Orochan - the famous

Well, finally we had time to get to J Town and hit up Orochan, the quasi famous ramen place. Why famous? It was featured in Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel, specifically for its spicy ramen challenge! In fact on their website, its the #5 top episode!

Alas, all the hoopla, but yet we were quite disappointed. So the backstory, if you can finish the spicy ramen special #2 which is 2 levels higher than their original spiciest ramen, within 30 minutes, than your picture goes up on the wall of fame. Being Indonesian, and seeking spicy food, we decided to go there and try this.

Place: This is J Town, so obviously parking, although easy to find, was expensive. The restaurant itself is a small place in a 3 story complex, above another ramen place. Even from the floor below, you could smell the chili powder. It is a relatively small restaurant, with enough seating for 35-40 in tight quarters and decor is modern lines but not materials and simple. It was a full restaurant on this weekday lunch, but we were seated at the last available table almost immediately. Seated beside us, 2 men had just finished the special #2 ramen challenge.One immediately took off for the bathroom, the other turned multiple shades of red then pale in his seat. Both got their pictures and their spots on the wall of fame.

Food: Well, its ramen, but I will show you our table's 3 orders and you can see the difference between the spiciness levels.

This was #5 on the scale up to ten of the original spicy ramens. Look at the lack of jalapenos and miso colored soup broth.

I wimped out, I decided to make sure my food was edible and had the #1, it is the original spiciest of the ramens, but now they have 2 special ramen above this one. Notice, the jalapenos.

Ah, my wife ordered the famed special #2. The contest special. Note the blood red broth and the excessive amount of jalapenos. Oh and don't forget to note the toxic looking bubbles.

Impression: I try not to be biased, but here we go... All 3 ramen were slightly on the bland side, losing the miso flavor of the broth. The noodles were undercooked and stuck together. What made it worse, was that the jalapenos tasted funny .... So anyway, all 3 ramens we ordered a side of corn in them (ala Brittany Murphy's "The Ramen Girl"), the #5 and #1, were finished pretty much, the portions were huge. I will have to say that the #1 was underwhelmingly spicy. It tickled the taste buds although if the powder got stuck in your throat or in your nose, an immediate cough/sneeze attack would ensue. The special #2, tasted like pure chili powder topped off with jalapenos. The miso flavor was totally lost. My wife could not finish it, she did not make the wall of fame. Indonesians are more used to spicy from fresh chili peppers and not the powders.

The afterthought: Something that day was not very fresh, and I could only narrow it down to

jalapenos. The person who had the #5 did not have an problems with keeping her food in.
Warning: may be too descriptive or too much info for some people.
I ate the #1 and ended up with "the runs" later that afternoon, it wasn't even the spicy kind after eating spicy foods. My wife, 5 minutes after leaving the restaurant, threw up her lunch into a nearby planter.

The conclusion: Yes this place is famous, yes this place has a challenge, yes this place is relatively cheap for the large portions you get. On the down side, the ramen is much better at Santouka, and even slightly better at Ajisen Ramen, Aji man in San Gabriel, Gaja kitchen in Harbor City and even at Teri Bamboo in Long Beach. The further down side is something was not fresh and caused sickness in us that day, and wasn't the chili powder of the spicy level. I would not go here again, next time in J town, maybe we should try the curry, or the BBQ, or even the Ramen place downstairs from here. 2 stars out of 5 today, 2.5 starts if the food didn't cause the sickness.

East 180 in Diamond Bar

Back to blogging once again! Its been a couple weeks since my last post. Today we review East 180, a converted Sizzler into modern Chinese restaurant, the interior conversion was absolutely unbelievable. You would not believe this used to be a Sizzler. Plenty of free parking was available. Service was average at best. We were able to arrive somewhat before the dinner crowd on the night we went. Plus it was a weekday night.

So here is what we had:

It looked like Lemon chicken, tasted like Orange peel chicken but was actually grapefruit chicken!

This chicken was dry, and kind of bland. They called it an award winning recipe, it that is the case, maybe it was someone else's recipe that they tried to produce.

Fried Calamari

You can never go wrong with salted fried calamari; and it did not disappoint here. Crispy and salty calamari, even with the tentacles (those who get squeamish beware!)

Pan Fried Green beans and ground pork

This was cooked pretty well also. Green beans and pork both were fresh. The taste could have been a little spicier but otherwise it was good.

I think this was filet mignon beef cubes. I don't remember exactly what this dish was nor how it tasted, so it must have been nothing special. Apologize for the blurry picture on this one, my point and shoot requires the photographer to be completely still when the surroundings are dark.

Overall, this would be a good place to eat if you lived somewhere where Asian food is rare. However, with nearby Rowland Heights, I would say this place pales far in comparison, and on top of that, charges 1.5x-2x the price! Yes, you don't have to deal with the traffic nor the crowds, but all in all, I am not coming back to eat here. 2 stars out of 5 for me. The food is more Asian Fusion that authentic and not very good at that.

Dallas Trip Food

Coming to Dallas Texas, we wondered what we were gonna do. Obvious answer to the question is eat! Where did we go? Well here it all is, in one simple post...

Day one lunch, went to the Galleria food court and found 'la Madeleine' a little French cafe with cute decor. Wife and our friend had the fish and I had the chicken crepe riviera, check out their website for details. Overall, the dishes were satisfactory but not mind blowing. I am no expert in Fench cuisine however, so I'll defer the real review to those that are.

No pictures from the next place either, but we stopped for snacks at a cute little bakery in Highland Park Village called Celebrity Cafe and Bakery. The place was like the "Serendipity" of Dallas. Order your cookies, pastries and coffee/tea downstairs and go on upstairs to enjoy them. The cookies were excellent, not overly sweet.

Day one dinner, we went to a steakhouse that was on the list of best steakhouses in America in our Spirit in-flight magazine. I had the New York steak and wifey had the Ribeye, ordered both to our preference cooked medium-rare. Here are those steaks!:

The Ribeye

The New York

As you can see, the meat was cooked to perfection. As you can read on their website, they prepare their steaks with butter, salt and pepper. Simple, yet so tasty. The Ribeye was a bit over-salted, but the New York was excellent. We also had a lobster bisque that didn't turn out so good in photographs, but that tasted awesome. It had plenty of real lobster bits in it, with a slight spice to the bisque. If I were to take people to Dallas, I would definitely recommend coming here if your budget allows. It will cost you 35 dollars per steak (14-16 oz), extra for family style sides, soup and drinks. For some reason 14-16 oz here is much larger than 14-16 oz that we usually get in other restaurants in California ..... The decor inside the restaurant was simple and the lighting was left somewhat dark, typical of steakhouses. The restaurant itself is huge and there is plenty of room in-between tables and booths. Overall a good experience! 4.5/5.0 stars.

Day two was a "rest" day in terms of eating out, but I give two thumbs up to the cooking of Novita for lunch (lontong cap gomeh) and our hosts (empal + sambal terasi). Excellent dishes from the group, these Texans can cook Indo food!

Day three hung out with the Tins, lunch was had at Pappas Brothers sister establishment Pappadeaux, a seafood version of their steakhouse. We went to the one near Richardson, Texas I think. Decor was typical seafood establishment, with pictures and props resembling what might be found in the sea. Food, well the food, we will let some pictures show you:

What is this? Chicken? Pork? Nope, its Alligator! This appetizer was an absolute delight. The lightly fried and salted alligator was tender with a texture like chicken, but with a slightly seafood type taste very unlike chicken. The fries on the side were cut thin and all were crisp and fresh.

Oysters! 12 large gulf oysters for 4 dollars! The sauces it came with included simple cocktail sauce, some Asian type sweet and sour sauce and horseradish. Tasted good, just remember they are raw!

My wife's wood baked tilapia was excellent; fresh and tasty with good sized portions. The beans were crisp and fresh also. Dish topped off shrimp!

Blackened fish po'boy was a little bit of a disappointment coming off the rest of the food here, but it was well cooked, the ingredients were fresh. It came with some gumbo which was the bigger disappointment, it was more sour than spicy. Overall, Pappadeaux impressed us, and if we are ever back around Texas, it will have to be a stop on our trip. 4.5/5 stars on this one.

In the stockyards we stopped for a snack, good old Texas fries and some fried pickles; Stuff we Californians usually taste once a year at the county fair.

That night, we were invited out to the Magic Time Machine, an interesting concept in food.... or at least in serving food. This is a large establishment that had an hour wait time on a Saturday night. We spent that hour upstairs in the lounge, inside a neon lit jail cell, chatting it up. Once we were called in, we noticed the strange decor and the outfits of the servers.

The cast of Sesame Street joined us for dinner, watching from above; Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster were all there. Our waiter was dressed as Woody from Toy Story. The salad bar was placed on top of an old style car, not quite sure what media forum that car was from. Around the restaurant you could see a people eating in a large school bus, a crayola box, little mushroom houses. Servers were dressed as Snow White, Cinderella, Bat girl, the phantom from phantom of the opera, etc. What a fun place, would be even better with kids (as long as they weren't too young and were scared). The food?

My wife and I shared this plate of pork ribs and prime rib. Prime Rib was sub-par and the pork ribs tasted pretty good, on par with was you get at the big chain restaurants like Lucille's. If you want prime rib, stick to Lawry's, granted you would pay much more. Magic Time Machine will put you down 15-20 dollars per person before drinks, but the decor and atmosphere are well worth the "show" for that price. I would recommend going at least once here. Score this 4/5 stars for the ambiance and 3/5 stars for the food.

Last day in Texas, we had a quick stop at First Chinese BBQ Carrolton. They had roast pork/duck, and BBQ pork (char siu). The roast pork tasted good but not as crisp as the ones you would find in LA. The char siu was well cooked and tender. Wonton soup was a tad bit on the salty side. The Seafood crispy noodle was excellent as was the seafood hotpot. I'd give this place 4/5 stars for their food and quick service. Sorry no pictures of these foods, but typical Chinese food looks by all means.

Last but definitely not least, we stopped by a certain bakery 3 times over our quick trip to Dallas and it deserves to be mentioned. This bakery, called Mozart's bakery and cafe, is a bakery with internet cafe where you can get boba iced teas (tapioca balls), and delicate Korean pastries. All of their pastries that we tried were really good, the only disappointment coming from the mochi with red bean paste inside. 4.5/5 stars for this establishment. A definite must go for you dessert lovers!

Well, that was our foodie trip to Dallas, hope you all have enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures. Maybe this will help some of you choose where to go to eat in Dallas!

Travel Time - Dallas, Texas!

Last weekend was an opportune time for a vacation, off to Dallas my wife and I went, to visit old friends. Our pre-trip questions were, what is there to do in Dallas? When we told our colleagues and friends about our trip to Dallas, they wondered the same thing ... we would just say 'short trip to visit friends'. So what did we do? Our 4 days there can mostly be compiled into one post, the foodstuffs will deserve a separate post. So here is what we did:

Dallas a week before we left had 1 foot of snow fall upon them, but on our visit there, there was no more snow to play in. Here is an outdoor view of the AA arena, the Mavs play here ... I think.

The Reunion Tower from afar:

Our first stop was Dealey Plaza, the famous plaza where JFK was assassinated. Along those lines, we went to the JFK museum, the Sixth Floor Museum. A little pricey for what we saw, but overall a good experience, and for you conspiracy theorists, a good visit to fuel your fire.

Later that night, we went out with our friends' to one of the best steakhouses in America, per some magazine, Pappas Brothers. That review will be on the separate Dallas foodies page upcoming.

The next day, we visited the Beverly Hills of Dallas, Highland Park. The high-end shops were there along with mansions galore.

That night, lunch was a get together with my wife's old high school friends .... I will call it the Joy Luck Club! It was a bunch of wives taking care of their young kids getting together for lunch. Boy was I out of place! For dinner, the friends we were staying with cooked empal (very spicy style). Yummy! Afterwards we shot hoops with the Indo Boys at Prestonwood church. If you thought California megachurches were large, this was something else. A gym with fitness area, multiple ellipticals, weights, and a gymnasium with three full courts for basketball.

Day 3 in Dallas, went to Pappadeaux with one of my old friends and hung out with him the rest of the day. We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards:

I am sure plenty of comments and jokes can come from this sign ....

I tried to take one of these:

and I ended up here:

Here is the famous maze from Amazing Race 5:

Dinner was at Magic Time Machine.

The next day, before taking off back to LA, we went to First Chinese BBQ Restaurant, a taste of home (Los Angeles), kind of. Then back to LA we traveled.

Tune in tomorrow for the Dallas Foodie Review!

Thanks to our gracious hosts, you are a beautiful couple and soon to be +1! Good luck and best wishes. Thanks to my old friends for showing us a wonderful time, we'll miss you all and hopefully can do this again sometime.

She Bangs! - Boiling Crab!

Ah, have missed this place. First time eating at The Boiling Crab since my blog came into existence. The Boiling Crab has been a favorite of ours since our first visit there. This is the place where the wait is actually worth the food! On a drizzling Sunday afternoon, we headed to the Boiling Crab in Garden Grove on Brookhurst. To our surprise, at 4 in the afternoon, there was an hour wait already! We placed our names on the wait list and went to the local Chinese market to pass the time. We finished at the market, and only had to wait 10 minutes more, before we were seated and ordered away!

What did we have? 1 pound of shrimp, 1 pound of crawfish, 1 small (2.5 pound) dungeness crab, 12 pieces of sausage, 2 pieces of corn all drenched in their oh so yummy the whole sha-bang sauce, XXX spicy of course. We topped it all off with XXX spicy cajun fries. Here are some pictures:

Crawfish! - Awww, how cute it looks .... going into my mouth! Most people probably eat this de-shelled, I am too lazy, it twas eaten whole!


Da Shrimp! - Yum, yum, yum!


Crawfish in the Sha-bang sexy sauce!

So for those who have not tried Boiling Crab, they have a very simple menu. The most popular items are steamed and come in one of their 4 special sauces, or their most popular option, a combo of all 4 sauces! Each sauce comes in 4 spice levels! The sauce is a spicy BBQ sauce with lots and lots of garlic, so if you want to attract Edward Cullen's kind, better to stay away from here! So how was it?

Once again, it was well wroth the 1 hour wait. Although I couldn't feel my mouth and my intestinal tract will be feeling this for days, the palette was definitely satisfied. Everything but the crab was brought in first. The crawfish was good but with the amount of meat you get, probably not worth the amount we paid for them. The shrimp were were fresh and excellent tasting. At 8.99 a pound, well worth the wait and the price. Even before eating the crab, we were satisfied! The corn and sausage were good but nothing too special if it weren't drenched in that oh so yummy sauce. The cajun fries were very spicy, and probably covered in too much of the powder version of their sauce, causing a cough. The taste was delectable though. The star arrived last, and the star was the crab. A 2.5 pound dungeness crab steamed and then drenched in their sha-bang sauce arrived at our table and the remainder of the food literally became side dishes.

Overall, the 61 dollars after tax and tip that we spent was well worth it. We had leftovers to eat for another meal. Parking is ample here at this location and restaurant space is large especially compared to what we have seen in Alhambra on Valley Blvd. I highly recommend Boiling Crab if you are a seafood lover, garlic lover or spicy lover. This is one of the few places where when we ask for it spicy as it gets, we are actually challenged by the spice level. (quick warning: if you order it that way, you pay for it, whether you are able to eat it or not). As they say, "make a cow happy, EAT SEAFOOD!" and "You sucked what where?"

Java Spice!

Off we went, to the namesake of my wife's birthplace, the large island of Java. Hopefully to find Indonesian food that can curb the cravings of my wife's palette. This review is for Java Spice, in Yes! Plaza in Rowland Heights. Overall it did its job, and the "need" to go to Indonesia just for the food has subsided somewhat. This little restaurant is a clean family owned restaurant, filled on a Saturday night with a mixed crowd of traditional Indonesians, Caucasians and Dutch diners. During our stay there, there even was a line waiting outside. Here is what we had:

Weekend Special: Nasi Bungkus (Wrapped Rice)

Kankung on Sizzling Platter

Ikan Pecel Lele

Pretty much everything we ate was a weekend special. Pricier than we thought it would be, but for an authentic taste of Java, it was pretty good. The Nasi Bungkus essentially is rice, chicken, beef, tofu, an egg, and some semi-spicy sauce wrapped in a banana leaf. Personally, I thought this dish compares to every other similar dish from other places that I have had. It was good, but not anything you can't find at other Indonesian restaurants.

The veggie dish, kankung is ong-choy served in a sauce of garlic and trasi (dried shrimp paste). Also served on this plate were 3 quail eggs and 5-6 medium sized shrimp. Usually one of favorite veggie dishes, this dish was sub-par today, I favor the one at Indo Kitchen in San Gabriel. Maybe not enough shrimp paste in this one? 13.00 for a veggie dish is kind of steep too.

The ikan pecel lele is the dish that brought back my wife to the streets of Java. It is catfish, fried, with ample sweet and spicy chile sauce. A couple of cucumber slices dotted the large mortar. The fish was tasty and not overdone, while the spicy chile sauce made the dish what is is.

Overall, eating at Java Spice was a good experience and one I am sure we will repeat sometime. The service was scattered at times due to the hustle and bustle. The 10 tables or so were waited by two waiters, although only one was technically a waiter. Food was brought our from the kitchen by one of the cooks. The food was tasty and had a bit too much MSG or salt. Since it saved us a trip to Indonesia (at least for the time being), I'd say good value! (despite the 40 dollar price tag for 2).

Tasty Garden, Alhambra

Wanted to take the in-laws to "The Boiling Crab", but the 1 hour wait just wouldn't do, so we drove down the street to find a little place called Tasty Garden. Weird as it was, it was in the same complex as Garden Cafe, although the food for the most part was totally different. Tasty garden is a more authentic type restaurant whereas Garden Cafe is an Asian Fusion type restaurant.

The food was good. Parking adequate on this night at least. First things first, there is a strange stench when walking into the restaurant, I am still not sure what that stench is from. Granted I am not a great connoisseur of smell, however, I expect the odors of a restaurant to be from its food.

Here is some of the things we had:

Honk Kong Style waffles

Crab Balls

Fried Frog Legs

Clams in Wine and Spicy Broth

For me, the waffles were great, as were the frog legs and crab balls. The clams were not up to par compared to the rest of the dishes and the tofu (not pictured) with shrimp was way too salty. All in all, the food tended toward the salty, but otherwise tasted good. I am thinking maybe alot of MSG? Myself (probably because I am so Americanized), I prefer Garden Cafe over Tasty Garden, but Yelpers out there seem to prefer this place. Check it out and decide for yourself!