Shanghai No. 1

Dim sum options in Los Angeles, and especially in the San Gabriel Valley (the "626", as the kids who are definitely cooler and younger than me have coined the area), are a dime a dozen. (Coin - geddit? Geddit?) But first world foodie problems pop up, and sometimes you just want to try something new. So on one Saturday morning, my family and I ventured out to try a place called Shanghai No. 1. 

This place looks like a normal chinese restaurant from the outside, but as soon as you walk in it's a color explosion. There are tons of decadent and ornate Chinese restaurants around already, but this would be the even flashier, extremely flamboyant cousin that loves musical theater and pinterest. The display above greets you as soon as you enter the door. Elaborate decorations line all the hallways. If you look on the top picture, the dining room has red velvet walls, ornate plush chairs, and chandeliers. 

The place is styled like old-time Shanghai, from the decorations down to the outfits of the waiters. It's unusual to say the least, as theme-dining for Chinese food is something you'd usually only see in pseudo-Chinese restaurants for tourists. The dim sum menu looked pretty standard though.

Sauced duck - sweet and very salty. 

Traditional dim sum fare of turnip cake and a beef rice roll - the sauce on the rice roll is sweeter than usual.

Pan fried soup buns - very nice! 

Pork and thousand year egg congee - ok, but not salty.

Cha siu rolls.

Shrimp dumplings and shu mai, the most standard of dim sum fare. I have to note that portions here are pretty gigantic for these.

Vegetable dumplings - didn't like this one, the filling was slimy and strangely tart.

Portuguese style egg tart - yum!

Overall, many of the dishes here have a distinctly sweeter flavor for their sauces and fillings - almost like a Shanghainese interpretation of traditionally Canton style foods? The dishes had good execution, but I think I prefer less sweetness and more flavor in some things. My phone kept ringing while I was eating with Facebook notifications telling me this place is mediocre, and I would for the msot part agree. The pan fried buns and the egg tarts are excellent though.

If you live in the area and get tired of your existing dim sum options it's worth it to try this place as a flavor twist on dim sum dishes and just to experience the amount of crazy kitsch that is involved in being served by a middle aged waiter wearing a pageboy outfit, but I wouldn't recommend it as a dim sum spot if you're just looking to satisfy a good dim sum craving. I didn't have dinner here, so no opinions on their usual dinner service.

I did get a lucky tea stem standing up in my tea while here, so that's gotta count for something.

Shanghai No. 1 Yelp

San Gabriel, CA

Coconuts Fish Cafe

My favorite Seattleites AK and DV went on a well deserved vacation to Maui, Hawaii with FT and me. We went with almost no food planning, as even food fanatics take breaks. That, or we were just lazy with planning...

Luckily, a leisurely yelp search while lounging on the beach showed a place in Kihei with almost a thousand great reviews. FT also had some kind of obsession with fish and chips during this week and badgered us until we went.

The place is in a pretty ordinary strip mall, but the inside has delightfully quirky shared surfboard seating: take your number, sit down, and make friends. Alas, being socially awkward people who also ate late on a weeknight, we had no strangers to meet, but the intent is good. 

We all got the highly recommended fish tacos, which boasts as having fresh fish, a mango salsa, and 17 different ingredients. Not sure what all 17 would be, but it's delicious and comes in a giant portion to boot - each order contains two tacos and comes on two separate plates.

With each plate color coded, so you can't split your order with someone else then swap them in the middle... alas, for I would've tried, they were incredible. I'd place them on the heartier side of the fish taco spectrum - pretty filling and heavy.

FT had a hankering for fish and chips as well. Chips are fairly standard thin fries. The fish is a thin batter on two types of fish - I believe one is mahi, and the other one might be ono? The fish is great and fresh, but I personally like a fluffy batter better. 

AK and DV also opted the ahi wasabi fish burger, which comes with a giant slab of ahi covered generously with the promised wasabi mayo. 

And yes, before you ask, delightfully rare inside. I had a quarter and it's delicious with the wasabi mayo.

We also had an order of onion rings, which made for an insignificant photo when all the fish tacos are blurring your vision, but they were nice as well - thick slabs of onion with light batter, golden brown.

The Coconuts Fish Cafe website indicates they now have a location in Scottsdale, AZ - logical next step for a fish restaurant to expand its reaches? Who knows. But if you happen to be on the south side of Maui, Coconuts Fish Cafe is a great place to stop by. Good fish, casual and not really that touristy; I'd highly recommend both the tacos and the ahi wasabi burger. And hell, if you're being a tourist, just splurge and get an extra order of the tacos, or you'll be typing up a blog post a few months later salivating and wishing you had both of your tacos instead of splitting your order...

Coconuts Fish Cafe

Coconuts Fish Cafe Yelp

Kihei, Maui, HI

Little Next Door

The Next Door is a fancy, trendy French restaurant in (what I guess is called) the Beverly Grove neighborhood of Los Angeles. Luckily for me and my didn't-pack-fancy-clothes self, I was meeting my friend JH for lunch at Little Next Door - literally, the next door's casual cafe "brasserie" extension. There is also a bakery section here if you are just interested in their baked treats.

It was a great day of LA December (sunny and 75 degrees) so we opted to sit out on the open terrace. Strangely, the heat lamps were still on, making it actually burning hot.

We got started with some nice french bread with a balsamic and oil dip. 

I was looking for a lighter lunch, so on recommendation from our waitress, I had the leek and gruyere tart. I found it to be a little mushy in texture as opposed to rich and creamy, but the flavor was wonderful.

JH had the grilled organic salmon burger which had marinated onions on the side. She apparently liked it, and all I could get from her about the brioche bread in between her bites was that "it is yellow... and very good." (Getting one liners from others' about their meals is difficult - #foodbloggerproblems?) Fries were skinny cut, well seasoned, and quite good - I know, because I stole quite a few from her plate.

I had the tropical fruit ice tea as well and it was very refreshing! A yelp deal gave me a free cookie for dessert, and I was pleasantly surprised when our waitress appeared with a palmier. 

JH splurged for their special Christmas cake, with pistachio and mango. Despite the looks, it was very rich (so eat slowly!) but amazingly delicious. The mango adds just the right amount of tartness to the rich pistachio cream.

Another view of the busy terrace - great people watching, by the way. Despite arriving at 1:30 on a weekday afternoon, the place was full and remained full even as we left. This place can't scream trendy harder if it had a megaphone, but the food is actually good, desserts even better, and most importantly, a nice locale for a good chat. As a temporary visitor it was a fun casual place to help get in the LA spirit, so to speak, and "do lunch." Their French breakfast items sounds delicious, so if given an opportunity on my next trip down I'll try to "do brunch" and report back again!

Little Next Door

Little Next Door Yelp

Los Angeles, CA

Leland Tea Company

Leland Tea Company is a tea shop in Nob Hill that also offers high tea. AW, my previous high tea buddy, accompanied me to another cute tea experience! We made a last minute booking at Leland (like literally... the day before).

We got the Tea for Two set, which at only $25 was quite frankly a steal. Leland had an fairly large tea selection up front, and they allowed us to poke around, sniff the samples, and ask dumb questions until we settled on a black tea of choice.

Leland had a small tea room with mostly standard cafe seating, but towards the back there were kitschy cute booths and tables, one of which we settled into and took pictures in because - girls (or just me). High tea. Vintage looking furniture and cute tablecloths. It must happen.

The food arrived in a three tier set.

Bottom: We had our choice of two kinds of sandwiches so we chose cucumber cream cheese and the turkey and swiss. I thought the bread was a bit dry on both, but with the turkey it wasn't so apparent - turned out to be just a standard turkey sandwich. The cucumber sandwich unfortunately didn't fare well from the dry bread and didn't have much flavor.

Middle: Salad. Not bad, tangy vinaigrette, but nothing special.

Top: The sweets tier. I believe we had a normal scone, chocolate chip scone, Madeline cookies, two mini cupcakes, and shortbread cookies. The shortbread cookies were adorable... 

But I found the scones cold and kind of stale. The cupcakes and Madelines were good though.

Leland Tea Company has a good tea selection, a cute tea room and friendly staff, but the food is not that great. It's an option if you're trying to book a last minute tea meetup or is looking for a more intimate and quite locale, but I would stick to just chatting over tea and skipping the food if I'm here again.

Leland Tea Company

Leland Tea Company Yelp

San Francisco, CA

Chapeau!

Chapeau! is a French bistro located in the Inner Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco. FT and I went here for a special occasion under the recommendation of a friend. It is located on a fairly nondescript location - street parking by meter only nearby, so come a little early.

The placed was packed within an hour of opening - so definitely make a reservation!

They have a sort of prix-fixe menu where you choose three courses from their normal menu for a reduced price. Well, since it WAS a special occasion... if you insist...

They had a fairly extensive wine list as well, alas only for those who don't run into the drove-can't-drink-but-want-to dilemma of the ages like we did.

Amuse-bouche of smoked trout and fingerling potato. Love smoked fish in general, so no complaints!

My appetizer was the goat cheese napoleon, which I absolutely LOVED. Zucchini, tomatoes, and goat cheese on top of a polenta cake, flavored with pesto. Fresh and light tasting but with enough bite from the tangy goat cheese.

FT got veal sweetbreads as his appetizer - a delicious and heavy dish with a great sauce.

For my main course, I went classic and got the filet mignon with a side order of bone marrow added on. No complaints on the steak: gorgeously medium rare and a deliciously rich sauce.

The bone marrow wasn't as exciting... granted, I had only had bone marrow once before, but this seemed really bland? Not sure if it was an unseasoned bone marrow or if I am not appreciating it correctly by smearing chunks of it on bread... if anyone has suggestions, please let me know!

FT went all ~special~ and opted for the rabbit. I quite enjoyed the flavor of the rabbit, though the sauce wasn't as flavorful as that of the filet mignon's. (Though our palettes could have just been ruined as we both soaked bites of steak in sauce...)

Dessert number one was the tarte du jour, a classic lemon tart with raspberry cream. This tart was TART! I love sour things so this works great for me, but I can understand if some may want a more sweet dessert.

And lastly, a basil napoleon - possibly my favorite of the night. Fruit and crispy wafers in a napoleon, topped with a basil sauce. Super refreshing and light, and a great end after a heavy meal.

And they live up to their namesake by giving the check in a hat (for those of us not francophiles, chapeau means hat)!

All the food was amazing and the portions almost too large - the table next to us got the same prix-fixe plan and ordered some heartier dishes, and actually had to stop halfway through the main course to pack them up because they were so large! The place is loud and fairly casual, but the service remains top notch. For someone who is intimidated by hip or upscale dining, I did enjoy being able to relax while enjoying good food.The chef is super friendly and came over twice in our short meal to ask how we liked our food - and we couldn't grin any wider to show him how much we loved it.

Chapeau! had delicious French bistro food, and a friendly and comfortable place that I will likely start visiting even when it's not a special occasion. 

Chapeau!

Chapeau! Yelp

San Francisco, CA

Red Hot Wok

Red Hot Wok is a Taiwanese joint in Cupertino, CA. It seems to be really popular because when we went, there was an hour long line. Inside, the place looks like a cross between a Chinese restaurant and a bar, with wooden plank tables and benches.

We had a group of six that had helped NN move into his new apartment that day. Since we had been stuffed full at IKEA earlier in the day (dem unlimited amounts of meatballs when you buy enough furniture...) we were just peckish, so we shared a few dishes.

Eggplant was nice and spicy - very tasty!

The squid, however, was a bit more questionable... we weren't expecting complete squid so some at the table were a little put off. Those who didn't mind, like myself, were uninspired by the flavor... it was supposed to be gingery and spicy, but the squid themselves were just bland. Not a fan.

They had a kungpao stir fried century old egg which sounded interesting and we just had to try. It is has the sweet and spicy flavor that you would associate with kung pao - generally, very good! Though, it is a bit difficult to eat without enough rice to help it along, since it is very salty.

And the stone plate pepper beef which was strongly mediocre.

And lastly, we had their signature dessert - shaved ice! I believe it was shaved snow... We opted for the green tea.

It comes with a heaping of red beans on top...

The shaved ice itself is very tasty! It's creamy but icy and comes out in amazingly flavorful flakes. They melt very quickly, so eat fast!

Food-wise, Red Hot Wok is bipolar - they have some hits (AMAZING shaved ice, nice quirky dishes like the kung pao egg) but some of their other dishes are mediocre or even just bad. For the south bay, which is filled with excellent Chinese restaurants, I think you can do better if you are looking for a full meal.

That said, I would definitely stop by for a beer and some salty side dishes, and to try more shaved snow. Mango shaved snow, I have my eye on you.

Red Hot Wok

Red Hot Wok Yelp

Cupertino, CA

Extra Feature: ANA In-Flight Meals

In spring 2013 I took a vacation to Japan in which I had splurged on traveling with ANA for the first time. I have been on many flights and had my share of poking forlornly at in-flight meals, but what I had this time shocked me - in a good way!

On ANA flights, meals are actually preceded by a snack. From the looks of the package it looked like a standard mix of salty peanuts and pretzels, but to my surprise it was actually a tasty mix of nuts, soft sweet pretzels, and a sweet rice cracker mix.

ANA's dinner choice option 1, which was obviously the more "western" choice. The main dish was some kind of beef and mushroom with rice, which was not bad. The side dish was some sort of crab salad with chicken strips and a caprese (!) salad. I usually shy away from seafood and cheese on airplanes like the plague but it was shockingly fresh and good.

My travel companion FT had the curry rice (good!), and a side dish of cold soba with hijiki (the black seaweed you see there). 

The next meal "lunch" was a chicken pasta dish... also shockingly tasty! It looks like some creamy fettuccine but is actually a more Asian style chicken and gravy sauce.

And on my next ANA flight, the in flight meal was crab rice which, to my shock, had chunks of real crab along with various mushrooms, lotus root, and egg. 

I took some subsequent domestic flights from another airline that had the standard mushy food and unpalatable cold cuts - blegh. However, a next flight on ANA again helped reassure me about airplane food. A stewed beef dish paired with some cold cuts, pickles, and a small amount of noodles. 

On my returning flight, dinner was a donburi meal. 

And the very last "lunch" (and I'll figure out how to rotate this photo... eventually...) before returning home was an oden meal with stewed fishcakes and veggies. There was also fruit that had an apple rabbit, peach, and kiwi. 

Best of all, after all meals, you also get a little haagen-daaz individual portion ice cream.

I had balked a little on the price I had paid for flying with ANA, but was so pleasantly surprised by the experience, especially the food! It was probably the first time I actually looked forward to the meals while flying and helped make my long haul flights seem so short. I hope that this brings good tidings to weary travelers that yes - good meals in the sky do exist.