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Sweetsalt | Toluca Lake, CA

adorable place to have brunch in toluca lake. when we come here, we usually order the shrimp po’ boy. its not like your average shrimp po’ boy (ya know, the deep fried shrimp kind). this one has cajun shrimp with crumbled chips and a great spicy aioli. woo! we’ve tried the lobster roll, truffle chicken, pesto chicken panini, and the short rib sandwich but we always come back to the po’ boy.

we tried the tomato soup this time… probably not again. oh yeah, and each sandwich comes with a nice little salad w/ champagne dressing. this salad always makes me feel uber healthy.

i think you guys know that we are always on the search for great breakfast burritos. well, sweetsalt has a pretty good breakfast burrito that comes with pretty awesome salsa (which i think makes this burrito).

atmosphere: very cute.
service: everyone is always nice here. you order at the cash register, sit down. they bring your food out to you and you get water on your own.
parking: street. we never have a problem.
overall: always a nice choice for brunch on saturday/sunday.

Sweetsalt
10218 Riverside Dr
Los Angeles, CA 91602
Neighborhood: Toluca Lake

By vivilinh | April 15th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 2 Comments

Asian Fusion @ Asia de Cuba | West Hollywood, CA

asia de cuba is our favorite restaurant in la right now. we went here for our anniversary last year and fell in love. when a deal on gilt came up for a pre-fix dinner for two at this wonderful place, we obviously had to get it. so, asia de cuba (in the mondrian hotel) sits on top of a hill in west hollywood, overlooking la. excellent location.

the night we came, it was cloudy out but still warm enough to sit outside. love it.

our deal ($110) was a four-course dinner for two. for our starters, we chose (i) ropa vieja of duck and (ii) crispy octopus ajillo. the ropa vieja of duck was topped with hoisin sauce served in lettuce cups. note to self, must get this again. the duck was moist, sweet with a little spicy kick. this is a little wrap so its not heavy…however, it is a messy.

the amazing view. too bad it was cloudy out.

the crispy octopus ajillo w/ caramelized onions and sake pickled lychee was highly recommended by our waitress. this is something we never have ordered but we are absolutely glad we did. they werent lying when they named this crispy. it really is! not dry crispy. moist on the inside, crispy on the outside. how do they do it?! for someone who loves crispy texture…this was awesome.

note that the plating here is amazing! so we took a gazillion photos! (yep, i’m one of those)

calamari salad “asia de cuba”. this is their signature salad. calamari, hearts of palm, bananas (yeah first time for us too), cashews and sesame orange dressing. refreshing. calamari and cashews give it a nice crunch.

we were weirded out by the bananas at first but the tastes blend so well.

after appetizers, we were given a great palette cleanser: coconut sorbet! delicious!

the view is so amazing. here’s another shot.

lobster mash was great (mastros, you still win my heart for best lobster mash). we got this because we thought it would go well with the gambas gigante mai tai a.k.a. giant prawns in red thai curry, rum, and coconut cream. the curry was good. we wished it was hotter (temperature and spiciness). side note: its hard for us now that we have been to thailand…curry was so good there. now every time we have curry, we compare it to our thailand adventure!

anyway, curry was good. prawns were gigantic.

our second main and one of our favorites: char siu beef short ribs w/ chili orange salsa! this is absolutely amazing (and it’s amazing every single time we have it). this is definitely another must get dish! taste – think explosion of flavor. presentation – impressive, clean and very colorful.

dessert – mexican donuts.

tip: other things that we love here that we couldnt order because it wasnt part of the tasting menu – miso cured alaskan black cod (fish was perfectly prepared) w/ grilled shishito peppers and plantain fried rice topped with avocado salad aka guacamole (asian cuban fusion…get it?!)

overall: obviously we are big fans of this place. we recommend this to anyone looking for a nice view of la and great food. price point is on the high side so this is definitely a special occasion kinda night.
ambience: dining room inside is all white. large windows overlooking la.
service: great service every time. we have never gone there when it’s ridiculously packed so you get a lot of undivided attention.
parking: valet only.

Asia De Cuba
8440 W Sunset Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Neighborhood: West Hollywood

By vivilinh | April 14th, 2013 | Dessert, Food, Restaurants | 2 Comments

Blue Dog Beer Tavern | Sherman Oaks, CA

we heard blue dog beer tavern had great burgers and have been waiting to try it. good thing we have awesome friends who went to try it with us. we came here on a sunday, a little after 11am (opening time). this was a great time for us since we beat the crowd.

what we ordered:

the dickens – onion rings, aged cheddar, swiss cheese, and root beer bbq sauce (i’m a sweet bbq lover) $12
the fire starter – beef patty, pepper jack cheese, crispy onion strings and a fiery dose of deep-fired jalapeños and honey chipotle dressing. $12
black ‘n bleu burger – beef patty blacken, bleu cheese, bacon and bbq sauce. $12
blue dog burger – grilled mushrooms, bacon, caramelized onions, swiss cheese, root beer bbq sauce
ice cream sandwich $7

blue dog beer tavern, think dogs. lots of them. everywhere (even on the menu).

thoughts on the dickens burger. it was a good burger. greatest? no, but still a good burger. i had to get this one because its everything i love: bbq sauce and onion rings. i liked the bbq sauce and onion rings but nothing stood out.

i take that back. one thing that did stand out was the bun (same bun on all the burgers we ate). great bun. soft, but not too soft that the whole thing get soggy and falls apart.

the fire starter (below) was very, very good in my opinion. loved the jalapeños and the chipotle sauce. would definitely get this again.

black ‘n bleu burger. according to our friend, it was pretty good as well.

each burger comes with salad or fries (regular or garlic). for those who know me, i never opt for the salad. anyway, for some reason, i always think that garlic fries are going to be awesome. 8 out of 10 times, i am wrong. i love garlic but most of the time, the garlic is way to strong for a social setting and you are battling bad breath all day and into the next day. so, these garlic fries are intense. just look at my one bite. yeah, intense.

unless you like popping cloves in your mouth, stick with regular fries.

blue dog burger. pretty much the dickens but instead of fried onion rings, caramelized ones and some nice bacon. our friends thought it was just okay. (they are still huge fans of golden state)

onto the ice cream sandwich. i was crushed that there were no non-chocolate desserts. but everyone said we had to get this delicious ice cream sandwich. they were right. it was a hit and devoured in 5 minutes. definitely must get this.

awesome story about dessert: our server over heard kyle making fun of me for not having any dessert to eat so he came out with a bowl of vanilla ice cream just for me!! i instantly fell in love with this place. blue dog beer tavern, i thank you for being so freaking awesome and for the consideration.

overall: blue dog beer tavern, great joint to watch sports. great place to hang out with friends and enjoy a burger and some beer. you wont be disappointed…especially with the ice cream sandwich. price point is on the high side, especially for a burger but one can argue this is on the gourmet side.

tip: small parking lot so you might have to search the streets for parking.

Blue Dog Beer Tavern
4524 Saugus Ave
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Neighborhood: Sherman Oaks

By vivilinh | April 10th, 2013 | Dessert, Food, Restaurants | 1 Comment

Bottomless Brunch @ Zengo | Santa Monica, CA

bottomless brunch at zengo. thats what happened when we tried to go to sonoma wine garden and it was a 2 and a half hour wait. brunch is served 11:30 to 3pm (3 hour limit). $35 a person and includes brunch cocktails. as far as cocktails, we ordered it all: lychee bellini, sake sangria, traditional and mango mimosa. all amazing but my favorite is the lychee bellini. our waiter suggested that he just start bringing out everything on the menu so that we can taste it all but we had the option to reorder things we loved. literally the food just kept on flowing.

steak benedict with kimchee. kyle and i obviously did not eat this because we hate eggs but our friends thought it was ehh. housemade meatballs with ginger and garlic, on the other hand, were good.

carnitas hash was very tasty (regardless of the egg on top). kind of wish we got more of this.

angry zengo roll was ok. its not going to be the best sushi roll you have ever tasted especially since there are so many other things on this menu you should get. like for instance, the thai chicken empanadas! probably the best thing on this menu! unexpectedly delicious! you must get a few orders of this one! we would come back just for this empanada.

roasted chicken omelette was just an omelette.

we, along with everyone else opted to sit outside on this nice beautiful day. note that this restaurant is on the third floor of santa monica place (aka the outdoor mall) so it is not on the beach but near it. if you can, sit outside.

roasted chicken satay was just ok. the salmon with ponzu sauce was on the dry side so we didnt order this after the first plate.

yuca fries…you can never go wrong with fries. especially if they have a dual dipping sauce. we got plenty of this.

here it comes! the second favorite of the day: the sliders. we ordered this probably four times. (we know) by the time we got the tofu with sesame chili sauce, we were stuffed. i dont think anyone really touched this one. we were looking forward to the bacon fried rice but it was just decent and nothing out of this world.

last but not least, pan dulce. mexican sweet bread with cinnamon whipped cream. amazing. perfect finish to a three hour meal. notable mention should go to the ceviche. it was pretty good but we just never took a picture of it.

location/atmosphere: perfect on a nice sunny day. outdoor seating is the best part in my opinion.
parking: we just parked in the structure connected to third street.
service: friendly and relatively fast during the three hours. during the first hour, our waiter was faster to get dishes out to us compared to the last two hours (we had to remind him to get us some dishes).
food: overall, everything here is good. some dishes were mediocre and then there are dishes such as the empanadas and the hash that definitely stand out. (we would come back for those empanadas and the dessert fo sho) food is obviously on the heavier side. we ended up not eating dinner after this glutton fest. so be prepared.
price: all the food you get and endless cocktails, make it completely worth the $35 you drop.
overall: we started recommending this place to everyone! we love it.

Zengo
395 Santa Monica Pl
Santa Monica, CA 90401

By vivilinh | April 1st, 2013 | Dessert, Food, Restaurants | 0 Comments

Bear Flag Fish Company | Newport Beach, CA

we never actually venture out to newport beach often. so when we had to meet someone in newport beach, we took the opportunity to eat at bear flag fish company. fresh seafood at reasonable prices…near the beach? no wonder so many people rave about this place. it immediately reminded us of a modern version of places we ate in hawaii.

here is what we ordered:

fish taco – yum. try the special sauce.
clam chowder – thought this was pretty good.
salmon poke – good but have had better. kyle was a little weirded out by the tortilla chips with poke. i had no issues with this.

food: very fresh seafood.
prices: our total bill came out to $22. not bad at all.
parking: the lot was full when we got there so had to find street parking.
service: we ordered at the counter and sat ourselves. fast and efficient.
atmosphere: small, clean. long communal tables on the inside with some patio seating outside.

Bear Flag Fish Company
407 31st street
newport beach, ca 92663

By vivilinh | March 24th, 2013 | Food, Restaurants | 2 Comments

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