Labor Day Weekend

It’s hard to believe that Labor Day has come and gone, but it has, and I made sure to take full advantage of the final 3-day weekend of the summer to pack in plenty of culinary adventure. We kick things off on Friday night with a sensational sushi dinner at Asakuma. Yellowtail belly, albacore toro, and live sweet shrimp. Do I really need to say more? Asakuma’s review is right here and when you’re done reading, do yourself and them a favor and stop by for lunch or dinner. That place gets very little attention from the blogosphere, what with Sushi Zo, Urasawa, and the like commanding so much attention in the cut-throat battle of Westside sushi.

On Saturday morning I jump right back into degustatory mode and trek up Barrington avenue to Tavern LA—a newly opened restaurant helmed by Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne of the famed Lucques and A.O.C. establishments. This is merely a “preview” visit as I simply snatch up a few items from the bakery:

Monkey bead. Very sweet and buttery.

Pecan sticky bun. The bun itself was actually a little dry, but the generous serving of pecans and caramel more than made up for that. I obviously whipped out the good camera gear for these shots.

I’m planning a return visit to try their highly rated brunch menu, so look for that review soon.
Later in the day, Fonda and the rest of the danieleats staff head east to Rosemead to feast in a friend’s BBQ, Honk Kong style. Potato chips, hot dogs, and hamburgers? Nope. And besides you really think I’m going to blog about that? Try split-chicken wings, whole fish, and fish cake balls. Exploratory? Well for some of you it is!

Salmon steaks, whole fish, and balls of ground meat and fish-cake, all from the barbecue:




No one could tell me the English name of the whole fish, so if anyone knows, have at it in the comments. The fish-cake balls were really good but I had to stop at three; there was so much food to be had. Here’s my party plate with Hong Kong-style fruit salad, fresh fruit, and a sausage and pineapple appetizer:


That little gold box was a tiny pineapple cake someone brought from Taiwan. You can’t tell from the photo, but the box is tapered in shape, and it came packaged in a larger box with other small gold tapered-boxes stacked horizontally. The arrangement reminded me of the Taipei 101 tower with its stacked, tapered sections. Now how cool is that?

Not shown but definitely consumed (and in large quantities I might add): cross-cut ribs, ginger-marinated pork chops, and purple potatoes. It’s going to be tough to go back to a standard issue hot dog and burger BBQ.

The evening approaches, and in my mind were my plans to visit Stefan’s at LA Farm, a new Santa Monica restaurant headed up by none other than last season’s Top Chef runner-up Stefan Richter. But alas, we’re still full from our overindulgence in fish-cake balls and split-chicken wings, and thus I knew we wouldn’t be able to take full advantage of our prime 9pm reservation. So instead, we decide to partake in a “light meal” of drinks and dessert at Vito’s in Santa Monica. Located on Ocean Park Boulevard almost directly across from the Santa Monica airport, Vito’s has a beautiful and dimly lit small bar with a glowing display of spirits and stemware.



Vito’s happens to be my go-to spot for when I’m in need of my favorite drink, the Manhattan:


Knob Creek Manhattan,100-proof. Strong , but it doesn’t phase me since I’m still somewhat full. And our dessert, a slice of lemon crème torte:


Delicious. I think I’ve now had every dessert at this place.


At this time you’re probably wondering “wow this guy needs professional help because all he does is eat and write about food” or “how is that this guy isn’t 350 pounds?!” Listen, I’ll take care of me and I’ll manage those fabricated concerns of yours; you just sit back and enjoy the ride :)

It’s now Sunday morning and I’m fighting a powerful urge to revisit Tavern LA to try another pair of pastries, but—and this is a rare moment—I exercise restraint and succumb to a bowl of Kashi and blueberries. I hope I didn’t lose any readers just right now.

But where there is restraint, there is excess to partake in later that day. Noon rolls around and we’re off to visit the mom-in-law in Anaheim so that I can fix her computer for the 50,000th time. Side story: Fonda’s mom did not approve of me when we first met. Not at all. But after some five years of being first-, second-, and third-level tech support for her mom (and of course taking good care of Fonda!), it’s an entirely different story. Case in point: during last Christmas, her mom gave me a cashmere Polo sweater which might have been the nicest gift she handed out to the family. This is very much a true story and I’m sure Fonda will confirm in the comments.

OK now back to food before I lose any more readers. A few miles south of the in-law's house is our go-to pho restaurant we frequent when we're in the area—Pho Thanh. Superior to anything you can get in West LA, but not epic like the homemade pho from our friend Elaine, Pho Thanh serves a mean bowl of noodles and a solid selection of bun dishes at prices you’d expect from strip mall in Garden Grove.


I easily downed my large rare-beef and brisket pho, and then proceed to finish her bowl which had about 5o% remaining.

With both the computer and pho behind us, we trek further south to my old ‘hood, Huntington Beach, to visit friends for dinner and to take part in a “blind” wine-tasting. With a blind tasting, each couple brings one bottle of a specified varietal; the bottles are then wrapped in paper bags (by the host, with no-one looking) to conceal their identities. The tasting begins and each person rates each bottle, with the winning couple (whoever brought the highest rated wine) taking home a small prize. I won’t go into much detail, but I will say that my highest-rated wine was also the winner of the night, and that I also gave the winner of the previous tasting my highest rating. Two for two, baby!



Dinner is served, and on tonight's menu are spicy shell-on shrimp, crab cake, and Italian meatloaf with prosciutto:







Everything was excellent. The shrimp had some serious heat to it, and with the shell on, you know this foodie made a world-class mess while trying to peel them. I finished two complete plates of the meatloaf and pasta, and then indulged in some cake and homemade cookies:


Good times, almost too good as I was slightly hung-over on Monday morning. But I wasn’t about to let that slow my holiday degustation. After a quick egg sandwich for breakfast (no picture, sorry, I was, um, not feeling 100%) we pack the car and head east again, this time all the way to the Cabazon outlets to get our shop on. Cabazon is home to various date farms and thus a date shake was in order:


Oh this was so good! It’s from Hadley Farms, which is just south of the outlets. They're a little pricey at almost $4 each, but it's worth it and Hadley's does not skimp on the dates.

Shopping commences and I score a pair of boot-cut jeans from the new 7-For-All-Mankind store. Fonda does some damage herself; I’m not exactly sure what she got but I hauled several bags from the trunk when we got back home. On the way back, we conclude the holiday weekend with stop at an Arcadia restaurant that’s actually on my hit list, SinBala. I’ll post a full review soon of this Taiwanese restaurant, but for now I’ll say that this was absolutely mind-blowing and I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to visit a place like this. Restaurants like this make me seriously think about moving eastbound. It's that good.



This brings us to the end of the Labor Day weekend and I hope I’ve introduced you to one or two new restaurants or cuisines you’d like to try. I’m looking forward to the rest of the summer and to the beginning of fall as I have still have quite a few restaurants on my list to cover.
One last note, I’ve received some excellent feedback and comments on the usual sites (Facebook/Chowhound/Twitter, and good old e-mail), and I absolutely appreciate it. Thanks!

Asakuma
11701 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Tavern
11648 San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049

Vito
2807 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Pho Thanh
13055 Euclid St
Garden Grove, CA 92842

Hadley Farms
48980 Seminole Dr
Cabazon, CA 92230

SinBala
651 W Duarte Rd
Arcadia, CA 91007