Daikokuya Ramen

327 E 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA
(213) 626-1680
http://www.dkramen.com/

This is by far one of my two favorite ramen shops to go to in Los Angeles! Everytime when I'm in LA, I make sure I make a trip there, even when it's too hot for ramen.

Daikokuya is not a very big shop, so there is always a group of people waiting for seats outside the shop. Oh yes, and the wait is well worth it! The soup looks like miso soup, but it is actually made with soy sauce and pork bones. It is really tasty, and I can always taste the pork flavor in the soup. The chashu they use is kurobuta or black pork, which is one of the more tender kind of pork. The boiled eggs they used in the ramen are soaked in a special sauce over night before serving, and the yolks are always golden yellow and custard-liked. The ramen is thin but chewy. If you want the soup to be richer, you can ask for kotteri flavor, which uses "added soup extracted from the back fat" of the pork.

Daikoku Ramen - tonkotsu soup base, boiled chijire style egg noodles, kurobuta pork belly, marinated hard boil egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and a tons of green onions.

It is pretty standard thing to order gyoza with ramen, but that's not the case with me most of the time. BUT at Daikokuya, ordering gyoza is a must! It is homemade, pan-fried and not deep fried like most ramen shops. The pork and vegetable filling is so juicy and tasty.

I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but Daikokuya loves topping their dishes with green onions. So if you don't like them, ask them not to put them. I always forget, so I always end up digging them out. I must say, they add up to a big pile every time!

I can't wait to go back again!

I'm in Love with a Jerk...Jerk Chicken, that is!

Back A Yard Caribbean American Grill
1189 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA
(650) 323-4244
http://www.backayard.net/

I'm in love with a jerk! For real! I never had a jerk in my life before, and after one, I was in paradise!

Jerk, not a person who is naive of foolish, but meat that is marinaded in mixture of spices and cooked over flames in Jamaican cuisine, is so delicious!!!  Chef Simpson from Back A Yard definitely know how to marinade and cooked up some fabalous stuff!

The restaurant is located in a secluded neighborhood next to the 101 South freeway. From feets away, I can smell the grill! Upon entering the small restaurant, both my boyfriend and I were greeted by his wife at the counter, who had a really nice friendly smile by the way! The menu included items like jerk chicken, pork, salmon, steak and tofu, regular BBQ chicken, ribs and sausages, and fried catfish and shrimps. They are served as a meal. For the jerk meal, it comes with rice & beans, fried plantains and salad. Fthe BBQ meal, it comes with french fries, a bread roll and cole slaw. The menu also consists of many different caribbean sides like rice & beans, corn festivals (which is like fried bread), corn bread, cold slaw, macaroni and cheese plus more.

As recommended by our friends Kirk and Eilun, my boyfriend and I decided to try the jerk pork and a order of corn festivals, which consists of four pieces. We also ordered a order of jerk chicken because I am a fan of chicken!

Jerk Chicken - grilled spiced marinade chicken with plantain and rice & beans.

The jerk chicken was very flavorful. It has so many flavors that I can't even tell what kind of spices go into it. All I can say is, it is so, so good! I am not a fan of beans, but the rice and beans are very flavorful and delicious as well! The plantain was very sweet and not dried at all even though it is deep fried. The jerk pork was very flavorful also. The marinade tasted the same, but of course, it was pork instead of chicken. I actually prefer the chicken over the pork because the chicken was more tender to me.

I didn't take pictures of the corn festivals, but right when my boyfriend and I got the order, we ate one right away. They resemble sweet fried dough. Steamy and hot, I can see small pieces of grinded up corn inside. It tasted so good, I want to grab another one, but they are very filling.

I really enjoy the food from this place. Both times my boyfriends and I went, we ordered to go since the place was very tiny and was always full. Even though we got our order to go, it was still really tasty. The only thing I dislike about the jerks though, was that I seem to get quite thirsty after eating them. I am guessing it's because there are so many spices and salt added to the meat. But being thirsty is quite worth it for such a delicious meal!

Sprinkles Cupcakes

393 Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, CA
(650) 323-9300
http://www.sprinkles.com/

When I found out Sprinkles Cupcakes had a new location in Palo Alto, I was dying to go try one. My first encounter with a Sprinkles cupcake was when my friend bought a box to share. Oh joy! Even though I never seen the shop then, I was happy. The cupcakes were huge! Topped with heavy buttercream, I thought it weight a pound!  I love getting red velvet cupcake as a default when I try new cupcake places, and that was exactly what my friend bought--red velvet! Goodie!

The cupcake was so big, I had to open my mouth wide to ensure I get a bit of the cake and the frosting. The cream cheese frosting was overwhelming. It was fluffy but heavily sweet. The cake was moist and fluffy also. I really enjoy the cake!

Half a year later, today, I went to Sprinkles so I could bring my friends some Sprinkles Cupcakes. The shop was small. Upon entering the door, the cupcake display was there to greet you. It completely stole my attention. Racks with colorful, flavorful cupcakes. I aimmed to buy four cupcakes, but with Sprinkles offering nine daily flavors and fifteen different flavors that appear on different days of the week, I knew this was going to be a difficult decision. Thanks goodness the line was long, so I had time to stare at the display for awhile.

I ended up getting an orange flavor one for my friend who loves orange, a cinnamon sugar for my friend who loves sugar, a chocolate marshmallow because it sounds good and a lemon coconut for myself. They were all very good by the way, but again, very, very sweet and heavy. I just needed to take half of the frosting off.

So after eating Sprinkles twice, I have learned something new. Sprinkles cupcakes are delicious but overwhelming. Oh yes, and the process of eating and sharing Sprinkles with your friends is a joyful experience. With that said, it is a perfect treat to have your friends and yourself to buy different flavors and just share. You get different taste of every flavor there is, and get your belly filled with goody goodness.

Simply Fondue

2300 First Street, Livermore, CA

(925)443-6638
http://www.simplyfonduelivermore.com/
Simply Fondue is simply in that the way cooking the food is very simple, just dip your raw or cooked food in cooking sauce or oil, and eat it! The not so simple part though is their selection of food, cooking styles, chocolate sauces, and combination dinners. Oh yes, and did I mention they have over a hundred of different kind of martini cocktails? So for an indecisive person like me to go to Simply Fondue, I relied on the waiter. He was very nice and helpful by the way!

Anyhow, Simply Fondue has a dim lighting atmosphere. The lounge and bar was broadcasting sport channels while people sit and sip on their wines and cocktails and engaged in conversation. The dinning room on the other hand, was much quieter. The whole time I was there, I could only hear and focus on my food sizzling away in the cooking broth. As I mention earlier, the services were good and helpful.

On to the food! I did a four course combination dinner, which started off with a salad. There were four to choose from. I chose the spinach and strawberry salad. It was delicious, but super sweet!

Spinach & Strawberry Salad - baby spinach, strawberry slices, and almonds tossed in sweet cider dressing

Next, I had the appetizer, which was assorted fruits, vegetables and bread cubes with your choice of cheese fondue. There were five different cheese to choose from. My server recommended the Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar, and that was exactly what I have.

Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar with assorted breads, crisp vegetables and fruits - sharp cheddar and Emmenthaler cheeses, beer, garlic and spices

The cheese was very, very rich. I could taste the beer in the cheese, which taste somewhat interesting. It made me want to try eating cheese with beer.

Next, I went onto the entree. I was able to choose six kind of meat from the red meats, poultry and seafood list. With about seven things to choose from in each list, I asked my server once again. I ended up with six pepper beef, beef tenderloin, roasted garlic chicken, sea scallops, ahi sesame tuna, an pecan crusted mahi-mahi. The entree came with some more vegetables and cheese ravioli. I chose the traditional cooking style, as recommended. It was a trans-fat free soybean oil, which served with house made sesame batter and famous stuffed mushroom. The entree was served with seven different dipping sauces. You can pair your meat with whichever one you like.

The combination meal ends with none the less, dessert! Dessert was some serious business because there were 15 different type of chocolate fondues to choose from! Some with nuts in them, some with liqueur in them, and some with fruit syrup. I ended up choosing one with just chocolate, Chocolate Confusion, which as described as "for the chocolate lover who just can't make up their mind. Premium white and milk chocolates swirled together". The chocolate fondue came with fruits such as strawberries, apples, grapes, banana, rice crispy, brownie, and cookies, dusted with powdered sugar. After a couple dip of the fruits and chocolate, I have one word to say...sweeet!

All in all, I had a really great time cooking my food and dipping them into sauces. As much fun as it can get, the portion is pretty small. Basically, I just got full from the rich sauces that cover the actual food. Also, selection and variety is good, but it really took me a long time to read and navigate through the menu. The martini menu was ridiculous long since it was filled with description for all 100+ cocktails. I tried two of the martinis, Sexytini and Peppermint Mint Martini. Both were pretty strong and tasty, which made me want to try others on the menu as well to see how they taste.

I would definitely go back to try everything else that I haven't try, and the fun cooking and dipping part. This is not a place for a quick dinner, so make sure you don't have movie plans even though the theatre is just right around the corner.

EOS

901 Cole St, San Francisco, CA
(415) 566-3063
http://www.eossf.com/
 

It was after a long day of work on a Wednesday night, and there was nothing my friend and I wanted to do besides grabbing some drinks and dinner. We met up pretty late, and decided to take the muni to EOS on Cole Street for some sangrias and tapas. Tapas are perfect as small dinner especially late at night since I don't want to sleep with a full stomach.
 
The door front of EOS was pretty neat. Entering the restaurant, it was dim, but I was still able to see that it was still packed around 8 something at night. Our hostess led us to a corner with a red comfy couch, chair and table. This place contained a lot of small tables that are for party of 2 or 4. It looks like a place for romantic date. The place looks very artsy also, with paintings by local artists hanging on the walls, vase and a few nice red velvety couch.
 
EOS has a wall filled with wine because it is a wine bar. So the menu is mainly contained tapas, or wine food. I also notice that EOS' menu is very Asian inspired. Some of their dishes contains ingredients that are very common in Asian cuisine, like duck, shiitake mushroom, and ahi tuna. My friend and I decided to order two sangrias and some tapas to share. There were two items that contained mushrooms, and immediately I knew I wanted to order both...the Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings and Wild Mushroom Risotto. My friend is a fan of duck, and so we ordered the Roasted Duck with Pear Sauce.
 

Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings

The dumplings were very flavorful but also salty at the same time. I avoided the excess sauce when I could. Also, I could taste the shittake. I like it better when I ate a dumpling with the tomato. The sweetness in the fruit balanced out the saltiness of the sauce and dumpling.

 
 

Wild Mushroom Risotto

The risotto was really, really good! Usually the cheese used in a risotto dish tends to overpower the other ingredients in the dish, but not in this case. It was so good! The mushrooms also tasted really good. I couldn't tell what kind of mushroom was in it thoughnce the ambiance was quite dark. The aborio rice is just right, not too hard and not overly soft. You can still see the individual grain.

Roasted Duck with Pears

I never had ducks with pears or pear sauce before. I had roasted duck in Chinese cuisine, which serves with a sweet plum sauce. The duck and pear pair actually reminded me of duck with plum sauce, but not as sweet. I ate a piece of duck by itself, and it was very tender and juicy. Then I ate a piece of duck with some pear. The pear added some texture to the duck, because psychologically, the pear made the duck seems even more tender and sweet. From there on, I just ate the rest of my duck with the pears.

The sangria at EOS was okay. It was pretty light and refreshing. It wasn't dark at all like typical sangrias, it was also more translucent.
 
The experience at EOS was pretty unique. The dim light just made the atmosphere seems more upscale, which totally is, since their tapas cost around $10 to $20 a plate. It is definitely not a quiet place but I noticed that people tried not to talk too loud there. The service was not too good the night I went, but it was a busy night and it didn't seem like there were too many staffs. I would definitely go back, but with a small party of course or just whenever I want to relax by sipping on a drink and eating some tapas