Osteria Mozza Visited 2/13/2011 4.5 Forks

Osteria Mozza 6602 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038

 This was my one "fancy" meal in LA and it was a fabulous choice by Vivi.  Apparently it took her 3 weeks to make a reservation and the only slot she could get was 9:30pm on a Sunday, so it had to be good right? Plus it's a Mario Batali backed restaurant so how could it not be great? Well, upon our first 10 minutes I almost had to deduct a few forks: they don't have cranberry juice (why?), forgot Erik's lime in his juice, ran out of polenta but didn't tell us until we tried to order it and didn't give us any butter or olive oil with our bread. But when the food came out, it totally redeemed all the silly initial mis-steps.


We started with the Ribollita ($12) which is basically minestrone soup but then soaked with bread and served in almost a cake-like formation.  It was like tasting solid soup but in a really good way.  It tasted exactly like a warm hearty minestrone soup without the liquid.  Amazing.  The restaurant is also famous for its mozzarella bar...how the world doesn't have more bars focused on mozzarella is beyond me.  We got the mozzarella with bacon ($15) and it was a bit salty but it's got very thick cuts of bacon on it, so salt is kind of unavoidable.  For our main meals, Erik got the lamp chop and Vivi got the butternut squash.  I got the squid ink pasta with Dungeness crab, sea urchin, and jalapeno ($19).  The waitress had warned me in advance that the pasta would be cold and was basically a fist full of pasta.  I was kind of hesitant to have a cold, seemingly small pasta dish but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have crab, squid ink and sea urchin mixed into one dish.  When it came out, it did look a bit small but after having had the two other appetizers, I was a bit fuller than expected.  I had one bite of my pasta and I would have paid twice as much for it.  It was one of the best pasta dishes I've had in a while...if you read my review of the squid ink pasta at Mercat, you'll notice I loved that dish too, so apparently I am a huge squid ink pasta lover.  But this dish with the crab and sea urchin literally makes me want to call them up and pay them any amount of money to ship it over to NYC.  The jalapeno was very subtle but provided the right amount of heat.  Erik and Vivi both really liked their dish and we all agreed that it was a great pre-Valentine's Day meal for us.  We were so full by the end of meal, we actually had to pass on dessert (I know, it's sacrilege in a Italian restaurant).

The difference between eating in LA and NYC is that in NYC half your bill is dedicated to booze because you don't have to drive anywhere.  But in LA, you have to drive everywhere and also since Vivi and Erik have a baby, we weren't really in the mood to get hammered.  The total bill was $60 with tax and tip per person.  A great deal for wonderful, high quality food.   

The Trails Visited 2/13/2011 3.5 Forks

The Trails  2333 Fern Dell Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90068

 The Trails is the type of place that reeks of hippie Californians.  It's near the entrance of Griffith Park and it's really just a shack-like establishment that offers a few picnic type food. All the food there is vegan and veggie friendly...I actually don't think there is any meat-products or unhealthy food there.  I was scanning the menu for something like chips or fries, but alas there were none.  Although there wasn't really much to pick from, the avocado sandwich actually sounded pretty delicious and very healthy.  It comes with tomato, red onion, alfalfa sprouts, soy cheese, soy bacon bits, and large heaps of avocado ($6.50).  While this is a fairly basic sandwich, it was really good and I felt like I had just come from a health retreat.  The sandwich was also very filling and definitely did not need chips or fries.  I guess these Californians know what they are doing!  Vivi got the chili ($6.75) and grilled cheese and said they were good but could have used more salt/flavor. 

This isn't really a restaurant or going out place, it's definitely a good place to stop by before heading into the park.  While I enjoyed my sandwich, it would have been good if they did offer more varieties of food and some tasty side dishes.  Total bill for 2 avocado sandwiches, 1 chili, 1 grilled cheese, 1 scone, and 3 Diet Cokes was $33.  

Jitlada Thai Restaurant Visited 2/12/2011 4 Forks

Jitlada Thai Restaurant 5233 W Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027

 Jitlada is the type of place that I typically love.  It's an authentic Thai place with almost no personality but great food.  So when we pulled into this place which is in Thai-town in a strip mall I got really excited. We got there really early (6pm) because we had Leela with us and we had to eat before her nap time.  But from what we heard the place gets incredibly crowded after 7:30, so it was a good thing we got there when we did.  


The place is covered in magazine and newspaper articles mentioning their greatness (from LA Times, Food Network: Best Thing I Ever Ate, Rachel Ray Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Time Out, etc), so you almost had to expect amazing food.  I loved the fact that they have a sign that says "please be patient if your food takes a long time, but it will be worth it."  The menu there is beyond anything I have ever seen before in my life.  The front half of the menu has your more typical thai dishes: curries, pad thais, rice dishes, etc.  But the back half of the menu is the "special" authentic southern style food and there must be about 50+ choices.  Luckily, at the table there is a list of the "best dishes" and we basically ordered off of that.  We had the fried morning glory with shrimp, the steam New Zealand mussels, crying tiger with beef, spring rolls, spicy chicken in a curry dry rub, and spicy brown rice with chicken.  It took all my will power not to order a pad thai or crab fried rice.  As mentioned by other Yelpers, the service is not great.  We basically had to flag down our waitress after sitting for 10-15 minutes to order our food.   


The morning glory was a common veggie I saw while I was in Thailand and Cambodia and it was deep fried and tossed with fresh shrimp and red onion.  It was pretty good but I thought that best part was the shrimp and not the morning glory.  The spring rolls were your typical spring rolls and not much to write home about.  The crying tiger dish came out next and was very tender but not as spicy as I thought.  But apparently the dipping sauce was the killer, so I was glad that I didn't get into it.  The absolute best dish of the night was the steamed mussels.  Seriously Freakin AMAZING.  The mussels were ginormous and incredibly plump...they were almost the size of my fist.  I wanted to eat the entire meal and not share it with Erik. Meanwhile the broth was doused in red chilis but enough that the burn didn't kill your tastebuds.  The one dish that was kind of a disappointment was the chicken rubbed in curry powder...it had a very distinct fishy taste to it, which was a bit off putting.  We were all pretty excited about it since it was from the "authentic" side of the menu but it was our least favorite.  I was so full from trying the first few dishes that I never got around to trying the fried rice dish.  Boo.  This is totally the type of place to go with a large group of people and order tons of different dishes.  We tried to do that, but it's hard with only 3 people and 1 who doesn't really eat seafood.  I don't know how much the total bill was since Vivi and Erik paid but I suspect it was probably around $100.  By the time we left around 7ish, the place was totally packed, so get there early unless you want to wait outside for a while.     

Best Fish Taco in Ensenada Visited 2/12/11 3.5 Forks

Best Fish Taco in Ensenada  1650 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027

 This was my first meal in LA and for what I paid, it was pretty good.  The place is literally in the parking lot of a car wash, so it's very easily missed.  I didn't know what I was expecting but the menu literally has 2 things on a chalkboard: Fish Taco ($1.50) and Shrimp Taco ($2).  That's it.  At that price, you what's not to love? 


You can see the workers make the tacos right in front of you so you know it's fresh.  They take white fish and then dip it in batter and fry it.  The tacos come out plain in mini soft shells with no toppings.  They have a full service salsa and toppings bar to help you customize your taco.  There is a bowl of shredded cabbage and then about 5-6 different kinds of salsa : avocado, mango, pineapple, etc and they range in mild to really spicy.  There's also a sour cream pump for you to add to the taco.  


It's hard to go wrong with deep fried fish and your own salsa bar.  The only reason I don't give this place a higher rating is because I've had really great fish tacos elsewhere and I didn't have to make it myself. And it would be nice to have some other types of tacos for those who don't eat fish (although yes, I know, the place is called Best Fish Tacos).  But Vivi and I were able to get an entire lunch for $9 for both of us and I would totally go here again.

Porsena Visited 2/9/2011 3.75 Forks

Porsena 21 E 7th St., (between Cooper Sq & Taras Shevchenko Pl), New York, NY 10003

Porchetta has been on my list for a while but somehow I never made it there. So why when the chef opened a pasta restaurant I decided to go before it, is still a bit of a mystery to me. Apparently I seem to be on an Italian kick because this is the 2nd Italian restaurant I've been to in 2 months, which is quite a streak for me.  This 2nd Italian outing was good but not quite as good as my meal at Osteria Morini.  

Nancy and I were able to snag a reservation at 6:45pm on a Wednesday,  which is a bit on the early side but surprisingly the restaurant was pretty packed by then.  The menu is actually fairly simple: about 8 appetizers, 8 different pastas, and 3 main entrees.  Nancy and I decided to share everything since we both didn't think we could polish off one bowl of one type of pasta ourselves.  We got the crostini with mozzarella ($8), the lamb sausage pasta ($17) and the roasted roasted cauliflower pasta ($15).  At first I didn't think this would be enough food, but now that it's been a few hours later, it was totally enough food.  The crostini comes out and it's basically large piece of soft on the inside, crusty on the outside bread covered in melted, bubbly mozzarella.  It was pretty good but kind of looked like something I could have made at home.  Next came the 2 different pastas...I personally don't like my pasta too al dente, which is know is probably sacrilege.  I thought the pasta could have been cooked a bit more but Nancy thought the texture was just right.  The spicy lamb dish came with large ring/tube shaped pasta and it was indeed spicy! But my lessons in Thailand have better equipped in these situations.  But the sauce was very creamy super flavorful and was nicely combined with wilted greens.  The roasted cauliflower dish came with penne pasta, small cut up cauliflower, capers, olives, and toasted breadcrumbs.  I normally don't like olives and capers but I didn't hate this dish...it felt "healthy" even though the bowl was definitely a bit oily at the bottom.  By the end, we were both so full that we couldn't even consider dessert. 

The service was good and attentive.  The waitress was pretty knowledgeable and didn't make us feel bad when we didn't order wine or dessert and sat after we paid the bill for a bit longer than we should.  Total bill was $21 per person without tip.

Nam Son Visited 2/8/2011 3.75 Forks

Nam Son 245 Grand St., (between Bowery & Chrystie St), New York, NY 10002

 As many of you know, I am obsessed with pho.  I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for the rest of the year.  Virginia and I have gone to a bunch of pho places around the city and we have a hard time keeping track of where we have gone already.  Sometimes we walk into a "new" place and then realize that one of us or both of us have already been there.  She had first suggested Xe Lua as a new place to try, but the name sounded so familiar and lo and behold we of course have already been there!  So when she suggested Nam Son, I knew I definitely hadn't been there based on the name.  The place is tucked away on Grand Street, a bit away from the busier streets of Chinatown.  

My initial impression of the place was that it was pretty big and fairly clean but there was a slight strange smell going on which I kind of attribute it to it just being in Chinatown.  The menu is fairly extensive with over 140 items on the menu...and if I could I would have ordered 50 of them.  Instead, we ordered the summer rolls ($4), spring roll ($4.25), I got the regular tai pho ($6) and Virginia got the same with meatballs in it and a fresh lemonade ($2.25).  The summer roll (2 to an order) was nice and soft and had a decent filling although it was slightly heavy on the vermicelli noodles and of course we needed to balance the "healthy" roll with a nice  dose of deep fried spring roll (4 to an order but they were fairly small in size).  They were also really tasty and had the right combo of pork and vegetables.  The pho came out and I liked what I saw.  The meat was nice raw on top and there was a good serving of noodles.  Of course I would have loved more meat, but after downing all those rolls, it's probably better that there wasn't an overload of meat.  The serving size of the overall bowl was just right and it had nice flavor overall.  It could have stand to have a bit more cilantro and spring onion in it, but the intention of the flavor was there. 

The waitstaff was pretty friendly and the over atmosphere was very comfortable and laid back.  It was great that they took credit card because most Asian places (especially places that run on the cheap side) don't take plastic.  The total bill was $26 for two (not including tip).    

Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant Visited 2/5/2011 4 Forks

Ocean Jewel Seafood Restaurant  13330 39th Ave., Flushing, NY 11354

I am a bad Asian and didn't celebrate Chinese New Year properly.  So Dan and I decided we would make up for it with a meal in Flushing over the weekend.  I was originally thinking of having a whole fish type of meal but when we decided to go for lunch with our friends Prior and Jes, we switched gears and went for dim sum instead.  Whole fish is a bit aggressive first thing in the morning and dim sum is always a bit more fun with more people.  I had heard about Ocean Jewel from a friend of mine and when we got there it was the restaurant that I had seen the last time I was in Flushing and said I wanted to try. 

The one thing to note about this place is that it is CRAZY crowded on the weekend.  We probably waited 40 minutes for a table.  The inside of the place is your typical large Chinese banquet hall...it's huge with lots of tables and people screaming constantly.  The carts come around immediately and I was impressed at how fresh all the food was.  You could tell it came straight from the kitchen and hadn't been circulating around constantly (although some dishes did come around at some point).  We had a little bit of everything: shrimp balls, beef balls, shumai, shrimp crepes, sticky rice with chicken, pork buns, shrimp wrapped with bacon, turnip cake, sliced chicken and mushroom, a bunch of other types of dumplings and sesame balls.  There was a good variety of food, although after 30 minutes we were definitely seeing the same carts come around.  They didn't have the clams in black bean sauce that I like and the turnip cake was a bit overcooked.  The shrimp wrapped in bacon was also a bit dry but it's hard to not like anything wrapped in bacon.  All the food was very piping hot when it arrived to our table, which is great because I've definitely been to some places where the food is already cold when you get it.  The shrimp crepe was still my favorite but I really honestly enjoyed everything on the table. I do wish my mom was there to help kind of decipher what the other dishes were.  

The service was good for a Chinese place (they constantly took away our empty plates and re-filled our water whenever they were empty) and it was pretty clean.  The total bill for 10+ dishes was $74 without tip for 4 people.  The nice thing about this place is that they take credit card, which many Chinese places don't.   By the time we left at 2:45pm there was absolutely not wait and the place was 1/2 empty.  So I would say come super early (they open at 8AM on the weekends) or have a snack if you intend on coming from 10am-1:30pm or wait til after 2pm.