particular dumpling, but made to order dimsum is the way to go, I say. No hassle, made fresh rather than sitting on a cart for a while and no futile attempts at pantomine involved.

I liked the har gow well enough but it didn't blow me away. I preferred the shrimp dumpling that came with nuts -- which gave it a crunch and a nice nuttiness.

Then I had my usual suspects, including sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, which was nothing special but ok, barbecued pork buns, which were soft and fluffy but whose pork was a tad smelly and some steamed greens, which were a bit over-steamed but fine.






We also got a few unusual suspects like croquette-like taro dumplings stuffed with pork, mushroom and veggies, which were crunchy and tasted very comforting. Guess croquettes will do that to you.

Then we also had those flat rice noodles filled with, you guessed it, shrimp again. Hey, just trying to be sensitive to the pescatarians on our table. They were good and the rice noodles had just the right amount of chewiness.

Still, the pork-lovers at the table couldn't resist getting Shanghai soup dumplings, which of course, were no Din Tai Fung xiao long baos but they were decent. Then again, we hadn't come here for the xlbs...

The all vegetarian dumplings with mushrooms, bamboo shoots and other veggies were bleh. For some reason, the skin on vegetarian dumplings always seem to be on the thicker side. Not sure why that is but it makes me like them even less. Ok, I already had some contempt for them for being vegetarian dumplings.

The best way to end a dimsum meal is with those ethereal lovelies -- warm and crispy custard cakes. Oh yes. I had one and then another. They went fairly quickly.

I like to have Chrysanthemum tea instead of Jasmine because it's not caffeinated and I think is a better complement to the greasy dumplings I keep popping in my mouth. Well, the dumplings themselves aren't as bad but it's the chili oil and all the stuff I dip it in that may contribute to the heaviness.

Or it was just a simple case of overeating. We also had seafood congee, aka juk, or porridge. It was fine but I'm not a big fan of juk in general so it didn't leave an impression.

The only thing I noticed was that the congee was very much smooth rather than grainy. It was like mieum in Korean food that you're supposed to have when you're sick and can't digest solids.

Also, the place fills up quickly so arriving before 11:30 is probably best if you want to avoid a wait.

Overall, thumbs up!

Tsujita Ramen: Not Worth the Wait

I finally tried Tsujita Ramen on Sawtelle and I must say I was disappointed. Maybe I'm just not a tsukemen kind of person. Or maybe I didn't eat it the right way. I've had my noodles separately from the broth before but I couldn't get into it here. 

For one thing, the broth was like ramen broth concentrated to the nth degree, as in super thick and far too salty. I'm all for hearty, strong broths but this was too much. I should have taken them up on their offer to pour free boiled water into the "sauce," as they called it.

Second, it was a royal pain having to take the super slippery noodles that were on the thick side from one bowl and dip them into the broth before eating. The broth wasn't hot enough to warm up the noodles, so you had to leave them in there for a while and even then, they were merely lukewarm to room temperature. Not a good ramen temperature. In typical Japanese restaurant fashion, the menu describes how the noodles should be consumed -- dip the noodles, squeee the lime, etc. 

I got the one with extra charsiu (slices of roasted pork) and soft-boiled egg. The charsiu was tender and soft from the seemingly long cooking process I assumed the pork bellies went through. Not all slices were excellent but good enough.

I really liked the soft-boiled egg, which was a bit on the oozy side and indeed, soft. Probably my favorite part of the entire meal. And it helped to temper the sodium overload although it was slightly seasoned.

I wasn't a fan of the thicker, slippery noodles that weren't as chewy as I usually like them.

We also had the salmon sashimi bowl, which was also a pain to eat. Topped with wasabi, we weren't sure how to go about spreading it without generating tears from the spice. The flavor of the salmon wasn't great.

All in all, not worth the wait, in my opinion. I'd like to try the tonkotsu ramen but for now, I'm sticking to my perennial faves, Shinsengumi and Santouka.

The Fat Dog: Good but Expensive Burger, Fancy and Delicious (but Tiny) Potato Skins

I always drove by the Fat Dog on Fairfax but apparently never noticed it. The verdict is it's overpriced but has decent food and I'll be returning. Oh, and its burger, while a tad overpriced, is good.

What I liked about this place is that it offers a different take on classics like potato skins by adding asparagus and hollandaise sauce. It also claimed to have crab in it but I could barely taste it. The chunky bacon bits added crunch. True, the portions were small as were the potatoes themselves but they were a nice reprieve from the usual blobs of cheddar cheese swimming in a massive potato skin.

Let's talk burger. I ordered the grass-fed version from Lindy & Grundy next door that was $17 -- medium rare. The first one that came out was overcooked on a dry, day-old bun. Of course, I sent it back. The second one was better. The bun was warm and soft. The patty a bit on the fatty side (not in a good, marbling way but in a bad, chewing into a fatty knot kind of way) and too coarsely ground for my taste. The flavor of the patty was good enough, though. Not as good as the Lazy Ox burger but better than many I've had recently.

 The redeeming factor about the overpriced burger was that it came with fries, which were just above average. They were hot when they arrived and nested in the cutest little brown paper bag. The sweet potato fries we got as part of the happy hour menu (which isn't all that much cheaper, actually) were solid, if not a bit fried too many times over and on the salty side.

The beet salad was tiny and a bit overdressed but had three different kinds of beets, chevre and a hazelnut dressing that went well together. What's up with the minuscule portions?

The desserts looked more promising than they actually tasted. We got the bourbon bread pudding with chocolate topped with vanilla ice cream and some ginger donuts.

The bread pudding was pretty good but didn't blow me away.

The donuts, on the other hand, weren't edible. They were dry and terrible. Good thing they didn't charge us for them.

The place has a great beer and wine selection. Parking in the lot is free. The crowd is a bit young (or maybe I'm old) -- twentysomething hipsters -- but I won't hold it against Fat Dog.

Service by our table server was great. However, one HUGE pet peeve was that every other person working there was overly zealous to clear the table, even if we clearly hadn't finished the plate. Hey, we're still working on those two shriveled sticks of French Fries, ok?

Will return since it's in the 'hood, serves decent food and not too crowded.