Akiba

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I LOVE honey toast!  After having my first encounter with this delightful Asian dessert at Ichiza in Las Vegas (see post HERE), I've been hoping that it would make an appearance in the Bay Area.  Finally after many years of waiting, it appeared on the dessert menu at Akiba in the Richmond district of San Francisco.

Akiba serves up some crepes and other savory dishes, but most of the people come here for their honey box (toast).

The menu is a little hard to decipher since there are no pictures.  They offer two styles of honey boxes:  a soft and regular.  The soft, according to the waitress, is not as toasted.

I decided to try a spam musubi since the toasting of the honey box takes some time.  The spam musubi here is really amateur.  Its just a slice of spam on top of some plain rice.  No flavor or toasting at all! 

Finally for the Shibuya style honey box.  It comes with a choice of two scoops of gelato.  I chose strawberry and vanilla.  This was new to me since the one I had at Ichiza only had vanilla ice cream and no fruit topping.  As much as wanted to like this dessert so I didn't have to fly all the way to Vegas to satisfy my craving, it wasn't good at all.  First of all, the bread isn't hot or toasted well.  Most of the outside of the bread is quite soft.  Since the bread isn't that hot, the gelato doesn't really melt into the bread.  Also, there is hardly any honey in the dessert.  It's really lacking that sticky sweetness from the honey drizzle. 

 

Another difference between this and the honey toast in Ichiza is the inside.  At Akiba, they cut up the bread into jenga type pieces and at Ichiza they just cut it into quarters.  I prefer the Ichiza way so the ice cream/gelato melts into the crevices of the bread.  A little disappointed, but I guess this might acutally force me make my own honey box.

Address:                          Akiba
                                                3141 Clement St.
                                                San Francisco, CA

Type:                                  Asian/dessert

Popular chomps:    Shibuya style honey box

Chomp worthy:          nothing    

Nem Nuong Ninh Hoa

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Sometimes it can be so unfair that Northern California lacks really good Asian food.  Especially Vietnamese food.  While I do have my favorite Vietnamese spots in the Bay Area, the variety of dishes are limited in Northern California, especially in Hue cuisine.

One of my favorite Hue dishes is bánh bèo.  Literally translating to mean "water fern cake", these small dishes are steamed rice cakes ( or rice pancakes) topped with shallots, dried shrimp, and a "crouton".  A spoonful of fish sauce is usually added to the rice cake and then scooped out with a spoon and slurped.  Its common to find the bánh bèo already taken out of its dish, but I prefer it served like this.  The bánh bèo is nicely steamed.  The "crouton" and the fish sauce adds a nice salty taste to the chewy rice cake.  This dish is extremely popular here and you can definitely put away a lot of these. 

I love the bun bo hue here.  It's the perfect balance of spicy and sour.  The noodles are chewy and fresh.  The cubes of pork blood and slices of pork are tender. It's possibly one of the best bowls of bun bo hue that I've had.   

A small plate of herbs, lime wedges, and bean sprouts for your bun bo hue.  I usually only add mint leaves to mine.

The signature dish here is nem nuong cuon (grilled pork spring rolls), which is noted in the restaurant name.  One of the best things about the roll-your-own spring roll here is their bánh tráng cuốn (rice paper wrappers).  They are soft, but thick enough that they don't rip.  Just dip in the hot water till pliable and then start filling up it up with your favorite ingredients.

An assortment of veggies and herbs along with beansprouts and cucumbers for adding some crunch and freshness to your rolls.

The bánh hỏi doesn't come with the dat biet (special combination),but its a nice option when making your rolls.  Bánh hỏi are thin vermicelli rice noodles that are interwoven to create thin sheets and then topped with dried shimp and green onions.  You can eat it plain or add it your rolls, which gives it a spongy texture.

The special combination comes with the nem nuong (grilled pork meatball), thin crispy eggrolls with dried shrimp, nem chua (fermented/cured pork), and nem cap (banana leaf wrapped pork).  The nem nuong here is tender and flavorful with a slightly grilled tasted.  My favorite is the crispy eggrolls, which I call "crispies". 

Rolling these things take practice.  This one isn't my doing (it's done by a pro, mine are usually sloppy looking), but it's definitely a work of art!  Check out that technique!  The trick is the inital tuck under.

Everyone is Southern California debates whether Nem Nuong Ninh Hoa is better than Brodard's.  One of the famous arguments involves whose orange sauce is better.  I haven't gotten the chance to eat at Broadard's (yet) so I can't pick a side.  The dipping sauce for the nem neuong cuon is thick and a little sweet.  Some people think the sauce here "magical", but its not Earth shattering to me.  The sweet sauce goes nicely with the fresh veggies and meat in the rolls.   

It's important to get some fresh veggies, some meat, and a crispy roll for a mixture of different tastes and textures in each bite.

Address:                       Nem Nuong Ninh Hoa

                                             9016 Mission Dr.

                                             Rosemead, CA

Type:                               Vietnamese

Popular chomps:  bun bo hue
                                             banh beo
                                             nem nuong

Chomp worthy:    bun bo hue
                                            banh beo
                                            nem nuong

Animal

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Animal has no sign outside their restaurant.  The only indication is a "435" on an all black storefront.  With its creative menu feature offal dishes, Animal has been on my must try list for some time now.  Its best to come with a group of three or four people so you can try more of the dishes. 

The shrimp & rabbit sausage spring roll was really light tasting and refreshing, but nothing special.  The green curry sauce was probably the best thing on the plate.

 Hidden under this runny fried egg are slices of fried pig ears.  Since I've had the pig ears at Delfina a number of times, I was able to compare this dish to it.  The preparation was very similar - slices of fried pig ears flavored with lime and chili.  At Delfina, the lime and chili oil are added to taste versus here, which were already added to the dish.  Lots of lime made this dish a little too tart.  I loved the idea of the runny egg, but it could have been a little more runny, possibly with maybe one more egg.

The last time I had poutine was at The Beast and the Hare (see post HERE).  The oxtail gravy with chunks of tender meat was melt in your mouth delicious.  There were sprinklings of cheddar cheese, but it wasn't melted in, which I found to be odd.  The only gripe about this dish were the fries were super hard!  Probably double fried to insure there was no soggy fries from the poutine gravy, but my teeth actually hurt from eating them.

 I had to get my last bites of foie in before the cutoff date in July so I ordered two of the three foie gras menu items of the night.  A foie gras loco moco was comfort food to the next level.  Rice topped with a beef patty, spam, foie gras, and a fried quail egg sitting in the perfect mixture of soy sauce and sriacha.  Rich and fatty, but delicious.  The only wish I had was that the spam be fried up so the edges are crispy. 

Animal seems to love to add an extra oomph to dishes already known for their richness.  The foie gras, biscuits, and maple sausage gravy is a prime example.  Two bites gives you enough of the full flavor impact of this dish.

The theme of Animal seems to be salty and savory because even the ending dessert seemed to end on a salty note.  A "chocolate crunch bar" with salt and pepper ice cream.  The generous sprinkling of bacon bits gave the dessert its crunchy texture.  Having had a not so pleasant palatte experience with Humphrey Slocomb's Salt and Pepper Ice cream in the past, I was a little hesitant on facing it again with this dessert, but the saltiness of the dessert works well with the ice cream.  Not necessarily a dessert I'll be dreaming about, but the taste is interesting.

     

Address:                       Animal
                                             435 N. Fairfax Ave.
                                             Los Angeles, CA

Type:                               American


Popular chomps:  foie gras loco moco
                                              foie gras terrine
                                              bacon chocolate crunch bar
                                              hamachi tostada
                                              ox tail poutine
                                              tandoori octopus
                                              pig ear
                                              pork belly sliders
                                              bone marrow

 
Chomp worthy:      foie gras loco moco
                                       

Wurstküche

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Wurstküche reminds me of a Rosamunde (SF) (check out my post HERE) meets Pommes Frites (NY) all housed in a indoor beer garden.  They have numerous beers on tap as well as some really quirky sodas like cucumber and spiced apple cider.

 Wurstküche has an wide spectrum of sausages from the classics (Bratwurst, Bockwurst, Hot Italian, Vegetarian Italian, Vegetarian Smoked Apple Sage, and Vegetarian Mexican Chipotle) to a little fancier (mango jalapeno, Santa Fe Jack Cheese & Jalapeno Pepper, Chicken Apple & Spices, Austin Blues, Sun Dried Tomato & Mozzarella, Green Chilies & Cilantro, Filipino Maharlika, Kielbasa, and Louisiana Hot Link) to the exotics (Buffalo, Beef, & Pork with Chipotle Peppers, Duck & Bacon with Jalapeno Peppers, Alligator & Pork with Andouille Sausage, Rattlesnake & Rabbit with Jalapeno Peppers, and Rabbit, Veal, & Pork Seasoned with White Wine). 

 Each sausage is grilled to order along with a freshly grilled bun.

The inside seating area is located down the hallway in the back of the restaurant.  It seems to get crowded in waves so I suggest sending someone to grab some seats while another person waits in the order line.

After a heavy lunch and a much anticipated upcoming dinner, I could only scarf down one dog and some fries so I picked the most exotic out of the bunch - rattlesnake & rabbit with jalapeno peppers.  I have had rattlesnack and rabbit separately on various occasions, but never together and never in a sausage.  Not necessarily a chicken type flavor, but more of a mild flavor with a medium spicy kick and a good snap on the sausage.  It was probably juicer than any other sausage I've had so far (sorry Roseamunde and Top Dog!).  Two toppings are included with each order:  carmelized onions, sauerkraut, sweet peppers, or spicy peppers.  I chose sweet and spicy peppers since that's my go to when I'm ordering at Rosamunde.  The peppers didn't have much spicy to them and the pieces were a little big for my preference. 

Having been to Pommes Frites in New York, I was excited to try eat some Belgium fries and try new dipping sauces.  At around 10 types of sauces, its no where near the selection that Pommes Frites has, but for an extra $2 they drizzle on a truffle oil glaze.  With the small order of fries you get one dipping sauce and with the large size they include two free dipping sauces.  For being double fried, the fries here are a lot more fluffy and potatoey than crispy.  Not bad if you prefer your fries on the softer side, but it is missing those super crunchy end pieces.   

Even though I only got a small size (which I think is quite large and sharable), I still opted to pay an extra $.75 for an additional sauce.  From left to right:  Tzatziki sauce, chipotle aioli.  The tzatziki sauce was a little bland, but the chipotle sauce was creamy with a spicy kick. 

Address:                      Wurstküche

                                             800 E 3rd St.

                                             Los Angeles, CA

Type:                                hot dogs/German

Popular chomps:  rattlesnake and rabbit with jalapeno peppers
                                              alligator & pork, andouille sausage
                                              duck & bacon with Jalapeno peppers
                                              double dipped fries with white truffle oil glaze

Chomp worthy:       rattlesnake and rabbit with jalapeno peppers
                                double dipped fries
                                chipotle aioli       

Daikokuya

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I have been eagerly waiting to eat ramen at Daikokuya for a while now.  I've actually never eaten ramen in Southern California before, even though Santouka also has a branch there.  So up to this point my favorite ramen has been Santouka (see post HERE), located inside San Jose's Mitsuwa Supermaket.  
Prepping myself for a torturous wait, I stood outside on a Saturday 15 minutes before opening only to find that everyone that arrived wtihin the 1st hour of opening got seated right away.  If you do arrive there when Daikokuya is open, make sure you put your name on the clipboard in the front.

 Daikokuya only does one type of ramen here and that's their Daikoku ramen.  It's a rich tonkatsu (pork) flavored broth with the only option of adding the kotteri flavor (back fat) to make the broth richer.  The bowls here are pretty large, but they also offer a half size portion. 

For a couple dollars more, Daikokuya offers some combination rice bowl options with your ramen.

The tonkatsu broth is milky and thick with small globs of fat floating around.  Usually, I don't prefer beansprouts in my ramen, but there was only a small handful so it didn't obstruct my noodle slurping too much.  A couple slices of pork are hidden right below the surface of the broth along with a soft boiled egg.  The broth has a milky pork taste with a medium sodium level compared to Santouka, which is richer and salt laden.
The ramen here is really good, but I love the super saltiness and rich flavors from the broth at Santouka.  I find that the broth at Santouka has more complex flavors, whereas the broth at Daikokuya is hearty and milder.  Also, nothing beats the melt in your mouth special pork at Santouka.  The pork at Daikokuya is a little on the tough side compared to Santouka's.   

The noodles here are perfect.  It has just the perfect spring and bounce when chewing.  I love how you can tell a good noodle house by the lack of conversation and loud slurping. 

The shredded pork bowl was an combo option with the ramen.  The shredded pork name is a little misleading because they are actually chunks of pork on top of the fluffy rice.  At first glance it looks like nothing special, just pork on top of rice.  Its so much more!  Each piece of pork is somewhat fatty and partly crispy.  Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.  Every scoop is something different, either a juicy pork flavor, or a crispy bit of skin, or a sweetness of the ginger or green onion.  I almost like this better than the ramen.  Its so simple, but so perfect.  

Address:                       Daikokuya
                                             327 E 1st.
                                             Los Angeles, CA

Type:                               ramen/Japanese

Popular chomps:  shredded pork bowl
                                             Daikoku ramen (with kotteri)

Chomp worthy:       shredded pork bowl
                                             Daikoku ramen (with kotteri)       

Class 302

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My newly found obsession with Taiwanese snow ice (called shaved snow here) was one of the reasons I made this trek down to Southern California.  Class 302 seems to be the popular consensus on best snow ice in California.

Class 302 is located in a Ranch 99 plaza and somewhat hard to decipher if you don't read Chinese.  Luckily I was able to whip out my preschool level Chinese and decipher the first two characters.  However, if you don't read, when facing Ranch 99 it's located on the left side.  There are also outside tables filled with people eating their shaved snow.

Class 302 serves up a small menu of Taiwanese soups and dishes in addition to its popular shaved snow.  Even in the middle of the afternoon, I noticed that most of the tables had at least one shaved snow dessert.

The menu is a little confusing.  There are actually 2 pages of shaved snow items.  This page is the signature shaved snow page with set combinations and there there is another page that shows all the topping and drizzle options if you choose to customize one.  This page does a pretty bad job of explaining what actually comes with the combinations so I suggest staring really hard at the picture or asking the waiter. 

Originally I wanted to pick 2, but a heavy lunch only allowed me to choose one.  Chocolate strawberry combination shaved snow.  By the name of on the menu I thought it would be chocolate or strawberry (or a combination of both) snow, but actually its milk snow ice with drizzles of chocolate syrup, condensed milk, and sliced strawberries.  This is where staring at the picture on the menu would have helped me out a little more.

The portions at Class 302 are a lot larger than what I had at Fluffy Snow in San Francisco.  (see post HERE).  Also, I liked how it was a curved dish rather than a bowl.  Having had the milk snow ice back in San Francisco, I found that Class 302's was more icey tasting and lacked the creamy taste I found in Fluffy Snow.  You really have to scoop the snow with some of the toppings to get a dessert feel.

The shaved snow here is definitely prettier and has better presentation than at Fluffy Snow.  The ruffles of the shaved snow are more apparent here.

Possibly due to the weight of the toppings, but I found the snow ice here to be more densely packed and it didn't have that light as air feeling when you scoop into it. 

The snow ice is still delicious here and satisfying on a hot LA day, but I'm still on the search for some extra creamy fluffy snow.

Address:                       Class 302
                                             1015 S Nogales St.
                                              Ste 125
                                              Rowland Heights, CA

Type:                                dessert/Asian/Taiwanese

Popular chomps:   strawberry and chocolate snow ice
                                              mango snow ice

Chomp worthy:        stawberry and chocolate snow ice      

Pizzeria Mozza

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I've been hearing things that Pizzeria Mozza is better than my beloved Delfina Pizzeria.  I finally made a trek down to Southern California to taste it for myself. 

Celeb sightings and valet parking make this pizzeria very LA and the pizza here is almost as good as Delfina Pizzeria.

I cannot say no to burrata in any shape or form.  Lucky me, one of the few appetizer dishes did happen to have burrata.  Burrata crostone with swiss chard, spring onion & Balsamico ($9).  A soft bundle of heaven plopped onto a rather large toasted slice of bread made it a little hard to share.  Really tasty flavors with a hint of sweetness from the spring onion and vinegar.  The spring onion is a little hard to eat in pieces since it does not cut well.

The fennel sausage is handmade in the restaurant, which apparently is unique here in LA, but pretty common in San Francisco.  A deceptively thin pizza with a fluffy, bubble crust topped with fennel sausage, panna, red onion & scallions.  Again, a lot of sweet notes from this dish from the fennel and the sausage.  The sausage was surpringly sweet and delicious.  Most fennel sausages I've had prior were on the savory/salty side.  Overall, this pizza was good, but what makes the pizza is the crust.  Not usually a fan of the crust, I took a nibble of it before taking a bite with all the ingrediants.  The crust is buttery and chewy with a crispy outside.  It's a total contrast to their bland breadsticks served in the beginning of the meal.

I decided to spring for the more expensive/fancier margherita pizza, which was topped with mozzarella di bufala, tomato, genovese basil & extra virgin olive oil ($20).  The regular margherita pizza is made with regular mozzarella, basil and tomato ($14).  The tomatoes gave this pizza a very sweet taste, which I thought to be a tad too sweet.  What makes the pizza delicious here is the crust and the fresh ingredients, but I'd still choose Pizzeria Delfina's margherita pizza over this.

Contrary to the pizzas, the butterscotch budino was not as sweet as I expected it to be.  Served with rosemary pine nut cookies, this dessert was creamy with hints of salty flavors from the sea salt.  Not rave worthy, but a nice way to end the meal. 

Address:                       Pizzeria Mozza
                                             641 N Highland Ave.
                                             Los Angeles, CA

Type:                               pizza

Popular chomps:  butterscotch budino
                                             zucchini blossoms
                                             fennel sausage pizza

Chomp worthy:      margarita pizza (mozzerella di bufalo) 
                                             burrata crostone 

Dreyer's Girl Scout Ice Cream - Thin Mint & Samoas

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Girl Scout cookie season is over (insert sad face here).  When that happens I regularly check the ice cream aisles (usually Safeway) for the next best thing!  Girl Scout cookie ice cream!  It's not offered year round, but I like to stock my freezer with some of their goodies to tide me over until cookie season hits again next year! 

 Dreyer's Girl Scouts Samoas Ice cream.  My #1 favorite girl scouts cookie in a creamy form with swirls of caramel and Samoas cookie bits.
 

The Dryer's Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookie ice cream is chocolate based with the thin mint cookie bits mixed in.  It's not as minty as the actual cookie, but its enough to satisfy the girl scout cookie cravings for a while.