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.

lavanda

palo alto, ca

website

an extremely varied menu includes mediterranean, italian, and croatian dishes. i've never had croatian food, so i decided to try something from the croatian menu. "sarma" -- stuffed cabbage with minced beef, onions, rice, fresh herbs, served on mashed potatoes. basically - meatballs wrapped in cabbage and doused in tomato sauce. it tasted fine, but it wasn't anything special.

i love cake, so, for dessert i ordered the cake with passionfruit sauce. the cake itself was okay, but it was drenched in overly sweet sauce. the menu had other items that sounded appealing - pastas, steak, schnitzel, and fish. although i didn't have a lot of success with the two dishes that i ordered, lavanda is a nice spot to have a glass of wine with some bar snacks. probably won't be back for dinner, but maybe for wine.

liang's kitchen

cupertino, ca

website

lots of great asian food in the south bay. derek managed to find another spot for taiwanese food. derek and i took his parents there for dinner. excellent beef noodle soup - ask for "ma la" if you want it spicy. but my favorite dish were the beef rolls - fried cong you bing (onion pancakes) flattened, filled with beef and cilantro, and formed into a roll. like a light flaky onion-y egg roll. there's other great stuff on the menu - hopefully we'll be back soon to try more.

torchy's tacos

austin, tx

website

forgot to mention, before we picked up y+a+n from the airport, jinny and i got a snack of guacamole and freshly fried chips from torchy's. (perhaps freshly fried is the theme of my austin trip?) the next day, we decided to get takeout from torchy's for the whole gang. torchy's is austin hipster mexican. colorful chalkboard menu? check. ironic hipster decorations? check (a red devil wearing a diaper is their logo). ironic hipster names for their menu items? check.

i ordered a "mr. pink" taco - guajillo seared ahi tuna, cabbage fresca, cilantro, and queso freco - and a "trailer park" taco - fried chicken, green chilies, lettuce, pico de gallo, and cheese on a flour tortilla. there's an option to make the "trailer park" taco "trashy" by replacing the lettuce with queso, but i passed. we also ordered, for the gang, a small bowl of queso and more freshly fried chips. tacos were pretty good - fresh, quality ingredients, but the queso was amazing. definitely my favorite part of the meal.

cypress grill

austin, tx

website

y+a+n finally arrived in austin, so we all went out for dinner. after all of the doughnuts, we decided to move onto something with a little more substance. still deep-fried, though, it is texas after all. jinny and kurt are excellent tour guides - we simply select a cuisine and they find us a restaurant with great food and atmosphere. at cypress grill i ordered the fried oysters, served with fries. pretty solid food.

kc donuts

austin, tx

link to yelp

you might think that getting a freshly fried doughnut topped with bacon and maple syrup icing would satisfy our doughnut cravings for at least 24 hours. you would be wrong. the next morning, jinny and i headed to the very popular kc donuts for doughnuts and kolaches. completely unassuming, tucked away in a strip mall, no fancy chalkboard menu, and no hipster decorations (ironic owls, anyone?). it's just a mom-and-pop (sometimes mom-and-son) shop. i ordered two doughnuts to go with my coffee - one sugar and one with chocolate icing - both delicious. nothing fancy about these doughnuts - they are simple, but perfect. fresh, soft, and with just the right amount of sweetness. yum.