wong's king seafood restaurant

portland, or

website

home of chris's "bbq pork guy" (doesn't everyone have a bbq pork guy?). when in portland visiting chris and amanda, we go to wong's king for great chinese food. my favorite dish here is the enoki mushroom with chicken and egg tofu. i love egg tofu. i don't know why it's called egg tofu or how it's made, but somehow it's silkier and creamier than non-egg tofu. delicious! when visiting portland with my parents, we went to wong's king twice. after stuffing ourselves for dinner on saturday night, we went back on sunday morning for dim sum. so good.

pho van

portland, or

website

visited chris and amanda in portland. they took me to a yummy vietnamese restaurant. really good pho, but the highlight was the make-your-own summer rolls. you get a huge plate with shrimp wrapped around sugarcane, a bunch of herbs and veggies, and crisp sheets of white paper. it took a few minutes of staring at and folding the white paper, but eventually chris figured out that you dunk the white paper in some hot water and it turns into the translucent noodle-like wraps that you fill with herbs, veggies, sauce, and meat. yum.

sakura teppanyaki and sushi

redwood city, ca

link to yelp

the lovely stacey was in town and we decided to show her a good time in redwood city. ah yes, september 6, 2012. what a night to remember... okay, so the photographic evidence indicates that we ordered beef. i think the beef was pretty good. but all i can remember of the evening was that the fried rice was ridiculously delicious (being cooked in beef fat might have had something to do with it) and that we had to park really far away from the restaurant because redwood city was hoppin'.

fung lum @ SFO

san francisco, ca

link to yelp

chinese buffets are comfort food. when i'm travelling, it's often the only airport food i find appealing. the tofu + veggie stirfry and chow mein at fung lum in the united terminal at SFO are decent. pork buns are not good. egg tarts are bland and useless. i went on a limb this particular trip and tried the wonton soup with shrimp wontons. i won't do that again.

delfina pizzeria

san francisco, ca

website

okay, my last post might have been a little overdramatic. i'll tone it down here. delfina has great pizza. vanita frequently brings her family here, so you know the food is amazing and the restaurant is family friendly. the pictured pizza was the broccoli rabe, which was a bit too bitter for me. but the other pizza we ordered in september 2012 (thank goodness for automatic timestamps) - whatever it was - tasted great.

addendum

yountville, ca

website

if you go to napa valley and stay on the napa side (as opposed to the sonoma side), plan your wine tastings around your fried chicken lunch at addendum. be smart. schedule only one winery before lunch so that you're not too drunk. order your addendum meal online in advance so you can skip the line. scope out the picnic tables so you can swoop in just as someone else is leaving. because addendum has the BEST FRIED CHICKEN I HAVE EVER EATEN. oh yes, i typed it. i know. it's bold. a very risky and controversial statement. it will probably lead to arguments. fights. black eyes. maybe even the end of some friendships. but it's done. and it's the truth. addendum's fried chicken has the perfect crispiness. perfect juiciness. and just enough saltiness to bring out that magical chickeny goodness. eaten outside on a picnic table near the french laundry garden - it's simply perfect. thank you thomas keller. thank you.

cafe sfa @ saks fifth avenue

new york, ny

link to yelp

it's interesting (sad? amazing?) that so many of my restaurant choices are so close to my shopping choices. back when i worked in midtown east, the girls and i used to frequent saks to shop the sales, to look for wedding dresses, or to just take a break from the daily grind. if the grind was particularly rough that day, we would stop at cafe sfa for some cocktails to unwind - with the beautiful bags and shoes serving as our backdrop. on this trip to nyc, i stopped here to reminisce and ordered the mille feuille. thin layers of crepes with a light cream in between. delicate and delicious - went quite nicely with a glass of chilled prosecco. i highly recommend.

del posto

new york, ny

website

this is one of my favorite restaurants in new york city. it's really sad that the only photo i have is of the extra desserts that they gave you. yes, this is just the extra desserts. served at the end of the meal. after you've consumed countless mini baguettes slathered in rich butter (or lardo if you're feeling porky). after you've eaten some delicious appetizer. after you've eaten at least two plates of pasta (trust me, you haven't had pasta until you've had mario batali's pasta - that man knows what he's doing). after you've eaten a few bites of some random meat dish that you ordered because it seemed like the thing to do (don't do it). after you've eaten your actual dessert. then they bring you this crazy contraption with a hidden drawer and even more sweet treats that you can't resist. expensive, yes. but if you think of it as three hours of delicious debauchery, it's worth eating packaged ramen for every meal for the rest of the week. mm, packaged ramen.

10/12: updated with a better picture.

dominique ansel bakery

new york, ny

website

jenny introduced me to this bakery when i visited new york city eons ago, long before dominique ansel invented its infamous cronut. i know. that's how far behind i am on my blogging. which is why i've adopted this new lazy format. type up some random thoughts. throw a big picture up. voila. blogpost done.

emack & bolio's

new york, ny

website

perfect snack when you're shopping in soho on a hot summer day. my favorites are the mud pie (coffee with chocolate chips and oreos) and the grasshopper pie (creme de menthe with chocolate chips and oreos). and they don't skimp on the oreos - lots of big chunks.

osteria

palo alto, ca

link to yelp

classic italian-american dishes. basically everything you expect from a family-run italian place. except for the fact that my pasta and clams came in red sauce, which overwhelmed the clam flavor. plus the clams were already shelled, which always makes me suspicious that it might have come out of a can or a jar. derek loved this place because he could order the basics - spaghetti in red sauce and grilled chicken. personally, i didn't find anything special about the food here. sure, it's classic italian. and its better than olive garden and buca di beppo (which is still great fun). but if it's just spaghetti, i prefer to make it myself at home with good ol' rao's red sauce.

genwa

los angeles, ca

website

okay, the backlog is getting overwhelming and i'm now getting nearly daily reminders from various people that i haven't updated my blog in forever. so i'm going to try to catch up, but might end up paying short shrift to some places. like this one. i've already suggested that los angeles has the best korean bbq in the country. (having tried korean bbq in NY, LA, Seattle, and SF, i consider myself an expert). anyway, cindy c took anthony and i here for korean bbq before catching our flights back to palo alto and DC. in august 2012. (did i mention that i'm behind on my blogging). anyway, it was delicious. my favorite is the thinly sliced daikon wrapper for the barbecued beef. the perfect crunchy and tart balance to the fatty meat. yum! okay, one down. only several dozen left to go ...

blockhead's shavery

los angeles, ca

website

i love shaved ice. my sister, brother, and i used to make shaved ice with our snoopy sno cone machine when we were kids. even better is the taiwanese-style shaved ice covered with condensed milk, red beans, lychees, and other assorted fruits and jellies that you can get at oasis tea zone or even din tai fung in seattle. but the taiwanese-style shaved ice at blockheads is the absolute creme de la creme. literally. they refer to it as "snow cream" - its a blend of ice cream and shaved ice - feels like fluffy ice when it first hits your tongue, but then it melts into a smooth cream. amazing.

it comes in various flavors - original, green tea, strawberry, and sesame. you can also get non-traditional toppings like chocolate and nuts. if i lived in LA, i would definitely come here often enough to try every possible combination. but since i only make it to LA every now and then, i prefer to stick with tradition. pictured is cindy c's recipe - original, condensed milk, rice cakes, strawberries, and lychee. so good. this is an absolute must-visit whenever i'm in LA.

eveleigh

los angeles, ca

website

the next morning, cindy c took us to brunch at eveleigh. beautiful outdoor patio with a nice large overhead fan to keep diners cool in the summer. menu includes comfort food breakfast favorites but with a unique twist (my eggs benedict came with soft scrambled eggs and hot smoked ocean trout). add a lengthy and varied list of refreshing brunch cocktails (i had the bitter admiral - gin, Campari, grapefruit juice, poured over ice with a lemon twist). an ideal combination for a relaxing and enjoyable weekend brunch. did i mention the truffled fries? perfection.

ink

los angeles, ca

website

i'm not a big top chef fan. first, it's too combative and stressful. second, i prefer not to watch people make food that i can't eat. but i do like eating at restaurants of successful top chef contestants. cindy c made reservations at top chef winner michael voltaggio's new restaurant on melrose in los angeles. the interior was very similar to thomas keller's ad hoc in napa valley: giant chalkboard menu hanging over the bar, loud music, casually dressed waitstaff, and courier font for everything. except - the food at ink is much more inventive and interesting. yeah, i said it.

good thing anthony joined us - gave us the freedom to select more dishes from the small-plates menu. we ended up ordering about a dozen plates, including three desserts. the highlights: oysters (pictured) simply dressed with a refreshing mignonette ice, brussel sprouts served with crispy pig's ears and lardo (best "vegetable" dish ever), egg yolk gnocchi - somehow voltaggio created fluffy pillows of pasta with a creamy yolky center, and finally, a deconstructed apple pie with burnt wood ice cream - tasted like an apple pie baked over a campfire but looked like ice cream with little gelees. amazing. remarkable. molecular gastronomy in a gastropub - wonderfully strange and delicious.