CALI - Somi Somi

Every day is eating day for us and it never ends. Next up after Marugume is some ice cream for dessert in the cliche fish cone!

LOCATION: 621 S WESTERN AVE., STE. 208-A, LOS ANGELES, CA. 90005

In case you didn't notice it, we ended up back right next to Sul & Beans for some ice cream. That  night Christel and I noticed some people with ice cream in those fish cones that is pretty trendy right now. I declared that when we go to California I wanted one of those ice creams so Christel indulged me and we went for our own. 

SomiSomi is super cute and small and had a line out the door the night we went to Sul & Beans but was pretty quiet when we went today in the middle of the day. Its on the second floor of this open air mall space and was pretty easy to get to. We didn't have to wait in line and just got our ice cream before a semi large group came in after. We both decided to get Ube Vanilla swirl no filling in a fish cone. Christel got graham crackers on top and I went for the fruity pebbles. 

The downside of getting ice cream in the middle of the day is that it's training time and the girl making our cones was definitely new. She'd make a cone, rush to the back and show her boss to make sure it looked okay before topping it and giving it to us. I actually saw her fill my cone, and then dump all the ice cream out and fill it again because the swirl wasn't perfect. Seems like a waste of perfectly good ice cream to me but hey, I don't work here. We also noticed that they were making some fish cones and just finished a fresh batch but all three had holes in them from not enough batter being placed in the waffle iron. Quality control seems to be all over the place in the middle of the day. Still the ice cream tasted good and the cones were a nice chewy consistency. It gets a little hard to eat near the bottom where it's mostly cone and the ice cream is trying to gush out. Very messy but still tasty.

The mall itself isn't super great, we had a few random guys come up to us and bother us for various reasons while we were trying to eat on the ground floor which was not enjoyable. Maybe next time we'll stay upstairs or bring a little brother with us.  

CALI - Marugume Monzo

Marugume Monzo was our intended lunch destination for the day but seeing as we were hungry in the moment and 40minutes was too long of a wait for out hungry stomachs we stopped by TaNoTa for a quick appetizer. This takoyaki break killed about 25minutes so we rushed back across the street in the hopes that we might be called early. 

LOCATION: 329 E 1ST ST., LOS ANGELES, CA. 90012

We managed to find a nice semi shaded spot in line outside of Marugume and waited for our name to be called. When we got back from TaNoTa we only had about 4 more people in front of us so we were seated in about 10 or so minutes which wasn't bad; just enough time to digest our takoyaki and get hungry for some udon. Christel and I both love udon and seeing as it's not as popular as ramen don't get to eat it as often. Of course thick chewy noodles are where its at so udon is perfect. 

Christel has been here before and knew she wanted the Miso Carbonara Udon. Marugume is famous for their Sea Urchin Cream Udon but I've only had sea urchin once and wasn't a huge fan so I didn't want to risk my one treat at udon on something I was unsure of. Christel doesn't like sea urchin either so there it would be a dish wasted if I didn't like it so I aimed for something a little safer. I decided to try the Mentai Squid Butter Udon because she said one of her brothers tried it before and enjoyed it. It comes with seasoned fish eggs butter sauce with squid and onions and I also decided to add some green onions for a few cents to add some fresh green lightness to a pretty heavy dish. I'm not saying the green onions did a lot but I like to pretend.

The bowls that they serve the udon in are huge which is comical to see but also fun to eat out of. My udon's were a little fishier than I was craving and the texture of the squid was smoother and softer that I'm used to but I ate every bit of that handmade noddle till I was ready to burst. We each ordered sprites to help wash down some of the heavy creaminess which was a smart move for us. All in all, I would go back again. Marugume has a ton of crazy flavor combinations that all sound pretty delicious and the texture of the noodles is perfect for me. The line moves pretty fast and everything was really great; definitely a great way to mix things up from the flood of ramen everywhere. To me, udon is the true unsung hero of noodles.  

CALI - TaNoTa

LOCATION: 350 E 1ST ST, LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

My first go at takoyaki comes from our dire need for food. Christel and I spent the morning at The Broad and it was a fantastic morning at that; very lucky meeting super nice women in line and an incredible experience with The Broad architecture. We finished up at the museum earlier than we expected because things went so smoothly and went to get lunch but our wait in line was an estimated 40minutes so we decided to go get an appetizer ASAP while we waited! Luckily Japanese Village Plaza was right across the street from us so we ran over to TaNoTa.

I've never been to TaNoTa before nor have I heard about it but they had a perfect 'to-go' walk up window and you could see a worked making takoyaki in the window as you order on their take out iPad right outside. Visually, this is a great thing to see to get people hungry and ready to order. I'm always fascinated by open kitchens and I love watching people cook in windows.

Since I've never had Takoyaki before, Christel decided it would just be best for us to order and original so I knew what the basics were and next time around I can order fun fusions like Parmesan. Takoyaki is a light batter thats cooked into a little ball form with other ingredients mixed in. Original comes with octopus, green onion, and some crunchies mixed in the batter. It's topped with bonito flakes, seaweed, kewpie mayo and tanota sauce. 

It came out pretty quickly (5mins) after ordering so we didn't have to wait out in the sun too long and was ready to travel in this little boat. TaNoTa gives you chopsticks instead of skewers which I enjoy cuz I have more control. These suckers are HOT too. Takoyaki teaches you that looks can be deceiving because the outsides look great and ready to eat but as soon as you bite into them, hot lava octopus scorches your mouth and you can't feel anything for days. However, we were prepared for this and poked holes into all of our takoyaki balls to air them out and took turns passing the boat back and forth to give our selves a rest in between steaming hot batter. I honestly am in love with Takoyaki now though. I'm already craving it and can't wait for my next chance to eat some more of these guys.     

CALI - Sul & Beans

Family time part II with shaved ice at Sul & Beans.

LOCATION: 621 S WESTERN AVE., LOS ANGELES, CA. 90005

Even though Christel's little brother Keith said he had homework to do, he still got pretty excited to take us out for dessert after Sun Nong Dan so we met back up at Sul & Beans not too far away for some shaved ice. 

Sul & Beans does a Korean shaved ice with a variety of toppings and each can be a little pricey (about $10) but for the four of us we decided to share two flavors. After Sun Nong Dan it might not have been the best idea because we only finished about one and a half but it was still fun to try a couple different things. 

We all decided to get the strawberry cheese bingsoo which was basically a strawberry cheesecake shaved ice and Christel was gunning for us to try the injeolmi bingsoo which is a ground nut and mochi shaved ice meaning it tasted a lot like powdered peanut butter. 

We're all so asian, the fruit bingsoo was a big hit and we scooped that bowl clean but the injeolmi was a little trickier for us and we ended up only eating half of it. For those of you interested in it, beware because I'm pretty sure Christal almost died accidentally inhaling the powdered nut mix upon her first spoonful. It was all pretty good and I love different textures of ice cream and shaved ice that I keep coming across. I'm pretty happy that Keith brought us to this place and I had a whole night of new dishes.  

CALI - Sun Nong Dan

Family bonding time with Christel's aunt and little brother! 

LOCATION: WILSHIRE CENTER, KOREATOWN 3470 W 6TH ST., STE 7, LOS ANGELES, CA 90020

We let Christel's little brother Keith pick the place because he's currently at USC and is pretty social so he knows where the good spots are. He initially picked a cantonese restaurant but later confessed that he made up some excuses to go to Sun Nong Dan because he was craving Korean. Cantonese pushed to a later date, we set off for Koreatown.

Sun Nong Dan is a super busy restaurant in the middle of a tiny plaza so the line to get into the parking lot already wraps around the block but Christel made her little brother get out of the car and put our name down on the waiting list to get ahead of the crowd. It wasn't terribly long but maybe 5-10mins later we got to the valet and jumped out of the car. Luckily, Christel's aunt beat us to the restaurant and put her name down on the list before we even got close so while her brother's name was 18th on the list, aunt Natalie came in clutch at 4th and we were seated not too long after we parked. I feel a little bad for the other restaurants around because theres a huge crowd of people waiting for a table in front of Sun Nong Dan but the rest of the plaza is completely clear with no lines. Good signs for the food though. 

We were seated at a table near the kitchen in a semi small space but food came out fast and they take your order while you're still outside so by the time you sit it's just about ready. 

Keith has been here before and says he and his friends always get the Galbi Jjim with Cheese so that's what we got this time around too. Galbi Jjim is just a braised beef short rib and it comes with rice cakes, potatoes, carrots, onions and a bunch of other stuff all cooked together. The exciting part was that they place this dish on your table and then proceed to light the thing on fire with a hand torch to melt the cheese. I can honestly say, that was the best way to start the meal; who doesn't like fire and melted cheese?

This is the first time I've had galbi and it was really good. I'm not sure what heat level Keith ordered but it was spicy in such a good way. The braised beef was a little chewy and could've been better texture wise but flavor wise everything was great. I had enough rice and loved the potatoes and carrots in the dish. This place was packed and the line outside never seemed to die down but I totally understand the hype because it was pretty good.   

CALI - Mitsuwa!!!!

I've never heard of Mitsuwa before but after going in California, I understand everyone's anger in it being so far away from us in Chicago. 

LOCATION: 3760 S CENTINELA AVE., LOS ANGELES, CA. 90066

So Mitsuwa itself is an asian grocery store which also had a food court, a pastry shop, and a little book store. Christel purposefully took me here for some amazing tempura and another round of ramen because I'm always ready for some ramen. 

SANTOUKA

Since our goal for lunch was to eat some tempura we decided to share a small bowl of chashu hot miso ramen because Christel was saying that Santouka is a pretty famous chain and she wanted to make sure I tried it. I did have to add extra chashu because apparently a small comes with one piece and seeing as we were sharing I figured we could go for a little more meat, especially since I love pork belly. This little bowl of ramen was incredible. The meat was a great texture, the noodles were the perfect amount of chewy and this is one of the best broths I've had. I wanted to drink the whole bowl if only it weren't oily and spicy. I would totally go back to eat Santouka again.   

HANNOSUKE

In all honesty, I haven't had too much tempura in my life but the few times I have tried it in Rochester I've loved it. I like the tempura is crisp and light and usually involves really great vegetables being battered and fried so I was pretty excited to eat this really great tempura that Christel was dreaming about.

Tempura was our main dish for the meal so we each decided to order our own original tendon which comes as white fish, two shrimp, a soft boiled egg, seaweed, pumpkin, broccoli, and a shishito pepper over rice with a side of miso soup. This is the best tempura I've had in my life. The first bite of fish was like an incredible explosion in my mouth. The fish was soft but still flavorful without being too fishy, the batter was crisp and just had a light oily flavor and texture to it that melted across my mouth. Everything after that was just amazing. The shishito was strong and bitter but didn't linger, the shrimp disappeared so fast because it was just so good, and my favorite pumpkin was fantastic. Even the broccoli, which can be mushy when its tempura, was still crisp and had the perfect broccoli texture. By the time I got to the rice and egg I was stuffed and I couldn't finish it in the end so this would be a good meal as a stand alone but I wasn't going to pass up the option of ramen so there are no regrets there. Even the miso was perfect and helped me wash down any lingering oily flavor and feel full but not heavy.

I love every part of this meal and it may be my favorite of the trip.   

CALI - Shin Sen Gumi

Goal number 1 - Check! 

LOCATION : 1601 SAWTELLE BLVD. #101 LOS ANGELES, CA 90025

One of the places my friend Jimmy told me to go to in LA three years ago was Shin Sen Gumi. I didn't make it back then but believe me, I was dedicated this time and Christel was completely willing to help me make this happen. Our own trip ended up being a schedule of where we wanted to eat with places to visit as filler in between meals. As a true city vacation should be. We went and got Christel a haircut at her regular salon nearby on sawtelle and decided to hit up Shin Sen Gumi for dinner and boy was I a happy camper. 

We were very lucky with parking and got a spot on the street right next to the restaurant and only had to wait a couple minutes for a table to be cleaned before we were seated. Jimmy also gave me specific instructions on how to order my bowl of ramen but he's crazy and I'm sure I would've died in the sea of spice and oil he was recommending so I went a little off book. We each ordered 1/2 hakata sizes of ramen just so we could also order arabiki sausage because Christel has had them before and really wanted them again upon seeing several tables with that dish. They were great so I wasn't going to complain. I got my ramen hard/chewy, with medium oil, and medium broth strength, without ginger. I also added a flavored egg because perfectly soft boiled eggs in ramen are life. I also added a little chili oil on top of mine because Christel has turned me over to the spicy side of food and while I was alright with spice before, I love it a little more now.

This food was great. I love the bustle of the restaurant and the servers speaking Japanese to each other. The soup was balanced and had a really amazing flavor to it with a great kick from my chili oil. The half size was enough for us and we each finished the whole bowl (I can't say I drank all the broth but I probably could've if I was hungrier). I love the ability to customize the ramen a little and while I went midway on everything to see what my tastes were, I can see why people go back again and again.  

CALI - In-n-out

When in Cali - In-n-out

I'm not even going to say which one we went to because there are so many in Cali and we went on a whim while we were running errands. So let's just say it was somewhere in Anaheim and call it that. 

Christel and I have both been before, and we were craving burgers and fries so we just decided to look it up and were lucky enough to find one less than 5minutes away from where we were at that moment. In-n-out seems to be like Starbucks; you can be in one and see another one nearby. 

Of course we go for the cheeseburgers animal style, and just order the combo each which comes with fries and a drink. I swear, nothing beats In-n-out prices for this amount and at this quality. I really appreciate it and while I'm a fan of thicker cut fries, these still hold a nice potato flavor while being thinner. 

I'm not a huge fan of burgers, but one stop at In-n-out while I'm in town feels right. 

Snack Drawers

Quick post today, but I just wanted to say - I love my job. 

My co-workers and bosses took a little lunch trip to 'Park to shop' which is just a local asian grocery store and bought a drawerful of snacks. 

I'm so happy I work here and that everyone is so great at sharing with me. 

CHI - Meli's Cafe

Meli's is a mysterious place right here in Greektown that I always pass but never noticed until the week that three separate people on three separate occasions pointed it out to me and told me how great the breakfast was. Of course, this meant that I had to go right away so one day on our way to go bouldering, Christel and I decided to stop in for some Sunday Brunch. The second she said Meli's she mentioned the chicken and waffels and I was sold. 

LOCATION: 301 S HALSTED ST., CHICAGO, IL, 60661

Meli's is a cute place that's a little upscale - aka we were totally under dressed in our climbing gear but it's totally fine; we were seated by the door and no one seemed to be the wiser. Our chicken an waffles came out pretty quickly and smelled amazing. In all honesty we should've ordered one to share because the portions are pretty substantial and the prices are fairly high but we were greedy when we sat down and ordered one each.    

The waffles were house made and herb infused which you could smell before they placed it on the table. The chicken was large but perfectly cooked and seasoned well. I go without extra maple syrup even though I know that salty sweet combo is the whole point but this order comes with a maple bacon marmalade which balances out the salty well enough for me.

This dish was so filling and hit the spot for me but I only ate half of the plate and took the rest home. Unfortunately, I didn't end up eating it again and wasted the leftovers but you have to be in the mood for chicken and waffles so it was tricky for me to want it again so soon.   

CHI - Joy Yee Plus

Clearly, I love ice cream. This isn't a surprising thing or a new discovery. Combine ice cream with the childhood treat of a warm street bubble waffle and I'm sold. 

LOCATION: 2159 S CHINA PL, CHICAGO, IL 60616

I've seen this combination around recently but I've never had a bubble waffle with ice cream. Growing up, we would drive to Toronto during the summers and bubble waffles were one of the best treats to get on the street. Blocks away you could smell the warm waffle baking, by the time you got close enough to buy it, out would pop these cute little bite-sized bubbles ready to eat.

This was a great treat for me. I ended up sharing a strawberry festival with Christel because she shares my love of strawberry and we were both pretty happy in the end. Joy Yee plus has an odd set up and we were able to sit at a table and eat most of our ice cream before they asked us to move because of a reservation. While we were there we got lots of looks from incoming customers asking us what we ordered. Some were surprised at the size of the dish but a full waffle wrapped around a scoop of ice cream will do that. 

Strawberry Festival comes with fresh strawberries and kiwi as well as whipped cream, a chocolate drizzle, and two pocky sticks (we got chocolate and matcha but another order at a table next to ours had matcha and strawberry). The bubble waffle was seriously perfect. It had the right amount of crispiness and pop while still being a little soft on the inside. The part that was a little more saturated near the bottom from the ice cream still held up and didn't get overly soggy. All in all I'd say this treat was a perfect as it gets. Great for sharing because I couldn't finish it on my own but perfectly balanced as well.    

CHI - Kimski!

Kimski is a Korean Polish fusion place connected to Maria's Packaged Goods which is a pretty cool speakeasy type bar that we went to for Halloween. Kimski was started by Maria's very own son chef Won Kim so this whole place is a family business that works well together. Not only can you get into Kimski from Maria's but when you're drinking late and want a cool bite to eat, Kimski is right there basically in the bar. 

I've been told about Kimski from one of the guys in the program with me, Kaleb. He was telling me about them more to check out the branding (very cool and totally my aesthetic) but he said it was an interesting fusion to check out too since he knows I like trying new food too. Since some of us in the program went for Halloween I tasted some food that others shared with me and after Typeforce we decided to go for some late night snacks again. 

LOCATION: 954-960 W 31ST ST., CHICAGO, IL 60608

It was super fun the first time around because of Halloween and we went to celebrate someone's birthday, but this time was more relaxed which I enjoyed. I went with Alex and Nina, both designers in the program and we grabbed a drink at the bar in Maria's then went into Kimski and luckily found a table to eat. It was for sure my lucky night because the bar ran out of coke for my rum and coke and gave me an extra drink to make up for it so I was already pretty content there. 

For food, Nina and I decided to share a little and we ordered the Scallion Potato Pancakes and Sausage plate which were both really filling and super tasty. The potato pancakes have smoked pork shoulder, scallions, kimchi of the day, soy cream, sesame seeds, and sesame leaves. This is a pretty great dish, heavy but so good while you're drinking and makes you feel grounded. The same goes for the sausage plate. This dish comes with their signature sausage plated with three small polish/Korean inspired sides, mustard, and 'kraut chi'. Not as beautiful to look at but still tasty and flavorful. All this food is weighty which I kinda like when I'm at a bar because it doesn't leave me feeling hungry and makes me feel like the alcohol is being soaked up well aka lets me drink more.

I like Kimski as an addition to Maria's for sure. I don't know that I would go just to eat food but if it was a casual drinks and snacks type of outing, Kimski doesn't let down.   

CHI - Au Cheval (FINALLY)

I'VE MADE IT!!

LOCATION: 800 W RANDOLPH ST., CHICAGO, IL. 60607

I've finally made it to Au Cheval and let me tell you, it lived up to all the hype I've heard about it. Christel and I decided to go one day after a couple hours of bouldering nearby for a late lunch and I'm so happy we did. Our wait was only 5 or 10mins (as opposed to the 3 or 4 hours I've gotten before when I've tried to go for dinner) and we were seated in the back in a nice booth with the perfect spotlight for food.

She and I weren't sure how hungry we were so we just decided to share everything and started off with crispy fries with a mornay sauce, garlic aioli, and one fried farm egg. Christel loves eggs so we find any opportunity to put an egg on top of our food if it makes sense. These fries were great with an egg on top and that garlic aioli was fantastic. I love garlic aioli and while I'm not a dip kinda person, it's always a fantastic sauce to me that can't go wrong.     

As a main dish we shared the single cheeseburger with bacon and an egg and while I'm not much of a burger person, I would love to have this burger again. This bacon is clearly more like a slab of pork belly which is one of my favorite things to eat. Christel was a fan of the egg on top which was cooked perfectly runny and packed all together, this burger couldn't be more perfect.

As we waited for our burger we could hear the couple next to us talk about their amazing burger and how they would love to cuddle up with this burger and order it again if they weren't so stuffed. They also mentioned that they read it was the best burger in Chicago and I wouldn't try to argue with this because this really was an amazing burger. 

CHI - Meet Fresh Love

LOCATION: 2026 S CLARK ST. UNIT A, CHICAGO, IL., 60616

I've never been to meet fresh before but I've been missing out on this chain and I'm pretty happy it's in my life right now. Meet Fresh just opened up here in Chicago and my friends brought up that we needed to go especially since I've never been before. So one night after dinner, we headed over. A little out of the way from the rest of Chinatown visually, this sweet spot is just around the corner from Chinatown square and right next to the L train. 

We walked in to a semi long line but still out of the cold to order our dessert. I shared the iced meet fresh signature with Christel and it's a bowl of herbal blended shaved ice with herbal jelly, taro and sweet potato balls, and creamer on top.

These taro/sweet potato balls are the best with amazing chewy texture and a subtle flavor. The grass jelly and the shaved ice were a great soft textural balance and the creamer gave the whole bowl a light sweetness. I love asian desserts because they tend not to be overly sweet and have a fun texture to them, though possibly odd for people unfamiliar with the components. 

The price of these desserts is a little high so it's not a regular place to go especially since it's super busy and it's hard to find a table but when I'm craving some dessert, this is the place to be. I'm already excited to go back.   

BUFF - Fuji

Cousin time continues with the family in buffalo and some quality sushi.

LOCATION: 736 MAPLE RD., BUFFALO, NY. 14221

Cousins Kim and Charlie both work at a sushi restaurant in Buffalo during weekends when they're not in school and they totally gave me the hookup with a full sushi meal (which we brought back to their house) including salad and some soup (for their dad). The best part of cousin sushi is the discounted price and no judgment for not eating raw.

I've eaten at fuji before but it's been awhile and we got all the works this time around. I love family time and when it includes cheap quality sushi it just gets better but when it comes to my dad's side of the family, food is always on point. 

ROC - Cousin Time at Owl House

I swear I keep coming back here and it's great. Owl House is still one of my favorite places to eat in Rochester, its such a cute hole in the wall, healthy choice with some great flavors.

LOCATION: 75 MARSHALL ST., ROCHESTER, NY., 14607

This time around I went with my cousin Sheen who suggested trying the place since he's newly returned to Rochester from California. I'm not back in Rochester often since I'm in school and it's getting harder and harder to coordinate family meals but I was pretty excited we had time to meet up and catch each other up on big events in life. 

Thankfully, Sheen is a great cousin to share food with because he's up for new foods and isn't picky but willing to go family style so we get to try more dishes. 

Owl House has an ever changing menu and I swear I never can eat the same thing twice (not that I go often enough). We decided to share buffalo cauli wings, and a beet salad. I voted on the buffalo cauli wings thanks to yelp reviews which are crispy fried cauliflower with classic frank's red hot sauce and a side of vegan blu cheese & celery slaw. Sheen voted on the beet salad which came with watercress, wine braised baby beets, pickled fennel, chevre, and grapefruit segments drizzled with a white balsamic vinaigrette. Honestly, we both new that he made the better choice and that beet salad blew the cauli wings out of the water. I'm a fan of beets and so is Sheen, so it must run in the family so salads with beets are always an automatic win.

I ordered a steak sammy for lunch because I was just in the mood for steak that day, which had pickled  onions and fennel, mayo, feta and arugula on a hoagie. It also came with house chips on the side but I seriously didn't need more food after our two starters. The steak was a little heavy and chewy so it was a little difficult to eat but I was content with the steak and it fulfilled my craving so thats what I was looking for. 

It was a great time with Sheen and I love getting food with him and sitting down to talk and bond more. Of course Owl House is one of my favorite places to revisit so it all added up to a good time ending in full bellies.  

ROC - Brookyln Ramen

I love being home and I love when home has new places to eat and try. But the key to new places to eat are to have someone to eat with and luckily my friend Nicole came through. 

LOCATION: 215 ALEXANDER ST, ROCHESTER, NY., 14607

Nicole and I are both back in town for the holidays and boy am I glad. I love seeing old friends and eating new foods. She mentioned that she wanted some ramen or pho when she got back to Rochester and I was her ticket to it so we headed out for a day of Ramen and Rock climbing. 

Brooklyn Ramen is a new place that opened this past fall. I've never been to a traditional ramen place in Rochester and apparently this owner trained in Brooklyn and brought it back and I'm pretty hyped about it. When you first walk in you can tell it's family owned. There's a dad taking orders and calling them out, a young son that you can tell was kinda forced here and would rather be chilling with his friends, an young grandma boiling noodles and steaming dumplings, and the one hired American that already has a passion for asian food. The banter between them is a little awkward and forced and I'm not trading my family for theirs but boy would I love working in a family place. Restaurants run in my dad's blood and I wish my mom was less practical and would let us open a place. Hard work but I think I'd love it. 

Of course we order a bowl of ramen, I go with my favorite Tonkotsu and add and soft boiled egg for good measure. We decide to split an order of goyza for good measure and you can hear the communication in the kitchen loud and clear; a little awkward but authentic family. The food comes out quick and we sit down at the table. Little sturdy plastic bowls and throwaway silverware but its all fun and fast.  

This is pretty good ramen. It came out quick and was perfectly cooked. I've had ramen in New York and I wouldn't say this bowl was as good; thin, soft noodles and a super casual Rochester atmosphere come into play but its still a good bowl of ramen if thats what you're craving.   

FL - Bento Cafe

I'm here in Florida for Christmas break visiting family which means Orlando visit! My main family doesn't life in Orlando but it's close enough that we do trips for a couple of days and head to some theme parks to check out the new additions and changes. We've been going for years so I'm familiar enough with them that we get through parks pretty quickly and know exactly what we wanna see. 

This left us with some time to go out for dinner a little and my cousin Michael had the perfect spot that he and his friends loved going to back in college when they had time. 

LOCATION: 7335 W SAND LAKE, ORLANDO, FL., 32819
                  : 2260 S UNIVERSITY, DAVIE, FL., 33317

That's right, we went twice. Michael really loves this place and only knew about it back when it only had one location in Orlando, but we went after a day of Disney and he learned that they have a location closer to home in Davie too. He's gonna go back often, I'm sure. Bento has sushi and bento box style meals and I wanted to try both (among other things) so when Michael suggested a second trip, I was all over it even though we went 3 days prior.

That first night I went bento style and ordered a bento box which comes with lo mein, ginger salad, string beans, and my choice of white rice. For mine I picked yellow (thai) curry with chicken. He and I were so hungry we also went with edamame to share and miso soup each to start. Everything was great. I spent the whole meal wishing we had one of these in Rochester (of course we don't) and inhaling everything in front of me. My cousin Vi commented that she hasn't seen me eat like this before and that's probably because she's so picky that whenever I go out to eat with her it's never anything special and non-american like this (i.e. all the classic chains).

Clearly, this place was so good that Michael and I had to go again but this time around I was ready for sushi. Now, this place is still a chain so this wasn't supposed to be ground breaking sushi, but for the price of a cheap chain, this place is still awesome. Again, Michael and I go for the miso soup and edamame to share but he orders the same thing as last time and I go for the sushi combo box. This box comes with an 8pc cali roll and two 4pc rolls of my choice - Mt. Fuji (krab, tempura shrimp, topped with krab, eel sauce, scallions), and a Mexican roll (tempura shrimp, cream cheese, avocado, eel sauce). This is great; cheap sushi, decent quality, I wish I could get it any time I'm craving sushi. 

CHI - Chicago Pizza and Grinder Oven Co

I'm very easily influenced by food clips on social media and thankfully I now have Christel who will come with me to try snacks and food no matter what it is because our tastes are similar enough and somehow amid crazy schedules and mountains of school work we find time to be free (or maybe lazy?) to pursue new food ventures. 

LOCATION: 2121 N CLARK ST., CHICAGO, IL 60614

Just in case you're unaware, this video has been circulating not too long ago of an upside down pizza pot pie sort of dish. Chicago Pizza and Grinder Oven Co. has a pizza basically that they bake in a dish and flip out onto a plate table side. I get pretty excited about this kinda stuff and believe me, it's been on my list of places to eat since I moved to Chicago so I was pretty excited to go. One of my grad classmates has even mentioned this place before saying it's his wife's favorite spot for 'pizza' (if that's what people in Chicago wanna call it, I'm not totally convinced.) but it seemed like enough of a confirmation that this was a must visit. 

So off we go up north to this place and of course theres still a lot of hype so theres a line out the door even though its freezing and we manage to squeeze inside in order to put our name down. The estimated wait time is 4 hours long but I'm starving now so thankfully theres a diner across the street and we duck in for some french fries to tie me over. Originally we planned to walk to the Lincoln Park Zoo to see the holiday Zoo Lights but its still freezing and we cross the street and go sit in Chicago Pizza and Grinder Oven Co again. We thought we would just check to see if we might get seated early but somehow the place got fuller and we still had a few hours to go until it was our turn. 

Seeing as we're chickens in the cold and found a nice little spot to sit in the waiting area where it was warm we just set up camp. Christel brainstormed for finals and I crocheted while we people watched and commiserated with all the other people in line. We knew there would be a way but boy did we not expect this. It was still somehow fun to talk with strangers in the waiting area and compare when everyone arrived and how long they waited. Some people were regulars, visiting this place on special occasions for years while others were more tourists drawn in by social media. 

Five hours later, we were seated and let me tell you, we ordered like the wind; super excited for food. So during our wait we could see waiters rushing around and had a pretty clear view of a table and we kept seeing people order a Mediterranean Bread which is a super flat cheesy herb-y wonderful super thin bread, so we had to order it. We also shared a small country french salad (our waiter knew us so well from the start he suggested we share a small), and we each got our own half-pounder pizza pot pie (instead of sharing one one-pounder between us - another suggestion from our waiter that we decided to follow).

All in all, everything was great. The salad was a great choice seeing as we needed something a little light and fresh with all the bread and cheese and dough. I think we both agreed that the Mediterranean bread was our favorite part of the meal and over shined the pizza pot pie. A little overly hyped, and while the presentation was cool to see them flipped onto a plate in front of us it was a little underwhelming. Christel and I had such Non-American tastes sometimes too that the amount of cheese on them was a little much and we ended scraping some off it off. I'm sure other people would disagree with us and call us crazy but that's just how it goes!        

In terms of waiting, I'm not sure it was worth 5 hours but it's always fun to be able to say that we went and now we'll have a sort of 'dedicated to food we waited 5 hours in line to eat' kind of story. It's also fun to be able to talk to people in line and hear their stories and experiences with this place as well. 

Somehow, we miraculously found room in our stomachs to order dessert as well. We had left over salad and bread to take home but there's always room for ice cream so we decided to order a tortoni to share. Tortoni is their only listed dessert and is an Italian frozen cream desert that's flavored with rum and macaroons and topped with graham cracker crumbs. As far as ice cream goes I've never had one that tastes like this and I loved it. As full as I felt, it was so cool and melty to eat and tasted great and I'm so happy we got it to share.  

I think I would go back but maybe only if the wait was shorter than five hours and I planned it into my schedule a little more but that mediterranean bread made it kind of worth it.

Spam Masubi and Tamago

Holiday time is here, which means ugly sweater parties and potlucks galore. Of course as a studio we planned a holiday party to take place as a reward for making it through fall semester. I pressured everyone into making it an ugly sweater party and because we're all broke graduate students this is a perfect time to bring food together and share. 

I personally made some Vietnamese pork eggrolls  and it turns out I like making spring rolls because the thiner wrapper is much easier to fry but these are just learning curves I find by trying to make traditional foods away from home and just far enough away from asian grocery stores to find the exact ingredients I recognize. 

I also used this opportunity to use Christel's kitchen because her apartment is much more accessible from school after work, class, and climbing and just more conveniently placed to go to the party. This meant, however, that I was designated helper to make her dishes - spam masubi and tomago!!!

I've never made either before but I'm pretty handy in the kitchen and learn fast so our process went smoothly. Christel already made the egg part of the tomago before I arrived and had the rice ready to be balled up. While I fried/baked my eggrolls she cooked her spam, made her sauce, and we were ready to roll.

We went assembly line style which is pretty typical for us with Christel portioning off rice and me rolling. We made quite a bunch of stuff and were a big hit at the potluck and I'm pretty proud of us and I've never had spam masubi or homemade tomago before but I'm ready to eat this again.