Xegyn's Cyberspace

One of the great restaurants I miss in Los Angeles is Chano’s (Yelp) close to USC. Here’s a picture of their Carne Asada Fries. What you see here was literally two and a half meals for me.

Carne Asada Fries

Today’s lunch was mini-pizzas. I made the bread with some active dry yeast I picked up at Costco. The sauce was made with Ragu, onions, garlic, ground turkey, and some Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon. Toppings were mozzarella cheese, basil, salame, and capocollo.

Today’s dinner was a side of eggplant with ground beef and miso and hickory smoked pork with mole and Spanish rice. The eggplant was sautéed with ground beef, miso, sugar, sake, garlic, green onions, and chili oil. It’s not as sweet as our favorite nasu miso dish at Honda-ya (Yelp), but the ground beef does make the dish heartier. For the Pork Mole, I rubbed the pork with bacon salt, used Hickory chips in the grill, and made some instant mole by Dona Maria.

Today’s lunch was Chile Relleno, courtesy of Trader Joe’s. Ever since I had a Chile Relleno at Speedy Zapatos (Yelp) (which is THE best dish I’ve ever had there) in Fresno, CA, my eyes have been opened to how much I like them. I made Spanish rice and served up the baked relleno side by side.

Today’s lunch was Teriyaki Salmon. It was basically a salmon steak marinated in sake and brushed with Yoshida Sauce.

Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of the Joy of Cooking and other recipes in my collection. I decided to celebrate my freedom this Monday by making myself a poached egg breakfast. This is the second time I’ve ever make a poached egg and I learned from the first time that you need to be extra extra careful to make sure the egg does not break. I think I did a pretty good job this time.

Poached Egg and Toast

For lunch, I made a Vietnamese Bun Salad. I added a bunch of toppings to the bun (rice vermicelli) including cucumbers, radishes, green onions, nappa, bean sprouts, and pork. I had marinated pork in hoisin sauce the day before, which I pan fried. I used the recipe I found here for the Nuoc Cham and it was fantastic.

Vietnamese Bun Salad

Finally, for dessert tonight Jessica and I made Grilled Peaches with a Balsamic Reduction Sauce. We halved peaches and glazed them with the sauce. We then grilled the peaches, added mascarpone on top and further baked them, and finally drizzled them with amaretto.

Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone & Amaretto

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I recently enjoyed a delicious dinner at The Oinkster (Yelp) in Eagle Rock. If you love pastrami sandwiches and beer, this is a great place to visit. I got the Oinkster Pastrami which comes with caramelized onions and is very filling. Jessica got the BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich which was equally as big. I must admit that although I love pastrami, the slow-roasted flavors of the pulled pork might have the pastrami beat. Both sandwiches come with caramelized onions (always a plus) and red cabbage slaw which gives the sandwiches a nices crunch. We also ordered the Piggy Fries which I would describe as something close to In-N-Out’s Animal Style Fries. These were absolutely fantastic and I can’t stop thinking about them. The Oinkster also has a decent selection of beer including one from the local Craftsman Brewing Company in Pasadena.

A few weeks ago, I went with my coworkers to Masan Restaurant (Yelp) and I have to admit that I have never had so much obscure seafood in a sitting. I believe we ordered the $129 set menu and a side of live octopus which was more than enough food for the six of us. There were many dishes including sashimi, sea squirt, sea cucumber, fried mackerel, a fish stew, and anglerfish in spicy noodles. It was the first time I had ever had sea squirt and it had a unique flavor, slightly sweet, and reminded me a little of the taste of uni.

And of course, the main attraction was the live octopus. The live octopus was a plate of just legs that were still moving. They were a little hard to pick up with chopsticks and the suction cups stuck to your tongue and gums as you tried to eat them.

Last weekend, Jessica and I had the idea to go hiking and eat lunch in Malibu. Conveniently, Malibu Seafood Fresh Fish Market and Patio Cafe (Yelp) is adjacent to the Sara Wan Trailhead at Corral Canyon. We got to the parking lot a little after noon. The lot is divided into two sections: one for the restaurant and one for the hiking trail. The parking for the trail requires a $5 payment and yes, they do hand out tickets if you do not pay. The restaurant is pretty popular and their parking is frequently full.

The Sara Wan trail is a pretty easy loop hike that gives you great views of  the ocean, beach, parts of Malibu and Santa Monica. We encountered a lot of small lizards on the trail as well as many birds including Scrub Jays and Hummingbirds. There were also a lot of plants with yellow flowers that I did not know the name of. The hike is pretty straightforward with few forks to get lost on.

After we finished our hike around 2pm, we walked from the trailhead right over to Malibu Seafood at which point we had built up an appetite. We ordered the ahi burger, the chicken sandwich, and ceviche which we enjoyed outdoors on their patio with a view of the beach. We had also brought some cold beer in a cooler from home. The restaurant does not sell alcohol but allows you to bring your beer and wine. The restaurant also has fried and grilled seafood and various seafood cocktails on their menu. The very meaty (and no shell) crab cocktail is one of my favorite items.

The hike and meal is definitely something I would do again and I highly recommend it if you are looking for something to do outdoors and have a hankering for some fresh and casual seafood.

If you are looking for a Japanese-style pizza with obscure toppings in Los Angeles, Strawberry Cones (Yelp) is the place to go. It is located in San Gabriel in a small shopping center at the intersection of Valley Blvd and Abbot Ave.

One of the interesting pizzas they offer is the Teriyaki Mochi Chicken. The mochi surprisingly goes well on pizza and also goes well with my favorite Japanese pizza topping the Teriyaki Mochi Chicken comes with: mayonnaise. Other unique pizzas offered are the Salmon White, the Seafood Genovese (with squid), Mochi Mentai (with mentaiko, or pollock roe), Pizza Edamame, and California Walnut & Raisin, to name a few. I did not have a chance to try the California Walnut & Raisin, but I would definitely like to try it next time I am there. Some of their pizzas also include bamboo charcoal in the dough, making it a black crust. If you can’t decide on just one pizza, they also offer a Four Seasons pizza which combines 4 of their signature flavors.

Strawberry Cones also carries Japanese style pastas, salads, and appetizers. They also offer free coffee and tea with your meal.