New York: Brunch at Calle Ocho

On Sunday (Oct 28th) right before Sandy hit the East Coast, Jimmy made a reservation for us to have brunch at Calle Ocho, a popular Latin fusion restaurant located inside the Excelsior Hotel in Upper West Side.  Even though it was brunch, our reservation was at 2pm.  Why so late?  We knew we were gonna be hammered from the night before with the Halloween celebration, and none of us woke up before noon haha.  Good planning ahead :P

Calle Ocho is popular for brunch because of their unlimited sangria offerings!  As long as you are eating, you get to order any sangria off their menu, and damn they are strong.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the ones I tried, but really, I was not in the mood for any more alcohol in my system.  The sangrias were strong too since they add shots on top of it.  I can see this place being really fun, but after a heavy night of drinking, alcohol was the last thing I wanted..


Calle Ocho
Inside the Excelsior Hotel
45 W 81st St
Upper West Side
New York, NY 10024
calleochonyc.com

Calle Ocho's menu.  Calle Ocho is essentially Cuban infused with other Latin cuisine.

Sangria offerings.  I want something lighter so I went for Blanca and that turned out to be one of the strongest... The Havana Banana was really good though.  Strong still, but refreshing at the same time.

All sorts of baked goods to start your meal.

This was definitely our favorite.  In fact, it reminds me of the cheese bread you get at Brazilian restaurants.

Strawberry butter.  Awesome.  

Smear that shiz on everything.

Link and I each got the Vaca Frita.

Cuban skirt steak, Latin fried rice, tomato escabeche, avocado, and fried eggs.  Sounds amazing right?  It was pretty bland though.  The colors were so vibrant so I was expecting flavors to pop.  My favorite was probably the eggs and the tomato escabeche, which is essentially seasoned and marinated tomatoes.

I asked for hot sauce and the waiter brought out 3 types!  The orange looking one is probably made with habanero, cause it was surprisingly spicy.  Even the chipotle hot sauce in the back had a nice kick to it.  The pickled jalapeno was very good and I killed that little cup in a few bites with the steak.

Jimmy & Janice decided to share and went for the Gallitos.  Make your own tacos!

Guacamole and other toppings.

Scrambled eggs.  Fitting for brunch.

Cuban homefries.  

Chorizo!  Not as greasy and heavy as Mexican chorizo.

Edwin ordered the Cuban Sandwich.

Roasted pork, panela basted ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles.  This was actually my favorite.  Juicy pork, and the panela (unrefined cane sugar) basted ham had a nice sweetness.  Nice crunch on the bread too from the press.

Chimichurri fries.  A little different from the Argentinian chimichurri that I love but still good.

In fact, Janice & I liked it so much, we decided to order more to share haha.

In the end, I thought Calle Ocho was whatevers.  The food didn't stand out too much.  I'm sure I would've liked it A LOT MORE if I was actually in the mood to take advantage of the unlimited sangria.  Damn vodka!

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Afterwards, we decided to walk through Central Park since Edwin needed to get macarons from Laduree as gifts.  By 4pm, half of NY was empty already as people were getting ready for Hurricane Sandy, and Central Park was pretty empty.  Definitely a first.

Outside.  Macarons here are expensive...

I ended up getting a dozen as well, and I originally planned to go home and take pictures of it in a nicer setting, but they told us the macarons will only hold for 4 days in the fridge, and I got stuck there for more than that... so we devoured Edwin's dozen one night after we drank, and I gave a few out right before I left.  For a dozen it was around $36.  Pricey drinking snack haha. Next time!

After Laduree, we headed to a few markets to try to buy some food since Sandy was pretty much shutting everything down.  Businesses were closing already even though the storm was hitting late at night.  Markets were crazy.  Long lines, shelves empty... definitely a new experience.  Afterwards, we got back to Jimmy's, rested for a bit, and got ready for our reservation at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

West LA: Blockheads & Kogi

I bought these Google Offer to Kogi, the food truck, a few months ago, and never got a chance to use it.  Finally made up my mind to head out to Sawtelle, since the Rosita truck was actually gonna be there around 10pm.  Convinced Leonard to go with me so we went after work and ball!

We got there a bit early though so we decided to grab some dessert first at Blockheads!

Blockheads Shavery
11311 Mississippi Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90025
blockheadsla.com

Black sesame + red bean + rice cakes!

Black sesame is probably my favorite flavor at Blockheads.  It tastes just like the black sesame rice cakes!

Red bean is not too sweet and not too mushy.  Perfect with the nutty black sesame.

Leonard's green tea + red bean + walnut. 

After we finished, the truck did arrive with a long line... but dinner time!

Kogi BBQ

All over LA

kogibbq.com

The truck.  Too bad this is their "catering truck" and the guy handling the money was not "trained" to take Google Offers.  Psh... still ordered though.

My Blackjack Quesedilla and 2 tacos!

Seriously my favorite item on Kogi's menu!  Love the salsa verde with the spicy pork.

My short rib & spicy pork tacos.  Spicy pork is still my favorite out of the two haha.

Leonard's Sweet Chili Chicken Quesedilla.  The sweet chili sauce is usually on the calamari tacos but it is used on the chicken quesedilla here.  Kogi's actually taking this off the menu soon.

Calamari taco with the sweet chili sauce.  Another causality of the menu change that will be coming soon.  (Sorry for the blurry pic... hand was all messy from the tacos :P)

Been awhile since I've had Kogi and the tacos are still very tasty.  The Blackjack Quesedilla was a bit mushier than what I remembered or maybe it was because I didn't eat it fast enough?  Glad to try the two items that will be off the menu soon too, but I can see why they are taking it off.  The sweet chili sauce is good but not good enough to want to make me order them over other items.

Since I still didn't use my Google Offer for Kogi, time to hunt down the truck once again!

Los Angeles: Red Hot Kitchen

With the success of Kogi food truck, many new and old restaurants are starting to have their own copycat version of Asian-Mexican fusion. Heck, even California Pizza Kitchen has a korean short rib taco now on their menu. However, there is one place that's doing quite well with their fusion offerings, and that's Red Hot Kitchen in East LA.

It's located in a.... industrial neighborhood to put it nicely. You would never there'd be something like Red Hot in this area and yet, during lunch time, this place is packed from people that work around the area, downtown, and even 626 area. They have everything: fried rice, gyoza, sushi rolls, tacos, burritos, tamales, salads, noodles, and more. No wonder it's such a hit during lunch.

Red Hot Kitchen

4625 Valley Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90032

www.redhotkitchenla.com

Full of people waiting. Waiting for food during lunch can take quite a while.

Decided to grab a tofu burrito.

The burrito comes with tofu, rice, lettuce, cabbage, cilantro, tomato, and salsa. What really makes it good is the salsa. The heat creeps up on you!

Rather than getting some of the more Asian items like rolls or fried rice, opted for the fusion tacos, and specifically, short rib and the spicy pork tacos.

Great marinade on the short rib and again, the salsa adds a good kick. Sweetness on the short rib seemed a little out of place sometimes though.

The favorite's probably the spicy pork. Has a lot of flavor and it goes super well with everything.

I would love to go back and try more. However, recently I heard that there was a shooting there during lunch time, which... is making me think twice now. Again, not in the best neighborhood but if I'm in the area or if someone wants to venture out there with me, I'm down! :P

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PS. Post will be a little slow since I'm currently editing my photos from Vancouver when I visited there over MLK weekend.

Fooding around Little Tokyo

Last post of 2010! Why not make it about one of my favorite places in LA, Little Tokyo! Last post was about Honda-Ya, which is probably one of my go-to spots in Lil Tokyo but this year I was able to try out a few spots that I've been wanting to try for awhile or an accidental discovery :]

Far Bar LA

347 E 1st St

Los Angeles, CA 90012

www.farbarla.com

Far Bar is actually located in an alleyway. Very cool spot to check out. It's actually now one of my favorite spots in LA now. Mostly Asian fusion on the menu but they do it well. Hipster alert though!

It was Monday night so they had Monday Night Football on projection. Perfect.

Of course, always gotta start off with a Sapporo.

Braised beef tacos. Yes, another fusion item born from the Kogi movement but wow the beef was extremely tender and uhhh just straight up delicious. Seriously. I need to braise my beef in beer now too.

Italian Samurai Burger, which is apparently our waitress's favorite. It is topped with tempura onion rings and the Italian proponent of it is that they add prosciutto! With the prosciutto, it definitely adds a whole different level of flavor. The burger had such great textural contrasts as you bite through it. (Sorry for the horrible pic :[ Hard to have stable hands in low light :P)

Oh man, its a beaut.

I ended up getting the Shiitake Burger which had sauteed shiitake mushrooms, grilled onion, and a red pepper aioli. I love mushroom burgers and when it is shiitake, it's even better! The brioche bread is a nice touch. Not as eggy as other places but still good.

Beautiful medium rare on the patty.

For the wing lovers, they have Ming's wings, which is essentially wings fried with dried chili and other aromatics & seasonings you would find from a Chinese restaurant. Good flavors with a little bit of kick. The thing that impressed me the most was the size of the wings! None of that tiny tiny wings you get from most places.

Wasabi fries? If you love wasabi, then this is the perfect thing for you. I'm not the biggest fan of it but it is something new and unique. They combine garlic with this wasabi dressing over the fries.

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Yamazaki Bakery

123 Japanese Village Plz Mall

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Yamazaki's definitely one of the most popular Japanese bakery in LA. Not the typical Yamazaki in Asia, the bakery focuses more on pastries, cakes, and buns rather than the bread you see in Taiwan, China, or other Asian countries.

Not much left since we went around 6pm.

Ended up getting an apple turnover for dessert after Far Bar. Fresh apple filling that's not too sweet.

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Four Leaf Tea & Crepes

318 E 2nd StSte 8

Los Angeles, CA 90012

www.fourleaftearoom.com

Recently I've been frequenting this milk tea spot called Four Leaf. Nothing beats a milk tea to wash down whatever you ate after dinner!

They pride themselves in fresh brewing every single order, thus the higher price point. They used to have free upgrade to larges on Mondays but no more :[

Cupcakes & sweets if you crave any.

Matcha milk tea. Leonard's favorite. Definitely get it with half sugar or else it will be sugar overload!

Osmanthus oolong milk tea. My favorite. Osmanthus has a really unique flavor when brewed and it goes so well with oolong tea. As usual I get my drink with half sugar so I can taste more of the tea!

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Ludo Truck

All over LA

twitter.com/ludotruck

So with the truck revolution that's sweeping LA, it only makes sense that a fried chicken truck would appear soon, which is exactly what Ludo Truck is all about! It actually started from the Ludo Bites that chef Ludo Lefbvre (named top 50 chef in the world & James Beard award winner) started around LA and eventually moved to truck form.

From the facebook page: "Chef Ludo Lefebvre with cleaver in hand brings his cutting-edge gastronomic cuisine to the streets"

Leonard and I actually accidentally stumbled upon the truck as we were on our way to Daikokuya.

Menu.

Ordered the provencial pepitte aka chicken ball. Absolutely MUST GET. Boneless thighs infused with rosemary and herb de provence. Amazing flavors just having a party in your mouth.

Yum yum.

The chicken tenders. Buttermilk, flour, and chicken breast. As common as it gets but seasoned so well. For the combo it's over $10. Definitely not cheap for food trucks but gotta at least try once since I never seem to catch the pop-up Ludo Bites :[

There's still so many places in Little Tokyo that I want to visit or revisit, take pictures, and just eat, like Daikokuya, Orochon, Oomasa, Sushi Go 55, etc, so hopefully more to come!

Happy New Years and be safe ringing in the new year!