I've been so disillusioned by the plethora of non-exciting food places as of late that when I finally go to two places worth mentioning, I don't bring my camera. Oh well, I will always get a copy of the menu at least..

So last Friday, at the crafbar in Century City, between the four of us, we ordered the following:

Anson Mills Hushpuppies & Smoked Maple
Smoked Salmon Rillette & Lahvosh
Fresh Bacon, Wild Blueberry & Jalapeno Vinaigrette
Hamachi, Prosciutto & Aged Balsamic
Calamari & Pickled Tomato
Crispy Farm Egg, Salmon Roe & Cucumber
Braised Beef Short Rib Sandwich
Veal & Ricotta Meatballs
Black Garlic LInguini & Manila Clams
Buratta, Tomato & Basil Flatbread
Fiore Sardo, Truffle Honey & Almonds
Butter & Bread Pudding

After Providence and upscale bar food at craftbar (which was not at upscale bar food prices), I've decided that when I want to go "fancy", I want to go "New American." Go figure, we live in the US, so why shouldn't the New Americcan in AMERICA be the best?! We took a gander at their regular menu and it only seemed overpriced. I probably will not venture back for dinner there, but definitely bar food and drinks.

These are no Krispy Kremes. Even taken for what they are, a "healthy doughnut", they simply just won't cut it. The bar was not set very high. Sheesh.

To start off, I  Krispy Kreme. I don't eat it very often and I can't have more than 3 in one sitting, but I'll eat them and enjoy them and wiggle with excitement as I a bite into their lightly crispy exterior and into their squishy, but somehow fluffy, interior. That being said, I someone ended up at Beach City Baked Donuts in Redondo Beach today. OK, OK. I went there on purpose--but why? They're donuts--that are fucking baked (part of this on going health trend we've been experiencing like the plague all over the US the last few years). I wouldn't even qualify that as a doughnut; just a piece of sweetened baked bread, shaped like an "O", masquerading as one. I'll explain motives for even stepping foot in a baked doughnut shop later . What's next? Fried chicken with the skin stripped off? The elimination of the wing and leg meat all together? People are crazy.

So.. Baked donuts. Nothing new. You see them all the time at your local Marukai (Japanese supermarket chain) in the baked goods section and they're always sitting there.. lonesomely.. a giant untouched pile at your neighborhood JJs (Taiwanese bakery chain) normally big and fluffy and dusted with cane sugar. But still, a new food trend nonetheless! Hopefully not your next Pinkberry or Sprinkles, but something better perhaps. Also, hopefully not your next goddamn Kogi taco truck. I'm sorry. I've never tried it, but it infuriates me to know that people have stood in line for OVER AN HOUR waiting for Korean short rib meat slopped into a freaking tortilla skin. OK OK Their rendition of a tortilla skin. I can't comment. Again, I've never tried it. And no one is paying to write this, so to hell with food trends lest I start one myself. I'll stir fry up some orange chicken and put it in between a hamburger bun and call it the fucking Panda Slider. How's that for a name? I'm rife with creativity tonight..

Oh, wait. Did I use this "review" of Beach City Baked Donuts as a clever rouse to get you to read my rant on food trends? Good. But really, it's about the doughnut. I'm not really one to criticize ambiance at a restaurant--it's "all about the food" right? But c'omon. I walked into Beach City and it didn't smell like baked goods. All the doughnuts were individually packed. Sterile. I don't get what it is with Asian bake shops and individually wrapping every single baked good. If you have a display case, put them in there, get a lage box, line it with some parchment paper and put in the doughnuts in there! There was no discernible delicious smell of baked goods at all. But it didn't matter, I was already there and I was on a mission. I was going to try all the flavors they had. There were 7 available that day. Honey, soy, chocolate, green tea, apricot, cinnamon sugar, and sweet potato. I got a dozen and extras of their most popular items (cinnamon sugar and apricot). The first thing I noticed taking each one out of their neatly packed plastic cubby was how dense it was. I had to stick my nose to the honey one to really get a good whiff. I have to say, they all have the same underlying flavor. It's like a dense pound cake, devoid of moisture and without the richness. Man, I could really go for some Sara Lee's All Butter Pound Cake right about now (which probably has 1839459x mare saturated fat and calories in it, but I'm me; I don't care).. Flavor-wise, they're not all that different from each other. You'd have to tell me I was eating an apricot flavored doughnut for me to even notice the incredibly subtle apricot flavor. I don't see why they couldn't put in more apricot--even natural apricot flavoring or jam to "spice it up." If their aim was for completely and utter simplicity in the most literal sense, then they have achieved their goals. I wasn't expecting much and I didn't get much. Each doughnut is tiny and ~$1.50/each. I can see why one of their most popular donuts is the cinnamon sugar. Comparably much more "moist" than all the rest. The sugar on the outside melts in your mouth and creates a false sense of "moist cake". "Best of the worst" as Gordon Ramsey would say. If you're on a diet and a little delusional, click on a picture of each doughnut to see the many ways in which a doughnut can be completely non-complex. Wow. Lot of double negatives there.

           

Now ironically, I might just be digging myself into food spit heaven (public blog and all) here by ripping on the nothing special baked donuts of Beach City. I actually happened to see a laminated article about the place hanging on the wall of my beloved Otafuku while waiting on a table the other day. Now, why exactly would Otafuku be advertising for this place? There are plenty of other Japanese owned eateries and bakeries in the South Bay that they could advertise for and I've never seen any other articles other than the obligatory self glorification articles small restaurant owners like to hang on the walls about their own restaurants. This leads me to believe that either the owner or someone who works at Otafuku is somehow related to the owner of Beach City. Son? Nephew? A distant cousin perhaps? Whatever the relationship, they're very lucky to have a restaurant very established in the Japanese community here advertising for them. Perhaps that's where all the customers are coming from.. Then again, they're located in Redondo Beach and us Asians.. Well.. We don't live by the beach.

For the truely unadventerous..
Beach City Baked Donuts
501 N Pacific Coast Hwy
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 303-3159

From left to right, because this is America and that's how we read, goddammit: oysters & tomatoes, lobster ravioli, button mushrooms, fried man tou, parm cheese ramen, california ramen w/ chicken, grilled chicken ramen

Thanks to an intriguing review by rameniac, I corralled a few friends and headed off to Ramen California located a convenient 1.5 miles from my apartment. Somehow, I'm going to find a way to insert "I  Torrance" in every blog entry I do. But really, I do. Honestly, I wouldn't have given this new place a second thought based on the name alone. I saw the sign some time before I read the review and I thought "Oh god. Ramen California? Do we really, I mean REALLY, need another damned Japanese fusion restaurant?" Yes, I discriminated before giving it a chance. In any case, I was on a ramen binge a few months back and I kind of ramen-d myself out. When you live in an area surrounded by pretty much every imaginable style of ramen there is outside of Japan, you just can't help yourself! It did wonders for my sodium intake, I imagine. But the idea of something "new" in ramen was definitely exciting.

This wasn't just another "style" of ramen, it was the reinvented idea of ramen and good eats, in general. We had the California, Chicken and Parm Cheese ramen--the stand out? The oysters. Ha. Delicious incredibly sweet mini tomatoes w/ the skin peeled off like little juicy pearls sitting on top of this beautifully fresh oyster. I could have downed a few dozen of those things and called it a day. Delicious. I'm just a oyster nut, I guess. (Tangent: I'm going to Tomales Bay for some cheap,  farm fresh oysters this 4th of July weekend--cannot wait. Hope I don't get poisoned and die.) Ramen California feels more like a Farmer's Market themed restaurant than anything "Japanese." I love it. It made me want to eat vegetables. But now that I've had time to digest--Ramen California is actually an incredibly fitting name for this place. Half the produce in this country is squeezed out of California. You leave California and then you somehow end up paying twice as much for a bag of frickin' oranges. The vegetables they use will probably always be seasonal--the warm season was a good time for them to open. I'm not even sure of what some of the things in there were--did they dye that cauliflower purple? I had no idea there was purple cauliflower. And what was with all the different types of strange, but beautifully colored squash--zucchini? It was confusing, but exciting and fresh, crisp--it had a bite! So OK, I've spent the last few lines on the vegetables at Ramen California and somehow not a mention of the ramen itself. Honestly, it was different and it was good, but it stood out not because of the noodles or the broth (like good ramen should be), but the vegetables and how well integrated it was with the "other stuff" in the bowl, as well. I like it, it's a different angle. It's not an everyday angle, but definitely good nonetheless. The soup base was somehow Chinese though--a little off putting at first (I know it's just me--I can't stand Chinese "influenced", but not Chinese, food.), but the vegetables I dug. I dig. I dug. I dig. Hey, remember that game? Dig Dug? That was an awesome game.

Since they haven't had their grand opening yet, there wasn't a dessert menu though I tingle with excitement thinking about what they might do with dessert. I can only image.. And wait.. Patiently. Of course, I expect the menu to grow--with the few things we ordered, we had already covered half of what was available and the mushrooms (which was recommended by our server) was an incredibly boring, almost infuriating, compared to all the other goodness on our table, dish. They won't survive on such a small selection. Japanese and Chinese food, in general, scream for variety. You can't survive on awesome bread sticks alone (Pat and Oscars)! This is definitely a "take my friends when they come visit me" kind of place, but definitely not until they flesh out their menu and add a couple sweets. No coffee, even. Really?

Ramen California
24231 Crenshaw Blvd., #C
Torrance, CA 90505
(310) 530-2479

I've been back from China for two weeks now. Recovering from an awful cold I caught from my mom while I was there--so contagious my step dad caught it, went on an airplane to Manila and got detained for 2 days in the hospital. Really, it's really the government that breeds this hysteria--the government and the goddamn media. So I digress.. This was supposed to be an ode to chicken soup. While I was sick, my mom had the housekeeper/cook/do everything person because it's China and that's what they do there, make me a chicken soup. She used a whole chicken, no salt, a little ginger and a Chinese loofah like vegetable--it was warming and delicious. I've been wanting to replicate the soup since I've been back and I finally had the chance today.. I got some dried mushrooms while I was there--I'm not sure what these are called, but they're spongy and fun and mushroomy so I brought some back to the US w/ me. Chicken soup is so basic, but I've never bothered to try and make it before and it only occurs to me while I'm sick. I don't exactly feel like molesting a chicken caracass while I'm vomitting and coughing up nougies--I go with Campbell's chicken noodle soup. Yes, it's canned, condensed soup and I fucking love it (when I'm sick). So I suppose a real chicken soup is probably better tasting when I'm not sick--no dulled senses and what not, you know? I've had my fill of "American" food since I've been back so I'm feeling very Asain this week. I went to the farmer's market and got a bunch of Asian vegetables.. Will attempt trek to Ranch 99 in a bit..



Ingredients
1 whole chicken--The Torrance Farmer's market has one "chicken stand" there--while their stuff is not USDA organic, I've talked to the the farm owner and their chickens are always horomone free, free range, grain fed, etc. Hm, I wonder how difficulat it is to get USDA organic certification anyways..
5-6 large slices of ginger
1/2 large onion, sliced
3 cups of water
4-6 dried mushrooms (any Asian variety will do)
Salt to taste
Splash of rice wine

Directions
1. The mushrooms I got (maybe someone can identify them for me?) need to be soaked for 2-3 hours first. Slice them thinly once they're nice and soft.

2. Trim the fat off the chicken, take out the giblets and other mushy stuff in the chicken. You can also take the skin off so your soup tastes "cleaner". It can get a bit muddy if you leave on too much skin and fat.
3. Bring water in a large pot to boil and boil the whole chicken for 3 minutes. Drain and rinse.
4. Put the chicken, breast side down into the crock pot and stuff the ginger, sliced mushrooms and onions around the chicken in the crock pot (mine is a little small so I had to really squeeze them in there).

5. Leave the setting on high for 1 hour.
6. Turn the setting down to low and let sit for 5-6 hours. Don't leave it in for too long or the meat gets overcooked and tastes like paper mache.
7. Throw in a couple generous splashes of rice wine just so that everything is mixed.
8. I don't like to throw in the salt until I'm ready to serve so the salt just goes into the hot bowl of soup before I enjoy.

I'm not sure what it is, but I HATE the smell of food if I'm not about to eat it or after I'm done eating it. You know what's irritating about it? The smell lingers--it's highly agitating, like a booger you feel in your nose but can't get out at the moment, because there's someone jabbering to you about pros and cons of a woman's right to choose. OK, so we're in California and I've never had that conversation, but you get the idea. I hate that it's something you can't eat because a. it's already been consumed or b. won't/can't be consumed for several more hours. Why should I have to keep smelling it (good or bad) if it has no place being put in my belly at the moment!?

I bought a crock pot the other day and I decided to braise my pork belly (soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, etc.) "Asian" style last night. I wasn't following any particular recipe--I just wanted to make use of this stuff that's been sitting in the freezer for a few weeks. I'm sure there are plenty of people who enjoy waking up the smell of coffee or bacon in the morning, but this morning I woke up the smell of pork belly braised in soy sauce--I can still smell it now sitting in my office even and it burns. I'm not sure why I decided it was a good idea to get a pot of pork belly going before I went to bed as opposed to before I left for the office in the morning. Sometimes it's better not to dwell on our own idiocy for fear you may learn something. I forced myself to try a small piece in the morning so I wouldn't just be smelling pork belly for no reason. It was tender and fatty and delicious like it should be, but still, not the first thing I want to put in my mouth in the morning. Now I'll have to go home during lunch and take care of that madness (wait for cooling and store in the fridge) which I'm sure is smelling my apartment up like no other as we speak.  One thing that's grand about living in a house instead of an apartment? The bedrooms aren't within (let's make up a word now, shall we?) smellshot of the kitchen.

Edit: OK, it was still delicious despite the aggravation.