Five Guys Burgers and Fries - Carson, CA

Yep, its been awhile...yada...yada...yada...Maybe I just hadn't encountered a restaurant that was worth blogging about since July (or maybe I'm lazy, go figure...). Anyway, I feel like if I'm going to start up a new run of blogs, Five Guys would be a decent start. Five Guys is a fast food burger chain out of the Washington D.C. area that is fast, but anything but fast food. They offer single (they call little) or double patty burgers with about ten to twelve different toppings all of which are free to get. That is, you can get a double (decently sized, not McDonald's double) with about 12 toppings for a whopping $4.50. Add $0.50 for cheese, and another dollar for bacon. That is definitely the allure of the place, but its not in lieu of quality. The burger definitely ranks up there in fast food style burgers: a bit better than the Habit, maybe not quite In-N-Out (but what is, honestly?) and definitely more worthwhile than a Counter burger. With a regular cup of fries which is definitely shareable between two people, you're out maybe $7 bucks for a very good meal. And that doesn't even include the free peanuts you can get while you wait. There are boxes full at the doors (but don't take them outside, they say, cause it might create a mass killing of peanut-o-phobes). Amazingly enough, despite the gratis peanuts, there are not peanut shells littering the entire floor of the restaurant. Good, cheap food and a civilized environment. Does it get any better than that?

Maison Riz - Redondo Beach, CA

I know I haven't posted in a while (there are a couple of restaurants that I'd like to get back to, but with the wedding and all, things have been busy...) but I couldn't not post about my new favorite French-Japanese fusion high dining establishment: Maison Riz. Erin and I happened upon this restaurant of all days on the Forth of July. After a full day of wedding crafty construction, we thought we should do something for Independence Day, so Erin and I walked down Torrance Blvd. to the Redondo Beach Pier to watch the fireworks show down there. We figured we'd find some dinner along the way depending upon what was open. Most of the restaurants along Torrance were closed of course but I had figured that something fishy (and possibly fried) would be open down at the pier. We got to the beach to find it utterly packed (amazing enough that I'm actually going to post a non-food related picture:

We started looking for a restaurant to go to when Erin pointed out Maison Riz, which she noticed was new (or at least different than what it had been before). It didn't look open at first and looked kind of expensive for a random Fourth of July dinner so I then thought about wanting to check out at more typical pier fried fish type place. However, after checking out one other place and seeing the crowds, it didn't seem worth waiting for that so we figured we'd try the new place out.

The place was open, but mostly empty and the hostess greeted us warmly and directly us to a table with a great view of the peninsula and the crowded beached. We even got to see what we think was a fight break out and Redondo Beach police descend upon the rowdy freedom revelers. Our waiter Sumaytee was very eager and explained nearly every dish to us in detail (even after we'd decided what we wanted to order--I suppose he was just very proud about the dishes.) I was at this point starting to regret my decision to eat here; the vast majority of "fine dining" restaurants I'd ever been to (not many, but enough) tend to favor the pay more, eat less approach to eating out and given the day, it seemed wholly un-American to eat small portions. Nevertheless, we were there and the items sounded good if tiny. Fortunately, this place did serve bread and butter (always a plus-skill for restaurants in my book) with an interesting soy sauce soaked butter.

We ordered the French Tartare for an appetizer, chopped up yellowtail sushi in a citrus-spinach sauce which when it arrived looked like a typical tiny French dish though very nicely presented. My regrets came roaring back with the sight of this minute fish structure, but it was very tasty. By now, with some bread, butter, and mini cuts of raw fish in me, I was feeling ok with the small portions I expected to come for the main course. Erin ordered the white prawn tempura in dill sauce while I got the slow braised pork belly with Japanese mustard Aioli. To my very pleasant surprise, both of our meals were much more substantial then I'd imagined. Even with having to order a bowl of rice each, both Erin and I managed to spend less than $20 each on a filling meal at a fancy restaurant. Amazing! My pork was extremely good with a just slightly sweet glaze. Erin's prawn tempura, however, very literally brought a tear to my eye. Dill sauces to me are usually too strong, too dilly, but this...this...this was like heaven melting in my mouth with glorious dill sauce and tempura crisp waterfalls rolling over my tongue. The owner/manager guy came by at one point and I was of course very complimentary telling him even of my intense physiological reaction to his food. He was impressed saying, "making a grown man cry over food--now that is a compliment!" (Jokes on him since given then right set of circumstances, I will cry over a particularly tasty bite of a McDonald's chicken McNugget coated in sweet n' sour sauce, but he doesn't have to know that...)

Amazingly enough, I was pretty much full upon the last few bites. I make sure to save enough room for a pier churro though (I packed everything to one side with just enough space to slide the churro in--yay! Tetris!) But in the event that the churro place was not open, we decided to order some dessert--a green tea tiramasu which like everything else was presented well AND tasty.

I am completely sold on Maison Riz. With a decently sized meal (filling, if not stuffing), an amazing view, attentive service and a price that included an appetizer, two entrees and a dessert for less than $80 with tax and high tip, this is officially my favorite fine dining establishment. It was also the most expensive, least American, most unusual meal I'd ever eaten on the Fourth of July. Yay?

Costs:

Appetizer ~ $6-15

Entree ~ $15-25

Dessert ~ $7

Casablanca - Venice, CA

One of the best (and fairly unknown) Mexican restaurants in the LA area has got to be Casablanca on Lincoln Blvd in Venice. They prepare a somewhat different style of Mexican that most Angelinos are used to going with a more light sauce approach. I'm particularly fond of their tortillas (which they make fresh there, right in the main dining room) which are about as soft and fluffy as a tortilla can get short of it being made out of a marshmallow. Rather than chips and tomato salsa, they serve up these wonderful tortillas with a green sauce mixed with pieces of hard cheese. I also like their version of rice, a plain rice cooked in chicken broth and sprinkles with parmesean cheese. On top of all that, they serve large portions for decent prices. Doesn't get much better than that!

Yard House - Downtown Long Beach, CA

Erin and I met up with some friends from her college down in the shoreline area of Downtown Long Beach at an American food style chain restaurant, The Yard House. Usually, I don't expect much from these places other than decent American-style food (better be considering the usually inflated cost), but I was actually pleasantly surprised with my meal. I had almost decided to order a crab cake hoagie sandwich until I discovered that's what Erin was getting. Given my strong strong belief to never order the same dish with someone with whom I'm likely to share my food, I opted for my second choice--the fish and chips. Good call (again) on my part. Though Erin's sandwich was decent (as expected) with a cripsy crab cake in between toasted french bread, tomatoes and avocados. It was definitely good, but not very crabby. My fish, on the other hand, was actually really really good. Might even be the best fish in a fish and chips dish I'd ever had. It was juicy and thick and actually tasted like fish rather than fried. The fries were above par as well, extra thin strips of potatoes with just the right dusting of salt. Paired with goblet of Spaten Optimator, the Yard House proved to be better than decent for your typical American-style food chain restaurant.

Elijah's (Breakfast) - La Jolla, CA

Stopping to visit Erin's friend Nikki before heading over to my grandmother's house for Passover, Erin, Nikki and I headed over to a Jewish Deli and Restaurant called Elijah's for breakfast (how very fitting for a pre-Passover meal). The breakfasts were fairly unique. Erin got a three item combo including an apple blintz, a potato pancake and a piece of challah french toast.


I knew I wanted a bagel and cream cheese and some lox, but also had a taste for regular breakfast fare. I found a plate called the Big Wave Breakfast that has not only a bagel, but a wide variety of bagel fixings--lox, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, and capers (though the olives, lettuce and capers were left to live)--but included eggs, fruit, and grilled salami (another fairly unique breakfast item).


I love places that have snacky foods to munch on while waiting for your meal. Elijah's satisfied that urge with a big container of pickles and a bowl of pickled green tomatoes (which mostly tasted like regular pickles). This weeks breakfast doesn't quite beat out last week's (chilaquiles) in deliciousness, but was certainly up there in uniqueness.

Brockton Villa Restaurant (Breakfast) - La Jolla, CA

Perched on the foot of the hill rising up from La Jolla cove, Brockton Villa Restaurant makes is claim to fame in its Coast Toast, a souffle-esqe set of french toast. Erin had been to the restaurant once before and had raved about the french toast, so she made sure to take me there when we were down in the area. Apparently the restaurant can get filled up pretty quickly, and so we went as early as we could to get both a parking spot in the area and a table. Fortunately, the place was not really busy that day as parking was easy and there was no wait to get seated. I figured I would look to see if there were any other interesting menu items to get before settling for the french toast. I discovered an item I'd never heard of before, Pulled Pork and Chorizo Chilaquiles, and order than instead.


Smart move, I didn't like Erin's order of Coast Toast in the least. I'm hugely against very soft, fluffy textured things (they make me want to gag) and this toast was the epitome of my dislike. Erin too was somewhat disappointed in the meal, as the toasts did not seem as wonderful as in her memory.



My meal on the other hand, was potentially one of the better breakfast meals I'd ever had. The Chilaquiles turned out to be breakfast nachos--tortilla chips made with scrambled eggs and placed under loads of pulled pork and chorizo. I say the place should start marketing these as their speciality dish instead of the Coast Toast.

Angara Indian - Torrance, CA

We tried this place using one of the Restaurant.com gift certificates. It is definitely one of the better Indian restaurants I've even been to. With the certificate, we were able to get three dishes, a chicken tikka masala, a lamb boti kabab (tandoori lamb over a bed of sizzling grilled onions--I ate all the onions...all of them...), and a new dish we'd never had before (Erin picked it out) called Shahi paneer. The Shahi was a creamy cashew nut gravy. Very tasty! Plus rice and garlic naan of course. The food had just the right amount of spice (though I could always go spicier) and fairly large potions. We'll definitely be coming back (hopefully with another certificate) and also will try their lunch buffet.