Food Hunter

Coconut Bay Bar & Grill

2009-06-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

It was a Saturday, my friend Shawn and I decided to meet up to shop for airline tickets to New York. We spent 2 hours at the Auto Club and we were hungry, so we decided to take a drive to Rowland Heights area, where I used to live for college, for I know for sure we can get some exceptional Thai food. There’s a particular restaurant by the name Banana Bay, which is my all time favorite restaurant for Thai Food. One of these days I will do a review for them, but on this particular day we decided to go with Coconut Bay instead. In terms of food wise, it is very similar to Banana Bay. The décor of both restaurants are just really neat in its own way, and yet manages to be very inviting.

Now let’s talk food. I decided to go with the Cha Po, which is a combination of BBQ pork, boneless roasted duck, roasted pork, steamed on choy, and pickle ginger over steamed rice. While Shawn wanted to all time favorite Pad See Ew, which is stir fried soft rice noodles with egg, Chinese broccoli, black sweet soy sauce and chicken. We both wanted to try to Hand rolls (which is fresh hard tofu, Chinese sausages, crab meat, cucumbers, and sprouts hand-wrapped in egg roll skin, then topped with traditional hand roll sauce) to start the whole meal off. The first thing that arrives at our table was of course the Hand rolls, it tasted as I would expected it to taste. It looked very similar to the Vietnamese Banh Cuon (consists of very thin rice flour cake with meat and vegetables), which was one of the main reasons why I wanted to try it. It turns out they both have their own special taste, it tasted nothing like the Vietnamese Banh Cuon mainly because of the special sauce, instead of flavored fish sauce, different in a good way of course. When the Cha Po arrived, we both dug right in, the duck meat and the BBQ pork was awesome, the roasted pork was a bit on the too hard side for me, but overall the dish was pretty tasty. Lastly, the Pad See Ew arrived and like always it tasted perfect, no need for any additional sauces or dressing. It’s a very simple and yet tasty dish. Overall, the experience was what I would expect it to be; our expectations of this restaurant were met and our bellies were very pleased. I would highly recommend this place.

Hand rolls

Cho Po

Pad See Ew

Coconut Bay Bar & Grill

18922 Gale Ave

Rowland Heights, CA 91748

626.913.9933

Hours:

M-Wed: 11am-11pm

Thursday: 11am-12pm

Fri-Sat: 11am-2am

Sunday: 11am-12am

Western Soondae

2009-05-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, May 17, 2009, we ventured out to Venice Beach hoping to find as much junk food as we could possibly eat, and provide our readers with many different choices on some of the best spots to eat while in Venice Beach.

Our first stop, upon arrival to Venice, was “The Wings- Famous Chicken Wings” place, which we have never heard off , but we decided to give it a try and start our eating adventure from this point. We asked for the 12 piece mild wings which took about 10 minutes to be served , service is ok, nothing really fancy so don’t expect much from this place. The wings were nice and crisp but not mild enough, which is good because you won’t get that awful heartburn from spicy wings sauce.

After the wings, our day took a completely different spin to what we had planned. I won’t go into details as to why or how our day took a spin because this spin is now available by clicking on the link Nature guy

We left Venice Beach around six pm hungry, and eager to try something new, and something that I’ve wanted to try for a long time. We drove over to Korea Town in search of “Western Soondae”, a Korean restaurant that serves, (from what I’ve heard,) the best Korean sausage in town.

Soondae is a typical Korean sausage made from fresh pork blood, sweet rice sweet potato noodles, several types of finely chopped vegetables, garlic and some other spices. This mixture is stuffed inside an intestinal casing and steamed until fully cooked.

I’ve tried many different types of sausages and have noticed the ones that are made from blood, have this irony taste to them, and are more solid in structure. I was expecting the same from soondae, but I was completely surprised to find the taste very pleasant, not irony at all, and the whole texture of it, was very different from all other sausages I’ve tried.

We asked for the Soondae platter, which includes a whole variety of pork internal organs, such as the kidney, stomach, some sort of head cheese and some other cuts that I was not able to distinguish. The plate is served with traditional kimchi with big chunks of cured radish. In addition to the kimchi, they also brought a plate of garlic chives, I might be wrong, but they felt and looked like garlic chives, rock salt with chili powder, a sauce composed of brine shrimp and fish sauce, and a sauce that looked more like a fermented paste with a strong flavor but it blent in really good with the assorted meats.

If you eat the pieces of pork alone, they have a simple taste, and that’s where all those side compliments come in handy and add a whole different taste to the soondae and all the assorted pork meats. Overall, we enjoyed the food very much, the Soondae, was full of flavor and the other cuts of pork go really well with the various sauces that were brought out to our table. I must also add that we really loved the tea. The tea served at this place, has a rice taste that blends with the tea just perfect. I would definitely recommend Soondae for anyone who is looking for something out of the ordinary.

Western Soondae, also serves different types of soups, including a soondae soup which was very much enjoyed by many of the customers around us. The Soondae plate is very big, and it might feed up to five people. Prices are reasonable for the amount of food you get, so don't worry about a budget because the food is worth every single bite of it.

We had a funny incident when my friend Thomas was trying to cut a piece of radish in half; as he pinched the small piece with his chopsticks and tried to split in half with a spoon, an older gentlemen sitting to the right of Natalie, kept telling Thomas, as he shooked his head, “no, no, no”, when all of the sudden, the piece of radish flew off the table landing on the floor. All three of us started to laugh as the older men continued to shake his head. This was a funny experience and one that will continue to bring us laughter for as long as we can remember that piece of radish.

543 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90189

(213) 389-5288

May Mei Restaurant

2009-05-11T19:37:00.001-07:00

After trying Din Tai Fung Dumpling House, as a group, our bellies weren’t satisfied. Therefore we went over to May Mei (Cantonese/Hong Kong Style) restaurant, to load-up on more food. We got there roughly 9ish, waited for 10 minutes or so for a table, not that bad for a Friday night. My braces were bothering me; therefore I decided to play it safe and went for porridge. I ordered the preserved egg w/pork porridge ($4.95). We all wanted to try one of the clay pot dish, so we ordered the beef cubes w/egg hot pot rice ($7.95). For the last entrée, we went with dumpling lo mein ($6.25), just to compare with the previous dumplings that we tried. The porridge came out first, it was nice, soothing and tasted like it should taste. We were all pretty happy with the porridge. Then came the dumpling lo mein, it’s pretty interesting the way they serve it here. I was expecting a bow of noodle with dumping on top, surrounded by the broth, but no, not exactly. I honestly like it better this way because you only pour in the amount of broth you’d like and when you want to, therefore the dumpling and noodle doesn’t get soggy toward the end of the meal. This dish was pretty tasty, I would recommend trying. The last dish to arrive was the beef cubes w/egg hot pot rice. The meat they used was very moist and the soy sauce was not salty, but rather it adds flavor to the rice, to me that was good quality sauce. Sauces should supplement the flavor of food, instead of adding saltiness. Overall, we were all very please with this down-to-earth restaurant. The price is very decent, the quality is there and well it’s just a good restaurant to go to for eating out. I would dine here again if I’m in the area, no doubt.

639 W. Duarte Rd

Arcadia, Ca 91007

626.574.1318

Sun-Thu: 11-10pm

Fri & Sat: 11-10:30pm

Preserved egg w/pork porridge

Beef cubes w/egg hot pot rice

Dumpling lo mein

Din Tai Fung Dumpling House

2009-05-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Dumpling…Dumpling…Dumpling…

There’s something about dumpling that amazes me, it’s probably the fact that how can something so little and yet can be so satisfying. With that being said, it bring us back to why I set this website up in the first place, for the sole reason of hunting down quality food. I’ve wanted to try this restaurant out for the longest time, this past Friday I finally had the opportunity to do so. We got to the place at around 7pm, pretty busy and crowded, as I would expect it to be. We waited for roughly 5 to 10 minutes and were seated, which was not a bad wait time. Right after we were seated, we got right on to the typical Chinese mark-your-order sheet. We ordered the Roast Beef Noodle Soup ($7.25), juicy pork dumpling ($7.25), shrimp & pork shiaomai ($9.00), and red bean dumpling ($5.00). The Roast Beef Noodle Soup was the first to arrive at our table. It looked like a very simple dish, and indeed it was simple. The beef tasted pretty dry, the broth was just decent, nothing exceptional about this dish. Then came the pork dumpling and the shiaomai, I was very excited about this duo, for shiaomai is one of my favorite. The pork and shrimp shiaomai looked very nice and unique but the taste was not up to par for me. I’ve had better shiaomai, and this one was just decent. The juicy pork dumpling was very different. Man, when they say, “juicy” they do mean juicy. Holding the dumpling up with the chopstick, felt like holding a sack of broth. I have to admit the dumpling was the highlight of the place; it tasted very different, in a good way of course. After all, the name of the place is Dumpling House. The final course that came out was the red bean dumpling. It tasted pretty good, perfect for a light dessert. Overall, this place is worth a try. I mean I wouldn’t go out of my way just to come back and dine here. I guess after reading about the restaurant’s history and all the hypes that people speak of, I came to this restaurant with very high expectations, but sadly it didn’t quite match-up to my expectation.

1108 South Baldwin Avenue

Arcadia, Ca 91007

626.574.7068

M-F: 11- 2:30PM, & 5PM - 9:30PM

Sat: 10:30AM-2:30PM, & 5PM - 9:30PM

Sun: 10:30AM-2:30PM, & 5PM - 9:00PM

Shrimp Shiaomai

Pork Dumpling

Red Bean Dumpling

Roast Beef Noodle Soup

Ten ten Seafood Restaurant

2009-04-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

To summarize in a few words, Dim Sum really means “touch of the heart” and honestly, it does touches your heart because it’s just really, really good. Dim Sum is a type of Chinese style of cuisine that offers a wide range of small dishes and is mostly eaten as breakfast until noon time.

Dim Sum can include seafood, chicken, beef, pork, vegetables, sweets and in some cases fruits. Most of these small dishes are steamed in a bamboo steamer basket or small cooking pots. There are so many different choices to pick from, that it is better to go in a group to enjoy all of the many, abundant, small, dishes that will be coming at you from left to right.

Today, I went grocery shopping in the hopes to find something good to cook at home and have lunch. As I arrived home, my friend Thomas called me to invite to eat at Ten Ten Seafood restaurant in the city of Artesia. I have been to this place before and I was not about to pass on the opportunity of going back to this particular restaurant , and feast on all the wonderful dishes they have to offer.

They brought up so many different dishes and I was not able to catch up with all the names, and even if I did, I would not be able to remember how to pronounce them or even write their names. We had everything but veggies, they were not offered this time, but they are really good; Chinese broccoli being my favorite.

Among many of the dishes that were brought out, the chicken feet stand out the most. It’s a real delight to eat those chicken feet, and savor the sauce in which they are served. The feet are prepared in a combination of spices, and steamed for so long that they almost melt as the flavor explodes in your mouth. Be careful when eating chicken feet because of the small bones which can easily be swallowed.

I would have to write about ten pages just to cover the many different dim sum dishes that we had, but I will limit myself to name just of few, that as I read the menu, I’m able to indentify; BBQ pork buns, ha gau (shrimp dumplings), sesame balls, rice noodles rolls with bbq pork, siu mai (pork dumplings), egg custard buns, among many other.

Ten Ten Seafood Restaurant is conveniently located in the city of Artesia, CA, less than a mile off the 91 fwy. They are open seven days a week from 11: 00 am – 11: 00 pm Monday through Friday and from 10 am - 11pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Prices are really, really cheap, so don’t be afraid to order as much as you can eat. For a group of ten people we paid less than one hundred dollars, and for all the food we order, this was a real bargain.

It is typical to serve dim sum with green tea, but if you do decide to visit his place, I strongly encourage you to try their daisy tea. Daisy tea has a very fragrant smell and it’s somewhat refreshing when drinking it, if you prefer it cold, just ask for a glass of ice and pour it into the glass, the fragrance and taste it’s even better.

I would definitely go back as many times as possible to feast on all those wonderful dishes that this place has to offer. I’m not an expert on Dim Sum, but my taste buds really enjoy this place and they are hungry for more.

17901 K Pioneer Blvd

Artesia, Ca 90701

562.860.9888

Four Season Cafe

2009-04-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

It was Friday, supposedly I had the whole day planned out, but some unexpected events led me to nap at home instead. I was napping peacefully until my two friends Cecilia and Shawn wanted to come over, so I said, ‘sure.’ The three of us talk for a while then we decided to go grab a bite, though we had no idea what we wanted to eat. It took us a while to decide, we went from; ‘should we head to San Gabriel area or should we stay local.’ In the end, we decided to meet halfway; we’ll go to Cerritos. We weren’t sure where exactly we wanted to go but we all decided to play it by ears and see what looks good along the way. As we stroll along one of the newly opened plaza we noticed the Four Season Cafe, based on the pictures from the window, the food looks like it’ll suit our taste buds, so we decided to give it a shot. As we entered the restaurant, the setting was pretty appealing, the décor was modern, and aside from the red lantern that was hanging from the ceiling, I thought everything else went well together. I guess the red lantern was there to cue you in that it’s a Chinese restaurant, which I didn’t think was necessary. We took a while to look through the menu, but for some odd reason all the hot pot dishes keeps yelling my name. So I ordered the Preserved Duck Meat Stone Pot ($9.25), I guess I was not satisfied with the hot pot dish from a couple of days ago, Cecilia ordered the Grilled Chicken Steak ($7.50) and Shawn ordered the Chow Fun Singapore Style ($6.25). It was happy hours or something but they gave us all complimentary soup and drinks are all buy one get one free. The free soup was ok, nothing extraordinary about it, just little chunks of beef with tomatoes. The first entrée that came out was Cecilia’s Grilled Chicken Steak, the chicken was really moist and tasty, I really enjoyed it. It has a Westernized-Asian kick to it. The second entrée that arrived was Shawn’s Chow Fun Singapore Style, I kind of expected a little more to this dish, but it was a bit on the bland side for me. The Preserved Duck Meat Stone Pot came last, so we were all anxious to try it out. They did a good job on the rice, but the preserved duck meat was not up to par for me. It was too rubbery and salty, not much flavoring in the meat. There’s something about rice that’s prepared in a clay or stone pot that gives the rice a different special flavor. Over all, I’d give this restaurant an OK; it’s good but not excellent.

11688 South Street. #104
Artesia, CA 90701
562.865.6789

Tasty Garden

2009-03-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

I was surfing the web one day, looking for this particular restaurant that one of my friend (Jen) had taken me to a while back called Savoy. They serve one of the best Hainan Chicken Rice dish. As I was surfing, I happen to stumble upon Tasty Garden, a down to earth Chinese restaurant with a friendly and casual vibe. The main motive that drove me here in the first place was the Hong Kong Style waffle. It’s been over a year now that I last visited Hong Kong, and the thing I missed most about Hong Kong was the food. It seem that every corner you turn to, there was food, and I don’t mean just ordinary food, but rather good tasty junk food. Being a junky (a term I used to describe myself as a junk food lover) myself, it’s like paradise. I would have to say that out of all the places I’ve traveled to, I know I’m still young and still have much more places to see, but for now, by far Hong Kong would be number one on my list. Ok, let’s go back to Tasty Garden. As we park the car and stroll into the little restaurant, it seem like a normal Chinese restaurant, with I would say a bit more modern décor than normal Chinese restaurant. It took Johanna and myself a while to decide on what we wanted, but at least we agree upon one thing, we must have at least three dishes today. As we scroll through the menu, the hot pot rice dishes was calling out to me, so I decided to order the Yellow Eel Hot Pot ($6.50). Johanna wanted the Baked Seafood Rice w/Portuguese Sauce ($7.25). We both decided on a third dish to be the House Special Pork Chop ($6.75). For our fun food, we decided to go with the main motive that got me here in the first place, the Hong Kong Style Waffle ($3.95). The waffle did not disappoint me at all, it was nice and crunchy in the outside and soft and moist in the inside, it was perfect, just like the waffle from Hong Kong. The first dish that came out was the House Special Pork Chop. Just from looking at it, it didn’t look that moist and tender, but right when we start taking the chunk of meat apart and chopping it down, we realize that it’s really tender and juicy. I would conclude that they did a great job on the pork chop. The second dish was the Yellow Eel Hot Pot. I expected more from this dish, since it was calling out to me but the eel meat that they used tasted like it came from a can, it lack the juicy flavor that I expected it to have. The Baked Seafood Rice w/Portuguese Sauce came out last. It’s one of those dishes that taste good on the first few bites but the creamy taste of it would drive you away from wanting more. Over all I would say the experience was interesting, the two dishes that stands out was the waffle and the pork chop. I would go back to this place just for the waffle, come to think of it, I noticed it’s the simpler things in life that we tend to always missed most.

288 W. Valley Blvd #110-112
Alhambra, CA 91801
626.300.8262

Graceful Teriyaki Grill & Roll

2009-03-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

We have hundreds of teriyaki restaurants scattered through southern California. However, which one is the best, which one will give you the most for your money; which one will your taste buds develop a preference for. In a few words, there are so many teriyaki places that it will be nearly impossible to try them all, and name one victorious.

In my quest to find good food, I recently visited a new teriyaki place near my job. I have seen this little place go through some changes over the years since I’ve been at my job, and I’m glad to say that this new place seems like it will be successful.

Graceful Teriyaki Grill & Roll is conveniently located in the city of Long Beach. 4331 E. Carson St, and it is open from Monday through Saturday from 11:00 am – 8:00 pm, they are closed on Sundays. The place offers over thirty different dishes, several salads, and various types of rolls and sashimi as well. After viewing the menu for a few minutes, I decided to order the spicy chicken and beef teriyaki plate.

This particular dish comes with steam rice, fresh salad and four pieces of their California roll. It is a big portion, so come hungry and ready to eat. The meat is soft and not chewy as in some other places (I don’t know if you ever had that experience), as well as the chicken which is really moist. The meat is prepared with the typical teriyaki sauce and spicy chilies, onions, peppers, and carrots; although I feel that the carrots are added more for presentation of the dish than anything else, they do add a mild taste to offset the spiciness of the chilies.

I’ve never encountered a bad experience with tempura, but I dislike it when they serve green bean tempura. This dish comes with three pieces of tempura veggies which are very crispy and don’t have that oily taste nor look. In other words, they are just good. As for the California roll, I would rate it as fair. I’m not a big fan of the California roll, but rather of sashimi, which they do offer in their menu.

The place is not that big, and could sit at least 20 people in a nice comfortable manner. The owner is very friendly and service is good. I would strongly recommend this place for a quick lunch, or if you prefer to go, for those of you on the run.

I will definitely go back to this place and try their sashimi and or other dishes. Prices are very reasonable, so don’t worry about putting a big dent in your wallet when going out for some good food at this place.

4331 E. Carson Street

Long Beach, CA 90808

562.425.7041

Lucky City Restaurant

2009-03-09T16:06:00.001-07:00

It was Sunday, my only day off from work so I decided to go try a new restaurant that I haven’t yet tried before. My two friends (Mark and Cecilia) and I decided to head out to Monterey Park to try something new. The Restaurant was called Lucky City Restaurant; they mostly serve Chaozhou (Chiu Chow) food. We got there at the peek of lunchtime, as we entered, it was a typical Chinese restaurant with plates and chopsticks rattling as we walk through the restaurant to be seated at our table. Mark and I left it up to Cecilia to do the ordering since she seems to know what’s good in that part of China. We ended up ordering; Steamed Tilapia ($6.95), Duck Fillet w/Soy Sauce ($5.99), Deep Fried Whole Fish ($5.25) and Pan Fried String Bean w/Dry Meat & Pickle Olive ($4.55). Let us start with the Steamed Tilapia. I am never a fish guy but the Tilapia was done perfect. The meat was nice and moist while the shredded onion compliments the taste of the fish. The Duck Fillet w/soy sauce was very flavorful, to my surprise I was drawn to the tofu on the side of the duck more so then the duck meat. The tofu tasted fresh and soft, I thought it was perfect, and keep in mind I’m not a big fan of tofu. The Deep fried whole fish was just average for me; nothing about it really stands out. Lastly, the Pan Fried String Bean w/dry Meat & Pickle Olive, which was a bit odd for me because there’s not many Chinese dishes that utilize olive in their cooking. It was simple and yet very tasty, the bean was cooked with high heat therefore it retain the greens and crunchy taste when you bit into it. Overall, it was a great meal. I would be curious to go back and try other dishes to see how they stack up, but not anytime soon for I have so much more restaurants to try out.

Happy Family Vegetarian Cuisine

2009-03-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was a man with one mission this week; try out at least two different restaurants before the (hopefully) most painful part of my braces treatment. I would love to go into details about what will happen to me this week but that may gross you out, so let’s talk about food. Well we entered this quiet second floor corner restaurant at around 7pm on a Friday night. It was quite empty for dinnertime but this restaurant was highly recommended by a co-worker so we went for it anyway. It took us a while to order for I know nothing of vegan food, but we finally come to an agreement. I wanted something a bit meaty, so we order the Sizzling Beef ($10.95), while Johanna ordered the Home Style Tofu with Hot Sauce ($7.50) along with brown rice. We were both pleased with both dishes, even though the sizzling beef didn’t quite sizzles when it arrived at our table but it was sure pretty beefy. Over all, I would say the experience was pleasant. The food was pretty decent, nothing that would leave a lasting impression but what do I know I am mostly a meat eater, I am a virgin when it comes to vegetarian foods, therefore this is my first real restaurant experience at a vegan's restaurant. I promised, as time progresses I will try more vegetarian food and return to this restaurant and do a follow-up when I have more experience eating vegan’s food. Until then, this restaurant is just average for me.